The tone scale is a system by which Hubbard assigned each emotion a number, thus rating them on a scale from minus 40 to 40. Death, for instance, is represented by zero, anger at 1.5, enthusiasm at 4.0, serenity at 40. He said that auditing will bring a person up to the upper levels of the tone scale. Of all the cults in existence today, Scientology has one of the most complex systems of loaded language. If an outsider were to hear two Scientologists conversing, they probably wouldn't be able to understand what was being said.
Loaded language is words or catch phrases that short-circuits a person's ability to think.
This is just one example, of many, many Scientology terms. TRs, particularly TR-0 bullbaiting that I described earlier, is a very powerful thought stopping technique. When critical information is being presented, all the Scientologist has to do is go into the altered trance state created by TR-0 and all critical thinking will instantly be shut off. In cases where a Scientologist is known to have a relative or friend who is critical of Scientology, they will even bullbait that person on all the negative things that person will say, such as the fact that Scientology is a cult, until the person can sit through it with no reaction. Another way that critical thinking about Scientology is stopped dead in its tracks is by telling the person that a critical thought indicates that the person has sinned against the group.