Well, Lakey, my love, it is always a good thing to be able to laugh
with friends . . . and even while I observe the little foibles of my friends, and forgive them, it is when something comes out of left field, so non-sequitur as to tickle my funny bone, I just have to enjoy the humor of it.
And to be honest, Toady . . . even his nic and avatar are a total send up to the heavens of humour . . . is bloody funny at times.
You see, in my view, he has a rather neat knack of disagreeing with something/someone and making it fun . . . . I don't think I've seen any post of his that has been vicious, nasty or destructive. It's just a fun presentation of the why and what with which he disagrees . . . Hell, I even think he did a send up me once . . . and it was so delicious I had to love him for it and respect that he doesn't hold with any (apparently none whatsoever) tech as workable.
Well, so what? His experience has led him to believing "tech" doesn't work . . . who the hell am I to try and convince him otherwise. I don't have to try and change his view of his experience; and I sure as hell don't have to try and make myself right on the issue.
I think Toady is possibly the funniest thing on two legs

(And Luvvvv his avatar!

)
Hey, Toady, is it true you don't think any tech, any tech at all, is workable??
I don't think you should try and argue that point with our Buddhist friends
Rog
That my man deserves not only an answer but a very honest answer based on own personal experience and that I have observed for well over 30 years - closer to 40 years of scientology.
I have to give some prefaces first. The people I have dealt with that have done crack tell me the sensation is like winning an Olympic Gold Medal and all that had to do to get that was suck on a pipe. Man, that sounds fantastic !
How can I not promote THAT to others?
Well, then come the stories of the young girls addicted to crack who lay in the crack house waiting for enough guys to throw in and buy her a rock after they have had their way with her. That becomes her life.
Or the person who after a few months or years of being on crack ( one of the more difficult drugs to kick entirely and go clean ) gets to a rehab center, a year or so in a half way house, and then some job to start back into "real" life.
Can I deny the "highs" the addict had ? Should I sing the praises of those "highs" and deny the degradation of selling off everything they owned to buy crack? Or how the neglect of their teeth - and other health - would now take thousands of dollars to fix? Not to mention the lost years of their life? Should I ignore all the downside when asked how is the "high" from illegal street drugs?
Or, heck, even from the addiction to legal pain killers?
Now to scientology. First, I'd have to go into the 1948 era " Affirmations " by L Ron Hubbard .
Then his actual war record vs what he claimed.
Make it short, just throw in the two links in my siggy line.
Let's skip children in the chain locker or being in the Sea Org...etc
( And I'll give anybody that as I got in and was involved in scn that information wasn't readily available but it is certainly is today - and is certainly known by the majority of people in these discussions on ESMB )
It takes a full and honest look at the cost in terms of humanity ( never mind the 20 years or so of time or the $350,000.00 or so to do the bridge ) to be able to answer "
Are there gains available from scientology "?.
And, in all honesty, I'd have to say
YES.
But, I'd hope that you'd also want to know what I felt it may well
cost a person
other than money to get those particular gains available from scientology. And that, I feel, is what the pro-scientology crowd here on ESMB so desparately wants omitted from any discussion of scientology.
Was that a fair answer?