Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 3, 2024 17:30:07 GMT -4
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2011 14:48:30 GMT -4
They used to own a gorgeous old brownstone here, but the last time I went by there I saw it was for sale. It made me happy until I read that they're moving to an even bigger place in the South End and plan to open a café/bookstore. Yay.
|
|
|
Post by kostgard on Feb 12, 2011 15:43:41 GMT -4
They've got a center in a part of town where I rarely go, but their building backs up to the highway and every time I go down that stretch of road (which again, isn't that often) I always jump out of my skin because they have this giant DIANTETICS sign, complete with volcano, facing the highway and it just jumps out of no where. You're driving along just a bunch of plain building with smaller signs, then suddenly this giant freakin' volcano pops out. I'm surprised they don't cause a lot of accidents.
|
|
spider
Guest
Oct 3, 2024 17:30:07 GMT -4
|
Post by spider on Feb 12, 2011 19:35:01 GMT -4
theglen- I'm from Dublin and I can't imagine Scientology being very successful there. If there is a way for Dubliners to rip off the church they will find it, lol.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 3, 2024 17:30:07 GMT -4
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2011 22:10:03 GMT -4
Scientology has always been accused of grossly overstating their membership. Around 20 years ago, I read an article that claimed that their buildings in various cities are mostly empty. They put up big signs and billboards and build huge, shiny lobbies to make them look prosperous but the upstairs rooms are mostly a bunch of nothing. I can believe it.
|
|
|
Post by kateln on Feb 13, 2011 22:23:09 GMT -4
I spent the morning looking at Operation Clambake, and one of the sites that interested me the most was one that was Scientologists who are against the Church of Scientology. They even approve of Paul Haggis' steps of speaking out against it. The author basically admitted that L. Ron Hubbard was a weirdo, but then he defended the technology.
While I don't believe in Scientology--I am curious if there are a lot of these people who practice Scientology while hating the Church of Scientology, and what Miscavige has done to it.
I guess I didn't realize that there were more branches of Scientology then just the Church. That both scares and intrigues me.
|
|
NappingAthena
Sloane Ranger
Posts: 2,104
Mar 6, 2005 18:35:49 GMT -4
|
Post by NappingAthena on Feb 13, 2011 22:30:11 GMT -4
There's been rumors for years that John Travolta's not being seen at very many COS things is because he dislikes Miscavige, but he stays because he enjoys the tech, so I'm sure he's not alone.
|
|
|
Post by kostgard on Feb 13, 2011 23:26:38 GMT -4
I wouldn't mind if some people broke free and established their own branch (while the main branch went down in flames). I think they would have to edit it some of the stuff - Hubbard was, after all, pretty homophobic and racist, and there are a lot of practices in Scientology that are all "Feel free to 'get' anyone who crosses you, even if you have to lie, cheat and steal. Do whatever you can to destroy them" that they should really lose.
Then they need to either make the "tech" free to everyone like every other religion, or they need to drop the "religion" part and just call it a self-help method.
But again, I would really, really hope that they would carefully edit what they bring over. Hubbard started Scientology as a way to make money, and it shows. So much of their doctrine is really about sucking people in and keeping them there while they drain their bank accounts. It, like other cults, is very "My way or the highway" and there is absolutely no room for doubt. Any belief system that leaves no room for questions or doubt is a very dangerous thing. Just the whole "psychiatry is evil" thing is a good example. While they may have a point about psych meds being over-prescribed, most of it is based on lies and was started because Hubbard submitted a lot of his theories to the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Associate and they turn him down, so Hubbard got all butthurt and declared psychiatry the root of all evil.
Miscavige is a rat bastard who has really ramped up the abuse and aggression in the church, but it didn't all start with him. A lot of it started with Hubbard. He was the one who sent his minions out after the IRS, etc., not Miscavige.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 3, 2024 17:30:07 GMT -4
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2011 23:41:11 GMT -4
Scieno "tech" isn't revolutionary stuff. Confessing your shortcomings and fears is basic psychology going all the way back to Freud's couch. The e-meter is rudimentary biofeedback. They also have a lot of power-of-positive-thinking stuff and cognitive behavioral basics (envisioning your success so you can more easily achieve it). Why bother breaking off into another group if you can accomplish the same results by perusing the self-help section of your local library for free?
|
|
|
Post by kostgard on Feb 14, 2011 0:12:17 GMT -4
Scieno "tech" isn't revolutionary stuff. Confessing your shortcomings and fears is basic psychology going all the way back to Freud's couch. The e-meter is rudimentary biofeedback. They also have a lot of power-of-positive-thinking stuff and cognitive behavioral basics (envisioning your success so you can more easily achieve it). Why bother breaking off into another group if you can accomplish the same results by perusing the self-help section of your local library for free? Yes, once you strip away the aliens and the "psychiatry kills" crap, that's pretty much what you're left with. Which is exactly why I think they need to break away and just rebrand themselves as a self-help method. Nothing new under the sun, but many self-help methods are similar. Of course some people get something extra out of it by considering it a religion, and if that is the direction they go in, they need to stop charging for it.
|
|
Karrit
Sloane Ranger
Posts: 2,295
Mar 15, 2005 14:32:04 GMT -4
|
Post by Karrit on Feb 14, 2011 6:41:54 GMT -4
I always thought the overriding reason the clams wanted Scientology considered a religion (rather than a sort of philosophy or self-help method) was the tax free status.
|
|