[HN Gopher] The Creeps of the Cosmos (2017)
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The Creeps of the Cosmos (2017)
Author : benbreen
Score : 21 points
Date : 2021-10-05 19:55 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (nevalalee.wordpress.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (nevalalee.wordpress.com)
| rendall wrote:
| In the 90s I joined an organization called _Re-evaluation
| Counseling_ that was directly inspired by Scientology. I was in
| it for only a few years. At the time, I would have sworn also,
| like Burroughs, that "it works". It offered a clear, simple
| theory that explained everything confusing about people and
| society. And these cults do "work", but only in the context of
| the cult itself. Outside of that context, your ideas and behavior
| are strange. I eventually left because the leaders of the
| organization didn't particularly have their lives in order the
| way I would expect if "it works". Everyone seemed to be headed
| toward more odd, not more composed and together. Also, like
| Scientology, criticizing the leadership could get you in trouble.
| andrei_says_ wrote:
| I think RC sessions can be great. The theory is imo
| unverifiable, but some of the direct work is pretty awesome.
| The clear anti-racist and anti-oppression stand of the org is
| admirable.
|
| The implementation, leadership etc are somewhat questionable on
| individual basis.
|
| Wondering, where can I read more about the connection to
| Scientology?
| rendall wrote:
| RC's Wiktionary article dryly talks about it in the
| "Criticism" section.
|
| But if you really want to be deprogrammed, seek out the
| testimony of passionate ex-RC people. I only allowed myself
| to look when I was done.
|
| E.g. Jackins would do these weird-assed "sessions on sex"
| with young women, and when the Minnesota RC community
| insisted there be a reckoning about it, the entire community
| was banned. That's when Jackins came out with that encyclical
| on criticizing leadership.
|
| > _The clear anti-racist and anti-oppression stand of the org
| is admirable._
|
| Meh. My first and only, I forget now what it is called, _away
| camp_ , that I went on was a racism workshop, and it was
| cringingly awful. It was that penny-drop that caused me to
| jettison the whole albatross.
|
| There was all of this mannered formalism that white people
| were expected - no, _required_ - to maintain when interacting
| with a PoC that was ... just, embarrassing and worse than
| useless.
|
| As an aside, it also made me realize that most "anti-racism
| work" are people projecting their own internal discomfort
| with other races externally, into other people. People who
| insist that _everyone_ is racist, for example, are people who
| cannot imagine a non-racist mindset, likely because, well,
| they 're racists. Avoid these people for the same reason you
| should avoid men who insist that all men are creepers and
| rapists. But, you cannot avoid such people in RC, because
| that's a tenet of the organization itself.
|
| I could go on and on. Anyway, good luck.
| optimalsolver wrote:
| From the title I thought this was going to be about the sexual
| harrassment scandals that hit astrophysics/cosmology a while
| back.
| duckhelmet wrote:
| Scientology: did some alien make a bet that he could get the
| daftest religion ever to take hold in 1950s America?
|
| "The Underground Bunker: Latest News"
|
| https://tonyortega.org/scientology/
|
| "Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath"
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leah_Remini:_Scientology_and_t...
| SavantIdiot wrote:
| It happened with Mormonism in the 1800's. They've done such a
| good job integrating the made up mormonism image into being
| accepted as a "real religion" culturally that I'll probably get
| flagged for this. Truth is, some charismatic dude just made it
| up. In 50 years, discussion boards will probably flag people
| for dissing Scientology.
|
| EDIT: As pointed out below, the term "real religion" just means
| one that has lasted to this day with a substantial enough
| following to obtain protected status.
| rsynnott wrote:
| I mean, arguably, a real religion is just one which hangs
| around for a while. Typically, in the process, losing its
| weirdest elements; early Mormonism, and Christianity for that
| matter, had many strange elements that are today have become
| niche or been entirely abandoned (few modern Mormons are
| polygamists, and proportionally even fewer modern Christians
| are religious vegetarians, say).
| SavantIdiot wrote:
| Good point. There are a lot fewer stonings in Christianity
| today than in the past.
| NotSammyHagar wrote:
| When I was a kid in a christian household I asked how come
| there were no supernatural things happening today like the
| stories in the bible. I got the idea it was not good to ask
| impertinent questions like that. Later I started to be more
| skeptical. People just believe things with no evidence
| (often heard when they were young), whether its the story
| of angels and demons in the bible or the ideas in
| scientology about aliens. But the thing I noticed is people
| usually believe the things they learned as a kid, but are
| really skeptical of other religion's bizarre or
| supernatural claims of magical things happening. The part
| that is missing (in some people as adults) is applying some
| of that skepticism to their own religion.
|
| So what's happening when an adult accepts a new religion
| that makes them accept a new set of supernatural 'facts'? I
| always wondered about that process.
| AlbertCory wrote:
| Well, for the _really_ established religions, all the
| supernatural things happened 1400+ years ago.
|
| Mormonism, on the other hand, was only 180 years ago. For
| some reason, that makes their supernatural stuff a little
| harder to accept.
| rsynnott wrote:
| > Well, for the really established religions, all the
| supernatural things happened 1400+ years ago.
|
| For many branches of Christianity, miracles continue to
| happen! Of course, most Christians likely don't
| _literally_ believe in miracles.
| SavantIdiot wrote:
| Wow, I had NO idea Burroughs was a Scientologist. I'm surprised
| too, with his distrust of organized religion and government. Of
| course, he was a massive heroin addict, so I'm not surprised he
| found other addictions.
| 52-6F-62 wrote:
| I'm pretty sure Burroughs was everything at least once at some
| point in his specific timeline.
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