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HBO: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

Bill4411

All-American
Jun 24, 2001
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I had always heard what an odd cult Scientology is but after watching the HBO special on it was more bizzare than I expected. Great expose on Scientology and the weird origins of it. L. Ron Hubbard was one of the biggest bald face liars that I have ever heard or read about; he was completely demented.

This post was edited on 4/2 12:59 PM by Bill4411

This post was edited on 4/2 1:00 PM by Bill4411
 
What I got from that doc was that LRH was likely crazy

and believed every word that he told his followers. What I also got was that he wrote bad SciFi. The story of the origin of the religion is just silly.
 
When I was fairly young

I loved Battlefield Earth. I think 6th grade. When I went back to it as an adult, I could not believe how bad it was.

This Wiki article contains the following quote attributed to him, "You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion".
 
That's quite myopic isn't it?

can you not see any corollaries between Scientology and any other "respected" religion that is in an early growth phase? Further, what makes the story of Xenu so unbelievable but wafers turning into the body of the son of God so believable?


I'm not criticizing Christianity, though I'm an admitted skeptic, but it cracks me up when people coin LRH as crazy which is the same thing people said about other Messiah / leader figures at early points in other religions. It's all about timeframe and the evolution of religions and the public's understanding / acceptance of such.

This post was edited on 4/2 3:01 PM by INRanger27
 
Who was the Coolerite...

...whom some of us accused of being a Scientologist when he would go on tirades over people he claimed must be on mind-altering psychotropic drugs.
To my knowledge he neither admitted to or denied being a Scientology believer.
 
Mormonism is just as weird.

Pick up Under the banner of Heaven. Then again, pick up The Bible. It's all pretty bizarre stuff.
 
Wasn't he in Europe

I can't recall where, maybe Slovakia? I'm sure his name will come to me, but he was very big on people being able to cure themselves of whatever mental ills they suffered.
 
Those Slovakians are nuts!....

actually they are quite normal, nice people.

I think I know who you are talking about and I'm pretty sure it was Slovenia.
 
Wasn't . . .

bannedbanter in Slovenia?

I don't recall banned being that crazy . . . .
 
Joe-Six-Pack??

I think some accused him of being that but I never believed it.
 
I came to the Cooler about the time...

...Buzz gave up his old clothes washer
images
 
LOL . . . . Did you . . .

take it home and start using it because there wasn't nothing wrong with it?
 
Yep he was

Joe-Six-Pack was another of his handles.
 
Ah, you have a good memory

I don't know what he was, but he was the ultimate in "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" guy. He did not like people taking medication for mental issues. I do recall asking if he was a Scientologist but I don't recall getting an answer. But there are other groups that have a similar stance.
 
I believe those are the two most recent

But I think he had another before either of them.
 
Yeah he did

but my memory is not that good. :)
 
Smile...I kept it

...for awhile before trading it to Sgt. Kref as a down payment on a shed made of used Yellow Page phone books.

This post was edited on 4/2 6:06 PM by hoot1
 
Bannedbanners or something.

I had extensive back and forth with him about his rants about psychotropic meds.
 
He's not here

So in contrast to when he was here, I'm going to leave him alone.
 
jowaldner?

It was my very first moniker, Fritz, to which you responded by email after my very first post with the most kind and gracious welcome I've ever experienced online. You showed your true colors, good man Doug. :)

I wish all of you all the best and may you spare yourselves at least a bit of the dolorous news of these days.
 
You're a good man, Nick.

I am a Scientologist. (Accused? Guilty as charged, I guess. lol) I share the Aims of Scientology.

A civilization without insanity, without criminals, and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where Man is free to rise to greater heights, are the Aims of Scientology. - L. Ron Hubbard

If anyone finds those aims objectionable, then so be it. One doesn't have to be a Scientologist to share and work toward or merely agree with those aims. Meanwhile, many, many of us are dedicated to achieving them and we are well on our way.

If those aims appear ambitious, I understand that. If one is acquainted with the science of Scientology, then not only are those aims realistic, but they are also hard not to aim for in good conscience.
 
Wow, hoot. Just wow.

Tirades?

Go back and check the thread in which Gergs took issue with me. Note that it started something like this. I posted in response to the thread starter something like, "I'm willing to bet Adam Lanza was on pyschotropic drugs." That's it. I threw out a wager. I offered to bet someone, anyone. Gergs then, uh, whatever. Check it out, hoot, if you can find it.

Accused?
Why in the world would you use the word accused, hoot? Think about it. Kind of relevant to the current discussion on religious freedom, no? Well, whatever your answer, as I said to NPT, guilty as charged... :)>)
 
I don't recall you asking, Marvin, (long)

but rather Rockfish1 two or more times. You're a sincere, down-to-earth guy, Marvin, and I would have happily responded in kind. Rockfish1 asked with his inimitable derisive ridicule, so rather than answer, each time I asked him, "What is Scientology?" I figured the erudite professor ought to know the meanings of the words he was using and I was curious how he defined the term he was using so condescendingly. I think I correctly recall that one of those times you followed my question with a link to Wikipedia. I don't recall you posing me the question, but my memory may fail me.

I never made any attempt to hide that I was a Scientologist. I had an open discussion on the WC with dlh once about some aspects of the science as related to business.

As for people taking medication for mental issues, I am disheartened when people unwittingly taking psychiatric medications for one simple reason: as a consequence, such people prove harder to help. Maybe I shouldn't give a hoot about them, but I can't seem to stop myself from caring.

Marvin, I know you're a science-oriented type, so I'll share with you an interesting experience I had about a year ago. I was talking with a renowned IU professor, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, about Scientology. His specialization is human memory and he related his conclusion, as he nears the end of his career, that human memory is incorrigibly fallible because there is simply too much "noise." Feeling a bit sorry for him, since he was basically admitting that his star-studded career (he "owned" two consecutive issues of Psych Review in the 70s, something never done before or since) ended in failure, I pointed out that through hypnosis* it was possible to access some sort of basic individual that had photographic perfect memory, easily provable in any manner one chooses. He showed no interest whatsoever. We talked for an hour or so and in the end he had no curiosity whatsoever for the possible clue reviving his hopes and dreams about his 50-year research endeavors. When I asked him where he got his skepticism about Scientology from, he said, "Newspapers."

Later I reflected. He had responded differently from my father, both deeply serious scientists. My father had shown curiosity, this guy, skepticism. I had an realization about science and the Scientific Method. There are two basics characteristics of an empirical scientist, following in the steps of Francis Bacon et al: 1) skepticism and 2) curiosity. The crux is when to apply which. One is skeptical of what is known and curious about what is not known. If one flips this, he shuts the door on new knowledge. "I'd rather err with Galen than be right with Harvey." is the classic example of skepticism shutting the door on new knowledge, and the reason is he got it backwards. He was skeptical of new knowledge rather than existing "knowledge."

The esteemed professor with whom I spoke was skeptical of the new possibility I suggested rather than skeptical of the "knowledge" he gleaned from the newspapers. Extraordinary. This is a scientist to the nth degree, but nonetheless he was vulnerable to dropping his scientific training and making the most fundamental mistake a scientist can make.

Enter HBO...bon voyage my friends...


*Scientology never uses hypnosis.


This post was edited on 4/2 10:27 PM by bb_3day_resurrection
 
Are you telling me Jesus didn't reveal himself to the Indians


of North America after the resurrection?
uzi.r191677.gif

This post was edited on 4/2 10:25 PM by Rockport Zebra
 
Biggie Smalls, Biggie Smalls, Biggie Smalls

Thanks ever so much, hoot, for reconjuring this happily lost soul back into our conscious reality. Undoubtedly he'll be better this time. Ugh.

Query: Which of those who've had as many screen names as Greenirontree Bossier Street Ladoga Works would anyone be happy to see?
This post was edited on 4/3 7:01 AM by Rockfish1
 
Nick, Neal, whatever it takes


Have you really been lurking this long in the hope that someone would mention you? It's been long enough that it seems a little pathetic, right?
 
I might be a nut.

At least I stand by my name. Changing online names is weird. People who don't stand by their word or body of work are suspect,
 
I hope

you start posting again. Even if I didn't always agree with you I enjoyed reading your post.
 
He just has better

control than you and I. I've quit posting here 2 or 3 times for pretty long periods but eventually got drawn back in.
smile.r191677.gif
 
Still butthurt after all this time

I don't recall engaging you on the subject of Scientology, but if I did engage I'd laugh out loud at the whole Xenu/Thetans thing. I'd also laugh out loud at the notion of a religion founded by a demented author of bad science fiction. But I'd be sympathetic to anyone feeble-minded enough to get caught up in such an obvious racket.
 
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