Althouse: "To the rebels, the artists, the free thinkers and the innovators. Who care less about labels and more about truth."

February 4, 2013

"To the rebels, the artists, the free thinkers and the innovators. Who care less about labels and more about truth."

"Dare to think for yourself. To look for yourself. To make up your own mind. Because in the eternal debate for answers, the one thing that's true is what's true for you."

25 comments:

ricpic said...: The artists immediately race to deliver themselves into state slavery.; 2/4/13, 9:52 AM
rhhardin said...: These are my labels Stanley Cavell.; 2/4/13, 9:55 AM
Anonymous said...: Is it just me, or does Obama/Organizing for America seem similar to Scientology in it's cult-like behavior?; 2/4/13, 9:56 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: I think for myself all the time and, frankly, I wish it would stop.; 2/4/13, 9:56 AM
KCFleming said...: The truth will set you free, but in Scientology it'll cost ya plenty.; 2/4/13, 9:59 AM
Deirdre Mundy said...: I just wish they'd founded their religion on a GOOD Scifi Writer!!! Like Asimov. I mean, a religion like the one in Foundation? That would be cool....; 2/4/13, 9:59 AM
Nonapod said...: I'm sure it takes imagination and free thinking to stop the evil forces of the evil space dictator Xenu.; 2/4/13, 9:59 AM
Deirdre Mundy said...: Or even the Warlock series.... Cathodians... I could get behind that....

Or something Bradbury/Martian based, maybe...

But Hubbard???

I read "Inside Scientology" recently-- it was a really interesting look at how Hubbard managed to found his own cult...; 2/4/13, 10:00 AM
Nonapod said...: I just wish they'd founded their religion on a GOOD Scifi Writer!!! Like Asimov. I mean, a religion like the one in Foundation? That would be cool....

You mean psychohistory?; 2/4/13, 10:01 AM
Wince said...: Because in the eternal debate for answers, the one thing that's true is what's true for you.

"Did you say, 'I know my truth'?

...Oh, Boy."; 2/4/13, 10:02 AM
edutcher said...: The Scientologists are taking advantage of what everybody knows - the rebels, the artists, the free thinkers, and the innovators are afraid to think.; 2/4/13, 10:06 AM
Brew Master said...: Because in the eternal debate for answers, the one thing that's true is what's true for you.

I'm sure Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Jerry Sandusky, Jimmy Savile, etc, etc, All had their own truth.

To quote a mediocre pop singer, 'If it makes you feel good, it can't be that bad'.

Moral equivalance is a sign of decay.; 2/4/13, 10:16 AM
3john2 said...: Wow, that ranks right up there with Kim Kardassian saying, "Trust your heart because your heart is never wrong." Apparently she hasn't heard that "the heart is deceitful above all things" - as are the "truths" that emerge from it.

Oh well, on to the next deep-as-a-dog-dish dictum to soothe our cultural vegetative state.; 2/4/13, 10:24 AM
furious_a said...: "...the one thing that's true is what's true for you."

IOW, the important thing is that you've convinced yourself.; 2/4/13, 10:26 AM
bagoh20 said...: OK, if you tell me too.; 2/4/13, 10:47 AM
Tibore said...: Nice strawman, Scientology. You may want to consider that what you call a "label" might instead be a summary of a person's experience or the conclusion drawn from long study. Be careful about confusing the two.

This, BTW Scientology, is why bumper stickers and TV commercials are lousy for real illumination: You can cite a mistruth, make it look like wisdom, and have a fall back of blaming limited time for not being able to fully address the subject. When in fact it's not time that's the problem, it's your choice of characterization.

Be careful of calling things "labels" that likely have more depth behind it than you like to pretend. You, Scientology, are the ones using bumper-sticker language to defend yourself. Not necessarily anyone else.; 2/4/13, 10:47 AM
sakredkow said...: IOW, the important thing is that you've convinced yourself.

A hardcore skeptic might say that's what you've been doing all along.; 2/4/13, 10:50 AM
William said...: I thought that that was a quote from Steve Jobs.; 2/4/13, 10:51 AM
Chef Mojo said...: Remember the old Exlax commercial?

"Normal is what's normal for you."

Anyway. To paraphrase Indiana Jones; Scientologists. I hate these guys.; 2/4/13, 11:06 AM
Sofa King said...: Well, it worked for one cult, why not another?; 2/4/13, 11:48 AM
MadisonMan said...: Dear $cientology: Please explain Jeremy Perkins' Mom's Death to me.; 2/4/13, 12:07 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I was fairly ambivalent about the cult until maybe 20 years ago, and then, they started doing something that probably only lawyers would really object to.

There was a rash of former acolytes publicly disclosing their sacred scriptures on the Internet, which were, of course, protected by registered copyrights, given their origins of having been written by a science fiction author. Of course, a good claim of Fair Use could be made, since the disclosers were not doing it for money, they were newsworthy, etc. (And, on the other hand, cutting against Fair Use, disclosing the scriptures reduced their economic value - why pay tens of thousands of dollars for something that you could get for free?)

So, they had a problem, and that was finding out who was in the conspiracy against them. What they did was pioneer the use of ex-parte writs of search and seizure to seize the computers of identified opponents in order to prove that the opponents had (illegal) copies of the scriptures on their hard drives. These are the civil equivalent of the no-knock raids that the police use to seize drugs, or, pretty much anything else, and, police were indeed along on a number of occasions to keep the keep the peace.

The first problem was that for a number of these, these were the first time that the federal district judges involved had ever dealt with computer forensics, and so did not put into place procedures to protect the adverse parties. And, when a bond was required, it was invariably de minimis for an organization that had their sort of money. What would happen next was that they would go through the email and the contacts lists of people who were communicating with the defendants in the current actions, essentially filling out their opponents list. And, that turned out to be the primary reason for these lawsuits and the ex parte writs of search and seizure - they rarely had much interest in going to trial, esp. once the EFF, et al. started getting involved, and facing the real possibility that they would be paying the attorneys' fees for their opponents if they were to win under a Fair Use defense (which they couldn't afford, since that would collaterally estopp them from denying the defense in other cases). So, they would drop the cases once they got the enemies list from the hard drives that they had seized. This was blatant discovery abuse, and ultimately fraud on the courts, as they would repeatedly fail to mention to later judges that they had been sanctioned for this by earlier ones, and the discovery limitations that had been placed on them by other judges. Towards the end, they did get sanctioned - at least by a judge here in CO, and I think in a couple of other instances, but, again, the fines were de minimis, given their wealth.

They did on occasion actually go to trial, and one of the most famous cases was against the Cult Awareness Network, which was apparently mostly a volunteer organization, run on a shoestring, and financially completely unable to withstand the amount of money that the Scientologists could throw at them. So, they lost, and the Scientologists ended up with the Network's 800 numbers, and for a period of time, when people would call up for help getting away from a cult, they would end up talking to Scientologists, who apparently tried to get them to join what many believe is another cult.

Finally, my old boss, who did a lot of electronics patent work, claimed a number of times that the Scientology E-meter (made so famous on that South Park episode) was really a dressed up ohm meter.

Here is a link to the episode: Trapped in the Closet which is described as: When Stan is identified as the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard, Scientologists converge on his front lawn and ask him to lead them. When Stan criticizes the acting skills of a prominent Hollywood actor, the actor locks himself in Stan's closet and refuses to come out.; 2/4/13, 1:54 PM
Synova said...: "What's true is true for you" is the most asinine vacant spew of worthless self-righteous platitudes in existence.

Just saying.; 2/4/13, 2:09 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: ""To the rebels, the artists, the free thinkers and the innovators. Who care less about labels and more about truth...""

There's a spot in a nearby homeless shelter waiting for you.; 2/4/13, 3:13 PM
Known Unknown said...: One of the best skewerings of Scientology I've seen.; 2/4/13, 4:11 PM