Scientology Irony

Freedom

Scientology promises "Total Freedom", but what you get as you get more and more deeply involved is less freedom.

As you invest more of your money, more of your time in Scientology services, the church dictates more and more what you can and can't do; who you can and can't talk to; what you can and cannot read, listen to, watch; what you can and can't think.

If you step one tiny bit out of the strict controls imposed by the church, they will punish you.

There is no evidence that, at some high level of Scientology, this ever changes. The OT VIIIs I've met are just as controlled, just as dictated to, just as hemmed in by all the endless rules and orders and demands--maybe even more than anyone else. Just where does this "Total Freedom" start?

So far, in the Church of Scientology, "Freedom" is just an ironic sales pitch.

Confront

Scientologists are supposedly taught to "confront" on their TRs courses. Their auditing, too, is supposed to increase their ability to confront.

Based on that, if you were going to talk to a Scientologist, you'd expect that they'd have a "higher confront than anyone else in the whole world".

But you can't talk to them, because they can't confront you if you don't agree with the Scientology version of things. They can't confront you if you talk about anything negative about their church. There's a protest in front of their church and they block the windows and hide. Confront? No evidence of it. I call that ironic!

Cause

Like confront, one of the Big Things in Scientology is moving people up to Cause! That's supposed to be happening at each step a Scientologist takes. The church itself should be more at cause than anything.

But that just isn't so. Scientologists are told what to do, where to go, how much to pay, what to think, what to read, what to say. They are the effect of whatever the church wants. The deeper they get into Scientology, the more orders and requirements are forced on them.

And the Church of Scientology is worse. The church reacts to everything. Things happen, information is released on the Internet, protests happen, people start up new websites with important information (that the church would desperately like to suppress) and the church reacts, late and ineffectually.

Time and again the actions that the church takes just don't work. But the church is unable to change their tactics. They keep executing the same old, stale, unworkable plans, with the inevitable failure. They cannot initiate anything new.

Even when the church seems to be starting something, you look closely and you see the whole project is a PR caper in reaction to negative press. It is incredibly ironic that nothing is being initiated, everything the church does is effect-reaction!

Responsibility

Responsibility is supposedly very big in Scientology. Scientologists are supposed to be the most responsible people, ever. Wherever they are and whatever they are doing, their supposed to set a good example, and be responsible for the success of their area.

The Church of Scientology, also, is supposed to be very, very responsible. The most responsible organization in the world.

And yet, when problems have occurred, when there have been accusations of abuse, crimes, fraud, when the church has, apparently, done wrong, you will not see any signs of responsibility from the church.

The church denies all responsibility. Victims must just shut up. Reporters are lied to. Critics are harassed and hounded. A responsible organization would open its doors and would ensure that all accusations were cleared up, all wrongdoing by the church rooted out and made right. A responsible organization acts completely differently than the Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology hides things, covers up things, blusters and lies. That is the opposite of responsibility.

It is so ironic that the church talks about "responsibility"!

Overt/Motivator (Karma)

Hubbard had this mechanism he called the "Overt-Motivator-Sequence". The idea was that a person did something bad to someone else (the "overt") and would then "pull in" a "motivator" (something bad to himself) to justify it.

This is pretty much like the idea of "karma", but with Hubbard's unique names and descriptions.

If something bad happens to someone, it is standard for a Scientologist to say that they "pulled it in". The idea is that nothing bad happens to you until you "pull it in" as a motivator. This is, they say, true for anyone and everyone. Something bad happens, well, you pulled it in.

However, when something bad happens to the Church of Scientology, Hubbard threw that whole concept out the window! No, the Church of Scientology never pulls anything in. Hubbard created a special law, just for himself and his church that made them free of the Overt-Motivator-Sequence. The special law says, "If something bad happens to the church, it's because the church was doing good!"

Get it? Um ... neither do I.

So these are a few of the things I find really ironic about Scientology. Things that are, supposedly, key to Hubbard's teachings, but that turn out to be the opposite in Hubbard's church.

These ironies should be obvious to everyone, including Scientologists. They hear "freedom" and are given "slavery". They hear "more confront" but are then told "don't look!" They hear "more cause" and then are given their orders and nothing but orders. They hear "responsibility" while the church ducks and hides. They're told about "overt-motivators" and then, somehow, can't see what's happening with their own church.

It isn't that the facts are hidden. The facts are obvious. Scientologists are just very, very careful not to think about it. It's a skill. One of the basic Scientology skills.
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