Am I Just Overreacting or Should I Be Concerned?

[Dennis Atkinson]

Maybe I am just overreacting, but something happened recently that concerns me, and for some reason I am finding it hard to get out of my mind.

Recently I received a post on another website from a very well respected instructor of hypnosis and NLP. I have never taken any classes with this person before, but I had been wanting to obtain instuction from this person because of my interest in the subjects being taught ... I am purposely being vague here as I do not want to attract attention to this person.

The post I received contained two videos, both of an obvious political nature. The first pertained to an interview given by a well known politician, and the instructor made reference of making special attention to eye movements this person used supposedly because of how it related to the use of NLP. I did not have a problem with using the video as an example as I am sure it showed deception associated with the eye movement, and may have been a good example. But I took exception with the second video that was also included.

The second video was about Glenn Beck and had apparently been shown on Fox News. This second video showed a chalkboard with President Barrack Obama at the top, and lines drawn to his supposed connection to ACORN, SEIU union, Bill Ayers, Jeff Jones, and some other less than respectible people. I failed to see how this related to the instruction of hypnosis or NLP. I came to the conclusion this person was pushing their own political views, and not demonstrating anything with NLP.

It became clear to me the real message being sent, and given the way it was done, I found it offensive. Offensive not because political materials had been sent, as I can always choose to ignore or accept them for what they are; but offensive because these materials were sent as a pre-text of pertaining to the studying of NLP.

I made a decision that I no longer wanted to take any instruction from someone who would do this as I would always question the education I was receiving, and I removed my name from their mailing list.

Am I just overreacting? Or would you have felt the same way?

[Sharon Altman]

Hi Dennis

Seems pretty reasonable to me! I might even take it as a sign there's someone better out there with whom to study.

Cheers

[Chris Witherspoon]

I think I would react the same way that you reacted. Saying that I would have to evaluate what this person has done in the past and ask around to see if he makes it a habit to interject his political views. If you really value his expertise maybe you can over look his politics or perhaps approach the individual and express how you felt when he did interject politics into some thing that is not political. Tough place to be in!

Chris

[Michael Haifleigh]

Dennis,

I don’t know how I would have felt.

You may be concerned that you are overreacting, and that can be a good thing.

My recommendation is that inquire with the source of the post. Was the first ment to be an example of NLP technology? I noticed that you said “supposedly” in you post regarding this video. Was the second video intended to illustrate another aspect of NLP?

Allow your conclusion to remain fluid, or allow it to exist as a possible conclusion until you acquire more information.

You may want to quickly compose your inquiry, and then take the following steps:
Get clarity on how you feel about all the people you mentioned in the second video. And the instructor in question.
Set that all aside, reread your inquiry and ask yourself if it composed in such a way as to provoke the intended recipient.

You may want to just ask for the facts of the matter. Once you have those you may be in a better (more certain) place to decide from.

Namaste,
(with reverence to you)
(love, integrity, wisdom, and peace)

Michael

[Fable Goodman]

I don't know the characters involved, as I never follow the news, on television, radio or the newspapers...

I have heaerd of Obama, and know that he is a president, but I have no interest in it.

If anyone purporting to give training in hypnosis or related subjests such as NLP sent me those clips, I would certtainly rule them out of my list of people I would like to train with.

I think you are not over reacting, you are using your own best judgement.
Love and hugs,

fable

[Roger Moore, PhD]

It sounds creepy to me and I think Sharon hit it. It's great to have things like this happen ahead of time so that you can continue on to what is right for you.

Roger

[Dennis Atkinson]

Michael ... that was my point. The second video had nothing to do with hypnosis or NLP, and is why I was offended because it became obvious (to me anyway) that the first video was politically motivated under the ruse it was being offered for education of NLP ... I would have been offended whether the items were directed at President Obama or Sen. John McCain.

Michael Haifleigh said:

Dennis,

I don’t know how I would have felt.

You may be concerned that you are overreacting, and that can be a good thing.

My recommendation is that inquire with the source of the post. Was the first ment to be an example of NLP technology? I noticed that you said “supposedly” in you post regarding this video. Was the second video intended to illustrate another aspect of NLP?

Allow your conclusion to remain fluid, or allow it to exist as a possible conclusion until you acquire more information.

You may want to quickly compose your inquiry, and then take the following steps:
Get clarity on how you feel about all the people you mentioned in the second video. And the instructor in question.
Set that all aside, reread your inquiry and ask yourself if it composed in such a way as to provoke the intended recipient.

You may want to just ask for the facts of the matter. Once you have those you may be in a better (more certain) place to decide from.

Namaste,
(with reverence to you)
(love, integrity, wisdom, and peace)

Michael

[Dennis Atkinson]

You can find them on YouTube under Fox News.

Fable Goodman said:

I don't know the characters involved, as I never follow the news, on television, radio or the newspapers...

I have heaerd of Obama, and know that he is a president, but I have no interest in it.

If anyone purporting to give training in hypnosis or related subjests such as NLP sent me those clips, I would certtainly rule them out of my list of people I would like to train with.

I think you are not over reacting, you are using your own best judgement.
Love and hugs,

fable

[Ed Lester]

Hi Dennis

I'd say go with your gut. I'm sure you're right.

Stay off the mailing list for a few weeks, then if you want to go back on, resubscribe at at later date when you've had some space and time to get clear on your thoughts.

Good Luck!

Ed Lester
The Hypnotherapy Report

[Kerry]

Awe man...Ed...you stole my answer...lol

Always go with your gut...Always...then don't worry about your decision.

[Michael Ellner]

Hi Dennis,

In my experience -- When I found myself wondering if I might be over-reacting - I was... Just my experience.

If I didn't think an offering was above board - I would immediately share my concerns and keep an open mind. I am open to studying with some one who I believe has something to offer - even if I don't like everything they put out there...

Warmest regards,
Michael E.

[Kevin Cole]

Hi Dennis,

I'm going to go ahead and go slightly against the grain here a bit and add a slightly different perspective.

As an NLP & hypnosis instructor myself, (and no, I'm not the one that sent the videos. As a rule of thumb, I stay far away from politics) let me invite you to use this as an opportunity to practice one of the many things you will learn at a training... Advanced communication skills.

Personally, I would seriously encourage you to contact this trainer direct. If you are unable to actually speak to the trainer (which is possible as I know with some, you can't) you may/may not take that as a sign that training with him/her is not the right decision for you.

However, if you are able to communicate your concerns with the trainer, you may actually find that one or both of you are *deleting, distorting, and or generalizing* the situation. Strange NLP lingo I know but it simply means that he may not have meant anything by it.

I can remember once, I was teaching a course and discussing the fact that I almost never intentionally lead a client into a past life regression. If they end up in a past life as I regress them, I work with it but I don't intentionally take them there and little to my knowledge at the time, I had infuriated a student that happened to work with client ONLY doing PLR.

Well, when I saw the feedback form that expressed her outrage I called her up and we talked about it. She understood my reasoning behind it and realized that I was in no way attacking what she does for a living. Simply expressing my experiences and why I never intentionally take someone into a past life to look for problems, unless someone else has done so with that same client and unfortunately did not know how to make certain that the client had completely changed the way they felt about that situation.

Obviously there's a big difference between a student upset over my thoughts on PLR and yours regarding him using politics as a way to teach NLP but my point really is, you may be surprised to discover his intentions are very different then what your *gut* is saying. And... you may find that your gut is absolutely right. Either way, you get a chance to practice advanced communication skills along with test the instructors out as well.

If he takes it as sincere feedback and explains his intentions in a way that you feel is ethical, you may find yourself with a new trainer and potentially a new friend...

If he just gets defensive and or tries to use sleazy language patterns/sleight of mouth on you, you may want to just let it go, thank your gut, and look for another trainer.

Either way sounds like a win/win to me.

Just my 2 cents...

[Richard Nongard - HypnosisGurus.com]

At first I thought you ordered something from this guy, and if that had been the case, I would be ticked if instead I got political education.

But that is not the case. It appears as if the person who is a teacher posted something on a forum similar to this, or similar to a yahoo group, or some form of public website, where he exposed his political bias.

I have no problem with people exposing thier biases, in fact I do it all the time in my youtube videos. At first it sounded like you ordered one product and got something other than what you expected. But that is not the case, and I think many of the resonses here are predicated on that same mistake I made about the situation.

I say big deal, he has a political belief that appartly you don't share, and is public about his beliefs on another forum, and in some way thinks his beliefs have a relationship to what he teaches (which may or may not be true).

Chances are pretty good that the training has NOTHING to do with his posts on a forum about his own beliefs or biases, and he will probaly stick to the topic he has been paid to present. That being said, you can expect his world view to be one represented by these videos, but there is much more to a world view than two videos, so I doubt it really have any importance in the grand scheme of things on the subject of his trainings or seminars.

My guess is that you hold a political vantagepoint that is contrary to his, and responded with a viceral distain for his type of prostelization. This may not even have been conscious on your part, but remember: "Politics *IS* religion." (Which also explains why some people adhere to even the most irrational political beliefs and actions, depsite evidence to the contrary.....)

Just my 2 cents....

Richard