Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id XAA10825 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sun, 20 Jan 2002 23:17:54 GMT Message-ID: <013e01c1a208$3b1a4520$b186b2d1@teddace> From: "Dace" <edace@earthlink.net> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: Re: Scientology 2/2 Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2002 15:14:35 -0800 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_013B_01C1A1C5.2BEBFDC0" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
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Keith,
> Perhaps we should not intervene on the basis of protecting the cult members
> but on the basis of protecting the rest of us from cults such as bin Laden's
> and Aum. I think a lot of people from New York and Tokyo would agree.
It's a free society. We can only interfere with individuals and organizations when they've broken the law. We can't demonize them first and then oppose them on moral grounds. Let's not mimic the Christian Right.
> License plates . . . take a look at my postings from the summer of 2000.
> I reported a lot of license places, most of them on the cars of private
> investigators who were following *me."
I notice you began your public opposition to Scientology in 1995. I'm just curious as to how it got started. I'm also wondering why they continued their harassment after they won their copyright lawsuit against you in 1998 for posting their unpublished secrets on the net. You'd think they'd have been satisfied after that and left you alone.
> > In my readings over the last few days, I've repeatedly encountered
> > the sentiment that anti-Scientology groups are even more inflexible
> > and fanatical than the Scientologists themselves.
> There are no anti scientology groups.
I meant it in the informal sense.
> The last two were CAN, the Cult Awareness Network. Scientology sued
> them out of existence several years ago, and bought the name and phone
> number from the bankruptcy court.
Hold on a minute there. I seem to recall reading about this four or five years ago. It wasn't that Scientology sued CAN out of existence but that CAN brazenly broke the law-- which respects individual rights regardless of what organization you belong to-- by kidnapping Scientologists and forcibly "deprogramming" them, refusing to let them go until they had recanted their beliefs. This outrageous behavior led to the court-ordered shutdown of CAN. Then, when its assets went on the auction block, Scientology bought it up.
> > It makes me wonder if the virulent Scientology meme hasn't set off an
> > equally virulent anti-Scientology meme. One side thinks L. Ron is the
> > savior, while the other side sees him as the great destroyer. Cult and
> > countercult. The strange thing is that they seem to reinforce each other.
> > As long as Scientology persists, anti-Scientology will continue flourishing.
> > As long as anti-Scientology persecutes Scientologists for their beliefs,
> > then public sympathy will be generated for Scientology.
> This is not the case. The more the public learns about scientology the
> harder it is for them to find new members.
Perhaps the effect is muddied. As we learn more about Scientology, our sympathy for it diminishes. But as we learn more about the harassment of Scientology, our sympathy increases. The main thing, though, is that Hubbard was extremely paranoid. Always believed the government was out to get him. Any kind of sustained operation against Scientology will trigger a sense of persecution among Scientologists, thus making it less likely that they'll see the light and leave the organization. Your war with the cult strengthens its hold on its members.
Ted
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