The current members are already, IMO, in a Hell of Davey’s making.

Jere, Hubbard was a “merchant of chaos” in his own way like that – though of course typically he liked to accuse others of being the fear-mongers. Sometimes he actually latched onto more blatant end-of-the-world type stuff like that; but talk such as of a “prison planet” and the implicit threat of being enslaved by supposed implants for countless lifetimes, is the same sort of thing just in a less conventional framing.

It taps in to basic human vulnerabilites related to cognitive biases. Like other belief systems before, and since, Hubbard resorted to leveraging it himself – rather than, say, educating people about it as a pitfall. On a related note, it’s telling to me that despite his pretenses about “Logics” and all, Hubbard never taught about even the basics of common logical fallacies – and, in fact, exploited those as well.

If there is any sort of real “implant” it is our innate tendency to fall for things like that – and Hubbard did nothing to help people avoid those traps, instead deviously taking advantage of them.

Indeed, you have described Scribe, pun intentional 🙂

No real biggie: Scribe is … Scribe! Whichever gender, a giant with a pen, constantly entertaining, often enlightening. I don’t know why I brought the subject up.

Going DOWN as the world sails past in quiet indifference.

They lived by the lie, died by the lie. There is symmetry in life and reality.

Gordon, it’s dead, but hasn’t quite fallen to the ground and rolled over, yet. It’s just Davey doing his version of a puppet show, which will last as long as it holds his interest. He’s certainly got the money to keep it up as long as his poor little body holds up under the strains he submits it to.

At that, he took a very early scary story about what is now called “Peak petroleum”. The scare-mongers are STILL dredging that one up and are conflating it with global warning for added effect. Hubbard would have loved the current world: So many DANGERS to combat with the ‘tech’, NOW, NOW, NOW! BUY this sure-fire cure, DO this radiation-fighting course, get “CLEAR”, or suffer the consequences, NONE of which came to pass. He was just another of those apocalyptic preachers prophesying disaster time after time, showing no shame or embarrassment each time they’re proven wrong. But the sheep eat that folderol up, paying through the nose to be one of the “saved” if it does come to pass THIS time. It’s a great racket if you’ve got the constitution to lie that often and that outrageously. Only the greatest conmen have been able to pull that off.

We DO get the entire picture from that: Ain’t no one there, the corporations calling themselves scientology are doing nothing of note. Decades ago, they at least got into the newspapers, perhaps even ran the rare TV commercial, but no longer; Dead on the vine; or what remains of the vine. And there’s little of the mouth-to-mouth promotion which seemed to be the primary recruiting source back then. Davey don’t WANT all those unwashed masses coming in and stinking the place up. Heck, they might even want *SERVICE* ! Can’t have THAT, can we? Just money straight into his coffers. With nothing to deliver, life is SO much simpler. He can concentrate on PUNISHING people, his one remaining joy in life other than guzzling fine whiskey like it was rotgut

Amen Jere…..I DO remember “back when”….it had the vibe many appreciated, charming, old worldish. Now as you so clearly stated…it looks quite ordinary. No one really goes downtown anymore unless their part of COS.

How sad is that? Many of the long time owners have been gone out of Clear Water for decades. They’d be back if things would go back to the old way, which they never will.
These same friends literally hate what’s happened to what was once THEIR TOWN.

Taken over, they’ve run businesses & owners out permanently.