I Have A Yearning To Go Off On A Rant About Scientology...

[obumazombie]

Jonestown, and to a lesser degree, the cult of Charlie Manson.
But before I rant, I wanted to give everyone a fair opportunity.


So, you go first.

[DumbAss Tanker]

I put it in the "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes" category.

[FlaGator]

Go for it. There is not enough negativity in the world to truly express my feelings about Scientology.

[JohnnyReb]

The science part is settled.....are we clear on that?

[thundley4]

Xenu will strike all non-believers down.

[delilahmused]

The official cult of Hollyweird.

Cindie

[txradioguy]

[obumazombie]

I like all the replies so far.
You definitely have captured the essence of my rant.

Just a bit of background to lay a foundation for expressing a more accurate meaning.

I think of myself as having an admirable portion of perseverance.
I hardly quit at anything.
Depending on what subject, my perseverance scale varies from 7 to 9 out of 10.

When it comes to starting and finishing books I am close to a 10.

Along about the time I was 25, I started reading L.R. Hubbard's Dianetics.
I got about a third to a half way painfully through, and quit.
I can only think of 1 other book that I did that with, and that was Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi.


As gifted a prosecutor Vincent was, his ability to be a good author of a bestseller was in my estimation the equivalent in publishing terms of the subject of the book...Charlie Manson, and his Helter Skelter.
Speaking of Charlie, once my rant gets into high gear, I will come back to him, and hopefully you will see how he relates to my overall ravings.

Thesis...
When those who are so blind begin to see, and realize that they have been nothing more than useful idiots.
To be continued...

[Duke Nukum]

Any rant on Scientology should eventually come around to Charles Manson as he was exposed to Scientology while incarcerated.  He's another celebrity success story for the CoS!

[obumazombie]

So I was watching CNN the other day...
TRUE STORY !
Not A Bouncy !
And there was a special on about former Scientologists who were coming out of the woodwork to denounce the cult.
It was the best documentary I have seen since the CNN documentary about The "Reverend" Jimmy Jones and the Jonestown tragedy.

Many of the ex Scientologists interviewed were very high ranking to include former close family members Of L. Ron.
They let the cat out of the bag so to speak, and revealed Scientology to be the master scam that it was.

But what really caught my attention was many of the interviewees had the same epiphany.

Can anyone guess what was a very common thread that so many former members had an epiphany about ?

[delilahmused]

John Travolta's Ode to Scientology, Battlefield Earth was SO bad they realized how ridiculous Scientology's belief in psychotic aliens is?

Cindie

[JohnnyReb]

"A fool and his money are soon parted"....H. Ron's first commandment.

[freedumb2003b]

I like all the replies so far.
You definitely have captured the essence of my rant.

Just a bit of background to lay a foundation for expressing a more accurate meaning.

I think of myself as having an admirable portion of perseverance.
I hardly quit at anything.
Depending on what subject, my perseverance scale varies from 7 to 9 out of 10.

When it comes to starting and finishing books I am close to a 10.

Along about the time I was 25, I started reading L.R. Hubbard's Dianetics.
I got about a third to a half way painfully through, and quit.
I can only think of 1 other book that I did that with, and that was Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi.


As gifted a prosecutor Vincent was, his ability to be a good author of a bestseller was in my estimation the equivalent in publishing terms of the subject of the book...Charlie Manson, and his Helter Skelter.
Speaking of Charlie, once my rant gets into high gear, I will come back to him, and hopefully you will see how he relates to my overall ravings.

Thesis...
When those who are so blind begin to see, and realize that they have been nothing more than useful idiots.
To be continued...

You think Dianetics was difficult, try to make it through that awful "Battlefield Earth."  The damn thing has 3 or 4 endings!  And the writing style is complete drivel.

MUI Scientology was created as a bet between Hubbard and others of that day (C.S. Lewis? JRR Tolkein?  Why did people go by initials back then?) that he could create the most ridiculous religion and sell it big (Hubbard was an unabashed self-promoter).

He won.

[obumazombie]

This is also being run on HBO.
I believe the documentary was produced by the  CNN people.

Anyway it was excellent about how it peeled back the layers of secrecy.
Anyway several of the most highly placed ex scientologists admitted that once they were out, they looked back with disgust and disbelief.
They saw themselves as blind and even willfully blind.
They amazed themselves at how gullible they were, and how stupid they could have been.
I began to see the beginning of self awareness about being useful idiots.

Same thing to a lesser degree with a CNN documentary on survivors of Jonestown.

And almost a barely perceptible degree to those amongst the Manson clan who have been begging for years for parole.
I don't see them upbraiding themselves for the true useful idiots they were.

But my rant revolves around the self realization at the moment useful idiots come to know they are useful idiots.

Will it happen to all useful idiots at some point ?
Because I would love to see some high profile useful idiots like Kerry and Clinton admit what we all already know.

What say you my fellow Cavers ?

[delilahmused]

Don't hold your breath on Kerry or Clinton, they're too arrogant to think anything they did was less than the most incredible thing a Sec State has ever done. Ever, ever, ever!

Besides, the ex Scientologists had horrible things done to them physically and mentally. These two won't face any consequences for their actions, even if Israel or the US are nuked. In a cult you have to come to realize you've been duped, that you've been fed lies and kept from the real world for fear of hearing the truth. The extreme punishment by people who are high up in the organization for an infraction...usually an innocent mistake or so minor it wouldn't even be noticed outside the cult helps push them towards that epiphany. Still, the majority of those in the upper echelons who are punished take it and stay. Years of brainwashing is hard to overcome.

Cindie

[obumazombie]

^Excellent insight Cindy.
But it doesn't make me stop yearning for useful idiots to get their comeuppance and come to admit they were useful idiots.

[Duke Nukum]

[...]

But my rant revolves around the self realization at the moment useful idiots come to know they are useful idiots.

Will it happen to all useful idiots at some point ?
Because I would love to see some high profile useful idiots like Kerry and Clinton admit what we all already know.

What say you my fellow Cavers ?

There's a book, which I haven't read, called When Prophecy Fails, and according to that book, what usually happens is after the first prophecy fails to come true, I think the book uses a UFO cult from the 1950s that predicted the end of the world, and after the first prophecy fails to come true, most people still stay with the cult, rally around the cult leader has he or she makes excuses for why the prophecy was wrong, makes another prophecy, and when that one fails most of the group falls away but a few hard-core believers stay with it.

I think some of the people who fell for the Obama cult and realized they were useful idiots are getting on the Bernie Bandwagon. And they flood Facebook and news site comments with reasons why Bernie isn't a real socialist but a Demorcatic Socialist, which is somehow different, and if everybody just gets behind Bernie, the world will become a Utopia.

There is something about the power of belief. Look how many people still believe in Global Warming(TM) even after scandal after scandal.

I read Going Clear when it first came out and one big Hollywood producer or musician, I forget what, only started to pull away from Scientology when Scientology's anti-gay stance started to conflict with the wider Hollywood pro-gay culture.

[Boudicca]

You think Dianetics was difficult, try to make it through that awful "Battlefield Earth."  The damn thing has 3 or 4 endings!  And the writing style is complete drivel.

MUI Scientology was created as a bet between Hubbard and others of that day (C.S. Lewis? JRR Tolkein?  Why did people go by initials back then?) that he could create the most ridiculous religion and sell it big (Hubbard was an unabashed self-promoter).

He won.

You're thinking of Robert Heinlein!  And yeah, while hubby was slogging through Battlefield Earth he read the blurb somewhere and enlightened me.

[obumazombie]

I wasn't aware there were any hard feelings here against C.S.Lewis.
I know he is the creator of the Chronicles of Narnia.
There are subplots there that I don't know if everyone is aware of.
He also wrote "Mere Christianity". One of my Commanding Officers credits Lewis and the reading of that book to bring him to a close relationship with Christ.
Not to derail the thread, because his name was mentioned in relation to L. Ron.

[Happy Fun Ball]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uoo2AydLwE[/youtube]

[Ralph Wiggum]

Did a "specialty" night of live trivia last night, usually do that every 4-6 weeks.  I let people kind of prepare, but for the most part name the rounds very ambiguously and hard to study for.  For example, last night's topics were "Conspiracy Theories", " Viva Las Vegas" (identifying pictures of gone & current Vegas casinos).  Followed by "Games (not sports), where I read an alternative description of a board game & each team had to identify the game.   Round #4 was "Back to Football", which was a matching round of Heisman winners and their college. 5th & final round was "Interstate Highways"...followed by a bonus question.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Anyway, I have several books about conspiracy theories, try to record stuff on History & H2, etc. about them.  Don't believe 99% of it, just find it intriguing.  Same with Scientology.  Never been accosted to go to a class or take a test.  Just the fact that L. Ron Hubbard created it for whatever reason & it maintains followers is strange.

Maybe it is for the same reason I occasionally read the DUmp.  Entertainment & clowns flinging poo.

[obumazombie]

Did a "specialty" night of live trivia last night, usually do that every 4-6 weeks.  I let people kind of prepare, but for the most part name the rounds very ambiguously and hard to study for.  For example, last night's topics were "Conspiracy Theories", " Viva Las Vegas" (identifying pictures of gone & current Vegas casinos).  Followed by "Games (not sports), where I read an alternative description of a board game & each team had to identify the game.   Round #4 was "Back to Football", which was a matching round of Heisman winners and their college. 5th & final round was "Interstate Highways"...followed by a bonus question.

What was the name of the Las Vegas casino in the DeNiro movie "Casino"?
Bonus question...
What was the name of the pawn shop Joe Peschi's character owned in Vegas ?