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Scientology Hype

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It’s Maiden Voyage season again — “A celebration so spectacular it will take your breath away” — and the hype-o-meter is peaking.

Actually, it’s that time of year David Miscavige makes a scuba diving trip to the Caribbean and “the elite” (used to be OT VIII’s only, but there are no longer enough of them with enough money to fill the ship) are told to attend to listen to 4 events “up close and personal.”

Each year it is the same pattern.

They start with an event recognizing the “amazing work” of the “OT Ambassadors” doing crazy fundraising events, along with some false stats they manage to cobble together “The OT Ambassador force in Atlanta handed out 456 booklets containing 4,352 pages and 14,876,477 words across 7052 acres of ideal territory, reaching a population of 7,325,611 thankful people who are now on the road to truth and know their city has been saved. And that’s how you make an ideal city, state, country and planet.” Apparently this really lame event doesn’t even qualify for a poster. Unless they are actually combining it now with the “Ideal Orgs being made a reality” event?

This is the event to rehash the ribbon yankings that Chairman of the Bored has rushed around the world to grace with his presence. Perth. Orlando. Salt Lake City. Silicon Valley. Those these have all been seen before and have played ad infinitum in every org, they will be shown again, along with some phony stats pretending to show how these orgs are rocketing to new heights of accomplishment. All completely manufactured based on a single day when a couple of hundred people are shipped in from out of town to cheer Dear Leader. The old ribbon yankings are accompanied by “sneak peaks” of “upcoming” ideal orgs. Massive time and effort is put into creating CGI “fly-throughs” for the “next ideal orgs”. Problem is, many of them have been shown before. The lucky audience this year will no doubt see a fly through of the new Boston “ideal org”, as well as Detroit and Chicago. And everyone will be reminded that they need to “complete all orgs in their zone” (meaning raise money).

This is what they mean by “setting the course for an ideal world.”

The progress they have made on making an “ideal world” is laughable, even if you take their meaning of relocating existing orgs in new buildings. At their current rate, this will be accomplished 20 YEARS from now. They are about half way, but the hard ones are yet to come. The tiny, failing orgs around the world like Hawaii, HAPI, Canberra, Oslo, Calgary etc. All orgs in France (Miscavige isn’t even pushing this, he doesn’t want to risk any money in France). And this is not even mentioning the fact that some of the existing “ideal orgs” are insolvent and unable to pay their bills…

 

Then comes the Shermanspeak fable.

A night where Mr. Dan Sherman, at his oiliest, regales the sheeple with tall tales from the life of L. Ron Hubbard. Every disaster is heralded as victory,  every inconvenient fact is conveniently omitted and every lie is lauded as innovative thinking “ahead of his time.” Wives and children disappear. Bankruptcies are caused by someone else. Setbacks are attributed to the forces of evil — the 12 SPs who rule the world or the “whole track implanters from Planet Farsec.”

Truly, the exploits of L. Ron Hubbard would be quite inspirational were they true.

The sad thing is that the mulleted-one knows better than almost anyone they are NOT true, yet he prostitutes himself for the sake of a buck to tell tall tales about LRH in the fashion of LRH.

 

And then we have the scam to beat all scams.

Chairman of the Bored will explain to the gathered marks all the things that fulfill the phony rallying cry “What your donations buy.”

The truth is the money given to the IAS is used for the following pretty much exclusively:

a. Flying video teams to document the few Volunteer Ministers they manage to cajole into traveling to a disaster zone for a photo op (funny, there never seem to be any LOCAL VM’s no matter where the disaster is — even Santa Barbara).

b. Subsidizing some activities to burnish the accomplishments of the upcoming “IAS Freedom Medal Winners.” It is becoming harder and harder to find anyone they can make a video about. They scour the earth and find someone who is a prospect and then spend money to buy WTH booklets and get some handed out on video, or they create what looks like a “study group” that is “using the tech.”

c. Purchase new buildings for existing orgs when Miscavige is short of ribbons to yank. The IAS has more than a billion dollars and no expenses so this is no big deal. But of course, when the IAS DOES buy a building, they use that for heavy fundraising AND require the org to repay them for the outlay they made to purchase the building.

d. Buying some ad time — but never more than they figure they can get in “donations” before and after airing the ad. These ads are money-makers and they promote them like crazy. What you NEVER hear is any actual results from the ads. Number of people who flooded into scientology orgs as a result. I have said many times, they would be better off paying $100 to 10,000 people to take an OCA test and sit through one of their movies.

This is what he means by a “Global Salvage Movement.”

Salvaging your money for their benefit.

And the sheeple will be called, emailed, texted and seen in person dozens if not hundreds of times to show up  for each of these “breathtaking” events. Most orgs will have less than 50 people attending and that INCLUDES all staff. Even in “ideal” orgs.

While they claim those “ideal orgs” are “making planetary clearing a reality.”

This is hype on a grand scale.

 

Late Breaking News:

Just received a copy of this email:

Dear Xxxxx,

Hello!

I have just received late breaking news on the upcoming Maiden Voyage Events and due to the magnitude of these the events will be on:

–      Saturday 30 June 2018

–      Saturday 7 July 2018

–      Saturday 14 July 2018

Please confirm you will be here for these and who you are bringing with you!

ML, 

Sophie

P.S. There are three Maiden Voyage Events – Please confirm for all 3!

Apparently there are now only 3 MV events. I guess the OT Ambassadors and Ideal Orgs don’t have enough news to cover two separate events. In years gone by it was 5 events in the week, there was an additional event that was either “LRH fiction” or ABLE/WISE activities. But that got dropped a few years ago. Now it’s down to 3. I guess an event every night of the week was cutting into scuba time….

And how typical. They announce the dates of the events and then have to change them at the last minute… Like they didn’t know this was coming up?

Comments

  1. The problem with all cults like Scientology is they can’t keep up the pretenses forever. Eventually, they’ll implode from a lack of converts, money, falsehoods, scandals, investigation, etc. All of these are true in the case of Scientology. They are now in desperation mode and trying what never works. It’s a lose-lose proposition for Scientology as they bleed money and participants through every orifice. A “spectacle” for sure.

    Reply

  4. I will have to go for at least one or two of this shows (like I did last year) so I will tell you what i saw)

    Reply

  5. Sceptic’s Society founder Michael Sherman has written extensively on the subject of intelligence and belief. In his book Why People Believe Weird Things he explains how the more “intelligent” are more adept at filtering, rationalising and defending the indefensible. See https://michaelshermer.com/weird-things/excerpt/ for more on this. It’s an interesting read.

    There are also studies that suggest that those who think intuitively are more likely to be religious but that thinking analytically reduces the potency of belief. See Shenhav, A., Rand, D. G., & Greene, J. D. (2012). Divine intuition: Cognitive style influences belief in God. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141(3), 423-428 and also Gervais, W., Norenzayan, A. (2012) Analytic Thinking Promotes Religious Disbelief. Science, 493 (2012); 336.

    What seems clear (to me at least) is that without an education in logic and critical thinking, anyone, no matter how intelligent, can be susceptible to extreme or irrational belief – be it religious, political or otherwise.

    Reply

    • An education in logic and critical thinking won’t help if someone’s emotional needs overpower that thinking. People who get involved with cults as an adult often have intelligence and critical thinking tools, but something causes them to ignore those tools, their best judgement, and their gut instinct.

      Reply

    • I know of one person it impressed. Around 1999 the First Engineer of the Freewinds Shane Carter ( who was responsible for setting up all of the dives for DM and the other execs) went on a MV dive with DM and some other execs.
      The boat Shane had reserved for the dive had broken down and another boat had been put in it’s place. As DM boarded the boat he asked Shane “This is the boat that is going to take us to the real boat, right?”
      Later DM asked Shane if he (Shane) should get a Comm-EV.
      Shane did not tell me what he told DM in reply to that but if it were me (with what I know now) I would have told DM not to bother with the Comm-Ev but to just give me a bullet.

      Reply

    • I just wrote a long and (I thought) brilliant reply to this and it disappeared when I posted it. This is pretty standard since I do not have great signal here. I already knew to break up long posts so as not to lose them but I continue to do so. Sort of like when in the cult thinking WOW, what a win when it was just another reason to be worked to death.

      Reply

  7. Miscavige had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb
    And everywhere Miscavige went, the lamb was sure to go…until he had it slaughtered.

    Reply

  9. According to my count, Scientology had 3 “ideal” facility openings in the US last year, and 3 so far this year with Detroit possibly opening in the fall. They only have something like 14 projects left to go in the US, so the current pace would seem to put them 4 or 5 years away from being done in this country.

    The remaining in the US are small ones that are really struggling, apparently having trouble even completing the CF projects that are supposed to be done before their “ideal” facilities open, or the staff-up that was supposed to occur; St. Louis has apparently given up on the historic property they had bought, and is now shown as just renovating their existing building, which I calculated at about 18,000 square feet, far short of the 50,000 square feet that was supposedly a requirement. It’s going to be interesting to see if Scientology can keep the campaign up, particularly without starting to comprise the extravagant standards. But I don’t know that Miscavige has any other choice, particularly if it’s part of an effort to keep the IRS at bay – and then what does he do, once all the US orgs are built out?

    Reply

  10. I’m a wog. I’d never heard of the term until last week, when I read Jenna’s book. As far as I know, I don’t know anyone who is or has been involved in Scientology. A few years back, a former friend of mine tried to pull me into a psychotherapy cult she belonged to. I saw her get deeply pulled into it, and ever since then I’ve been very interested in topics like cults, narcissistic, manipulative people, and sociopaths. I’ve had a few close brushes with sociopaths. My experiences have taught me that it’s an urgent matter to educate people about how these kinds of people and groups operate and how they pull people in, so that people can avoid being hurt by them. I’ve had people close to me who found themselves married to a sociopath, and I’ve seen how they destroy people’s lives. So I don’t think I have much to offer, but I’d like to read the blog and read people’s stories.

    I’d like to comment about a couple of things I saw in my friend. Too often I’ve seen comments in threads (You Tube, mainly) questioning the intelligence of people who get involved in cults. Intelligence has nothing to do with it. My friend had a Master’s degree in economics. It’s about manipulative sociopaths who are very shrewd about zeroing in on vulnerable people and pushing the right emotional buttons. And it wouldn’t have done any good to try to talk her out of staying in the cult. She just would have dug in deeper. She pulled away from the group when she got involved with a really good, decent man. Somehow he was able to get through to her when no one else could.

    I live in Philadelphia PA. There is a small Scientology office a block away from my office building. They have prominent surveillance cameras aimed at the sidewalk in front of their building, so I always stay on the other side of the street. Our postal carrier told us that she’s had to deliver some things to the Scientology office that really creeped her out from the way the packages and return addresses looked. She didn’t go into details. That’s the closest involvement I’ve ever had with Scientology.

    I was raised in a harsh fundamentalist religion, and reading about the things that Scientology does to members reminded me of some of the things my family’s religious leaders did with their followers, for instance, telling us that we should never socialize with anyone outside of our religion.

    I thought I’d heard that there is a petition to get the IRS to drop Scientology’s tax-exempt status. Can anyone provide a link to the petition?

    All the best to all of you! I’ll be a regular visitor to this blog!

    Patty Q.

    Reply

  11. Bye bye Dave
    Bye bye Mr. MEST
    Hello happiness
    I think I’m-a gonna smi-le
    Bye bye Dave
    Bye bye RPF
    Hello to success
    I feel so damn alive
    Bye bye Davy goodbye

    There goes Miscavige with more out ruds
    He sure looks angry, ain’t that the truth
    The stats were decent till he stepped in
    Goodbye expansion that might have been

    Bye bye Dave
    Bye bye Mr. MEST
    Hello happiness
    I think I’m-a gonna smi-le
    Bye bye Dave
    Bye bye RPF
    Hello to success
    I feel so damn alive
    Bye bye Davy goodbye

    I’m-a through with Davy, I’m a-through with GAT
    I’m through with a-countin’ the phony stats
    And here’s the reason that I’m so free
    My wife and children are back with me

    Bye bye Dave
    Bye bye Mr. MEST
    Hello happiness
    I think I’m-a gonna smi-le
    Bye bye Dave
    Bye bye RPF
    Hello to success
    I feel so damn alive
    Bye bye Davy goodbye

    Bye bye Davy goodbye
    Bye bye Davy goodbye!

    Reply

    • Visitor, I am beside myself. The all over tone level of the blog has been catapulted far above mere Cheerfullness or Enthusiasm. We’re in Serenity of Beingness now. This is your Golden Age. We are living it.

      Reply

  13. Let me see if understand this correctly: Due to the “magnitude” of the Maiden Voyage events, they’re holding LESS of them?

    Reply

  14. The entire OT VIII level in Scientology is a complete fraud. I was on the Freewinds in July, 1988 and completed OT VIII. The truth is that many on the Maiden Voyage were stunned by Hubbard’s assertions that he acted in the role of Lucifer in the creation of Scientology. The Catholics were most disturbed by Hubbard returning as the anti-Christ. When stats crashed on the Freewinds in October 1988, Miscavige performed the bloodbath ritual on the deck of the Freewinds by slamming the staff. The registrar blew and showed up in Fort Lauderdale begging for rescue. Rumors of Miscavige’s brutality were rampant. When I returned to the Freewinds in the fall of 1988, it was with clenched fist ready to overboard the creep. But it was not worth the effort. In two years, my FSM was dead from cancer and her sister tried to sue Scientology claiming that it was the e-meter. My other FSM was dead in about five years. A few I knew from the Freewinds voyage perished over the next ten years. Make no mistake. Scientology is a total lie. It was based on lies by Hubbard. Miscavige has just continued the tradition. When Miscavige dies, there will be another revolution in Scientology. God knows what lie will be manufactured. Scientology is a meandering mess of confused religion, philosophy and occult practices. It is toxic.
    GMW
    Tainted by Scientology forty six years ago.
    Recovering from Scientology for thirty years.

    Reply

      • Thanks, Old Surfer Dude. We are lucky. My wife and kids never had to experience any crap from Hubbard and that figured in to my decision to breakout.

        Reply

      • This topic has been covered at length on Rathbun’s Blog and Tony Ortega’s blog and I gave a rundown of the level. My book published in 2015 covers the main overview of Hubbard’s Student Briefing that I had to read. Professor Hugh Urban from Ohio State and Professor Cathryn Wessinger of Loyola have now guided to new material about Hubbard and Blavatsky which explains about 90% of Hubbard’s occult beliefs. This material is in peer review and may take up to two years for publication.
        The main problem in understanding OT VIII in 1988 is that I was not given any new processes or serious guidance for the auditing. The main C/S is simply to use History of Man and Creative Processing to handle what Hubbard was talking about. Most of what Hubbard talked about was over-simplified occult and faint references to Kabballah. Hubbard also drew a lot on the Philadelphia Lectures which are simply based on misguided electrical theories before Quantum physics was widely known. Means Hubbard did not understand it. He basically took his view of the world from occult textbooks but never explained what he meant. Hubbard also made references to DNA and “synthetic karma” which he ties in to former occult stories popular from the great spiritualist movement from 1865-1925. Hubbard had a common mind and even makes reference to a sort of space age cult in deep outer space with control of cosmic consciousness. Hubbard’s views of cosmic consciousness are just simplified references to ancient Astrology. To answer your question about why Miscavige trashed original OT VIII, Hubbard put together a sixth grade understanding of spiritualism. That is why so many got sick or died. That is why Miscavige trashed it.
        My preparation for OT VIII was extensive so I managed to create a lot of new material to handle what Hubbard talked about on the e-meter. Hubbard claimed that OT VIII was for “you” and he meant it. I passed to the E/P with a lot of luck and said the right thing. It was something strange similar to ancient Hindu texts which I recently discovered. Hubbard never cracked the occult barrier nor produced any OT powers. He was lost until the end of his life.

        Reply

        • I always love your comments, georgemwhite.

          I have a friend who has been studying and practicing Crowley’s teachings. He showed me this thick tome on incantations and what-not, full of symbols, poems, and instructions. He claims it works, but I am pretty stand-offish about it all. My view is that the outcomes from his beliefs are much like a placebo effect or self-fulfilling prophecies, or whatever. But the friend is harmless, unlike the practitioners of scientology, so whatever floats his boat I guess. Of course, who knows.

          Reply

      • If you find one, please let me know. I’d like to see it too. It’s supposed to be very short.

        Reply

    • George, when Miscavige dies, the war of succession will be a cross between “Lord of the Flies” and “Idiocracy.” It will be far more funny than dangerous.

      Miscavige eliminated all the competent henchmen long ago. Those who are left are numb zombies going through the motions for reasons they can’t even remember.

      And they will all give up in disgust when they realize that the access codes for the offshore banks died with midrange and no one will ever be able to access the reserves again.

      Reply

      • I think the lawyers, the main ones, who make the most amount of money, will take over, hidden from everybody, even DM. And when they die, if or when and if or before DM, who knows.

        This is where lawyers in general get a bad rap as we know there are many good lawyers. Those supporting DM and scientology, they can can suck my………..

        Reply

        • Gib, unless the “lawyers” are officially corp officers (I doubt that) AND are on the bank accounts (DEFINITELY not) they will take over nothing.

          Reply

          • Wynski, question for you:

            Do you think that Miscavige’s lawyers are actually running things NOW? Not on the face of things, but as the powers behind the throne, i.e., they tell him what to do as general policy (keep raising money for Ideal Orgs, the IAS, etc.). In other words, do you think he is actually taking orders from his attorneys because he long ago realized that Scientology is doomed and for some time now he has been playing his own, calculating, LONG end game of “Get as much money as possible for as long as possible before its over and I’m outta here?”

            Now, this is not to infer that the lawyers would be running things AFTER Miscavige leaves because that’s unlikely. But are they in your opinion effectively running things NOW?

            I’d love to hear your take on this if you have a minute.

            Reply

            • Not a chance Aqua. The ONLY thing would be providing info on how to keep from running afoul of breaking non-profit status or handling particular legal cases against the church.

              NO ONE is smarter than Misscabbage. You have to remember that mind set.

              Reply

              • “NO ONE is smarter than Misscabbage. You have to remember that mind set.”

                Wynski, OMFG! Totally Thanks for calling to mind the Narcissism Factor that didn’t get entered into the equation. Can’t BELIEVE I forgot that!

        • I agree that that there’s a good chance that the lawyers will end up in control, in the end – if nothing else, appointed by the courts as overseers or trustees after some prosecution or legal fight (such as over succession), and getting paid hefty fees.

          Reply

  15. “They are about half way, but the hard ones are yet to come. The tiny, failing orgs around the world like Hawaii, HAPI, Canberra, Oslo, Calgary etc. All orgs in France (Miscavige isn’t even pushing this, he doesn’t want to risk any money in France). And this is not even mentioning the fact that some of the existing “ideal orgs” are insolvent and unable to pay their bills…”

    It is surprising that they are only half way there. All the hype and promo make it seem like they are close to done with the ideal org program.

    You mean it’s going to get worse for the remaining public? It boggles the mind how much torture they can take while keeping the empty orgs going and paying for more buildings.

    Reply

  17. Maybe a little off-topic but I was wondering:

    I’ve heard that when one goes to the Freewinds, the staff insist that you hand over your passport for “safekeeping”. Is this still happening? What would happen if someone refused to hand over their passport?

    Reply

    • No one’s refused yet. And yes, they do take their passports away. Which means they’re trapped.

      Reply

    • As soon as you walk up the gang plank to the doorway of the ship, your passport is taken. If one is like I was, they don’t want to be there in the first place but are just “getting through it.” If one is there thinking that this is all good, then they have no idea the shit they are about to step in or they are so far steeped in shit, they can’t smell the difference.

      Reply

  18. Things are noticeably and quickly beginning to unravel. I’ve asked this before: is anyone watching JT’s and TC’s plane hangars?

    Reply

  19. “And this is not even mentioning the fact that some of the existing “ideal orgs” are insolvent and unable to pay their bills…”

    From just the videos I’ve seen and posted of Ideal Morgues there are none that make enough selling services to pay their bills.

    Reply

    • When I first got in the course room was packed and if you didn’t get there early enough they’d have to set you up in the hallway. Practically everyone was on auditor training. It was heavily pushed then.

      Twenty-five years later when I left there was no more Div 6 courseroom as it had been combined wi the Academy. This tiny org was virtually depleted of people during the week with but a smattering of students on course, most of whom were on the Basics. No one was on the Levels.

      (A few years before I had wanted to start auditor training but was told this was no longer possible for anyone who had not completed the Basics. I thought this was stupid, out gradient and far too long a runway and told them so. Asked to see an LRH reference – got nowhere fast with that.)

      And so time passed. I read the blogs. Informed myself. Just before I left, with our voices echoing in the hallways, with the our tiny org so empty it was almost ghost like, ALL that concerned the staff was fundraising to buy a new, much larger building.

      Can’t make it up, folks. Just can’t!

      Reply

      • No, Aqua, you’re not, and I say that from experience. I was a staff member at one of those orgs with the empty, echoing halls and the Kool-aid drinkers totally oblivious to what was going on around them.

        Reply

        • Thanks, Alco. Now,as you say you were a staff member, if, you don’t mind, I would like to ask you – and I’m not being sarcastic (for once), no, I’m asking you, respectfully,in that I truly do not understand:- how is it that the staff are oblivious?

          In your opinion, is it more the long-term staff members and K/A drinking staff who just cannot or will not give up on their dream, and so they shut their eyes to what is right in front of them?

          In my tiny org, which shrank steadily over a 25 year period,there were a handful of staff most of whom had been there for decades. They’d hire people sporadically who never lasted. The diehards just stayed. They’re still there!

          I’d love your opinion on the mindset. How do they not see? Or, are they just pretending to the public that there’s nothing wrong?

          Reply

          • I think I can answer that for you Aqua. When you’re like Alice in Wonderland, the rabbit hole reality is all that you can see.

            Reply

            • Well, OK, but if you’re serious, what you’re saying is that this mental illness. Seriously, I’m not being funny. There are people walking around in institutions who see things that don’t exist. Good things, bad things – spiders on their dinner plates, or, they were married to Burt Reynolds once, or/or/or…so I can’t tell, were you serious? Because mental illness would explain not seeing what’s right in front of your face, and seeing and believing what exists no place.

              Reply

              • I was just making a general comment on the viewpoint of a Scientologist.Their mentality is not so much disturbed as distorted.

              • Yes, I understand YOU, Visitor. Its them who puzzle me.

                SORRY to be a bore and hold on to this like a dog with a bone but what I still struggle to understand is how SOME of us koolaid drinkers could observe the obvious and others (some otherwise highly intelligent people) could NOT, and CAN NOT observe the obvious concerning what is manifestly apparent to ANYONE who isn’t blind, deaf and/or mentally impaired! Why/How could WE do it and not they?

                Intelligence per se doesn’t appear to be a factor. What IS the factor?

                I’m still struggling to isolate what it is. Maybe I’m being myself obtuse and dumb in my inability to isolate what it is.

                Maybe its just the willingness to confront THIS issue.

                Perhaps their willingness to confront OTHER issues is high.

                They DO, after all, know VERY well what “confront” is, and how the inability to confront causes all KINDS of life complications.

                So it could be just as simple as their unwillingness to confront THIS issue, whilst having NO problems at all confronting and handling (speedily and well) other issues.

                Visitor, you needn’t respond at this point if you don’t need/want to; I’m thinking out loud right now.

                Perhaps its simply the fact that each of us can all shrink from confronting certain things and these things can be different from person to person. Ok, I think I’m getting it….I think…:)

              • Ok, I’m back because I just thought of something ELSE. Pursuant to people whose abilities and inabilities to confront can differ widely in every way, when someone who’s been in Scientology for decades is unable to confront what is the obvious, steady shrinkage of their org, what is not being confronted is not just a mere ISSUE but the keystone, the linchpin, stable datum, whatever, of the person’s life. THIS is why we think they’re looney because denial of org shrinkage carries SO much significance, there is SO much attached, that, effectively, it EQUATES to a repudiation of ALL of Scientology and L ROn Hubbard himself.

                Of course, in actually, it DOES NOT, but they don’t see it that way.

                WE saw and see it that way. WE made and can still make the distinction between org shrinkage and the actual subject. But they cannot, or, will not, possibly because they don’t have what it takes INSIDE, notwithstanding their intelligence, to stand up and say, “This is what I SEE”. Declaring the truth possibly about what they plainly see has been severe org shrinkage is tantamount in their minds to renunciation of Scientology, their group, and their entire adult lives.

                This is A = A = A reactive mind thinking ON THIS ISSUE which unfortunately for them is the linchpin of their lives. So, to be nutty and blind on THIS issue causes them to be nutty and blind on everything that has to do with Scientology. Its all LIINKED, for them.

                Whew! I THINK I’m getting closer.

          • It was primarily the younger staff who were this way. We had a book kiosk in a strip mall and sold maybe ten books for the entire two years it was there. And we were paying rent on this damn thing! I git put into lower conditions for stating the obvious, that it was a waste of resources as these younger staff justified the choice of location on the idea that the SO had made the decision and the SO could do no wrong.

            Reply

            • When I sold books I asked a few staff why Dianetics wasn’t being sold in the major book stores. Another not OK question but it seemed reasonable and logical to me. None of them could answer. I also asked why DMSMH and other books ween’t being advertised on TV. I’ll let you know if they ever answer me 🙂

              Reply

              • Good question to ask! Actually, I think they have paid for placement of Dianetics in bookstores from time to time, since the public lost any real interest in it decades ago. There were recent reports of Dianetics being seen in airport bookstores, and I assume that must involve paid placements.

    • “green on red”, now that is SICK, thank you, OSD :), and Wynski I’m sure you’re right and there hasn’t been a single solvent Scientology org for years. And yet, I believe that in each of these orgs, there are some CL V staff who labor under the delusion that Scientology is expanding all around them, and suffer under the make-wrong of believing that THEIR org is “the only one” which is still struggling. Amazing, really. What a con!

      Reply

  20. “….not enough hype….” is an LRH reject comment in one of the ASI advices from LRH to ASI which I read when I was on the proofreading project when I was an ASI staffer 92-95.

    Susy Watson Taylor told me that reject was to Greg, and Susy was charged with the film strategy for Battlefield Earth for many years, herself having the ties to John Travolta and her helping push John to take on the BE film making strategy.

    But the “…not enough hype…” comment from LRH was made in 1982ish, back when Greg was at ASI, and the promotion plan from ASI for one of LRH’s fiction works, I think Battlefield Earth, and then that authorized the whole “hype” era, and it’s never stopped since.

    “Come on” and “mystery sandwich” and “hype”

    The three ingredients for the promotion policy of their events to their members.

    It’s what Ron says. And it works sufficiently to keep return of donations out of their captive audience.

    Reply

  21. Some little truth in advertizing with the posters. If you go onto the Freewinds and breath in enough asbestos you will truly become ‘breathless’.

    Reply

  22. This so brings to mind the band Talking Heads’ song. The Road to Nowhere

    “. … There’s a city in my mind
    Come along and take that ride
    And it’s alright, baby, it’s all right
    And it’s very far away
    But it’s growing day by day and it’s all right
    Baby, it’s all right, yeah
    Would you like to come along
    You can help me sing the song
    And it’s all right, baby, it’s all right
    They can tell you what to do
    But they’ll make a fool of you and it’s all right
    Baby, it’s all right
    We’re on a road to nowhere
    We’re on a road to nowhere
    We’re on a road to nowhere

    We’re on a road to nowhere”

    Reply

  23. I won’t be attending any of these events. I tried one, once, and it was dumb.

    the longer I’m out … the more clearly it is hitting me that the truth about scientology is pretty much 100 percent opposite to what I thought it was and what it says and promotes. It’s one thing to suddenly realize it’s all bullshit, it’s another to then start discovering the exact aspects of the bullshit and how scn is just polar opposite to everything it claims in…alllllll areas and aspects.

    It’s SO freaking weird.

    …
    Truth was king in scientology. The only way to go free was truth. You need exact “time, place, form, event” to as-is overts and withholds.

    You have to view something exactly as it is to disappear it.

    We had the truth and answers, they didn’t. They were evil psychs and SPs or uniformed wogs

    Communication was king as well. The universal solvent, the most important part of the ARC triangle, one of the only two crimes in the universe (being there, and communicating) and totally key to auditing, the route out.

    We were the most ethical beings on the planet.

    We were to “think for ourselves” and Look Don’t Listen.

    and of course…we’re expanding…. 🙂

    ….
    instead,

    Don’t ask, don’t question, don’t ask for proof. Don’t look at how the orgs are doing, … the creed says you can utter what you want? nope.

    The stats are a lie, the expansion is a lie, hubbard’s life bio is a lie, the OT levels are a lie, LRH being the sole writer of every bit of scn is a lie, ….

    Snow White program, Operation Freak-out, … the spying, the following, the hate websites…..

    scientology …ethical? Nope.

    expanding? nope.

    Truth? Nope.

    answers? Nope

    Think for yourself. Nope. Parrot LRH in every situation. How is that thinking for yourself?

    ………
    We were just a deluded crazy little group.

    and….

    people spend their entire lives devoted to it.

    What a waste.

    …….
    thanks again, Mike.

    .

    Reply

    • This is a religion preaching that the road to the ultimate freedom of a being is the road of confronting and living with the truth and that in order to do this there must be free communication. Ok, so far, so good. The problem is that this very organization selling truth and communication lies constantly and forbids free communication. What else do we need to know besides these Contrary Facts to conclude that this organization is doomed?

      Reply

    • “…the more clearly it is hitting me that the truth about scientology is pretty much 100 percent opposite to what I thought it was and what it says and promotes. It’s one thing to suddenly realize it’s all bullshit, it’s another to….” realize it preaches about what it does not do or preaches against that which it does.

      Reply

  24. OTVIII for which the Freewinds set sail for. Let’s see the graph over these last 2 decades. Total cause over failure?

    Reply

  25. Doesn’t the IAS fund the lawyers also, or where does that come from? I doubt it’s just the General Liability fund 5% from all the orgs. That is supposed to stay local but of course gets ripped but I doubt 5% would cover.
    On Aaron and Marc’s (very funny) vid a few days ago Marc talks about payout to leaving staff that know too much and are savy enough to demand thousands. Where does that money come from?

    https://youtu.be/gbZ-hydngX0

    Reply

    • IAS funds lawyers when DM says it does, otherwise, lawyers primarily funded by 1. CSI weekly FP for much of it. 2. As much as can be taken from FP of whatever org/orgs concerned with whatever legal matter requires lawyers 3. IAS when DM deems it important enough, which is far less often then you would think. 4. GLFs if all else fails. CSI controls all org GLFs and these were clamped down on seriously and there was many, many millions in GLFs as a result, and permission to use any of it became incredibly stingy.

      Reply

      • Should “e” above be for the funding of the Fair Game folks? Takes a lot of dough to put people up in hotels, apartments, food, gas, etc.

        Reply

    • More than funny, Marc is hilarious. You can do nothing more fun then listening to Marc starting at 50:40 from Cece’s link above, where Marc relates how one guy got an immediate and instant free pass to leave the SO, and it is completely non-violent and funny.

      A few minutes prior, Marc mentions what actually works to entice people to leave Scientology. It is very good info, especially for someone who might still be in contact with a loved one. In a nutshell, Marc says lay off any criticism of the church, even if it is true – it just makes the member put up their defenses. Instead, talk about how you’ve been sleeping til noon on weekends, eating out, seeing movies, going to concerts, and any other desirable part of normal life that members, especially SO, never get to experience.

      Then hit them with a kicker – “95% of ex-scn get great jobs and make lots of money despite not having a college degree” or some similar statement. Most who leave do become successful more or less, and that undercuts the cherch’s claim that people who leave the SO have two options only – flip burgers or become a bum.

      Reply

  27. Of course,
    But Miscavage is just doing what he understands.
    What would you do in his position as a small time Philly thug with a Napoleon complex?
    Product pretty defective,if not damaging.
    Easier to be a sex offender than a Scientologist these days.
    Third season of A and E coming up.
    All the smart ones already left.
    The collective IQ of the last ones in the bubble is rapidly reaching room temperature.
    So:Global Salvage!Monumental!Be there!Celebrate GAD!(Golden Era of Desperation)

    Reply

    • “All the smart ones already left”

      what is the demarcation date of smart and not smart for leaving?

      If you left a year ago, are you dumb because it took that long?

      …….
      There are still lots of “smart” people in scientology.

      We call it a “bubble” for a reason.

      Even IF the noise outside the bubble is louder, more clear, more informative than ever before….

      if you’re still in the bubble

      YOU STILL DON’T HEAR IT.

      Reply

      • Good point Rip,
        Of course not scientific,but I work in testing. Both inside and now outside the cherch).
        Collective IQ of Scientologists.Here is my guess:
        1970.130.
        1975.127
        1980:125
        1985:120.(Post Miscavage)
        1990:118.
        1995:115
        2000:113
        2005:110
        2010:108
        2015.107
        2018:105
        Although many of us now prefer to forget it old time Scientologists generally high IQ’s.
        Lil’ Dicky The Thug and poor results drove the smartest ones out,so he got nastier.
        Come to think of it Lil’ Dickey is kinda smart since North Korean style propaganda does impinge on the last remaining koolaid drinkers who usually do not have anywhere left to go.

        Reply

      • I’m not OT but I for some reasons that escape me now, towards the end I attended 2 OT Committee meetings. In my org, you didn’t have to be OT to attend these or be on the Committee if I’m not mistaken.

        There were about 6 OTC members in my tiny org.. TheChairman was an OT* and she had her own style that she worked into the procedure.

        A stocky loudmouthed little bull of a woman who liked talking tough, she’d get up and get the group “in present time ” much as a Borscht Belt comedian warms up an audience before the main act. So her schtick was to stand up in front of the group and bellow, “WE ARE KICK-ASS OTs!”.

        Then the group would shout back, “YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!”, etc., with arms pumping and plenty of “WHOO! WHOO!”s.

        While this was going on the bull would be in front of us observing our show of enthusiasm and punctuating it with her own little “Rocky” dance – arms raised, hopping in a tight circle – Rocky after he won the fight..

        Once satisfied that we were all in PT the bull would cut to the chaise to address their Oh So OT purpose of Ideal M’Org fundraising.

        Reply

    • ” small time Philly thug”.
      Now, come on, Xenu. I’m sure that, at times his mommy and daddy took him out to Lancaster and Berks Counties and let him beat up on the Amish.

      Reply

  28. Just want to say (again) how much I appreciate your dedication to exposing the facts about this awful group.

    If only we could remove their tax-exempt status in the USA and force them to live like every other business lives (or dies because of corruption).

    Reply

    • I doubt if removing the tax exemption would do much except give Miscavige another reason to regge people for more and larger donations. As for living like other corporations, there are plenty of those who employ near-slave labor, who confiscate passports, who make employees live in company housing, who avoid paying taxes while enjoying government handouts – and even some who violate child labor laws, though I can’t think of any who actually abuse children like scn.

      One time the cherch had the exemption, then lost it. So for the following 25 years, IIRC, the cherch simply refused to pay their taxes when they came due, until one day that past due tax bill was wiped away in the deal that got them the new exemption.

      The IAS has over a thousand million dollars, and no expenses. That IAS billion dollars would keep DM’s in Italian usits and tailored shirts for the rest of his life. His only worry is the truly illegal crimes he has committed, if any, for which the statute of limitations has not run out – or the very small chance he will be removed from his position of power in Sxientology.

      Reply

  29. I once swallowed all of the hype
    Thought it would better my life
    Discovered the truth
    Unlike snarling Foolproof
    I’m done with that diet of tripe

    Reply

  30. It just must be pure torture to go to these events now. My son liked to go to them because he would hang with his friends. He has lost the most important aspects of life than he has gained with a few friends and I know life on staff cannot be fun. No matter how you slice and dice it – in the best or worst of times – life in the Sea Org, at a Class V Org, or even at a mission is just not fun. Cult mentality is mind boggling.

    Reply

    • After the first blush and bloom was over …. the main reason I enjoyed events was socializing. The smokers would zip out for a quick smoke, join the few there, and then….stay. 🙂 By the time the event was half over, there would be quite a group just hanging out and BSing… hitting up the coffee table, go check on the kids in the kids room, stealing a few carrot sticks from the pot luck table….

      It was pretty much the only “fun” time we had.

      Reply

    • Int Management EVENTS, particularly Maiden Voyage, were a nightmare for the Gold crew and PR people who had to produce them. One event production bled into the next and the next and the next, 7 per year. MV had 5 days/nights of events. Sooooo many people went without sleep for several weeks during each event evolution. Many people went to the bilges for screwing up during the event–and was it no wonder this happened since no one was getting any sleep?? And each event was FULL of fake news and corny speeches that we lived and died over. All so Dave could go scuba diving for a week, or trot around the U.K. during the IAS event and stay in 5 star hotels and eat at London’s finest restaurants…and the best goes on. I’ve been out for 20 years but those memories will live on….

      Reply

      • Sleep deprivation of SO members is one of the STUPIDEST practics of the SO, and one of the stupidest things for Miscavige to allow, let alone force on the crew. I would call him a moron for it, but unfortunately I think it is not his stupidity, but his vengeful nature that drives him to use lack of sleep as punishment or as a solution to his TMs not being met. Lack of regular, sound sleep of 8 hours (give or take) on a consistent basis and schedule is one of the BIGGEST causes of ill health, both physical and mental. The result of Mr. Torquemada Miscavige’s sleep deprivation management techniques is an SO full of people made stupid, slow, and mistake prone. I recall one time at ILO when I was sitting in my office (shared with a number of other people) one day in the middles of Basics Evolution at its worst and most sleep-depriving, when the RTC Rep walked by, looked in, and yelled at us because we looked “dead”. What a stupid, vindictive bitch. I really wanted to get up and slap her. Mostly we were too tired to even pay much attention to her at that point.

        Reply

        • You know, SSOA, your post made me think. Could be that this “cold chrome steel” mock up the Sea M’orgers mock up all the time is just exhaustion. Hey, I feel cranky losing even 1 night’s sleep. And I’m very healthy and I sleep very deeply every night.. But one night without sleep and I’m not in that great a mood although I can fake it and get thru the work day. But TWO nights? Uh Oh! And regular sleep deprivation I know would make me lose ALL patience and the ability to listen necessary to do my jobs I’d be a wreck in a week! I mean, I’m thinking, maybe these SO are not intrinsically mean, just craving sleep. I’m kind of thinking out loud now. Trying to work thru anger I’m still harboring at these people. Once I understand what’s really going on it just all dissipates. So the question is, do they gravitate to the SO out of a desire to dominate and/or be dominated, or, do they just want to help, and then get mean and arrogant and otherwise insufferable because of abuse and lack of sleep? Or, is it a combination of the above.

          Reply

    • Just recently I got promo from the Foothills Mission in CA. It was asking for donations to “Go Ideal.” Missions were never part of the Idle Morgue program. But I guess if you can’t pay your utilities, you have to get creative to figure out how to ask for donations without looking downstat.

      Reply

  33. Do they know what ***maiden*** voyage means?
    Of course they go UP their bridge to slavery.

    Their bragging about their deep understanding of language seems misplaced.

    Reply

    • Great comment! A celebration of the anniversary of your maiden voyage is so declasse. Sounds like a way to grub money from unsuspecting marks. Say it ain’t so!

      She’s a deflowered spinster by now at best. 😉

      Reply

  34. Scientology: when your creative juices are so low that you superimpose 3 photos over the same background and call it promo because no one will read it anyway.

    Reply

    • They aren’t creating in those juices Valerie, they are stewing in them. Couldn’t happen to a nicer group of folks.

      Yo Dave,
      Where is that stench coming from?

      Yo Foolproof,
      When in doubt, communicate! We know you are there.

      Yo Julian,
      How’s yer Dad? Did you stop by on Fathers Day?

      Reply

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