By: Fredric Rice To: Tim Pauly Re: FOF update, Staal FR Focus on the Family is a charasmat

By: Fredric Rice
To: Tim Pauly
Re: FOF update, Staal

FR> Focus on the Family is a charasmatic cult.  I worked inside of their
FR> cult at Pomona, California, for several months and learned first hand
FR> how evil they and Christianity truely is.
FR> Try picking your masters a little better, cultist.

tp> You claim to have worked at FOF for several months...

That's a bit ambiguous and not quite what I said.  I stated that I worked
inside of their Pomona facility for several months, not that I worked "at" it.

tp> Just what did you do there,

I designed, built, installed, and debunked their ECD6000 Automated Call
Distributor for a company called Telcom Technologies which still exists on the
same street as the FoF cult used to: Campus Center Drive.

tp> and what is it about them that you saw
tp> that causes you to label them as evil?

The FoF cult selse fear and hatred to ignorant people and then fells them
"cures."  While conferenced into the ACD with agents and sheep, I got to learn
first hand what the cult was all about.

As an exmple, the FoF cult sells fear by labeling "heavy metal" rock and roll
music as "Satanic" and "leading to drugs, sex, and a life of crime."  They
enumerate a list of "warning signs" to look for which are vague and
all-encompassing afterwhich frightened parents call up and buy "cures" in the
form of audio tapes, video tapes, books, magazines, pampletts, religious
tracts et al.

The FoF cult does the same hate sell and fictional "cure" for homosexuality,
offering listeners a list of "warning signs" to tell if your son (they don't
seem to think that woman can be homos) is "contemplating the homosexual
'lifestyle.'"

Each agent has before them in their cubicle a video screen, a Telcom DDS
digital display set) and a keyboard.  Some of them wear headsets.  Before them
taped or pined to their wall is a script that each agent must follow.

When the ECD6000 presents a call, the video display indicates the telephone
number of the calling person (these are incoming WATS lines -- 1-800 lines
coming in off of a T1 span through a T1 channel bank.)  The FoF cult's
computer looks up the phone number and brings up the past buying history of
the sheep, offering credit card numbers, address, and a list of products which
the sheep has purchased in the past.

The agent's script first has the agent verify the credit card number.  The
actual words that the agent is supposed to use is printed on the script and
beinning agents must follow it exactly until they gain the experience they
need to start to deviate from the script's words (but not the sequence.)

The agent then asks how they can help the sheep and in nearly every single
case, the sheep states that they just heard such-and-such and need to "learn
more" about such-and-such to save their son or daughter from such-and-such.

Those calls which are not related to sales cause the agent to branch in the
script to a sequence which directs the caller to another bank of agents which
are not on the 1-800 line whereafter the agent hangs up.  Those calls which
there is revenue expected (nearly 100% of all calls) results in a list of
recommended materials which address the fears and the sheep is given the cost
for each one.

The script then walks the sheep through buying as much of the materials as
possible in as short a time as possible so that the caller hangs up (the agent
isn't allowed to hang up first) so that she may take another call.

Agents sign into the DDS by hitting the "SIGN-IN" softkey, then their agent
code.  They are placed into the "UNAVAILABLE" state and, when they're ready to
recieve calls, they hit the "AVAILABLE" softkey which puts their station into
the "AVAILABLE" state.  A timer starts to count for that agent and after a
configurable amount of time the agent recieves a call.

Between each call the agent may hit the "WRAP-UP" softkey which puts the agent
into the "WRAP-UP" state.  The agent can't recieve calls durig this period and
the time spent in wrap-up is attributed to the time spent with the previous
call.  This priod of time is intended for the paperwork to be finished.
Paperwork isn't done when the caller is on the line because the phone line is
charged to the FoF cult.

All calls are pesented to the agent who's been available the longest yet
weighted with a percentage value which indicates the experience of the agent,
allowing the most experienced agents to recieve the most calls or, if all
agents have the same priority, a flat longest-available.

tp> And what is your definition of cult?

The same as any dictionary's description.