Scientology and Stupidity

One of the problems THIS webmaster has with the works of L. Ron Hubbard is the fact that right off the bat, in almost every book, he assumes the reader is a complete idiot.  This is not just the way I feel.  Its the way the books are written.  Nearly every book on Dianetics and Scientology starts with a page or a few pages making the reader feel like a child.  Making your readers feel stupid is not the way to endear yourself to people you expect to receive money from.

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This passage is a direct quote from the book "The Volunteer Minister's Handbook" by L. Ron Hubbard:

from page 18

The Alphabet

   Knowledge of the alphabet is the key to finding words quickly.  The alphabet must be known cold.  The person who has to figure out which letter comes first- m or n or u or v, wastes many prescious minutes, which can add up to many wasted hours.

Words are arranged in alphabetical order in all dictionaries.  All words beginning with the letter A would be in the first section, all words beginning with B would be in the second section, and so on.  Within these sections, the words themselves are arranged so that each second letter of each word is in alphabetical order.  (For example, the word "fall" precedes the word "few" which precedes the word "field", and so on.)

Near the top of each page, printed in bold type, are the first word and the last word on the page (in very large dictionaries, its every two columns).  You can use this as a guide to quickly find the page that contains the word you are looking for.

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This is from Dianetics: The Modern Science Of Mental Health.  This was written by the church as a preface to the work.

In reading this book, be very certain you never go past a word you do not fully understand.  The only reason a person gives up a study or becomes confused or unable to learn is because he or she has gone past a word that was not understood.

The confusion or inability to grasp or learn comes AFTER a word the person did not have defined and understood.  It may not only be the new and unusual words you have to look up.  Some commonly used words can often be misdefined and so cause confusion.

If the material in this book becomes confusing or you can't seem to grasp it, there will be a word just earlier that you have not understood.  DON'T go any further, but go back to BEFORE you got into trouble, find the misunderstood word and get it defined.

(All emphasis was found in the original text)

L. Ron Hubbard was notoriously known for making those under him feel vastly inferior.  He wanted people to believe that no one would ever be as smart as he was.  And these two passages (the second was put together from L. Ron Hubbard's writings) prove this.  Scientology wants the world to feel stupid so that they will come to them to make them smart.  Their study technology, which is used in many schools around the world, is their way of infiltrating the public school system so that the young of the world will be taught the ways of Scientology without knowing they are being taught this.  This is dangerous and all parents should be aware that their children are being taught that they are stupid when they are being taught Scientology's "Study Tech"