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Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
March 31, 2015 at 1:24 am
(This post was last modified: March 31, 2015 at 1:25 am by Mudhammam.)
This HBO documentary premiered yesterday and if you can get the chance to watch it, holy shit... mind-blowing. Has anyone else seen it? I think the "prison of belief" it depicts is rather emblematic of even the more mainstream faiths that have segmented into small communities where the motive of the leaders may not necessarily be financial but are themselves victims of intrinsically harmful or empty-headed ideas, as generation after generation crazy doctrines have just subliminated into cultures and traditions so as to seem perfectly normal. Unfortunately, these ridiculous beliefs also then permeate into people's thoughts about everyday, fundamentally non-religious subjects. But it's easy to see how this sort of thing gets started. The film is enlightening and mildly creepy. I walked away actually feeling a deeper sympathy for these people whom I would typically just write off as nut jobs.
He who loves God cannot endeavour that God should love him in return - Baruch Spinoza
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RE: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
March 31, 2015 at 1:45 am
Some people are dumb enough to fall for that money making schism. More or less face value it seems like a run of the mill new religion.
But beneath all of it, its truly horrifying. I have been to the clear water facility in Florida i didn't want to join.
Atheism is a non-prophet organization join today.
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RE: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
March 31, 2015 at 2:09 am
It has nothing to do with IQ. Normal people join cults out of a desire to belong.
It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all. - Denis Diderot
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RE: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
March 31, 2015 at 2:09 am
(This post was last modified: March 31, 2015 at 2:10 am by Surgenator.)
Haven't seen the documentary, but I have followed the Scientology's downfall back in the day when Tom Cruz was jumping on Opera's couch. So I don't know if I'll be surprise by anything in the documentary. Is Marty Rathbun in it?
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RE: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
March 31, 2015 at 2:37 am
I saw it. Stunning. Just a bunch of criminals.
I mean...if you think you have to be stupid to be a xtian the story these dipshits have invented is beyond bizarre.
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RE: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
March 31, 2015 at 4:55 am
(This post was last modified: March 31, 2015 at 4:56 am by Homeless Nutter.)
I saw it. Nothing surprising, really. There already has been a number of documentaries, as well as other media, that painted a very similar picture of Scientology. They're a bunch of wackos with cynical leaders.
Give it a few hundred years - they may become the new Christianity. They will be telling each other stories about how they were "persecuted" for their beliefs in the 20th and 21st century and how L. Ron C**t-face suffered and died for all our sins - I mean "thetans". And stupid people in the future, who's main source of historical knowledge will be scientologist propaganda will just lap it up. History tends to repeat itself...
"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." - George Bernard Shaw
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RE: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
March 31, 2015 at 7:25 am
(March 31, 2015 at 2:09 am)Surgenator Wrote: Is Marty Rathbun in it? Yep.
Perhaps the most disturbing part to me was in their conferences or rallies or whatever when Tom Cruise and the rest salute the gigantic portrait of Ron Hubbard and speak about him like he's their father. Reminded me of a fascistic regime.
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RE: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
March 31, 2015 at 7:49 am
It reminded (remound?) me of 1984. "LRH," the deified leader. Creepy.
What apalls me the most is the war on the IRS and the $1B+ that cult owes the US government. They flooded the IRS with civil suits and blackmail until they gave them church exemptions. That needs to be revoked.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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RE: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
March 31, 2015 at 8:15 am
(March 31, 2015 at 2:37 am)Minimalist Wrote: I saw it. Stunning. Just a bunch of criminals.
I mean...if you think you have to be stupid to be a xtian the story these dipshits have invented is beyond bizarre.
If I was more of an asshole (and perhaps much more charismatic) I'd try to start a new religion. Because lets face it, a child could come up with a more convincing story.
I reject your reality and substitute my own!
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RE: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
March 31, 2015 at 8:57 am
(March 31, 2015 at 8:15 am)Spooky Wrote: (March 31, 2015 at 2:37 am)Minimalist Wrote: I saw it. Stunning. Just a bunch of criminals.
I mean...if you think you have to be stupid to be a xtian the story these dipshits have invented is beyond bizarre.
If I was more of an asshole (and perhaps much more charismatic) I'd try to start a new religion. Because lets face it, a child could come up with a more convincing story.
Like the documentary said, that's the bait and switch of this cult. It is sold as just a way to learn to better communicate and cope with stuff at the beginning. It's genius, really. The beginning part---talking about past traumas and repeating them to an auditor until they are less traumatic, and connecting with people in that intimate setting, it works. Not because of Scientology, but because that shit is basic psychology.
You don't even rank high enough to learn the origin story until years later and thousands of dollars in. You get front loaded with all the effective stuff, but after a lot off money and all your secrets in a file, then you learn the truly batshit stuff. But by that time you are in. It works for you. You have invested years and probably a significant portion of your life savings. The brain has an amazing coping mechanism where it will accept the patently ridiculous in order to preserve your reality.
To be honest, LRH was a fucking genius. A psychopath, but a genius nonetheless.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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