Their understanding of language as immutable results in the authoritarian and calculative logics that serve to dispose Queerness.

Language itself, as a technique of coercion, is inseparable from dynamics of power and it “can facilitate the most violent exercise of power against somebody.” 87 Violence includes a deranged semiotic capacity that serves as a constant mechanism meant to distort perception and influence personal principles. In most applications, this clandestine procedure is robust and unchecked—relying upon “authoritarian, monological, aggressive, and calculative methods” as well as the “institutional use of obedience, suggestibility, idealism and social skills” enacted through language.88 In a world of domination and exploitation, of war and injustice, language gives a structure to consciousness which guides action and informs perception, influencing our thoughts and resulting behaviors. In short, “language, which is rarely neutral, shapes perception and behavior. Language can be used to demean differences and inflict violence or to affirm diversity and achieve recognition.” 89 Although likely a point of contention, Scientology has “accrue[d] enormous linguistic capital” via “institutionally sanctioned demeaning terminology…which they generally use to advance their interests to the detriment of the social masses.” 90 By classifying linguistic violence in its “multifarious and nefarious manifestations,” the oppressive dimension of language becomes so pronounced that it would be negligent to ignore it.91 Language itself, as a social institution, reflects and perpetuates power. Language is not a neutral medium for the description of an objective reality but is manipulated to “actively shap[e] and giv[e] meaning to human experience.” 92 Therefore, language communicates ideologies, which in turn mold group attitudes and justify social practices that likely sustain the use of more overt forms of violence. Like Žižek, I am taking the position that semiology, as it is absorbed in all written language, is distorted in a manner that can be traced to an influencer and necessarily results in exclusion of some sort to some social party. To be succinct, semiology is ideology. According to Dr. Gay, “language does harm when, with its differential terms, it elevates one group and devalues another.” 93 In Scientology, this is accomplished and codified in scores of books and hundreds of writings by L. Ron Hubbard, with Dianetics serving as the authentic and authoritative source. The lexicon of Dianetics reflects oppressive, institutional covert violence insofar as it provides a framework of human behavior reliant upon the “socially sanctioned use of demeaning terms to refer to specific social groups.” 94 The language in Dianetics is a set of certain conventions held and recorded by a venerated prophet—they are largely beyond the control of the practitioners “who are socialized and conditioned to passively assimilate it.” 95 Dr. Gay authenticates this reality by commenting, “ [an] arena in which abusive language abounds is in the derogatory terminology used to describe the lifestyles of lesbians and gay males. The longstanding, and often physically violent reinforcement of the heterosexism of established discourse often makes an open discussion of sexual orientation quite difficult.”