The question you have to ask after reading this breathless promo -- why would anyone pay to go to the Freewinds when you can apparently "Go OT" virtually? The second question -- is there any difference between an OT and a virtual OT? Aren't all OT's "virtual" anyway as the state is entirely subjective -- nobody has ever objectively proven that an OT exists. Hubbard's explanation for that was "we don't do parlor tricks." The only time anyone supposedly set out to verify any OT abilities was Ingo Swann and Hal Puthoff trying to turn it into an intelligence tool for the CIA. Nothing ever came … [Read more...]
Freewinds Trying to Influence Aruban Government
The Freewinds is having a rough time of it, rougher than usual in this pandemic. Typically they struggle to get enough people on board to cover their basic expenses, in these times they are having trouble getting ANYONE to show up. Being "off the crossroads of the world" has been one of their sales pitches since they set sail in 1988. It's got a whole new meaning now. Never ones to take something like this lying down, the make it go right Sea Org officers on the Freewinds are trying to get their public to fill out a survey for the government of Aruba. Of course, they want their people to … [Read more...]
Freewinds Runs Aground
They were having a rough time of it even before the pandemic. Lacking paying customers, they had a hard time finding money to buy fuel to move from one port to another. Now they are slipping beneath the waves with hardly a murmur... Their latest promotional piece "Making the IMpossible possible" is offering a "convention" 4 months from now... They don't have people coming for OT VIII (the ONLY feeder for that is Flag and completions on OT VII -- if they get one a week they are excited. If half of them went on to OT VIII right away that would be one arrival every two weeks. And it … [Read more...]
About the Worst Thing To Do
Scientology continues to demonstrate it's irrational, dangerous attitude towards the current pandemic. They just don't get it. As the old saying goes, even if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig. Even if scientology pretends they are totally in compliance with societal norms and expectations (in fact, they exceed them and did so faster and more efficiently than anyone on earth), they just cannot help themselves when it comes to displaying their real "pig." The pressure is still on to "get stats up" -- that will never change. So, these recruiters are feeling the heat to bring … [Read more...]
Islands of Sanity — In a Sea of Wogs
David Miscavige is fond of talking about how his "Ideal Org" program is creating "islands of sanity"... It is prominent in his official hagiography at scientology.org The idea that "OT's" are the ones "changing the planet" and creating "ideal orgs" is a "truth" scientology. It was one of Miscavige's strokes of genius to make the "OT's" responsible for creating ideal orgs. That way, they could not complain that they were not able to do OT IX and X, because Miscavige set an arbitrary that all orgs had to be "ideal" before this could happen (it actually began with all orgs St Hill Size, … [Read more...]
More on the “Wog” Face of the Freewinds
This is a follow up to the recent post about Carol Miles: The Face of the Freewinds: A "Wog". Valeska sent me this write up with some further information, and it is an opportunity to republish the photo of Carol that was sent in by a reader. Also at the end I have included a comment posted by Jeff Hawkins about how Carol came to be the "Face of the Freewinds". Valeska wrote: Carol was sent to the RPF in late 2008 for being suicidal and having "case on post" and for wanting to leave the Sea Org. This was orchestrated by Lurie Belotti, (RTC Rep Ship) and Sue Price, (CO CMO Ship). She … [Read more...]
The Face of the Freewinds: “A Wog”
For many years in the early 2000's, the "face" of the Freewinds was Carol Miles, the "Executive Officer"/"Public Officer." She was the face and voice (with a wonderfully genteel english accent) of Freewinds promotional videos. She narrated tours of the ship and appeared at the end of each Freewinds video with a pitch for people to come and partake in the Freewinds experience. There has been some earlier commentary on the internet that mentioned Carol. She disappeared from public view around 2007 (like me), and as with Heber, Ray Mithoff, Guillaume Lesevre and so many others, nobody … [Read more...]
Freewinds Flailing
The Freewinds will be empty again by tomorrow. Dear Leader's annual scuba diving holiday Maiden Voyage celebrations have come to an end and everyone is heading home with their new "OT Ambassador" orders (which are the same as last year -- collect money for Ideal Orgs and IAS). The "OT Base" that sails "off the crossroads of the world" reverts to its real status "Ghost ship sitting at dock off the crossroads of the world." Bouncing between Curacao and Aruba, she is a cruise ship without a cruise. And without passengers. In their desperation, they hold all sorts of oddball "conventions" … [Read more...]
Cruising The Caribbean?
Usually they do not promote their travel plans. But here we have the next few months -- offered up in the hope as a sales pitch like this is Royal Caribbean or Carnival. But all is not quite like the real cruise lines offer when they say "explore the islands." It starts out sort of "normal" looking in the first 3 weeks of July -- probably after they get an infusion of funds from the Maiden Voyage in June, so they can afford fuel. And perhaps because Mr. Miscavige likes to extend his stay from the annual Maiden Voyage vacation into an extended scuba diving experience. But three weeks, … [Read more...]
The Real Story of the Freewinds
With the recent outbreak of measles on the Scientology ship, Freewinds, Leah and I thought it important to highlight some points that are the real story about this ship. With the exception of Newsweek, generally the media is missing the boat. Their focus is on a case of measles rather than the bigger picture of the Freewinds. To directly answer the least important question: Do Scientologists believe in vaccinating? Most Scientologists have little faith in “Wog” (non-scientology) medical care. L. Ron Hubbard believed medical doctors wanted to maintain their monopoly on … [Read more...]