virus: Cult memes : for Keith
« on: 2005-02-08 08:52:55 »
Keith...this is a message for your perusal foremost. but let me declare my own personal shame in not participating more these days within my beloved CoV. =) i am seriously planning my CoV tattoo at this point...actually i always have been, but ive managed to put it off for no better reason than laziness.
regardless; Keith......i have had several occasions here in hollywood where scientologist minions have made sincere proclamations to me regarding their little cult. i have taken their offers with patient humor...but have become so curious that im tempted to visit their center just for a look-see.
...granted, i will forever laugh and mock their pitiful attempts to lure me or others into their little system, but i am fascinated at how such an abundance of crap can create something that ignorant people can actually 'believe' in and so forth.
...but before i venture or contemplate such a venture into their realm of crap, i would like to ask you some advice. what should i NOT do? what information should i NOT give? how much b.s. will they swallow without checking? what are the real dangers and how or what should i do to protect myself? ....the basics i can imagine...ss#, address, phone# etc... but please give me your insight before i entertain this little project.
At 02:14 PM 04/02/05 -0500, Erik Aronesty wrote: >Is CoV a cult? > >A cult is merely a group of people who believe something that falls outside >of mainstream culture.
Not at all. There are specific markers that define a cult.
The Advanced Bonewits' Cult Danger Evaluation Frame ... observers use the same methods of scoring and weighting each scale, their comparisons ... quite a few large mainstream churches) are far more “cult-like” than ... www.neopagan.net/ABCDEF.html - 27k - 4 Feb 2005 - Cached - Similar pages
AFF's Cult Information Bookstore: cult help, books, periodicals ... ... Abstract. The Group Psychological Abuse (GPA) scale was developed from a factor analysis of 308 former cult members' characterizations of their groups. ... cultinfobooks.com/detail.asp?product_id=CSJ11-01G - 12k - Cached - Similar pages
Bonewits' Cult Danger Evaluation Frame ISAAC BONEWITS' advanced CULT DANGER EVALUATION FRAME V2.6, ... Groups which score towards the high end of the scale (ie, 150) are more than probably not healthy ... www.unc.edu/home/reddeer/tenets/00_bonewits.scale.html - 24k - Cached - Similar pages
>If CoV were bigger, people would *call* it a cult. Sure, we wouldn't think >of it that way. We'd be like "Hey, it's a harmless, if a bit juvenile, >philisophical discussion group". And they'd say, "You just think that >because you're in the cult and you're so brainwashed you don't see what >it's >doing to you." > >And they'd be right. As a member, I can't be objective about COV. Although >I, personally, do think it's harmless - I'm aware that I lack a certain >perspective. > >And, as someone who has joined *several* of what people have described as >cults, I am aware that I lack a certain perspective on the issue in >general. > >I am, at this point, seriously thinking of investigating Scientology by >enrolling in some introductory programs. I'm aware that I will be sipping >a >particular poison - but this is a poison that I have been sipping, without >notable adverse effects that have been reported to me, for some time now.
May I suggest that you try mainlining heroin instead? It isn't as expensive and you won't lose as many of your friends.
> Keith...this is a message for your perusal foremost. but let me > declare my own personal shame in not participating more these days > within my beloved CoV. =) i am seriously planning my CoV tattoo at > this point...actually i always have been, but ive managed to put it > off for no better reason than laziness.
Now that is funny. I am playing with some designs for a cov type tattoo. Who made the one that is on the website now? I dont want to piss anyone off by making something different. I was thinking of the virus close up like on the subscribe image and the logo super imposed over it.
Re: virus: Cult memes : for Keith
« Reply #2 on: 2005-02-08 23:33:38 »
At 02:52 PM 08/02/05 +0100, you wrote: >Keith...this is a message for your perusal foremost. but let me declare my >own personal shame in not participating more these days within my beloved >CoV. =) i am seriously planning my CoV tattoo at this point...actually >i always have been, but ive managed to put it off for no better reason >than laziness.
I would skip tatoos till you can have a display installed. That way you can display the logo of your choice for the occasion.
>regardless; Keith......i have had several occasions here in hollywood >where scientologist minions have made sincere proclamations to me >regarding their little cult. i have taken their offers with patient >humor...but have become so curious that im tempted to visit their center >just for a look-see.
Which one? The one over on Franklin in the old hotel?
>...granted, i will forever laugh and mock their pitiful attempts to lure >me or others into their little system, but i am fascinated at how such an >abundance of crap can create something that ignorant people can actually >'believe' in and so forth.
That's because you don't understand that the content is far less important than the delivery. It is the *attention* that they lavish on people, training routines, "classes," many status levels, intense attention with "auditing." The attention causes your brain to release chemicals that bind to the same places and have the same effect as if you were speed balling heroin and cocaine. (Think of the Moonies "love bombing.") And of course they keep detailed notes of your confessions. The claim and it is true that they never use material out of you "preclear" or PC folder to blackmail you. They transfer interesting blackmail material to your "ethics" folder and use it from there for blackmail.
>...but before i venture or contemplate such a venture into their realm of >crap, i would like to ask you some advice. what should i NOT do? what >information should i NOT give? how much b.s. will they swallow without >checking? what are the real dangers and how or what should i do to >protect myself? ....the basics i can imagine...ss#, address, phone# >etc... but please give me your insight before i entertain this little >project.
I think you need advice from people more knowledgeable than me and in the area. Write me off line and I will put you in contact. You should understand that scientology is viewed as organized crime by the FBI. If the FBI won't take you on as a mole in the cult, I would be extremely reluctant to get involved even a little without support.
Even then, suppose you find out they have been involved in some very serious violations of the law, like dosing people with illegal knockout drugs while trying to frame them for murder. Now what are you going to do? The cops just don't want to hear about it, neither does the FBI.
Of course, depending on who you know and what you would like to do, there *are* opportunities. You might notice that TC wasn't even mentioned for the Oscars this year.
RE: virus: Cult memes : for Keith
« Reply #3 on: 2005-02-09 11:36:50 »
[DrSebby] i am fascinated at how such an >abundance of crap can create something that ignorant people can actually >'believe' in and so forth.
[Blunderov] From a memetic point of view; perhaps the attraction has something to do with the notion that religion can be reconciled with science?
It seems to me that there is a great tension in the West between our parallel mystical and scientific heritages. The hypocrisies and weaselling necessary to entertain both of these outlooks simultaneously have become so ubiquitous that they are considered perfectly reasonable:
"Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things." "I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."-Lewis Carroll,* Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871)"
Such viable memetic niche! It is almost impossible to conceive that memes would not evolve to fill it.
Best Regards.
* A parson son of a parson father I know. But I don't think his heart was really in it.
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