On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 7:07 PM, Sasha Pachev <sa...@asksasha.com> wrote: > Dan - I am sorry, but I feel obligated to call your bluff here. If all you > can tell me that you were raised Mormon in the United States, then I have > to say this. You do not know what it is like to live in a truly closed > society. You did not have grandparents that went to prison "by mistake". > Your parents were not afraid to speak to you frankly for fear lest you > might say something at school on accident that would get them a prison > term. You were free to read a newspaper with a different opinion, even a > crazy one. You have no clue what it is like to be brainwashed.
I was with you up until you said "You have no clue what it is like to be brainwashed." My experience was not as extreme as yours, but you said "I am speaking from the perspective of someone who actually has lived in a society that has suffered severe mass deception and who has had to question every value he's been taught from birth to figure out what was wrong and what was right." I was born and raised in a religion that is founded on mass deception, and which not only practices it but has turned it into an art form. When I left the Mormon religion, I had to question everything I was taught from birth and re-learn not only what's wrong and right, but what a normal, healthy life looks like. Is it Soviet Russia? No, of course not - but like a triangle whose angles are equal but whose edges are shorter, my experience was equivalent to yours if not as large. > I would also like to say this. I have had to fight for what was given to > you as a gift. I am sorry you have rejected it. But it is not to late to > come back. I hope you will lay your skepticism aside and reclaim this gift. And I am sorry that you went from one oppressive, brainwashed culture straight into another one. It is not too late to free yourself and join me in the light of reason, humility and genuine compassion for your fellow human beings. I hope you will lay aside your dogma and reclaim your life. -Dan /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
