Just speak English, dammit!

[degraded being]

Oh, and here's the one I thought of the other day that I meant to start this out with:

I think the phrase a lot of people I know use "it is what it is" equates to the Scn phrase "isness".

Correction:

"isness" in scientology can be translated by wogs as "anything but what it is"

 

[Infinite]

These Scientologese expressions are not necessarily strict synonyms for standard English expressions, but only analogs . . . <snip> . . . [these Scientology terms amount to] subliminal indoctrination.

Thank you. You said what I was thinking when considering the suggested alternatives for "entheta". It doesn't just mean "unpleasantness" or "too negative" or "bad news". Rather, "entheta" carries huge indoctrination baggage for a Scientologist because of its relationship to "theta". It brings connotations of annihilation in that, for the Scientologist, "entheta" - enturbulated theta - is the antithesis of what they are, ostensibly, seeking. "Entheta" is Scientology's anti-matter, something to be mightily feared as well as entirely avoided. I've found that when "entheta" is explained in this light, otherwise bemused wogs begin to understand why Scientologists remain steadfast despite truth about Scientology sitting just a few key strokes away. Ask the Scientologist also points out that not one of the official defintions of "entheta" has anything to do with whether or not the "entheta" is true of false. Rather, an acceptance of the term requires that Scientologists begin to stop thinking about true or false and, instead, only in terms of theta and entheta. L Ron Hubbard could scarcely have devised a better term for implementing information control and as a vector for indoctrination.

I believe it is this earlier indoctrination via language (along with that bleak yet pernicious "science of survival" mind fuck) which underlies the "greater good" concept of the "dynamics" you mention. That initial acceptance of new words which blur existing definitions to take in imaginary concepts not immediately apparent until already agreed upon (cf: word clearing) leads almost imperceptibly towards a blind acceptance of totally arbitrary data like the "dynamics" and the manner in which such "knowledge" is applied.

While there's nothing obviously wrong with the dynamics as a model, Scientology completely ignores the fact that each dynamic is dependent on the one immediately below it: without healthy bodies individuals cannot have have healthy families and without healthy families there cannot be a healthy community, and without healthy communities there cannot be a healthy society . . . and so it goes. The result is that today, right now, there are thousands of Scientologists willingly forgoing their individual health, their families, and their participation in wider society "for the greatest good" so that "supression" can be "shattered", the "entheta" stilled, society's "tone level" raised, so mankind can be "audited" and taught how to "clear" the "bank".

It is essential for people escaping Scientology to examine the language and make efforts to reframe it. Using simple lists of suggested alternatives seems a tad facile and, worse perhaps, masks the true nature and depth of the mind fuck. Still, gotta start somewhere, and context is king: sometimes "entheta" does mean "bad news" and "doing the right thing" means just that. Other times it may require a paragraph rather than a single synonym. Its interesting watching people shed the Scientology-speak; the further they move from it the more they seem to understand and become less susceptible to it. Equally, Scientology-speak does bind the community of Exes, serving as something of a linguistic identifier and easy shorthand for the sharing of common or similar experiences. I would hate to see the casual use of it seriously frowned upon.

 

[DagwoodGum]

Service Facsimile - The stubborn, unrepentant refusal to face the truth that one has made a colossal mistake in becoming a member of an asinine cult, thereby holding one to a life of misery.

 

[Claire Swazey]

These Scientologese expressions are not necessarily strict synonyms for standard English expressions, but only analogs. They may only be interchangeable with standard English phrases in the sense that they fill the same roles in speech. Where a wog would use one expression, a Scientologist uses the other. But they do not all mean quite the same things.

But I already said that in my op...

 

[Ho Tai]

Claire,
Just look at your post title. With so little ARC you'll never 8C anyone.

 

[Claire Swazey]

Claire,
Just look at your post title. With so little ARC you'll never 8C anyone.

Dunno what "BC" is-never heard of that. And my thread title was written in the spirit of levity, not lack of "ARC". It's a colloquialism and I was also quoting my mom. I would also hope people would really read the text in the op, as well.

I wasn't trying to do anything to anybody. I was discussing equivalent (though not exactly the same as) terms.

My favorite, for some reason, is "it is what it is". Been using that one a lot lately. Drives my husband crazy.

 

[Claire Swazey]

And...don't laugh, but I was reading a book about a cop who infiltrated the Hells Angels. He said that a favorite expression of theirs is "It is what it is". Heck, I work for a lawfirm and have friends who work in banking- management- and it's a very common phrase there!!

We're like a bunch of Hells Angels! No kiddin'! 1%ers!

But, that being said, I think it's a neat little phrase. I say it sometimes when I'm trying to just go with the flow and not be dismayed by a turn of events that I could not change. It's a bit like "isness".

 

[Claire Swazey]

Oooh...I just noticed. Ho Tai wrote "8c" not "BC". Hope I don't need new glasses.

Anyway, I never was very good at 8cing people, either.

 

[Smilla]

Scientologist -- A person who's messed up in a way that's long gone out of fashion.

 

[DoneDeal]

scn'ists = lrh book salesman.