Ex Scientologist Interview Discourse Community

[joeman162]

Hello,
I'm writing a paper on the Ex Scientologist Forum as a discourse community. I will email questions mostly consisting of your opinions of being apart of this community and how it has affected you. If you are interested please email me at [email protected]!
Thanks

 

[PirateAndBum]

You might want to just carry on the conversation here in this thread.

 

[TheSneakster]

Hello,
I'm writing a paper on the Ex Scientologist Forum as a discourse community. I will email questions mostly consisting of your opinions of being apart of this community and how it has affected you. If you are interested please email me at [email protected]!
Thanks

Why aren't you using your academic email address, if that's the case ?

 

[Enthetan]

Hello,
I'm writing a paper on the Ex Scientologist Forum as a discourse community. I will email questions mostly consisting of your opinions of being apart of this community and how it has affected you. If you are interested please email me at [email protected]!
Thanks

Many people here are not going to want to email you, because they don't want to reveal their email addresses (and thus, potentially, their identities).

We can put stuff on this thread for you.

 

[joeman162]

Sorry, I didn't want to use my school email for privacy purposes.
I will post the questions here, it's fine if every question isn't answered:

If you are unfamiliar with the term discourse community, it is "a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about their goals. Linguist John Swales defined discourse communities as “groups that have goals and purposes, and use communication to achieve their goals.”

1.) When did you join this discussion board / For what purpose do you use this discussion board?
2.) What's your opinion on Scientology?
3.) Would you consider this discussion board to be a discourse community?
4.) How has being apart of this discussion board affected you both positively and negatively?
5.) Have you experienced any conflicts with the discussion board (i.e. Undercover Scientologists, "trolls")? What are your opinions on these such conflicts?
6.) What are your opinions on other members of the discussion board? Have they always been supportive and collaborative?
7.) Are there any main goals for this forum ( i.e. to gain more supporters / to fight back against Scientology / to give people a voice)? Do you have any personal goals for this forum?
8.) Is the majority of the vocabulary used on this discussion board derived from Scientology terms? Or have members created their own terms?

Thanks!

 

[Karakorum]

Sorry, I didn't want to use my school email for privacy purposes.
I will post the questions here, it's fine if every question isn't answered:

If you are unfamiliar with the term discourse community, it is "a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about their goals. Linguist John Swales defined discourse communities as “groups that have goals and purposes, and use communication to achieve their goals.”

1.) When did you join this discussion board / For what purpose do you use this discussion board?
2.) What's your opinion on Scientology?
3.) Would you consider this discussion board to be a discourse community?
4.) How has being apart of this discussion board affected you both positively and negatively?
5.) Have you experienced any conflicts with the discussion board (i.e. Undercover Scientologists, "trolls")? What are your opinions on these such conflicts?
6.) What are your opinions on other members of the discussion board? Have they always been supportive and collaborative?
7.) Are there any main goals for this forum ( i.e. to gain more supporters / to fight back against Scientology / to give people a voice)? Do you have any personal goals for this forum?
8.) Is the majority of the vocabulary used on this discussion board derived from Scientology terms? Or have members created their own terms?

Thanks!

1. I'm here since this forum was created. I was a member of the forum that preceded this one.

2. It is a system designed with the goal of controlling people and "harvesting" them for their work, time, money and effort.

3. No, not really. I think it would be untrue to say that we all "share basic values". We have very different people on the forums who have very different political, social and religious beliefs. If you ask me, this is a "community of people who have shared experiences" - the experience in question is "being in a high-control cult". It's more like a forum of ex-marines or ww2 veterans in nature than it a forum of Democratic party supporters or southern baptists.
In short: Its based on shared past experiences, not shared current beliefs.

4. As any forum that includes people of different views, sometimes we clash over politics or have conflicting worldviews and arguments do happen. On the other side, we had interesting discussions on various topics, both related and unrelated to scientology.

5. Same as with most other forums to be honest. There are some people who act like trolls or who are simply rude or engage in unwarranted personal attacks. The one difference is that here many members appear to be trauma survivors or have PTSD, which makes them more on edge. At the same time, as you pointed out, there is a chance of scientology of its special operations unit trying to infiltrate the forums. that's why some people are suspicious or not very welcoming.

6. "Your mileage may vary". There's good and bad people and all those in between.

7. No, not really a main goal. Having said that, we all have the experience of being in a high-control group and none of us are very fond of it (otherwise we would be still in scientology). So you will see most of us express negative opinions about the churhc of Scientology and we will also warn any newcomers or "curious non-scientologists" of the possible dangers and traps associated with the church. We would likely all argue against giving any donations to the church, because we know that the overwhelming amount of that money is not used for humanitarian actions or any sort of beneficial projects.
If I had to point to any thing I'd like to personally see in this forum it would be:
- Making it a safe, sane and friendly platform for ex-scientologists of all kinds and all walks of life to share stories and exchange opinions and share our experiences.
- A platform on which non-scientologists or friends of scientologists can come and ask questions about scientology and get real answers that are not just propaganda slogans put out by the church or its front groups.
- A platform where current scientologists could come to and read the "other side of the story". So they could see that we have nothing to hide and we encourage the sharing of information.

8. Some of it is. Scientology has a lot of very specific names for its various organisations, structures, groups and so on. When we talk about our time, especially those who were Sea Org members, we will use these terms to communicate because they describe groups and structures that don't exist outside of scientology and that do not have names "in the real world".
However, most of us do not use the "metaphysical" language of the church anymore and do not follow their philosophy.
So I'm afraid my answer to question 8 cannot be a simple yes/no. It is pretty nuanced.

 

[I told you I was trouble]

Sorry, I didn't want to use my school email for privacy purposes.
I will post the questions here, it's fine if every question isn't answered:

If you are unfamiliar with the term discourse community, it is "a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about their goals. Linguist John Swales defined discourse communities as “groups that have goals and purposes, and use communication to achieve their goals.”

1.) When did you join this discussion board / For what purpose do you use this discussion board?
I joined this board just over a year ago when it took over from the original ESMB and I was a member of the previous board for around 11 years. I use it purely for the camaraderie and fun but also because I have become very fond of a lot of people here and miss them when I don't check in.

2.) What's your opinion on Scientology?
It's a con, a clever con but a total and complete con nevertheless. It's also nasty, greedy cult that changes people dramatically.

3.) Would you consider this discussion board to be a discourse community?
No.

4.) How has being apart of this discussion board affected you both positively and negatively?
Being a part of ESMB has affected me very positively because few people really understand how scientology screws people up (or tries to!) and the people here completely understand and I have never had to explain anything unless I actually wanted to ... but the humour is what has kept me checking in. I haven't been affected negatively all.

5.) Have you experienced any conflicts with the discussion board (i.e. Undercover Scientologists, "trolls")? What are your opinions on these such conflicts?
Yes ... we have had trolls but they are usually very transparent and get themselves banned pretty fast if they are seriously annoying. I view any undercover scientologists as ESMB members of the future, I welcome their presence even if they are here to try and cause trouble because they are likely to want to join as a genuine member eventually.

6.) What are your opinions on other members of the discussion board? Have they always been supportive and collaborative?
ESMB isn't a 'therapy' board though I'm sure many do find ESMB very supportive. We are just a message board. The old board had this (below) written clearly across the top and it says it all really:

Meet other exes. Share your experiences. Reunite with old friends.

7.) Are there any main goals for this forum ( i.e. to gain more supporters / to fight back against Scientology / to give people a voice)? Do you have any personal goals for this forum?
No, but most of us seem very happy to watch the cult failing (lol) and would probably contribute to its further demise if there was something we could do but (for me anyway) it would not be due to anger or bitterness but just because a con (any con) is best exposed.

8.) Is the majority of the vocabulary used on this discussion board derived from Scientology terms? Or have members created their own terms?
We discussed it many years ago and agreed to cease using silly cult jargon and most people just use standard vocabulary now.

Thanks!

 

[The Oracle]

If you are unfamiliar with the term discourse community, it is "a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about their goals. Linguist John Swales defined discourse communities as “groups that have goals and purposes, and use communication to achieve their goals.”

1.) When did you join this discussion board / For what purpose do you use this discussion board? I joined it about 1 year ago or less.
2.) What's your opinion on Scientology? Scientology is an evil cult that uses the religious cloak to disguise itself as a church while it commits crimes daily and violates members human rights. Scientology side effects may include but are not limited to: Bankruptcy and financial ruin, divorce, destroyed relationships, loss of true identity, suicidal and homicidal thoughts, delusions of grandeur, levels of confusion designed to put a member under the cults total control. Scientology disables the able.
3.) Would you consider this discussion board to be a discourse community? No. This board has people from all walks of life that left Scientology. Due to the insidious nature of how Scientology cult works, people here may have very different basic values and assumptions. Most of us here know we were duped by L Ron Hubbard and we have our own identities that vary from person to person. No goals here except to watch with baited breath, Scientology shut down and the leader, David "Slappy" Miscavige. jailed for life.
4.) How has being apart of this discussion board affected you both positively and negatively? Some really nice people here that make me laugh. I learned a lot about Scientology that they kept secret from the low toner types like me. I was never in the Sea Org and was only a public Scientologist. Mainly looked down upon by the staff and Sea Orger's, IMO. Cuz we did not "give all". We were considered selfish. The others were sacrificing their lives for no pay so that "we could all go free".
5.) Have you experienced any conflicts with the discussion board (i.e. Undercover Scientologists, "trolls")? What are your opinions on these such conflicts? An occasional disagreement but nothing too horrible. Typically we all make up and are friendly again. Except with Alanzo. That dude is one sick mother fucker. Check him out Alanzo's blog. He is a douchebag.
6.) What are your opinions on other members of the discussion board? I like everyone here who posts regularily. Have they always been supportive and collaborative? Yes, pretty much so. We have our differences about politics and if Scientology works but that is all part of the true freedom we have now that we are not under the thumb of an oppresssive cult.
7.) Are there any main goals for this forum ( i.e. to gain more supporters / to fight back against Scientology / to give people a voice)? Do you have any personal goals for this forum? Make fun of Scientology and laugh about how stupid it is. Learn all the secrets Scientology does not want me to know and share it with everyone. The Scientology secret Clear Cognition, OT III, all of the other OT levels, Super Power rundowns, all of the L's etc...
8.) Is the majority of the vocabulary used on this discussion board derived from Scientology terms? If I use the lingo - it is to poke fun at how stupid it really is. For my own healing. I hope I don't piss off anyone when I use it. Or have members created their own terms? We are not a cult so we don't have loaded language. Scientology does though. Do you speak Scientologese fluently? For example, If I were to say to you: "I got in comm with my 2-D and found out he was out ethics with the course supe after she did her L's." Can you translate? LOL

 

[Deleted member 51]

Sorry, I didn't want to use my school email for privacy purposes.
I will post the questions here, it's fine if every question isn't answered:

If you are unfamiliar with the term discourse community, it is "a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about their goals. Linguist John Swales defined discourse communities as “groups that have goals and purposes, and use communication to achieve their goals.”

1.) When did you join this discussion board / For what purpose do you use this discussion board?

When it first started. I was on the original ESMB for many years.
Mostly to stay in touch with friends and have intelligent conversations with a variety of people who think for themselves. It also provides a platform to give my firsthand accounts of the cult of Scientology’s horrific abuses.

2.) What's your opinion on Scientology?

It’s a con and a fraud that usurps years, money and talent from its members and destroys lives and families. It exists entirely for its own benefit and to benefit its leader. It’s just plain evil, a trap.

3.) Would you consider this discussion board to be a discourse community?

No

4.) How has being apart of this discussion board affected you both positively and negatively?

You mean ‘a part’, not apart, right?
Friendship, learning new things, sharing, laughing and I like the people here.
Negative- Trolls annoy me but if they don’t leave I can ignore them.

5.) Have you experienced any conflicts with the discussion board (i.e. Undercover Scientologists, "trolls")? What are your opinions on these such conflicts?

Yes. I can do without them.

6.) What are your opinions on other members of the discussion board? Have they always been supportive and collaborative?

Not applicable. They have always been how they chose to be and have their own personalities. I like them. Besides Scientology, we share thoughts on music, philosophy, pets, art, renovations and cooking. They’re great.

We get along like family. Squabble and hug and argue about politics but have meaningful conversations and relationships.

7.) Are there any main goals for this forum ( i.e. to gain more supporters / to fight back against Scientology / to give people a voice)? Do you have any personal goals for this forum?

Not beyond the forum purpose.

8.) Is the majority of the vocabulary used on this discussion board derived from Scientology terms? Or have members created their own terms?

No, but we all know the lingo so there are a lot of inside jokes making fun of it.

Thanks!

 

[Riddick]

Hello,
I'm writing a paper on the Ex Scientologist Forum as a discourse community. I will email questions mostly consisting of your opinions of being apart of this community and how it has affected you. If you are interested please email me at [email protected]!
Thanks

first of all this place isn't a discourse community per John Swales definition of a discourse community which is

"A discourse community is a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about those goals. Linguist John Swales defined discourse communities as "groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals."

The reason why I say this is because people who post here are not completely ex scientologists, some are, some are free zone or indie scientologists, it's a mixture. And some could be scientologists who try to create discord, or upset to cause somebody to leave.

This place is a mixture, nobody here has a share set of discourses. Well, only us true exscientology members share discourse which would be no clears or no OT's. Do you known it means to be Clear or OT?

John Swales definition of a discourse community is what Hubbard created known as Dianetics and then later Scientology. But, you ought to dig deeper, I like it that Swales knows about rhetoric. But he doesn't quite, just my opinion.

"John Malcolm Swales[1] (born 1938) is a linguist best known for his work on genre analysis, particularly with regard to its application to the fields of rhetoric, discourse analysis, English for Academic Purposes and, more recently, information science."

John Swales - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I listened to his video:

Speaker Series: Dr. John M. Swales

carleton.ca

 

[Riddick]

first of all this place isn't a discourse community per John Swales definition of a discourse community which is

"A discourse community is a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about those goals. Linguist John Swales defined discourse communities as "groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals."

The reason why I say this is because people who post here are not completely ex scientologists, some are, some are free zone or indie scientologists, it's a mixture. And some could be scientologists who try to create discord, or upset to cause somebody to leave.

This place is a mixture, nobody here has a share set of discourses. Well, only us true exscientology members share discourse which would be no clears or no OT's. Do you known it means to be Clear or OT?

John Swales definition of a discourse community is what Hubbard created known as Dianetics and then later Scientology. But, you ought to dig deeper, I like it that Swales knows about rhetoric. But he doesn't quite, just my opinion.

"John Malcolm Swales[1] (born 1938) is a linguist best known for his work on genre analysis, particularly with regard to its application to the fields of rhetoric, discourse analysis, English for Academic Purposes and, more recently, information science."

John Swales - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I listened to his video:

Speaker Series: Dr. John M. Swales

carleton.ca

Now, I want to tell you about what Hubbard created, and it is this:

"A discourse community is a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about those goals. Linguist John Swales defined discourse communities as "groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals."

The whole purpose of dianetics and scientology is to have somebody go Clear and then OT, that is the discourse community, the goal, the purpose. The basic valves and assumptions are one can go clear or OT by following Hubbard's path or ideas or communications. The only communication between people achieving these goals was not by discourse or debate.

So what I am trying to say is that dianetics and scientology is not a discourse community.

Chances are 10 to 1 you don't understand what I am saying, that's ok.

 

[marra]

Hello,
I'm writing a paper on the Ex Scientologist Forum as a discourse community. I will email questions mostly consisting of your opinions of being apart of this community and how it has affected you. If you are interested please email me at [email protected]!
Thanks

Since everyone who has answered so far has stated that this is not a discourse community doesn't this make your paper irrelevant?

 

[TheSneakster]

So what I am trying to say is that dianetics and scientology is not a discourse community.

Chances are 10 to 1 you don't understand what I am saying, that's ok.

OK, um.... the Original Post isn't asking about Dianetics and Scientology as discourse community. It is asking about this "Ex-Scientology Forum" as such, so your response to him is (a) off-point and (b) a personal insult. Way to go, man.

 

[Riddick]

OK, um.... the Original Post isn't asking about Dianetics and Scientology as discourse community. It is asking about this "Ex-Scientology Forum" as such, so your response to him is (a) off-point and (b) a personal insult. Way to go, man.

did you read my post before?


first of all this place isn't a discourse community per John Swales definition of a discourse community which is

"A discourse community is a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about those goals. Linguist John Swales defined discourse communities as "groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals."

The reason why I say this is because people who post here are not completely ex scientologists, some are, some are free zone or indie scientologists, it's a mixture. And some could be scientologists who try to create discord, or upset to cause somebody to leave.

This place is a mixture, nobody here has a share set of discourses. Well, only us true exscientology members share discourse which would be no clears or no OT's. Do you known it means to be Clear or OT?

John Swales definition of a discourse community is what Hubbard created known as Dianetics and then later Scientology. But, you ought to dig deeper, I like it that Swales knows about rhetoric. But he doesn't quite, just my opinion.

"John Malcolm Swales[1] (born 1938) is a linguist best known for his work on genre analysis, particularly with regard to its application to the fields of rhetoric, discourse analysis, English for Academic Purposes and, more recently, information science."

 

[ScienceNotScientology]

Be we ex-scn or freezone or indi we all agreed that "corporate scientology" sucks, is abusive, harmful, etc. we talk about that ad nauseam and are thus (per the various social science definitions of such) a discourse community. Maybe all our discourse would be considered "entheta" from their viewpoint but as the GenZ's say "sometimes it be like that ..." maybe it's simply there's nothing good to say about the cult they don't brag a bazzillion times over about themselves already.

PS. to the OG poster I would've gone with Foucault, but what do I know I'm just an Ex Sea Org member turned techie social scientist who's studied under Bruno Latour

 

[La La Lou Lou]

1) I joined the original site in about 2008. Joined this one when it started.

2) I do think that a serious investigation into the history and crimes of this cult are overdue. I would like to see it closed down, internationally. Scientology is a cult pretending to give total freedom to it's members while entrapping them in harsh routines and taking their money and taking decades away from people without any signs of freedom.

3) Discourse group? I agree with most of what's been said, except that I think we do share values and goals to at least the degree that we all think the cherch is crap and destructive as it is, now some think it could be made nice again and some think it should be dismantled immediately and the head of it should be tried for tax crimes, and for being a nasty person, possibly guilty of manslaughter or murder.

I do think that everyone here would cheer if the head man was taken away in a van in handcuffs.

Some people here may say that it was all nice and fluffy until something changed. They will disagree with what the change was, but from first hand accounts shared here and on the original site, it was always a nasty shouty aggressive cult which sometimes had soft moments.

Some people think Miss Carriage is guilty of steeling the cult from it's owner, many people think that circumstances of the founder's death were dodgy, many are concerned about the death of members of the cult, including the founder's own son Quentin, many of us are concerned about a group of people who are incarcerated at head quarters, and who are so brainwashed that if asked how they were they would say they happy to be working in their old age on menial tasks and being treated like slaves.

4) Sharing my experiences has been very good for me, especially knowing that others might be put off from joining or encouraged to leave after reading something I shared. On the negative side I suppose that feeling personally attacked for having certain opinions does feel pretty bad.

5) There are, perhaps a few trollish posters, here who are working on the cherch's direct orders, trying to destroy the evil that is the ESMB Redux, if so they're pretty crap at what they do.

6) my opinion about the other posters, they are all people who experienced different aspects of the destructive nature of the cult and there are some I'd love to meet and have a long chat with and others I wouldn't travel very far to meet but certainly would chat if I met them in a cafe.

7) The main goal would be to expose the naughty things the cult does. My personal goal is to feel at home, comfortable to talk about the bad old times without having to explain to people that I am sane but I did stay in an abusive cult for decades.

8) No the majority of the vocabulary here is not cultish.

Hope that answers your questions.

 

[Enthetan]

Considering the original poster has not replied since last year, he might not be seeing this, but it makes a nice thread to point other researchers too.

 

[Chuck J.]

....

1.) When did you join this discussion board / For what purpose do you use this discussion board?
I joined ESMB, the first version of this one (ESMBR) in 2011(?) certainly by 2012. At the time, I wanted to see if could find info about how to get my money back from the $cientology cult which it had stolen from me. And also hopefully about how to recover from the complete mindfuck / financial mugging / life de-railing that I had just barely survived. And I mean that literally. I was very close to being a dead victim of the $cn. cult.

2.) What's your opinion on Scientology?
The $cientology cult is a toxic, inhumane, transnational, money-laundering, human-trafficking, many tentacled, criminal organization masquerading under "religious cloaking" as a religion. By this I mean the corporate management and organizational structure. On the other hand when it started (1950's) it may have been somewhat beneficial, by that I mean the information, not the organization or management. Not much has changed except the $cn. cult is even more toxic.

3.) Would you consider this discussion board to be a discourse community?
I guess, sure. Not that anyone here is on the same page as anyone else. I think the only thing many here have in common is that we survived and speak out about the cult and it's abuses, beyond that not much.

4.) How has being apart of this discussion board affected you both positively and negatively?
It took me eleven months of reading ESMB to realize I didn't need it anymore and that I was just hanging around because I liked posting here and chatting with people. Everyone is on their own time table of recovery. Being on ESMB definitely speeded-up my recovery. (I could say much more about this but this will suffice.)

5.) Have you experienced any conflicts with the discussion board (i.e. Undercover Scientologists, "trolls")? What are your opinions on these such conflicts?
I'm amused by them when they occur, which as far as I know is rarely.

6.) What are your opinions on other members of the discussion board? Have they always been supportive and collaborative?
98 and 44 / 100th's % positive. That's a $cientology joke.

7.) Are there any main goals for this forum ( i.e. to gain more supporters / to fight back against Scientology / to give people a voice)? Do you have any personal goals for this forum?
First part of that question: I don't know. Second part: I like to see new users. People recovering from the $cientology mindfuck.

8.) Is the majority of the vocabulary used on this discussion board derived from Scientology terms? Or have members created their own terms?
I think plenty of $cientology jargon is used (there is a lot), because it's a convenient shorthand which people here understand from their shared experience. Although many people, such as myself pointedly do not use it except when necessary.

 

[HelluvaHoax!]

.

Since everyone who has answered so far has stated that this is not a discourse community doesn't this make your paper irrelevant?

.
I am still trying to figure out what the difference is between a "discourse community" and a "discussion group" or a "discussion board" or a "message board".

I read the definition of "discourse community" several times and was scratching my head wondering why Swales felt his pedantic abstraction was needed in the first place.

.
.

 

[Chuck J.]

.



.
I am still trying to figure out what the difference is between a "discourse community" and a "discussion group" or a "discussion board" or a "message board".

I read the definition of "discourse community" several times and was scratching my head wondering why Swales felt his pedantic abstraction was needed in the first place.

.
.

Pedantic's beez pedantic, yo !
Gives it an aroma of academia, official-like, white lab coats and test tubes.