A new promo piece presents some interesting questions. Scientology is now trying to sell their ads as events that people need to see. This new 3 minute ad for training is a mixture of cartoon characters and real life actors with a twangy soundtrack. As with most of the centrally produced scientology video offerings, it has high production values. It's corny, but well produced corny. What is most interesting about it is the approach they are taking to try to persuade people to train as auditors. It is not to actually AUDIT people up the Bridge. It is to use the training to become a … [Read more...]
Clearing the Planet is Hopelessly Bugged
The claim "we are Clearing our area" or "we are Clearing the planet" is almost a mantra inside the scientology bubble. It seems they believe if they say it often enough, it will make it true. What they are willfully oblivious to is the fact they are doing no such thing. And every measure of this is glaringly obvious. There have been no NEW Class V orgs opened since Taiwan. There are the same number of scientology orgs now as there were in the 80's. The number of missions is shrinking. So too Narconons and all the other front groups. There isn't a single Class V org in … [Read more...]
Clearing The Planet
It's a catchphrase in scientology. "We are clearing the planet." "We are making planetary clearing a reality." There are a dozen different variations. It's a time-honored hot button that is used to get people to hand over money and "progress up the Bridge." One of our readers sent this new promo piece to me recently, with some comments that made me think we should address this topic again. In part, this is what the contributor said: When I looked at this promo piece, it reminded me of the jarring, shocking and unpleasant experience of finally, after clawing my way up into the … [Read more...]
Planetary Clearing in Reverse
This is a new Clear proudly displaying his "Clear Bracelet" numbered 73,357. Let us assume for arguments sake that there have in fact been 75,000 Clears made. The number is significantly lower, most of the lower numbers are for people who were subsequently declared "Not Clear" and also every org is allocated a certain block of numbers -- there are probably 5,000 numbers out there waiting to be claimed, Salt Lake City gets 71,401 to 71,500 and Atlanta has 71,901 to 72,000 etc etc. But 75,000 is a nice round number that is pretty easy to do the math with. Since 1950 that is a little over … [Read more...]
The Sad Delusion Scientology Breeds
This "success story" is not unusual, but it highlights the utter delusion that is fostered in scientology. It either attracts or creates people who have truly lost touch with reality. It is like Trekkies or Star Wars fanatics who live in a world of make-believe, except rather than thinking Captain Kirk is a hero or Darth Vader is a bad guy, scientologists are certain L. Ron Hubbard is the savior of earth, "the psychs" are trying to kill them and that by handing over more money to scientology it will make them "responsible" for the world and give them an elite status as a … [Read more...]
The “Model” Ideal Org
4 years ago, David Miscavige turned LA Org into the "model" ideal org by importing 200 Sea Org Members and turning it into a "Sea Org" org (specifically not the model for orgs around the world...) This is supposed to be the shining example of what a Class V organization could be (if manned with 200 SO members)... They have just sent out an announcement celebrating 4 years of model idealiness. The idealiest org of all has 200 staff working a Sea Org schedule, 9am - 11pm 7 days a week and produces 665 "Clears and NED Case Completions" in 4 years.. Let's just call this 600 Clears … [Read more...]
How Long to Clear the Planet??
The question scientologists all over the world are asking -- at least if you ask Sea Org Recruitment Officer Jett Lahde... There are so many oddities in this -- it is an interesting look into the mind of a young Sea Org member. He has probably never clicked on the tv or turned a page in a newspaper (this is not part of Sea Org life) — but he knows what he has been told. He knows about the legalization of Marijuana (it deserves a capital letter apparently) and someone has clued him in that Ecstasy and mushrooms and LSD are "on approval lines" at the FDA (?) and 80 million Americans … [Read more...]
How Big is Scientology?
The question as to how big scientology really is comes up often. The organization does not make its membership figures known though they have a good count with the total number of IAS members. Of course even that is inflated as it is notoriously difficult to get OFF a scientology mailing list and as long as they can still send you junk mail you "count" on their statistic. Over the years, spokespeople have variously claimed 4, 6, 8 or 10 million "members" but then refuse to define what a "member" is though a few times they have stated it is "anyone who had bought a book or taken a service … [Read more...]