Because of various problems with Blogger, I've copied everything as of November 26, 2012 over to WordPress. The new location is Ask the Scientologist. I am not deleting this blog and will still accept comments and answer questions here too, but any new articles will appear at the WordPress location. I apologize if this causes any problems.

Monday, September 27, 2010

The Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy That Never Was

... but, apparently, will never die.

You can't have much contact with Scientology without running into the Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy.

It is one of the core beliefs of Scientology.  L. Ron Hubbard was quite paranoid.  He believed that pretty much everyone was working against him.  This belief is built into the core of Scientology and is the motivation behind much of the abusive policies of Scientology.  The Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy is the primary reason for fair game, "enemy" declares, disconnection and other such illogical, abusive and sometimes illegal actions of Scientology.

But, as a friend of mine once said, "It isn't paranoia if people really are working against you."

Well, was it real, or was it paranoia?

The most noticeable thing about The Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy is the complete lack of any proof.  Outside of Hubbard's own claims, there isn't a single shred of evidence.

From the very early 1950's Hubbard told stories about this conspiracy.  "They" tried to kidnap him; "they" tried to lock him up; "they" tried to drug him. Exciting adventures that no one ever witnessed.  Stories that changed with every re-telling.  The Great Anti-Hubbard Conspiracy changed and grew with every telling.  Eventually, it became the Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy.

In 1967, Hubbard announced that the people behind the Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy were just twelve, powerful people -- but he provided no proof.  In truth, his announcement surprised his closest staff, because they had not seen nor forwarded to Hubbard any such information.  "Where," they wondered, "did Ron get all this information?"

Some Scientologists believe that the FBI raid in 1977 confirmed the existence of the conspiracy, but that belief completely ignores the actual cause and effect.  The FBI raid was in response to Hubbard's "Operation Snow White", his massive spying operation on the government, which was implemented in 1974 and continued until the FBI raid and subsequent arrests in 1977.

Think about it.  If Hubbard and the Church of Scientology had been the object of a Great Conspiracy earlier, in 1974, the FBI would have already known about "Operation Snow White", even as it was planned, and it would have never succeeded as long as it did.  The only actual conspiracy was the church's conspiracy against the U.S. government.

That's simple logic.  But then, logic has never been Scientology's strong suit.

It should be pointed out here that one of the goals of "Operation Snow White" was to find and steal the evidence of this conspiracy.  Despite the tons and tons of documents stolen, absolutely no such evidence was ever found.

There is not, and never has been, any proof of any such conspiracy.

Psychiatry, the primary actor in Hubbard's Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy, doesn't pay any attention to Scientology.  While the church carries out huge, million dollar campaigns against psychiatrists and psychiatry, their response has been mild confusion and ... nothing.  What does it indicate when your "biggest enemy" isn't doing any fighting?

Again, simple logic says, "no conspiracy".  There is no evidence and there is no proof of any Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy.

Of course, today, Scientologists are told, in various "confidential briefings", that the "Anonymous" protests are the latest manifestation of the Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy.

Are you kidding?  Are you kidding?!  A lot of kids in masks, carrying crude signs, dancing, telling jokes and Internet memes?  That's what Scientology's super-powerful enemies came up with?  Not in any way to denigrate the wonderful protesters, I admire them greatly for their selfless actions, but they are simply not what a Great Billion-Dollar Anti-Scientology Conspiracy would come up with as a method of destroying Scientology.  I mean, come on!

Not only that, but the birth of the Anonymous protests has been well documented -- and it was in response to the Church of Scientology's attempt to suppress embarrassing revelations on the Internet. Very well documented, indeed.

Do you begin to the logical pattern here?  Any attacks on the Church of Scientology are in direct response to illegal and unethical actions by the church.  These illegal and unethical actions by the church and the connection to the subsequent reaction and exposure of those illegal actions are very well documented.

But, says the Scientologist, it's all true!  David Miscavige said it, so it must be true.

OK, logic time again.  If it were true, if any of the Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy were true, why hasn't the church leaked one tiny bit of proof?  If the Church of Scientology actually presented proof of this Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy, the resulting exposure would be totally wonderful for the church.  With irrefutable proof of the conspiracy, the church would demonstrate to the world that:
  • They were right about psychiatry and Big Pharma.
  • Scientology is the most important group on the planet.
  • Scientology's solutions do work and are a threat to psychiatry and Big Pharma.
  • Hubbard was right and was a genius who changed the world.
Those conclusions would follow automatically if the Church of Scientology presented the actual proof of the Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy.  This kind of recognition and validation is what the church desperately wants and needs, so why doesn't the church present this evidence?

There is only one reason the Church of Scientology can't, won't and will never present their "proof" to the world and garner all these wonderful benefits:
There is not and never has been any Great Anti-Scientology Conspiracy.
All of the Church of Scientology's problems were caused by the church itself.  There is no one else to blame for their problems -- they have been battling themselves for over sixty years -- and losing all the time. 
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Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Church of Scientology Does Nothing

If you are like me, you are pretty bored right now with the Church of Scientology.  They do nothing.

Day after day, month after month, they do nothing.  You might hear fantastic claims being made by David Miscavige in one of his Big Events, about the "world saving solutions" that Scientology is implementing -- to great acclaim -- but that's just empty words, made up stories.  Nothing actually happened.  The church didn't actually do anything.

Here's what happens.  Some Scientologist gets excited, works real hard and "does something".  They might form a small group in their community.  They might discuss Scientology with some minor local government official.

In actual fact, it isn't much, and it never amounts to anything.

But they report it as a "win" to David Miscavige, and that's where things go crazy.  Miscavige gets all excited and dispatches his Gold Film Crew to "document this major breakthrough".

And by "document" Miscavige means, very specifically, "create a huge, exciting story about Scientology expansion and impressive impact on the world" (without any regard to what actually happened).

The Gold Film Crew know that they will be in deep, deep trouble if they report what actually happened -- and I mean RPF-prison-camp trouble.

So when the crew arrives and starts filming, they don't pay much attention to the original Scientologist or what he says.  They create a story that Miscavige wants.

Example:  The Scientologist's small group has, since the report was filed, actually disbanded.  It was only three people anyway and they lost interest.  The Gold Film Crew will gather up people, any people, put them in a room with Scientology books and charts, and film them as if they were the group.

If the story was about Scientology Volunteer Ministers, the Gold Film Crew will put those yellow VM shirts on everyone who tolerates it, pose them as if they were helping people, and film that.

If the story was about some conversation with some minor, local government official, the official will be "promoted" by the film crew to a much more prestigious position, and the story will be created about Scientology being "implemented broadly" throughout the whole country.

And nothing actually happened.  The Church of Scientology did nothing and the individual Scientologist did very little, the effect of which soon disappeared.

All the rest of the big "news" at Miscavige's Big Events is equally bogus.  At every event Miscavige announces the "destruction of psychiatry" or "unprecedented Scientology expansion" or "Scientology's solutions impacting the world"...

And nothing actually happened.  Psychiatry is doing quite well, Scientology's "solutions" aren't implemented anywhere in the real world and Scientology has collapsed and shows no signs of recovery.

David Miscavige, and his little Church of Scientology are boring -- all talk and no do.

The only excitement, and it is minor, is when David Miscavige reacts to a news report about his abuses, or when he reacts to the imagined threat of an "Independent Church of Scientology".  But even then, it's bluster and threat rather than action.

The Church of Scientology does nothing.  That's the news for today.
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