What's new

Chris Shelton - Critical Thinker at Large - YouTube channel

scooter

Gold Meritorious Patron
Love your work, Chris.:thumbsup:

I remember when I finally got $cientology into proper perspective after hooking up with CIFS and attending a meeting of theirs as a guest speaker.:yes:

It was a huge blow to my ego to realise the cult I'd been part of wasn't some huge deal at all - it was just another small-time poxy little criminal operation that barely affected a million people (if that) in any way at all.:omg:

Not to decry the real abuses and injustices that have occurred within the Co$ ranks but seriously - it's strictly small-time on a planetary scale. Even the stature of its current leader is evidence of that.:coolwink:

It was my amended goal then and still is today to make $cientology the poster-child for all abusive cults. For anyone to say the word "cult" and DM, TC, JT and all the other crazies and well-documented abuses immediately come to mind for the otherwise-uninitiated layperson when talking about such much bigger groups like the JWs has been my fondest hope.:happydance:

Of course I still fight the cult directly and will continue to do so - it's an evil organisation kept alive somehow by its zombie personnel mindlessly spouting Hubbardspew and doing just what the Fat Fraud said they should do (that of course He Hisself never ever did, but that's the whole point.):duh:

Hubbard's genius was getting His ragtag bunch to punch sooooo far above their weight and have them fervently believing how well they were doing while He cowered in fear behind the most rapid of His fanatics. That the cult is so well-known today is a sort of testament to what He was able to do. And of course DM in sheer rat cunning for keep it all running somehow when realistically it should have died quietly years ago.

Pathetic short-term cult is pathetic - no other term fits it really.:yes:

Just like its SHORT leader.:roflmao:

I just look forward to reconnecting with my friends still locked into that prison of belief someday.:dance:
 

Chris Shelton

Patron with Honors
[video]https://youtu.be/AVkkd7uZQVs[/video]

Critical Q&A #18

Subscribe to my new podcast at http://sensiblyspeaking.com

The weekly show where I take up and answer questions people have left for me in the comments of my Q&A videos. The questions I take up this week are:

(1) I have a question about Scientology “buzzwords” and how they are used as a PR strategy — especially by celebrities in Scientology. The first is the word bigot. When John Sweeney was investigating Scientology, Tommy Davis kept calling him a bigot over and over again. He sounded like a broken record. When Leah Remini left Scientology, Kirstie Alley went on theHoward Stern Show and said she no longer associates with Remini, not because she left, but because she’s a bigot for criticizing Scientology. If there’s a news report featuring an ex-Scientologist, the news broadcasters have to read parts of these long rebuttals which almost always accuse the critic of being a bigot. It’s as if they intentionally say this word over and over again to suggest that any person who looks at Scientology critically or questions its intentions is actually a bigot. And decent people should despise bigots, right?

The other buzzword is religion. When I think about it, most people don’t usually refer to their faith, whatever it may be, as their “religion.” They might say “my faith” or “my belief system,” but not necessarily “my religion.” Yet, Tom Cruise always speaks of Scientology by saying “my religion.” Tommy Davis accused Sweeney of being a bigot by attacking “his religion.”
I guess I’m just wondering if the constant use of these words as a defense mechanism is some sort of tactic or PR strategy for getting the public, especially those who don’t really know (or care) much about Scientology, to assume that anyone who comments negatively about the “church” of Scientology is a bigot who also hates religion. If you have any insight, I’d love to hear it. Thanks!
(2) Hey Chris, love the videos. I understand that symbols and icons are used by cults (and many other organizations for that matter) to help the member identify him or herself with the organization they belong to. Either it be the military, church, or Scientology symbols and icons can describe so much about that organization without saying a word. So here’s my question, what does the odd looking cross and the triangles mean? Is the intended effect of the cross used as a way to give the impression to non-Scientology members a feeling that the organization is benign and Christian oriented?
(3) Hi Chris. Love your videos. I’m currently expecting my second baby and was curious about Scientology births. I’ve heard that they are to be silent but (given Scientology’s views on pharmacology) do women go medication free as well? Do touch assists play a role? Just curious! Thanks!
(4) Hi Chris, thank you so much for the amazing videos, the info you have given us is something we would probably never have ever heard about (living across the pond over here in Ireland). There is a Scientology office here. About 20 years ago me and a couple of my friends went in purely to have a bit of a laugh with them, we never really had any big interest in signing up.
My question though is us (Ireland) being a small nation and having a very diverse beliefs on religion/life in general, and that the very same Scientology office has completely shrunk to a miniscule room, has Scientology really an interest in the smaller countries like ourselves or is it really just taking a bullet for the cause to show a presence over here and stand firm with the organization?

(5) Hi Chris, Thank you so much for these videos. I wonder, if you don’t mind saying, do you feel anything inside yourself when you say that you’ve been declared? Does it still feel shameful inside, even though in your logical, enlightened self, you know that the problem is with the “Church” and it’s only because you are a GOOD person that you were declared? I thought to ask when you mentioned in this video that you’d been declared. Thanks again. I hope many people are staying away or getting out of Scientology because of you.
(6) Are we all capable of being taken in by snake oil salesmen? I wonder if that is entirely true. Stanley Milgram’s behavioural therapy hoax experiments in the early 1960s seemed to show that about 70% of us don’t want to cause trouble and will basically do what we are told. We bow to the group dynamic, we go with the flow, even if we don’t like it. However, the other 30% of us are unreformed stubborn sceptics apparently. So, I am afraid I disagree. There are an awful
lot of independent free-thinkers out there, graduates of The School of Hard Knocks and The University of Life who apply a common sense approach of most all things and sic their dogs on any snake oil salesperson who is unfortunate enough to knock on their front doors. Having said all that, I am beyond doubt the most gullible fool on the planet.

(7) Did you happen to see the video that Tony Ortega posted on his blog (the one with Jenna Elfman and her husband)? Considering the content in that video, do you think they will be in “trouble” with the church or do you think that was planned by David Miscavige to show that Scientologists are just normal people?
 

Chris Shelton

Patron with Honors
[video=youtube;c8vJTU6t7Bk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8vJTU6t7Bk[/video]

is Knowledge Power? How We All Get Fooled

They say that knowledge is power, but I have found that is not always a universal truth, not all by itself, and in this video I explain why that is, what this has to do with destructive cults and life in general.


"Characteristics Associated with Cultic Groups - Revised" by
Janja Lalich, Ph.D. & Michael D. Langone, Ph.D., is located at http://www.csj.org/infoserv_cult1..


My video Is Scientology a Cult? is at https://youtu.be/ruSHCRiKJaE
 

TrevAnon

Big List researcher
I don't post every time you have a new video out, so here's a well meant thank you for doing them. :)
 

RandomCat

Patron with Honors
Great video Chris!
Very interesting what you had to say about the U.S.A.'s founding fathers and religion. From what I've read about Thomas Jefferson, he was fairly blunt about not wanting to establish our country as a 'Christian Nation'.

"'Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."'. ---Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, in reference to the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom
 

Chris Shelton

Patron with Honors
[video]https://youtu.be/U01kJDAHoVg[/video]

Critical Q&A #19

(1) Do you think L. Ron Hubbard made staff contracts 2 and a half or 5 year contracts to trap members or supress them and unknowingly stop them from doing and getting up the bridge.?
(2) Are you familiar with Amway / Network marketing type companies and, if so, do you think that their tactics are similar to those used in cults?
(3) If the Sea Org members generally don't get anywhere up the bridge, how do they feel about the fairness of that? Do they have the attitude that, "Oh well, it sucks not to be rich enough to buy the superhuman powers, but at least I'm working 24/7 to provide the structure to help others buy theirs?" This all particularly confuses me, since you say in the next Q&A that participation in Scientology is a pretty narcissistic activity.
(4) In one of your videos, you said "You can't have a knowingness". Was that intentional use of Hubbard-speak? If not then why is it difficult for ex homo novis to extricate themselves from Hubbard's lingo? Why do mind-control phrases such as "you pulled it in" seem so natural and appealing despite being such obvious nonsense?
(5) Do you know whatever happened to Steven Fishman? Could you talk about his case? I find it quite fascinating. Thanks.
Tony Ortega article I mentioned in this answer
(6) I have an important question: do you have any idea how chromatically disturbing is your squared grey shirts above your green tee shirt?
(7) Hello Mr. Shelton! I was wondering, what key piece or pieces of data do you think would be most damning to a typical Scientologist's mental resolve and cause them to doubt? I understand that your disillusionment with Scientology took months to build up, but what fact, had you heard it in the depth of your brainwashing, would have shaken your faith the greatest?
(8) Many ex-Scientologists - Jason Beghe, Paul Haggis, yourself, to name a few - start out by acknowledging that they gained from the "communications" course they took. Which Communication course did you take specifically. Many thanks.
(9) Have you ever thought that there are striking parallels between the CoS and the Jehovah's witnesses? Both were founded by money grubbing conmen (LRH and Judge Rutherford), practice disconnection/disfellowshipping, and are obviously highly authoritarian.
(10) Chris, thank you for your incredible videos and shedding a light on this cult/religion. My question is this, I've seen on Karen's channel a video about the disarray, the decaying state of Big Blue, broken restrooms, no fire alarms, broken elevators, broken lights and working in and around with asbestos. Is this a violation of city codes and work environment in the City of Los Angeles? Could the city come in and close Big Blue until the building is updated to specifications? Has anyone attempted to do so or is this against the First Amendment rights?
(11) Hi Chris, thanks for all you're doing. A niche question, but I've been wondering: Since you mentioned you never made it to the OT levels while you were in the Sea Org, and since we all know their contents are secret, what did you imagine would be in them and they'd teach you if you got there?
(12) When you are going to the RPF like the min. they say come with us. Do you know where you are going and why? Also when you get there, I mean my first instinct would be to run no matter what I did, do you really believe you deserve it? I cant remember, were you in the RPF ? What for and for how long?
(13) What is your take on the "Antichrist" version of OT8? If it was real it seems like it was changed by Scientology quickly. Or is it fake like Scientology has said? I was curious if you had any definitive knowledge on this topic.
(14) In your opinion, to what extent did LRH believe his own con? Did he start a "religion" for the sole purpose of getting rich and wielding undue power over the minds of others? Over time, do you think that being constantly surrounded by people who essentially deified him, he fell under his own spell? I get the sense that the struggle in his mind between awareness of the true nature of Scientology and his desire to believe in his own greatness may have been the primary catalyst in his going completely insane in his later years. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.
It seems pretty clear that David Miscavige is fully aware that he is selling a lie and does not regard Scientology's texts, practices, or beliefs as sacred. Yet, in his youth he was said to have been so devoted a believer that he became protege of LRH. Do you suppose his personal experiences and interactions with the man behind the curtain were the cause of his loss of faith in Scientology and his (somewhat) covert hostility toward its followers?
Please keep up the amazing work!
Thanks, Stuck in an Electronic Incident with Thetanists
 
Top