The recent announcement from "Emma" of Ex-Scientology Message Board that, after October, she is no longer going to run the message board, has gotten me thinking about those on the front lines.
First, I think this is a very good thing for Emma to do. God! What an incredible job she has done over the years maintaining some control over that herd of cats while under continuous attack from the Church of Scientology. In 2010, when the church uncovered her real name, the attacks got considerably worse with bogus legal actions. Then, as if that wasn't hard enough, recently, her mother passed away.
Emma's message board has helped thousands, probably tens of thousands, of people recover from Scientology's thought control and abuse. Her board has been read by millions. She is awesome. And, while she will be greatly missed, there comes a time when a fighter should retire -- undefeated and victorious, for sure -- but enough is enough.
At its core, the Church of Scientology is evil, degraded, abusive and destructive. Those who help people escape from, and recover from, Scientology's abuses and thought control methods and who work to expose the crimes and abuse, are directly connected to this evil. How much can a person take of such evil? How much should a person put up with before they back off and someone else takes their place?
It is amazing to me that one single person can do so much against everything the insane, wealthy Church of Scientology can throw at them. Emma is not the only such person, and they all deserve our gratitude, our thanks and our admiration. The ability of these single individuals to defeat the Church of Scientology shows how decency, goodness and truth can defeat evil.
And don't doubt we all have defeated the Church of Scientology -- especially folks like Emma who have borne the brunt of Scientology's attacks.
Today, Scientology's secrets are all well-known. Today, Hubbard is known in the real world for exactly what he was. Today, Scientology has very few adherents and virtually no new recruits. Today, every Scientology "church" is empty and struggling -- or closed.
Yes, Scientology's few remaining, hard-core believers are still fighting, lying, abusing and attacking but their teeth have been pulled. For the most part, police and the courts recognize their lies and quickly shut down their bogus, desperate attacks.
New allies are showing up to see that Scientology's lies, abuse, crimes and fraud are exposed and the guilty are brought to justice. The opposition to the Church of Scientology actually grows daily.
So, some of the fighters are taking a well-earned break. Some of the blogs and message boards are quieter now, like this one, or even dormant, like Leaving Scientology. These fighters have earned a respite from the front lines. Don't worry, there are lots and lots of fighters on the job, and more to come.
Those fighters who are withdrawing from the front lines do so as victors and those who take over the fight are grateful and thankful.
--
Showing posts with label Collapse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Collapse. Show all posts
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Where Are All the Scientologists? Part 4
We are now past the time when estimating the number of Church of Scientology members was even possible. The reason for this is that the number of church members for a country simply becomes lost in the margin of error of any poll. The last ARIS survey simply dumped "Scientology" into "Miscellaneous", with numbers too small to note. Of course, the numbers would be much worse today.
In addition, it looks like the number of people outside of the church, who might still consider themselves a "Scientologist" (and answer a poll that way) is already larger than the number of people in the Church of Scientology. Unless a poll specifically asked "inside or outside the church," the numbers would be meaningless.
Another problem in determining who really is a member of the Church of Scientology is that most people who no longer want to have anything to do with the church will pretend they still believe -- so they can talk to their friends and family who are church members.
For clarification, here are the different stages most Scientologists go through when waking up and leaving Scientology:
The Scientologists at stage 2 and 3 are the way this inner core can and has been reached. Reports from outside whistle-blowers like the reports from Luis Garcia and Geir Isene are written by Scientologists for Scientologists. They speak the language and they frame the crimes and abuse against the "Ideal Scene" that all Scientologists believe in. Some of these reports are from well-known and trusted Scientologists.
The previously impermeable bubble that protected members of the Church of Scientology from reality has been torn apart. The crimes and abuses of David Miscavige and other top Scientologists are now known about and discussed widely within the church. I'm sure the inner core of the most loyal Scientologists are fervently denying these reports, but they know about them. This shakes them up.
And here David Miscavige comes to help the inner core make up their minds -- and not in the direction he intends. He is attacking them.
As more and more Scientologists leave, the few remaining, very loyal Scientologists will come under increasing threats and increasing pressure. Where there used to be thousands of Scientologists buying books and courses and donating to Miscavige's latest money-making scam, now there are just a few -- and Miscavige expects them to take up the slack -- and his pressure on them is beyond intense.
In addition, because Miscavige has gotten the idea that the truth is getting through to his followers, he is suspicious of every Scientologist and he will demand more Conditions, more Ethics and more Sec Checks.
Get the picture? The increasing pressure, suspicion, Ethics, greed and threats will now hit at the most loyal, most dedicated Scientologists. Miscavige can't help it, he must demand more and more money while treating people with more and more suspicion.
And his most loyal, dedicated followers, who have now heard of, and dismissed, stories of crimes and abuse will get the full brunt of Miscavige's greed. They will get abused. Criminal acts will occur -- illegal charges on their credit cards, for instance.
That inner, unreachable core of dedicated church members is under attack -- by Miscavige -- and now they will get the truth, whether they want it or not.
We are in the final days, but what is going on will be mostly hidden. We will only hear about it later.
-
In addition, it looks like the number of people outside of the church, who might still consider themselves a "Scientologist" (and answer a poll that way) is already larger than the number of people in the Church of Scientology. Unless a poll specifically asked "inside or outside the church," the numbers would be meaningless.
Another problem in determining who really is a member of the Church of Scientology is that most people who no longer want to have anything to do with the church will pretend they still believe -- so they can talk to their friends and family who are church members.
For clarification, here are the different stages most Scientologists go through when waking up and leaving Scientology:
- Scientologist finally admits that the actions of the church towards himself and others are abusive and wrong. I say "finally admits" because almost all Scientologists already feel the church's actions are wrong, but they just don't admit it at first.
This results in the Scientologist withdrawing support from the church while pretending they're still loyal. This means they might still show up for the major events and may still take a course or buy a book, but that's about it. - Next, the Scientologist starts talking with other Scientologists about the problems and abuses they see. As they learn to trust each other, they share their own stories of abuse and wrongdoing by the church. At this point they eagerly pass along reports from outside the church, like the ones from Luis Garcia and Geir Isene.
This results in a fifth column inside of the Church of Scientology. These Scientologists actually become a conduit from outside Scientology whistle-blowers right into the very heart of the Church of Scientology. This completely destroys the carefully constructed wall between the church and the real world. This development is significant. - Then these Scientologists start to read the Internet -- the "forbidden" sites! Initially, this can be very scary, since they have been assured that all sorts of terrible things will happen to them when they read these sites. But they do and they are shocked and outraged at what they find about David Miscavige, Scientology and their church.
This is the point where most stop having anything to do with the Church of Scientology. - Sooner or later they stop pretending they are still loyal to the Church of Scientology. From there, they may participate in some independent Scientology group, or may cease to have anything to do with Scientology at all. The latter is most common.
The Scientologists at stage 2 and 3 are the way this inner core can and has been reached. Reports from outside whistle-blowers like the reports from Luis Garcia and Geir Isene are written by Scientologists for Scientologists. They speak the language and they frame the crimes and abuse against the "Ideal Scene" that all Scientologists believe in. Some of these reports are from well-known and trusted Scientologists.
The previously impermeable bubble that protected members of the Church of Scientology from reality has been torn apart. The crimes and abuses of David Miscavige and other top Scientologists are now known about and discussed widely within the church. I'm sure the inner core of the most loyal Scientologists are fervently denying these reports, but they know about them. This shakes them up.
And here David Miscavige comes to help the inner core make up their minds -- and not in the direction he intends. He is attacking them.
As more and more Scientologists leave, the few remaining, very loyal Scientologists will come under increasing threats and increasing pressure. Where there used to be thousands of Scientologists buying books and courses and donating to Miscavige's latest money-making scam, now there are just a few -- and Miscavige expects them to take up the slack -- and his pressure on them is beyond intense.
In addition, because Miscavige has gotten the idea that the truth is getting through to his followers, he is suspicious of every Scientologist and he will demand more Conditions, more Ethics and more Sec Checks.
Get the picture? The increasing pressure, suspicion, Ethics, greed and threats will now hit at the most loyal, most dedicated Scientologists. Miscavige can't help it, he must demand more and more money while treating people with more and more suspicion.
And his most loyal, dedicated followers, who have now heard of, and dismissed, stories of crimes and abuse will get the full brunt of Miscavige's greed. They will get abused. Criminal acts will occur -- illegal charges on their credit cards, for instance.
That inner, unreachable core of dedicated church members is under attack -- by Miscavige -- and now they will get the truth, whether they want it or not.
We are in the final days, but what is going on will be mostly hidden. We will only hear about it later.
-
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Happy New Year 2011
I would like to wish all of you a wonderful New Year 2011. I appreciate all your support and your comments, questions and suggestions.
I would also like to thank all those Scientologists who have argued with me. I do learn a lot from the arguments. As my understanding has been changed over the years by some of those who have argued with me, so I hope I have been able to change some of your understanding as well.
As it is traditional at New Years to look back and look forward, I have been thinking about all that has happened in the few years this blog has been in existence.
First, a look back.
Shortly after I started Ask the Scientologist, the infamous Tom Cruise video was leaked in January of 2008. At that time, no one knew how that would affect Scientology. It changed everything.
I don't need to rehash that in any detail, but from the efforts of the Church of Scientology to suppress the video came Anonymous' Project Chanology and from that came the collapse of the Church of Scientology.
In light of David Miscavige's recent announcement of his "victory over Anonymous", I want to point out exactly what Anonymous and the Internet did.
Before Anonymous, the Church of Scientology was, essentially, untouchable. Major media had learned its lesson from Time Magazine -- if you said anything negative about the Church of Scientology, even when completely true and proven in court, it would cost you millions and millions. No major media would risk that, so the church's crimes, lies, fraud and abuse were universally ignored.
Before Anonymous, critics and whistle-blowers were viciously fair-gamed, attacked, slandered and libelled. Once again, the Church of Scientology's million-dollar lawyers made it virtually impossible for the whistle-blowers to defend themselves.
Now it is true that the Church of Scientology was shrinking and had been for three decades, but this was primarily because of Miscavige's incompetence, poor leadership and stupidity, not because of any external force. It was a train wreck in slow motion.
Then came Anonymous.
Turns out it was the perfect way to attack and expose the Church of Scientology's crimes, lies, abuse and fraud. Every single weapon the church possessed was completely nullified. The attack had no leaders, no organization, no faces, no names, just information -- pure, verifiable information.
Almost immediately, many more people became involved in this fight. Suddenly the treasure trove of information collected by critics and whistle-blowers over fifty years, plus tons of new leaks, documents, affidavits, court records, confidential church issues and so much more, exploded over the Internet. The church's crimes, lies, abuse and fraud were exposed for all to see. And the Church of Scientology could do nothing to stop it.
The truth has always been Scientology's Achilles heel, and they could do nothing about these leaks and their ineffective attempts to do so just fuelled the flames.
Today, the environment is completely different for the church. Major media can and does report regularly on the church's crimes, lies, fraud and abuse. Virtually no one outside of the Church of Scientology has a good opinion of the church. The information about Scientology that was once so carefully hidden is now available for all to see -- and millions have seen it.
Very notably, in all this media coverage was the incredible exposés of the St. Petersburg Times by Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin. Their series, The Truth Rundown, was incredible -- and they aren't stopping.
And let us not forget Anderson Cooper's series, Scientology: A History of Violence. David Miscavige's incredibly stupid and incompetent rebuttals were more damaging than anything Anderson revealed.
And there were a lot more major media reports and exposés, all over the world. No one is afraid of the Church of Scientology any more.
Far from there being any "victory" here for Miscavige, the Internet has defeated the Church of Scientology at every turn. As the saying goes, the Church of Scientology can't afford any more "victories" like that.
As we come up on the third year anniversary of the protests, we see that, while the protests are often smaller and are no longer appearing at all the smaller orgs, they are still continuing. This is both impressive and important. The crimes, lies, abuses and fraud of the Church of Scientology continue to this day. That must not be forgotten.
This year we also saw the Headley case dismissed. That was disappointing, but not unexpected. However, the great part was, after evidence was presented in court, the Church of Scientology had to admit it was all true. Yes, they do abuse their staff. Yes, they don't give them any time off. Yes, they pay them next to nothing. Yes, they feed staff table-scraps and force them to sleep under their desks. Yes, yes, yes. But, they said, we're allowed to do that, we're a cult!
And the court agreed. Didn't like it but had to agree. Yes, they can abuse their staff. This is now public record. This was not the "victory" that the church claimed, was it?
Several new books have come out this year exposing Scientology's evils. No longer does the church have any power to stop them. This year we've seen:
In 2010, Scientologists continued to leave the church, Miscavige continued to make huge mistakes and fail miserably, and the Church of Scientology continued to collapse. Overall, it was a good year.
Please let me know if I've forgotten any significant events of 2010.
Next: What about the future?
-
I would also like to thank all those Scientologists who have argued with me. I do learn a lot from the arguments. As my understanding has been changed over the years by some of those who have argued with me, so I hope I have been able to change some of your understanding as well.
As it is traditional at New Years to look back and look forward, I have been thinking about all that has happened in the few years this blog has been in existence.
First, a look back.
Shortly after I started Ask the Scientologist, the infamous Tom Cruise video was leaked in January of 2008. At that time, no one knew how that would affect Scientology. It changed everything.
I don't need to rehash that in any detail, but from the efforts of the Church of Scientology to suppress the video came Anonymous' Project Chanology and from that came the collapse of the Church of Scientology.
In light of David Miscavige's recent announcement of his "victory over Anonymous", I want to point out exactly what Anonymous and the Internet did.
Before Anonymous, the Church of Scientology was, essentially, untouchable. Major media had learned its lesson from Time Magazine -- if you said anything negative about the Church of Scientology, even when completely true and proven in court, it would cost you millions and millions. No major media would risk that, so the church's crimes, lies, fraud and abuse were universally ignored.
Before Anonymous, critics and whistle-blowers were viciously fair-gamed, attacked, slandered and libelled. Once again, the Church of Scientology's million-dollar lawyers made it virtually impossible for the whistle-blowers to defend themselves.
Now it is true that the Church of Scientology was shrinking and had been for three decades, but this was primarily because of Miscavige's incompetence, poor leadership and stupidity, not because of any external force. It was a train wreck in slow motion.
Then came Anonymous.
Turns out it was the perfect way to attack and expose the Church of Scientology's crimes, lies, abuse and fraud. Every single weapon the church possessed was completely nullified. The attack had no leaders, no organization, no faces, no names, just information -- pure, verifiable information.
Almost immediately, many more people became involved in this fight. Suddenly the treasure trove of information collected by critics and whistle-blowers over fifty years, plus tons of new leaks, documents, affidavits, court records, confidential church issues and so much more, exploded over the Internet. The church's crimes, lies, abuse and fraud were exposed for all to see. And the Church of Scientology could do nothing to stop it.
The truth has always been Scientology's Achilles heel, and they could do nothing about these leaks and their ineffective attempts to do so just fuelled the flames.
Today, the environment is completely different for the church. Major media can and does report regularly on the church's crimes, lies, fraud and abuse. Virtually no one outside of the Church of Scientology has a good opinion of the church. The information about Scientology that was once so carefully hidden is now available for all to see -- and millions have seen it.
Very notably, in all this media coverage was the incredible exposés of the St. Petersburg Times by Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin. Their series, The Truth Rundown, was incredible -- and they aren't stopping.
And let us not forget Anderson Cooper's series, Scientology: A History of Violence. David Miscavige's incredibly stupid and incompetent rebuttals were more damaging than anything Anderson revealed.
And there were a lot more major media reports and exposés, all over the world. No one is afraid of the Church of Scientology any more.
Far from there being any "victory" here for Miscavige, the Internet has defeated the Church of Scientology at every turn. As the saying goes, the Church of Scientology can't afford any more "victories" like that.
As we come up on the third year anniversary of the protests, we see that, while the protests are often smaller and are no longer appearing at all the smaller orgs, they are still continuing. This is both impressive and important. The crimes, lies, abuses and fraud of the Church of Scientology continue to this day. That must not be forgotten.
This year we also saw the Headley case dismissed. That was disappointing, but not unexpected. However, the great part was, after evidence was presented in court, the Church of Scientology had to admit it was all true. Yes, they do abuse their staff. Yes, they don't give them any time off. Yes, they pay them next to nothing. Yes, they feed staff table-scraps and force them to sleep under their desks. Yes, yes, yes. But, they said, we're allowed to do that, we're a cult!
And the court agreed. Didn't like it but had to agree. Yes, they can abuse their staff. This is now public record. This was not the "victory" that the church claimed, was it?
Several new books have come out this year exposing Scientology's evils. No longer does the church have any power to stop them. This year we've seen:
- Counterfeit Dreams by Jefferson Hawkins
- Scientology: Abuse at the Top by Amy Scobee
- My Billion Year Contract by Nancy Many
- The Road to Xenu:Life Inside Scientology by Margery Wakefield
- Understanding Scientology: The Demon Cult by Margery Wakefield
- Blown for Good by Marc Headley
- The Miscavige Legal Statements: A Study in Perjury, Lies and Misdirection by Larry Brennan
- Deceived (One Woman's stand against the Church of Scientology) by Bonnie Woods
- Hollywood, Satanism, Scientology, And Suicide by Jerry Staton
- The Complex - An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology by John Duignan and Nicola Tallent
In 2010, Scientologists continued to leave the church, Miscavige continued to make huge mistakes and fail miserably, and the Church of Scientology continued to collapse. Overall, it was a good year.
Please let me know if I've forgotten any significant events of 2010.
Next: What about the future?
-
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Church of Scientology Implodes
There for awhile, people kept asking each other, "When will the Church of Scientology collapse?" I kept saying, it's happening now, but because the church puts up a good façade, it wasn't so obvious.
Well, now it's obvious that we are seeing the inevitable collapse of the Church of Scientology.
Let me show you the signs and my predictions for the future.
Already we saw churches closing, excused as "combining" with nearby churches, but now we are seeing churches actually disappearing, closing their doors.
Already we were seeing the membership numbers drastically dropping, and every day, newly out ex-Scientologists are telling their stories, getting in touch with old friends.
Already we were seeing the "formidable" attack machinery of the church falling apart, failing. But, today, they have so few trusted staff that they can no longer fight more than one battle at a time -- and they have so many more than one battle today.
Major news outlets have written exposés on the church, but that's just the bare start. More news reports on the Church of Scientology's criminal activities are being prepared at this moment.
Already we have seen the church's deepest, darkest secrets exposed -- not just their "confidential OT Levels" but the pervasive abuse, criminal actions and blatant lying at the very highest levels of the church. Strong legal actions against the church are in progress, official investigations are in progress. Things are not looking good.
The church's ship, the Freewinds, is floating around nearly empty. The big cash cow has become a big cash drain. As you may know, the ship was kicked out of Curaçao for all their bad behavior and is now home-ported in Colombia.
Flag, the biggest church in Scientology, has collapsed. To try to stem the collapse they forbade all field auditors within 90 miles from delivering any services, but that didn't help. Now they are trying to steal all public from every other church, promoting that all those services are now available at Flag. They are desperate and in big trouble.
The other churches are mostly empty and struggling to pay their bills -- often many months late and getting later. Staff simply aren't getting paid.
The church's so-called "missions" are disappearing but it's hard to tell. Most missions are out of someone's home and only open a few hours a week. The difference between an "open" and "closed" mission isn't very much.
The Church of Scientology claims there are thousands of "Scientology Groups" but none of them can be found. It appears all their groups have closed.
It is a catastrophe, and just getting worse.
Here's what's coming up.
First, you will see David Miscavige spending a lot of time on the Freewinds. (I'll give you a hint on why: There is no extradition from Colombia. As long as he is "at sea" or in Colombia, he can hide from the law.)
Second, there will be many more church closings. Those that aren't closed will become empty, most lights turned off, most rooms unused. They may retain a receptionist who will "show movies" to anyone foolish enough to come in. A few services will be available, and only at limited times. If they own the building outright, and as long as they don't have to pay taxes, they will be able to keep these dark, empty buildings "open" for a long time.
Scientology will implode into Clearwater, meaning that the major center, major focus and remaining activities will happen there. Scientologists who remain True Believers will be forced to move to Clearwater as local churches close and services become difficult to obtain.
At some point, the advanced churches at the Los Angeles "Big Blue" center will "expand" to Clearwater as well.
The much-vaunted "new buildings" that the church owns will become a liability, since they are all now worth much less than what was originally paid for them. Some, like "Big Blue" are so old and poorly maintained that they can only be torn down.
We will see fewer and fewer Scientologists as all this goes down. The Freezone will expand a bit with the influx of those who still believe in Hubbard's technology, but even that group will eventually suffer from the fact that all Hubbard's secrets have been exposed, all his lies have been documented.
For those who wanted to see the Church of Scientology collapse, keep your eyes open because that's what's happening right now.
-
Well, now it's obvious that we are seeing the inevitable collapse of the Church of Scientology.
Let me show you the signs and my predictions for the future.
Already we saw churches closing, excused as "combining" with nearby churches, but now we are seeing churches actually disappearing, closing their doors.
Already we were seeing the membership numbers drastically dropping, and every day, newly out ex-Scientologists are telling their stories, getting in touch with old friends.
Already we were seeing the "formidable" attack machinery of the church falling apart, failing. But, today, they have so few trusted staff that they can no longer fight more than one battle at a time -- and they have so many more than one battle today.
Major news outlets have written exposés on the church, but that's just the bare start. More news reports on the Church of Scientology's criminal activities are being prepared at this moment.
Already we have seen the church's deepest, darkest secrets exposed -- not just their "confidential OT Levels" but the pervasive abuse, criminal actions and blatant lying at the very highest levels of the church. Strong legal actions against the church are in progress, official investigations are in progress. Things are not looking good.
The church's ship, the Freewinds, is floating around nearly empty. The big cash cow has become a big cash drain. As you may know, the ship was kicked out of Curaçao for all their bad behavior and is now home-ported in Colombia.
Flag, the biggest church in Scientology, has collapsed. To try to stem the collapse they forbade all field auditors within 90 miles from delivering any services, but that didn't help. Now they are trying to steal all public from every other church, promoting that all those services are now available at Flag. They are desperate and in big trouble.
The other churches are mostly empty and struggling to pay their bills -- often many months late and getting later. Staff simply aren't getting paid.
The church's so-called "missions" are disappearing but it's hard to tell. Most missions are out of someone's home and only open a few hours a week. The difference between an "open" and "closed" mission isn't very much.
The Church of Scientology claims there are thousands of "Scientology Groups" but none of them can be found. It appears all their groups have closed.
It is a catastrophe, and just getting worse.
Here's what's coming up.
First, you will see David Miscavige spending a lot of time on the Freewinds. (I'll give you a hint on why: There is no extradition from Colombia. As long as he is "at sea" or in Colombia, he can hide from the law.)
Second, there will be many more church closings. Those that aren't closed will become empty, most lights turned off, most rooms unused. They may retain a receptionist who will "show movies" to anyone foolish enough to come in. A few services will be available, and only at limited times. If they own the building outright, and as long as they don't have to pay taxes, they will be able to keep these dark, empty buildings "open" for a long time.
Scientology will implode into Clearwater, meaning that the major center, major focus and remaining activities will happen there. Scientologists who remain True Believers will be forced to move to Clearwater as local churches close and services become difficult to obtain.
At some point, the advanced churches at the Los Angeles "Big Blue" center will "expand" to Clearwater as well.
The much-vaunted "new buildings" that the church owns will become a liability, since they are all now worth much less than what was originally paid for them. Some, like "Big Blue" are so old and poorly maintained that they can only be torn down.
We will see fewer and fewer Scientologists as all this goes down. The Freezone will expand a bit with the influx of those who still believe in Hubbard's technology, but even that group will eventually suffer from the fact that all Hubbard's secrets have been exposed, all his lies have been documented.
For those who wanted to see the Church of Scientology collapse, keep your eyes open because that's what's happening right now.
-
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