Path: rambo.bobo.net!xs4all!xs4all!newsgate.cistron.nl!het.net!news-feed.inet.tele.dk!bofh.vszbr.cz!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.stanford.edu!newsfeed.concentric.net!global-news-master From: inFormer@informer.org (Rev Dennis Erlich) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Re: An Open Letter to Bob & Stacy, from Kim Baker Date: 04 Feb 1999 08:09:02 PST Organization: inFormer Ministry [a 501(c)3 non-profit, religious/educational organization] "... in service of cult victims and their families." Lines: 46 Message-ID: <36bcc60b.4258605@news.concentric.net> References: Reply-To: inFormer@informer.org NNTP-Posting-Host: ts035d13.lax-ca.concentric.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.5/32.451 X-No-Archive: yes Xref: rambo.bobo.net alt.religion.scientology:174278 Kim Baker >I had a brief glimpse into the kind of stressful >situation that Bob and Stacy and Vaughn and others >live under. All of them chose it, knowing what >they were going into, so the stress of being >under surveillance all the time, etc, is something >to take into account before taking on something like >this, at that level. Bob indicated to me on irc yesterday that he thinks the cult/ex-cult experience is not understood by people on ars. He was berating those who read and post to ars for their inability to empathize with us. I have not found this to be the case. Of course I have worked hard to win over a substantial number of critics who thought I was some kind of hysteric. Probably some still do. But I think it is something different they don't understand. And I am trying my best to show them what they need to see in order to promote the growth of that understanding. >I have always asked people to cut you some slack, >in the past, because I *know* what you are up against. >I *know*. To me, it is what the battle does to one that folks don't understand, not the cult experience itself. Months spent standing in front of a tank that wants to roll over you are not conducive to anyone's mental stability. It's almost more intense in some ways than being in the cult. If there is a lack of understanding, it is up to us to use our experiences to fill that gap. If there is a lack of empathy, it is up to us to behave more like the kind of people about whom others find it easy to care. If there is a bias against us, it is our duty to dispell it by showing others we are not deserving of their scorn. The scienokult cannot brook criticism and they always react by trashing the critic, no matter how reasoned the plea. I'm sorry to have to point it out, but that is not entirely different from what is going on here. Rev Dennis Erlich * * the inFormer * *