Complying to an obsolete business model that hasn’t discovered the Internet Age.

Compliance. That sums up the essence of Scientology right there.

First Time Commenter Here (Please be gentle with my lack of “been there” knowledge. I’m trying to understand something or confirm my understanding of it perhaps) and hope I can get some clarification from those in the know.

I’m not, nor have I ever been a Scientologist (or will be due to my current beliefs – no disrespect intended to those who do believe & embrace whatever facet of Scientology they do) and this is my first time ever posting on the subject though I’ve read quite a bit on it (Pos & Neg positions) and talked with a few current and past believers. I can’t deny I’m intrigued with the whole culture of this religion or philosophy and the metric ton of negative by-products – versus – positive by-products from Scientology; which are readily available on the internet, news, testimonies etc. I’m not implying that everything out there is true on either side of the wall, just stating it’s there and has peeked my interest. But I have what will probably seem like a stupid question. I think I know the reasoning…but thought someone could shed light on the topic and reason or reasons or explain to me if I’m off base or interpreting something incorrectly/assigning too much meaning needlessly.

I will qualify something first: I have and will continue to donate to causes I believe in, but most solicitations I receive from requesters have several things in common of course – but I don’t see a universal request standard here in this request for donation that is almost standard in other entities solicitations. In the solicitation for assistance posted above- (if you wish to term it so) the glaring, to me, omitted solicitation standard I’m used to seeing is a few simple, but meaningful words/phrases.

They are: Please? Thank you? Or, to effect, if you can’t afford to donate you can help by doing (insert activity… prayer, time donated, mention to a friend, stuff envelopes, sign a petition etc., here). Surely, most causes have other mechanisms where one can prove help aside from writing a check even if you aren’t an active benefactor, believer to the core etc. Example: I’m not blind but I believe strongly in assisting those who can’t afford seeing eye dogs. If I don’t write a check there are other ways my support/assistance can be useful to this cause and it doesn’t require an all in or your not helping type of attitude or perception. Every little bit of assistance helps and counts and it isn’t limited to an only one or two ways approach.

So my question is: Does this organizations seemingly frantic, DO IT NOW – shouty capital laced – err requests ever include the common society standard niceties or alternate options to help the charitable works they say they are doing? And being able to do that without being recruited as a Scientologist or writing a check etc.,? I’m asking because it seems to support the research I’ve seen which points to a money driven (or highly monetarily focused) Organization. I know entities can’t operate without money, don’t get me wrong but that solicitation just seems different, in the way I stated, from many other social betterment/church solicitations I’ve seen or received.

I know this may be a small point and semi-petty, but as an outsider looking in it seems a bit counter productive.

Heck even when a certain political party was sending out angst ridden, begging pleas (and they weren’t veiled so as not to appear begging or terror driven) prior to the most recent election in 2014, there was the serious punctuation driven statements and shouty capital letters to drive the point home and the in your face underlying guilt of your failure to act being the reason why failure was about to occur or did occur, but they DID, at least, include the niceties I previously mentioned and other ways to contribute if so inclined.

I’m not in marketing, PR or fundraising, but to the non- affiliated reader, average Joe who receives lots of solicitations, this just seems like a very poorly put together donations wanted communication. Only one way to help and we aren’t even going to include a please or thank you. Obviously, I’m not apart of the target audience this was intended for, and that may be why I’m having a difficult time wrapping my mind around it.

I want be fair and say I haven’t seen every or even half of the solicitations Scientology has distributed, so maybe theses items are usually included or sometimes included and I have a flawed view, but perhaps someone could shed some light for me on this topic? Is this a consistent and constant form of notification/solicitation for assistance? An accurate representation on how help is requested in terms of emails or mail?

Is this really all about money only, when help is requested, not counting the sea organization. I, personally, would think that an activity which does charitable (and I know the charitable aspect is a hot topic of debate depending on what side of the fence your behind) works would be open to other ways for people to assist with helping them achieve their goals. On the other hand if the goal is only a single faceted approach…this solicitation makes much more sense to me.

Every project has different needs, but surely renovating a building, or whatever construction project is planned, has other avenues of approach in terms of ways to assist. If I’m to properly understand the intention of the facility, it is to help the church continue its goals or whatever, which allegedly include assisting the community in whatever fashion, wouldn’t someone volunteering their time blogging, texting, talking to friends, researching ways to get assistance and other things also further the ultimate goal? While money might be the EASY way to make this happen more rapidly…does that negate the other ways non-monetary contributions may also help with ultimately achieving their goals from those who have a capacity to help just not in the monetary way? I’m not advocating nor trying to assist in with this project, but rather pointing out what I feel are other valuable ways to help that don’t seem to even be an option based solely on the solicitation above. A bit inconsistent with the idea of furthering a project from my perspective, and may lend credence to assertations other people have stated publicly about what this organizations intentions may or may not be.

And again, in the interest of fairness I actively read the Underground Bunker, Operation Clambake, Some issues of Freedom Magazine, books written by persons who left the church, bios on Hubard, material Hubard wrote, watched countless videos of interviews from current and former members to include celebrity members (I really found informative a series that used to be on YouTube but only a portion of them are still there, at least that I can find, the videos of Mr. Rinder and Mr. Rathbun while they were fishing and talking about their experiences.) I also recently read some depositions on active and older cases events. I’m inclined heavily on the side of church detractors as the preponderance of evidence seems to be consistent with these accounts over a wide space of time. I am only offering my personal opinion from what I’ve seen thus far. If more information were to become available by the church I am reasonable enough to read and consider it and make an informed decision including the new info. But at this point, admittedly for me, it would take quite a bit of open disclosure by the church for me to alter my stance.

And while this is terribly long (sorry, been actively watching and researching for a long time – became interested in this topic and bought my 1st book after thoroughly researching the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints/Polygamy, when my Kindle suggested a book on scientology that readers who bought the book about the FLDS also bought. If you have a Kindle you know what I’m referring to – but since then I’ve been utterly unable to look away like when you see a horrid accident on the road) so it’s my first internet talk/question about this topic and I’ve wanted to ask questions before but I’ve been hesitant and felt that since I didn’t walk that path that I shouldn’t interject my opinion as it was so much less informed compared to those who have been there or had family members involved. As such I think my question on this topic has opened a flood gate of sorts. And it’s not that I don’t have my fairly concrete opinion on the topic, but when I saw this notification posted it widened that trickle of wanting to ask a question to a full on breach in the Dam as it clicked that I saw something I could personally relate an experience to.

So any suggestions or info on what I asked re: the way they solicit assistance in light of the big picture of helping the community etc., would be appreciated.

And thank you to all on this site, other sites and mediums who have come forward, talked and provided info for people like me and those who are actually involved or were involved in the church. I think you are brave, courageous and give hope to those who need it and information to those who wouldn’t have this info otherwise without potentially putting themselves or others in jeopardy of their beliefs or expectations. I have tried to word this carefully so as not to offend or negate anyone else’s right to believe or practice whatever they choose. I can only speak for myself in the end, and apologize if I’ve offended anyone while seeking clarification.

Thank you.

Curious Reader

Yes, I just checked into Tony O’s site and read the article. It does indeed look like desperation. Kirstie, Jenna and Nancy have been briefed on the HBO documentary and have been rolled into action. Good Luck to them, and to the church!

I was thinking of all the CC magazines over the years with all the Celebs who gave interviews and promoted the latest course, Basics, auditing,etc. Also Tom Cruise’s debacle with Matt Lauer. Anyway, times have clearly changed and these people who previously had little to do with interacting with joe-blow public in the past are getting busy. It will be very interesting to watch how things play out after the film is shown.

There will be certain Scientologists who will watch ‘Going Clear” on the sly. I’ve had people admit to me that they went out and bought Vanity Fair when the Tom Cruise article came out, just so they could read it. Also that they “looked at” Anderson Cooper’s special, etc. It’s bound to happen; people are too curious.

Good luck with that.

Celebrities are not required to shill for the church

As they would say — it’s a whole new era in scientology.

Today Kirstie Alley is doing seminars about going OT in UK, Jenna Elfman is doing them at CC, Nancy Cartwright is pimping Bart Simpson to raise money for ideal orgs, there are public announcements about celebs “completing levels.”

They weren’t used for internal public rah-rah, until now.

There is real panic in the bubble. And the celebs are now being pressured into helping keep the sheeple on the reservation.

Hi Blondes,

No, it doesn’t demonstrate absolute desperation on the part of church using celebs for promotion of Scientology, its products or its programs. Celebrities have always been used in this way by the church and in exchange they are given special status and treatment. They are coddled and protected in a sense by the church. They are given handlers when they are on the base and are not subject to the hard core fundraising and harassment techniques run on regular public. Their children are not recruited for the Sea Org either, like the regular public’s are. I know Nancy Cartwright’s daughter Lucy, and she joined after her high school boyfriend signed up for the SO. They got married immediately after graduation and went in the SO together. She was not specifically targeted for recruitment though, her mom being a celeb.

Celebrities are not required to shill for the church and as far as I know, they aren’t pressured into it. The celebs that you see doing this are pretty devout and are acting on their own volition.

People are tapped out with Fundraising Fatigue Syndrome and the only cure is to get vaccinated from the church’s ‘Pester Virus’.

McCarren – I had the same thought after reading Mike’s take on this. Perhaps she was doing some kind of amends and got milked for Ideal Morgue donation in South Africa. Who knows?

Durban became a HUGE flap – they had regged R5 Million from a South African living in Clearwater at the time – he was involved in some weird property development scheme which he had financed by eliciting investments from local C/W Scios. Of course the R5 Million donation was not his money to give – it belonged to the investors (a similar thing occurred in South Africa with his ex-partners – using investors’ money to donate to the Church). When the market crashed, the banks foreclosed, leaving all these investors in the hole for Millions.

Anyway, the R5 Million cheque (check) he donated to Ideal Morgue Durban bounced – and this resulted in the sword of Damocles raining down on the head of the then-CO CMO AF. He went to the Corbett’s (SCN whales in South Africa) on bended knee, begged them to “loan” the Church money to cover this bounced cheque – which they did, on the understanding that they would get the money back within 2 weeks. They never saw the money………. naturally. They were declared in 2013 and are now suing RCS for that loan plus interest – which the church is denying was ever a loan in the first place!

Anyway, my point is that some major scrambling had to occur to cover the money for the Durban building, and this is where Kirstie comes in with this huge donation (and interestingly a smaller donation from the Duggans as well).

The horrible joke of course is that after all of this, the building was found to be “unsuitable” for an Ideal Org, and was demolished in 2010. All that remains is an empty stand which the unsuspecting Church parishioners paid R16 Million for…………….. Recently it transpired the Church was looking to sell the property and were advised that they MIGHT get about R8 Million.

I Yawnalot, As you surmise, you don’t understand the legal aspects of this. The vast majority of that money is untouchable by any gov in the world. DM himself will never get anything but some fines unless he starts killing babies in public. El Con committed larger US tax felonies (due to his self admitted psychosis about having to horde money, gold and gems), than DM and was never nailed. AND, DM is smarter than El Con when it comes to using legal means to stash money.

As far as “justice” being served. Whose justice? Most of what he does is protected in the US under the same Constitutional umbrella that protects YOUR beliefs and practice of the Scientology religion. “Fraud” is almost impossible to pursue in the religious arena. Only something like the Garcia’s claim MIGHT get through.