Re: Scientology

From: Keith Henson (hkhenson@cogeco.ca)
Date: Wed Jan 09 2002 - 02:12:31 GMT

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Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2002 21:12:31 -0500
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: Keith Henson <hkhenson@cogeco.ca>
Subject: Re: Scientology
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    At 10:11 AM 08/01/02 -0800, you wrote:

    >Keith Henson
    >(practical memetics at)
    >www.operatingthetan.com
    >
    >
    >Keith,
    >
    >I notice you're an apostate of the "Church of Scientology."

    Not at all.

    "Apostate" means former member. I have never done anything that would make
    me a scientologist. I am an Internet free speech and human rights
    activist. See:

    http://groups.google.com/groups?q=star+laws+lucas&selm=7t4go6%24ihp%40dfw-ixnews8.ix.netcom.com&rnum=1

    >I've always felt L. Ron Hubbard provides an excellent example of the
    >tactical use of memes. Fifty years ago, he introduced his self-help
    >concepts under the term, Dianetics. This word sounds enough like
    >"dialectics" that it takes on a sheen of philosophical
    >respectability. But it didn't work well enough for Hubbard, so he
    >introduced the term, Scientology. In this case, he was playing on our
    >desire for religious authority. Since the only modern institution that
    >can fulfill our desire for an absolute authority is science, from a
    >memetic point of view, the term makes perfect sense. What he demonstrated
    >is that memes that exploit our religious impulse succeed over ones that
    >play on our philosophical pretensions.
    >
    >Ted Dace

    The story of Hubbard, scientology and the incredible soap opera on the net
    is far weirder than anything you mention here. The only point I can agree
    on is that scientology is a type case for memetic studies.

    Keith Henson

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