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.
Tag Archives | skepticism
Michael Shermer’s “The Believing Brain” & “Why People Believe Weird Things”
Michael Shermer has written two books, “The Believing Brain” and “Why People Believe Weird Things”, which have been life-changing reads for me. There are several key points made in these books which can help a person understand Scientology, and Scientology-like experiences, in brand new ways. For me, a key point came early in “The Believing […]
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.
Apply Basic Skepticism to Scientology & See How it Holds Up
Basic skepticism is seeking out or asking for positive evidence in support of a claim, and then evaluating the soundness of that evidence. It is not giving out evidence that counterclaims are false, or giving out evidence that all similar claims “do it too”. It is simply looking for or asking for positive evidence in […]
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 […]
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.
Was Elizabeth Moss a Brainwashed Cult Member Playing a Brainwashed Cult Member in “The Handmaid’s Tale”?
To hear Anti-Scientologists tell it, Elizabeth Moss was just a clueless & brainwashed Scientologist during her Emmy-winning performance portraying Offred in “The Handmaid’s Tale”. But is thinking with stereotypes about people in minority religions ever going to explain how Elizabeth Moss is such a great actress? Having been a member of Scientology for 16 years, […]
Demolishing the Belief System of Atheistic Materialism
If you can’t believe in Atheistic Materialism, what can you believe in? Not much, if the withering skeptic Rupert Sheldrake has a crack at it. My God, if we can’t believe in Atheistic Materialism – IS THERE NOTHING SACRED??
5 Thought Stopping Cliches of Anti-Scientology
Most Exes have heard about the thought-stopping cliches that kept them thinking inside a cult mindset. But do thought-stopping cliches only exist in cultic thinking? Could thought-stopping cliches be keeping you trapped in any mindset at all? Anti-Scientology has its own thought-stopping cliches. Here are the top 5.
Recovery: 2 Steps to Stop Thinking With Anti-Scientology
Do you remember when you finally awoke to find yourself thinking with the Scientology mindset? You were horrified to wake up and realize that your thought patterns and emotional habits followed the Scientology ideology. And do you remember all the work you needed to do to un-condition yourself from that? And do you remember all […]
Science Says: Scientific Curiosity is Corrosive to Confirmation Bias
Confirmation Bias: the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs or hypotheses, while giving disproportionately less consideration to alternative possibilities. Now read the title of this post again very carefully and ask yourself if it – itself – is not a form of confirmation bias. […]
Are Personal Feelings of Guilt the Underlying Cause of Moral Outrage?
Could this righteous fight that we’ve all engaged in regarding Scientology, for all these years, have only been because we felt guilty and needed to re-establish our own moral identity after finding out how abusive Scientology had been?
Jon Atack: Who’s Gullible?
Anti-Scientology Reverend Jon Atack is missing something: Gullibility goes 2 ways. You can be too credulous in the direction of a positive interpretation of something, and in the direction of a negative interpretation, as well.
Great Comments From the Post-Scientology Internet – UDARNIK from ESMB
This one, from Udarnik at ESMB, caught my eye today. Udarnik wrote: “Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal. – Robert A. Heinlein “I once had an argument with a Tea Partier about whether the Founders meant to establish Christianity in the US. When I used Jefferson’s quote about complete rejection […]
