New and Non-Scientologists

Once a person embarks on a journey to improve his life (and those of his fellows) by studying Scientology, he sees the world differently than he did before. He sees the problems of the world in a different light. And as time progresses, he will likely come to see that he is not his body, and that his "life" as a being encompasses not just his current lifetime, but many before and many to come.

Since it happens gradually, he may not realize just how differently he sees things. But it should become apparent as he continues to study Scientology yet associate with people around him who are not Scientologists. Our student/PC may come to see himself as "superior" to his fellows in the non-Scientologist world. This isn't unreasonable, since he's probably gained abilities and insights they don't have.

This feeling of "superiority" only really becomes a problem if he begins to treat his fellows poorly. Their situation, like his, has arisen over millions of lifetimes. It may take some work to get them up to the point where they are even able to consider there is more to know, more to see, more to experience. Meanwhile, they rightfully require his respect, compassion, and in short, his granting of beingness.

Failure to grant them beingness make him an enemy of his fellows. Whatever his position on the Bridge, it behooves him to grant beingness to his fellow humans, no matter how far down the scale of awarness they exist.

This is equally true between staff and public, between execs and staff, between Sea Org and non-Sea Org personnel, and between OTs and preclears. Superiority is not a license to be cruel and abusive. It is an opportunity to show others that one can grant beingness, regardless of how much distance exists between viewpoints.

Wogs

I got called on the carpet the other day for using the word "wog" in a comment to a post on someone else's blog. In fact, the moderator of that blog edited out my use of the term.

I covered my use of this term briefly in my post Responsibilities of Leaders, but I expand on it here.

The origin of the term wog is unclear. In some circles, it is purported to be short for "Worthy Oriental Gentleman". But this, too, is disputed.

"Wog" came to be a pejorative used primarily by the British to describe conquered or subjugated Asians, most particularly those of India when it was ruled by the British. In the tech dictionary, the two definitions are both from the Briefing Course, and mark it as a derogatory term. In its everyday, slang use among Scientologists, it simply came to mean non-Scientologists, sometimes meant derogatorally, sometimes not, depending on context.

A few rabble-rousers in the Independent field have made noise about the use of this term, and gotten some not-quite-bright others to go along with them. We have a similar example of this among upper and middle class caucasians arguing against Native American names being used in connection with sports teams (example: the Atlanta Braves). Native Americans seem curiously silent on this issue.

This is an example of "political correctness". You've probably heard the term. It is an attempt by psychs to control thought by controlling speech.

"Political correctness" has several cousins. One is "propaganda by redefinition of words". The George Orwell book 1984 calls this "Newspeak". In the real world, an example is the Russian language. It is peppered with terms redefined for propaganda purposes. (I know this because I studied Russian in college. Not recommended.) There is a brilliant LRH reference on the subject, HCOPL 5 October 1971 PR Series 12 Propaganda By Redefinition Of Words. A study of this issue is highly recommended. Among other things, it details how psychology came to intertwine itself with German philosophers and was used as a tool to encourage Germany to war on its neighbors.

Political correctness was picked up by the communist party and has been used for decades as a way to "soften up" the West in preparation for the eventual takeover of communism.

Here's another example: Did you know that some newer editions of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn have the word "nigger" edited out of them? Despite the fact that this was part of the actual language in common use at the time these books were written. Perhaps if we never see this word in these books, we'll imagine that their protagonists weren't uneducated poor children of the South in the 1800s. Apparently, rewriting (lying or alter-ising) history is always better than confronting what actually happened.

In the name of political correctness, "garbage man" is replaced by "sanitation engineer". (I've been a garbage man. I didn't mind being called one. I picked up people's garbage, after all.) "Retarded" is replaced by "developmentally disadvantaged". "Christmas" is replaced by "Winter Holiday". While I wasn't looking, "oriential" somehow became offensive, and must now be replaced by "asian", Lord knows why.

Perhaps we should replace "short" with "vertically challenged". After all, David Miscavige's "self-esteem" (another psych term) is something I know we're all concerned about.

(By the way, I'm not "follically challenged". I'm "balding". Happens to some guys when they get older. Good thing I'm not a body.)

Of course, there's no way to win on this; after a new term is accepted as a replacement, it too becomes offensive and must be replaced.

One of psychology's assertions with regard to political correctness is that people can be permanently damaged by the mere utterance of words by others. Of course, as Scientologists, we know this to be false, unless the words are accompanied by pain and unconsciousness. (Reference: Dianetics The Modern Science Of Mental Health.)

When words become objects or things to a person, realize you're dealing with someone exceptionally low on the Tone Scale. (I've word cleared people like this; it's not fun.)

Then there are those, like the person who complained about my use of the word "wog", whose sole purpose (by survey of his other writings) is simply to enturbulate. If misplaced (and false) righteous indignation allows him to get away with his enturbulating, that's the tactic he will use.

Perhaps we should resolve not to let agents provocateurs and psychologists dictate our actions.

Words only have the power you give them.