Mainstream society can’t possibly claim to have all the answers for everybody – can they? If they claim to be a free society, why do they delegitimize and dehumanize the people who join their subcultures?
Topic | Life After Anti-Scientology
Scientologists, and Ex/Anti-Scientologists, have been on the Internet since the Internet was born. Thus there is a substantial post-Scientology internet culture. These posts are about what I’ve learned after Anti-Scientology.
Pushing “All or Nothing” Thinking on Exes By Never-ins
Angry Gay Pope tells an Ex-Scientologist what to think about their time in Scientology. This time with a major cognitive distortion.
Chris Shelton Read One Book By Social Scientists And Now He Knows All About It
This is the level of thought that is acceptable by those who believe in the AntiCult Movement’s ideology about minority religions. This is not critical thinking – it’s the sociological equivalent of an AntiVaxer rant.
Can Chris Shelton The Critical Thinker At Large Distinguish Between a ‘Cult Recovery Paradigm’ and Therapy?
Is Chris Shelton The Critical Thinker at Large the Stuart Smalley of Celebrity Anti-Scientology?
Victoria Britton Has Been Working for 10 Years to Get Answers – Where’s Scientology and the Aftermath?
So far the series has stayed away from the most important Scientology stories, such as Mike Rinder’s OSA involvement in the cover-up of the Danny Masterson rape cases. So when will Scientology and the Aftermath have an episode on the Death of Kyle Brennan?
How The Anti Cult Movement’s Ideology Harms Ex-Members
Adopting the beliefs of the anti-cult movement dramatically changes the views and attitudes of those who experience a loss of faith. Those changes have a profound effect on how Exes make sense of their own past. So we must ask: How helpful is the ideology of the anti cult movement in making sense of your […]
The Scientology Brainwashing Defense
The anti-cult movement provides the principle ideology almost all Ex-cult members are given to adopt after they leave their minority religions. The foundation of that anti-cult ideology is the belief in “brainwashing”. But does “brainwashing” really exist? Or is it just an excuse?
The Unquestioning Arrogance of Anti-Cult Movement Ideologues
An ideologue is so certain of the ideology he has adopted, and the rightness of how he sees the world, that he can sneer at people, knowing how superior he is. It is a lazy way to go through life, intellectually, but if you surround yourself with people who also never question their assumptions, either, […]
Was Karen De La Carriere a Prostitute? We Need to Talk About This, Too.
Karen De La Carriere a prostitute? I’ve been waiting for her to file a defamation of character/libel lawsuit on the Church of Scientology for over a year now. It appears here: http://www.leahreminiaftermath.com/articles/karen-de-la-carriere-white-paper.html This is the most shocking thing I think I’ve ever seen about someone high up in the Church of Scientology – A Class […]
My Anti-Scientology Apostasy
The 19th century German philosopher Max Scheler said that an apostate was ‘engaged in a continuous chain of acts of revenge against his own spiritual past’. American sociologist Lewis Coser defined an apostate as not just a person who experienced a dramatic change in conviction but “a man who, even in his new state of […]
Is Chris Shelton Waking Up From His Anti-Scientology Fever Dream?
There’s a point in your evolution as an Ex which is exactly like when you woke up from all the untrue things in Scientology: As an Ex, it’s that point when you wake up from all the untrue things in Anti-Scientology, as well.
Scientific Studies That DeBunk The Brainwashing Myth
The following is a compilation of scientific studies which have thoroughly debunked the idea of ‘brainwashing’. This settled science has been completely ignored by members of the anti-cult movement who, for their own various self-interests, keep the superstition of “brainwashing” alive – no matter how many ex-members of minority religions it has harmed. The below […]
Steven Hassan Makes Bizarre Claim for Why Moonie Brainwashing Didn’t Work Whenever Scientists Were in the Room
Social scientists like Eileen Barker traveled to Moonie recruitment seminars where brainwashing & mind control was claimed to be in use. They found that more than 90% of the people in those “brainwashing” seminars did not sign up to be a Moonie, and all were gone from the Moonies within 2 years.
Pounding the Intellectual Honesty Out of Aaron Smith-Levin
I recorded my thoughts on the treatment I observed Aaron Smith-Levin getting from his Anti-Scientologist friends. From the ideologue Chris Shelton, to Tony Ortega’s demagoguery, to Leah Remini’s need to create a moral panic around Scientology – can Aaron’s intellectual honesty survive?
Skeptics and Pseudo-Skeptics of Scientology
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.
Critical Thinking on Scientology and Anti-Scientology
I used to think that as long as I was not in the cult of Scientology any more, I would never fall into the unquestioning, partisan mindset that I had adopted when I was a Scientologist.
The Social Construction of the Anti-Scientology/Anti-Cult Narrative
The more power that you assign to subversive techniques such as “mind control” the easier it is for Ex-members to explain their membership and participation in minority religious groups after they’ve re-entered the mainstream.
The Moral Equivalence of Scientology vs. Anti-Scientology Fair Game
Is Fair Game better when it’s applied to Scientology? Can there be an immoral equivalence when what Scientology does is then done back at them? Either you are against hypocrisy, cruelty and abuse, or you are not – no matter who does it.
Cult Expert, London School of Economics Social Science Professor Eileen Barker Submits Herself to the Gearty Grilling
Why do anti-cultists reject science so much? When they call a social scientist a “shill” or a “quack”, where is their quantitative data that disputes the work of that social scientist? I have never once seen them offer any scientific data to dispute the results of any of the scientists they wish to discredit with […]
Embrace Your Inner Scientologist
To dismiss that part of your life, to wall it off under labels of “delusional Scientologist” or “weak” or “crazy loon” is to remain in a dissociative state – to continue living a fractured life with some of the best parts of you buried underneath a wall of self-hatred and shame.
Post Ex-Scientology
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.
Adjusting to Mainstream Society After Scientology is Not “Recovery”
The cult recovery paradigm of Ex-Scientology sets up a whole bunch of things you think you need to “recover” from because you were in Scientology. This is a dysfunctional view. Paradigms are insidious things. They can hide all the assumptions and viewpoints and framing you are using to “understand” something. It’s always a good critical […]
Does Anti-Scientology Deserve Any Criticism?
During all 3 Seasons of Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath, Leah and Mike have sought to make anyone who criticizes their show out to be a Scientologist. Because who could possibly criticize the holy work that they are doing but a Scientologist?
The Capture Stories, Escape Stories, and Atrocity Stories of Anti-Scientologists
Sociologists who study the issues surrounding minority religions have identified 3 types of stories that form a socially-constructed narrative of a leave-taker’s experience inside their former group. These types of stories are not unique to Ex-Scientology. They have been found to occur as common coins passed around by those who leave, assuming a role which […]
Is Scientology a Religion? Leah Remini Now Says It’s Not
When you look at the cosmology of Scientology from the viewpoint of social science – its rituals such as auditing, training, dissemination, and its clearly religious teachings on the thetan, the mind, and even Xenu – it is inescapable that Scientology is a religion.
Tony Ortega Confirms That Leah Remini Got that Out-of-Context “Scientologists Are Pedophiles” Quote From Him
If Leah Remini and Mike Rinder can help get one criminal conviction on the Church of Scientology through their “Scientology and The Aftermath” reality series, or help one lawsuit succeed against them for real injustices, no one will be happier than I. But when I see another Ex-Scientologist flip into nightmare mode on who they […]
Why Leah Remini Will Never Get Her Federal Investigation
Social scientists who study minority religions have observed that the main activity of the anti-cult movement is to create a moral panic around a targeted minority religion strong enough to make governments react. Members of the anti-cult movement accomplished this in Waco in the 1990’s, and the resulting catastrophe woke up people in government to their responsibility […]
Has Anti-Scientology Completely Shot Its Wad?
There’s nothing like finally getting what you’ve wished for. The last few years have been an Anti-Scientology spooge dream: A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist writes a best-selling expose’ on Scientology, which turns into an Emmy-winning, Oscar nominated movie, followed by a Louis Theroux smarmy send-up, followed by 2 Seasons of an Emmy-winning TV reality show […]
Scientologists vs Anti-Scientologists: Equally Unable to Tell the Truth About Scientology.
Consider this: Just as Scientology is not as good as a Scientologist tells you it is, Scientology is also not as bad as an Anti-Scientologist tells you it is.
Binded and Blinded By the Tribal Mind
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.
Guest Post: Gerry Armstrong Doesn’t Need an Apology – He Wants the Truth From Mike Rinder
Gerry Armstrong & Mike Rinder have a long history. Gerry thinks it’s time for Mike Rinder to come clean about all the OSA Fair Game Operations he ran against him and all the other critics of Scientology when Mike Rinder ran the dirty tricks arm of the Church of Scientology.
Basic Skepticism for Anti-Scientologists
I’ve been practicing Basic Skepticism on marauding Anti-Scientologists on the Internet. It’s pretty much unstoppable. Here’s how it works.
Healing From Scientology Abuse is Not a Social Media Activity
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 to avoid that is to forget your own viewpoint and to take up other peoples’ problems of abuse as your […]
Documentary “Deprogrammed” Now Streaming on Netflix
This documentary contains a very good discussion of the limits of power that people have over those who make religious and spiritual choices that others don’t like.
Critical Thinking: What Percentage of Children Are 2nd Generation Scientologists?
What percentage of Scientologists grew up in Scientology? What percentage of the children of Scientologists followed their parents into Scientology? Critical thinking is good, right? In the same way that asking critical thinking questions can get you out of Scientology, asking critical thinking questions can get you out of Anti-Scientology, too. It can restore a […]
Consonance & Dissonance in Thinking About Scientology
The human mind wants to think about things – especially important things – as either ALL GOOD, or ALL BAD. Not both. A mixture of good and bad in the mind gives you a feeling of dissonance – disharmony, conflict, chaos. Thinking about things as ALL GOOD, or ALL BAD, gives you a feeling of […]
Catastrophizing Scientology
Don’t catastrophize Scientology or your experiences in it. Always work to keep your experiences in Scientology in perspective.
Smarm & Exploitation in Louis Therouxs My Scientology Movie
If you’ve written enough screenplays, you learn that the main difference between the good guy and the bad guy in a movie is that for one, you know his motives for the actions he takes in the story, and for the other, you don’t. Good guys can kill people, blow up cars and bridges – […]
If Anti-Scientologists Love Science So Much, Why Don’t They Use It?
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 by members of the anti-Cult Movement. They’re the basis of their anti-cult beliefs. But when asked for any study that […]
Celebrity Anti-Scientology: The Drama Queen Paradigm of “Cult Recovery”
Celebrity anti-Scientology is a hell of a drug. Presenting all your trauma, over and over to a sympathetic audience on TV can create and maintain your whole self-identity for you. And it can get you all the status & fame you desire. But is it good for you?
Part Three: Never Go Full Anti
Scientologist and Anti-Scientologist alike can not think. They are both too militantly tribal to be able to think rationally. Here’s how.
Professor Hugh Urban Responds to Tony Ortega’s Stereotyping of “Religious Studies Types”
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 his stereotyping of all social scientists who study religion as “religious studies types”. Professor Hugh Urban is the Director of […]
Stephen Hassan Misrepresents the Science on “Brainwashing”
In a recent article about ideological influences on wikipedia, Hassan writes: “The Unification Church page then disparages critics, such as myself, as incorrectly stating that the group brainwashes members. Yet, I was a member and experienced this firsthand. Sociologist Eileen Barker is a cult apologist and made her career stating the Moonies do not do […]
Apostasy – Is it Really Just David Miscavige Trying to Discredit You?
Apostasy: It’s not just for the Bitter Ones Sitting on the Porch of Infinity on the Fringes of the Internet any more. Don’t look now, but it could be you!
Sociopathy in Anti-Scientology
Read over this very quick selection of tweets by Anti-Scientologists on the subject, and see all the support they are giving to a murderer.
Eileen Barker on Cults as a Social Problem – Not a Psychological One
This is an excerpt from sociology professor Eileen Barker at the London School of Economics. A link to the full pdf is provided below. I post it because it is a different view of ‘cults’ than we are given in the standard anti-cult movement’s narrative. I think this different, more objective view is healthier for […]
Thinking the Worst of Yourself as a Scientologist
How gullible can some Ex-Scientologists get? Jon Atack wrote a post on Tony Ortega’s blog, accusing everyone who was ever involved in Scientology of being gullible. I commented about Jon’s broad-brushed generality of anyone who ever called themselves a Scientologist. It gave me the chance to use the word “hootenanny” (twice), and I have been […]
Ex-Scientologists: Are You Being Emotionally Manipulated?
A cool even head is always smarter and more effective at eradicating abuse, if it does exist, than a hotheaded ideologue. And it will be harder to manipulate you. Good luck out there.
Revised & Updated: Alanzo’s Top 5 Criticisms of Tony Ortega & His Underground Bunker
Tony Ortega is one of the most valuable critics of Scientology ever. But is he so biased that, over time, you can start to live in a delusional world about Scientology? I think so.
Searching for Evidence That the Church of Scientology Paid Social Scientists to Shill for Scientology
There is a claim made by many anti-Scientologists, such as Tony Ortega, Mike Rinder, Chris Shelton and others, that the Church of Scientology paid social scientists and other academics in the field of religion to alter their research and to write articles favorable to Scientology. Since objective scientific research is important to critical thinking about […]
Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath Attack Their Critics Too
The Church of Scientology isn’t the only group to go after their critics: Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath goes after their critics just as dishonestly!
What Mike Rinder Did As The Head of Scientology’s Office of Special Affairs for 22 Yrs
This affidavit, filed in the Ken Dandar case, shows the daily routine that Mike Rinder lived as the Commanding Officer of the Office of Special Affairs for 22 years under David Miscavige.
Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath Has Still Presented No Evidence of Criminal Activity by the Church of Scientology
Last night’s episode of Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath was a round table discussion of former Scientologists, and independent Scientologists, exposing the upper levels of Scientology so that people can make more informed decisions about their involvement. For that reason, it was a very valuable episode. And Tony Ortega has gotten people who have […]
Anti-Scientology is a Socially Constructed Nightmare
When any Ex-Scientologist uses disciplined and reasoned analysis, he finds that the hysteria being generated by anti-scientology is just that – hysteria. Leah Remini, and some of the most abusive and fanatical people to ever to be in Scientology, are going through this phase of adjustment. It happens to some people when they experience a […]
