Anonymous Austria leaks 2.8 GB Scientology Emails

Post by StavrosK » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 12:57 AM UTC

saraid216 wrote: post #89

StavrosK wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't mainstream religions exert a lot of control over some of their members too? I'm not very comfortable with fundamentalists of any religion... I'm not defending Scientology, but the line between "cult" and "religion" seems a bit blurry.

Most categories in sociology are blurry, because human beings are blurry things. This may help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociological_classifications_of...

Post by jontas » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 12:59 AM UTC

lmkg wrote: post #65

pud wrote: post #46

It troubles me a tiny bit to see comments on HN like (paraphrased) "Members of [group that has different religious beliefs than me] are evil." I am not defending religion or Scientology.

Objections to Scientology are not (for the most part) based on their religious beliefs, but their practices and behaviors. They have a history of being aggressively litigious, similar to patent trolls[1], and have used frivolous lawsuits to harass critics into giving up the fight. There are also some indications that they're emotionally abusive to their members, and encourage them to cut off all contact to non-Scient…

Post by lobster_johnson » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 1:02 AM UTC

uptown wrote: post #78

lobster_johnson wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue people have with Scientology is not that it's "weird". It's that they are an organization created expressly as a kind of pyramid scheme designed to funnel money from its clueless members to its corrupt leaders, and that they will go great (and highly immoral) lengths to safeguard the structure of the organization. All the weirdness -- the bogus science, the alien mythology, the extreme secrecy and protectiv…

"But most religiour organization -- generally speaking -- genuinely have their members' best interests at heart." I think that's highly dependent on whether you believe what's being preached. There's countless examples of mainstream religions exploiting their power for financial and organizational gain at the expense of individual followers. From a financial standpoint, just take a look at the Vatican City as an exam…

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 1:04 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #52

pud wrote: post #46

It troubles me a tiny bit to see comments on HN like (paraphrased) "Members of [group that has different religious beliefs than me] are evil." I am not defending religion or Scientology.

Very yes. It troubles me more than a tiny bit. What does this have to do with HN? We'd flag off posts about Scientology as irrelevant. So basically, this is at the top of the page as a celebration of hacking organizations nerds don't like. It's how we nerds do bullying. And I think Scientology is probably a criminal organization.

Post by anthonyb » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 1:09 AM UTC

javajosh wrote: post #10

dfc wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a strange philosophy/view-point for HN...

Au contraire. Journalists are highly motivated to plough through the data for the scoop. ("Data scoop" is certainly an interesting development in our 21st century, btw!) I'm happy to let a highly motivated person do the ploughing, and give me the highlights, especially about a subject as marginally interesting as Scientology.