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Saturday, August 2, 2008

Scientology's Leader, Miscavige, Is a Failure

The Church of Scientology that all Scientologists believe exists, has been destroyed.

Scientologists believe there exists this robust and highly efficient organization called the Church of Scientology. They believe this organization is doing good, all over the world. They believe that this church has effective programs in place, being supervised by highly trained staff, and that these programs are causing great expansion.

This, they believe.

While it is doubtful that anything quite so grand and effective ever existed in the Church of Scientology, there were, at one time, plans and programs. There were, at one time, trained staff to run these programs. There was, at one time, expansion.

But no more. David Miscavige took over control of the Church of Scientology almost thirty years ago. Since then, he has systematically dismantled and destroyed the previous management, organization and activities of the church. Anything that was functioning in the old church has now been completely demolished.

While Scientology critics have been very effective in exposing Miscavige's crimes and the crimes of others in the church, and while Anonymous has helped greatly in accelerating the demise of the church, the major source of the destruction of the Church of Scientology was and is David Miscavige.

If anything in the Scientology organization is still functioning in any way, it is those things that have, so far, escaped direct "management" by David Miscavige.

David is not a good manager. In fact, he is a horrible manager. He would have difficulty running the local fast-food restaurant. He religiously destroys what is working, and forces in programs that can't work. He doesn't trust anyone, but he will tolerate boot-lickers and sycophants. Anyone with any spine or spark of independence has been stomped on, hard--sometimes by being sent to the RPF, but more often simply banished -- kicked out and declared Suppressive.

He dreams up bizarre projects, not based on any real facts or any workable methods, and then demands his few remaining staff "make it go right" and get his project executed. No one can make any of his cockamamie plans actually work. Badly researched, badly planned, horribly managed, his projects always fail. But, because he's such a horrible manager, he can't correctly evaluate who is at fault. Instead of taking responsibility for his failures as a manager, he punishes those brave souls who, at least, tried to make them work.

This leaves only Miscavige, the cowards, the boot-lickers and the sycophants "running" the Church of Scientology. Nothing can get done! Nothing will ever get done!

Today, the only things actually getting done are being done by people outside of the church. Outside lawyers are still harassing the critics and reporters. Outside private investigators have been brought in to investigate the protesters. An outside ad agency is putting up some TV ads. A Japanese manufacturer produced the still-unreleased Mark VIII E-Meters. Anything actually getting done is being done by outside people. Anything being "done" inside the church, under Miscavige's management, is an abysmal failure.

The biggest and most important project laid out by L. Ron Hubbard was to expand all Scientology churches to the "size of old Saint Hill". Saint Hill, in England, the center of Scientology under Hubbard, was quite the booming place at one time. Hubbard's orders were to get all churches stably to that level. Above all else, that was what Miscavige should have been doing.

Miscavige has totally failed to do this. His projects to do so resulted in a few churches temporarily reaching that size, but the "expansion" was false, and they quickly collapsed. Miscavige's management could not create a stable expansion in even one church.

As a solution, Miscavige redefined the "size of old Saint Hill" to a much smaller definition. Then he pushed a few more churches to that size. And, again, they collapsed. Miscavige couldn't even meet his much-lowered goals. Instead of expansion, Miscavige's management inevitably results in collapse.

As a "solution" to that, Miscavige abandoned the whole "Saint Hill size" program entirely. He announced a new project called "Ideal Org" and hoped that no one noticed all his previous expansion programs had failed.

The "Ideal Org" program first requires local Scientologists to use their own money to buy and renovate huge new buildings for the local church. You see, rather than expand -- and then buy larger premises when you need them and can afford them -- Miscavige is having the churches buy new buildings they can't afford, and ... then (in some yet undefined way) they'll expand. That's Miscavige's "bright idea" for expansion. Unbelievably, he doesn't even understand simple cause and effect!

Does anyone need any further evidence as to his complete incompetence?

Inevitably, as with all the rest of Miscavige's projects, this "expansion" project is failing as well. Those few churches who have fully implemented his "Ideal Org" plan are doing worse than ever. Inevitably, Miscavige will blame others for his abysmal failures. Once again, heads will roll -- but not his.

It isn't as if Miscavige doesn't realize he is a failure. Miscavige knows that if the true picture of his miserable management got out, Scientologists everywhere would cease supporting him. He would either be kicked out, or Scientologists would simply abandon his church. He knows this.

So the one thing he does get done (and he is in a blind panic about it all the time) is the fantastical events he puts on six times a year. As time goes on, these events have less and less to do with reality. Miscavige must report huge successes and huge expansion at every event. Since he cannot produce any major successes and never has any real expansion to report, the events are all smoke and mirrors, to make him look good. Any glimmer of any Scientologists doing anything, gets exaggerated, magnified, puffed up and filmed -- and then Miscavige pretends he had something to do with it and that he is causing great things.

But he is a failure. No amount of smoke and mirrors, hand waving and fantasy can cover up the fact that he is a complete, incompetent failure. In all his life, Miscavige has never succeeded, has never completed anything, has never made something better.

The damage to the Church of Scientology by Miscavige is so extensive, I do not see any way it could recover. In my opinion, even when Miscavige is gone, the effects of his mis-management are too severe for any possible recovery. The Church of Scientology is gone. Only inertia and the desperate efforts of a few local Scientologists is keeping it from immediate, complete collapse.

Each Scientologist has his or her own level of gullibility. Soon, most of the few remaining Scientologists will finally realize the truth and they, too, will stop supporting him.

While it is very true that David Miscavige has destroyed the Church of Scientology, and it is also very true that Miscavige ultimately fails at everything he does, he is still vicious and destructive. In the short time remaining, the attacks he directs can still cause damage even as his organization collapses around him.

The battle for justice is not finished until the criminals of the Church of Scientology, especially Miscavige, are brought to justice.
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2 comments:

  1. Fascinating article, thank you. In what form do you see the collapse of Scientology occurring? A prolonged period of insolvency and slow erosion of the membership? A sudden bankruptcy? Banned by governments? An announcement that the Church no longer exists - sort of like the Soviet Union being disbanded? A critical mass suddenly reached where the majority of staff and parishioners simply walk away after they wake up to the fact that they have been betrayed by Miscavige? In other words, what do you think we are going to witness? How much time do you think the Church has left?

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  2. It's difficult to predict what it will look like because so much of the church is pretend and display. The church is very good at putting on a "good face" no matter what the reality is.

    Also, Miscavige has lots of money, he just doesn't want to spend it. Miscavige won't go broke, which means the RTC won't go bankrupt.

    I think the "show" could continue for many years, the facade of a "strong church", the flashy events. It doesn't cost much to pretend and it strokes Miscavige's ego.

    But the rot is extensive. Scientologists are leaving in droves. You won't see this announced anywhere, it is primarily Scientologists just dropping away. It's what the CoS calls "inactive Scientologists". They no longer participate. The reality is, they're out but they haven't announced it or "routed out". This would describe most of those who Miscavige thinks are still Scientologists.

    So, the collapse is actually far advanced, hidden behind the facade. Local churches are in deep trouble. The "Ideal Org" program is pushing the few churches that might have survived, right to the edge, and beyond.

    Local churches simply cannot survive, but Miscavige cannot allow their collapse to be seen. How he'll hide that, I cannot say. He really hates to spend money, but he would have to to stop local churches from disappearing. What he's done so far is combine nearby churches. That's been done already and was only a temporary stopgap. He may try that with more distant churches, or his plan may be to "shrink" the local church in place, and quietly rent out their new buildings.

    Look for continuing actions that keep the facade in place and actions that hide the rot. Like what Miscavige has been doing for years, but more desperate.

    Because of desperate work to hide the rot, the real collapse is and will be gradual, but not visible. The final collapse will appear to be sudden. I predict it will occur when Miscavige absconds with all the money, or when he is led off in handcuffs, whichever comes first.

    Whichever happens, I also predict that the huge cash reserves of the church will be hard to find. That's Miscavige's private fund.

    ReplyDelete

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