In Reply to: Re: River Phoenix posted by Acheick on November 06, 2003 at 06:48:59:
I understand what you are saying. I also took a trip around the web this morning after writing that to see what was out there.
He said that his first sexual experience was at the age of 4, not 8.
There is a book out there called "Psychic Dictatorship" by Michael Constintine, published in 1995. He suggests that the cult murdered River Phoenix to keep him quiet:
http://www.river-phoenix.org/bookshelf/psychic-dictatorship/
Personally, I think that Constintine is a nut job, and there is probably little or no evidence that The Family murdered River Phoenix.
I can believe that being sexually abused in a cult, then going from zero to sixty in a massive hollywood career contributed greatly to his abuse of drugs. Photos of Phoenix during different stages of his career show him from going from squeaky clean kid to very grungy young man just before his death. Shortly before his death, he looks like any other drug addict walking down Sunset Blvd. But, people abuse drugs to mask the pain. What could have caused a rich 25 year-old with everything that much pain?
It is interesting to note that the 10th anniversary of his death was last Friday. He died on 10-31-93.
It is a very difficult thing to jump on something like this and exploit it. He still has family out there.
But, one has to also take into consideration that if any ex-member qualifed as a "public figure" it was him. The rules of engagement are different when it comes to public figures.
The thing about it is that if one is going to engage in a war with a group like The Family, it is difficult not to end up fighting as dirty as they fight. Nobody wants to suddently realize that they are as bad as what they are trying to expose. When you start to dredge up the tragic death of a young person, you risk being seen in that kind of light.