I remember, many decades ago, walking down the Tottenham Court Road in London (UK) & being collared by a Scientologist outside a shop they'd rented: to haul in people off the street to complete a questionnaire.
I was already a sceptic about Scientology but curious about the questionnaire. So it was no surprise to find it was designed to make any reasonably well-functioning human being appear completely inadequate, sorely in need of the "help" of Scientology. A dishonestly loaded recruiting device, designed to elicit negative responses.
And it's therefore little surprise -- though just as disgusting -- that the gender cult uses the same recruiting techniques. Less than perfectly, 100 percent happy and successful? Then you must be trans: sorely in need of our medical treatment.
Brainwashing and hucksterism of all kinds use these manipulative techniques: also built into the more innocuous advertising acronym AIDA: Attention, Information, Desire, Attraction.
"I'm not sure about my gender. What is this called?"
This is essentially "I'm lost, can you help me find my way?"
Feeling lost is natural as is seeking advice but this is quickly exploited by people whose goals are manipulation and control. I feel like we need to finely tune our bullshit meters to be able to recognize this in others. To my mind, some of the surest indicators of a bullshit artist/manipulator are their tendencies to make definitive statements, to shame you either subtly or overtly when you get "off track", and an inability to admit fallibility.
Gosh, I had no idea Scientology used the term 'Wogs'.
To British people (and possibly Australians) that is a highly offensive term which was used to describe various immigrant, non white groups. It may be a shortening of the term 'golliwog'.
Thankfully you don't hear it much anymore.
(I'm sure you remember a bit in Fawlty Towers where The Major uses the term).
It would be interesting to know if L Ron Hubbard was aware of that and used it deliberately.
I remember it in the Fawlty Towers episode but didn't recognize it, having never heard it anywhere else and I think that episode was briefly cancelled from BBC c. 2020 because of a different racial slur that's much more familiar over here :-(
Yes indeed. The Major used both the 'N' word and the 'W' word in that episode.
It was cancelled for a bit, but then reinstated with a warning.
It's a really tricky one, and a conversation I have had with my children, who are a bit more 'sensitive' (or squeamish, depending on your viewpoint) about hearing offensive words. We had a good discussion about 'Of Mice and Men' and whether the teacher should read certain sections aloud in class...
John Cleese said at the time that episode was cancelled: "The major was an old fossil left over from decades before. We were not supporting his views, we were making fun of them. If they can't see that, if people are too stupid to see that, what can one say?"
I suppose the trouble is that all racists, of any age, ARE culturally "fossils left over from decades before" -- and simply resonate with the tropes and slurs they already agree with. So any critical intention of "making fun of them" tends to be lost on them. Instead, it just reinforces their racism.
At least, that's the rationale of "cancel culture" as I understand it: that some people ARE rendered (by racist indoctrination) "too stupid to see" that the joke is on them: and are instead encouraged by the mere repetition of their favourite slurs --never mind the context.
And, as I've always thought of racism as being possibly the most stupid form of discrimination, perhaps it does tend to appeal to stupid people?
After all, it's very convenient that zero personal qualities or achievements are required to feel superior to millions, or billions, of other people: provided merely by difference in skin colour. And aided by extreme nationalism -- even as an oppressed member of that nation.
Like Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army “they don’t like it up ‘em sir”. The reactions from the younger men showed that they weren’t okay with his phrases but that they realized he was a fossil and was using the terminology that was popular in his time.
I heard the term used a lot in old movies, books, etc. (or movies or books set in older periods), so I was pretty familiar with it. Strange, this new use of it.
"Dialect Blog was launched in 2011 as a place for hobbyists, actors, linguists and curiosity-seekers to learn about and discuss the dialects of the English language"
Somewhat apropos of that article's reference to "the N word 🙄", you might be interested in quite an illuminating essay on slurs by linguist Adam Croom:
Of particular note is a discussion of Chris Rock's video on the topic and use of the word, or at least a more palatable variation of it:
"There’s like a civil war going on with black people, and there’s two sides: there’s black people, and there’s niggas. The niggas have got to go. .... books are like kryptonite to a nigga ..."
Interesting, thanks for the link. I had no idea, either, that Hubbard used the offensive term "wog" for non-Scientologists. As a Brit, and as I've never heard it used except as a racist slur, I've always supposed it was a diminution of "golliwog" -- but used indiscriminately against any race other than white Caucasian, (wrongly supposed to denote all Brits). Never heard of its possible derivation from "Worthy Oriental Gentleman": which seems far too polite to be likely!
"Hubbard used everyday terms like “technology,” “ethics” and “open-minded” in a rather different way than what we are accustomed to. Controversies aside, I find him one of the more fascinating of 20th-Century’s word coiners for that reason; he created his own language, assembled from pieces of (but strikingly different from) everyday English."
I was intrigued to learn (a long time ago, forget where) that "engram", as a term central to Scientology's mental deprogramming claims, was appropriated by Hubbard from Sigmund Freud: who had coined it as a neurologist. There even seems to be evidence for parallels between neural circuitry and habitual associations, as in "neurons that fire together, wire together" in patterns facilitated by repetition: as a reason for example why addictions can be so difficult to eradicate. But any actual scientific basis for Hubbard's development of Scientology is overshadowed by its abusive and cultic nature. He even boasted about deciding to register it as a "church" as the best way to avoid taxes and make money.
Sadly, we're living at a time when most people are suffering from severe trauma living in an omnicidal culture that is heading over a cliff. We did not evolve to live this way and have no coping skills as a species to resist propaganda. The billionaires who are indoctrinating all of us into their narrative are profiting enormously from our vulnerability. Drugs, surgeries mindless entertainment and endless distractions keep us from realizing that the sociopaths in business and government are laughing all the way to the bank.
And then parents are bewildered how it happens when: they drive their child to the cult-school every day where cult-teachers ask them their pronouns and deliver them to cult-librarians with cult-porn; drive them to a cult-therapist weekly; and leave them ruminating in front of the cult-screen all night, chatting with cult followers and cult leaders. Not 'blaming' parents (I'm a parent). It's frustrating.
After college, I actually walked into a Scientology storefront in downtown Chicago not really knowing what they were. I could have been a prime target for them but something felt “not right” about it. I listened to my inner voice and doubts and walked away. Just like I walked away from religion ten years later. I find it criminal to prey on people this way and convince them not to trust their own intuition to steal their money.
Yes. It's a narcissist's field day! Gaslight central for all the weak minded twits willing to offer up their very connection to themselves and reality, to have it replaced by twisted, manipulated, deeply damaging lies!
Q: "I'm not sure about my gender. What is this called?"
A: It means that you're not really very upset by your body and your presence in it. All of the screaming and yelling and hyperventilating about gender and gender dysphoria and gender identity isn't really relevant to you, and you should just ignore it. You don't have to think about it, you don't have to talk about it, and you don't have to believe that you have a gender identity at all. You can just be you.
I remember, many decades ago, walking down the Tottenham Court Road in London (UK) & being collared by a Scientologist outside a shop they'd rented: to haul in people off the street to complete a questionnaire.
I was already a sceptic about Scientology but curious about the questionnaire. So it was no surprise to find it was designed to make any reasonably well-functioning human being appear completely inadequate, sorely in need of the "help" of Scientology. A dishonestly loaded recruiting device, designed to elicit negative responses.
And it's therefore little surprise -- though just as disgusting -- that the gender cult uses the same recruiting techniques. Less than perfectly, 100 percent happy and successful? Then you must be trans: sorely in need of our medical treatment.
Brainwashing and hucksterism of all kinds use these manipulative techniques: also built into the more innocuous advertising acronym AIDA: Attention, Information, Desire, Attraction.
"I'm not sure about my gender. What is this called?"
This is essentially "I'm lost, can you help me find my way?"
Feeling lost is natural as is seeking advice but this is quickly exploited by people whose goals are manipulation and control. I feel like we need to finely tune our bullshit meters to be able to recognize this in others. To my mind, some of the surest indicators of a bullshit artist/manipulator are their tendencies to make definitive statements, to shame you either subtly or overtly when you get "off track", and an inability to admit fallibility.
Gosh, I had no idea Scientology used the term 'Wogs'.
To British people (and possibly Australians) that is a highly offensive term which was used to describe various immigrant, non white groups. It may be a shortening of the term 'golliwog'.
Thankfully you don't hear it much anymore.
(I'm sure you remember a bit in Fawlty Towers where The Major uses the term).
It would be interesting to know if L Ron Hubbard was aware of that and used it deliberately.
This webpage gives some interesting background on the term and L Ron Hubbard's use of it: http://dialectblog.com/2013/03/14/l-ron-hubbard-and-wog/
I remember it in the Fawlty Towers episode but didn't recognize it, having never heard it anywhere else and I think that episode was briefly cancelled from BBC c. 2020 because of a different racial slur that's much more familiar over here :-(
Yes indeed. The Major used both the 'N' word and the 'W' word in that episode.
It was cancelled for a bit, but then reinstated with a warning.
It's a really tricky one, and a conversation I have had with my children, who are a bit more 'sensitive' (or squeamish, depending on your viewpoint) about hearing offensive words. We had a good discussion about 'Of Mice and Men' and whether the teacher should read certain sections aloud in class...
John Cleese said at the time that episode was cancelled: "The major was an old fossil left over from decades before. We were not supporting his views, we were making fun of them. If they can't see that, if people are too stupid to see that, what can one say?"
I suppose the trouble is that all racists, of any age, ARE culturally "fossils left over from decades before" -- and simply resonate with the tropes and slurs they already agree with. So any critical intention of "making fun of them" tends to be lost on them. Instead, it just reinforces their racism.
At least, that's the rationale of "cancel culture" as I understand it: that some people ARE rendered (by racist indoctrination) "too stupid to see" that the joke is on them: and are instead encouraged by the mere repetition of their favourite slurs --never mind the context.
And, as I've always thought of racism as being possibly the most stupid form of discrimination, perhaps it does tend to appeal to stupid people?
After all, it's very convenient that zero personal qualities or achievements are required to feel superior to millions, or billions, of other people: provided merely by difference in skin colour. And aided by extreme nationalism -- even as an oppressed member of that nation.
Like Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army “they don’t like it up ‘em sir”. The reactions from the younger men showed that they weren’t okay with his phrases but that they realized he was a fossil and was using the terminology that was popular in his time.
“ Cis” just like “wog” is meant to be
derogatory. It implies that only trans people are worth anything. I would never use that term.
I heard the term used a lot in old movies, books, etc. (or movies or books set in older periods), so I was pretty familiar with it. Strange, this new use of it.
Thanks for the link 🙂:
"Dialect Blog was launched in 2011 as a place for hobbyists, actors, linguists and curiosity-seekers to learn about and discuss the dialects of the English language"
Somewhat apropos of that article's reference to "the N word 🙄", you might be interested in quite an illuminating essay on slurs by linguist Adam Croom:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215039015000041
Of particular note is a discussion of Chris Rock's video on the topic and use of the word, or at least a more palatable variation of it:
"There’s like a civil war going on with black people, and there’s two sides: there’s black people, and there’s niggas. The niggas have got to go. .... books are like kryptonite to a nigga ..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51vFbsZkhXU
Interesting, thanks for the link. I had no idea, either, that Hubbard used the offensive term "wog" for non-Scientologists. As a Brit, and as I've never heard it used except as a racist slur, I've always supposed it was a diminution of "golliwog" -- but used indiscriminately against any race other than white Caucasian, (wrongly supposed to denote all Brits). Never heard of its possible derivation from "Worthy Oriental Gentleman": which seems far too polite to be likely!
Really interesting.
"Hubbard used everyday terms like “technology,” “ethics” and “open-minded” in a rather different way than what we are accustomed to. Controversies aside, I find him one of the more fascinating of 20th-Century’s word coiners for that reason; he created his own language, assembled from pieces of (but strikingly different from) everyday English."
I was intrigued to learn (a long time ago, forget where) that "engram", as a term central to Scientology's mental deprogramming claims, was appropriated by Hubbard from Sigmund Freud: who had coined it as a neurologist. There even seems to be evidence for parallels between neural circuitry and habitual associations, as in "neurons that fire together, wire together" in patterns facilitated by repetition: as a reason for example why addictions can be so difficult to eradicate. But any actual scientific basis for Hubbard's development of Scientology is overshadowed by its abusive and cultic nature. He even boasted about deciding to register it as a "church" as the best way to avoid taxes and make money.
Sadly, we're living at a time when most people are suffering from severe trauma living in an omnicidal culture that is heading over a cliff. We did not evolve to live this way and have no coping skills as a species to resist propaganda. The billionaires who are indoctrinating all of us into their narrative are profiting enormously from our vulnerability. Drugs, surgeries mindless entertainment and endless distractions keep us from realizing that the sociopaths in business and government are laughing all the way to the bank.
I have the feeling that the majority of us are seen only as "markets", ripe for exploitation.
Nailed it again!
And then parents are bewildered how it happens when: they drive their child to the cult-school every day where cult-teachers ask them their pronouns and deliver them to cult-librarians with cult-porn; drive them to a cult-therapist weekly; and leave them ruminating in front of the cult-screen all night, chatting with cult followers and cult leaders. Not 'blaming' parents (I'm a parent). It's frustrating.
This is how authoritarianism begins. It is so easy now to ensnare young impressionable kids with Hogwash! It’s everywhere.
I’m looking forward to seeing the documentary, “ What is a Woman? “ as if this question is not easily answered by a 4 year old.
After college, I actually walked into a Scientology storefront in downtown Chicago not really knowing what they were. I could have been a prime target for them but something felt “not right” about it. I listened to my inner voice and doubts and walked away. Just like I walked away from religion ten years later. I find it criminal to prey on people this way and convince them not to trust their own intuition to steal their money.
I hope the "definitive rundown" turns into a book.
Yes. It's a narcissist's field day! Gaslight central for all the weak minded twits willing to offer up their very connection to themselves and reality, to have it replaced by twisted, manipulated, deeply damaging lies!
Mhm. I think we live in a very narcissistic culture.
Q: "I'm not sure about my gender. What is this called?"
A: It means that you're not really very upset by your body and your presence in it. All of the screaming and yelling and hyperventilating about gender and gender dysphoria and gender identity isn't really relevant to you, and you should just ignore it. You don't have to think about it, you don't have to talk about it, and you don't have to believe that you have a gender identity at all. You can just be you.
You'll never find the time to write a definitive account - just keep chipping away. Thanks for what you do!