Hi

I'm a journalist who up until recently wrote articles pertaining to science, philosophy and religion. These days, I'm exploring writing with humor and really enjoying it.

I'm producing two weekly blogs, each on an imaginary cult. One, promoted under the pseudonym "Canaderek" is called Elbonism. The other, its rival, is promoted by the "Reverend Neil Pudding". It's called "The Society of Kneeophytes", or "SOK", and is a more direct parody of Scientology.

I'm wondering how people here feel about using comedy as a way of exposing the lunacy and danger of cult involvement.

Here's where they can be found:
[freedomhaters.org]

Harmon Leon produces most of the material on the site. I noticed culteducation.com has posted Harmon's Scientology infiltration story. Another writer posts a blog on Alex Jones' New World Order theories.

Thanks and best wishes,
Derek

P.S: Warning: The Cult parodies include some profanity

After clicking on that link, you need to click "CULTS" from the menu. New articles on these cults are posted every Monday and Friday.

Thanks again,
Derek

Comedy has been underused in the fight against cults, possibly because people leaving them don't see much to laugh about.

Anonymous has wielded humor very effectively in its fight against Scientology.

Thanks for your response, Christa. I've enjoyed watching the Anonymous/Scientology struggle. Silence is definitely not the answer to mind-controlling cults.

Here's a more direct link to my Scientology parody:
SOK: The Society of Kneeophytes

And my more generic cult parody:
Elbonism

The latest installment of SOK has been posted. It features the tool of the Kneeophyte: the Eam-eater.

I've been visiting Canaderek's site since I first saw this posting in June. His parodies were HILARIOUS but they stopped appearing about a month ago. Then his uncle made a posting under his name here where he ominously said that Derek has gone missing and had been into reading L. Ron Hubbard lately. A few days later, Canaderek returns with an incredible tale to tell in a post called "Scientology Critically (but NOT cynically) Examined". He said that he had been contacted by someone in the Church of Scientology known only as "Ms. B" who offered him airfare to fly from Ontario to Toronto to speak personally. As a result of their meeting and materials she provided him, Derek now says he knows the "truth" about Scientology's critics (i.e. Jon Atack was paid by corrupt elements in the Guardian's Office to aid in a plot to take over the CoS) and while he also said that he was still skeptical of Scientology, he now seems to think that many of the allegations made against Hubbard and the church are "ridiculous rumors." In the comments you can read for yourself Derek answers objectors with typical evasive rhetoric and directs them to a website called www.scientologymyths.info that is nothing but pure pro-Scientology propaganda.

The big twist took place when Canaderek made another post Sunday morning called "Religious Freedom Part One" that is headed by a picture of none other than L. Ron Hubbard himself. In it Derek denounces the parodies he has written as "stupid jokes", says that Scientology's critics are all slanderers who almost always loose in court, Hubbard's tech has helped lots of people, himself included, and that he is now a pre-clear. He also appears to answer the concerns raised in the posting by his uncle where he says "no one from the Church has told me to stop talking to my family and friends."

Given this extraordinary story and his previous writings it is very possible that this is some kind of elaborate parody, and part of me is waiting for the punchline. But what he writes now sounds awfully serious and I am wondering if we are witnessing the process by which a cult converts a critic into a believer.

Hello Xenuside and all!

It was a hoax. My "uncle", and the following "Religious Freedom" blogs were, as you suspected, not genuine.

I ran out of ideas for the "Kneeophytes" and "Elbonism" blogs (thanks very much for the compliments!), and thought it might be fun to pretend Scientology officials contacted and eventually converted me. I found it quite challenging to write the "Religious Freedom" pieces in a way that seemed believable, so I've recently given them up too, letting the cat out of the bag.

I'm now working on conspiracy theory-related material using the "Rev Neil Pudding" name, and political satire as Canaderek".

Thanks again, and thanks to this site for serving a noble purpose.

Derek

Hi Derek,

Figured it was all a gag after the third Religious Freedom posting. You did have me going for a while, but what really made me skeptical was how your debating style from the comments seemed almost identical to the way you mocked Scientology for debating in your SOK parodies. Those parodies were great, I don't think I will ever get over "Knees for Jesus" or the Build-a-Bear-Super Bowl XXXVIII wardrobe-malfunction conspiracy, but this time I think you went a little over the top pretending to be a Scientologist and taking it as far as you did. I do hope that you can come up with some new material that is just as good as the old stuff.

I just found out that kids on the WhyWeProtest site are POSITIVE I'm actually a Scientologist pretending to be anti-cult. Even after I'd spilled the beans on the FreedomHaters website, the little Inspector Clouseaus seem 100% certain I'm a Hubbardian spy.

[forums.whyweprotest.net]

I irritated some people for "triple-bluffing" them into (fiercely) believing I'm a "Scilon", but like Xenucide, must people eventually figured it out (and had a laugh over it).

Sometimes satire can be too believable, depending on the audience. For example, I've read that some people actually think Stephen Colbert is a conservative.