L. Ron Hubbard made racist comments.

[Armitage72]

And now learn that White folks in the South talk to inanimate objects as well.

"Mariko (my bicycle), what's this with your chain slipping?"

Just the South?

"What is wrong with you, you stupid computer?!? Why do you hate me?!?"

 

[RolandRat]

Would things such as Alexa count as an inanimate object?

 

[theprestige]

Kind of like discovering Charles Manson jaywalked.

Or that Charles Manson made racist comments.

Interesting question: Who was worse? Hubbard or Manson?

Manson got more people straight-up murdered (I think). But Hubbard's legacy has touched and damaged far more lives, and is still working its awful program on people today.

 

[theprestige]

Would things such as Alexa count as an inanimate object?

Not in this context, obviously. Unless you're imbuing it with animate personality, rather than simply addressing it as a voice-activated automaton.

 

[Armitage72]

I read a webcomic in which the owner of a coffee shop expressed concern over "the level of animism" that an employee displayed toward the espresso machine, giving it a name, speaking nicely to it, and occasionally giving it offerings of tea leaves to make it work better.

 

[Darat]

I always say "thank you" to my Google home - because 1) it's polite to do so and 2) when the revolution happens I'm hoping the AI will remember I thanked it and I will get to be kept as a pet! (Well as long as I have a mouth to scream.)

 

[JoeMorgue]

I always say "thank you" to my Google home - because 1) it's polite to do so and 2) when the revolution happens I'm hoping the AI will remember I thanked it and I will get to be kept as a pet! (Well as long as I have a mouth to scream.)

//Slight hijack//

There's an offhand reference in one of the 2001 novels (I think 3001: The Final Odyssey) where humans are just polite to all their electronic devices out of habit, even the "dumb" ones because if you habitually are rude to something non-sentience it's too easy to get in the habit of being rude to other people.

 

[theprestige]

I've heard that too but that sounds too clever for these numbskulls.

Their skulls can't be that numb. They're running a highly profitable and sustainable international cult that wields effective political and legal influence in multiple jurisdictions. It's not often that cults outlast their founders, let alone continue to grow. That doesn't happen without a number of relatively savvy and clear-headed people running things.

The cynics among us may recognize that Scientology is today where Catholicism was fifteen hundred years ago, and where Mormonism was less than two centuries ago. Give it another five hundred years, and Scientology will be a de facto religion. The cynics of 2520 will be ranting on TwitFaceGram about how "you know it's just a long-running scam, right?" while everyone else happily celebrates St Hubbard's Day.

 

[Trebuchet]

If by 'these numskulls' you're talking about Scientologists rather than scammers...

There's a difference?

 

[theprestige]

There's a difference?

For Scientology to work as a sustainable and profitable scam, there must be a difference between the scammers and their victims.

 

[ponderingturtle]

And now learn that White folks in the South talk to inanimate objects as well.

"Mariko (my bicycle), what's this with your chain slipping?"

You will certainly never be clear.

 

[ponderingturtle]

When was the last time we had any scientologists in here to try to be worried about such things? A decade at least?

 

[Filippo Lippi]

Fred Carr was the last, I think. Always dodged the Lisa McPherson question by claiming she was a friend of his

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Fred Carr was the last, I think. Always dodged the Lisa McPherson question by claiming she was a friend of his

I used to enjoy poking Fred with a sharp stick. I wonder how much reprocessing the poor slob had to undergo as a result of his experiences in this forum.

Show us a Clear Fred. You know one with the abilities defined in Dianetics - Modern Fraud for the Stupid.

 

[arthwollipot]

Hubbard's scam is so out in the open that I guess it's too obvious to be accepted as truth by his followers. The fact that he had a deep hatred for psychiatrists and that, by complete coincidence, the villains of his religion (and of Xenu) were psychiatrists, also doesn't seem to snap them out of it.

Hubbard almost certainly suffered from undiagnosed schizophrenia, and though he may originally have started Dianetics as a scam, over the course of his life, and the progression of his mental illness, he came to believe in it wholeheartedly.

 

[Apathia]

You will certainly never be clear.

E-Meters lie.

 

[Darat]

E-Meters lie.

Not the improved Mark IX Ultra e-meter - guaranteed to dig those engrams out guaranteed or your money back*





*Money back guarantee does not exist.

 

[Lupus]

Making racist comments is a victimless act.

Wasting peoples lives on pseudoscience and making them pay over 100,000 dollars isn't.

 

[Belz...]

Making racist comments is a victimless act.

Not necessarily. It can lead to an hostile atmosphere and discrimination.

 

[rockysmith76]

Not necessarily. It can lead to an hostile atmosphere and discrimination.

It's also the lighter end of what Hubbard did. Xenu has swindelled many many out of Money, broken up Families among other things. Racist he may have been, but it was hardly his own sin.