One other thing – if I am to “help” someone else, or give them advice – is it not all I can do to just show them a map? And then after that, is it not up to them to figure out the “you are here” spot on the map? (Without which they might still be pretty totally confused).

Thank you for that excellent example of a humblebrag!
“I’m so 3008, you’re so 2008”
to quote a fun song (Black Eyed Peas ‘Boom Boom Pow’).
We can’t all be hep cats, up to the second on the newest and hippest.
I would, however, say the hatred and venom speeed by SJWs has increased since 2003.
In 2003, people still could agree to disagree without worrying about being arrested (as a woman was recently in the UK for “intentionally misgendering” someone on Twitter and well known Nazi and extreme right wing activist – (that’s sarcasm btw) JK Rowling who was recently bullied for supporting another woman who was fired from her job for stating an opinion.
Again, these are all small examples. But it is a frightening look into the future if the peeling away our freedoms (Freedom of Speech for starters) continue to be chipped away.

I once heard someone say “imagine the power of censorship in the hands of your worst enemy”
Imagine if Scientology had the power of censorship over the rest of the world.
Ridiculous? Will never happen?
Or has it already started and Scientology is just sitting back and letting other groups do the heavy work.

“You can’t call us out for our illegal behavior! We’re oppressed because of our belief system! Therefore you must believe what we believe and if you dare question it, we will destroy you!”

SJWs today
Scientology tomorrow.
Anyone with a large enough pocketbook can buy enough influence to make this happen

Antifa, the young anarchist group that bashes in windows at Berkeley causing police in riot gear to arrive because 1 conservative speaker is speaking at Berkeley.

Antifa means anti fascist yet they cause speakers to spend 100s of thousands on private protection.

SJW and virtue signaling at its most fascist, authoritarian and anarchistic.

We are in 1984.

Watch Denis Pragers “No Safe Spaces”.

Sorry Mike, it’s impossible to not mention politics with an nasty mean book title like that.

I’ve lost respect for him as a result of his title choice.

The title is pure politics.

i have no love for the church, i don’t see them as doing any good in the world, and i disagree with the politics that the vats majority of the members of the church hold… but i also wouldn’t be able to honestly agree with any criticism that the church is a “mind-control cult” in the same way that Scientology or NXIVM etc are.

they suck, sure. the amount of involvement required is considerably more than what your average christian church requires these days. there is a lot to disagree with, but there is no charismatic leader. there is a living prophet somewhere sitting atop the pyramid, but i can’t say i ever knew more than maybe that person’s name, and maybe seen a picture of them.

i have read about some individual experiences in the church that push the boundaries, people who have had horrific experiences that could arise out of any situation where authorities are being abusive… but i don’t know.

again, there isn’t a bone in my body that gives the LDS even a little credit, i hated the church when i was involved in it and i think as an entity, the very little good they do is outweighed by the bad, which is mostly just a waste of time, and money, and effort that could be put towards actual pro-social endeavors.

that said, i really think it misses the mark to call them a mind-control cult, or even a cult of any kind. Orthodox Jews come closer to reaching that level because of how insular they are, and how much abuse is allowed to go on within their communities, but those aren’t cults or mind-control cults either.

absolutely, some of the early spin-offs that mostly split with the church when polygamy was banned are absolutely cults, they cut themselves off from the world and formed their own communities entirely functioning to service a single patriarch, or a handful of patriarchs… but the LDS proper, it is just such a stretch to put it in that category, it dimishes the definition of what a cult is, stretches it to encompass any religion that entails more than maybe going to church for an hour each Sunday, singing a few hymns, and dropping a fiver in the collection plate.

i mean, i am really trying to argue in good faith here, i think the LDS sucks, i think they COULD do a lot of good and choose not to, i think they demand a lot of money and time and squander it all… but any definition of “mind-control cults” that is so broad that it encompasses the LDS is incredibly overly broad. and i think it minimizes just how insidious groups like Scientology and NXIVM and, i don’t know, the Manson Family are, when you attempt to bundle those in with the LDS

ah yes, the anti-SJW ranting. cutting edge stuff from where i am sitting, in the year 2003.

Thank you Brian for the excellent definition of virtue signaling!
Virtue signaling – aka, the humblebrag. “I don’t care if I never win another Pulitzer Prize – I will never debate (fill in the blank with whomever they afraid to debate) because they are a Nazi!”
(SJWs love to call people who disagree with them Nazis).
Most SJWs refuse to debate ideas. It’s their way or the highway.

SJW = Social Justice Warriors – aka, young men and women living in their parents basements who believe they know better than the rest of us so they must tell us how to live their lives. They are essentially bullies who attempt to govern by mob rule.

A SJW is one of those lovely people who love to point out how wrong the rest of the world is and, by contrast, how wonderful and “woke” they are (virtue signaling).
They are frequently seen on Good Morning Britain (clips available on YouTube) arguing with Piers Morgan and demanding he be fired for not agreeing with the idea there are 100 genders.
Even the use of the word ‘idea’ would get one in trouble with the SJWs. Their word is automatically FACT. And it is not to be debated or questioned, no matter how politely one attempts.

And that is just one small example
The inevitable end result of the SJW is they wind up eating their own. They insist on creating such ridiculous standards for the rest of society that eventually they succumb to their own idiocy and ridiculous standards of what is “right”. Standards which change every day, with the SJWs attempting to out-do each other in how “tolerant” they are. When the self evident truth is they are completely intolerant to anyone who differs with them.

noun
noun: virtue signalling
the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one’s good character or the moral correctness of one’s position on a particular issue.
“it’s noticeable how often virtue signaling consists of saying you hate things”

I see it as a promotion of how good you are while actually not having those traits.

“See how good I am, I hate racism” while actually the person harbors racist thoughts. It’s a smoke screen. Most likely unconscious, but I can see how expert manipulators can use it.

My Philosophy comes to mind. Hubbard was virtue signaling up the wazoo!

What is SJW?

And what does Virtue Signaling mean? Not heard these terms before…

And HAS Trump gone after scientology???

Is there anything in this comment that has been proven untrue?

You are really working at it — digging up a comment from another blog in 2017?

You need to be a little less sensitive.

Why don’t you pull out my comments worrying about Trump claiming the press is the enemy of the people? Certainly pro-press — so therefore, by definition, “anti-Trump.” And I am opposed to the concept that the press is the enemy of the people. Without the media, scientology would be completely unchecked.

Keep working at it, I am sure you will come up with something that proves what a terrible person I am.

It’s the OSA (Hubbard) way.