In the past I have written on empathic witnessing in
After The Cult Part 1 Scientology Acceptance And Denial
That discussed how victims of abuse including cultic abuse desperately need people to listen to them and acknowledge their trauma, pain loss and humanity with compassion, humility and empathy.
If a person who has experienced abuse doesn't receive empathic witnessing they may feel stupid, worthless, unworthy of love or even life itself. They may feel a negative impact because their abuser treated them as less than fully human and deserving basic human decency in their treatment and to deny the victim the legitimacy of their experiences also can deny their status as a human being.
The abuser treated them as less than human and others can , even unintentionally, mirror this by denying the abuse, or the harm it called or simply acting like the victim or their claims are unimportant.
To the victim this can be a kind of tacit consent to the abuse and an endorsement of the abuser.
I as a critic of Scientology often interact with others including critics, ex members, independent Scientologists and others. This at times involves us sharing our opinions. Sometimes we don't have identical opinions and can disagree.
People have every right to hold different views and to disagree. I try to let people know I am not attacking them personally and am not looking to get into feuds. I understand some people won't have the same opinion I do on many ideas. I believe for example that Ron Hubbard extensively plagiarized from the occult including Crowley and likely the book OAHSPE and hypnotism. I believe he based much of auditing and training in Scientology on this. I understand some people including some passionate critics don't believe in hypnotism at all. That's okay. It doesn't mean they are attacking me or evil or stupid. Just because as an example I spent hundreds of hours studying hypnosis and finding evidence in Hubbard's doctrine and materials on hypnosis to establish and show connections doesn't mean I have to attack or hate others. My certainty or efforts to prove something should not equal an adversarial relationship with other people.
But the idea of empathic witnessing does present an affirmative obligation. It gives me something I feel morally obligated to do. I don't just let people act like the abuse and harm in Scientology didn't occur or matter. Sadly within the critic community some harmful attitudes exist. One is that Scientology technology actually helps the "right people" or people that did it correctly or that a person is responsible for everything that happens to them and needs to just toughen up and face their own responsibility. Another is that Scientologists choose to stay, so it can't be all bad. People stay in many abusive relationships for a variety of reasons. Those relationships can be a living hell worse than death, so that argument holds no water.
So, whenever people assert the benefits of Scientology or the idea that it must be a balance between good and bad parts, I see just accepting that as accepting and condoning or denying the abuse people suffer and the degradation and dehumanization they suffered too.
Even if they are confused or in denial and asserting they weren't abused.
Being ambivalent or silent about my awareness of the many, many harmful elements in Scientology to be polite would actually be in my opinion being unbearably cruel and inhuman. It's akin to racism denial or Holocaust denial. It denies the very humanity of the victims.
I can't in good conscience fathom being silent about the harm Scientology causes and its fraudulent and harmful nature and the utter lack of benefits it provides. It in my opinion has the empty promises of an abuser with no ability to deliver the wisdom or truth or results it promises. That's very important to acknowledging the genuine value of the victim of Scientology and the lack of decency of the abuse, deception, exploitation and harm Scientology causes.
So when I see most of the disagreements and different opinions between critics I usually am not overly concerned. If one person thinks Dianetics is a bigger fraud than Scientology or that one Hubbard book was more poorly written than another I am not going to lose sleep over any of that. It's not even on my radar.
Now there currently is a dispute between Marty Rathbun and Tony Ortega, at least in Marty's mind, I think.
Tony Ortega has had some stories on his blog the Underground Bunker on Marty and his wife and her lawsuit against Scientology. I'm not going to get deep into that but you can read all about it at the Underground Bunker and on Marty's own blog if you like.
I hope Marty and his wife can be free from any upset or harm from Scientology and move forward in their lives. It's not my place to decide how they should live their lives, as a general rule.
I have no opposition to Tony Ortega having his blog and reporting either, as a general rule. I don't agree with Tony Ortega on everything and it's no secret. As an example I strongly prefer if the cult isn't called a church EVER as the term is used to fool people by the cult. In my opinion Scientology isn't a religion and tries to use a fraud of claiming to be a religion to gain certain protections. So I accept that Tony Ortega chooses to use the term church even though I prefer cult. It's a part of life. I am not going to have it destroy my relationship with anyone at the Underground Bunker. I'm not going to constantly bring it up either.
The one thing I have ever strongly objected to regarding Marty Rathbun is that some people are so impressed by him or his accomplishments that they grant him an exalted status as a guru. It's not many but it is troubling. I have urged people to consider his claims on their own merits and not based on his perceived authority.
In this feud of sorts sides have been chosen and teams assembled and frankly it's just a mess. Most of us have never met Marty Rathbun or Tony Ortega and really would be better off just staying out of it. We don't have a good reason to stick our noses in this.
Marty Rathbun doesn't owe me any explanations or participation in any stories or opposing the Scientology cult in court or anything really. Cause he don't. And unless YOU personally have a relationship of some kind with him he doesn't owe you anything either.
People can project their feelings onto others and live vicariously through them, but it's frankly foolish. I know sports fans who get pissed if a football team doesn't win a game or make the playoffs or win the Super bowl.
But in the NFL only twelve teams out of thirty two or so make the playoffs and only one wins the Super bowl. So you are setting yourself up for disappointment over accomplishments you in no way contributed to if they aren't achieved by doing this. It's absurd.
I know folks who bitterly condemn players if the team fails to reach a threshold of achievement, whether that's making the playoffs or winning a playoff game or winning the Super bowl. They will act like a man is a hero and wonderful person if he can get a dozen touchdowns or quarterback sacks. If he later is convicted of rape or videotaped beating a woman unconscious in a hotel strangely for some fans their impression of a player as a hero remains unshakable. It's odd and frankly irrational.
Similarly for Marty Rathbun some people see him as a larger than life hero or a despicable villain without really having enough information to arrive at their conclusion logically. It's an emotional response to projection or assumptions, not a well informed opinion.
Obviously if you actually have a relationship with Marty or Tony that's a different matter. I know some folks have gotten to know each of these guys and interacted with them extensively and so have real relationships with them which are not the same as judging a celebrity from long distance.
The only things about Marty I caution people about are accepting him as a guru figure or authority and accepting any behavior from him that's Hubbard like. If he says something that sounds just like Hubbard it's okay to dig up a Hubbard quote and put it up next to Marty's and to say what is objectionable about Hubbard and his doctrine.
If Marty wants to be like Hubbard he is free to - but it can be pointed out AND objected to. I probably won't bother with collecting Marty Rathbun quotes and listing Marty Rathbun line then similar Hubbard line on and on to show his Hubbard like statements. For some exes and critics such a collection would be damning.
I am not interested in damning Marty, he never crossed me, he hasn't proven himself evil to me and I hope he isn't harassed by Scientology or anyone else anymore.
If he ever attacks someone and is unrelenting then such a tactic would be effective at undermining his credibility and support by many critics, but if he is not attacking anyone then there's no good reason to bother him.
I certainly have no reason to even dream of attacking Tony Ortega incidentally either.
They are two grown men, I am not going to get caught up in cheering for or against either of them in their relationship. That's just silly.
I can't make other people have my philosophy or approach to life. I just want you to consider that if you have a reason to hate either of these guys how good a reason is it ?
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