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[smjjames]

That's right down the 'mansplaining' rabbit hole.....

[redwallzyl]

My perception at my university has been that we have more of a problem with militant evangelists than with militant victimists, but then again I live off campus and avoid both like the plague. I have yet to see a trigger warning, but I don't think classes like "abstract algebra" or "software engineering in C++" lend themselves to it.

I remember in our plaza there was an evangelist who was a bit of a outspoken fire-and-brimstone type.  Accusing people of sin and that they're going to hell and such.  I found him amusing for the most part.

I saw a guy holding a religious sign of some kind I cant remember what I said, probably something about god or Jesus, but while I was walking past I heard him repeatedly shout communism very loudly. also I have seen some random vegans passing out anti meat stuff sometimes. So I take people posting dire warnings about how extremists are taking over with a grain of salt.

[Trekkin]

Great advice there. (Although there was a nice cartoon showing an angry woman complaining about the lack of women in STEM and how she was signing up to Gender Studies to help solve the problem. If half the gender studies people actually studied STEM then there would be less of a problem. They always want some woman, just not them to be the ones).

This is endemic to all social movements; there is never a shortage of people willing to be fêted for their courage in raising awareness of other people's horrible suffering, and they will always find an audience among the social media zombies desperately searching for something they can be self-righteous about without having to do anything. They work in symbiosis: the perpetual protesters get to scream "look how bad this is! Like, comment, and subscribe! And donate!" , the zombie hordes get to feel good for doing nothing more than agreeing with them, and everyone gets to keep doing this forever because nobody ever actually suggests anything actionable. Meanwhile, the people actually working on concrete changes are too busy making them to chant slogans every weekend. It's kind of like how Susan G. Komen got to be the premier vendor of cancer-related pink things not by actually funding cancer research but instead by plowing most of their revenue into suing their competitors into the ground.

I've found that my demographic privilege makes me a useful litmus test in discriminating between the two. I simply ask how I can help; if the answer is anything other than "chant our slogans and give us your money", they've got my attention.

[Baffler]

My campus has both present, but there's a very clear distinction in treatment. The only really conservative organizations on campus are the religious groups, and the university has pretty effectively browbeaten them out of any activism with threats to force them off-campus. So they focus nearly exclusively on charitable works, private events for their members, and MAYBE handing out Gideon Bibles (or the Bhagavad-Gita in one case.)

Lefties, then, pretty much have the run of the place, but there's so much infighting that very little ever gets done. The Palestinian advocacy group has essentially become the Arab identity group and doesn't want to deal with anybody. The black student orgs cooperate amongst themselves but they're almost completely apolitical (preferring instead to focus on making connections in the corporate world to set up their members with internships, invite speakers, and whatnot; and to throw the occasional party) and deeply resent other groups for essentially feeling entitled to their support because they're black and therefore oppressed and therefore "allies." The LGBT groups are so crippled by infighting that the University has cut funding from them to let them work through all the splintering and rapidfire leadership changes, and their internal toxicity means other organizations are unwilling to work with them, rightly fearing they'll bring it along. It's similar stories with all the rest of them.

TBH it's super funny that the stereotypically intolerant right is able to organize and cooperate smoothly with organizations centered around different ideologies, denominations, or even religions; while the tolerant left is neatly segregated by their mutual animosity.

[smjjames]

My campus has both present, but there's a very clear distinction in treatment. The only really conservative organizations on campus are the religious groups, and the university has pretty effectively browbeaten them out of any activism with threats to force them off-campus. So they focus nearly exclusively on charitable works, private events for their members, and MAYBE handing out Gideon Bibles (or the Bhagavad-Gita in one case.)

Lefties, then, pretty much have the run of the place, but there's so much infighting that very little ever gets done. The Palestinian advocacy group has essentially become the Arab identity group and doesn't want to deal with anybody. The black student orgs cooperate amongst themselves but they're almost completely apolitical (preferring instead to focus on making connections in the corporate world to set up their members with internships, invite speakers, and whatnot; and to throw the occasional party) and deeply resent other groups for essentially feeling entitled to their support because they're black and therefore oppressed and therefore "allies." The LGBT groups are so crippled by infighting that the University has cut funding from them to let them work through all the splintering and rapidfire leadership changes, and their internal toxicity means other organizations are unwilling to work with them, rightly fearing they'll bring it along. It's similar stories with all the rest of them.

TBH it's super funny that the stereotypically intolerant right is able to organize and cooperate smoothly with organizations centered around different ideologies, denominations, or even religions; while the tolerant left is neatly segregated by their mutual animosity.

Yeah, the typical saying is that "Republicans fall in line, Democrats fall apart" or something. I forget the part for Democrats atm, but it's generally the opposite of Republicans, something to do with the general liberal streak of doing their own thing (which is in part, why Occupy Wall Street fell apart eventually) and conservatives following the leader.

Though obviously, that sort of stereotype doesn't hold 100%, the Democrats can definetly unite around a common cause/issue and we've all seen the divisions in the Republicans.

[scriver]

Great advice there. (Although there was a nice cartoon showing an angry woman complaining about the lack of women in STEM and how she was signing up to Gender Studies to help solve the problem. If half the gender studies people actually studied STEM then there would be less of a problem. They always want some woman, just not them to be the ones).

This is endemic to all social movements; there is never a shortage of people willing to be fêted for their courage in raising awareness of other people's horrible suffering, and they will always find an audience among the social media zombies desperately searching for something they can be self-righteous about without having to do anything. They work in symbiosis: the perpetual protesters get to scream "look how bad this is! Like, comment, and subscribe! And donate!" , the zombie hordes get to feel good for doing nothing more than agreeing with them, and everyone gets to keep doing this forever because nobody ever actually suggests anything actionable. Meanwhile, the people actually working on concrete changes are too busy making them to chant slogans every weekend. It's kind of like how Susan G. Komen got to be the premier vendor of cancer-related pink things not by actually funding cancer research but instead by plowing most of their revenue into suing their competitors into the ground.

I've found that my demographic privilege makes me a useful litmus test in discriminating between the two. I simply ask how I can help; if the answer is anything other than "chant our slogans and give us your money", they've got my attention.

damn those zombie sheeple, good thing you are here to look down on their faceless hordes on social media.

[Starver]

some random vegans passing out anti meat stuff sometimes.

*imagines them flipping a coin - "Heads! Today I'm vegan! Meat is murder!" / "Tails! Gimme the quarter-pounder with bacon and cheese!" *

[Reelya]

You just made me think of the Breatharians. The head of the Breatharians, who apparently never ate anything but air for decades was caught eating chicken pie and twinkies a few times.
https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/kwpzwm/breatharian-leader-wiley-brooks-lives-on-light-air-and-quarter-pounders

Also he seems to be claiming that McDonald's double-quarter-pounders with cheese and diet coke (and only these specific things) count as air (while even water is banned because it's impure and tainted by the world).

http://grownasslady.com/2013/12/01/join-this-cult-breatharianism/

“You may drink as much as you desire of diet coke in the 20 oz and 1 liter sizes and at McDonald’s (with caffeine) in the plastic bottles only.  The double-quarter-pounder/with cheese meal at McDonald’s is the other part of this diet.  Try to eat at least one meal a day for at least for 1 month (30 days) to get started.  Go back to my web site periodically to see if you can start to feel the magic/love (The love energy from my writings) after reading a few paragraphs. It is OK to drink from the cups when eating at McDonald.  I highly recommend that you eat at McDonalds when ever possible.  All McDonalds are constructed on properties that are protected by 5th Dimensional high energy/spiritual portals.

... and this isn't even a joke religion, they have international chapters, and Michelle Pfieffer was a member once. This is just how fucking stupid humans are. At least L Ron Hubbard was trying. This dude just blathers about the spiritual energy in a McDondald's Double-Quarter pounder with cheese plus diet coke, and how he's more pure than a vegan, and people sign up.

TBH it's super funny that the stereotypically intolerant right is able to organize and cooperate smoothly with organizations centered around different ideologies, denominations, or even religions; while the tolerant left is neatly segregated by their mutual animosity.

This is definitely not a new thing however. See Monty Python's Life of Brian scene with the infighting between The People's Front of Judea, the Judean's People's Front and The People's Popular Front of Judea. If you weren't aware they were satirizing the radical left campus infighting of the 60s and 70s, where all groups are too busy trying to destroy each other to actually take down the establishment.

[Helgoland]

The German K-groups back in the seventies had similar issues: Utterly ineffective, financed only by GDR money, and splintered to hell and back. Then came the Red Army Faction, and Communism was no longer really en vogue, so everybody just sort of switched over to the Greens, I think. They managed to hold it together much better.

I think it's mostly that having a common enemy that you want to fight makes sticking together easier, while having similar but subtly different goals means every bit of cooperation is a step away from your ideals.

[misko27]

You just made me think of the Breatharians. The head of the Breatharians, who apparently never ate anything but air for decades was caught eating chicken pie and twinkies a few times.
https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/kwpzwm/breatharian-leader-wiley-brooks-lives-on-light-air-and-quarter-pounders

Also he seems to be claiming that McDonald's double-quarter-pounders with cheese and diet coke (and only these specific things) count as air (while even water is banned because it's impure and tainted by the world).

http://grownasslady.com/2013/12/01/join-this-cult-breatharianism/

“You may drink as much as you desire of diet coke in the 20 oz and 1 liter sizes and at McDonald’s (with caffeine) in the plastic bottles only.  The double-quarter-pounder/with cheese meal at McDonald’s is the other part of this diet.  Try to eat at least one meal a day for at least for 1 month (30 days) to get started.  Go back to my web site periodically to see if you can start to feel the magic/love (The love energy from my writings) after reading a few paragraphs. It is OK to drink from the cups when eating at McDonald.  I highly recommend that you eat at McDonalds when ever possible.  All McDonalds are constructed on properties that are protected by 5th Dimensional high energy/spiritual portals.

... and this isn't even a joke religion, they have international chapters, and Michelle Pfieffer was a member once. This is just how fucking stupid humans are. At least L Ron Hubbard was trying. This dude just blathers about the spiritual energy in a McDondald's Double-Quarter pounder with cheese plus diet coke, and how he's more pure than a vegan, and people sign up.

So what? I don't see the problem. Someone founded a religion for mouthbreathers and other mouthbreathers signed up. Seems pretty straightforward to me. Fact: wordplay is fun

[EnigmaticHat]

The best explanation for Scientology (which works for breatharianism too) is that some people feel some kind of spiritual void in their life.  And if you can show up to provide them with a sense of community and purpose, you can get them to believe anything.  Provided you can find isolate them from their support network or they don't have one.

Also worth pointing out is that if you explained an established religion to an alien they would seem pretty arbitrary.  That being said many religions are built around grains of practical knowledge.  Like the common prohibition against pork.  You can look at that like some sort of very specific vegetarianism that makes no sense, or you can look at it as early sanitation instructions.  Eating prior to the discovery of microorganisms was a pretty good way to get sick.  We can also look at priests in Christianity, which served as a sort of therapists/teachers/librarians.  I don't think breatharianism or Scientology could be said to have that same instructional aspect to them.

[Max™]

The sooner scientology gets legal protection as a religion revoked so it can be treated properly as a dangerous cult, the better.

[Descan]

I mean, they're instructional as an object lesson in what *not* to believe.

[Antioch]

So how does Scientology differ from a "proper" religion?

[Karnewarrior]

So how does Scientology differ from a "proper" religion?

As EH pointed out, it lacks the moral/practical lesson aspect of religion. Most faiths tend to be instruction manuals on how to live in their native land pre-industrial revolution, and give advice on how to do so with a reasonable degree of health, stability, and happiness.

That's also why they're struggling now-adays. A post-industrial world is quite different from a pre-industrial one, and requires different lessons to learn. Christianity seems increasingly arbitrary, for instance, the further we get from the circumstances in which the faith was founded (it doesn't help that preachers like that Joel guy in Texas have become depressingly common in protestantism, particularly American Protestantism. They do no favors to their faith, but since they aren't actually faithful they don't give a damn. Fucking moneylenders... *grumble*). Scientology on the other hand, it just arbitary, and pretty greedy at that.