Critical Thinking on Cults & AntiCults
For my fellow Exes
A Post-Ex has integrated the arguments, and “truths”, he made as a Scientologist with the arguments, and “truths”, he made as an Ex/Anti-Scientologist. He has seen the disconnects and the contradictions there, and repaired them. He no longer walks around with an opposite self inside him, with which he is at war.
The human mind has certain biases which routinely, and falsely, color the perceptions of people. The most important for a former cult member is called the “hindsight bias”.
An interesting article written about victims of abuse from Slate.com on February 8th 2014 by Samantha Gelmer, the woman who was sexually abused as a 13 year old by the film director Roman Polanski. Her … Read more
Your assumptions can be quite insidious. You must study the actual subjects that Hubbard “spun” for you – from sources completely independent from L Ron Hubbard – so as to challenge your own assumptions, separate out Hubbard’s installed ones, and inspect them for their weaknesses.
Once I’d spotted that my thinking was tribal, I was no longer consumed by my tribe’s survival. I resented that the tribe had taken over my thinking. I could finally see the eclipsed and thoughtless cruelty of my former tribe.
Looking into The Source Family cult is a good “parallel study” for some who have been involved in Scientology. You can gain a little better context for your Scientology experience.
If you were not abused in Scientology, and you say so in the various social media platforms on the Internet, then you can be accused of being heartless to those who were. A common way … Read more
Don’t catastrophize Scientology or your experiences in it. Always work to keep your experiences in Scientology in perspective.
One of the most hysterical and unscientific beliefs of the Anti-Cult movement is that “brainwashing” and “Mind Control” is at work whenever anyone becomes a member of a “cult”. These ideas are assumed and unquestioned … Read more
Scientologist and Anti-Scientologist alike can not think. They are both too militantly tribal to be able to think rationally. Here’s how.
I’ll hand this to Tony, whenever it is to his own advantage, he does make stabs at being intellectually honest. In this case, he published a response to his criticism of professor Hugh Urban and … Read more
Jeff Hawkins wrote a post a few years ago detailing much of the basics behind Cognitive Dissonance Theory, and I am very grateful that he did, as this theory is fundamental to understanding not only … Read more
People who got themselves involved in Scientology were continually presented with all kinds of moral choices about how they would treat their fellow man. Because Scientology is a cult, it takes all the social traits … Read more
I’ve reached out to Tony Ortega via email for a comment about what kind of hatred of Christians was going through his mind, or if there was anything they did or said in the real world that set him off.
The key characteristic of a pseudo-skeptic of Scientology is the furious and dedicated certainty of their position, and their squinting suspicion that anyone who would question them must be an OSA agent.
Carmen K. Sisson | Photographer Here’s the recipe which has been followed by 1000s of people before you: Make the harm 100 times worse than it actually was. Keep repeating the harm you experienced over … Read more
Another excellent discussion over on Mike Rinder’s blog prompted me to post this solution to the endless tribal warfare between “spiritualists” and “scientists”. Although I almost always disagree with her, Marildi, once again does an … Read more
People need simplistic explanations for Scientology because it’s too much work to understand it. They just want Scientology to be a cult & Hubbard to be a con man because it’s easier to think with … Read more
The “Father of Deprogramming” Ted Patrick was a devoted Christian who believed he was doing God’s work by kidnapping people & holding them in a room & browbeating them until they denounced their faith. In 1980, he served 1 year in prison and paid a $5000 fine for kidnapping and false imprisonment.
Truth changes.
If there is anything that the experience of having gone through Scientology should teach an Ex-Scientologist, it’s that. If they quit being your friend/family just because the truth changed, then were they really your friend/family to begin with?
I am presenting this piece of writing which appeared on ESMB recently as an example of what I believe to be a pathological state of mind for an Ex-Scientologist to develop. This particular Ex-Scientologist has … Read more
If I were to pinpoint exactly when my disillusionment began with Scientology watching, I’d have to say the seed was planted with the Going Clear premiere.
When I was first getting out of Scientology around 13 years ago, I was talking to an ex-Scientologist who worked at the Lisa McPherson Trust. She received phone calls and emails from people getting out … Read more
Self-invalidation and self-disgust for having been a Scientologist is a common result of trying to graduate from Scientology. In some places on the post-scientology Internet, it becomes an unspoken penance to be endured before we can truly be considered by others to be “out” and no longer a stupid and deluded cult moron.
My best friend died last November. Yesterday, I was in a business meeting with a new client at her business. A person from my friend’s old workplace stopped in to call on my new client. … Read more
Julie Mayo, wife of David Mayo, makes a statement about moving on from Scientology on ESMB in 2018
It is said that there is only one moon. It is also said that there are as many moons as there are individuals who are looking at it. Maybe there is one objective reality called … Read more
Scientology, as created and maintained by L Ron Hubbard, seeks to take over and dictate every thing that the Scientologist thinks and feels. If you were ever a fervent, KSW believing Scientologist, then you probably … Read more
Sounds kind of circular, doesn’t it? Well it is. Most Scientologists are stuck in the circular trap of trying to use Scientology to understand Scientology. You can see them on the Internet, using an LRH … Read more
I hear people talking about recovering from Scientology. What does that mean? Is there an “End Phenomenon” to that? I have definitely changed quite a bit since getting out of Scn 13 years ago. At … Read more