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Critical Q&A #275

This week, it’s answers about L. Ron Hubbard’s state of mind, the Q-Anon movement, whether Scientologists can be critical of chiropractors and a lot more. Enjoy!

(1) Do you think that Hubbard knew about the damage and misery Scientology could/would cause and, if so, would he have cared?

(2) In your opinion, is the Qanon movement becoming a bona-fide cult? Someone who I was good friends with a while back chose to break off communications with me over my questioning some of the claims that have been made by those who consider themselves members. 

(3) Are there Scientologists who are suspicious of the chiropractors and other pseudomedicine people in the group? Is it considered appropriate to be skeptical of chiropractors within Scientology?

(4) I know that the Freewinds ship is the only place you can do OT 8. Is it docked while you’re on the ship or are you traveling somewhere? Is there any relevance to being on water? Also, wouldn’t the staff realize, “Hmm, there’s only like five people doing OT8 a year.”

(5) Perhaps you’ve seen the recent news about Patreon and the lawsuit they recently lost involving removal of accounts not violating their ToS then attempting to alter their ToS to avoid the very lawsuit they just found themselves in. Cutting through the legalese, the result of this lawsuit seems to open Patreon up to having to pay the arbitration costs of any patrons of these unjustly removed persons that pursue a complaint. Some of these people were just intellectually honest creators who transgressed the DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) religious beliefs Patreon espouses in their operational behavior (Owen Benjamin, Sargon) others were provocateurs who while I don’t agree with what they have to say I’d still fight to the death for their right to say it (Lauren Southern, Milo Yiannopoulis). 

With each arbitration costing somewhere around $10,000, one could see how easily Patreon could be bankrupted if even a small portion of these peoples’ fan bases decide to act. I am one of these people who could so, yet because of creators like you I find myself pausing (for now). In addition to admiring your life story, I find the content you make exceptional and the effort you input into these works is clear for all to see. I do not want to see you or any similarly driven creators lose a revenue source. Yet on the other hand, I find the operational ethos of Patreon to be dogmatic and mob-placating and the attitudes expressed by their corporate officers to have the air of “fuck you got mine”. I do not like that up until now they operated with seeming impunity when it came to removing creators they disagreed with and I would be more than willing to expend the effort to financially punish them if it meant they would be compelled to follow their own guidelines and operate in a manner consistent with the values they claim to possess. And yet this action if undertaken by enough people has the power not to alter the platform but destroy it. While watching the smugness fade from Jack Conte’s face as his own behavior brings about the ending of the company he helped build would bring me some satisfaction, that feeling would be tainted knowing it wouldn’t be just Jack losing something. Every one of the multitude of good creators on the platform would be forced to migrate elsewhere and while there are alternatives available, it’s observable fact that such migration has a cost in both lost revenue and diminished follower/subscriber count. I do not wish this to befall you yet nothing changes if nothing changes. 

What are your thoughts on this matter, the lawsuit, the potential ramifications and the potential ending of Patreon? How do I rectify my disdain for Patreon with my love of some of its creators, yourself most certainly included?

(6) Scientology warns that reading the Xenu story without proper authorization could cause pneumonia. Are there Scientologists who believe that all this Covid 19 mess is caused by the Xenu story being now public?

(7) Does the Sea Org/Freewinds cater at all to different diet lifestyles? I don’t mean simply like Vegetarian/Vegan but other things like Diabetes or Gluten/Lactose intolerance? The list goes on but I think you understand my point.

(8) Given the CoS’s documented “fair game” policy on enemies, how do you think Mark Bunker will be removed from the Downtown Clearwater Development Board?

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