{"id":1191,"date":"2016-06-01T08:08:44","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T13:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ubfriends.net\/?p=1191"},"modified":"2016-09-22T08:28:47","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T13:28:47","slug":"improving-your-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/improving-your-image\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving Your Image"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lp\"<\/a>Someone asked me this week about why the negative articles about UBF are all from the 1980’s and 1990’s, with almost no recent articles. Did UBF suddenly get better since the death of Samuel Lee in 2002<\/a>? Here is my answer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Come into the light?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we know, UBF missionaries from the “hermit nation” of Korea hate one thing above all else – publicity. They really don’t want to come into the light of public scrutiny. At the same time, they are highly concerned about their image. What people say about UBF is of utmost importance to most UBF people. They naturally want to control who says what about them. That is why they either fear me or hate me or dismiss me– I am a loose cannon.<\/p>\n

How UBF is attempting to improve\u00a0their public image<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is a timeline of events…<\/p>\n

2002 Samuel Lee dies in a fire in Chicago<\/a>\u00a0(January 8, 2002, at 12:50 p.m)
\n2003 Former member discussions explode on the internet<\/a> and elsewhere
\n2004 Former members send petition to remove UBF from the NAE<\/a>
\n2005 The online discussion forum for former members shuts down
\n2007 UBF initiates a lawsuit against a former member website
\n2008 UBF re-joins the NAE and joins the ECFA<\/a>
\n2009 UBF gathers numerous letters of recommendation<\/p>\n

The Fourth Reform\/Crisis Event<\/strong><\/p>\n

Things seemed to be going well up to this point. The three major reform situations in the short history of the group<\/a>, in 1976, 1989 and 2000, seemed to be in the past. Many members breathed a sigh of relief. “God silenced\u00a0all critics!”…they later claimed boldly\u00a0in a 2012 UBF newsletter.<\/p>\n

But already in 2010, a fourth event was being sparked. UBF saw a massive exodus of longtime leaders (like my family) in several chapters around the world, in the following years. The group had to focus on many internal problems, and then glorified themselves in a 50th anniversary celebration.<\/p>\n

While the leaders celebrated, Joe Schafer surveyed many members<\/a>. He found that morale was at an all-time low. Many members are frustrated and ready to leave if the cultic nature of the group<\/a> is not addressed soon.<\/p>\n

The Image Improvement Continues<\/strong><\/p>\n

2010 The Fourth Reform\/Crisis Event sees a mass exodus of leaders; low morale
\n2011 The group paints a glorious picture of itself; 50th Anniversary
\n2012 The ubfriends.org<\/a> website kicks into high gear
\n2013 Former member Isabelle publishes her book, “I Choose: Subtlety in Cults”
\n2014 Former member BrianK begins publishing 4 books,”Identity Snatchers”
\n2015 A Korean second gen puplishes her book, “Spirit Moves West”
\n2015 Abuse allegations are reported to police<\/a>\/authorities in two cities
\n2016\u00a0UBF forms a “Wikipedia Improvement Committee”<\/p>\n

What happens next? What events did I miss here?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone asked me this week about why the negative articles about UBF are all from the 1980’s and 1990’s, with almost no recent articles. Did UBF suddenly get better since the death of Samuel Lee in 2002? Here is my answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}