How Germans view America

"America´s new gurus - in search of enlightenment" is a German documentary with English narration, available on YouTube. I admit it´s extremely entertaining (up to a point), although it´s not clear whether it really gives an objective look at the "spiritual landscape" in the United States. Probably not, since whatever passes for "the United States" in DW´s production is a privileged sub-section of the White salaried middle class in LA and Las Vegas, with a quick detour to a neo-hippie camp in coastal Oregon! Is this how *Germans* view America? OK, come to think of it, Area 51 is in there somewhere, too...

First, we get to meet a "gender-non-conforming" boy-dressed-as-a-girl who claims to be a space alien, leads a weird sect called Unicult, and has tens of thousands of followers on the web. It´s not clear to me why he burns the star spangled banner in the middle of Cali suburbia, while having a portrait of beloved Saint Germain on his living room wall (I´ve been reliable informed by Michael - the archangel, obviously - that Mr Germain is the True Founder of Amerika, but I suppose that little detail about the "real" star spangled banner being golden-striped could explain Unicole´s act of sacrilege).

Next, the German dream team takes us to meet the lover of Norwegian princess (and New Age guru-ess) Märtha Louise, one Durek Verrett, a self-proclaimed "shaman" who openly brags about his huge house in LA, and all the celebs he hobnobs with. "The gurus have all the power around here", he says. Well, the man´s not entirely wrong, it seems! 

One thing that surprised me is that the current New Age/alt-spirituality scene seems so diverse, at least in terms of the wide variety of personality types drawn to it. I had expected everyone to be either an ugly middle-aged woman who knows everything about every bizarre primal therapy since Carlos Castaneda, or some kind of hippie. Instead, the milieu regroups pretty much everyone, from attractive young females (and ditto males) to middle-aged women, soy boys, trans-people and "basement dwellers". But no hippies! There do seem to be two lowest common denominators, though. One: they are all nuts. Two: most of them are White. (Durek is one of the few Black guys interviewed.) 

After this, the docu becomes progressively less entertaining, featuring a "therapy session" during which poison from a South American frog is administered to open wounds, making the participants vomit or worse. There is an interview with cult-buster Rick Alan Ross (author of "Cults Inside Out"). DW has also met a former member of a torture sex cult. 

Very eclectic, and probably a somewhat unfair look at the spiritual scene (except maybe in Vegas), but perhaps still worth watching on a cloudy afternoon. And yes, I´m considering buying "Cults Inside Out" and review it here on your favorite blog spot...