Voltaire's Child
Fool on the Hill
As some of you know, I left the cult over the freedom of speech issue. I was going to post to forums and talk to critics (and, of course, make friends with some as I have done) and it was just not their business or their right to tell me I shouldn't.
So lately I've been seeing a lot of dismay expressed about private blogs that are moderated. And over the months and years, I've been seeing a lot of potshots at Scientologists posting here about how they supposedly want to stop discussion of this or that. Rebuttals to this end up making the claimants furious instead of being glad that the topic is actually being discussed.
I've also been seeing many posts in which anyone with any interest in Scientology is labelled "OSA" or other claims made about them. I've seen people here flat out tell Scientologists (and just about every Scientologist here is an ex cult member and has had his or her own horror to have come to terms with from his or her own time in the cult. Many of them are expelled and declared) to stop posting, to shut up, to not do this, to not do that. Then, inevitably, later on, those same people post allegations that they aren't allowed to speak freely or that others are trying to truncate this.
This is hypocritical.
If you want uncensored posting with NO rules of conduct (other than don't post JPGs and html, etc) then go to alt.religion.scientology. If you want to be in a forum where just about everything in Scn (plus a nifty off topic section) can be discussed but there are rules of conduct that are enforced, then ESMB is an awesome place for that. If you want to discuss Scientology but have limitations about confidential stuff, then post to Isene's board. If you don't want that, then don't go there. If you want to talk about scn and the church but are willing to refrain from Marty bashing, then you can post to Marty's blog. If those terms don't do it for you, then don't go there.
And if you do post to a forum where the communication is free and open ended, like this one or a.r.s., then keep in mind that others- even if they have minority views on Scn- are allowed to post their opinions, too. If you criticize people or movements on a board where quite a few people have ties to those, then you can expect responses. That's just how it works. You had the freedom to post those opinions, others have the freedom to post rebuttals and opinions of their own.
So lately I've been seeing a lot of dismay expressed about private blogs that are moderated. And over the months and years, I've been seeing a lot of potshots at Scientologists posting here about how they supposedly want to stop discussion of this or that. Rebuttals to this end up making the claimants furious instead of being glad that the topic is actually being discussed.
I've also been seeing many posts in which anyone with any interest in Scientology is labelled "OSA" or other claims made about them. I've seen people here flat out tell Scientologists (and just about every Scientologist here is an ex cult member and has had his or her own horror to have come to terms with from his or her own time in the cult. Many of them are expelled and declared) to stop posting, to shut up, to not do this, to not do that. Then, inevitably, later on, those same people post allegations that they aren't allowed to speak freely or that others are trying to truncate this.
This is hypocritical.
If you want uncensored posting with NO rules of conduct (other than don't post JPGs and html, etc) then go to alt.religion.scientology. If you want to be in a forum where just about everything in Scn (plus a nifty off topic section) can be discussed but there are rules of conduct that are enforced, then ESMB is an awesome place for that. If you want to discuss Scientology but have limitations about confidential stuff, then post to Isene's board. If you don't want that, then don't go there. If you want to talk about scn and the church but are willing to refrain from Marty bashing, then you can post to Marty's blog. If those terms don't do it for you, then don't go there.
And if you do post to a forum where the communication is free and open ended, like this one or a.r.s., then keep in mind that others- even if they have minority views on Scn- are allowed to post their opinions, too. If you criticize people or movements on a board where quite a few people have ties to those, then you can expect responses. That's just how it works. You had the freedom to post those opinions, others have the freedom to post rebuttals and opinions of their own.