All of them, those in power, and those who want the power, would pamper us, if we agreed to overlook their crookedness by wilfully restricting our activities.
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Dr. David S. Touretzky (also Dave Touretzky)Research professor at
Carnegie Mellon
University.
Internet free speech activist. Member of Volunteer Pilots Association. «Dr. David S. Touretzky is a
research
professor in the Computer Science Department
and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition
at
Carnegie Mellon University. He received a BA
in
Computer Science at
Rutgers University in 1978, and earned a Master's
degree and a
Ph.D. (1984) in Computer Science at Carnegie
Mellon University. Dr. Touretzky has worked as an
Internet activist in favor of
freedom of speech, especially what he perceives
as abuse of the legal system by government and private
authorities. He is a notable critic of
Scientology.» — Wikipedia (as of October 7th,
2006) «No wonder Scientology hates the Internet.»
— David S. Touretzky
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The Secret Library of Scientology
A library for the critical study of Scientology
— what
L. Ron Hubbard would
not
want you to read!
The Secrets of Scientology
The Church of
Scientology is a rich and vengeful religious cult,
or as one critic puts it, "a cross between the Moonies
and the Mafia." But it would be a mistake to dismiss
its underlying technology as harmless or ineffective.
Scientologists know a great deal about thought control,
social control, rhetorical judo (defeat by misdirection,
deft use of logical fallacies) and high pressure sales,
though as victims of their own technology, they wouldn't
characterize it that way.
Despite its extensive advertising campaign, including half-hour TV infomercials for Dianetics, the Church has been careful to maintain a veil of mystery about its teachings, in part by outlawing any meaningful discussion or analysis of them. (See the policy bulletin prohibiting verbal tech.) To learn the inner secrets of the cult requires years of strict obedience and large monetary donations. In return, Scientology promises its adherents "total freedom". The Internet, through sites like this one, is going to make good on that promise. This web site is dedicated to exposing the various technical tricks behind Scientology, until all its secrets have been laid before the public at no charge. Stop-narconon.org: Protecting the Vulnerable from Narconon/Scientology
Narconon
lies about its ties to the Church of Scientology,
while
funneling money to the International Association
of Scientologists and other Scientology groups, and
receiving money from them as well.
Within Scientology, Narconon is
known as "the bridge to The Bridge": a recruiting tool
to lure in new members.
Studytech.org: "Scientology's Study Technology"
The real danger of Study Tech is that it was
designed for indoctrination, not education. While it
may be good at producing obedient Scientologists, it
is completely at odds with promoting the ability to
think independently. It quite deliberately aims to
reduce a student's ability to think critically.
Students are taught to distrust their own
intelligence and background knowledge, passively and
uncritically accepting whatever they are being told.
This can only deprive students of a skill vital in
an age saturated with conflicting messages, where
critical thinking is essential to making sense of
the world. Study Tech's doctrinaire and
authoritarian approach to teaching is hostile to,
and deserves no place in, secular educational
institutions.
Jeremy Perkins: A Scientology Family Tragedy
On March 13, 2003, Jeremy Perkins, a 28 year old untreated
schizophrenic,
stabbed his mother Elli 77 times. She bled to death
on her bedroom floor. Jeremy is currently being held
at Rochester Psychiatric Center, having been found not
responsible for Elli's murder by reason of mental disease
or defect.
Perkins, his mother and father, his sister, and her husband are all members of the Church of Scientology, a group that believes modern psychiatric medicine derives from an ancient alien civilization's plot to drug and enslave humanity. Scientologists like Tom Cruise vehemently and publicly oppose the pharmacological treatment of mental illness. Unfortunately, Scientology's own brand of therapy, called "auditing", is worthless. The Lisa McPherson Clause: Scientology Moving to Secure Its 'Right' to Kill Again
Rather than assure its members that it would never repeat
the horrors of what happened to Lisa McPherson, what
Scientology is saying in this release form is:
"We were not wrong to hold Lisa
against her will and deprive her of medical attention
and leave her to die. We were never wrong. And
to assure you that we weren't, we're going to do the
same thing again...exactly the same way... possibly
to YOU! Here: sign this. And please note that after
signing this, you cannot hold us accountable or sue
us if we do decide to do this to you."
Neuroscience Concepts in a New-Age Religion: Scientology's Model of the Mind
In OT III the adherent learns
that he has been the victim of a brainwashing scheme
perpetrated by Xenu, the galactic ruler 75 million years
ago, with the help of psychiatrists. He, as a
thetan, is not the sole occupant of his body. Other
thetans who are too weak or confused to control bodies
of their own are attached to his body, and their reactive
minds are in contact with his own, clouding his thoughts
and contributing mental mass that registers on the E-meter.
Why Scientology hates the Internet
Scientology hates the Internet because it's full of
"copyright terrorists" —
Helena Kobrin's ridiculous phrase.
Scientology hates the Internet because Wikipedia has developed into a giant glowing mass of entheta, with content that is highly ranked in search engines and mirrored at several other sites. [...]
Scientists assume reality has an independent existence.
The term "science" refers to our UNDERSTANDING of reality,
based on the best available evidence. Our understanding
changes as new evidence is developed. But the
rules of science are that one must look at the evidence
with a skeptical eye, always considering alternative
explanations, and one must seek independent, EXPERIMENTAL
CONFIRMATION of all claims. You can't just sit
back and "figure things out in your head", or wait for
"God's revealed wisdom" to pop into it.
I'm a Research Professor in the
Computer Science Department
and the Center for
the Neural Basis of Cognition at
Carnegie Mellon University.
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Wikinews (February 2008): "David S. Touretzky discusses
Scientology, Anonymous and Tom Cruise" by Nicholas
Turnbull
David S. Touretzky, prominent free speech
activist and critic of Scientology, has given
his opinions on the recent Internet backlash
against the
Church of Scientology in an interview with
Wikinews reporter
Nicholas Turnbull today. The recent conflict
on the Internet between critics of Scientology
and the Church has been spurred on in
declarations by a nebulous Internet entity using
the name Anonymous that the Church of
Scientology "will be destroyed". Anonymous
has directed recent protests at Scientology
centres across the world, which have attracted
significant numbers of individuals supporting
the cause. In recent e-mail correspondence with
Wikinews, a representative of the Church
of Scientology declared that the Church
considers the activities of Anonymous to be
illegal, and that Anonymous "will be handled and
stopped". [...]
MSNBC (July 2007): "Countdown with Keith Olbermann"
[...]
After I questioned RFW’s misrepresentation of
the detoxification piece and Touretzky’s
involvement on this newspaper’s blog, RFW
flipped out, posting an item on its own website
declaring that they’ve gotten under my skin and
arguing that I must have some affinity for
Touretzky since his agenda matches mine.
“Methinks you doth protest too much DeSio,”
wrote RFW. “Or do you find Touretzky’s racist
comments so normal, and your defense of his
bigoted statements so necessary to support your
own deep hatred, that, as claimed, ‘it was not
even worth bringing up?’” [...]
New York Press (May 30, 2007): "The rundown on
Scientology's Purification Rundown'" by John DeSio
[...]
Touretzky’s criticism of the Church of
Scientology has placed him squarely on the
Church’s enemies list. He maintains a website,
Stop Narconon, that documents media mentions of
the drug treatment program. Narconon is
supported by numerous prominent Scientologists.
Last week, John Travolta and his wife, fellow
Scientologist and actress Kelly Preston, held a
fundraiser for Narconon’s affiliate in Hawaii.
Actress and Scientologist Kirstie Alley is a
public spokesperson for the program, and Cruise
has also stated his support in the past. [...]
MSNBC (Apr. 2006): "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" Transcript of this interview. The Humanist (Sep. 2004): "Is Scientology in your schools?" by Robin Jacobs
Dave Touretzky, a research professor in the Computer
Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University,
and an online free speech advocate who has had
several run-ins with the Church of Scientology for
his website critiques at www.stopnarconon. org,
recently elaborated on this for the Humanist:
San Francisco Chronicle (June 2004): "Scientology link to public schools" by Nanette Asimov
[...]
Recently, a San Francisco teacher complained to the
district that Narconon was a Scientology front
group. The teacher declined to be identified or
quoted, citing Scientology's history of confronting
critics. The teacher has teamed with David Touretzky,
a computer science research professor at Carnegie
Mellon University in Pittsburgh and a free-speech
advocate who runs an
anti-Narconon Web site that includes some
controversial material.
Together, they have pushed school officials to oust Narconon through a section on Touretzky's Web site called "Narconon/Scientology Infiltration of the San Francisco Unified School District." [...]
Imagine a church so dangerous,
you must sign a release form before you can receive
its "spiritual assistance." This assistance might
involve holding you against your will for an indefinite
period, isolating you from friends and family, and denying
you access to appropriate medical care. You will of
course be billed for this treatment - assuming you survive
it. If not, the release form absolves your caretakers
of all responsibility for your suffering and death.
Welcome to the Church of Scientology. [...]
Wired (March 2001): "A Thorn in Hollywood's Side" by Declan McCullagh
Dave Touretzky might seem like an unlikely champion
of free expression.
The 41-year-old researcher at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science in Pittsburgh spends his evenings investigating how the brains of rats record and process location information. "My primary research interest is understanding how space is represented in the rodent brain," says Touretzky, who regularly works until 2 a.m. What that translates into is computer simulations, occasional surgery on hapless members of the species rattus norvegicus, and programming a squat metal robot to wander the fifth floor lobby of Wean Hall. But Touretzky is also a fierce advocate of the First Amendment and the Internet, and has spent much of the last decade battling to protect the ability of students, programmers and critics to speak freely online. [...] Salon (September 2000): "A bug in the legal code?" by Damien Cave
Nearly four weeks after Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled in
favor of the movie industry,
ordering a hacker Web site not to post or link
to DeCSS, copies of the DVD-decrytping code abound.
There are offshore DeCSS posters and anonymous types running DeCSS mirror sites with such catchy names as the do not sue me page. And even the castigated 2600 Hacker Quarterly has gotten around the no-linking decision by simply removing the HTML and carrying a text list of more than 200 URLs you can cut and paste into a browser to reach a site that does post DeCSS. The total delay bought with nine months of litigation: about two seconds. [...] Wikipedia (Jan. 24, 2007): David S. Touretzky
David S. Touretzky is a
research
professor in the Computer Science Department and
the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at
Carnegie Mellon University. He received a BA in
Computer Science at
Rutgers University in
1978, and earned a Master's degree and a
Ph.D. (1984)
in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Touretzky
has worked as an
Internet activist in favor of
freedom of speech, especially what he perceives
as abuse of the legal system by government and private
authorities. He is a notable critic of
Scientology.
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