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destructive cults

Why No One Should Trust Scientologists to Treat Mental Illness

In this video we are going to talk about the Church of Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard’s beliefs and claims about curing people suffering from mental illness. While Scientology’s outright hatred of psychiatry and psychology are well known and even promoted by the Church through its advocacy front group, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, what is less known and less talked about are Hubbard’s fantastical pseudo-scientific claims about insanity. A recent story out of Cannon County, Tennessee highlighted for me that it was time to get this information out there, with the purpose of hopefully ensuring no one is uninformed enough to trust Scientologists with anyone’s physical or mental care now or at any point in the future.Read More »Why No One Should Trust Scientologists to Treat Mental Illness

Debating or Engaging Online with Scientologists

Hello everyone. Today we’re going to talk about social media engagement with Scientologists. All of this information would apply to engaging in real life too, of course, and earlier videos I’ve made about how to talk to people who are in destructive cults are still totally valid. I just thought it would be useful to talk specifically about social media, especially since we often find ourselves engaging with total strangers online, which is a very different thing than talking to family members or friends we have known for years. I’ll be talking about Scientologists but all of this really applies to members of any destructive cult or cohersive group.Read More »Debating or Engaging Online with Scientologists

What is Mind Control?

Hey everyone. I’ve been talking about Scientology and destructive cults for some time now and we have discussed the concepts of undue influence, coercive persuasion and mind control or brainwashing, but I’ve never really dived deep into this and talked about what this is and isn’t. As Justice Potter Stewart famously said about hard core pornography, it’s hard to define but you know it when you see it and the same might be said for brainwashing. But is it really so easy to see and understand? Are there pitfalls in talking about it vs free will and an individual’s rights to decide and choose what is best for his or her own life? What is the dividing line between personal choice and mind control?Read More »What is Mind Control?