Book Report || Going Clear

 7/31

General Overview   

    “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & The Prison of Belief” by Lawrence Wright examines Scientology and the grip that it has on its followers. Wright goes into the organization's history/development (including information on prominent figures such as founder L. Ron Hubbard and David Miscavige), practices, and beliefs. Much of this information is kept very secretively within the organization. Throughout the book there are also plenty of actual interviews the author has conducted with past members of Scientology. The main questions that Wright uses as a framework for the novel are “what counts as a religion and what are religions made up of” as well as “what makes people join and stay in organizations such as Scientology?” There is years worth of research presented in this novel and the information is presented in a way that keeps readers engaged and wanting to read more. This book is a great introduction to Scientology for those who are interested in learning more about the organization (from an outside perspective of course.) After "Going Clear" was published, a documentary was created based on the book with the same name, to which many of the people criticized in the book responded.    

Favorite Part 

     The section of the book that I thought was the most interesting was on Hubbard’s life and how he began to develop the ideas that would later turn into what we now know as Scientology. Reading this section was like being on a rollercoaster of different emotions. He grew up in what seemed like an average family for the time period and had somewhat of a normal life until he joined the military. That’s when all of these new ideas he had began developing, mostly from the experiences of people he admired as well as his own health. Going further into his life, it begins to be obvious that there is nothing anybody can do to change his mind on his ideas and if something doesn’t make sense or is proven wrong, he just changes it to make sense. Since he is so confident in his beliefs and is seemingly able to demonstrate his ideas, other people begin to see this and follow his words. One of his favorite quotes is literally “If it’s true to you it’s true, if it’s not true to you it’s not true.” Essentially, confirmation bias is his strongest weapon, which ties back to some of our class lessons. 

Related

    In relation to class material, there is a lot that can be said. One of the things that stood out to me from the book is the amount of times members said they had “Out of Body Experiences” or OBE’s. Hubbard himself even stated that he had several OBE’s in relation to seeing his past lives and seeing his birth. One of the main teachings of Scientology is that the body is just a vessel for your soul and when you sign the “billion-year contract,” your soul is essentially saved from death. This is a concept called “dualism,” which was also mentioned in previous lessons. In a way, Scientology can be compared to the Heaven’s Gate Cult that was mentioned in the same lesson. Scientology doesn’t end in mass suicide, but their beliefs are very similar. They both believe in alien lifeforms, dualism, and that they are a religion. At the center of it all, they also both get their teachings from one main person, in Scientology this is Hubbard and in Heaven’s Gate this is Marshall Applewhite. 

Creative

    One of the most discussed topics in “Going Clear” is celebrities involved in Scientology. I created a slideshow of information on some of these celebrities, some of which are mentioned in the book and some of which are not.  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1429RpJyfHDXXPoZ_oglHpQPanmCNR2L_q-EvrPqOCow/edit?usp=sharing

Extension

    “Going Clear” by Lawrence Wright does an excellent job at going into why people join groups like Scientology. There are many reasons, some of the main ones being to find a sense of purpose in life and because they have friends or family members already involved. The author also does an excellent job at giving those who need a place to share their stories a place to do so. Through these stories, us as readers begin to gain more empathy and understanding as to why people join and why people often don’t leave. It is really easy for outsiders to hear about things like Scientology and just brush it off like the people who join it are “crazy,” but we learn that isn’t necessarily the case. The novel teaches us about having empathy and sympathy without ever telling you that you should feel that way; you just do. Having resources like this book can help people that are trying to leave and get people who aren’t involved to help those that need it.  

Blog Post #3: Learning Styles / False Memories

    I believe that most people have heard of the term "learning styles" before, and many have also heard of the three most prominent types: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. I have heard of these terms many times throughout my years as a student and I was convinced that learning styles were a proven, scientific basis for how people process and retain knowledge. However, I could never determine what my own learning style was and always wondered how some people found just one style useful for learning. I thought that I was an outlier since I benefitted from all three learning styles rather than having a prominent one. While completing this lesson, I discovered that there is no scientific basis for the concept of learning styles at all. It is actually said to be ineffective to limit children to just one learning style because all three of the styles work to educate students in various ways. 

    The professor in the video clip gives the perfect example of learning the shape of a country. How could an auditory learner ever remember the shape of a country if they do not benefit from visual learning? That's like saying you could describe the color red to a blind person. They will never understand the concept of color because they cannot see. There is no way to describe a shape of something as complex as a country in any type of memorable way without a visual representation. This part of the lesson interested me the most because I am pursuing a degree in education. There is no other career field that this type of pseudoscience pertains to more. I plan on using all of the learning styles to effectively educate my students because now I know that individuals do not benefit from one dominant style.

    In the second case, I learned about the idea of false memories. It was very interesting to discover that there is very little correlation between memory recall accuracy and the confidence of the accuracy of the person retelling the story. After watching the TED Talk, it was shocking to discover that in a study of 300 people found guilty of crimes they did not commit, 75% were due to faulty eye witness memory. Eye witness accounts are held to a high regard in the court of law, but it seems as though a majority of them are incorrect. This is just one small study so more need to be conducted to be sure of this conclusion. However, even if only a handful of people are serving years in prison for crimes they did not commit, it is still far too many. There truly needs to be a reevaluation of the justice system in the United States because that is just unacceptable.

Book Report: Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them

 

General Overview

Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them by Dr. Seema Yasmin takes a look into a wide range of medical myths that have (and continue to) mislead and confuse the public. Yasmin began her career as a physician where she would experience firsthand the amount of medical misinformation that plagues the general public when multiple patients would deny her treatment plan due to myths and conspiracies. Her career would take a turn when she moved to the states and became a journalist and went on to cover many of the health crises that spanned the world including the Ebola outbreak in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Yasmin does a fantastic job breaking down misconceptions about health and medicine by debunking topics such as is suicide contagious? Do we inherit trauma from our parents? Can your cat’s poop make you better at business (yes you read that correct). Her use of entertaining stories and in-depth scientific analysis make it a very fun and informative read. The book emphasizes the importance of critical thinking and evidence-based medicine in combating these widespread myths and she asks us “Why do we believe what we believe, why don’t facts extinguish falsehoods, and what is a fact, anyway.”.

Favorite Part

My favorite part of the book is the chapter on vaccines and whether they can cause autism. This chapter stands out because it not only debunks a widely circulated falsehood but how the myth came to be is even more fascinating. Essentially, a British doctor by the name of Andrew Wakefield conducted a very small study on the effects of the MMR vaccine on twelve children with signs of autism. He went on to falsify data and lie on his study that would remain published for twelve years. The parents claimed they had signs of autism prior to the MMR vaccination. So why would he make false claims in his study? Well, he was hired by a lawyer who wanted to sue the company that made the MMR vaccine and was paid $700,000 to conduct the bogus study. Years later the study was retracted but the damage was already done, leading to a massive antivax movement that still continues today. This chapter is particularly relevant to our class, especially lesson 10 and mass paranoia. For example, we just saw a wave of new antivax movements with the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people saw that a few people had side effects from the vaccine and went so far as to claim the vaccines were “clot” shots in their paranoia with no sound medical research backing relying on getting information from Facebook groups and other social media influencers.

Related

Dr. Seema Yasmin’s entire book is linked to the very first lecture of the class with the importance of slow thinking (critical thinking) to fight medical myths. She demonstrates time and time again how fast thinking can lead to the acceptance of false health information due to biases like confirmation bias and the availability heuristic. For example, myths about vaccines or dietary supplements like the detox teas often spread because people rely on spontaneous judgments or anecdotal evidence rather than taking the time to actually perform their own research using credible sources, not your girlfriend’s uncle who knows a guy, who knows a guy. Dr. Yasmin advocates for slow thinking by carefully analyzing and using evidence-based evaluations to make informed health decisions. This approach aligns closely with our class's focus on cognitive heuristics, biases, and critical thinking. We can use the principles we’ve learned throughout the course, such as recognizing cognitive biases and engaging in thorough, evidence-based analysis, we can better evaluate health claims and avoid falling to the abundance of misinformation going around these days. Dr. Yasmin’s book reinforces the necessity of incorporating slow thinking into our decision-making processes, which directly aligns with our class lectures and the pseudoscience realm overall.

Creative

I was able to find a video where Dr. Yasmin herself discusses medical myths, some of which are taken directly from the book and some that are brand new. Give it a watch because if you find it interesting the book covers things way more in-depth with many more medical myths to read about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-x7M-anEA0

In addition to this video, with the number of social media influencers trying to peddle all sorts of supplements that supposedly are life changing, I want to introduce you guys to https://www.consumerlab.com/ . This website is independently operated, has write ups on a ton of different supplements and wellness products, and has links to studies and sources to back up all their claims. I use this to determine if a supplement actually has any peer reviewed studies to back up the claims and I highly recommend you check this out next time you have somebody trying to push a product down your throat. Dr. Yasmin will be proud of your due diligence in researching what you’re putting in your body.

Extension

Viral BS provides a close look into current health myths and shows their real-world implications. Individuals who read this book can develop their ability to critically evaluate health information and recognize what is “false” which can greatly reduce the spread of misinformation and improve public health outcomes. The book’s assessment of how misinformation takes hold and persists highlights its relevance beyond the classroom, stressing the importance of critical thinking in everyday life. This practical application of Dr. Yasmin’s findings highlights the book’s benefit in helping individuals become more observing consumers of health information, contributing to a more informed and healthier society.

Blog Post #2

In listening to the UFO abductions audio and viewing the corresponding slideshow, I was reminded of the many aspects of extraterrestrial lore that are actually related to the occult. Crop circles, "alien abductions,” and cattle mutilations all have links to these esoteric practices, which - from a skeptic's perspective - would be an indication that they are man-made and/or human-influenced. Crop circles, for instance, often appear as occult symbols like the pentagram and hexagram. These symbols have been historically and contemporarily used in occult practices and ceremonial magick, with the six-pointed star commonly used both as a talisman and for conjuring spirits and spiritual forces in diverse forms of occult magic.

So-called “alien abductions” also have links to occult practices. Many abductees describe being “probed” in their anal cavity, and stories of both blood and semen harvesting via forceful ejaculation and/or forceful penetration by way of alien technology also exist, albeit to a lesser extent. Such was the case for Betty and Barney Hill, who reported an assortment of forceful sexual acts during so-called abductions. These aspects of alien abduction, including bodily fluid-harvesting and anal penetration, are known practices that take place during certain forms of sex magick and occult rituals. Perhaps the most well-known and influential occultist in modern history, Aleister Crowley, for instance, believed that “The blood (or excrements) from anal intercourse attract the spirits/demons while the sperm keeps them alive.” Along the same lines, both blood and semen are used in the creation and sustentation of sigils: symbols and omens that are used in summoning rituals and black magick.

Speaking of Aleister Crowley, during an extended occult ritual - referred to as "The Amalantrah Workings” - Crowley claimed to have summoned a “preternatural” entity called “LAM.” The picture below shows a depiction of the supposed entity Crowley referred to as “LAM,” as well as a depiction of the most commonly reported physical characteristics of a typical alien. Notice the strong similarities between the two:

Cattle mutilations - with reports dating back as far as 1869, and so widely common that they’ve been the subject of two independent federal investigations in the US - are also most frequently attributed to extraterrestrial phenomena. A typical case of cattle mutilation involves livestock having been completely exsanguinated (i.e. drained of their blood), with their body parts surgically removed, and done with extreme precision. These body parts most often include the eyes, tongues, cheeks, and sex organs (including the genitalia and rectum) of the animal. 

As has been previously discussed, blood plays an important role in a number of occult rituals and spells. However, as it turns out, animal body parts - and specifically genitalia - also have a number of uses in the practice of black magick. In Morocco, for instance, so-called “witches” and “warlocks” “use the organs of animals such as tails, toes, horns, legs, and genitals” for their specific cultural forms of sorcery. Similarly, Mexico, Brazil, and Africa (among others countries) are home to “witch doctors” and occult practitioners who often use the ritual sacrifice of livestock in their religious ceremonies.

The use of animals and their body parts in ritual magick is so common throughout history and so prevalent across the world that it has become somewhat of a cliche in storytelling: the ominous idea of the witch’s brew. This trope goes at least as far back as Shakespeare, who wrote in Macbeth “Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

Notice the excision of the genital area.

    These concepts all have significant historical basis in occultism. Thus, from the perspective of this class, we should assume that the phenomena of crop circles, abductions, and cattle mutilations are almost certainly man-made and/or directly related to human behavior and psychology, rather than being the different practices of extraterrestrials. My personal belief, however, is that the beings that are the supposed cause of these incidents are not extraterrestrial aliens, rather, they are instead inter-dimensional demons. But what do I know? I'm just a college student!

Blog Post 2 - The Skunk Ape of Florida

    By now everyone has heard the name Bigfoot or Sasquatch. This creature is depicted as a very tall, hairy, bipedal ape that is known to be very elusive and is located deep in the forested mountains of North America. Across the globe, in the mountains of the Himalayas, is Bigfoot's cousin, the Yeti - also known as the Abominable Snowman. Both these creatures are popular within folklore have been talked about for many generations. Although, there is another variant of this creature, perhaps a cousin, that resides in the everglades of Florida. This is of course the Skunk Ape, also known as the Myakka Ape. The Skunk Ape is depicted as a large ape; some stories claiming that it resembled an orangutan while others described it as a tall, hairy humanoid. Some stories have claimed that the fur has been more orange in color, hence why some compared it to an orangutan. Others claim that is has brown and gray fur. One of its most distinct features is it's terrible odor, comparable to a skunk. Sightings of the creature can be traced back to the 1960's but there are stories told by Native Americans that describe a similar creature by the name of Tsul Kalu or the Cherokee Devil. One of the most famous pictures of the Skunk Ape was taken in the 1980's. The picture - attached below - was sent in anonymously to a police station and is believed by some to be of the Skunk Ape. 

    Whether the Skunk Ape actually exists or is a hoax used to gain publicity is up for debate. One speculation of what the sightings could be are a black bears. Black bears are native to the Everglades and can have fur that can be more orange or cinnamon in color. Another speculation is that an orangutan that escaped from a local zoo was what had been seen in some sightings. Some still believe what they saw was an new and unidentified species of ape. That is assuming the sightings weren't made up. Despite sightings and supposed footprints, there is not too much evidence to support the existence of this creature. Although the possibility remains, there very well may exist a stinky hairy ape-like beast in the everglades. We may never truly know.

Blog Post # 3 Crop Circles

I wanted to build on lecture 9 and talk about another UFO relationship…. crop circles. While the term “crop circle” became popular in the early 1980’s although they had appeared much earlier than that with the first mention coming in a news pamphlet from 1678 which described a crop that was cut instead of bent down. According to the pamphlet titled “The Mowing-Devil” a farmer could not come to an agreement with a laborer to cut his field stating he would rather have the devil mow it. Later that night it appeared as though the farmers’ field was on fire and when he went out the next morning the field was so perfectly cut, it had to be something supernatural as no one could cut the field that precisely. There would be more though as in 1880 an amateur scientist by the name of John Rand Capron described several circles of flattened crops that couldn’t be explained how they could have been formed, other than from perhaps “cyclonic wind action” that only pushed down certain crops and left others standing. I don’t know about you, but I’m not convinced.

These crop circles would continue to pop up here and there and then in the 1960’s came tons of UFO sightings associated with crop circles. A series of mysterious circular formations appeared in swampy areas and sugarcane fields in places like Tully, Queensland, and Canada, sparking widespread intrigue. On August 8, 1967, for instance, mysterious circles were discovered in a field in Duhamel, Alberta. Although the Department of National Defense determined the formations were artificial, the source remained a mystery. The most compelling incident occurred in 1966 in Tully, where a farmer reported witnessing a saucer-shaped craft ascend from a swamp. Upon investigation, a strikingly circular area was found, with grass pressed into clockwise spirals and reeds uprooted. Despite assessments by local authorities, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the University of Queensland suggesting natural explanations like dust devils or waterspouts, the baffling details of these events leave room for speculation that they could be linked to UFOs.

While many claim that all of these crop circles are man
made as a prank, with the recent treasure trove of videos and documents released by the U.S. Government on UFO sightings perhaps these circles are alien visitors trying to send us a message…