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Monday, June 30, 2008

Scientology's Real Battle

The Church of Scientology's most important fight is not with Anonymous. While this is part of the fight, it isn't the main fight. The protests could go away, and the church's real battle would continue.

The Church of Scientology's key fight is not with any Scientology critic, either. Again, they are a factor, but they are only another aspect of the fight.

Even the church's battle with web sites such as Wikileaks, Wikipedia are not the real fight.

These web sites, people and groups are all factors in the church's ultimate fight, but the fight is much more basic than that.

The Church of Scientology is fighting Truth.

Hubbard always was a storyteller. From the beginning he wove a rather fantastic patchwork quilt with colorful patches of imagination stitched together with threads of truth. He included just enough truth to hold the whole thing together and carry it forward. It was exciting to some. It sold.

Perhaps this patchwork was as he intended, or perhaps he got carried away with his own vision and started believing his own stories. In any case, when he died, what he left the church to work with had become a bit tattered. What he had claimed for Clear and OT far outstripped what he had ever, actually been able to deliver.

In actual fact, this was true of most of Hubbard's claims. The incredible successes that he claimed for his life, his philosophy, his technology and his administrative practices were just not showing up. Anyone who could view the whole fabric of Hubbard's creation would see the great gaping holes. It wasn't holding together.

It is entirely possible that it is because of these gaps between promises and delivery that Hubbard instituted a considerable level of secrecy in the Church of Scientology. All the information about Clear and OT was "confidential". Even the "OT" information that Hubbard had written and spoken about openly in the earlier days became secret, now. In addition, the management and statistics of the church became hidden. Bit by bit, the church, its management, its practices, its results, went into hiding.

This trend continued and accelerated after Hubbard's death, with whole organizations for upper church management coming into existence whose location, staffing and purposes were very secret.

It became the rule, rather than the exception, to keep secrets—from the world, from Scientologists, even from staff. The church and its activities became shrouded in multiple veils of secrecy, confidentiality and misdirection.

And with this extensive secrecy, inevitably came lies and misinformation. And the veils of secrecy became perfect cover for crimes, abuses and fraud. Agents from the church operated "missions" that were unknown to all but a few individuals at the top. "Operation Snow White", an illegal and covert operation of infiltration of the U.S. Government was carried out by the church under Hubbard's direction. "Operation PC Freakout", the illegal and despicable operation against a journalist who only reported the truth, is another example of the many activities that could only be carried out because of the shrouds of secrecy that now constitute the very fiber of the Church of Scientology.

And for each covert operation that bent, or more often broke, the law, there was the need for more secrecy, more lies, more misdirection, more "cover stories".

And it became the way of life for the Church of Scientology. Even when there was no need to be covert, to lie, it was the way of the church. Even Scientology's outreach programs into society, which, in a normal church, would have been simple and open, were operated by front groups whose connections to the Church of Scientology were buried or concealed. And these front groups were then vulnerable to more abuses and lies.

And, because of all the secrecy, the abuses were easy to pull off. The crimes were simple to operate. No one could see. No one was looking. The little bits that were displayed to the world and to the general Scientology public were the carefully selected "clean" bits. "Everything is fine, everything is good. Look at this shiny bit."

But behind the curtain of secrecy, the activities of the Church of Scientology and its upper management became darker and darker. Without visibility, who would ever know?

But there is, and always was, one fatal flaw to all this. The victims of the church's abuse and crimes will talk. Some of the other people who knew about the discreditable secrets would decide to disclose them. The secrets were never, entirely, secret.

And so it has happened with the Church of Scientology. For many years, the church has used an army of lawyers, threats, lawsuits, "Fair Game" tactics, "disconnection", "Suppressive Declares" and other ploys in a frantic attempt to keep their secrets hidden. At times it almost seemed to work, but finally all the church's dodging and ducking has failed. Now these tricks can never work. As much as the church might fight against it, the truth about their activities is out. Very thoroughly and completely exposed. Every day another of the church's secrets is exposed, verified or elaborated on.

So, the Church of Scientology is not, actually, fighting any specific person or group. What the Church of Scientology is fighting is truth and the exposure of its lies. It has already lost—the truth is already out there—their lies are known. Even true believer Scientologists can no longer ignore the truth; they are learning and they are leaving.

Yet, somehow, the church still believes it can suppress the truth and convince the world of their lies. Lost in his own little world, David Miscavige, leader of the Church of Scientology, still pretends that his secrets are all safe and that, somehow, the world still believes the church's lies.
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11 comments:

  1. Even some very obvious lies are being told today. Will Smith is opening a school that will use CoS teaching methods and employ "some" scientology teachers, but is not associate with the CoS. My guess, and it is a guess, is that after seeing what has happened to Tom Cruise's career the Church is trying to protect Will from any bad press.

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  2. With a personal history spanning over three decades of being Scientology staff and public, I consider your essay one of the best I've read on the subject. Very well written, straight to the point with laser-like accuracy. Thank You!

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  3. Having spent decades working at the upper echelons of Scientology, I can tell you that if public Scientologists knew only a tiny fraction of what really goes on at corporate management levels, they would leave the Church in disgust, as I did.

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  4. Gee I hate to be a real thorn in your side, but Operation Snow White, isn't exactly new news and the facts are pretty much covered in Omar Garrison's book published in 1980 which you can read in its entirety here:

    http://www.freezone.org/timetrack/data
    /Playing_Dirty/index.htm

    Also you have to also look at in context to the times where the USG itself was involved in illegal domestic operations such as COINTELPRO:

    http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro
    /cointel.htm

    CHOAS:

    http://www.serendipity.li/cia/lyon.html

    SHAMROCK:

    http://cryptome.org/nsa-shamrock.htm

    And other unconstitutional and illegal being perpetrated by the USG, such as MK ULTRA for example.

    Those programs aren't exactly new news either since they were covered by the Church Committee in the mid seventies.

    Does it rationalize the Church of Scientology's especially the Guardian's Office's efforts to counter the USG's unconstitutional and illegal actions with illegal actions of their own?

    Is a Stamp Act and a Tea Tax worth starting a revolution over?

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  5. Oh, my! I do love a good laugh!

    This is the core of what is wrong and evil about the Church of Scientology. You expressed it perfectly!

    You listed a whole lot of "evil government programs" which were not directed at the church as justification for the church's illegal actions.

    How the hell do you make that leap of illogic?

    And today, when the church still engages in blatantly illegal activities to suppress free speech, what excuse do you use now?

    The "vast evil international conspiracy against Scientology"? LOL! Present one piece of evidence that exists! And don't bother pointing to the protests.

    If Scientology worked, you would be able to use the peaceful and "effective" technologies to fix everything that is wrong with the world. If the PTS/SP technology actually worked, there could be no "Suppressives". But Scientology doesn't work and you can't use it to even fix yourselves. Scientology doesn't work, so you just give up and attempt to use common, criminal actions against your critics. Well guess what, that makes Scientology a common, criminal organization.

    The ends do not justify the means. Your use of criminal actions is not justified and Scientologists will go to jail for it.

    No matter how well you have it all justified.

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  6. I'm surprised that anonymous person/scientologist refers us to Omar Garrison. He used to be the darling of the GO and Hubbard due to his early, fantastically paranoid books about the "conspiracy" against Scientology. He was even commissioned to write a Hubbard biography. Then he discovered how much Scientology was lying and hiding from him and turned against them. End of affair.

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  7. "You listed a whole lot of "evil government programs" which were not directed at the church as justification for the church's illegal actions."

    The above statement is laughable, in the extreme!

    Even Russell Miller notes the fact that the CIA no less in violation of the National Security Act, kept a file on L Ron Hubbard and that the FBI was "investigating" Scientology, even though they had no warrant.

    Let us not forget your friends in the IRS who arbitrarily determined that Scientology wasn't a Religion in 1967 and therefore not entitled to the protections granted under the First Amendment.

    As if a Government entity could determine what is a Religion and what is not.

    Also I see your friend at least makes a big point of calling me a Scientologist as if it is a crime for a Scientologist to disagree with your blog which is supposedly written for Scientologist according to your "Open Letter to Scientologists".

    Yet you like the current Church of Scientology management seem intolerant of any viewpoint that doesn't agree with you and your friend's narrow perception of reality.

    To me this demonstrates the other side of the same coin which is the currency of cults.

    Sorry to mix metaphors here but I'd like to wish you a nice day preaching to the choir.

    Signing off.

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  8. You, sir, are a hypocrite! Unlike the Church of Scientology and every single "pro-Scientology" web site and blog, I let you have your say. You were not censored! Yet you have the gall to complain because, what, because I disagreed with you? Where's your pro-Scientology web-site or blog that allows me to comment? Where is the Church of Scientology web-site that allows dissenting opinion?

    Hypocrite! And you have the audacity to accuse me of "intolerance"? If you want to see intolerance, look to Scientology.

    You also get your knickers in a twist because L. Ron Hubbard was "investigated"?! You get outraged because Scientology was "investigated"?!

    Are you a complete idiot? Where, oh where, in your wonderful world are people and organizations protected from being "investigated"? Words fail! Investigating someone IS. NOT. A. CRIME! You do live on another planet, don't you?

    From reading the history of Hubbard and Scientology, it is no surprise that someone needed to take a look.

    You allege that this non-crime gives your church the right to commit crimes! There is no logic, no sense, no intelligence in what you say! You probably don't even realize that this is incredible nonsense!

    Lastly, a bit of advice. If someone calling you "a Scientologist" feels to you like they are accusing you of a crime, then perhaps you should rethink your affiliation with that group.

    It's a nice place, outside that bubble. Come on and join us. You have friends out here. People will help you.

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  9. Ah, well, that's how OSA trolls change the subject and muddy the discussion.

    Note how we stopped discussing the church's lies and its failed attempts to suppress the truth and suppress Free Speech. Note how the chruch really does work to stop such discussions.

    This thread is back to the Church of Scientology and how its real enemy is Truth.

    Any OSA trolls wish to join in that discussion will be ... welcome.

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  10. I think our OSA friend is under the mistaken impression that because the Central Intelligence Agency's primary function is collection and analysis of intelligence regarding foreign nations and persons, that somehow an American citizen is automatically protected from investigation -- even if we are talking about an American citizen, like Hubbard, who chose to involve himself (however clumsily) in international politics, for instance trying to offer his sec checking "technology" to the apartheid regime of South Africa, or to the Junta of the Colonels in Greece. Needless to say, such an idea is utterly naive and thus perfect for a committed Scientologist.

    As for our naive OSA friend's assertion that one must look at Operation Snow White "in context to the times", well, we're all familiar with the Scientology "Party line" that Operation Snow White was only intended to remove "false" reports about Scientology ("false" of course meaning "not to Scientology's advantage", rather than being related to factual accuracy in any way.) However, that particular lie was debunked even at the time, with one of the Sentencing Memorandums in the case observing that the Scientologist infiltrators had stolen information from the private files of prominent individuals such as Frank Sinatra, John Wayne and Doris Day to use in an attempt to blackmail the IRS, and had written out a plan "Operation Cat" to plant false information in government files. Gee, I wonder why Omar Garrison made no mention of that in any of his books, eh? Could it possibly be because it shows that the Church of Scientology was not trying "to counter the USG's unconstitutional and illegal actions with illegal actions of their own" but was simply acting with complete contempt for any standards of law or decency, as they have continued to do since?

    (Oh, and by the way, OSA agent? I think it's hilarious for you to snark about "as if a Government entity could determine what is a Religion and what is not." Maybe you and your OSA pals should get together and coordinate your talking points, since many of your buddies are trying to claim that Scientology is a religion and that the tax-exemption by the IRS proves it.)

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  11. Unfortunately Scientologists don't seem to hold up too well in a public forum. They can't take any sort of disagreement or criticism. They state their case, and then anyone who presents a counter-argument is "intolerant." And then they fall back on that trusty Scientology standby, the ad hominem argument. It would be a lot more enjoyable if they'd stay on-topic.

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