How FREAKING ANYONE with 2 brain cells to rub together could fall for that hack Hubbard’s dreck is utterly beyond me. Some (I say again, SOME) of his writing wasn’t too terribly bad but his alleged “religion” is a steaming pile of fresh excrement!
October 5, 2018 at 2:34 pm
John D. Egbert
As I understand it, L. Ron created Scientology as a sarcastic and ironic take-off on organized religion; no one was more surprised than he when it took off for real . . .
October 5, 2018 at 4:47 pm
John
Which goes to show you the Founders were right to give us a Republic an not a Democracy.
Some people will willingly swallow any number of lies if they think it will profit them.
October 9, 2018 at 2:51 am
RegT
Actually, per Isaac Asimov, L. Ron was playing poker with him and several other writers (I don’t think Robert A. was there at the time) and told the group that he was going to invent his own religion and get rich (he certainly wasn’t getting rich from his writing).
October 5, 2018 at 12:11 am
Delilah T
Quitting cold turkey? Not an easy task, but can be done if there are others nearby.
Is it really that easy? Part of the allure of the left is the position that you are mentally and morally superior to the right (and anyone else). To walk away from the culture of the left would be to admit that you were wrong, very wrong about many things. Can someone give all that baggage up and move on (oops, sorry about that), move forward (oops, sorry again), ….uh begin your life anew? I think that it would just take a new messiah and a leftist would easy go back to being a leftist. After all, this time we have the right person for the right time.
Richard, the character of Skye is certainly intelligent, just rather naive (read: gullible), and more than a bit ignorant, so it’s not implausible for someone like her IRL to be attracted to the idea of being validated as mentally and morally superior, hence the initial and often lasting attraction of the left. But eventually such people reach a… tipping point where they are finally unable to resolve the intellectual and moral ambiguities and inconsistencies of the left through rationalizing them away. Look at the “Walk Away” movement — 2016 and 2017 have been eye-opening for so many would-be/have-have been liberals of both genders, all races, all classes, and all economic levels. The left continues to be the home for those who are determined to remain terminally myopic, whether because of their inherent stupidity or lack of moral courage. There is no cure for the former — I’m of the opinion that Mark 14:7 has always been mistranslated, and should read “The poor in intellect you will always have with you.” The cure for the latter is almost as difficult, but not impossible — it just takes one helluva support group….
Leftism, like its bastard child fascism, will always survive in some form for the same reason that tribalism does. All create an “in group” that validates the “feelings” of the members. And all have a common philosophy (based on primitivism and in most cases Eastern mysticism) which exalts “feelings” above facts.
As for where its adherents come from,
Eon’s Laws
First Law
Human beings choose to follow belief systems, religious, political, or otherwise, which sanctify the sort of actions they would do anyway. The belief system just lets them feel self-righteous about what they want to do to others.
All of these beliefs exist because of the darkness in the human soul. That darkness can be resisted or rejected, but it can never be reasoned with.
Leftism and etc. will always exist because man is an imperfect creature, and some men see their own imperfections as sterling merits. They are the ones most likely to try to “perfect” humanity by making it more like themselves- or at least making it obey them without question.
Referring back to the Spenser novel I referenced yesterday, somebody may see themselves as “perfectly serious and perfectly right”, but they’re only half correct. Nobody is ever “perfectly right”, because that would require infallibility, and even Himself never got that, or even claimed it. (See Genesis, the Flood, the NT, and St. Augustine’s Incompatible Triad.)
But those who believe in their own absolute perfection will always cleave to beliefs that tell them how right they are. Which is what “progressivism” is all about;
“You’re so wonderful and special! You deserve to rule! Anybody who doesn’t agree is evil and it’s not only OK to destroy them, it’s your duty to do so in order to create Utopia!”
And here you and I and everyone else are, telling them, “Sorry, but you;re not wonderful and special and better. You’re just like everybody else, and just as likely to be wrong about things.”
Given the type of egos involved, who do you think they’ll listen to?
I don’t know about the “messiah” part (BTW, wasn’t that what O’Bozo was supposed to be?) but every former red-diaper lib/prog I’ve ever encountered was more like a former smoker. Former smokers appear to actively DETEST the merest whiff of tobacco smoke. Look at Michael Medved and David Horowitz. Red-diaper babies both; but solid (for the most part) conservatives now.
Leftism and Scientology are not mutually exclusive entities or philosophies. While the former is mostly areligious and the latter professes to be mostly apolitical it doesn’t matter because leftism is not really about politics and Scientology is not really about religion.
What they both are, is about very centralized power and control, mandatory dogmatized groupthink, and money.
So yeah, hard to break those ties that bind, but as Skye is learning and doing, it can be done. Butter brickle ice cream or hand-churned vanilla though? Not so much.
Yet collectivism is like hive/swarm mentality where the individual is inconsequential compared to the “greater good” whatever that means.
October 5, 2018 at 11:42 pm
TomZ
The “greater good” is what dear leader wants.
October 5, 2018 at 8:55 am
Old Codger
Leftism and Scientology mutually exclusive? To me they would appear to be not only compatible but highly so – like a couple married 20 years with 21 children and no multiple births.
“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others… We are different from all the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we’re doing… Power is not a means, it is an end… The object of power is power… Always there will be the intoxication of power… We are the priests of power… Power is power over human beings, over the body; but above all over the mind… The real power; the power we have to fight for night and day is not power over things but over men. How does one man assert his power over another… by making him suffer… Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.” George Orwell- 1984
Power, obviously, which is why so few do so (at least not willingly).
“[T]hink about other great military commanders and revolutionary leaders before and after Washington-Caesar, Cromwell, Napoleon, Lenin. They all seized the power they had won and held it until death or military defeat.” ( https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/man-who-would-not-be-king )
Power, obviously, which is why so few do so (at least not willingly) . . . [Caesar, Cromwell, Napoleon, Lenin] all seized the power they had won and held it until death or military defeat.
Which is why I expect O’Bozo to pull something on or before inauguration day last year. To my mind O’Bozo became President as the result of a coup. I was surprised when he actually stepped down rather than precipitating a constitutional crisis by refusing to do so. I half expect him to have needed to be dragged out of 600 Penn kicking and screaming.
October 5, 2018 at 1:02 pm
interventor
What made Washington great was becoming the commander of the army. Then, leaving. Same for President. Napoleon, in his old age, “They wanted me to be like Washington.”
October 5, 2018 at 2:18 am
Brett
Chris, I don’t guess if occurred to you that one of your long-time supporters IS a Scientologist. Don’t believe everything you hear about us. Just like you ought not believe everything you hear about Judge Kavanaugh.
I’d bet he’s considered that his supporters consist of all manner of whacko’s. I of course am firmly in the camp of “angrywhitemalechauvanistpigrightwingextremistaphobes” 😉
But hey, how we self identify is our own business.
I’m not sure how you can believe in it but hey, to paraphrase Jefferson, what you believe neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket. Until it does so I don’t care what you do or believe so long as it doesn’t slop over into my back yard.
It would be very nice if those who have no first-hand knowledge of a subject refrained from pejorative allegations for which they have no no evidence.
Isn’t that kind of the theme of the moment – people alleging things as a means of character assassination when they have no evidence or proof?
For the record, Scientology is as far from Liberalism as you can get.
Leaving the church, so long as you do not make a big public display of it and cast aspersions as a way of lining your own pockets at the expense of those who choose to remain, is a non-event. Participation at any level is ALWAYS entirely voluntary.
Please don’t act like Diane Feinstein and Chucky Schumer on one hand and then pretend you are somehow oh so Libertarian or Conservative on the other. It makes you look foolish.
Calvin, regarding Scientology, I have to confess that my opinion, such as it is and what there is of it, of Scientology and Hubbard’s overall body of work has been shaped not by the egotistical antics of the Hollyweird ilk, but by a very limited number of encounters with acolytes and true believers, whose sincerity I didn’t doubt but whose situational awareness was almost non-existent. Back in the day when BEA mattered to the industry, I was a regular attendee, and the Hubbard organization always had an enormous “Dianetics” complex set up as close as possible to the center of whichever convention center in which BEA was set up that year — only Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan, Time-Warner, and Simon & Schuster had bigger footprints. It was necessary to attend only one or two before you learned which parts of the main floor to avoid if you were trying to get from Point A to Point B in as short a time as possible — the Dianetics set-up being at the top of that list. However, on two separate occasions, one in DC and one in New York at the Javits, I was late for an event in which my participation was mandatory and I made the mistake of simply taking a straight line to get there — which took me through the Dianetics “booth.” (I’m still trying to figure out how a set-up that occupied more square feet than did my apartment at the time qualified as a “booth,” but that’s another discussion.) Both times I was buttonholed by one of the display workers/presenters who tried to interest and engage me in “learning more about Dianetics.” Well, I was raised to not be rude if it can ever be avoided (a handicap from which I was only beginning to recover at the time), and so tried to extricate myself as politely as possible, but the (very good-looking) young woman (both times, though not the same one) simply ignored my extremely civil pleas to be excused from further discussion and continued with her (obviously canned) dog-and-pony show. The first time I finally told the young woman, “Look, I have a book signing that starts in two minutes, and if I keep listening to you, I’m going to be late, which won’t do my career any good. Thank you, goodbye!” and left at a trot. The second time, this one in NYC, when I tried to explain that an event was about to begin that couldn’t start until I got there, the young woman continued to talk as if she hadn’t heard me, I simply waved her away and took off at as fast a walk as I could manage. Rude, I know, but it had to be done.
My point here is that, while there are no doubt many, many practicing Scientologists who are by any reasonable standard more-than-adequately adjusted personalities who are integral parts of their community and never bother their friends and neighbors with attempts at proselytizing, the overall public image/perception of Scientology has been molded by a host of similar experiences, while the antics of Tom Cruise, John Travolta, et al simply reinforce the idea that “there’s something wrong with those people.” In that sense, the resemblances, which, granted, may only be superificial, between Leftism and Scientology in terms of their methods are such that many people who have rejected both lump them together in the same basket. Strident, tone-deaf, thoroughly convinced that the “urgency” of their message overrides all other considerations and circumstances, and unwilling to engage, only declaim. In both instances I’ve mentioned, if I’d been allowed to disengage in order to attend to my own responsibilities, I would have been willing to return later and explore what was being presented. The fact that neither time was I offered an opportunity to do so simply drove me to resolving not to do so. Yes, Scientology and Leftism may be far removed from each other philosophically, but in terms of methodology there’s isn’t, in my own personal experience, much compelling about either one.
Sounds to me like those recruiters were a lot like Jehovah’s Witnesses. I tried just answering their opening question, “Would you like/Do you want to live forever?” to which my stock answer was always “Oh heavens no! Why any allegedly benevolent, loving deity could condemn temporal beings to life eternal is beyond me!”. Eventually I found another, more direct way to convince them to leave me alone. But it took some work and embarrassing them no end to do it.
In my mind what both young women were doing became rude ind unmannerly after the first brush-off attempt. Nothing wrong with walking off after that!
OC, my son solved the JW problem creatively and completely;
When he lived in North Ga. there was a major campaign going on in his town to the extent a pair would show up on his doorstep every day sometimes twice a day in spite of a civil “not interested”.
So he was forced to take a decidedly uncivil (and hilariously effective) approach by drawing a couple of chalk crime scene outlines of bodies clutching a handful of pamphlets at his front door. Couple different teams stopped by, but never knocked and never came back. 🙂
October 5, 2018 at 1:05 pm
interventor
Just tell them the reb said the same thing at temple.
Liberalism and Scientology both offer approval of a herd mentality, with no disapproval for behavior that is socially unacceptable and either tries to terrify the target into submission or makes the people involved look like crazed and possibly rabid animals. “Anything goes” and you are the target. And you, poor soul, won’t be allowed to leave unless you turn on them fiercely, which makes you the Bad Guy, even though they provoked you.
Some company sells rape alert kits online: pepper spray, whistle, ninja face puncher… One must, I guess, be prepared to be accosted by these braindead acolytes of Da Stupid, even if you’re simply waiting for the bus, to get to work.
One of the adherents upthread said something about not prejudging without proof and that Scientology was far from the precepts of Leftism, and then proceeded to prejudge everyone else here without proof which is as leftist as it gets.
Proof? My daughter and family are lifelong members of Oldsmar Baptist Church and School where she is a fourth-grade teacher. Oldsmar/Clearwater/St. Pete are hard by one another and you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in her congregation or anywhere in that area without personal negative contacts and anecdotes with the LRH machine which has its main headquarters there…power plays, coercion, proselytizing, intimidation, even outright corruption in dealing with local govs to get what they want.
Nobody said they were “liberals/progressives”…in fact the left has tried to say DJT is aligned with them because he believes and pushes freedom of political choice for religious groups and of course libs/progs detest everything religious. So yeah, it’s not their philosophy on beliefs but on their tactics that make them radical leftists.
Hell, they could write the book of tactics as to achieving and maintaining power, control, and money…a virtual leftist playbook. Maybe call it something obscure, like…Dianetics.
In regards to JW proselytizing I just refer to my Uncle John who lost every religious argument to my Father, and my Father used Uncle John’s own Bible (Authorized Version of course) against him. For Scientologists and others, I listen if I have the time and refute where I can; otherwise, I point out that I am old enough that life in prison without parole has no terrors for me. They usually get the implication and leave. I did have to say on occasion that if they did not leave me alone, I would kill them. That, they understood.
“THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN CONTROL PEOPLE IS TO LIE TO THEM.
You can write that down in your book in great big letters.”
L. Ron Hubbard Technique 88
“MAKE MONEY. MAKE MORE MONEY. MAKE OTHER PEOPLE PRODUCE SO AS TO MAKE MORE MONEY.”
– L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, 9 March 1972, MS OEC 384
Sorry. Not sorry.
I read all kinds of his stuff back when he wrote about it. I figured he would pull it off and he did. The part I always liked is he wrote what he was going to do and why. It is all there in black and white. Believe if you want to.
I had a cousin from Chicago, who I haven’t seen since the 70s, give both of her young teenage daughters to Scientologists, who shipped them off to Florida, smiling all the way sometime in early the early 2000’s. Child abuse? Tantamount to complicity in any number of atrocities sanctioned as religion? The group-think involved in turning the masses into mobs, whether political or religious or politically religious, or areligious or nihilists, is damned dangerous. Should we have an open door policy for those leaving leftist enclaves…Except in Texas, and rural Oregon, or rural Washington. They’ve messed up their own spaces. Let them clean them first.
I think Eon said it best and summed up the current situation with Kavanaugh, protesters. They are subject to micro-aggression triggers, anything that can be deemed offensive is offensive. They were taught since they were young that they were special, exceptional, deserved a trophy, deserved a pony, must have a pony and be special lest they be damaged and someone was to blame and that someone didn’t think like they did so they were bad people deserving of scorn or worse. I can’t think of anything more harmful to people than to not be tested by adversity from early on and throughout their lives (with the hope that it isn’t dramatic adversity of the kind that kills you…Heidegger excluded).
I am at this moment reminded of the profound 11/16 words of commenter Petercat (whatever happened to him?) upon learning that Donald J. Trump had carried Florida and therefore was ensured of becoming President of the United States…
Amen to all above, except that Scientology can’t be taken seriously as a religion or a sane state of conciousness… As a support group for whatever shortcoming you’re currently battling; maybe. Good points all round.
Anyone besides me follow the Doxing ex-Staffer (got fired by Sheila Jackson-Lee) who doxxed 5 Congress critters and threatened to do the same to their children?
Jackson Cosko is his name. He got into the Senate office building and was caught using a senator’s computer illegally to dox those people and sent the staffer who caught him an e-mail threatening to release the health info about Senators’ children, among other things.
He has been arrested, sitting no in WDC jail awaiting a hearing (and of course, he’s innocent until proven guilty, despite the eyewitness evidence against him), but he faces as much as 15 years in a Federal prison.
This may be the reason Collins and Manchin (and possibly Flake, too) have said they will support Kavanaugh’s confirmation. You can find the article at The Hill. More to come on that, so keep an eye on it.
In addition, someone has predicted that the Democrats will overwhelmingly take over both Houses of Congress in the midterms. So to prevent this very thing, I strongly urge you to hold your noses and vote Republican, even if you do not like the candidates very much.
On the WaPo’s society page today was an engagement announcement for Jackson Cosko to the guy on the cellblock with the most cigarettes. Best wishes to the happy couple.
Actually D, it appears the Kavanaugh lynching has lit a fire under some conservative ass and bumped midterm polls to the R’s whereas the prog media were all talking up some blue wave just prior. To continue the tidal metaphors, that’s pretty much the same scenario that woke up the reds and resulted in the Preference Cascade that put DT in the big chair about two years ago.
People say how superior and elite these twits are, but they ain’t too quick on the uptake…proving their insanity by repeating their mistakes over and over.
Let us hope they continue to repeat those mistakes for many decades to come,,, at least long enough to use up as much cash as they can milk out of the YouKnowWho funding source. There’s a possibility of an economic recession in 2021 or 2022. Keep an eye on trade wars with China. They’ve imposed a tariff on our farm exports (grains, fruit, etc.) but we have trade agreements for same with Canada and Mexico. Maybe dTrump can negotiate deals with Russia? or the drought-stricken UK/Ireland, and that Grand Socialista (moron) Angela Merkel. We’ll see on that score.
Nothing is ever cast in stone.
Trade war is a prog epithet usually stated as “Trump’s trade war”.
It is a fact a decades overdue levelling of the playing field and a return to fair trade. If China imposes limits coming or going they and theirs will suffer most and they can’t afford it. As to the euroweenies it ain’t up to Merk, Benz and Bimmer have already seen the writing on the wall and are getting in gear to deal with it thusly:
Also lowest unemployment and strongest job growth in 50 years announced today. More wins in a long line of them and if we don’t wimp out, continuing to 2024 and beyond.
60 Comments
Sounds about right, I suppose…
Just ask Katie what it took to get away from them and Tom Cruise. They don’t allow anyone to just walk away from the teachings of L Ron…
How FREAKING ANYONE with 2 brain cells to rub together could fall for that hack Hubbard’s dreck is utterly beyond me. Some (I say again, SOME) of his writing wasn’t too terribly bad but his alleged “religion” is a steaming pile of fresh excrement!
As I understand it, L. Ron created Scientology as a sarcastic and ironic take-off on organized religion; no one was more surprised than he when it took off for real . . .
Which goes to show you the Founders were right to give us a Republic an not a Democracy.
Some people will willingly swallow any number of lies if they think it will profit them.
Actually, per Isaac Asimov, L. Ron was playing poker with him and several other writers (I don’t think Robert A. was there at the time) and told the group that he was going to invent his own religion and get rich (he certainly wasn’t getting rich from his writing).
Quitting cold turkey? Not an easy task, but can be done if there are others nearby.
Is it really that easy? Part of the allure of the left is the position that you are mentally and morally superior to the right (and anyone else). To walk away from the culture of the left would be to admit that you were wrong, very wrong about many things. Can someone give all that baggage up and move on (oops, sorry about that), move forward (oops, sorry again), ….uh begin your life anew? I think that it would just take a new messiah and a leftist would easy go back to being a leftist. After all, this time we have the right person for the right time.
Richard, the character of Skye is certainly intelligent, just rather naive (read: gullible), and more than a bit ignorant, so it’s not implausible for someone like her IRL to be attracted to the idea of being validated as mentally and morally superior, hence the initial and often lasting attraction of the left. But eventually such people reach a… tipping point where they are finally unable to resolve the intellectual and moral ambiguities and inconsistencies of the left through rationalizing them away. Look at the “Walk Away” movement — 2016 and 2017 have been eye-opening for so many would-be/have-have been liberals of both genders, all races, all classes, and all economic levels. The left continues to be the home for those who are determined to remain terminally myopic, whether because of their inherent stupidity or lack of moral courage. There is no cure for the former — I’m of the opinion that Mark 14:7 has always been mistranslated, and should read “The poor in intellect you will always have with you.” The cure for the latter is almost as difficult, but not impossible — it just takes one helluva support group….
Leftism, like its bastard child fascism, will always survive in some form for the same reason that tribalism does. All create an “in group” that validates the “feelings” of the members. And all have a common philosophy (based on primitivism and in most cases Eastern mysticism) which exalts “feelings” above facts.
As for where its adherents come from,
All of these beliefs exist because of the darkness in the human soul. That darkness can be resisted or rejected, but it can never be reasoned with.
Leftism and etc. will always exist because man is an imperfect creature, and some men see their own imperfections as sterling merits. They are the ones most likely to try to “perfect” humanity by making it more like themselves- or at least making it obey them without question.
Referring back to the Spenser novel I referenced yesterday, somebody may see themselves as “perfectly serious and perfectly right”, but they’re only half correct. Nobody is ever “perfectly right”, because that would require infallibility, and even Himself never got that, or even claimed it. (See Genesis, the Flood, the NT, and St. Augustine’s Incompatible Triad.)
But those who believe in their own absolute perfection will always cleave to beliefs that tell them how right they are. Which is what “progressivism” is all about;
And here you and I and everyone else are, telling them, “Sorry, but you;re not wonderful and special and better. You’re just like everybody else, and just as likely to be wrong about things.”
Given the type of egos involved, who do you think they’ll listen to?
clear ether
eon
And, Utopia is Greek for “No Such Place!”
I don’t know about the “messiah” part (BTW, wasn’t that what O’Bozo was supposed to be?) but every former red-diaper lib/prog I’ve ever encountered was more like a former smoker. Former smokers appear to actively DETEST the merest whiff of tobacco smoke. Look at Michael Medved and David Horowitz. Red-diaper babies both; but solid (for the most part) conservatives now.
And Socialism WILL work if _I_ am in charge! :/
She’s giving chastity a try…
Not willingly, I think…
Who would of thought that Skye would become an INCEL?
Anybody who knew her before her conversion? I mean, the body is primo – no argument – but what was under the hood was downright SCARY!
Old Codger, are you implying that Skye has an electrical system by Lucas, like an old TR3?
For really good butter-brickle I think most girls might be surprised to discover what they find themselves doing.
Leftism and Scientology are not mutually exclusive entities or philosophies. While the former is mostly areligious and the latter professes to be mostly apolitical it doesn’t matter because leftism is not really about politics and Scientology is not really about religion.
What they both are, is about very centralized power and control, mandatory dogmatized groupthink, and money.
So yeah, hard to break those ties that bind, but as Skye is learning and doing, it can be done. Butter brickle ice cream or hand-churned vanilla though? Not so much.
Leftism is very religious. They just don’t believe in a god higher than themselves.
Yet collectivism is like hive/swarm mentality where the individual is inconsequential compared to the “greater good” whatever that means.
The “greater good” is what dear leader wants.
Leftism and Scientology mutually exclusive? To me they would appear to be not only compatible but highly so – like a couple married 20 years with 21 children and no multiple births.
“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others… We are different from all the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we’re doing… Power is not a means, it is an end… The object of power is power… Always there will be the intoxication of power… We are the priests of power… Power is power over human beings, over the body; but above all over the mind… The real power; the power we have to fight for night and day is not power over things but over men. How does one man assert his power over another… by making him suffer… Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.” George Orwell- 1984
Zar Belk!
Ya got to give it up baby, and show me where it’s at…
https://youtu.be/HBzDKW3y2rw
What’s harder to give up? Alcohol, Meth or Power…
Power, obviously, which is why so few do so (at least not willingly).
“[T]hink about other great military commanders and revolutionary leaders before and after Washington-Caesar, Cromwell, Napoleon, Lenin. They all seized the power they had won and held it until death or military defeat.” ( https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/man-who-would-not-be-king )
Which is why I expect O’Bozo to pull something on or before inauguration day last year. To my mind O’Bozo became President as the result of a coup. I was surprised when he actually stepped down rather than precipitating a constitutional crisis by refusing to do so. I half expect him to have needed to be dragged out of 600 Penn kicking and screaming.
What made Washington great was becoming the commander of the army. Then, leaving. Same for President. Napoleon, in his old age, “They wanted me to be like Washington.”
Chris, I don’t guess if occurred to you that one of your long-time supporters IS a Scientologist. Don’t believe everything you hear about us. Just like you ought not believe everything you hear about Judge Kavanaugh.
I’d bet he’s considered that his supporters consist of all manner of whacko’s. I of course am firmly in the camp of “angrywhitemalechauvanistpigrightwingextremistaphobes” 😉
But hey, how we self identify is our own business.
I’m not sure how you can believe in it but hey, to paraphrase Jefferson, what you believe neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket. Until it does so I don’t care what you do or believe so long as it doesn’t slop over into my back yard.
There it is.
It would be very nice if those who have no first-hand knowledge of a subject refrained from pejorative allegations for which they have no no evidence.
Isn’t that kind of the theme of the moment – people alleging things as a means of character assassination when they have no evidence or proof?
For the record, Scientology is as far from Liberalism as you can get.
Leaving the church, so long as you do not make a big public display of it and cast aspersions as a way of lining your own pockets at the expense of those who choose to remain, is a non-event. Participation at any level is ALWAYS entirely voluntary.
Please don’t act like Diane Feinstein and Chucky Schumer on one hand and then pretend you are somehow oh so Libertarian or Conservative on the other. It makes you look foolish.
Hoooo boy.
No.
Let’s all gather ’round the campfire and sing “Kumbaya” in three-part harmony….
Sorry, I don’t know where “Richard” came from, I meant “Calvin.” Apologies.
Calvin, regarding Scientology, I have to confess that my opinion, such as it is and what there is of it, of Scientology and Hubbard’s overall body of work has been shaped not by the egotistical antics of the Hollyweird ilk, but by a very limited number of encounters with acolytes and true believers, whose sincerity I didn’t doubt but whose situational awareness was almost non-existent. Back in the day when BEA mattered to the industry, I was a regular attendee, and the Hubbard organization always had an enormous “Dianetics” complex set up as close as possible to the center of whichever convention center in which BEA was set up that year — only Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan, Time-Warner, and Simon & Schuster had bigger footprints. It was necessary to attend only one or two before you learned which parts of the main floor to avoid if you were trying to get from Point A to Point B in as short a time as possible — the Dianetics set-up being at the top of that list. However, on two separate occasions, one in DC and one in New York at the Javits, I was late for an event in which my participation was mandatory and I made the mistake of simply taking a straight line to get there — which took me through the Dianetics “booth.” (I’m still trying to figure out how a set-up that occupied more square feet than did my apartment at the time qualified as a “booth,” but that’s another discussion.) Both times I was buttonholed by one of the display workers/presenters who tried to interest and engage me in “learning more about Dianetics.” Well, I was raised to not be rude if it can ever be avoided (a handicap from which I was only beginning to recover at the time), and so tried to extricate myself as politely as possible, but the (very good-looking) young woman (both times, though not the same one) simply ignored my extremely civil pleas to be excused from further discussion and continued with her (obviously canned) dog-and-pony show. The first time I finally told the young woman, “Look, I have a book signing that starts in two minutes, and if I keep listening to you, I’m going to be late, which won’t do my career any good. Thank you, goodbye!” and left at a trot. The second time, this one in NYC, when I tried to explain that an event was about to begin that couldn’t start until I got there, the young woman continued to talk as if she hadn’t heard me, I simply waved her away and took off at as fast a walk as I could manage. Rude, I know, but it had to be done.
My point here is that, while there are no doubt many, many practicing Scientologists who are by any reasonable standard more-than-adequately adjusted personalities who are integral parts of their community and never bother their friends and neighbors with attempts at proselytizing, the overall public image/perception of Scientology has been molded by a host of similar experiences, while the antics of Tom Cruise, John Travolta, et al simply reinforce the idea that “there’s something wrong with those people.” In that sense, the resemblances, which, granted, may only be superificial, between Leftism and Scientology in terms of their methods are such that many people who have rejected both lump them together in the same basket. Strident, tone-deaf, thoroughly convinced that the “urgency” of their message overrides all other considerations and circumstances, and unwilling to engage, only declaim. In both instances I’ve mentioned, if I’d been allowed to disengage in order to attend to my own responsibilities, I would have been willing to return later and explore what was being presented. The fact that neither time was I offered an opportunity to do so simply drove me to resolving not to do so. Yes, Scientology and Leftism may be far removed from each other philosophically, but in terms of methodology there’s isn’t, in my own personal experience, much compelling about either one.
Keep it tight.
Sounds to me like those recruiters were a lot like Jehovah’s Witnesses. I tried just answering their opening question, “Would you like/Do you want to live forever?” to which my stock answer was always “Oh heavens no! Why any allegedly benevolent, loving deity could condemn temporal beings to life eternal is beyond me!”. Eventually I found another, more direct way to convince them to leave me alone. But it took some work and embarrassing them no end to do it.
In my mind what both young women were doing became rude ind unmannerly after the first brush-off attempt. Nothing wrong with walking off after that!
OC, my son solved the JW problem creatively and completely;
When he lived in North Ga. there was a major campaign going on in his town to the extent a pair would show up on his doorstep every day sometimes twice a day in spite of a civil “not interested”.
So he was forced to take a decidedly uncivil (and hilariously effective) approach by drawing a couple of chalk crime scene outlines of bodies clutching a handful of pamphlets at his front door. Couple different teams stopped by, but never knocked and never came back. 🙂
Just tell them the reb said the same thing at temple.
What happened to Sky’s tattoos?
She had them removed long ago.
Liberalism and Scientology both offer approval of a herd mentality, with no disapproval for behavior that is socially unacceptable and either tries to terrify the target into submission or makes the people involved look like crazed and possibly rabid animals. “Anything goes” and you are the target. And you, poor soul, won’t be allowed to leave unless you turn on them fiercely, which makes you the Bad Guy, even though they provoked you.
Some company sells rape alert kits online: pepper spray, whistle, ninja face puncher… One must, I guess, be prepared to be accosted by these braindead acolytes of Da Stupid, even if you’re simply waiting for the bus, to get to work.
One of the adherents upthread said something about not prejudging without proof and that Scientology was far from the precepts of Leftism, and then proceeded to prejudge everyone else here without proof which is as leftist as it gets.
Proof? My daughter and family are lifelong members of Oldsmar Baptist Church and School where she is a fourth-grade teacher. Oldsmar/Clearwater/St. Pete are hard by one another and you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in her congregation or anywhere in that area without personal negative contacts and anecdotes with the LRH machine which has its main headquarters there…power plays, coercion, proselytizing, intimidation, even outright corruption in dealing with local govs to get what they want.
Nobody said they were “liberals/progressives”…in fact the left has tried to say DJT is aligned with them because he believes and pushes freedom of political choice for religious groups and of course libs/progs detest everything religious. So yeah, it’s not their philosophy on beliefs but on their tactics that make them radical leftists.
Hell, they could write the book of tactics as to achieving and maintaining power, control, and money…a virtual leftist playbook. Maybe call it something obscure, like…Dianetics.
In regards to JW proselytizing I just refer to my Uncle John who lost every religious argument to my Father, and my Father used Uncle John’s own Bible (Authorized Version of course) against him. For Scientologists and others, I listen if I have the time and refute where I can; otherwise, I point out that I am old enough that life in prison without parole has no terrors for me. They usually get the implication and leave. I did have to say on occasion that if they did not leave me alone, I would kill them. That, they understood.
“You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.”
― L. Ron Hubbard
“THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN CONTROL PEOPLE IS TO LIE TO THEM.
You can write that down in your book in great big letters.”
L. Ron Hubbard Technique 88
“MAKE MONEY. MAKE MORE MONEY. MAKE OTHER PEOPLE PRODUCE SO AS TO MAKE MORE MONEY.”
– L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, 9 March 1972, MS OEC 384
Sorry. Not sorry.
I read all kinds of his stuff back when he wrote about it. I figured he would pull it off and he did. The part I always liked is he wrote what he was going to do and why. It is all there in black and white. Believe if you want to.
I had a cousin from Chicago, who I haven’t seen since the 70s, give both of her young teenage daughters to Scientologists, who shipped them off to Florida, smiling all the way sometime in early the early 2000’s. Child abuse? Tantamount to complicity in any number of atrocities sanctioned as religion? The group-think involved in turning the masses into mobs, whether political or religious or politically religious, or areligious or nihilists, is damned dangerous. Should we have an open door policy for those leaving leftist enclaves…Except in Texas, and rural Oregon, or rural Washington. They’ve messed up their own spaces. Let them clean them first.
I think Eon said it best and summed up the current situation with Kavanaugh, protesters. They are subject to micro-aggression triggers, anything that can be deemed offensive is offensive. They were taught since they were young that they were special, exceptional, deserved a trophy, deserved a pony, must have a pony and be special lest they be damaged and someone was to blame and that someone didn’t think like they did so they were bad people deserving of scorn or worse. I can’t think of anything more harmful to people than to not be tested by adversity from early on and throughout their lives (with the hope that it isn’t dramatic adversity of the kind that kills you…Heidegger excluded).
Somehow my train of thought on this toon today led me to Patty Paiwanski. But in a good way. The visuals would be truly outstanding, cult or no…
I am at this moment reminded of the profound 11/16 words of commenter Petercat (whatever happened to him?) upon learning that Donald J. Trump had carried Florida and therefore was ensured of becoming President of the United States…
“YIPPEE KI YAY, MOTHER FUCKER!!!”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/collins-and-manchin-will-vote-for-kavanaugh-ensuring-his-confirmation/ar-BBNYZN4?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout
(Petercat’s words in turn quoted from Die Hard of course) 🙂
Amen to all above, except that Scientology can’t be taken seriously as a religion or a sane state of conciousness… As a support group for whatever shortcoming you’re currently battling; maybe. Good points all round.
Anyone besides me follow the Doxing ex-Staffer (got fired by Sheila Jackson-Lee) who doxxed 5 Congress critters and threatened to do the same to their children?
Jackson Cosko is his name. He got into the Senate office building and was caught using a senator’s computer illegally to dox those people and sent the staffer who caught him an e-mail threatening to release the health info about Senators’ children, among other things.
He has been arrested, sitting no in WDC jail awaiting a hearing (and of course, he’s innocent until proven guilty, despite the eyewitness evidence against him), but he faces as much as 15 years in a Federal prison.
This may be the reason Collins and Manchin (and possibly Flake, too) have said they will support Kavanaugh’s confirmation. You can find the article at The Hill. More to come on that, so keep an eye on it.
In addition, someone has predicted that the Democrats will overwhelmingly take over both Houses of Congress in the midterms. So to prevent this very thing, I strongly urge you to hold your noses and vote Republican, even if you do not like the candidates very much.
It’s our country, too, you know.
On the WaPo’s society page today was an engagement announcement for Jackson Cosko to the guy on the cellblock with the most cigarettes. Best wishes to the happy couple.
Actually D, it appears the Kavanaugh lynching has lit a fire under some conservative ass and bumped midterm polls to the R’s whereas the prog media were all talking up some blue wave just prior. To continue the tidal metaphors, that’s pretty much the same scenario that woke up the reds and resulted in the Preference Cascade that put DT in the big chair about two years ago.
People say how superior and elite these twits are, but they ain’t too quick on the uptake…proving their insanity by repeating their mistakes over and over.
Hope they keep it up.
Let us hope they continue to repeat those mistakes for many decades to come,,, at least long enough to use up as much cash as they can milk out of the YouKnowWho funding source. There’s a possibility of an economic recession in 2021 or 2022. Keep an eye on trade wars with China. They’ve imposed a tariff on our farm exports (grains, fruit, etc.) but we have trade agreements for same with Canada and Mexico. Maybe dTrump can negotiate deals with Russia? or the drought-stricken UK/Ireland, and that Grand Socialista (moron) Angela Merkel. We’ll see on that score.
Nothing is ever cast in stone.
Trade war is a prog epithet usually stated as “Trump’s trade war”.
It is a fact a decades overdue levelling of the playing field and a return to fair trade. If China imposes limits coming or going they and theirs will suffer most and they can’t afford it. As to the euroweenies it ain’t up to Merk, Benz and Bimmer have already seen the writing on the wall and are getting in gear to deal with it thusly:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/auto-makers-consider-shifting-manufacturing-to-north-america/ar-BBNYtiB?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout
Also lowest unemployment and strongest job growth in 50 years announced today. More wins in a long line of them and if we don’t wimp out, continuing to 2024 and beyond.