Here it is, our 250th episode! This week, it’s an extended format with longer answers to tougher questions. I hope you all like the surprise appearances at the beginning too! Enjoy!
This week, the questions I answer are:
(1) I wanted to get your thoughts on somethings in Ben and Michael’s “Infiltrating Scientology” videos.
First, I was surprised that Ben’s auditor knew about Xenu. I was under the impression that it’s not likely that an OT III or above would be working in a Class V Org. Am I mistaken about this? If so in what way?
Second, since it appears Ben got busted for having mentioned Xenu, what do you think would have happened if nobody who was in the LA Org had gotten to OT III? Would Ben have been found out eventually for knowing about Xenu? If so based on your own knowledge, what is the most likely way he would have been found out if he hadn’t said Xenu to an OT?
Third question: Do you know if Scientology staff are given a list of buzzwords and told to report anyone who utters certain words or phrases?
Last question: You said on your show that the Church must really be going downhill since they chased Ben into a parking lot over $15, since you said when you were on staff you wouldn’t chase anybody down for less than $5,000. Was that based off of Hubbard policy, were you told only go after someone if the money amount is $5,000 or more, or was that just general practice in the Church when you were in?
(2) What is your opinion on anti-theism? I am an agnostic atheist and I tend to fall in to the “not-caring-about- your-beliefs-but-caring-about-what-you-do-based-on-those-beliefs” camp. I have heard from various sources that Gene Roddenberry was an anti-theist but if that was the case it sure didn’t seem to bleed over in to his ideas for Star Trek.
(3) Perhaps you have heard the audio recordings of Amber Heard and Johnny Depp recently leaked to the press. On the surface this story seems like run-of-the-mill celebrity gossip but it launches into a much more universal topic, domestic violence.
Let me preface this by stating my firm belief that aggressing upon another is morally wrong regardless of the gender of either party. A multitude of sociologists, psychologists and other human behavioral experts have spoken about the societal presumption of innocence most women are given, it’s even statistically reflected here in the USA in the lesser prison time handed to women as opposed to men for commission of the same crime. In the recording, we can hear Heard exhibiting classic abuser techniques (mockery, gas-lighting) while casually admitting to striking him.
Now it is highly likely that each of them was abusing the other, but if it was wrong when he did it shouldn’t it be equally as wrong when she did it? I think MRA’s are about as ridiculous as radical feminists but this does point to a disconnect in logic in much of modern feminism. They desire women to be societally equal to men (as do I, it’s a progressive and moral position) yet when confronted with the reality that women have an equivalent agency for being shitty, the woke apologetics are deployed en masse.
This also speaks to a wider problem within the #MeToo movement in that it is looking more and more like 21st century McCarthyism. There were/are genuine bastards out there who needed/need to be held to account like Weinstein and Cosby (just like there were genuine communists in America seeking it’s overthrow and/or destruction in the late 40s early 50s). Yet now that they’ve been exposed, we’re seeing them under every rock and bush, small transgressions between men and women are being deemed abuse and now people are conscious of the fact that to even lob the accusation is enough to bring about serious consequences and/or make one a social pariah. We’re seeing many people (mostly men) successfully suing their former universities for the treatment they received at the hands of these Title IX kangaroo courts. I suppose my question is how is this phenomena in the service of victims? How is side-stepping due process and equal protection of benefit to justice? I have a mother, a sister and innumerable other women in my life that I want to see thrive and I don’t see how this helps any of them.
(4) After watching many of your video discussions on cults/organized religions and what they do to be classified as such it hit me (this being election season) the Republican, and Democrat parties just might be cults too, separating you from your cash by saying whatever it takes to maximize donations and preying on your fears of the other party winning. Your thoughts? And, if they are cults, they are sworn enemy cults of each other. How weird would that be?
(5) So, I’ve noticed in my Facebook feed lately, there have been several of these ads where they promise the ability to leave your body and float around. Isn’t that something Scientology promises you’ll be able to do if you reach the top of the Bridge? Also, isn’t it true that nobody actually has ever been able to do it?
It’s something my mom was told in the 60’s, that she could do IF she was able to get into the right state of mind by meditating. Oh, she tried so hard! As a 6yr old, I never understood why she wanted to leave me behind and go floating around. Especially without her body, including her clothes! In my 6yr old mind, she’d obviously be naked on the ceiling…obviously! I’d sit and watch her “Ohmmmm Ohmmmm” for hours, waiting to see her nakedness fly around like Casper the Friendly Ghost. Nothing! I think I was more disappointed than she was, honestly. I don’t believe anybody was asking for money when she tried it. The stuff I’m seeing on my social media pages is trying to sell something, a book or a master class. I think it’s an absolute rip off. Maybe I’m just not inlightened enough. Just seems like a scam to me. What’s your take?
(6) I and none of my estranged family are involved in Scientology, but I go to the opposite side of the road of the Scientology shop in Manchester because I find the subject both fascinating but also respect that many people come out of Scientology virtually destroyed. One thing I can’t help wondering is the role that personality disorders play and also for example empaths who are in affect people pleasers, i.e. without boundaries and literally sacrifice themselves to be accepted. One can’t help but wonder whether some of the bigger Scientology fish are potential sociopaths or suffering from narcissistic personality disorder for example. It may take a psychologist or specialist in cults to answer these questions, but I was an empath without boundaries and surrounded by narcissistic family friends and partners until recently. They talk of the family of narcissistic members being like a cult.
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