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.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

A New Bridge to Freedom for Scientologists

Scientologists need a new Bridge to Freedom. No, not the "Bridge to 'Total Freedom'" that L. Ron Hubbard concocted. No, they need a way out of the slavery and deception that is David Miscavige's Church of Scientology.

Scientologists were told by Hubbard that "The way out is the the way through." They believe this bit of "advice", but, while it may be true under very specific circumstances, it is obviously false otherwise. Would they tell a woman in a horrible, abusive relationship "Stick with it, 'the way out is the way through!'" Of course not!

The way out of their abusive relationship with the Church of Scientology is out!

This escape from the totalitarian control of the Church of Scientology is often quite difficult. When someone is a Believer, they have carefully controlled their thoughts for so long and so thoroughly that it has become quite difficult to exercise those atrophied mental skills of observation, perception, deduction and logic.

Scientologists need our help.

But why should we help those still in the Church of Scientology's control? Isn't it their fault? Aren't they the gullible ones? Why not just make fun of them for being stupid and leave it at that?

In an ironic twist, this is exactly what Scientologists would recommend. Scientologists believe that, if something bad happens to someone, they "pulled it in". From the Hubbard viewpoint, it is totally someone's own damn fault that something bad happened to them.

(Of course, Hubbard didn't really believe that. If something bad happened to Hubbard or his church it was never "pulled in" by him.)

But let's not take the Scientology viewpoint on this. Scientologists need help, so why not offer it to them?

Besides, it would really, really make David Miscavige mad if Anonymous and Scientologists started talking nicely together! Can you imagine?

Miscavige wants Scientologists to be very, very afraid of Anonymous. Miscavige wants Anonymous to help him by attacking Scientologists. It doesn't matter to Miscavige who gets hurt as long as he can keep collecting his fear-induced donations from the few remaining Scientologists. Scientologists are already in a constant state of fear, created by Miscavige. I don't think we should help Miscavige any more.

And, what happens if we help Scientologists escape the cult? Well, look at all the ex-Scientologists. Once these people became free from the influence of the cult, they became sane people. Many critics of the Church of Scientology are ex-Scientologists. Much of the information about the crimes, abuses and fraud of the church comes from ex-Scientologists. Many within Anonymous are ex-Scientologists. Many supporters of Anonymous are ex-Scientologists.

Most Scientologists, once they are free from the oppression of the Church of Scientology, become good, responsible, productive people.

They are worthy of our help.

We are creating a new Bridge to Freedom for Scientologists -- freedom from the Church of Scientology. It is already going on and it is wonderful. There are many resources for Scientologists who are starting to wake up:
And many more I'm sure I'm neglecting.

I love the idea of Anonymous and the critics of Scientology creating this new Bridge to Freedom. Imagine messages like:
  • Scientologists, the truth will set you free.
  • We help Scientologists to become Free.
  • Your friends are waiting to help you.
  • Your suffering under the church is at an end, join us and be free.
  • Scientologists: The church is your enemy, not Anonymous.
Many Scientologists are becoming aware of the horrible trap they have been in, and they are lost and confused. What can they do now? Who can they trust? What happens now?

We can help them. They need to know this.

And, besides, it will really piss off Miscavige!
-

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Scientology Events

David Miscavige, leader of the Church of Scientology, holds six "big" Scientology events every year. These events are:
  • L. Ron Hubbard's Birthday (March 13)
  • Initial publication Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health (May 9)
  • Freewinds Maiden Voyage "OT Summit" (4 evenings in June)
  • Auditor's Day (2nd Sunday in Sept)
  • IAS Anniversary (Oct 7)
  • New Year's Eve
These events are ostentatious, florid affairs, usually video taped before huge backdrop paintings that look vaguely like some odd byzantine temple. As a rule, Miscavige is front and center, soaking up the carefully orchestrated stand-and-applaud moments.

Sometimes, Miscavige pulls some previous executive off of their punishment detail, like Heber Jentzsch or Guillaume Lesevre and has them carefully drill and then read Miscavige's script off the teleprompter -- I guess this is an attempt to "disprove" the reports that they are permanently on punishment detail -- then, as soon as the event is over, he slams them back into their permanent punishment.

Mostly, these events are Miscavige, telling his grandiose and highly embellished tales and soaking up the adoration of Scientologists.

But is that the purpose of these grand events, to stroke Miscavige's twisted ego? Well, that is certainly part of their purpose. While Miscavige holds all Scientologists in great disdain and speaks of them privately with utmost scorn, he also, apparently, needs their applause and approval.

However, that's only part of their purpose.

You see, David Miscavige is a completely inept manager. He is totally incapable of making the Church of Scientology survive. In fact, his disastrous management has actually resulted in the destruction of the church. Everything he does, all his plans, result in the devastation and ruination of the Church of Scientology. And here is the key point: All these churches, world-wide, are supposed to flow millions up to Miscavige's central management. But, because of Miscavige's destruction of the church, all these churches are barely scraping by or going under! His endless need for more and more money is not going to be satisfied by these piddling flows.

So what is the primary purpose of all these events? Simple: Make Miscavige lots of money.

Instead of establishing local churches, and working with them so that they flourish and prosper, Miscavige decided he'd just get the money directly from public Scientologists -- and use all those local churches as mere collection points for his money.

And that's what he does.

Every event must, must, must drum up more money from the credulous Scientologists. Every event must present something "new" for sale or must, at least, drum up great enthusiasm for huge donations. Often, Miscavige has figured out a way to repackage and remarket the books, lectures or courses to get all Scientologists to buy them all over again. Good Scientologists have bought the same material over and over and over. It makes a lot of money for Miscavige, and allows him to gradually edit these materials to remove Hubbard's imprint from Scientology. While Hubbard's name still appears, more and more of the content contains Miscavige's heavy hand.

With these big events, Miscavige directly sells to and collects from Scientologists. Any benefit to the local churches is very minimal. He doesn't care about the local churches. He doesn't care about Scientologists. He doesn't care about expanding Scientology. He only wants money.

Of course, this isn't why Scientologists need these events. Scientologists need what these events present: "Proof" that Scientology works. Evidence that it is all worthwhile. They've emptied their bank accounts, gone deeply into debt, mortgaged everything to support Miscavige's Church of Scientology. They get nothing for all this sacrifice except for a harder struggle to survive and isolation from the rest of the world. They need some evidence that it's all worth it.

Scientologists are told by Miscavige that the Church of Scientology is the "fastest growing religion in the world". They believe this, but never, ever see any evidence of this. To their vast relief, Miscavige's events "show" that it's happening.

Scientologists believe that Scientology has all the solutions to all of the world's ills. Not only that, but they are told that the world is gladly embracing these Scientology "solutions" and the world's problems are being solved! But they never, ever see any evidence of this. Then, Miscavige "proves" it once again, with another video at his events.

Without the "proof" that Miscavige provides at his events, Scientologists would surely wonder why all those wonderful benefits claimed for Scientology never actually produced any visible results.

But, never fear, Miscavige does everything he can to keep Scientologists happy with all the "proof" he can provide.

And yet, Scientologists still have to wonder: Why is Miscavige keeping all this "proof" and all this "Scientology good news" of his wondrous events away from the general public?

The Miscavige event videos are kept under lock and key. You can go into the local church to see them, but, for the most part, they are carefully kept from being released to the world.

And Scientologists have to wonder at that. All that proof, all that wonderful news about how good and effective Scientology is, why isn't this released to everyone?

Two words: Fact checking.

You see, if these events were available to the general public, people could carefully note down all the wondrous claims for expansion or government commendations or Scientology solutions -- and check those claims for truth.

Imagine what would happen if some Scientology event video that shows some country's "representative" praising Scientology was shown to real representatives of that country.

Imagine what would happen if real disaster relief agencies were shown the video of Scientology's bogus claims about their "help" in various disasters.

Imagine what would happen if, upon hearing about the tremendous success and expansion of the Church of Scientology in their area, people in some city went looking for any real evidence of those claims.

Whenever bits of Miscavige's event videos have been available to the general public, the results have been predictably awful for Miscavige.

As an example: The church's web site hosted a video – In Support of Human Rights – promoting the Church of Scientology's Youth for Human Rights campaign, which included more than 20 unnamed dignitaries from various political, cultural and educational occupations. This video was undoubtedly produced for one of Miscavige's big events. What happened when the claims were checked by non-Scientologists? Many of the unnamed officials didn't exist or were quoted entirely out of context. Oops!

Another of Miscavige's events claimed that his Volunteer Ministers had been awarded the Medal of Valor by FDNY "for their work at 9/11". Scientologists were very proud of that achievement, until non-Scientologists fact-checked the claim and found it totally bogus!

And so it goes. Scientologists need evidence that "Scientology works" and evidence that "Miscavige is doing a good job". The events show Scientologists that -- as long as nobody fact-checks those claims.

The visible face of Miscavige's Church of Scientology is facade, fake, bogus. He can show that face to Scientologists, because they will never look behind the curtain. He used to be able to show that face to the world, because the world didn't care enough to look.

With Anonymous and the world-wide attention they have engendered, that is no longer true. While most Scientologists still believe the facade, the rest of the world has looked behind the curtain. Now, most of the world knows that Miscavige does nothing but lie.

And, slowly but steadily, Scientologists are waking up too. Miscavige's claims are just too easily disproved.

All the bogus events in the world are not going to save Miscavige.
-

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Scientologists: What Freedom?

Dear Scientologist,

You are on your way, perhaps well on your way, up the Church of Scientology's "Bridge to Total Freedom", right?

So, I want to know exactly what increased freedoms you're experiencing. After all, if this is a path to "Total Freedom", you must have greater freedoms.

So, what, in your life, is more free?

Can you speak freely? Can you think what you want? Say what you think? Or are you only "free" to think and speak those things sanctioned by the Church of Scientology? Free people do not think, talk and act just like everyone else in their environment; trapped people must only agree. Which are you? Can you speak freely?

Are you free to question what you are told by L. Ron Hubbard, David Miscavige, or anyone else in authority in the church? Do you honestly think these people have never, ever made a mistake or caused a problem? You know you may not question what you are told by the Church of Scientology. Such questions will only get you in trouble. This is not increased freedom.

Are you free to participate, or not participate, in activities of your own creation and choosing? Or are you under duress to participate and give money to activities exactly as defined and executed by the Church of Scientology? It isn't "volunteer" if you are forced to participate. It isn't freedom.

Are you free to ask about the church? Do you know what the real overall statistics of the Church of Scientology are? Do you know what the IAS actually spends your money on? Do you know who is really running your church? When you hear rumors about your church, do you feel free to ask someone about those rumors? Do you feel free to ask those sorts of questions? If you do ask such questions, you know you will get reported to Ethics.

Are you free to talk to anyone you want to? Are you free to talk to everyone in your family? Are you free to talk to all of your friends? Or must you only talk to Scientologists and those who are careful never to disagree with the Church of Scientology? If there are restrictions on who you can talk to, can you consider yourself free?

Are you free to leave Scientology? This is the ultimate freedom that Scientology could impart, freedom to leave, if you so wish it. But, according to the church, this must never happen. According to the church, you are not free to leave. Your church doesn't want you really free.

So, the question for you, on the "Bridge to Total Freedom" is, what freedom? What freedom have you gained from being part of the Church of Scientology? In what part of your life is there more freedom?

There is no evidence that there is any increase of freedom for those on the "Bridge to Total Freedom". Instead, all that happens on this "Bridge to Total Freedom" is less and less freedom.

And where does less and less freedom end up? Slavery. You don't reach freedom by becoming a slave. There is no freedom at the end of the Church of Scientology's "Bridge to Total Freedom".
-

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Scientology: 3rd Party "Law"

No, this "Third Party" does not refer to a third party like the Green Party or the Libertarian Party. This "third party" is a "law" expounded by L. Ron Hubbard as a "breakthrough in resolving conflicts". He says:

WHILE IT IS COMMONLY BELIEVED TO TAKE TWO TO MAKE A FIGHT, A THIRD PARTY MUST EXIST AND MUST DEVELOP IT FOR ACTUAL CONFLICT TO OCCUR.

It is very easy to see that two in conflict are fighting. They are very visible. What is harder to see or suspect is that a third party existed and actively promoted the quarrel.

...

The hidden third party, seeming at times to be a supporter of only one side, is to be found as the instigator.

This is a useful law in many areas of life.

L. Ron Hubbard
The Third Party Law.
While it is doubtful that this "law" is as absolute as Hubbard says, it is important for non-Scientologists to understand it because this is a technique that the Church of Scientology firmly believes and will use and is using as a weapon against their perceived enemies. Whether this could ever be used to resolve conflicts isn't particularly important. What is important is that this technique can be used to create and prolong conflicts.

Perhaps one could call this sort of thing "Black Scientology," the idea of using Scientology techniques to damage people and create chaos to the church's benefit. It seems like the Church of Scientology does that a lot.

Here is how it works:

The Church of Scientology keeps feeding all Scientologists a constant stream of "information" about Scientology critics and, especially, Anonymous. They "document" how these enemies are part of the world-wide conspiracy against Scientology. They "document" how Anonymous is being funded by the big drug companies. They "document" how Anonymous is made up of evil communists who are using Hubbard's Brainwashing Manual for their operating manual (of course, they don't mention Hubbard wrote it).

This has many benefits for David Miscavige and his henchmen:
  • It keeps Scientologists upset and afraid. This is very important for control. Scientologists won't look outside the church for information because "it's too dangerous!"
  • They can extort a lot more money from Scientologists to "fight this major enemy".
  • It ensures that Scientologists will reject any information from Anonymous.
  • It distracts attention away from the crimes, abuses and fraud brought up by Anonymous and Scientology critics.
But, of course, this is only half the job. To properly use Hubbard's "Third Party" technique, the Church of Scientology also has to feed false information to Anonymous.

Given the nature of the Internet and the loose organization and anonymity of the group Anonymous, this is very, very simple.

The Church of Scientology, through their "secret police" group OSA (Office of Special Affairs), have created various Anonymous persona who urge illegal and destructive actions against Scientologists and Scientology churches. These false Anonymous want Anonymous to go back to their *chan roots. Any attacks that make Anonymous look evil and the Church of Scientology a "victim" are encouraged.

The benefits of this are simple:
  • As long as Anonymous sounds sane and non-violent, people will listen; people will agree. This must be stopped.
  • The church has called Anonymous "terrorists". They need Anonymous to start acting like that again.
  • Violent and illegal actions by Anonymous would help keep Scientologists upset and afraid, which means more control and more money for Miscavige.
  • Violent and illegal actions are the perfect justification for all the evil that the Church of Scientology does. "We must do these things, look what they did to us!"
  • If Anonymous focuses on Miscavige's crimes, the church loses. If Anonymous goes off on any other tangent, the church wins.
Now, of course, not everyone who parrots this OSA-as-Anonymous attack line is OSA. I'm not saying that. However, be very, very sure OSA is pushing this idea. OSA is constantly working to make Anonymous go illegal and go violent. They want this very badly.

The Church of Scientology (meaning David Miscavige) likes this conflict. Miscavige wants Scientologists and Anonymous to fight. He is making a lot of money off of this fight and he wants a lot more.
-

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Scientologists: Masters of "Doublethink"

Doublethink:
The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them . . . . To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies — all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth.

George Orwell
1984
Doublethink is the carefully cultured, self-control skill of being able to know and completely accept two contradictory facts. Perhaps everyone does this a little bit, but Scientologists must develop this skill to a wondrous degree.

Let us review a few examples of these Scientology doublethink marvels.
  • Scientologists know that the OT III materials are deadly. They know that just reading the OT III materials, before one is ready, will kill a person. They know this with absolute certainty.
  • Scientologists also know that the OT III materials have been leaked. The secret materials were published in court documents. They were published in newspapers and magazines. They were explained in South Park. These OT III materials are all over the Internet. This is the primary reason they cannot look at newspapers, books, the Internet, etc. And they also know that millions and millions have read these materials and that there were no harmful effects. No mass deaths were reported after the South Park episode.
They know both these things. They know both these contradictory things are absolutely true.
  • Scientologists know, without a shadow of a doubt, that "Scientology is the fastest growing religion in the world." They know that the church is always seeing "unprecedented expansion, world-wide." They hear this, they know it is true.
  • Scientologists also know that, outside of Miscavige's flamboyant events and press statements, they don't see or hear anything about this "expansion". They are aware that their local church is not expanding. They are aware that fewer Scientologists show up at events. They are aware that the church's course rooms are nearly empty, week after week.
Scientologists believe in a vast, incredible expansion, and at the same time they see, with their very own eyes, only deterioration.
  • Scientologists know that all Scientologists are masters of communication. They know that, through the various Scientology communication courses, they know more about, and are better at communication than anyone else.
  • Scientologists are also aware that they cannot talk to certain types of people. A majority of the people in the world are people who a Scientologist cannot talk to! Anyone who disagrees with Scientology is not to be communicated with! Reporters, psychologists, psychiatrists, anyone who doesn't accept, immediately, Scientology's doctrine, must be avoided.
In addition, Scientologists will absolutely rave about the amazing communication of a Class XII (highly trained) auditor by rhapsodizing "An auditing session by a Class XII auditor is so natural, just like having a normal conversation!" In other words, the ultimate in advanced Scientology communication is to sound normal!? And this is so hard for a Scientologist to accomplish that it takes years and years of advanced training to accomplish a session that is "like a normal conversation"?
  • Scientologists know that "Scientology works!" They know that Scientology is the effective solution to all the world's ills.
  • Scientologists also see Scientologists behaving badly -- not repaying loans, running less-than-reputable companies, getting in trouble with the law and such. They also are, quite often, struggling to survive themselves. They see their local church struggling, barely making it from week to week. They have heard of various world trouble spots being "handled" in Miscavige's events, and yet ... umm, those trouble spots are still there, not "handled".
Despite all the "effective solutions" of Scientology, all that Scientologists see for themselves and other Scientologists--outside of the alleged successes of Miscavige's fantastical events--is struggle and failure.
  • Scientologists know that people who have completed OT VIII are virtually god-like. They are far, far above everyone else, with powers and abilities beyond our comprehension.
  • They also see many OT VIIIs around their churches, and they do not ever see these OT VIIIs exhibit any special abilities. They do not ever see these OT VIIIs rise above the rest of us. They do not ever see these OT VIIIs behave particularly differently than they did before all those levels. The evidence they see is that nothing special happened.
The ultimate accomplishment in Scientology is OT VIII. Scientologists accept these all-too-normal OT VIIIs while believing that OT VIII will give them god-like perceptions and powers.

There are many, many other contrary facts that Scientologists must hold to be able to continue believing in Scientology. Doublethink is an essential skill for all Scientologists.

It is ironic that L. Ron Hubbard once wrote:
Personal Integrity

WHAT IS TRUE FOR YOU is what you have observed yourself
And when you lose that you have lost everything.

What is personal integrity?
Personal integrity is knowing what you know.
What you know is what you know.
And to have the courage to know and say what you have observed.
And that is integrity
And there is no other integrity.

L. Ron Hubbard
Ability Magazine, 1961
What is deeply ironic about this is that Scientologists -- to remain loyal, True Believers in Scientology -- have had to abandon their personal integrity; they have had to abandon their ability to accept what is really there; they have had to abandon their ability to know what is just plain obvious.

Ultimately, for a Scientologist, what is true for them is not what they observe for themselves. What is true is only what the Church of Scientology tells them to believe.
-

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.
-

Monday, July 28, 2008

Scientology RPF Documents

Very recently, the basic Scientology RPF (Rehabilitation Project Force) documents have been leaked. This is great news. In the excellent report on Scientology's RPF, the author, Stephen A. Kent, PhD, notes that it is impossible to do a complete analysis of the RPF, in part because these key documents were not available for study. The availability of these documents will help.

However, for those eagerly awaiting the "smoking gun" regarding the horribly abusive practice of Scientology's RPF, the documents will be somewhat of a disappointment. Hubbard was very concerned about his image, so he was always careful about what he committed to writing. I know this seems odd, given what he did say publicly, but it is true. Do not expect the worst of the RPF practices to be advocated over Hubbard's signature.

However, the documents are, nonetheless, quite revealing.

Let me first step aside from this subject for a bit, to explain a few things.

First, it is important to understand exactly what is the basic, core belief of a true Scientologist.
The true Scientologist believes that we are all trapped in this universe; that we used to be "free" and powerful but we have gone down a "dwindling spiral" of degradation, life after life, eventually, after trillions of years, becoming powerless and mired in suffering; that L. Ron Hubbard developed the only road out of this trap back to "real freedom" and power; that the Church of Scientology is the only valid source of this technology; and that we will only get this one chance to make it out.
This is such an important belief that it, essentially, defines what makes a Scientologist. It is important to understand this concept because it explains how the Church of Scientology and David Miscavige can have such power over all Scientologists.

If someone really, really believes they have been trapped and degraded for trillions of years -- just the idea of that -- they will become desperate to escape. If they truly believe this idea, they would do almost anything to escape. And they do believe. And they really will do almost anything.

This is the power of the Church of Scientology. They hold the threat of denying Scientologists the "road out" over their heads all the time. Kicking someone out of the church and declaring them "Suppressive" is, in Scientologists' eyes, literally a "fate worse than death."

It will be difficult for someone who doesn't believe all this to understand how powerful this threat is. This is the threat to ruin the person forever. Not just this year. Not just "this lifetime" but forever. For True Believers, it is an ultimate threat.

You wonder why Scientologists put up with so much? You wonder why they voluntarily shut their eyes to all the abuses? You wonder why they give so much money, until their debt crushes them? This is why.

And so, we come back to the RPF. The RPF is several orders of magnitude worse than anything that public Scientologists have to experience, and yet the threat of the church denying someone the "road out" is so powerful that most of those ordered to the RPF do agree to go. They do so "voluntarily". But what is never stated is that they are under this ultimate threat when they "volunteer". In reality, the choice is, "go to the RPF or be ruined forever." For a True Believer, the RPF is the lesser of the two evils.

But I would not call this "voluntary." Not with that kind of threat.

So, finally, we get back to the leaked RPF documents.

I actually haven't had the time to read over these in detail. I hope scholars will do a good job of that. The whole subject of the RPF is presented, of course, as "the benign and generous Church of Scientology is giving you hopeless wretches a last chance to redeem yourselves." It isn't punishment. It's for your own good. Bla, bla, bla. But underneath those words, the bones of the prison camp are showing.

There is a document in the pack that shows how aware the church is that the RPF is a legal problem. The document "RPF Series 19 - WAIVERS FOR THE RPF" states:
Two waivers are to be signed. The first is called the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RPF ASSIGNMENT AND ELECTION TO PROCEED. The individual will be given this form for signature upon recept of his assignment and before routing onto the RPF. This will be handled by the HCO* of his org. No one may be admitted into the RPF who has not signed this form.

After the person has arrived in the RPF and has studied the RPF FOs†, he is then given the APPLICATION FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE RPF AND GENERAL RELEASE. This document may only be signed after the person has a full understanding of what the RPF program involves and has read all of the RPF Series and attests he fully understands the series.
*HCO -- Hubbard Communications Office -- is a division of the organization involved with ethics.
†FOs -- Flag Orders -- An issue distributed only within the Sea Organization.
Note here that the person can't even read the RPF documents unless they have signed the first legal waiver. I don't see any copy of these waivers in the leaked documents, but I can imagine what they say. They undoubtedly say the person agrees that this is all voluntary, no coercion was used, the church isn't responsible for anything that happens, the RPF member is totally responsible for everything, the RPF member promises not to tell anyone anything, etc., etc.

I am not a lawyer, but I'd think that such waivers have very limited legal validity. As with many of the church legal documents that Scientologists are required to sign, it is more for the intimidation of members than for any real legal clout. You simply cannot sign away your legal rights like that, and certainly not prior to a crime being committed against you. That would be outrageous, yet that's pretty much the idea of the waivers.

From the first hand accounts of those who have been on the RPF, the actual implementation of the RPF is far worse than the documents suggest. Not to say that the documents don't describe a horrible operation, but, it appears, the documents are the "best" it could get. The actuality is much, much worse. The physical duress is worse, the food is worse, the sleep is worse, the abuse is much worse.

The introductory issue "THE RPF SERIES FLAG ORDERS" contains these revealing paragraphs:
Never before has any organization provided a means for members who have failed the trust of the group to actually redeem themselves and terminatedly handle the cause of their destructive actions. Only the Sea Organization, using LRH's technology, extends this opportunity to its group members through the Rehabilitation Project Force program.

The objective of the RPF program is to restore to the individual his value to the group and to himself and to free him forever from any compulsion to commit harmful acts against his dynamics.
This is quite revealing because it isn't quite true. This isn't the first organization to offer such an "opportunity". This whole description of how good the RPF is, is very reminiscent of the Vietnamese and Chinese "Re-education Camps". These were "benevolently" provided by the Communist government as an opportunity for errant citizens to redeem themselves and "handle" the reasons they "failed the group".

Yes, the erring Communist members were "re-educated" until they saw the errors of their ways and were then "free forever" from the compulsion to individuate and harm the group.

The RPF isn't just vaguely similar, it is strikingly similar to those "re-education camps". They are all labor camps. They all require the prisoners to intensely study the doctrine. They all require frequent confession. They all require isolation from the rest of society. They all emphasize "the group is all, the individual is nothing." In all of them, the prisoners are understood to have betrayed the group but the group is benevolently giving them one last chance to redeem themselves. They all have no set duration, the abuse continues for years until the powers-that-be are satisfied the camp member is sufficiently re-educated so as to not cause any more trouble.

These, by the way, are parts of standard brainwashing techniques. Physical duress, physical restraint, isolation/degradation, frequent confession, heavy indoctrination, poor nutrition, little sleep, negation of the individual, and so on, are ways to break the individual and make them susceptible and pliant.

Hubbard wrote, in his Brainwashing Manual in 1955:
Experiments on German prisoners have lately demonstrated that only after seventy days of filthy food, little sleep, and nearly untenable quarters, that the least motion toward a prisoner would bring about a state of shock beyond his endurance threshold, and would cause him to hypnotically receive anything said to him. Thus, it is possible, in an entire stockade of prisoners, to the number of thousands, to bring about a state of complete servile obedience, and without the labour of personally addressing each one, to pervert their loyalties, and implant in them adequate commands to insure their future conduct, even when released to their own people.
Among the documents, RPF Series 23R, "RPF--RIGHTS AND RESTRICTIONS", is worthy of special attention. A thorough reading is quite eye-opening.

This issue includes the seemingly benign sentence:
The person has the option of doing the RPF and adhering to its rules, or not accepting the opportunity for redemption and terminating his membership in the Sea Organization.
Once again, it is key to understand what this means to the new RPF member. It isn't a choice between the RPF and leaving. Leaving includes declaration as a "Suppressive Person" and all that that means. This is not a simple "goodbye and good luck" situation. The choice is, as far as the errant Sea Org member is concerned, do the RPF or have your entire future destroyed.

Further in this document, note the rights. These are, basically, the RPF member has the "right" to work and the "right" of access to the doctrine and time to study/apply it. Those things are "allowed".

Note the restrictions. These are draconian, to put it mildly. In summary:
  • No time off. No free time, no vacation, no weekends, no holidays, no evenings. Zero time off. Every single day is a full day of work, study and confession. For years and years.
  • Confined to "base", except on "authorized work cycles" when they would be under guard. That is, they are imprisoned on the Church of Scientology property.
  • 1/4 pay. Since Sea Org members get a few dollars a week, this is, essentially, nothing.
  • Completely isolated from everybody else.
  • Cannot originate any communication to anyone outside the RPF. No letters, no phone calls, nothing. According to this document, they will be allowed to answer letters from family, but it is questionable whether that actually happens. If such a thing were allowed, it would be carefully censored to omit any mention of the RPF.
  • Must wear a distinctive uniform and must run everywhere.
  • May not enter staff or public areas. May not use public or staff bath or restroom facilities.
  • "May not have with him in the RPF any radios, TV, taped music, musical instruments, magazines, novels, games, cameras or any entertainment or luxury items." In practice, this last has been extended to cell phones (of course), computers and, well, everything else. One assumes that singing, laughing, smiling and such are quickly suppressed in the RPF.
Do you get a picture of how debased and degraded people on the RPF are? These people are "scum," unfit to associate with decent people. Do you see that this was the unstated, but obvious, intention of these rules?

The leaked RPF documents are fascinating reading. However, no matter how bad you picture the RPF when reading these documents, the reality is much, much worse.

This is one of the worst crimes perpetrated by the Church of Scientology. I hope that the leak of these documents is another step closer to the eradication of this horrible operation.
-

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Scientology's Justifications

I discovered, over the years, that when I found myself spending a good portion my time thinking up reasons why "it really is OK that I did that", it was always a sure sign I really shouldn't have done that.

Doesn't make any difference how very, very good my justifications were, if I found myself looking for reasons why something is OK, deep down, I knew, it wasn't.

Which is why I find it so very interesting that so much of any discussion with a Scientologist ends up being about all those wonderful justifications they have for what the Church of Scientology is doing and has done over the years.

And, oh! Do they have good ones! Hundreds of them. They don't make much sense, there isn't any proof for many of their justifications, but they cherish them and defend them with great passion. You risk their terrible anger if you dare question any of these vital justifications!
  • Their primary justification is that those people have been out to destroy the church since before it even existed. Oh, yes! Those people. You know, the evil psychiatrists, teamed up with the evil drug companies. Now, you do have to ignore the fact that they have never, ever, ever come up with any proof of this, but they do love this one. It's the church's favorite justification for their bad behavior. Go ahead, ask them -- but don't ask them for any proof, none exists.
  • Another really nice justification is that the evil U.S. Government with their CIA, FBI, IRS, XYZ agencies are plotting against the Church of Scientology. Oh, yes. Plotting. (Of course, the fact that the FBI raid on the church found tons of evidence of the worst domestic spying operation ever against the U.S. Government which was carried out by the church, and that L. Ron Hubbard fled the country--must be ignored.) No, no, it's the government that is evil, not the church!
  • How about the famous International Bankers conspiracy, mentioned by Hubbard in his "OT III - Wall of Fire" tape. These wealthy folk are, even today, funding all the anti-Scientology activities. Oh yes. No proof. No evidence. But "Ron said it" so this one is a keeper. (Hmmm, there are a lot of critics who are still waiting to receive those checks. LOL!)
  • "Other religions have done it!" This is a true classic. I used this one myself when I was growing up, "But Joey did it too!" The way I work it out, it seems like because other religions have committed crimes, fraud, abuses, lied, trampled people's rights, the Church of Scientology gets to do those things too. Say what? You'll see Internet trolls using a variation of this one: "Why single out just the Church of Scientology? All religions are bad!" Somehow, the logic of this one escapes me.
  • "How can you spend any time criticizing the Church of Scientology when children are starving in war-torn Slobovia?" (Or any other horrendous things happening in the world.) What the church is desperately trying to do is distract and divert attention from their crimes. They are saying we are only allowed to criticize one thing at a time -- and the Church of Scientology isn't the worst. Sorry, we're multi-tasking critics! The fact that something truly evil is happening somewhere else, does not give the Church of Scientology a free pass to do a lot of not-quite-so-evil stuff.
  • "All those who dare to criticize the Church of Scientology are just anti-religious [or bigoted or mean] people." It is rather difficult for the church to explain why these "anti-religious, bigoted, mean" people are only criticizing the management of the Church of Scientology, not Scientology, not any other religion, just the organization of the Church of Scientology. This "justification" isn't working too well outside of the church. Internally, to Scientologists, it might be working just fine.
  • Those damaged by the Church of Scientology "pulled it in". This is a Scientology twisted version of karma, where the victims cause the bad things (meaning being screwed up by the church) to happen to themselves because they were "bad". Note that this is never applied to all the bad things that happen to the church -- no, they never "pull it in"!
  • We're on a mission from L. Ron Hubbard to save the universe. If all else fails, this justifies everything. If you're saving the universe, well, that's pretty much a blank check to do any crimes, abuses, fraud, lies, anything you want! I think this might be David Miscavige's favorite.
And there are many more. Get into a discussion about Church of Scientology crimes with a True Believer and you will get bogged down in endless justify-justify-justify. Do you think they feel guilty? Yes, they do. Their endless justifications show it. Many of these justifications, those directly from Hubbard, are built into the Scientology belief system.

So, it seems quite obvious to me, from all the evidence, that the church knows, deep down, that what they're doing is wrong. They obviously know they are breaking the law, since they work so hard to cover it all up. They know they are trampling peoples rights to Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion because of their endless justifications. They know they need lots of justifications for what they've done.

An organization that uses criminal means to carry out their plans, like the Church of Scientology does, is, by definition, a criminal organization.

That's the bottom line. Church of Scientology is a criminal organization.

Boy, do they need lots of justifications to try to make that come out right.
-

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Scientology vs. the World

Scientology has a serious problem between itself and the "wog" (non-Scientology) world. Scientology has very strict rules, specified by L. Ron Hubbard in his "Policy Letters", that the church "must follow". And quite a number of these policies require actions which are against the law, are severely frowned upon by civilized society, or both.

Following Hubbard's death and David Miscavige's takeover of the church, the situation has only gotten worse. Miscavige has tended to focus his attentions toward the more disreputable plans and activities laid out by Hubbard, and has been darkly creative in that direction.

And this is the main problem that the Church of Scientology has. Internally, secretly, they are compelled by Hubbard's policies and David Miscavige's orders to commit crimes and to treat people in quite despicable ways. But that makes it extremely hard to get along with the non-Scientology world.

Now, of course, they could stop doing the illegal and the socially unacceptable things, but they don't think like that. Scientologists, you see, are superior beings. They don't mold their actions to fit into society. Absolutely not! Scientologists are supposed to mold society to be compliant with the Church of Scientology! That's what Hubbard taught.

This is part of the Scientology Superiority attitude. They are so much more advanced than you. Their goals take precedence over anything you might be doing. They are so ethical and superior that they don't have to follow mere wog laws and rules. Oh yes, you are a "primitive people on a backward planet" and they will help you, but only if you're good enough to deserve their help. If not, well, you can be "disposed of quietly and without sorrow," according to Hubbard.

Unfortunately for Scientologists, wog laws are not designed for such superior beings as they. While wog laws do provide recourse when someone lies about you, there is no recourse to stop someone who tells the truth about you. If someone says truthful but negative things about Hubbard, Miscavige, Dianetics or Scientology, wog law actually protects them!

Wogs! It is impossible for the Church of Scientology to get along with them. What the church needs to get accomplished -- suppressing negative information, taking over school systems, taking over governments -- is just made so much harder by wogs! They are always looking over the church's shoulder, bringing up stupid rules and laws that say you can't do things like that. Don't they know Scientology is the answer to all their problems? Don't they know that all this is for their own good?

If wogs were reasonable about all this, the Church of Scientology could get a lot more done! But no, the non-Scientology world keeps holding onto their sovereignty and their silly rights and keeps blocking the Church of Scientology's progress. So, obviously, to avoid such pesky interference, Miscavige needs to hide what he's doing. Obviously, Miscavige needs to be even more covert about what his church is actually doing.

And that requires "Fair Game", the Hubbard authorization that, when they declare someone a "Suppressive Person", that person "[m]ay be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."

And, since there is no strict criteria for declaring someone a "Suppressive Person" -- there is no "due process", there is no defense -- Miscavige can, and does, declare people "Suppressive" for trivial reasons, or for no discernible reason at all. Then, those Suppressives are "fair game" for anything Miscavige wants to do.

The Suppressive Person declare, combined with the "Fair Game" authorization, is part of what gives Scientologists and the church the idea that the can do anything they want to forward their plans for taking over the world.

Understand the very root of all this trouble: The Church of Scientology must hide what their plans are, because those plans are completely unacceptable to the non-Scientology world. The Church of Scientology must hide what they actually do because those actions are often illegal or, at best, socially unacceptable. Hence, the secrecy. Hence the outrage when their secrets are revealed. Hence the harassment of critics. Hence the fear of discovery. Hence the draconian methods to forbid Scientologists from gathering any information from any source outside of the church.

This isn't the first group in history to believe they are saving the world and, therefore, "the ends justify the means." It isn't the first, and it won't be the last. But, fortunately for the rest of the world, the evil that such groups do inevitably destroys the group.

So let it be with the Church of Scientology.
-

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Scientologists: Buy My Magic Pebble

Scientologists,

If I told you that I had a "Magic Wishing Pebble" that would grant me every wish, would you believe me?

If I said it gave me super powers, allowed me to live forever, made me cause over the whole universe and much more, would you believe in my Magic Wishing Pebble?

If I said I had a bunch of these pebbles, and I would sell you one, would you buy one?

If you asked me to show you the pebble, and I said, "No, it's confidential," would you still want to buy it?

If you asked me to demonstrate the powers of my Magic Wishing Pebble, show it granting me some wishes, and I said, "No, you're not ready for this sort of thing, you can only experience it after you've bought your own," would you still want one of my incredible Magic Wishing Pebbles?

What if I had a list of hundreds of other people who had bought the Magic Wishing Pebble from me, but they also refused to demonstrate any special benefits from their pebbles, and just spoke in vague terms about "feeling more myself", would you go ahead and join them in buying a wonderful Magic Wishing Pebble from me?

And what if I told you the price was $300,000.00, in advance. Or more, if I'm slow in delivering it to you.

And what if I refused to sell it to you until you signed a long contract which said, essentially, "Buyer agrees the seller has made no promises whatsoever as to performance or even existence of the 'product' being sold to buyer . Buyer agrees that the seller is not responsible for anything at all regarding the 'product'."

Would you buy my Magic Wishing Pebble?

No?

Well, what if I called it "OT VIII"?
-