3 ms·

Have you read 1984? Scientology is an outpost of IngSoc which will inevitably win but is under constant attack. Everyone in Scientology is naturally better than

by dsr_ 4y ago

Have you read 1984? Scientology is an outpost of IngSoc which will inevitably win but is under constant attack. Everyone in Scientology is naturally better than everyone outside, because they've accepted the truth. The worst thing you can be is a Scientologist who has left the organization, because you know the truth and you are actively working against civilization, a traitor to the future. You spend all your money on courses from the organization that will get you to Clear, a mystical status that will enable you to completely control your own mind. You spend hours hooked up to a skin galvanometer called an E-Meter while an auditor asks you questions. Anyone who is pre-Clear but not taking the courses and answering the questions needs to be encouraged to join the organization and save themselves so they can help save humanity. When you go Clear you discover that you are actually just an Operating Thetan I, and you need to pay more money to take the courses to become an Operating Thetan II. Then you learn the real truth: that an alien named Xenu... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_%28Scientology%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_%28Scientology%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_Thetan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_Thetan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishman_Affidavit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishman_Affidavit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu ... and by then you're willing to do anything to save the world, including torture people by putting them in solitary confinement and starving them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_controversies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_controversies That's conditioning.

tarkin2 4y ago
Thanks, it doesn't give a succinct definition, but the parts about knowing the "truth" and being under constant attack seem essential parts to "conditioning", and how such are applied to some sketchy religious sects and conspiracy theories. But, I guess, my question is how can it be so effective and why are people so susceptible, since I'd guess if you went up to most people on the street to tell them you had the truth and they're under attack they'd probably give you the finger, yet some people are highly attracted to such suggestions.
- dsr_ 4y ago
  Humans like being a part of society. This appears to be ingrained in hominids, if not mammals as a whole -- cats like groups of 5 to 50, depending on environment; some whales seem to be happy being alone for months at a time. Some percentage of humans are willing to submit to significant demands from tribal leaders in order to demonstrate their loyalty to the tribe, including wearing tribe colors, displaying tribe emblems and flags, and changing aspects of their life to conform to the tribal leader's statements about what is right and good and proper. Quite a bit of money can be spent on this. And, at an extreme, some humans go looking for a tribe that promises more, and demands more from them. It's a continuum.
- dccoolgai 4y ago
  They do it very gradually: from what I understand, the first time you meet them they use a device called an e-meter and take a fake "reading" and then give you some common sense advice. They don't tell you about Xenu until 4 years later when you're estranged from all your friends and emptied your bank account. See: 1. boiling frog syndrome and 2. sunk cost fallacy.

by dsr_ 4y ago

tarkin2 4y ago

Thanks, it doesn't give a succinct definition, but the parts about knowing the "truth" and being under constant attack seem essential parts to "conditioning", and how such are applied to some sketchy religious sects and conspiracy theories. But, I guess, my question is how can it be so effective and why are people so susceptible, since I'd guess if you went up to most people on the street to tell them you had the truth and they're under attack they'd probably give you the finger, yet some people are highly attracted to such suggestions.

dsr_ 4y ago
Humans like being a part of society. This appears to be ingrained in hominids, if not mammals as a whole -- cats like groups of 5 to 50, depending on environment; some whales seem to be happy being alone for months at a time. Some percentage of humans are willing to submit to significant demands from tribal leaders in order to demonstrate their loyalty to the tribe, including wearing tribe colors, displaying tribe emblems and flags, and changing aspects of their life to conform to the tribal leader's statements about what is right and good and proper. Quite a bit of money can be spent on this. And, at an extreme, some humans go looking for a tribe that promises more, and demands more from them. It's a continuum.
dccoolgai 4y ago
They do it very gradually: from what I understand, the first time you meet them they use a device called an e-meter and take a fake "reading" and then give you some common sense advice. They don't tell you about Xenu until 4 years later when you're estranged from all your friends and emptied your bank account. See: 1. boiling frog syndrome and 2. sunk cost fallacy.