The post-fact era of information anarchy has caused many people to be overwhelmed with useless and misleading information. That is causing us collectively and individually to make more irrational and destructive decisions, e.g. see the posts Has Your Mind Become Infected, When Distraction Becomes Catastrophic, Lulz Rules. Consequently, concentration and focus are becoming increasingly valuable faculties for maintaining a semblance of equanimity and increasing the effectiveness of personal time-management and productivity.
One means of sharpening focus that I have read about recently in the works of Nassim Taleb seems to work, at least on a personal basis it has. That is, training oneself to differentiate ‘noise’ from ‘signal.’ Signal is the message of a communication – the substance of what one is invited to consider. ‘Noise’ is the carrier wave it rides in on often jazzed up to jar your wits, have your emotion override your reason, or is just plain alarming distraction. We most often see ‘noise’ in the form of appeals to emotion rather than to intellect or understanding. Emotion does and should play a role in the weight we give to data. But, when emotion is overemphasized and manipulated to override reason and interject deception, irrationality and worse results. In the past year in the US we have seen an unprecedented level of appeals to passion, prejudice, and particularly to anger (by both sides of the political spectrum). It has served in lieu of important issue education and understanding to influence decision-making. The noise to message ratio across established media and social media has risen to absurd levels in favor of emotional prejudice over intellect. Practice noticing the distinction between signal and noise and you might find that many ‘messages’ themselves are nothing more than ‘noise’.
More means of recognizing and rationally evaluating message before getting distracted in and unduly influenced by time-consuming and potentially destructive noise is covered in Nobel prize recipient Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking, Fast and Slow. One way is to learn to be wary of experts, particularly in the fields of politics and social sciences. Kahneman cites to clinical studies that evaluated the prediction reliability of the most commonly touted experts increasingly populating news and current events shows – those sitting on panels telling us how to view matters. Their long-term prediction success rates are well below 50% accurate when actually studied. In other words your chances of making correct decisions based on raw information – without relying on those ostensibly more qualified to make them for you – are better than if you waste a lot of time listening to those paid to tell you how to think. Taleb goes into this phenomenon in a lot more detail in his books as it pertains to economics and politics.
Kahneman provides more information that can serve as another handy index. That is, studies have shown that – no matter how counter-intuitive it may seem – often the more absolutism and unyielding certainty an expert asserts or excudes, the less likely his predictions will be accurate.
Another useful noise-detection tool is contained in Kahneman’s book where he covers the ‘availability cascade.’ Here is a short section where he defines the term and describes the pitfall which capitalizes on the human tendency to follow like sheep:
An availability cascade is a self-sustaining chain of events, which may start from media reports or a relatively minor event and lead up to public panic and large-scale government action. On some occasions, a media story about a risk catches the attention of a segment of the public, which becomes aroused and worried. This emotional reaction becomes a story in itself, prompting additional coverage in the media, which in turn produces greater concern and involvement. The cycle is sometimes sped along deliberately by “availability entrepreneurs”, individuals or organizations who work to ensure a continuous flow of worrying news. The danger is increasingly exaggerated as the media compete for attention-grabbing headlines. Scientists and others who try to dampen the increasing fear and revulsion attract little attention, most of it hostile: anyone who claims the danger is overstated is suspected of association with a “heinous cover-up.” The issue becomes politically important because it is on everyone’s mind, and the response of the political system is guided by the intensity of public sentiment. The availability cascade has now reset priorities. Other risks, and other ways that resources could be applied for the public good, all have faded into the background.
It is not difficult to spot availability entrepreneurs if you apply some of the tips covered above. An increasing percentage of ‘news’ online and on television is reporting on the reactions to ‘news’ and then reactions to reactions, and reactions to reactions to reactions, and having those reactions evaluated by experts, etc. If one could teach oneself to spot such and to identify availability entrepreneurs, one could be spared a lot of time, anguish and potential grief. And one might even wind up being a little bit smarter and happier.
Moving On Up a Little Higher 
Thank you. This is a huge issue, the importance of which cannot be overstated. I appreciate the heads-up on Taleb and Kahneman’s work. I frankly can use the help in this area. It’s so easy to see when others are being manipulated and irrational and not so easy to be sure you aren’t, as well. Sometimes this world just makes me so tired.
Hi Martin, I did watch the documentary you were part of regarding the Church of Scientology harassing you and your wife. I was horrified. But I wonder now why you seem to have done a 180 and area speaking out against the people who are trying to expose Scientology and especially its disconnection policy. It would be wonderful if you both would be part of Scientology the Aftermath. Your story needs to get out too!
+1
Maybe we don’t have to be completely overwhelmed after all. Thanks, Marty, for your diligence.
The +1 was for Katherine’s comment.
Thanks. I will read these. Just downloaded “Thinking , fast and slow”.
Appreciate, as always, finding new avenues/books/ with which to grow …
Thank you for never being content to live inside a box and for sharing your journey – which is not without its cost.
Love,
Windhorse
As Above, So Below.
Love this post! Thank you for researching and sharing the information. I’ve been feeling this way lately but, I would have never been able to put it into words.
And in this place, can you reassure me
With a touch, a smile – while the cradle’s burning
All the while the world is turning to noise
Oh the more that it’s surrounding us
The more that it destroys
Turn up the signal
Wipe out the noise
(Peter Gabriel)
Of course these “cascades” are intended to hypnotize, in the good old-fashioned sense of the word.
Changing the meaning of words is also a cryptic method of misinformation. Introducing new words to define social intercourse, can sway people’s minds with valuable information. There is a difference between “fake” and “unsubstantiated” , and many folk are no longer aware of that.
Four new words introduced into our vocabulary this week alone, have earned Trump millions.
The – Winter – White – House.
Trump has officially dubbed his resort in Florida, “The Winter White House” to lift it’s status. And no doubt, membership. Now Trump is looking for another legal victory. He’s been filing lawsuits since 1995 over airport noise in an attempt to keep planes from flying over the property, according to the Sun-Sentinel. The actions have reportedly already cost local taxpayers $600,000 in legal fees. His latest suit seeks $100 million in damages.
The Winter White House didn’t exist last week.
Here is another one: Deep State “a body of people, typically influential members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy.”
Then https://theintercept.com/2017/01/11/the-deep-state-goes-to-war-with-president-elect-using-unverified-claims-as-dems-cheer/
REAL NEWS:
From wiki – Confirmation bias, also called confirmatory bias or myside bias is the tendency to search for, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs or hypotheses, while giving disproportionately less consideration to alternate possibilities.
Noise, signal, noise detection tool, availability cascade, blah, blah – just words. Over complicated.
Listen to both sides of a debate and make a decision.
The above statement reflects my confirmation bias toward keeping it simple. 🙂
I am not an US citizine but I will act and try to get values in like same sex marriage, Sorry that I do not live overthere, but I will fight for basic human rights an women to have an abortion.
Wich will be difficult under Trump
If he wins the lawsuit he’ll donate the money to the U.S. Treasury reducing the national debt.
Winter White House – I like the alliteration. He’s probably already trademarked it and will make a couple dollars selling souvenirs. The man has good business sense.
Marty sorry I was a bit drunk, mea culpa, Post this and dump the music clips please.
Sorry, I really mean it.
Great essay and I especially dug the term “information anarchy.” Yeah, that’s part of the new deal. Bill Maher said the information super highway should be called bullshit boulevard. But if course, there is also more TRUE and interesting information available than ever before. Though as a recipient of information nowadays, one needs to be very canny, very patient AND very disciplined so as to not waste tons of time on idiocy. Almost like one of the original forty niners; only instead if panning for gold, you’re sifting through the bullshit looking for golden information and ideas.
Winter Whitehouse coffee mugs would be a good seller. Watchdogs would need to ensure that the mugs are Made In America. Dolly Parton has probably made good money selling Dollywood souvenirs. She might even switch over to made in USA souvenirs which would create some jobs.
If he wins, he will bankrupt the city and then buy up all the distressed real estate and expand his resort.
Unless U.S. Treasury bails out the city.
I think I don’t understand the essay.
Unfortunately the responses so far are not helping.
I am more confused than before. lol
When there was an uproar about this, the Trump brothers issued a statement saying they were feeding hungry villagers. And the villagers were very grateful for the food they provided.
A picture without a story. Were the animals killed on a game preserve? Was the meat eaten and other parts of the animal utilized? Nobody denies the beauty of the leopard. Was it threatening local villagers? Wild cats are known to kill the litters of females it believes it has not fathered, so it might have been a conservation effort. Was it culled from an overpopulation in the limited environment these animals now have?
You may be spreading fake news, Cd
Here’s some food for thought. Steve Hassan weighs in on Daonald Trump:
http://www.revelist.com/politics/donald-trump-cult/5232/default/5
On Booktv.org I recently watched – Thomas Friedman discusses “Thank You for Being Late:An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations” Friedman is a columnist for the NY Times.
He notes the difficulty in keeping up with exponential changes. He states; “What the Hell happened in 2007?” In late 2006 and 2007:
The I-phone came out
Facebook came out to the broader public
Twitter went global
An open source software program made a million computers work like one
Google came out with Android
Jeff Bezos came out with Kindle
IBM started a cognitive computer called Watson
AIRBNB came out
(Friedman notes other innovations)
Friedman says; “Turns out, friends, that 2007 may be seen in time as the single greatest technological inflection point since Ambiguitienburg invented the printing press, and we completely missed it.”
https://www.booktv.org
The “Be fruitful and multiply” crowd will push toward limiting abortion, but I doubt they’ll be too successful. They ought to push for more birth control which would reduce unwanted pregnancy, but the Catholic Church STILL prohibits “artificial” birth control. Good luck with the rhythm method.
“Ambiguitienburg” was in the text I copied. I’m guessing it’s a joke combination of ambiguous and Gutenburg.
Most people in industrialized nations ignore the prohibition. The insidious side effect is that any aid packages to underdeveloped nations which includes family planning and birth control gets attacked and family planning and birth control gets removed.
Anyway, he just dropped the suit. Like a hot potato.
Meanwhile, the city is out 600K on legal expenses and New York City asked Congress to reimburse its police department $35 million in security costs incurred since Trump won November’s elections.
The local Florida taxpayers will get their money back tenfold in increased commerce now that The Prez is in town. Think of all the money local merchants will make selling Trump bobble-head dolls!
It appears Trump is practicing “positive affirmations” as taught by Norman Vincent Peale. Some of these are the “alternative facts” that are being presented. Trump apparently uses positve affirmations about himself and about reality – reality as he wants it to be. That may be why he is constantly referring to himself in superlatives. Remind you of anyone?
@Mark Rathbun
” ‘Noise’ is the carrier wave it rides in on often jazzed up to jar your wits, have your emotion override your reason, or is just plain alarming distraction. We most often see ‘noise’ in the form of appeals to emotion rather than to intellect or understanding. ”
You mean like the Leah Remini show?
Man, I couldn’t watch even 10 minutes of that show before I turned it off in disgust.
That’s not useful information, it’s a goddamn tabloid nightmare.
I am even more glad that we refused their agents contact to us about being on that show. Basically, we said no effing way would we EVER want to be be part of what we perceived that show was going to be.
I think that certain ex-scientologists are now equal, if not WORSE than those who they deem impeachable.
Harassment campaigns, Black Propaganda, shunning, they do it all.
That’s the problem when you’re a fame seeker like many of these ex-scientologists are. EXACTLY like when they were in the Church of Scientology, being ‘famous’ there, they have this tendency to sell out everyone, even their own soul in the process of staying famous in whatever way they think that means.
Not my cup of tea, what these people think ‘being famous’ is all about.
Anyone that consumes that type of ‘food’ for thought, is setting themselves up, for a healthy dose, of serious (mental) malnutrition.
Now that Trump is the Prez, I imagine his image and likeness is no longer trademarked. Once the cartoonists and others get rolling, I expect to see cartoons and likenesses depicting him with a little tiny face and BIG HAIR.
You have made many, many valuable contributions to Marty’s blog, Oracle. In respect of that I’ll look for a really cute Trump bobble-head doll and send it to you for a birthday present.
(joke!)
P.S. Marty – Thanks for keeping your blog going. It keeps me thinking, which is a good thing. (I think)
I listened to that part of the video again. He said Gutenburg. They must have used a voice to text computer which got it wrong, but it’s still interesting that Booktv now has transcripts of all the book discussions with relatively good accuracy, yet another inflection point.
“facepalm”
Not sure if you have been to that area of Florida. Not exactly for tourists. But hopefully the folks can live in peace now that Trump is no longer concerned with emissions and environmental pollution. His attention now is on getting the oil pipeline down and pollution and environmental protection is no longer an issue for him. What a difference a day makes.
I don’t even know what you are on about so I have this for you:
Mara Largo just doubled it’s initiation fee! In spite of hazardous the emissions from aircraft!
O great1, I assume you are not looking at the post from the same context as I am. Are you familiar with Norman Vincent Peale, poaitive affirmations, Coueism, self-hypnosis, and Hubbard?
Or is it Steve Hassan you don’t like?
@mcclaughry
I totally agree. Scn’s sins are common knowledge to most of America and belittling their beliefs will not help getting people OUT of Scn. Talking about recovery from their time in Scn, successfully building new lives, and the positive aspects about “blowing” the org should be focused on. WE ALL know DM is a despot who mistreats his leadership. I think focusing on recovery, education, and subjects of REAL spiritual value are far more valuable VS the ASC’s yellow journalism. Prattling on like that takes AWAY credibility. Its like the CMO’s have infiltrated the ASC….
Your third paragraph reminded me of the “debate” leading up to the Brexit vote on 23rd June last year. The entire establishment, every major political party, the Bank of England, the IMF and just about every renowned economist who could be persuaded to go in front of a TV camera were uniformly warning about the terrible dire consequences of leaving the EU. There would be an immediate recession necessitating an “emergency budget”; it would unsettle the world order (with undercurrents of a world war resulting), there would suffering and strife and on and on and on…For example on 21st June this was a fairly typical “news” story from the respected Independent, two days before the Vote: “…the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) said that “almost all of those who have looked seriously at this issue” were predicting lower real wages in event of Brexit, higher prices for goods and services, higher borrowing costs and higher unemployment.
“In our lifetimes we have never seen such a degree of unanimity among economists on a major policy issue,” the directors of the three institutions said in a joint statement. “The precise effect, in terms of numerical percentage, is of course uncertain. But that we would be financially worse off outside the EU than in is almost certainly true.”
Two days later the great British public stuck two fingers up and voted Leave anyway. Since then the economy is booming and there are more people in jobs than ever.
I completely disagree with the media view that the Trump phenomena is equatable with Brexit by the way. I think there are entirely different dynamics going on Stateside that led to his election success. But I do think Theresa May has her work cut out in her meeting with Trump tomorrow to try and get some common sense and equanimity in the Oval Office – if indeed that is partly her intention.
The U.S. is already crisscrossed with a spaghetti maze of pipelines delivering fossil fuels. Without pipelines the oil or whatever would be transported by truck or train which is more polluting.
Bad investment. It might be underwater in 50 years.
I like “alternative facts”. KellyAnne Conway should be given full credit for a valuable contribution the the American lexicon. It encourages critical thinking. Who presented what facts?
Trump recently signed an executive order prohibiting U.S. funding of outside of U.S. agencies providing abortion. This is a small amount of funding and won’t affect U.S. family planning agencies. The outside U.S. agencies will now have to find their own funding.
Some people believe a fetus is a spiritual being and others believe a fetus has no cognitive functions. Since it’s a matter of belief, I say to each her own.
My parents did the periodic fertillity awareness thing, not out of religion but because my mother got sick from taking birth control.
That said,
Here come the dutch !
The show exposes the truth for those who were never in.
Those who were in are just being told what they already knew.
It has nothing to do with being famous.
Here’s some more info on Trump and Norman Vincent Peale.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/donald-trump-2016-norman-vincent-peale-213220
Anyone familiar with Scientology is familiar with the idea of “alternative facts” which are expanded to an actual “alternative reality”. The parallels between Norman Peale and Trump, and Hubbard and the CoS seem to me to be virtually exact. Today’s Scientologists, those in the Church, that is, and Trump and his supporters, are doing exactly the same thing vis-a-vis “reality”. They think that if they deny existing reality and strongly insist on postulating and positively affirming reality as they wish it to be.
jake, since the posted link didn’t really provide very much food for though, ie information, here is another one that tells more:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/donald-trump-2016-norman-vincent-peale-213220
Laughter! And Thank you! I’m not worried about Trump any more. A lot of bright people are on top of the madness. Bypassing normal habits and routines already. I do dream a little of being a bookie and taking bets now. Laying the odds. Trump has not made any arrangements at all to be in Washington for any duration. And the showing of women in the marches that took place, some were relatives….made me realize there are too many women out here willing to stand up and fight back, for him to have any lasting effect on them. If they get any angrier, they will tear down the White House. Can’t imagine the peace keepers firing on crowds of women. Laughter! It is a bit obvious to me, he doesn’t mean to go the long run. He did change his hair color over the week end. Stripped out the orange, went all the way silver, got a lift. It is higher now. I assume he has a new stylist now. He’ll edge his way out making it look like injustice and martyrdom. But I offer one prediction. The helicopter crash of 1989 with his three casino executives going down, this will resurface as an issue. And erupt into a fresh scandal. Three star witness’ to all that went down in his casinos vanish in one swoop. Will become a scoop.
Or prophet.
SShhhh………. You will be accused of, “fanning the flames”. For even mentioning that witch hunt that drew over 2 million viewers to view the testimony. The truth, the WHOLE truth, and nothing but the truth. It was almost a religious experience just to be a witness to it. A very holy experience. Glad they are in charge of the justice. I didn’t think Leah had it in her to become the International Justice Chief, but you have to give her this. She is not a one trick pony.
Holding a comm ev on A and E was, magical.
Of course it isn’t your cup of tea. Mr Not A New Cult Leader here didn’t approve of it so neither will the hive mind. Typical and not surprising.
I just watched a new 20/20 episode on Scientology. I’m not sure of the original air date but it appeared to be very new. In it, a guy named Tony Ortega (I think he’s also in going clear) intimates that Marty Rathbun has entered into some type of agreement with the church and or David Miscaviage. Apparently the Rathbun’s filed a lawsuit (thank god) against the church and during the time the suit was active this blog was exposing the church for wrongdoing and the damaging behavior of DM full-throttle. But, according to Ortega, the Rathbun’s withdrew their suit and concomitantly this blog did a “philosophical 180” and ceased all criticism. I’m a tourist so I don’t see that. I do notice that when I’ve checked out other blogs like Mike Rinder and just discovered Ortega’s blog, et. at., that they are the same ilk as all the other distractors of all thing Scientology and L. R. Hubbard. Does Marty have a different perspective? Does Ortega have a valid point? Or does Marty Rathbun simply want to discuss other things he feels are more relevant and contribute in a more profound way than just being another expose~ writer? If the latter is true, the question may still remain…what is his philosophy on Scientology? I, for one, would like to know.
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-03-27-trump-sons-zimbabwe-hunt-all-above-board
“Zimbabwe’s parks authority on Monday said US property magnate Donald Trump’s sons were licensed to hunt game on a trip two years ago, after photos of their trophies sparked online outrage.
Trump’s sons Donald Junior and Eric made a hunting expedition in Zimbabwe in 2010. Their pictures went viral on social media this month, showing them posing next to carcasses of a leopard, an elephant, a crocodile and an array of other animals.
The images drew condemnation on Facebook and Twitter, where their hunting trip was slammed as unethical. Donald Trump Jr has insisted on Twitter that he did nothing wrong.
“They were accompanied by a professional hunter, and we have done a background check on him and his licence is still valid,” Caroline Washaya-Moyo, spokesperson for the parks authority said.
“Also with the Trump brothers was a ranger from the parks department who was monitoring the hunt. The animals they hunted are available for hunting in Zimbabwe.”
Although leopards are endangered, she said they can be hunted under strict conditions set by the Convention for the Trade in Endangered Species. Zimbabwe’s parks have a quota of 500 leopards that can be hunted each year, she added.
The statement came after Johnny Rodriguez, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said his organisation was investigating whether the Trump brothers’ hunt was legal.
The trip was organised by Pretoria-based Hunting Legends International, which specialises in big game hunts for the wealthy. The company has also insisted that the big game hunt near Victoria Falls was done by the book.—Sapa-AFP”
“Overpriviliged is what overprivigiled does.”
*Cat Daddy Gump*
Hi iamvalkov, I’ve been reading a lot of Blaise Pascal in preparation for my new life as a Scientology Minister. I found this gem:
“Thought. All the dignity of man consists in thought. Thought is, therefore, by its nature a wonderful and incomparable thing. It must have strange defects to be contemptible. But it has such, so that nothing is more ridiculous. How great it is in its nature! How vile it is in its defects!”
GMW
In an auditing session I recalled a part of my birth. I suddenly realized I could breathe, so I let out a yell as loud as I could! I’m certainly not the first or last person to believe they’ve had a birth memory. Look at “Primal Therapy” in wiki for a fun read. 🙂
Yeah, those god damn tears of people losing family! Who the hell do they think they are?
Those griefy bastards! What negativity! Makes me want to puke all of those victicrats.
Thanks Mcclaughry. Thanks for conveying the truth. I feel so much better now!
Thanks for posting Mcclaughry Marty! It’s important!
The “show” focuses on ex sea org members, the worst case scenarios. They do reiterate that most people had altruistic goals, yet the overall impression is that anyone who ever participated was a fool and should hide the fact. Personally, to anyone who is interested, I promote that I once studied Scientology. I explain that it was an attempt to apply Western science to Eastern philosophy. which makes me appear quite smart!
For Trump, the quotes should be like this: alternative “facts.” 🙂
But I’m starting to be more optimistic – I think Trump really will make America great again. By inspiring people to get in there and do something about “what’s going on” (to use his phrase).
Actually, Richard, what I really wanted to tell you all about is another internet find – Ken Wilber’s new book titled *Trump and a Post-Truth World. Here’s a description of it:
“The election of Donald Trump is an evolutionary self-correction that has been decades in the making — a backlash against the failure of the leading edge of consciousness (postmodernism and pluralism) to acknowledge the lie underlying the progress they’ve pursued: it’s not equal, it’s not consistent, and it doesn’t make room for everyone. But a new integral force is emerging that can move beyond the narcissism and nihilism of political correctness to offer genuine leadership and move towards a developmental-based wisdom of greater wholeness.” https://integrallife.com/trump-post-truth-world/
You can download or read it at the above site.
Thanks GMW. That’s kind of along the lines of “The more things change, the more they stay the same”, where thought is concerned, isn’t it? I’ve been wondering what the “side effects” of self-hypnotic positive affirmations might be, if there are any. Hubbard did say there were. I suspect there might be a “rebound” effect of some kind. As Hubbard said,, “Action and reaction.” I’ve recently discovered Byron Katie, and that she is married to Steven Mitchell. She has something people simply call “The Work”, which addresses thought. Sometimes I feel like, “Thought. Who needs it?!”
As a practitioner of eastern thought and practice I can say with great confidence that L Ron Hubbard, although he copied the goal of liberation, had no comparison. Nada, zip nothing.
And to say science was applied?
I give you:
Volcanoes did not exist in Hawaii
Psyches from Farsec
All critics have criminal pasts
All criticism is from overts (this one idea is so anti science my eye balls just popped out of my socket lol. Critical thought is the very essence of science. And the very means off advancing scientific data.)
Please Sarge, make me a 220 volt emeter so I can kill myself and free BTs
There was never any double blinded experimentation nor peer review.
The whole science angle was PR, marketing, wishful thinking and attempt by Ron to look advanced and all knowing. An attempt at being accepted.
Scientology could never survive the rigors of true critical thought and experimentation.
Scientology at best is a Metaphysical Freudian Therapy. It can resolve some basic issues. But so can normal therapy by meat body homo sapien wogs.
At worst is a dangerous delusional mind fuck that destroys a sense of conscience, a sense of common decency, installs delusional reasons for the human condition and corrupts sovereign cognitive faculties.
It also gives “religious” justification for harming people.
It is an insult to the rigors of science to equate psyches are from Farsec with anything remotely associated with the divine reason of science.
Kitty just made this 😉
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/impeach-donald-j-trump-9
I did good ?
Before it’s gone:
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You now have 30 days to get 99,999 signatures in order for your petition to be reviewed by the White House. Until your petition has 150 signatures, it will only be available from the following URL and will not be publicly viewable on the Open Petitions section of We the People:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/impeach-donald-j-trump-9
Here are a few tips to help you promote your petition and get to 99,999 signatures:
1. Email: Email your petition to your friends, family and others who care about this issue. Below is a sample email you can forward to your friends right now.
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I just started a petition on the White House petitions site, We the People. Will you sign it? https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/impeach-donald-j-trump-9
3. Twitter: Tweet about your petition. Here’s a sample tweet you can use:
I just started a petition on the White House Petitions site, We the People. Will you sign it? https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/impeach-donald-j-trump-9
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Dear friends,
I wanted to let you know about a new petition I created on We the People, a new feature on WhiteHouse.gov, and ask for your support. Will you add your name to mine? If this petition gets 99,999 signatures by March 01, 2017, the White House will review it and respond!
We the People allows anyone to create and sign petitions asking the White House to take action on a range of issues. If a petition gets enough support, the White House will issue an official response.
You can view and sign the petition here:
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Here’s some more information about this petition:
Impeach Donald J. Trump
Unfit for the office of The President of the United States.
That article is yet another psychoanalytic analysis by someone writing a column. There are probably thousands of them in print and a lot of the television media is now joining in. You’re looking for comparisons between Trump and Hubbard? Yikes! Have fun.
🙂
🙂
Hi Miraldi – I couldn’t get the website to print out the text, but thanks anyway. I think the description above pretty well sums it up, although I’m still figuring out “. . . move beyond the narcissism and nihilism of political correctness . . .” laughter
Most baby boomers growing up in the suburbs would remember a time when everyone on the block owned a General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, or American Motors automobile. After the Arab oil embargo, Toyota and others showed up with a new concept, a “compact” well built car. Memory Lane – laughter
From wiki – “In 1973 a ‘birth simulator’ was in use at the Primal Institute. The simulator was a 10-foot-long adjustable pressure vinyl tube. The patient was covered with a slick substance to simulate birth. Reports were made of obstetricians’ finger marks appearing on the skin of patients reliving their birth.”
Most peer reviews regard primal therapy’s claimed results as a placebo effect. In 1977 Psychology Today called primal therapy “Jabberwocky” and primal therapy instituted a lawsuit against them. (sound familiar?) I don’t know the outcome – Laughter
Wait until you see my special. ” Giving Birth, The Aftermath.” I expect the population to decrease by 78% within five years.
And my follow up special, “Falling In Love, The Aftermath”, should collapse the economy!
My last and final season, “Discovering America, The Aftermath”. will propel the Muslim Nation to move forward and conquer the world.
Gaslighting. You understand that very well.
I think you should start with Tony Ortega. He is the one that announced that Marty settled with the Church. I never even saw a law suit Marty filed against the Church. I thought that “incident” was a five season play co written by Ortega and his producers and followers. It certainly kept the fans engaged. It seems to be all fiction but it was a good series! I loved the theater!
Hi Brian – I agree with your assessment of scn. Would you agree that it comes from hindsight?
We both left scn in the early 1980’s before DM and the internet. I have no idea why anyone would join and continue today being forewarned other than curiosity.
Above you say “Scientology is at best a Metaphysical Freudian Therapy”. That’s the angle I explain, which makes sense to most people of why someone like myself might become interested in scn. I then explain the scn viewpoint that “We know everything about everything. We’re right and everybody else is wrong.”, which places it in the category of a cult. This also makes sense to most people.
The above brief and casual conversation I might have with someone might at least allow them to understand that some of their fellow humans were not complete idiots for participating in scn for a while.
Perhaps some ex scn-ists are walking around in shame, remorse, regret and so on as well as being negatively judged by others. I regard my time in scn as a stepping stone – no regrets.
Trump is vowing to “totally destroy” laws limiting political activity by Churches. By striking out the Johnson Amendment which prohibits churches and other tax-exempt organizations from endorsing political candidates. Repealing the amendment would allow religious organizations to engage in partisan political activities without losing their tax exempt status.
He has also appointed Steve Bannon, a white supremacist, as a permanent member of the National Security Council.
Wonder what the next chapter will be for the CofS. Jenny Linson goes to Washington? KKK granted religious status?
Trump unmocks the middle path. While making himself look holy. It’s the latest trick with cult leaders and cyber cult leaders. Very magical!
Those Trump endorsements recoiled like injustice. Laughter! Let’s listen to the Marvelettes. And make good memories!
“What’s this whole world comin’ to
Things just ain’t the same
Anytime the hunter…
Gets captured by the game.”
I forgot to mention, you have been a great musical key in this blog also. I even like the Beethoven sounds of George Layton. I have to give that scrappy guy a lot of credit for persistence on a given course. If I had to pick a crew, he would be a top choice. My thanks to everyone that has ever posted on this intelligent and lively forum. I think I loved everyone.
“Everyday things change
And the world puts on a new face
Certain things rearrange
And this whole world seems like a new place.”
Why I don’t join the hunts.
“No mystic crystal ball
No long black flowing cape….
Recall some good memories! You must be packed with them! This whole theater is just one great big great memory for me.
Beautiful magic. Beautiful minds.
I’m not looking for anything, but I came across the articles that showed Trump using positive affirmations, apparently much as Hubbard did. I think it explains why Trump outspokenly flies in the face of that, which many of us consider to be reality.
I haven’t gone into comparing the 2 of them otherwise, but “smash my name into histroy” may well be something Trump aspires to as well.
Smokey Robinson is one of the greatest poets of our time. But you have to find this beauty out for yourself before you can become the effect of it. Not because someone else says it is true or it is not. Because you found something in the shadows that no one else noticed or claimed, so you can own that. “Total cause” is such a bullshit goal. Look at the people around you total or somewhat effect. Like someone around here really wants to be “total cause”? Not me. Not us, let’s keep it real. “Being effect” is not the crime it is made out to be. It’s like expecting humans to apologize for being human. Rocks are no effect or slow effect with out a sledge hammer. We are sentient beings that feel and want to feel. That should not be a with hold. Or an overt. Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew. Being total effect and admitting it, was the most exhilarating moment in my life.It was the moment I realized how fucking unbelievably courageous I was. Being the effect of something temporal and mildly irritating is my only protest.If you are going to go effect of something, go effect of something that has the force of terrible beauty in nobility and love. Love hard. Commit hard. Gamble hard. Lose hard. Live hard. Play hard. Fight hard. Don’t pretend and then, play victim. Like a gambler leaving a Vegas Casino who really did not mean to lose although he set himself up for that loss.
At the time I posting this in this life, I have been in this life 1,901,588,255 seconds.
114,095,295,300 electric jiffies.
31,693,137 minutes.
528,218 hours.
22,009 days.
60 years.
3,144 weeks.
1,572 fortnights.
809 lunar months.
723 months.
241 quarters.
423 dog years.
62.11 lunar years.
15.07 olympiads.
12.06 lustrums.
6.03 decades.
4.02 indictions.
2.32 generations.
1.21 jubilees.
0.60 centuries.
0.06030 milleniums.
0.00000026216942610791 galactic years.
0.00000000190158825500 exaseconds.
And every fraction of a second I have done mathematical evaluations of social intercourse to understand.
I have come to the conclusion that yes, life is a game.
But there are only two kinds of people. Winners and losers. It is not the game that is the problem, it is the winning / losing opposition in purpose.
The winners will set you up win.
The losers will set you up to lose.
That is dissemination.
There is a middle path in the game, but then you have to forfeit status and rank , as a player and a winner or a loser. And this makes some people very uneasy. What is the purpose of the game if not to win or lose?
Well, the winner is the learner. Because the purpose of games, is to teach people. See, purpose is senior to the goal.
Behind every game you are supposed to learn a new skill. If you “win” or “lose” in the game, and learn nothing, what was the purpose?
So, you get these people in the game, they go on for 10, 20, 30 or 40 years. All of that time they think they are winning because of rank on a chess board. Then one day a hand moves them off the board and informs them to a losing piece, because they did not learn what game they were playing besides rank. And when they realize they spent all of that time in the game and really learned NOTHING, they blow up. They were not on a purpose line for a game.
One of the reasons I came to respect Marty, is because once he learned all he could from social intercourse in the game, he absolutely demanded to learn why and what and how and the purpose. He wanted to integrate the information.
And truth be told, I think it is obvious now some folk studied the same things Marty did that never had a chance to integrate properly, and missed the mass. Because the purpose to learn was nowhere near them.
I am not trained at all and had to explain to a class Xll why people thought they could not exteriorize without full perception after an L. When they were already exterior with full perception. Like someone is supposed to see color without eye lenses? No science class at all? Hear without ear drums? People are exterior with full perception when they graduate HQS, What the fuck????
See, if your purpose is to learn, you are winning full time. In any game.
I mean, who the fuck thinks if they buy an L, they should be able to travel 2000 miles away from their body and watch a beautiful sunset, with out the lenses in their eyes that produce color?
That is like, I want to go 100 miles out into space and listen to Marvin Gay without my ears or my ipod.
Perceptions are a body thing until you arrive at CONDITIONS. Because perceiving conditions, you have to do that without physical distractions.
So you get these people who wanted to perceive without a body?
See, feel, touch, taste, hear, and all of that as a thetan? Without the body? Why? Because thetans have tongues?
And, I am not “certified” to even do a locational assist. So, the day I had to explain this to a class Xll, because the class Xll was complaining about results, because P.C.’s complained to the auditor about results, I retreated to the back room of my mind, and ripped out every ledger sheet about values in Scientology, that were granted to me. And started to keep my own books.
There are a vast quantity of abilities Hubbard could not deliver or promise or sell.
Putting someone’s heart in the right place. This takes more than a conversation. It can not be moved there by other intention.
And if you enter a game with the goal of winning, that means you have to be willing to set others up for a loss. Which means, all players in a game that are not on a middle path to learn, are in an enemy condition. Which is fine, if you know the conditions and your condition. But enemy is a lower condition. And you are just as likely to lose as anyone else in the game if it is a true a game. For me, life is not a game. That was Hubbard’s view, not mine. For me, life was a right of passage and the inheritance of that life was a trust. If you take a look at the doubt formula in Scientology, it actually puts you into a condition of enemy. To “choose sides” you become op positional. A correct doubt formula would be, “Find out why you are”.
Am I supposed to ask for a Kleenex box because I had to figure this out for myself? Or have a win from information anarchy relief?
That sounds like an attempt to stir up votes and financing from the pulpits of the religious right, his version of returning power to “The People”.
I’d already anticipated hearing a lot more of “God Bless Whomever or Whatever” and about “Traditional Values”. I guess we’ll all have to start going back to church and start praying again. How the pendulum swings.
Below Miraldi posted a description of Ken Wilber’s new book. I looked up “pluralism” which I think applies here and will make a post about that below later. “Pluralism (political theory)” in wiki – Essentially, it’s a check and balance against extremism.
I agree Richard, yes hindsight is 20/20 indeed. I certainly learned and gained knowledge in Scientology. I agree with the eastern masters. They say no spiritual effort is waisted. Every attempt to learn about life is rewarded. No matter which thought club our membership card is from.
But in thought clubs whose teacher is not free, has not attained the states promoted; at some point the learning becomes false, an impediment to true knowledge.
Except in times of war against tyranny and protecting the innocent from barbarians, the wise always teach love and peace to work out human differences.
In hindsight, the Old Man simply was not who he said he was. And promoted things he had little or no understanding of.
What has caused Scientology to remain, in my view, is that it addresses a controlled inner looking for people who have not embarked on that journey. Have not gone within with focus to perceive mind, soul and emotions.
In truth, what is really the power in any procedure, is our own capacity for self inquiry.
Scientology is training wheels for an internal investigation. Scientologists have a realization, an OBE and say,” WOW, THIS STUFF IS GREAT. RON CAME UP WITH THIS. OMG THIS IS SO COOL!!”
But at some point, at least in my experience, I realized that any greatness of a procedure is only supporting the innate powers of our own nature.
In other words: the power in a cognition does not come from LRH. The power in any inner looking and extracting knowledge comes from our own nature.
The trap of limited roads, paths not traveled fully by their founder; is that the looking has an end of the road. In Scientology it’s BTs or OT8.
With paths travelled by teachers who have made it all the way, endlessness is the process and the goal.
At some point the path is a solo journey with the goal of neutralizing the very problem. And if the techniques do not address this problem; it becomes the problem.
Ron addresses the mind and ego to some degree. Helps resolve some basic things with the grades and other benevolent procedures.
But Ron does not address procedures that expand individualized consciousness from limited space to endless space.
Ron was stuck in ego consciousness, that is why he was always addressing individualized consciousness. No doubt it’s an important thing to do as an individual.
But the road leads to endlessness, limitlessness and infinite space.
Our being is universally grounded and our ego is a dream imprinted by the data delivery system of the 5 senses.
We are both the Ocean and the individualized wave. Tell me we’re the difference is between a bulge in the ocean and the bulge.
Ron was stuck in the individual wave as the final point of study.
And because he had issues with all things God (the ocean) he never was able to go past his own make believe personality. Thus was never able to lead others to freedom.
Ron was a homo sapien meat body entity: part con man part spiritual student.
And that is a conflicted personality.
Kinda like the ideas of Gandhi’s street thugs.
Ron was working hard to free himself from suffering. But he did not know how. He thought the answer was to be found in looking into endless chains of associated events in the mind.
That process, plus his living an adharmic life (immoral) lead him to insanity at the end.
Correction: what is the difference between the bulge in the ocean and the “ocean.”
In the 1950’s when I was a kid, it was pretty much standard operating procedure to show up at church on Sunday to fit in with the mainstream. Mom dragged Dad in on Christmas and Easter to prove he wasn’t a heathen. I didn’t last long in Sunday school – I was too rambunctious or something and got kicked out.
iamvalkov,
Looked up Byron Katie. Thanks, Yoga is popular. She looks very accomplished.
As far as the “side effects” of self-hypnotic positive affirmations, I always suspected that Hubbard emitted a sort of “knife”. I mean, when I listened to his lectures, I got the idea that he had established a sharp “defensive wall” around his mind. In fact, at times, I could actually feel the pain of the sharp knife travelling with his words. I concluded that he was projecting that knife as a way of establishing his own reality IMO, Hubbard never placed the subject/object into enough importance in his”theories”. Thus he had to cover up his omission. I concluded that there was only one single thing wrong with all 6 million words of his teachings. In simple terms, I think he borrowed ideas never giving proper credit to his sources. Reading 5.000 pages of Blavatsky, gives you the idea that Hubbard had very few, if any, original ideas. Hubbard liked to take an idea and then just change it a little without giving credit. So his self-affirmations end in a subjective reality. For me, the content of his 6 million words crumbles under “defects in thought” like Pascal said.
Tony Ortega also endorsed Donald Trump. Now what? Trump vows to bring religion into politics. All the U.S. Gov did to put Miscavige out of power in Washington, Trump has promised to unmock.
Beyond that, I find it hard to relate to Leah when she is leaning on a pimp and sex slave trafficker, for production. And I am not just alluding to Tony Ortega only here, because Karen had a “matchmaking” service going in Glendale. After she left the Sea Org, and not quite broke.
She was working as a pimp in every way. I worked there for a few weeks, and even have a commendation from the Executive Director, Steve. On letterhead. Anyway, It is kind of hard for me to have faith in Leah as a crusader against abuse and human right and exploitation, considering who she is leaning on a pimp and sex slave trafficker, Tony Ortega. I can see why Karen has no problem with Tony Ortega. Neither has a problem with exploiting people. But now Leah has jumped onto the bandwagon. Anyway, when the expose hits the news stands later this year….can not say when…and Reed Slatkin is even a major figure. Leah can explain why she hooked at the hip with an interlocked criminal enterprise, in the pursuit of justice.
Of course, if I am lying. Sue me.
Over the next few weeks I am laying all of my cards on the table and folding. Too many counter players are out of aces, to make this interesting any more.
He will be the greatest president ever ELECTED, as history will record.
Unless you are a Commie.
Maybe Steve Bannon is an American Supremacist. In 1960 the U.S. population was 179 million. Today it’s 325 million, an increase of 146 million in less than 60 years. If 10% of American citizens (32 MILLION people) in the deep south, Appalachian Mountains, inner cities and so on are impoverished, then how about some attention to them first. That’s not a “racist” position. The elephant in the room is overpopulation or at least the inability for technology and civilization to keep pace. In 1960 the world population was 3 billion. Three years from now in 2020 it will be 8 billion, all of whom crave electriciy produced by burning fossil fuel. End of buzzkill
I believe you might be stuck in a Tony incident.
Hi Val – Thinking it over, I realize that most presidents have been analyzed by people trying to determine why they did what they did. FDR, JFK, Johnson, Nixon, etc. That’s what some people, columnists and authors do. Probably the main difference is that Trump has been the Prez for two weeks and already books are coming out! laughter The internet allows ready access to many parts of a famous person’s life. I think that most of the current “issues” are pretty well defined.
Sorry for coming across a bit antagonistic above – I enjoy your comments. You go into depth on some things I just gloss over. Good point about “smash my name into history”. I think when he says “We will . . .” he’s referring to people who already or might come to agree with him, which is different than a politician trying to be everything to everybody.
“. . . move beyond the narcissism and nihilism of political correctness . . .”
Well, those things are the intriguing nitty-gritty of the paper. You can always read it on that website. It isn’t that long, something under 100 pages. In fact, it’s sometimes described as a “paper” rather than a book.
Anyway, there’s a fairly short critique of it that summarizes it quite well. On top of it, the author of the critique adds something to Wilber’s solution to the current state of affairs – from the perspective of nondual Christian mysticism. Here we go again with nonduality. 😉
http://www.contemplative.org/wilber-trump-critique/
Yes. It doesn’t do for anyone’s pride in this country when a person from a third world country with no resources and little rights, can get up off their ass and get into another another country where they do not even speak the language, and manage to find a way to contribute and survive. When we have four generations of Americans parked in West Virginia who haven’t managed to find a job. Maybe if we didn’t bleed off those red states for soldiers, and send them into other countries as illegal immigrants with no regard for borders, or or other people’s oil or land, some promise could have emerged from the back hills of West Virginia.
Why? Because someone else bought his name up here with a question and I answered it? Are you apprenticing at gaslighting now too?
But “American entitlement” is what is being pushed here. It is what gets pushed when we invade other countries and pretend we are not illegal immigrants. And we are entitled to many things. But when we as a nation are dragged down to running “can’t have’s” on other people to survive, I don’t see that as “great leadership”. Running “can’t have’s” on people is a covert form of sadism. And how many families parked in the back woods of West Virginia are going to migrate to California to pick strawberries 16 hours a day in triple digit heat? Trump’s “leadership” means dragging this country into a condition of “enemy” with other nations. He is bringing us down into a lower conditions and you can see it all over the streets. While stating that his goal is to “improve conditions”. And if you don’t get behind him, your “Americanism” is questioned.
“Donald Trump has had a fixation on Iraq’s oil—and America’s right to seize it—for at least six years. In 2011, he told a Fox News producer that the U.S. should “take the oil.” It was a common theme on the campaign trail last year. “We go in, we spent three trillion dollars. We lose thousands and thousands of lives, and then look what happens is we get nothing. You know, it used to be the victor belong the spoils,” Trump said on NBC’s “Today Show,” in September. “There was no victor there, believe me. There was no victory. But I always said, ‘Take the oil.’ “”
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-pirate-in-chief
Don’t you think the children and citizens of those countries deserve the resources before Americans?
Trump doesn’t.
I believe you may be stuck in a purpose to set other people up for losses.
“Best case scenario: Trump loses and Clinton goes to prison.” George Layton
But I do not devalue your relevance in the game.
All the while Ortega has been targeting women and children, political power has been restored to the Church of Scientology. Because his prime targets, pulled a Trump card. It’s relevant news but I haven’t seen him mention it on his blog. He sat at his desk and herded the anti Scn community right up their executioner.
http://tonyortega.org/2016/11/01/hillary-clinton-has-considered-david-miscaviges-appeals-lawyer-for-the-us-supreme-court/
http://tonyortega.org/2017/01/23/scientology-wastes-no-time-making-a-move-on-the-new-presdent-but-where-does-trump-stand/
http://www.salon.com/2017/02/03/trumps-plan-to-totally-destroy-the-johnson-amendment-creates-a-huge-campaign-finance-loophole-for-churches-to-exploit/
“Trump said, “You know we have a great time considering the subject matter is no good. Right? But when we say—look at all those hats, right?—”Make America Great Again.” When we say that—you know somebody, a reporter—by the way the world’s most dishonest people are back there. Look at all the cameras going. Look at all those cameras. It’s unbelievable. They are dishonest. Most of them. Not all of them. But Most of them.” ”
I don’t know, maybe this isn’t newsworthy at the U.B.
How would you even title the story? “A mother’s gotta do what a mother’s gotta do” ?
Even in his headlines. “Scientology wastes no time making a move…” He implies this is the first time Trish Duggan has crossed paths with Trump.
Seriously? At the same time a kazillion photos of the Duggans at political events?
Seeing is not believing ……….. “Alternative facts” is the new way.
The topic of the thread is “Information anarchy relief”.
The “Duggan Children Massacre” was not the ASC’s finest moment.
One of my favorits
This one got “died” no posting
You are a good friend to Marty, I like you very much.
Good summary. I’ll review it again. Anything Wilber is not exactly simple.
I came across this site which has a warehouse of essays. Several essays critique Wilber’s book. I’ve been scanning over the site getting an overview. The site is called –
“Integral World:Exploring Theories Of Everything – An independent forum for a critical discussion of the integral philosophy of Ken Wilber”
Here are a couple sample essays with random quotes
“A Self-Help Guide For Democrats – A Review of Ken Wilber’s Trump and a Post-Truth World”
“Wilber Or Truth? How to Get Rid of Your Wilber Complex?” (There are two ways to approach the intellectual world Wilber has created.)
“On Ken Wilber: Hopelessly New Age, Hopeless For the Humanities” (In Wilber I have never met a more brilliant-sounding person. I have also never met a more self-absorbed person. Perhaps the two go hand in hand.)
Great fun! http://www.integralworld.net
George Layton – Funny! No f/n forthcoming
Information anarchy relief.
“We’ve pointed out numerous times that while Donald Trump is often compared to L. Ron Hubbard for his blustering style, it’s actually Hillary Clinton who would come to the White House with considerable Scientology baggage.” Tony Ortega November 01, 2016
http://www.salon.com/2017/02/03/trumps-plan-to-totally-destroy-the-johnson-amendment-creates-a-huge-campaign-finance-loophole-for-churches-to-exploit/
And when I write, “Tony Ortega”, I do not mean Tony Ortega. Any more than when Tony Ortega uses the word “Scientology”, he means Scientology. There are other people directing, producing, writing for and planning the “Under Bunker”. The most repelling things I have seen on that blog were not even his ideas. He was just happy to step up and claim them and push them forward. Because of his faith.
Sorry, have to retract that declaration. It was a buff.
Did you know Kenny Rogers was a rock star before he went country western? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ8k6fVe25k
Oracle: “My thanks to everyone that has ever posted on this intelligent and lively forum. I think I loved everyone.”
Nice. Same to you, Oracle. ❤
Kill it
I DO!!! understand how this fucked up world works but that does not mean I have to agree with it,
Old Anonymous news:
bigly
I rather go old skool and just belief you if that’s okay ?
“I can write.”
“My mind is still brilliant.”
“That masturbation was no sin or crime.”
“That I do not need to have ulcers any more.”
“That I am fortunate in losing Polly and my parents, for they never meant well by me.”
“That I believe in my gods and spiritual things.”
“That my magical work is powerful and effective.”
“That the numbers 7, 25, and 16 are not unlucky or evil for me.”
“That I am not bad to look upon.”
“That I am not susceptible to colds.”
“That Sara is always beautiful to me.”
“That these words and commands are like fire and will sear themselves into every corner of my being, making me happy and well and confident forever!”[7]
Number 5 disturbs me the most to be honest.
By the way, West Virginia has always been one of the states that has received far more from the federal government than it has contributed in terms of wealth. Thanks largely to Robert C. Byrd and Jennings Randolph, West Virginia was literally flooded with federal money for highway construction and other federal projects for decades. Senator Byrd carried West Virginia on his back for decades.
Some great books. Really great books.
Nice, Brian – I think this “softer” critique of scn would appeal to many people,
Follow yourself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmDakhg45rk
It’s starting to come together. From Wilber:
“And finally, when there are no binding guidelines for individual behavior, the individual has only his or her own self-promoting wants and desires to answer to – in short, narcissism. Nihilism and narcissism are not traits that any leading-edge can actually operate with.”
He then explains a shifting back to a time when it* (a point of cultural evolution?) was essentially operating adequately. My take.
” . . . retracing its footsteps to find the point of beginning collapse and then reconfigure from there.”
* The “it”, I gather from another critique, also includes Wilber’s idea that Spirit is included in all cultural and physical evolution, a point of scientific contention.
“Anything goes these days” (no binding guidelines for individual behavior) – “So fk it” (nihilism) – “I’ll look out for myself” (narcissism)
(Something like that)
Or a boarder jumper
border – lol
Take away all the votes cast by non citizens using a drivers license and Trump easily would have won the popular vote.
I decided to see if scn was mentioned on the site. Up pops “Wilber Vs. Hubbard – An Experiential Comparison of Scientology and Integral Institute” by Elliot Benjamin, PhD
Benjamin participated in (and blew) both – laughter!
Are you crazy? The lawsuit appeared IN the documentary. Unless you’re playing a pitiful game of semantics, yes, the suit was filed by Monique. So what are you taking about? Tthe suit is famous and common knowledge. It’s ubiquitous!
Thanks CD. And Yes, T. Rump makes many similar affirmations to #5.
A malevolent protest read from such a casually curious removed observer.
Richard: “It’s starting to come together.”
Sounds like it is. You also wrote:
“The ‘it’, I gather from another critique, also includes Wilber’s idea that Spirit is included in all cultural and physical evolution, a point of scientific contention.”
Regarding “…a point of scientific contention,” my first reply was “So…?” 🙂
I think Ken Wilber’s view of science is more than fair. Here’s an excerpt from the Wikipedia article on Wilber:
“Wilber describes the current state of the ‘hard’ sciences as limited to ‘narrow science’, which only allows evidence from the lowest realm of consciousness, the sensorimotor (the five senses and their extensions). Wilber sees science in the broad sense as characterized by involving three steps:
— specifying an experiment,
— performing the experiment and observing the results, and
— checking the results with others who have competently performed the same experiment.
“He has presented these as ‘three strands of valid knowledge’ in Part III of his book *The Marriage of Sense and Soul*.
“What Wilber calls ‘broad science’ would include evidence from logic, mathematics, and from the symbolic, hermeneutical, and other realms of consciousness. Ultimately and ideally, broad science would include the testimony of meditators and spiritual practitioners. Wilber’s own conception of science includes both narrow science and broad science, e.g., using electroencephalogram machines and other technologies to test the experiences of meditators and other spiritual practitioners, creating what Wilber calls “integral science”.
“According to Wilber’s theory, narrow science trumps narrow religion, but broad science trumps narrow science. That is, the natural sciences provide a more inclusive, accurate account of reality than any of the particular exoteric religious traditions. But an integral approach that uses intersubjectivity to evaluate both religious claims and scientific claims will give a more complete account of reality than narrow science.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber
Hey Richard,
Yes it would appeal to some. On the other hand this Scientology diaspora is not about how great Scientology is. It’s about inquiring into falsehoods that are essential in discovering the correct assessment of why this diaspora occurred in the first place.
David Miscavige is an obvious target, an easy target. But not the basic target. He is later on the chain.
I have resolved some deep cognitive dissonance within myself; study teched assumed false knowledge, that lived/lives in my subconscious storage, that affects the way I view life.
I have been able to deconstruct, these now subconscious Scientological assumptions, by being unconditionally critical. Not knee jerk reactionary; constructively critical.
There are some who, in the strivings to distant their minds from Ron simply name call and react emotionally. That is not my strategy.
My strategy is to turn my free attention, my discriminating intelligence, my reasoning capacity, on the actual information that my young impressionable and naive mind willingly opened, to be imprinted by thoughts from a false messiah/hypnotic operator.
To separate out the real from the unreal. The falsehoods from the truth.
To those who still believe in Ron’s pure benevolent motives I am a person stuck in negativity.
To people who see that Ron was not a benevolent force, my views help them deconsruct and resolve their own issues.
I’m still unraveling stuff. And the first step to that unraveling is seeing L Ron Hubbard as he is. Not the myth version; the real world.
And to some, seeing L Ron Hubbard for who he is, causes their minds to subconsciously reactivate their learned behavior of attack the SP critics.
There is so much work to do on this topic.
Cat Daddy,
Thank you for posting this. It is interesting that nobody responded to it.
Listening to Ron with clear open attention on this audio file brought me to a few conclusions:
1) Ron was insane
2) The unresolvable complexity and insanity of this information, throws a wrench into our capacity to reason, when infallibllity is granted to him.
3) Ron’s machine gun-like articulated stream of consciousness, which he developed as a writer, creates a false sense of certainty and conviction. He speaks with such an authority that it hypnotically manipulates our reaction to assume “he knows something we don’t” (read Altitude Instruction)
4) His brilliant creative articulations make it almost impossible to assume he was insane. We usually equate insanity with weird and strange behavior and is immediately apparent when observed. Ron’s insanity is masked by his ability to articulate and sound like he knows what he is talking about.
Have you ever had a sales person talk you into needing something that before you met the salesman you know you did not need; that is Ron; hypnotic operator who believed in the mental impressions that were jumbled up in his mind.
And yes! The documentary and the suit are biblical!
Only, the law suit was not filed by “The Rathbuns” as you witness. And Marty did not take a “payout”. And neither did hid wife. And apparently, if I do not agree to that lie, we have a problem with communication.
Marty also talks about Bill Clinton’s connection to Scientology in a German talkshow:
Have you seen the dress Joy Villa had on ?
You didn’t correct nor clarify, you denied. And personally, I don’t care if Ms. Monique settled or not. I sinceley hope she got a huge sum of money. For all Marty has done for that organization and all the harassment the Rathbun’s endured upon Marty’s departure they should get millions of dollars. I hope they did. Who cares? What I do want to understand is the 180 of Marty’s very vocal condemnation of the church. That’s interesting. And if money is at the root of it, then the money is intesting, or at least germane. Most people came to this blog because of Marty’s exodus and his full-throated criticisms. Now that has ceased. How is that not interesting? And the only communication problems seem to be your intellectual dishonesty. You knew exactly what I meant yet you played games. Sad, really. I love the way Marty writes and thinks. I applaud him for moving in another direction. But, he’s still a relevant character in the sage which is the slow demise of Scientology. He is a thought leader on this topic and I really want to know what he thinks; yet he became mute. Why?
I’m getting political burnout, but here’s one more extremist position – lol
There are already 325 million people in America causing traffic jams and wearing out the infrastructure. Who needs more immigrants? “Give me your tired, your poor . . . ” was swell in 1900 when the U.S. population was 76 million.
Like I said, extremist, but that’s what the pollsters missed.
Since this post has a hearty political discourse I thought I’d share media analylist Mark Dice’s 3 minute “Pro-Trump Scientologist Joy Villa at the Grammys” video. BTW, if you enjoy clear-eyed media reaction video commentary view other videos on his channel. Oracle, you’ll adore this man’s truthful perspectives. Let us know what you think!
Bill Clinton was history at this point, as a political power. Trump was not running for election. This was in last decade. It was not with a purpose to cast votes or direct people to the voting polls. Marty was not directing people to a white supremacist who’s father was a member of the KKK, and who’s puppet master Steve Bannon, was a white supremacist. The only “also” I see here, between Marty and Ortega, is the mention of the name “Clinton”. And Marty was not even talking of Hillary Clinton, he was talking of Bill Clinton. This A=A between Bill and Hillary, Marty and Tony, last decade and this one, is a far stretch but you somehow managed. You must be exhausted.
2+56=403.
Summary:
Marty and Ortega both uttered the word “Clinton”. = Marty and Ortega agree on elections.
Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton = One whole.
Hillary Clinton is ALSO Bill Clinton.
Ortega is a copy of Marty.
Marty started this.
All roads lead to Marty!
PRE ELECTION photo of Trish Duggan with Trump + Ortega headlines “Makes move on new president” = Trish moves in on new president in the photo.
Trish Duggan = Scientology.
Pre election = post election.
Yesterday = tomorrow.
All time is the same.
All place is the same.
All form is the same.
All event is the same.
All Duggans = Scientology = get the kids!
The Oracle = Scientology.
The Oracle = Hubbards (ron and mary sue)
Get the Oracle’s kids!
Our motto is, “We will never betray your trust…as long as you are one of us”! Because enemy and treason conditions are universal! Unless you are parked in it with some history of exploring Scientology.
Only a lie can explain the truth.
Create to destroy.
Create lies so the world will persist.
Create lies so you will not be unmocked.
Unmock someone else to stay mocked up.
All forms of entertainment are lies.
We only win when someone else loses.
We can only gain through other’s losses.(Stuck in Viking raiding era)
Tony Ortega is Moses and Karen and Jeffrey are the Gods. (Stuck in biblical era).
A=Z.
P=R.
B=Q.
M=S.
Steve Miller band = Scientology.
P.C. folders are a compilation of novelettes written by auditors, using a unique grammatical system designed by Hubbard, who are no longer affiliated with the Church since GAOT. That the Church places any value on these or uses them as a weapon is sincerely pathetic. Especially since the people who wrote them have all been fired and disqualified by David Miscavige himself, as having no value to the organization when they were written.
They were all labeled as blind.
For the Church to actually publish any of these handwritten notes as fact against a person’s character, the Church would be open to a law suit. And it would be upon them to prove these handwritten notes by an auditor, were in fact.
First argument would be a copy of the tech dictionary and the definition of “dubbing in”. Where every auditor is informed of a person’s imaginings which may or may not be true.
But then, the Church would have to produce the auditor who made the notes, to the witness stand. 90% chance is that auditor has blown or was kicked to the curb already. Life span of a Scientologist on average is very low as it is not a symbiotic community or culture.
If by chance the auditor could be produced, first piece of evidence would then be the ethics book, whereby the auditor can not comply civil law as part of their religion.
Then, why the auditor’s certifications were cancelled and he / she was declared a misfit long after the notes were made.
The P.C. folders are useless as a legal or political weapon. UNLESS, bought into court by the client who can attest to the conversations.
Then, there are fiduciary relationships that are created by implied or verbal or written means which are binding contracts based on fiduciary trust.
If you imply confidentiality, and gain information or support through that confidentiality, and then betray that confidence, you have breached contract and violated a fiduciary trust. And you can be held accountable for damages.
This is why people in the U.S. can plead the fifth during divorce depositions.
And this is why in most countries, if someone sets up a group, be it a private group or even an Internet group, and pledges security about your identity, especially publicly. Then establishes another group to disclose your identity, they can be held accountable for the treason.
And this is the same thing the Church of Scientology does when they lure a P.C. in, in confidence. And obtain information that can be later used by an opposition group they create, as a weapon or to harm attack and suppress the person lured in.
It’s all criminal. “A fiduciary duty is the highest standard of care. The person who has a fiduciary duty is called the fiduciary, and the person to whom he owes the duty, is typically referred to as the principal or the beneficiary. If an individual breaches the fiduciary duties, he or she would need to account for the ill-gotten profit.”
“Ill gotten” means obtained through trust when you were not qualified to be trusted. “Profit” can even qualify as “revenge”.
Legal ignorance leads to a lot of abuse. One of the reasons people who worked in OSA can not just come out and write a book about every little detail of their history, is that they had fiduciary trusts. And they still honor those trusts whether their position has changed or not. One reason is that once a person changes jobs, it does not mean they are not accountable for fiduciary trusts. If you are a lawyer and you part ways with your client, you can not just turn on them in treason. The condition of treason is against the law in a fiduciary relationship. People are not allowed to profit off of treason from fiduciary relationships.
One guy who audited someone at my house (about eight hours, billed for 75 ha ha whatever) wrote in red ink across his own P.C. folder notes, in bright red ink defacing his own notes, inval and eval about the P.C. he was auditing.
Perfect evidence of someone who “keeps p.c. folder notes” being totally insane. Not to mention evil.
DietDoc: “He is a thought leader on this topic and I really want to know what he thinks; yet he became mute. Why?:
From Marty’s various posts over a period of time, I got that he evaluated importances and decided to no longer be a thought leader on this topic. People do evolve in their views, even 180 degrees sometimes. If you’re that curious, you should read more of his back posts.
You’re just running an interrogatory. Complete with wrong items, wrong indications, wrong who’s. Charges and declares. Under the banner of helping others lose weight. Publishing false information through thinly veiled “curiosity”. Projecting “dishonesty” on me. And since neither one of us, clearly, are “intellectuals”, neither can be intellectually dishonest. You are just trying to reinvent the “Karen Jeffrey Ortega” witch hunt on Monique into season two. And I am still giving it the same review. A shameful display of sadism and treason. A runaway train of sadistic personality disorders. And here you are spotlighting Marty as one who has done a 180 degree turn around? But not them, right?
I think you need a voo doo doll and some pins.
Hi Brian!
Brian wrote:
“It’s about inquiring into falsehoods that are essential in discovering the correct assessment of why this diaspora occurred in the first place.”
I was 26 when they got me on the streets of New York. Did not know much about cults but I wish I had chosen a different one. I would have lasted three days in the Moonies and I would have got it out of my system.
Christian Science was very good to me. Only thing is that they only had the book and the Bible. You know that stuff actually worked better than Scientology. Problem I see with Hubbard is that he just refused to tell you anything real about his past. He covered it all up. He made himself into something he was not. His public pictures were all false. You saw nothing but lies. The other cults were very easy to leave because you got all of the dirt up front. Like people talked about Mary Baker Eddy’s insanity trial. Rev Moon was a nice guy but they knew he was strange. The Hub tried to look like my neighbor in Massachusetts. Problem with him was his greed for money. You get these cults after wars. Like Paris was loaded with cults after WWI and WWII. American cults were real cheap. No good philosophy just copied junk. No wonder Crowley despised Hubbard.
Germans won’t buy an American car. Junk to them. No one in the world wants exported Scientology. It’s junk. The World Series is just fraud.
Hubbard was greed, but you cannot export greed. All you can export is an intangible called consumption. So if Hubbard was intangible we could export him. But he is very tangible.
Anyway, I was just a kid at 26. I wish I had moved down a couple of blocks to the poetry cults on Carmine street.
lol, no idea who and what you’re talking about! I merely wanted to support the argument made in the linked article that although the CoS seems to be in favour of Trump, Scientology influence is not limited to Republican politicians, with Marty’s statements about how Scientology had connections to the Bill Clinton administration.
But for the record I am not “stuck” in a “Tony incident”. He has been pimped by Karen since he left the Village Voice. He’s just a projection. No one is going to sue him so he is propped up as illusion. Some of the articles on his blog are copied verbatim from Karen. He works for Karen and Jeffrey. It’s his motivator flow for his time pimping and sex slave trafficking through Backpage. His career is ruined. He looks like the Donald Trump of the Anti Scientology Community. Pathetic.
I think there is every possibility since she swooped in on Ray Jeffries’ lines before he went so splewy on the Rathbuns they had to disconnect from him, she may have been instrumental in blowing Monique’s law suit out of the water. Because she motivated like crazy with the witch hunt through the Underground Bunker on Monique. With Ray Jeffries parked under her chair. All the while accusing the Rathbun’s of treason and dirty dealing.
And I want to say this. I will never apologize for not accepting wrong whos, wrong whys, and wrong items and living with them. I am not a victim. I am not on a motivator flow. That is a wrong item for me. I have a right for right whos, right items, and right whys.
I am not setting Karen or anyone else up for a witch hunt or a “comm ev” kangaroo court.
There are some dynamic flowing through this entire theater that do not belong in the “justice” category. Although there are few particles that need to make things right with me where I have been violated through sadistic pleasure. Because like I said, I am not on a motivator flow.
Neither do I care to get sucked into some else’s.
You can hate an act and not the being.
The worst fucking wrong indication in the Scientology culture, and why it has become so anti symbiotic and treasonous, is that sympathy is “low toned”. Sympathy is the result of an ability and perception. It is the ability to extend yourself into someone else’s space and live what they are living and feel what they are feeling. To BE them.
Along with feeling their loss, pain and suffering, comes the reward of feeling their victory, pleasure, joy and happiness.
Sympathy is the result of an ability, just like happiness is when you extend yourself and feel another person’s joy.
Some people who do not have this ability or these perceptions can do things and seem evil when they are just standing with a handicap. Consequences in others are not felt so they are just not in another person’s vision. If they could feel the effects they create in others, they would be different people.
Sometimes this even gives them an added advantage in life. It is not always easy when you can move into the people in front of you and be them. It can range from agony to ecstasy. And everything in between. But in those times they are you and you are them.
This is not low toned. And it can not be only low toned when you feel their pain.
I am not in an enemy condition to wards Karen, Ortega, Jeff, Emma, or any of the others. But I have right to reject wrong items, wrong whos, wrong indications, not just for myself, but for other people too. Because I can extend myself and feel the misery and confusion this creates upon the general community around.
I wish more than anyone, we could all just pay down our swords and leave one another with some pleasant memories from this life and this theater.
But this is not possible when some people are programmed to set other people up for losses and even they can not rise above it. It does not mean they are bad. They just accumulate bad memories to carry forward with them. It is a self punishing thing in terms of eternity. And it does not contribute to their happiness to throw gasoline on their fires. It does not help them one bit. You enable the condition they are stuck in.
I have a right not to be misunderstood, not misrepresented, and not look ignorant because I had items enforced on me that were wrong items.
I have a right to care about other people and take care of them. I have a right to say something about injustice and not contribute to it. I do not have to be in an enemy condition to know my rights. And know and understand the rights of others.
I have handicaps of my own that I was born with. Hyperactivity hyperthyroid not sleeping like other people do not keeping the same schedule multi tasking as insane speeds that effect my communications with others, not being able to “slow down”. Working several jobs at once with several different voices, not tolerating stillness, to the point where I am wholly out of time as it exists for other people.
I am not claiming I am super able as others are to be “in harmony”. I am dysfunctional in many way. Selective photographic memory that is there and not there. I am very dysfunctional myself and was diagnosed as a “savant” when I was four years old.
I am only not anti symbiotic.
We are all gifted. We are all handicapped.
I only know we all do not need to be punished any more. To hate anymore. To harm attack and suppress anymore.
We all deserve to the freedom to label items correctly the right who, the right why, the right source, the right item. Maybe it is part of my own sickness that I have to organize these things in correct order. Like mentally extra ordinary people that have to organize colors and spoons. My closet is organized by texture, fabric and color. But, I am good at helping others find their right items because I can travel across distances and feel them and see what they are seeing.
It has disturbed me in the past when I see someone being given a wrong item, a wrong why or a wrong who, from caring about that person I try to fix it.
I am beginning to understand that other people sometimes actually prefer to have wrong items, wrong whos, and wrong whys. And leave it alone. I don’t understand it. That’s my bad.
In this conversation, my purpose is to explain why this item, “You are stuck in a Tony incident”, is not my item. It is your item about me.
It is not my item to make this post one for justice. Because if I ever laid all that I know in this theater, all hell would break lose.
I am aware of who makes the shoops, who makes the blogs, who makes the posts, who makes the cartoons, who writes the posts. Who creates the conflict. Who is getting paid by who. And who is re stimulating who and why. And what the invisible exchanges and currency is. And why.
I was doing college level math in fourth grade.
And the reason I tend to sit at Marty’s table in this theater is this simple. He does not issue wrong whos, wrong whys, wrong items. In fact he is usually way ahead of me with the math.
He is not an evil man. He is not cunning and manipulative. I have a photographic memory and his words today are in alignment with what his words were always. He is always the same being. He is sincere. The math is always the same with him. The cards are always on the table as well as they can be with the trusts he carries. What you see is what you get. And he has the ability to extend himself and have mercy.
He has a son. He has a wife. People have managed to sow burdens onto those through all sorts of malicious fair gaming.
It would be great if those of you who contributed to that, could place yourself back in the identity of a child, and remove some the slander that has been propped up for his family and son to deal with.
In between the protests of abuse, that would be just a great start.
“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending”. Marcus Aurelius
Lyrics
There are those who fly
From the highest heights
On the wings they carry-
Searching for the high
They can never find-
Thinking love is blind.
Never mind.
They’ll never see
The forest for the trees
‘Til they turn to love.
Crying through the eyes
Of my own disguise-
Came to know the truth
From the lies.
So, I hope you’ll understand how
I’m another kind of man now.
All I want is just to stand
Closer to your love.
Don’t wanna climb a mountain.
Don’t wanna swim a river.
I wanna feel the fire, power,
And all I can dream of.
Don’t wanna climb a mountain.
Don’t wanna swim a river.
I wanna move in
Closer to your love.
If you try to fly
From the highest heights
On the wings you carry-
Searching for the high
Of your own design,
You may come to find
You been blind.
So I hope you’ll understand how
I’m another kind of man now.
All I want is just to stand
A little closer to your love.
The Availability Cascade now running is the “Russian Connection.” Happily, America has a 90 day memory.
Hi Marty,
I hope you’re doing well, having fun, and are happy.
Just wanted to say hi. Your voice here was very valuable to me during the time when you were posting a lot about Scientology. And your thoughts about it and how they changed mirrored mine as well.
So yeah, I graduated. And I just wanted to acknowledge you were an important one of many who helped me get my cert: OT eX!
One day, maybe we will share a beer or two.
Best wishes.
ARCH ENEMY – Nemesis (Live at Wacken 2016)