Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id DAA15120 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 22 Jan 2002 03:33:48 GMT X-Originating-IP: [199.35.202.136] From: "Grant Callaghan" <grantc4@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Scientology Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 19:29:26 -0800 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <LAW2-F89Wpmy20h08xW0002285a@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 22 Jan 2002 03:29:26.0595 (UTC) FILETIME=[FE577930:01C1A2F4] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>Indeed, ultimately it is the orginator of the idea
>who is the `master', who is human. But that
>doesn't mean that people can't be spellbound by
>infectious memes. Cult-idealogical memes set a good
>example. Such memes fill a need to some receptive
>people indeed, but in return you will work as a
>slave for the cult-doctrine for the rest of your
>life (unless you get deprogrammed of course).
>
>Philip.
Remember that song that has the lyric: Just keep on using me until you use
me up.
In the song, his friends felt he was being used, but he didn't feel that
way. Who was right? If I'm doing what I want to do and it benefits someone
else, is that being used? Why are cult members necessarily being used? I
was raised in a parochial school and the nuns certainly didn't feel like
they were being used or that the order they decided to join was bad in any
way. Why should a scientologist who has made a decision about what to
believe be thought of as someone who has been captured and used by the
forces of evil? John Travolta doesn't look ensnared and enslaved to me.
Some cult leaders do evil things but there is no reason to tar them all with
the same brush.
The Chinese are trying their damnedest to make the world believe the Falun
Gong are something evil. Their philosophy concerns exercising for good
health and telling the truth at all times. But the communists also call the
Catholic Church and any other church that does not allow itself to be
managed by the party in China an "evil cult." You can go to jail in China
for attending a service in an unauthorized church. A number of people have
recently been arrested and put on trial for smuggling bibles into China.
A cult is what people call an organization they fear and don't understand.
If they are successful in keeping their members, some people will assume it
is because the members are being held against their will or they have been
tricked in some manner to do something they would not willingly do
otherwise.
Some people might see me as a slave to my wife and kids, but I see myself as
their willing servant and protector. My salary is the good feeling I get
about myself and what I'm doing. Many cult members must feel much the same
way.
Grant
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