
Originally Posted by
HelluvaHoax!
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It's tricky, knowing a Scientologist personally who is "basically" a good person.
They can be kind and compassionate and other admirable traits.
But, when the are being a Scientologist, they are not "basically" a good person, they "basically" are a deluded cult member and zealot who is quite willing to commit alarming atrocities.
So, what then is the appropriate response to that?
To recognize their former goodness that is no longer manifest in their actions and treat them kindly with gently guiding words of understanding?
To give them the proverbial "whack on the side of the head" as employed by Zen masters to their errantly meditating disciples seeking enlightenment?
I don't know that there is only one answer.
Boisterous protestors outside the Org's front door, dancing and mocking Scientology, certainly has a commanding power to grab the attention of dormant cult members. They actually can't confront it at all, particularly because Anon can't be bullbaited and, worse, they manifest the "spirit of play" and "insouciance" that gloomy Scientolgists are supposed to have a monopoly on. LOL.
But then so does asking Scientologists a simple question that they cannot really answer. You know, they are TRAINED to fastidiously answer every question they are asked, so this is a kind of cruel trick--but very often enormously effective.
I was once at a protest at an Ideal Org and the staff/OSA did not know I was a former Scientologist. They just thought I was a "guy" in the area. I chatted up some of the execs and asked them questions about why "those people" were protesting. Naturally, they told me that they were "religious bigots" and how they were trying to abridge our rights to practice freedom of religion. Then they figured I was "handled" but I kept asking questions, gently. LOL.
I finally asked them if there "...was any slightest truth to what the protesters were saying (protesting about)." This kind of stunned them. Not one of the group could offer up an answer. They kinda went "into session" just the way a well-indoctrinated Scientologist is supposed to do when asked for a WITHHOLD. I suppose that they found something "reading" when they looked. LOL.
I went back to my earlier question and asked something like "But really, why do these people come out and protest your church but not other churches."
Another uncomfortable silence. It seemed like they were all waiting for someone else to answer it. Finally one meekly (almost pathetically) said: "We don't know!"
I had the luxury of them not knowing who I was and, at the same time, I knew virtually EVERYTHING about them, having done my staff stint, Sea Org duty, Advanced Levels and a heap-a-heap-o-burning Auditor training.
If they knew I was an SP, they would have certainly gone into "attack mode" the way that Indian bullet-taker did.
It is just an interesting area to ponder, what really can reach a cult member who is out on the sidewalk to shatter SPs.
Thank God I completed my tours of duty long before protesters came around. I CRINGE to think what embarrassing things I may have done in the defense of earth's only hope for salvation.
Well, it must be a nightmare to try and make an org solvent while under assault from all corners (SPs, Psychs, Critics, Anonymous, Media....). And to simultaneously be under attack by senior management.
Pity the poor dumb staff member, caught in the crossfire of stupidity. But, you know, they can walk away too, just like everyone else that did. They have to be held accountable at some level for the despicable behavior of their own group. Aren't they "fully responsible" after all, as Source has taught them?
ps: I am too lazy to proofread a long rant tonight. Sorrrrrry!