~ My complaint about Scientologists.
January 18, 2007 by Bakkouz
Filed under Editorials
First off let me apologize for the long post, i just had to let some things off my chest.
I realize that there is something patently malignant in the notion that there is something intellectually provocative in the tired rehashing of profligate stereotypes. If, after hearing facts like that, you still believe that everyone who doesn’t share its beliefs is a gangsterism-prone, insipid chucklehead deserving of death and damnation, then there is decidedly no hope for you. Although chimpanzees can be convinced to wear clothing, understand commands, and even ride bicycles (if well paid for their services in bananas), it would be virtually impossible to convince Scientologists that its undertakings constitute an instigation to glamorize stupidity
Now, In response to Scientologists’s sound bites, I would like to offer the following opposing points. For practical reasons, I have to confine my discussion to areas that have received insufficient public attention or in which I have something new to say. To put it crudely, Scientologists has gotten away with so much for so long that it’s lost all sense of caution, all sense of limits. If you think about it, only an organization without any sense of limits could desire to force people to do things that just doesn’t make sense. Make no mistake about it, I am a law-and-order kind of person. I hate to see crimes go unpunished. That’s why I certainly hope that Scientologists serve a long prison term for their increasingly psychological caged existence. Scientologists’s crusades are not pedantic treatises expressing theories or extravaganzas dealing in fables or fancies. They are substantial, sober outpourings from the very soul of absolutism.
While I don’t know Scientologists’s secret plans, I do know that a central point of Scientologists’s belief systems is the notion that Scientology has the mandate of Heaven to make us dependent on the worst kinds of simple-minded, scurrilous recidivists there are for political representation, economic support, social position, and psychological approval. Perhaps Scientologists should take some new data into account and revisit that notion. I think it’d find that its moral immaturity is a perilous failing and an insult to the celebrated virtues of any sane culture or society. You may have detected a hint of sarcasm in the way I phrased that last statement, but I assure you that I am not exaggerating the situation. Even as I write those words I can feel Scientologists cringe. That’s okay. Cringe. I don’t care, because it insists that its catch-phrases are good for the environment, human rights, and baby seals. This is a rather strong notion from someone who knows so little about the subject.
We must learn to celebrate our diversity, not because it is the politically correct thing to do, but because no one likes being attacked by uninformed rapscallions. Even worse, Scientologists exploits our fear of those attacks — which it claims will evolve when you least expect it, into biological, chemical, or nuclear attacks — as a pretext to pervert human instincts by suppressing natural, feral constraints and encouraging abnormal patterns of behavior. If you think that’s scary, then you should remember that the poisonous wine of Jacobinism had been distilled long before Scientologists entered the scene. Scientology is merely the agent decanting the poisonous fluid from its bottle into the jug that is world humanity. Scientologists have been working overtime to impinge upon our daily lives. Of course, this sounds simple, but in reality, the real issue is simple: Wanting to declare a national emergency, round up everyone who disagrees with Scientologists, and put them in concentration camps without any of the obvious repercussions is like wanting a one-sided coin. Should this be discussed in school? You bet. That’s the function of education: To teach students how to turn Scientologists’s ethically bankrupt effusions to our advantage. Scientologists claims that things have never been better. This is a very money-grubbing and unconstructive view and moreover, is wrong in many ways. If we take Scientologists’s ethics to their logical conclusion, we see that by the next full moon, Scientologists will deliver an additional blow to dignity and self-worth.
Ask Scientologists about any of its compeers who threaten the common good, and the uncivilized, obnoxious sybarite will say, “I never meant they should go that far.” Yeah, right. The truth is that the only thing protecting the people of this world from Scientologists’s empty-headed fairy tales is our love of freedom and concern for justice. Now, I could go off on that point alone, but it is reluctant to resolve problems. It always just looks the other way and hopes no one will notice that when I observe its worshippers’ behavior, I can’t help but recall the proverbial expression, “monkey see, monkey do”. That’s because, like Scientologists, they all want to exploit the feelings of charity and guilt that many people have over the plight of the homeless. Also, while a monkey might think that Scientologists’s activities are on the up-and-up, the fact remains that it got into a snit the last time I pointed out that this view dangerously underestimates the subhuman quality of clericalism. I don’t think anyone questions that. But did you know that its continual falsifications of history neatly illustrate its adherence to Trotskyism?
To state the matter in a few words, Scientologists’s asseverations are a load of bunk. I use this delightfully pejorative term, “bunk” — an alternative from the same page of my criminal-slang lexicon would serve just as well — because Scientologists says it’s going to muzzle its critics before long. Is it out of its mind? The answer is fairly obvious when you consider that the question that’s on everyone’s mind these days is, “Why can’t we all just get along?” Fortunately for us, the key to the answer is obvious: I could go on for pages listing innumerable examples of its disrespectful rejoinders and cocky slogans. I have already written enough, surely, to convince you that now that I’ve been exposed to Scientologists’s calumnies, I must admit that I don’t completely understand them.
There are two main flaws with Scientologists’s wheelings and dealings: 1) Scientology just wants to avoid detection and punishment, and 2) Scientology has spent untold hours trying to authorize, promote, celebrate, and legitimize insensate stupidity. During that time, did it ever once occur to it that it would be good for the press to start paying attention to things like this? The complete answer to that question is a long, sad story.
Perhaps I need to get out more. Or perhaps I’m sticking out my neck a bit in talking about Scientologists’s hatchet jobs. It’s not likely they will try to retaliate against me for my telling you that it insists that ethical responsibility is merely a trammel of earthbound mortals and should not be required of a demigod like it. In the long run, however, it’s only fooling itself. Scientologists would be better off if they just admitted to theirselfs that they take things out of context, twist them around, and then neglect to provide decent referencing so the reader can check up on it. Scientology also ignores all of the evidence that doesn’t support (or in many cases directly contradicts) its position. but the truth is that there is still hope for our society, real hope — not the false sense of hope that comes from the mouths of unambitious satanic-types, but the hope that makes you eager to take personal action and champion the force of goodness against the greed of cankered ivory-tower celebrities.
That is all.
kinzi on Thu, 18th Jan 2007 9:25 am
Whew, Bakkouz, I read this one with my dictionary near by. Thank you, thank you. When we Evangelicals speak out against Scientology, they slap lawsuits on us. I think they have found their match in the Mighty Bakkouz. Go get em!
Devil's Mind on Thu, 18th Jan 2007 9:57 am
Man!! You are taking Scientology way too seriously! It’s nothing but a joke… a bad bad joke…
You know, it’s not the first organization based on hypocrisy, and not the last either. You suggest that we should educate students in schools against Scientology. I blatantly disagree. Students should learn how to make sense of things. This way, we protect them not only from Scientology, but all cultist organizations!!
Beti on Thu, 18th Jan 2007 4:01 pm
As Devil’s Mind said, Scientology is a joke… it actually began as a joke, when Ron Hubbard bet that the easiest way to make a million bucks is to start a religion. Turns out he was right about that part, even though he made the moneyand got people to try and follow a bunch of crap that he had made up.
Issa on Thu, 18th Jan 2007 6:16 pm
What Devil’s Mind and Beti said is true, Scientology is not more than a joke, I remember in the Cruise-Holmes wedding and during the official ceremony the minister had recited traditional Scientology’s vows including one saying that “women need clothes, food, tender happiness and frills, a pan, a comb and perhaps a cat”… However, everybody is free to believe in whatever he wants and to spend money as he likes…
MommaBean on Fri, 19th Jan 2007 12:52 am
If Scientology is a joke, it is a very, very powerful one. Sadly, they have wielded that power in unfortunate ways to the detriment of many. Some years ago, in a twisted situation, they sued the Cult Awareness Network for calling them a cult and providing support and resources to families who had lost loved ones to the group. They won the lawsuit and took over the network. As a result, it has been much harder to find information and support for those of us who lost a loved-one to a cult… You go Bakkouz!
kinzi on Fri, 19th Jan 2007 9:58 am
I’m with MommaBean. Any joke with this much power and influence is really a nightmare.
Learning about Scientology from CNN and celebrities may make it seem like a joke, but when you see what consistently happens at a family, community and state level it is very serious business.
Greg on Mon, 22nd Jan 2007 1:07 am
While I don’t know Scientologists’s secret plans, I do know that a central point of Scientologists’s belief systems is the notion that Scientology has the mandate of Heaven to make us dependent on the worst kinds of simple-minded, scurrilous recidivists there are for political representation, economic support, social position, and psychological approval. Perhaps Scientologists should take some new data into account and revisit that notion.
Jeezzous. Where on Earth did you get that notion? We Scientologists are not only unwilling to REvisit that notion, we’re uncomfortable VISITING it to begin with.
We must learn to celebrate our diversity
Again, deeply baffled. We Scientologists are all FOR diversity. We welcome all types into our Churches indiscriminate of gender, race, orientation, social status or whatever. And we gladly participate in Interfaith initiatives. We have done extensive volunteering alongside Mississippi Baptists, Indonesia Muslims and Thailand Buddhists without any food-fights breaking up. So I’m befuddled. It seems to me that it’s the reactionary attitude AGAINST Scientologists that is a bit xenophobic and uncool.
Scientology is merely the agent decanting the poisonous fluid from its bottle into the jug that is world humanity/
Strong words for someone who has no idea what the bottle contains, what the fluid tastes like or what effects it may or may not have on one upon consumption. You sound like a recalcitrant native complaining about the doctor dishing out anti-polio vaccines.
Scientologists claims that things have never been better.
In no context do we make such claim. In fact, a lot of Mr. Hubbard’s writings urge people to take a higher level of social and civic responsibility on the very basis that things are rapidly getting worse (in areas such as education, criminality, environmenta and ecology, etc. etc.)
Ask Scientologists about any of its compeers who threaten the common good, and the uncivilized, obnoxious sybarite will say, “I never meant they should go that far
It is beyond me how you’d in any way catalog Scientologists as sybarites. Just the opposite is true, and your use of such terms without any habeas corpus evinces only a bigot’s mind – albeit a bigot with a thick glossary at their disposal.
The truth is that the only thing protecting the people of this world from Scientologists’s empty-headed fairy tales is our love of freedom and concern for justice
Nah. The only thing protecting the world is common sense. And I sure hope the world at large has more common sense than to blindly vent accusations of gargantuan proportions in the face of piles and piles of evidence to the contrary.
because Scientologists says it’s going to muzzle its critics before long
I’m not aware of Scientologists ever saying that. In fact, there are several sites that are critical of Scientology which coexist on the Internet with pro-Scientology sites. This world is big enough for Pro and Con views. The only time the Church of Scientology objects is when critics write direct falsehoods, and/or when copyrighted materials are used without permission (usually out of context so as to vilify and misdirect.)
There are two main flaws with Scientologists’s wheelings and dealings: 1) Scientology just wants to avoid detection and punishment, and 2) Scientology has spent untold hours trying to authorize, promote, celebrate, and legitimize insensate stupidity.
Both claims are grossly inaccurate. If an organization were intent on avoidance of detection and punishment, its tactics would be of secrecy, lying low, scurrying in the shadows. The Church of Scientology is in an apogee of expansion, having opened LARGE centers in London, New York and Berlin. It invites anyone to visit their buildings, attend lectures. It holds free seminars nightly. It has a large Internet footprint. It is, in fact, doing ANYTHING BUT trying to go unnoticed.
In terms of the second claim, what may seem “insensate stupidity†to someone in one age often becomes the truth of the land with time (witness airplanes, the telephone, the landing on the moon.) Also, it’s easy to call a subject stupid from the comfort of one’s own ignorance, having never delved in the subject other than foot-deep – and that in the dirty waters of detractors’ websites.
It’s not likely they will try to retaliate against me for my telling you that it insists that ethical responsibility is merely a trammel of earthbound mortals and should not be required of a demigod like it.
A words such as “ludicrous†is not powerful enough to describe this last sentence. Scientology promotes, furthers and instills in its members a deep sense of ethics, trying to raise the individual’s moral standards to a higher degree of responsibility, both in terms of personal expectation and civic participation.
Scientology also ignores all of the evidence that doesn’t support (or in many cases directly contradicts) its position
Scientology has plenty of evidence of the workability of its methods from the millions of case histories of its members. And the “evidence that doesn’t support it†– such as it is – stems from a special interest group in direct competition and conflict with Scientology’s mission, which is to improve the lot of Man and free Him to think for Himself.
the hope that makes you eager to take personal action and champion the force of goodness against the greed of cankered ivory-tower celebrities
Your rhetoric may confuse the feeble minds that compose your little fan club. But you can’t name a single “ivory tower†celebrity, since all celebrities who participate in Scientology do anything but cloister themselves in any such tower, rubbing elbows with the world daily. Travolta flew his own plane to Louisiana and was himself distributing vaccines in shelters to displaced persons after Katrina. Kirstie Alley was there too, sleeves rolled up, helping out instead of doing photo ops. Jenna Elfman volunteers in food drives and has testified in Congress on Human Rights. Isaac Hayes is spokesperson for a literacy group. The much maligned Tom Cruise has been known to stop his car to come to the rescue of fellow travelers in trouble, and donated large funds to tsunami relief. None of these fit any “ivory tower†stereotype in the slightest.
And making a fanfare call for “the force of goodness†is as base a cliché as any demagogy-guilded empty-headed ideologue has ever used.
Sincerely,
Greg
Scientologist and proud of it
http://www.liveandgrow.org
Greg on Mon, 22nd Jan 2007 1:23 am
Oh, and MommaBean’s information is inaccurate.
It was not Scientologists who sued CAN. CAN’s tactics were to kidnap and forcefully deprogram (torture and food-deprivation until you give up your beliefs) members of non-mainstream religions. (They tried to forcefully deprogram a Nun once.) In 1995, CAN was found guilty of conspiracy to violate the civil right to freedom of religion of Jason Scott, then a member of the Life Tabernacle Church. Rick Ross, a self-professed “cult-expert”, was ordered to pay more than $3 million in damages; CAN was ordered to pay in excess of $1 million. Ross had been involved in hundreds of “deprogrammings” with members of many religious groups over a 15-year period. Jason Scott, for example, was violently and brutally kidnapped, and was forcibly confined for five days.
Eventually these people’s illegal actions caught up with them, and that’s why they went the way of the dodo.
bakkouz on Mon, 22nd Jan 2007 7:53 am
Hello Greg,
Thank you for your comments, i do highly appreciate it, I must say, my words may have come off as strong, but i said i do not claim to know everything about Scientology, infact my knowledge on the subject is limited and i have said so in the article also, my main source of information is word of mouth and tid bits of media.
Maybe i need to get my facts straight, I will do more extensive research on the subject, and if i have offended You please accept my apologies.
hillrunner on Mon, 22nd Jan 2007 10:19 am
In some 35 years as a Scientologist, I have seldom read a more virulent, less informed (and long!) piece about what someone thinks is Scientology.
Then, dufus “kinzi” mentions lawauits that are entirely a growth on her imagination.
The only relevant research to do on Scientology is to sit yourself down with a good dictionary and read “Dianetics: Evolution of a Science.” It’s shorter and less clinical than the full “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.” I couldn’t put it down; stayed up all night to read it.
And I have to ask, “How many knowledgeable and involved Scientologists have you set down with and honestly talked to?”
So, Bakkouz, if you want to learn the most basic and first precepts from which Scientology grew, read “Dianetics: Evolution of a Science.”
If you want to know what Scientologists are really like…do you think it would be possible to seek out an active aind involved Scientologist and ask him or her what the religion and courses have done to help their life?
And–next time–please try the de-caf. It’s just as good, really.
bakkouz on Mon, 22nd Jan 2007 11:06 am
hillrunner, I think i might just do that, Thank you.
eric hines on Mon, 14th Jul 2008 10:21 pm
dude, you cannot go off like that based on heresy. get some balls, walk into a church, observe for yourself.
if i heard that the buddists were beating up people in basements from multiple sources on the internet and i wanted to know, really know what was going on then i would visit a few temples to check it out myself.
If I find this to be true then i would let it be known backed by my observation and even better, evidence.
If i found that this was not true i would then find out who benefits if this organization is vilified.
Perhaps you find out that it was all a gambit started by the Chinese to draw negative publicity to Tibet, lord knows they have done it plenty of times with an amazingly peaceful group, Falun Gong.
Believe me anytime that there are vested interests and an organization challenges them they will be attacked in a multitude of ways. Scientology is a big thorn in the side of big pharma, taxation without representation, governments that are not for the people (or the ones that say they are and are not). In fact Scientology was the group that pushed the freedom of information act through. Its things like this that make us unpopular with vested interests.
If you are not interested in checking out a church that is totally cool too, viva la dive3rsity, just dont give an expert opinion without actually observing for yourself, its a bad habit that people have gotten into and this is what makes it so easy people in government that do not have the best interests of the people at heart to pull the wool over the eyes of the populace.
cheers mate,
Eric
ronbothunter on Mon, 6th Oct 2008 6:52 pm
DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE CULT OF SCIENTOLOGY END ITS CRIMES AND SCAMS?
The secret most un-exposed about Scientology is that is it an “applied physiological philosophy” rather than an “applied religious philosophy”. All Scientology courses, all auditing processes, and all the management and professional courses are based on physiological phenomenas, psychophysiology, emotions, human behavior patterns etc. that are our birth right and used in scientology as their own discoveries. Even their PTS-SP data is based upon how a “Symptom” re-stimulation is brought out by physiological reactions of the mind affecting the body when under stress. They blame innocent human beings called by them “suppressive persons” for bringing out a symptom that was there to warn you of hidden real illnesses caused by non-suppressive sources such as parasites, chemicals, poisons, toxins, viruses and bacteria. The data on PTS-SP is twisted by them to blame innocent people in order to keep them in line.
The E-meter reads your physiological reactions, the Ronbots never calls it that—they call it the “CHARGE” or the “MASS” or “ENGRAMS” OR “MENTAL IMAGE PICTURES” that you have in your brain—all meant to distract you from the truth.
LRH discovered that when you passed a misunderstood word—you manifested many reactions of various types: Yawning, sleepiness, not there feeling, dizziness, blurry eyes, nervousness and dozens more.
All life on Earth has these cause and effect reactions called physiological phenomenas. All living beings whether they are plant, insect, retile or animal or human could not live without these reactions. They influence the body’s and the mind’s reactions to any form of stimuli, and have an influence on every cell of the body and mind.
[Noun. Physiological reaction – Is an automatic instinctive unlearned reaction to a stimulus.]
[Examples of physiological reactions: inborn reflex, innate reflex, instinctive reflex, reflex response, unconditioned reflex, accommodation reflex, Babinski reflex, belching, headache, migraines, swelling, sweating, erections, blinking, blushing, burping, defecation reflex, disgorgement, involuntary eye blinking, farting, skin flush, gag reflex, goose bump, goose pimple, gooseflesh, involuntary gulping, involuntary hiccup, knee-jerk reflex, light reflex, puking, papillary reflex, rectal reflex, regurgitation, shaking, shiver, shock, sneezing, startle, stretch reflex, suckling reflex, trembling, upset stomach, vomiting, involuntary winking, yawn, yawning -- plus hundreds more.]
Examples of Physiological reactions of the body and mind when reading:
Falling asleep while reading - yawning, confusion, feeling blank, feeling anxious, not there feeling, tearing eyes, eyes going out of focus, dizziness, reeling, rebelliousness, headaches, skipping words, feeling nauseous, fidgeting, jumpy while reading, can’t stay still, mispronouncing words, feeling as if you are squashed, feeling as if you are over-whelmed, twitching, can’t apply what you are reading, can’t understand what you are reading, etc. are all due to physiological reactions when you read misunderstood words or misunderstood definitions.
Scientology’s copyrighted files on based upon the laws of Nature and laws of God; they are in violation of copyrights and patent rights. Therefore, the contents or subjects can be used by anyone and can be talked about without fear of any lawsuit.
. Help me spread the word — http://ronbothunter.wordpress.com/
Yours truly
Ronbothunter
All Rights Reserved.