The weekly show where I answer viewer questions left for me in the comment section of my Q&A videos or sent to me by email at AskChrisShelton@gmail.com. This week, the questions I answer are:
(1) Do you think the anti-vaccination movement is very cult like? Or is that more the case of people who don’t have a good grasp on critical thinking and the scientific method believing something because they saw one study or heard it from someone who presents themselves as an authority on the subject? I hesitate to call anti-vaxxers stupid because, as you have said before, anyone can get drawn in to a crazy belief system.
(2) Do you know the origin of the word “engram”? It appears in non-Scientology dictionaries as the following: “a hypothetical permanent change in the brain accounting for the existence of memory; a memory trace” but it has its own specialized definition in Scientology as a moment of pain and unconsciousness which is stored in the reactive mind.
(3) Is it possible that Donald Trump is exploiting people’s fears of the far left to get people on his side? I think that is exactly what is happening. I do not support SJWs or Antifa but I am much more afraid of the far right than I am of the far left. Are we headed towards a Christian dictatorship?
(4) I recently heard your podcast with Steve Cannane and was very fond of it, but from a German perspective I would like to argue a bit against the universal freedom of speech chant you both so happily agreed upon. Freedom of speech surely is a powerful and necessary concept and it has its merits. But it is not as simple as it seems.
Nobody has total freedom of speech as there always are restrictions. Public libel and slander are illegal everywhere and cannot be justified by arguing freedom of speech. Stakes may be high to prove it, but Anglo-Saxon and especially US justice make it easy to claim threatening financial compensations. This risk alone may lead to a kind of preemptive censorship, which in effect is contradicting freedom of speech.
In contrast most Central European justice systems have broader legal limitations and may be more willing to dispute statements in speech or writing, but penalties for breaking those laws begin very low (a few hundred Euro fine) and compensations are only rarely awarded on an also low basis (taking only proven damages into account). Severe sentences are very rare, but possible if a person or an organization stubbornly doesn’t refrain from repeating such acts again and again.
On this basis Central European countries have laws against “defamatory hate speech directed upon minorities (religious, ethnical, gender etc.)”, which I deem prudent. For me and probably most Europeans such arguments are a kind of libel or slander against a group of people instead of a single person or a business or entity. Isn’t it a bit curious that in the Anglo-Saxon justice a business or a so-called church has more rights to defend itself than a minority of humans?
In Germany, Austria and (for weird reasons I don’t know) Switzerland and Spain those or similar laws also specifically prohibit national-socialist propaganda and holocaust denial (with some countries also regulating display of a few national-socialist emblems like swastikas). I understand this out of history, but I’m no big fan of this legislation as it naturally bears the hallmarks of cementing truth by statute.
Nevertheless I do support the idea to limit freedom of speech if it is used to defame individuals, entities or clearly defined groups of people. And in my critical thinking I don’t see plausible arguments to feel our overall freedom limited by that. I would be interested in your thoughts.
(5) I’ve been watching your stream for about 2 years now. Was there anything you learned in Scientology that has been helpful for you outside of the Church and in your current life?
(6) Do you think there is a reason why especially in the United States there are many cults where members are so fanatic? Is there anything in the American psyche that causes cults to pop up more frequent compared to Europe where there are cults, but not as many as in the US. Does it relate to US history, where there is no official bond between the state and the church, where we as Europeans have a closer connection between the church and the state?
(7) Chris, do you think David Miscavige knows that he is a fraud and full of crap? Or do you think he really believes that he is as significant as he is?
(8) I presume YouTube provides you logs on visitors. Have you ever gotten visitors from IPs that were delegated to Flag, Gold Base or the big stuff in LA?
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