9 comments

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  kmilyun

  3 years ago

  Great post - I love it when sources and examples are linked to. Thank you for the time you took in putting this post together.
  
  I have known of few mentally ill people that were convinced by a group to throw out their meds and they had the answer. Unfortunately the members were not Doctors. Two weeks and a few days later we were at a funeral - the minister that officiated was not from the anti med group.
• 

  finnigh

  3 years ago

  By and large, science works. It's a self-correcting system that has been proven over the ages. Sure, it may take a while for the corrections to kick in at times, but when they do, it's based on a huge body of evidence, not wishful thinking.
  
  Scientology dresses up quackery as dogma and then spins their dogma as 'real science'. Then they prey on people who are looking for a quick fix, with sad, sometimes (as you've pointed out) tragic results.
  
  They also have a history of scouring the net and trying to suppress anybody with a negative opinion of their methods. I wouldn't be surprised if you end up welcoming some trolls to your blog in the near future.
  
  If they do, I'll be there to man the barricades:)
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  drumsnwhistles

  3 years ago

  Thanks, Finnigh and Kmilyun for taking the time to comment on this...it's pretty near and dear to my heart.
  
  The most concerning thing to me about Scientology is the backhanded ways they try to suck people in and the fact that they have celebrity firepower spouting off about it. This poster is the most egregious and blatant I have seen them get, however.
  
  There was a local phone number at the top of the poster for the "local chapter". I cropped it out because I wasn't interested in giving them any more publicity than my criticism already will. What a gross display of trickery.
  
  As to the trolls, well...they have their choice of troll topics, including my illegal immigration stance which elicited some...um...interesting comments. :)
• 

  liz

  3 years ago

  This is a great post, DNW.
  
  I nominated it for the next Skeptic's Circle (June 20 2006 hosted at
  
  http://mikesweeklyskepticrant.blogspot.com/
  
  I'm going to work on one on bogus "treatments" for LD that are being flogged about.
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  Brad

  3 years ago

  I shall simply add my well-wishes for this post. Wonderful work.
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  Gary

  3 years ago

  Thanks for the posting, We need to speak out against this group's irrational hatred and fear of psychiatry. The sheer hypocrisy of Scientology is astounding, considering the many cases (i.e. Lisa McPherson) of physical and mental abuse that have been attributed to this society of control-freaks. There was a recent case where they persuaded a schizophrenic to swap his medication for their 'treatment' of vitamin pills, and he ultimately stabbed his mother (also a Scientologist) to death. Scientologists know that their name is associated with mind-control, ridiculous beliefs, criminal activities and extortionate fees so they are now hiding behind fronts like the Citizen's Commission for Human Rights, Applied Scholastics, Criminon and Narconon.
• 

  speedwell

  2 years ago

  Thank you for speaking up. The more people who tell the truth about Scientology and their outrageous behavior, the fewer people will be taken in by them. Hooray for you :)
• 

  Skeptico

  2 years ago

  You wrote:
  
  “This harmless-looking flyer is really an insidious attempt to draw people with the best intentions into Scientology”
  
  - You got it right there. It’s a bait and switch con to get you to part with your money. They get you in on one pretext, and then they get you to go to the next level, which always involves paying more. It’s typical of all cults in that they don’t tell you at the outset what the ultimate purpose is. I wrote more about this here:
  
  http://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2005/03/unde...
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  Mike Nilsen

  2 years ago

  Great work! We have to keep an eye on The Clams, 'cause no one else will.