One of the funnier patterns that you can’t unsee is how the New York Times works hard to make many of its article more boring than they have to be to avoid upsetting the delicate amour propre of subscribers.
From the New York Times news section:
Ex-Google Contractor Settles Lawsuit Over Religious Sect
The suit claimed that the Fellowship of Friends, an obscure group based in the Sierra Nevada foothills, gained influence inside Google.
The entrance to the Fellowship of Friends in Oregon House, Calif. Credit…Rozette Rago for The New York Times
By Cade Metz
Cade Metz, based in San Francisco, has followed developments on this story since early this year.Dec. 19, 2022
A former video producer for Google has settled a lawsuit that claimed he was fired after he complained that a religious sect had gained a foothold inside a business unit of the company.
Look at all those American flags the religious sect is flying!
Kevin Lloyd, 34, said in the suit that he had been fired after complaining that the Fellowship of Friends, a religious organization based in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains,
Obviously, some redneck Christian church up in foothills
dominated a business unit called Google Developer Studios, which makes videos showcasing the company’s technologies.
The suit claimed that the leader of the business unit — Peter Lubbers, a longtime member of the Fellowship of Friends — hired many of the religious group’s members onto the team as contractors, helped some advance to full-time positions and gave work to many others when staffing company conferences and parties.
… Mr. Lloyd last year brought the suit against both Google and Advanced Systems Group, or ASG, a staffing company that brought him into Google as a contractor. It accused both companies of violating a California employment law that protects workers from discrimination.
Christians are always going around discriminating, aren’t they?
The suit raised questions about Google’s dependence on contract employees, who now outnumber full-time workers inside the company. Most of Mr. Lloyd’s team joined the company through ASG as contractors, including many members of the Fellowship.
Mr. Lloyd agreed to settle the suit last week. Terms of the settlement — which was between Mr. Lloyd and ASG — were not disclosed.
Founded by a former schoolteacher named Robert Earl Burton in 1970, the Fellowship of Friends describes itself as “available to anyone interested in pursuing the spiritual work of awakening.” It claims about 1,500 members around the world, including roughly 500 in and around Oregon House, Calif., a tiny town about 180 miles north of Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters.
Mr. Burton believed people could achieve a higher consciousness by embracing the fine arts. Over the decades, he cultivated an extravagant lifestyle with help from his followers, who often donated 10 percent of their monthly earnings to the organization.
One of these Christian preacher sex fiends knocking up all the girls.
In 1984, a former member filed a lawsuit claiming that young men who joined the organization “had been forcefully and unlawfully sexually seduced by Burton.” In 1996, another former member accused Mr. Burton of sexual misconduct with him when he was a minor.
Fortunately, I stopped reading before the reporter got to the gay stuff.
Now, here’s how the Daily Mail’s earlier version of this story from last summer starts off:
By HARRIET ALEXANDER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 22:30 EST, 23 June 2022 | UPDATED: 08:23 EST, 24 June 2022
An apocalyptic ‘cult’ led by an eccentric misogynist accused of sexual abuse of young men has taken over a division of Google, a whistleblower has claimed.
… ‘Plaintiff’s preliminary research into Oregon House and the Fellowship of Friends described the Fellowship as a destructive cult, with a pedophilic leader who makes false prophecies about the end of the world,’ the lawsuit claims. …
He said it slowly dawned on him that many of the people he met at GDS were from the same small Californian town, 180 miles north of Google’s Silicon Valley home, in Mountain View….
Burton, believed to be now aged in his early 80s, sought to create a center celebrating the fine arts – with opera, ballet, works of art and literature the focus.
… But critics claimed that he had sexually abused new members of his group – in particular young boys.
In 1984 a former member filed a $2.75 million lawsuit claiming that young men who joined the organization ‘had been forcefully and unlawfully sexually seduced by Burton,’ according to documents obtained by The New York Times.
In 1996, another former member accused Burton in a law suit of sexual misconduct with him while he was minor. Both suits were settled out of court. …
Burton based his faith system on a philosophy called the Fourth Way, founded by an Armenian philosopher and mystic, George Gurdjieff, who lived from 1866 to 1949.
Burton adopted Gurdjieff’s believe that people are in a hypnotic ‘waking sleep’, and need to work on themselves through studying art, music and literature.
He named his 1,200-acre headquarters Apollo, and his 1,800 followers gave 10 percent of their earnings to the organization – which spent the money on art, fine wine and culture.
Other critics said that the group was strongly anti-women, and celebrated white European men above all.
There are even funnier pictures available online at a tell-all blog called RobertEarlBurton.blogspotcom, such as:
The entrance to the Fellowship of Friends in Oregon House, Calif. Credit…Rozette Rago for The New York Times
