Critical Thinking on Anti-Scientology – The Limits of Tony Ortega

If there is one thing to remember about Tony Ortega, it’s that even he doesn’t consider himself an unbiased, objective journalist on the subject of Scientology. This is what he says about himself:

tony ortega reporting columnist

Because Tony Ortega does not label his blog properly, as all columnists would be labeled on the opinion pages of a newspaper, for instance, it is not at all clear how biased Tony Ortega is on Scientology unless you have lots of experience with the subject.

So with this is in mind, I recorded some thoughts.

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17 thoughts on “Critical Thinking on Anti-Scientology – The Limits of Tony Ortega”

    • There’s that. But there is a very heavy ideological component that I believe gives meaning to his life. I believe that Tony Ortega feels that he is creating a better world if he can get rid of just one religion. If he can do that, then, on his death bed, he will feel that it will all have been worth it.

        • Tony Ortega would never work as hard as he does if he didn’t sincerely believe that he was helping people.

          I have always seen that in him.

            • I don’t know, of course, but from what I know of atheism, there is a large altruistic foundation to it: to rid society of the abuse of power and crazy thinking of religions so Man can finally be rational.

              They think they are rational, see. And so the world will be much better once everyone is like them.

              It comes from very much the same religious impulse in all humans.

              • His approach seems to me to be more of a demagogue than an activist atheist. Here’s a good definition of “demagoguery” (caps for emphasis is mine):

                “Demagoguery is a manipulative approach — often associated with dictators and sleazy politicians [or “journalists”] — that appeals to the worst nature of people. DEMAGOGUERY ISN’T BASED ON REASON, ISSUES, AND DOING THE RIGHT THING; IT’S BASED ON STIRRING UP FEAR AND HATRED TO CONTROL PEOPLE. For example, a politician who stirs up a fear of immigrants to distract from other issues is using demagoguery. Demagoguery is one of the most negative aspects of politics, but it’s also one that’s all too common.”
                https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/demagoguery

                • There is no doubt that Tony Ortega uses demagoguery. Absolutely none at all.

                  In his most recent campaign of demagoguery – the 7 year old girl quote from dianetics- he even implies that the only people who are disagreeing with him are males. It’s a total sexist approach used to divide people with emotional button pushing.

                  Absolutely. And it’s his underlying moral philosophy, the “good” that he is trying to achieve for all mankind, his atheism, which justifies his demagoguery.

                  And it’s not just him, it’s Mike and Leah too.

                  I’ll have more about that coming up.

      • As far as I know any scientologist can communicate on his blog, how come they don’t?

        After all there are millions of them, right?

  1. Regardless of what he thinks on his deathbed, for now I’d say he’s living an interesting life. He travels around the country, goes to movie premiers, wrote a book and gets scoops on scn. Scientology has been good to him. I wonder if he wants “Scientology Critic” on his tombstone?

    I wonder if anyone wants “Ex-Scientologist” on their tombstone. (a Scientology survivor) High ranking Sea Org might like “I’ll Be Back”. I’m thinking about “Resting in Valhalla” (a keyboard warrior)

  2. I hadn’t thought that much about atheism in terms of an altruistic tradition but it’s a good point. Some atheists might just want to trash all religion while others say atheists can be just as appreciative of the aesthetic aspects of life and the wonders of the universe as believers.

    The American Atheist society says something (from memory) to the effect that atheists don’t claim there is no God or Gods, just a disbelief in such. However, a disbelief in Ghosts and Goblins might make Halloween less fun.

    Mussorgsky – A Night on Bald Mountain

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fizh0m8TczA

  3. The Oracle played “Lois Lane – Internet Investigative Reporter” and posted about a hundred negative articles about Tony on Marty’s blog. Helluvahoax once made a post on ESMB about “hate”. He made the point that hate is a human emotion but some people want to follow the trend and be politically correct and say “I really rather dislike . . . etc.” If you hate spinach you hate spinach. lol

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