Mike Rinder's Blog

Something Can Be Done About It

Ideal Orgs and Front Groups

By 62 Comments

More evidence that the pretense of scientology is coming unglued.

Stevens Creek is an “ideal org”. It has been since 2005 (Miscavige “rededictaed” it in 2012 because they put new videos in the lobby and they try to pretend it’s only been ideal since 2012). There are three other ideal orgs within 50 miles. They should be well on their way to Clearing the entire Bay Area by now.

Add to that the constant hype about the huge “4th dynamic campaigns” that are “salvaging the world” from the ravages of drugs, psychiatry and human rights violations and you can see the hype laid bare.

They are having to beg for people to participate to pretend these programs actually exist. This is not to DO anything – just to have a presence at a festival. It is like the calls that go out for people to show up in course rooms for the “Gold shoot team.”

13 years an ideal org. Still nobody in charge of their massive 4d campaigns. They haven’t opened a single mission. They have made less Clears in that time than children born in a single day in local hospitals. They have not had to expand to new premises to accommodate their 10x expansion.

Like every other “ideal org” on earth, they are a complete bust.

Comments

  2. There is enough sad to go around with this creepy cult, and this one has me feeling bad for the people who are expected to actually pull these shams off. They are just set up to fail but will pay the price when it does. All that little pissant DM cares about is money, he could care less about scientology other than it’s a way for him, personally, to make more money. He is just one sick piece of work.

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  3. Even in the 70s, there was a problem with not many people in the organizations.
    Given the numbers I was hearing about the millions come into Scientology, I could not figure out why our organization in St. Louis had such a problem. LOL

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    • St Louis is just a cog in Miscavige’s money wheel.

      It’s always been a Morgue and always be a Morgue.

      Chad Lane – the ED is creepy – and so is Matt Hanses.

      They could not have better people to keep Scientology dead in St Louis.

      St Louis Church of Scientology is swirling around the drain of utter failure.

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  4. Thank you for the advance notice. I’d love to photo bomb the Gold fake shoot. I’d wear a ‘Scientology an Industry of Money’ T-shirt (in same font and colors as there CCHR slogan of course). They could not possibly have to right to block off the front of their front ?

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  5. The Festival has offered approximately 3000 free burgers in past years. Bet the cult’s booth will be positioned so folks wanting burgers will need to stroll by. And it looks like Joey plans 3 of them this year. Bet he wont find a volunteer to set them up let alone “man” them.

    BTW, Joey was the bookstore officer at the Stevens Creek ogre for about 30 years before he was promoted to Director of Special Affairs. Nice, kind of easy going dude; cannot imagine how he could handle the new post which demands ruthlessness and so much more this poor, human being naturally lacks.

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  6. Ah, yes. The infamous Gold Shoot Team. They had me in their clutches once. They had me put on this awful plaid shirt, then put on a sweater over top of it.
    I was then supposed to walk around the main foyer of the org building with a whole bunch of other people while they filmed us. We were supposed to be raw public when in actual fact we were all org staff members as well as a few Sea Org people thrown in for good measure. As I was doing this I kept saying to myself “But isn’t this dishonest? Isn’t this lying?”. Back then I would just brush it off with rationalizations. I am very indebted to Mike Rinder and this blog, as well as all of you guys, for helping me see the truth.

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    • Alcoboy I’m so glad you are here! Way to go. I have truly come to enjoy your posts every single day. You are hilarious! How very unscientology like of you. ? Does that mean you should report to ethics or what?

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  7. The COS is caught up in quite a wicked catch-22. They spend most of their time and resources on PR activity like flaunting their ideal orgs, rather than expanding them. And they tout their front groups hoping to burnish their badly tarnished image. In the process, they neglect their boots-on-the-ground churches and missions that are the only entities qualified to deliver the wonderful planetary clearing in which they claim to be engaged. They favor talking about clearing the planet at the expense of actually doing it. COS, you’ve gone from magnificently fervent cult to impotent and irrelevant sect. Wha hoppin?

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    • And further, it all means that they aren’t able to do anything more than take token steps in disaster relief efforts. They could actually roll out something significant and impactful if they focused their attention and resources, but that would take a well-planned and sustained effort that wouldn’t necessarily generate impressive-looking stats Thursday after Thursday – and it’s not in Hubbard’s playbook.

      It seems that they may have been brushed off by disaster relief officials and organizations in the Carolinas, who have figured out what they’re up to and what they’re capable of – meaning nothing in the way of meaningful help, but devious exploitation of photo opportunities. There’s no sign in their official VM social media feeds of any Florence-related efforts, and in fact they are re-posting old photo opportunities from other places and other countries in what looks as if it might be calculated distraction from their inaction.

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  8. Things like this always remind me of some of the “new age” types I’ve known who are counterparts to scientologists (not to mention, a lot of them probably did some Scientology, or programs of on of its offshoots, back in they day), and like scientologists many of them aging baby boomers. They imagine themselves as “catalysts for change” and whatnot, which all too often seems to meant that they want to imagine that their thoughts and intentions are more powerful than actions, and to do something fun like throwing a fundraiser – or at least as engaging as sitting at a booth and talking to people – but not actually get their hands dirty with the real work required.

    I also know a lot of boomers whose spent their lives doing hard work to have an impact on people’s lives and make the world a better place, so it’s not a condemnation of the whole generation.

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  9. “They are having to beg for people to participate to pretend these programs actually exist”

    EXACTLY.

    If CCHR existed in the area and if they were actually an active presence DOING something, then the staff of CCHR would be expected to be fully responsible for manning up their own booth. If even ONE person was working for CCHR, then that person would be responsible – period.

    Same for Drug Free World and Human Rights –

    If these groups had any identity or presence extant, the DSA would not have to be trolling for volunteers.

    if DIV SIX existed in the org, then the DSA wouldn’t have to be involved – the Field Control Sec should be all over this. The OT committee would be all over this.

    …
    this is like the ED of the org asking for volunteers to man up reception. = NOBODY HOME

    The org is two gumballs rattling around in a beer cup.

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    • Does each org have a CCHR, etc branch, or does the LA CCHR have any responsibility? If these groups really existed as separate entities instead of as a banner kept in the storeroom of each org, then the LA area CCHR office would be handling this whole thing.

      Unfortunately, it’s all smoke and mirrors, and volunteers will all come in the same van (if it works) and pretend to be separate groups in the three different booths. All fictional!

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      • The class V org I was staff at had it’s own DSA office, CCHR group and one or two reps for other social programs. (a Day and Fdn org that ran with staffing of 10-35 staff per org on average over several decades)

        I’ve done services at two other class V orgs but they were so small they only had a couple staff for the whole org and I have no info on any of the groups in these two cities. I doubt there was any presence at all.

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  10. Not to be macabre but I believe scientology will die of attrition. Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t most of the current members quite elderly? It doesn’t appear that the influx will keep up with the out-flowness. I wonder if LRH has scripture for that!

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    • I don’t think that Scientology’s demographic situation is as bad as Christian Science’s, as a comparison. Pictures show a preponderance of grey-haired people and those nearing retirement age, but still reasonable numbers of younger ones. However, pictures of the Freewinds crew, for instance, really look like a group of aging old timers – the question is whether that is representative of the Sea Org in general.

      Scientology will probably lose many key long-term members and staff in coming years, and while it looks to me like they could survive the loss of the numbers involved, I think they question is what the impact will be of losing people with such experience and dedication. We see signs of this in the demise of the mission network, as the old-timers who have been propping up the locations for decades age out, and they close permanently.

      Hubbard was, and Scientology is, “unreasonable” about not taking into account or planning for changes in external realities. As I see it, they’ve really been on the decline ever since the baby boomer youth phenomenon that they rode in their heyday – and which provided the aging members we’re talking about – came to an abrupt end, and they had no idea what to do when there were no longer young people flooding in their doors. In fact, Hubbard seems to have badly mis-read the situation, and assumed that the orgs were emptying out because the missions were “stealing” their prospects – they were doing a bit better, because many of them were managed by talented and charismatic people trying to innovate their way around the demographic debacle – and thus initiated the infamous “massacre” that decimated the network.

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  11. Wait, if I volunteer I will get a commend from DSA?? Where do I sign up?? Does it come with like a Get-Out-Of-Sec-Check-Free card?

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    • A commend makes not even a dent in the average sized ethics file. MAAs don’t give a shit who ask the same dumb questions on every visit to ethics like maybe the reiterations might as-is (or Grok as RH would say in Stranger in a Strange Land) the actual incident in the mest universe to alter the course of time as a “Time Machine” might accomplish.

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      • I’ve gotten the impression that these days, member records are being scrutinized for signs that people might be disaffected or UTR, and so they are paying closer attention to participation, including numbering event tickets so that they can track who actually attends. So I wouldn’t be surprised if, for instance, the chance to earn brownie points by sitting in a front group booth at an event, might ironically look attractive to someone who is trying to avoid going in to the org.

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    • Whoa, Budafuco!!! This sounds great! Let’s both sign up! I’ve been waiting for this all my life! And if we do what they want…There’s NO sec check! This is the greatest day of my life. How about you?

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    • I think we should gather all of us and volunteer in these booths. “Doing something about it”. After all we still have the sense of being a Scientologist. Oh yes….. I forgot. And remember to bring the picketing with you because that going to be upfront. It is important while we are servicing the public. It shows that we are the only one that care to do something about honesty & truly fighting for human rights for the better of others. Let me know what you think and if there is a bus going out from LA. Talk soon.

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  12. That festival should be rocking. Did they not hand out all those ” WTH” booklets to the “Blood and Crips” gangs. They should be there walking and just hanging out together having a good old time. Maybe they could even get them to volunteer together to show how much race and social background mean nothing to scientoligy.Right?

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    • With the WTH, I’m sure the Crips & the Bloods would LOVE to be of service! And I think they’d love to pay for everything.

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  13. And like any other destructive cult they do use front groups to hide its finances.

    The purpose is NOT for these groups to produce nothing, rather is to funnel and hide the millions amassed by this infamous church.

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  14. If the Girl Scouts had a booth at the festival, the Red Cross soliciting donations for hurricane relief, an farmer selling produce, or a Busker plying their trade – it would receive more visits. Although, I can imagine the majority of any visitors to the booth would likely be people who know the shell game of using “betterment programs” to try and route bodies or dollars, and want to see what type of interaction they will encounter. Each person who visits, be it with knowledge or out of genuine desire to help people, will be counted as a stat to be paraded as CoS helping the world.

    Give me a box of Girl Scout cookies, a donation to a real relief program or a person singing a great song any day. I’ll pass on the shiny turd.

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  15. Before becoming the DSA Joey Percival was the BSO at this org. From personal knowledge he is totally unqualified for the DSA post and likely took it only because he isn’t fit for and could not get a job in the real world.

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      • Well, at least they can put a basketball team on the court. (after their basketball checksheet requirements are met of course, suitable donations towards court renovations are forthcoming and mandatory declares are signed before the game for the opposition if they don’t capitulate immediately upon arrival and submit to personality/OCA tests and spend the prematch warmups with the reg).
        OK?
        Oh, the referees require OSA clearance and a truckload of rent-a-trees are strategically placed court-side for audio visual effects and screening for undesirables. From a recently found LRH advice the hoop for all oppositions is to be 1″ smaller in diameter, swapped over at half time by support crew dressed in canary yellow T shirts with, “we make it go right” boldly printed on both sides, front red, back green. See… there’s a tek for everything and Scientology has it all. All whistle peas must be Colombian – (good for PR & crime reduced peas sound better).
        Play!

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  17. Mike can you remind us all: DSA stands for what and which area of the “church” are they responsible for? I have a friend who is a very influential person in the Human Rights Movement on the East Coast. I like to keep her informed of who does what and where. I know they have networks and conferences to work together on this honest campaign.

    Having them SPELL OUT their front groups is awesome. The truth.

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    • It’s a very Orwellian or Stalinesque combination of propaganda bureau, civil affairs directorate, and spy and covert operations agency – though all of that is, in Scientology’s strategy, part of pacifying and ultimately controlling institutions and society.

      In the end, Scientology and all of its front groups promoting things like “human rights” rely on the trafficked human labor of largely unpaid staff and Sea Org, including foreign workers brought to the country on false pretenses and trapped without their passports, in order to promote their underlying goal of a world where only “honest” men have rights and the many they consider “suppressive” have “no civil rights of any kind.” It’s extraordinarily deceptive and devious.

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  19. The church of scientology is the church about nothing. If it has anything to offer good at all, it is FAR outweighed by SO MUCH BAD. The Ideal Org Project is a lie and this is just one big lie among many big lies.

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    • Church about nothing! I love the line. It’s unfortunate that it hurts real people, which is why the Aftermath Foundation exists. I’ll shamelessly plug here, make sure you sign up for The Aftermath Foundation on AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com) before making an Amazon purchase. Fundraising done right, full disclosure.

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      • I’m actually trying to do that right now! What comes up is Aftermath Foundation, in Texas, 2017. I’m not sure if this is correct as I thought it was in Colorado. If anyone can help me with that I would really appreciate it. I shop all the time on Amazon and have tried to do this before. TY for the link, now I need to be sure I have it right! ☺

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  20. Mike, you are a pro. This quality of whistleblowing on Scientology could be done by few others. How hard is it to find a few volunteers. In fact, I will be volunteering at a booth myself next weekend. If you believe in a cause, you volunteer. It speaks volumes that they are lacking volunteers.
    My booth has absolutely nothing to do with religion, but that other arbitrary of 1/9th? (as if) of life. Politics.

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    • DSA stands for Department of Special Affairs as well as Director of Special Affairs – which is the person who heads the department of same name. DSA is local and every organization board in every org includes the department and is also supposed to have a director, whereas OSA (Office of Special Affairs) is the Sea Org version of DSA and is responsible for a broader zone. ie: National & International as opposed to local. Is this not correct Mike? Just for clarification I dug out my copy of of the Scn Management dictionary printed 1986. I found no listing for such director, department or office or even the term Special Affairs itself nor anything of that ilk; not even in the list of abbreviations near the back. Not that anyone’s gonna’ miss them but I thought they all used to be in that book – must have an M/U. 😉 And here I thought Miss Cabbage had not began his written alterations until 2007. Weird and weirder.

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