Remember the ad that appeared in the Thursday Funnies last week?
“We pay $1000-$2000 per week and you get Bridge and auditor and admin training to Class 8 totally free.”
Follow along here as one of our Special Correspondents checked in with the South Coast Mission about their pay plan.
We begin with a response to the response from the ED to the initial inquiry. Our correspondent is in blue, the Mission ED’s responses are in green.
On Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 9:43 PM To: Sean Dernhill:
Hi Sean – thank you very much for your response. I am rather excited about the opportunity to work in the Mission as an Executive. That would be my postulate!
If it is okay, I would like to find out more about the position. I will try to call you this weekend.
In the meantime, maybe you could give me a little more information about the position. Hours, responsibilities etc. ?
What type of experience do you require?
Is there training involved? If so, how long is the program and what is the salary during that time? When would you need for me to start? I am assuming it is full time. Is there any part time positions available?
Thank you!
Here s Sean’s response the following day:
On 10/24/2014 at 5:56 PM, “Sean Dernehl” wrote:
Great!
Thank you for your interest!
It is much faster to give you details over the phone or in person! But I will give you the basic data here.
We are hiring for a few positions (Qual Sec, Call in Officer, Div 6 execs, Auditors, etc.) so it would depend on your training level and experience on any similar jobs.
The hours are generally 9:45-6 M-F, 40 hours a week. There are a few part-time positions available as well.
How long have you been a Scientologist? Where do you live now? Can you tell me a little about yourself?
Look forward to talking with you this weekend!
Thank you!
And the response to him (note the times are local times so this appears to be timed before the message it is answering):
On Oct 24, 2014, at 4:09 PM: To Sean Dernhill:
Thank you for the data. I have been a Scientologist for only a few years and just moved to the area from Australia about 8 months ago to be closer to my children’s father.
I have not done too much on the Bridge. I could never afford it and am raising two children by myself. The reason the ad stood out was the pay. If I could make that kind of money, maybe I could get up the Bridge.
That is the reason I am only interested in the postition’s that pay $1,000 – $2,000 per week. I can’t be an auditor – that takes too long and the advertisements I have seen say the pay is lousy.
If you could send me the data on those positions only – I could decide if it is worth taking off from work to meet with you. I work two jobs.
Thanks.
Absolutely classic line in there — “I can’t be an auditor – that takes too long and the advertisements I have seen say the pay is lousy.” Very funny.
He now explains “I really need to chat on the phone”:
On 10/24/2014 at 9:08 PM, “Sean Dernehl” wrote:
Ok! Thank you for the reply!
I really need to chat w you on the phone to give you all the details. It won’t be a long comm cycle. Maybe 10 min or so.
The posts that pay that $1000-2000 would be execs in Div 6-disseminating, registration, signing people up for auditing and course and some HCO functions.
Are you familiar with the Scientology org board?
Love,
Sean Dernehl
Executive Director
Hmm, a bit more rope and a few more classic zingers about regges selling bedsheets….
On Oct 24, 2014, at 8:28 PM: TO SEAN DERNHILL
Sean –
Thank you for the information.
Is that one position – doing all of those duties you described? Is the pay a fixed salary? I really would need that in order to meet my house payment and other financial obligations.
Please don’t be offended but I don’t want to be a registrar and have to sign people up. I tried to sell books one time but it was awful experience.
Also, the registrar I knew had been there a long time. She did not seem to have much money. She was selling bedsheets on street corners and cleaning houses at night. She never had kids and no 2-D so I could not imagine why she had to work so much.
In fact, from what I recall – she did not get very far on the Bridge either. I think she the Purif and maybe one other thing.
No offense – but I don’t want to have to sell anything.
Any other positions that don’t involve selling anything? If not, that is okay and I don’t need to call you.
Thanks.
And finally, he is getting defensive, but has been prodded into a definitive statement:
Sean Dernhill replies:
Thanks for your interest and responding to my ad.
All of my staff at the South Coast Mission are extremely well paid and none of them moonlight or do anything extra. They all move on the bridge everyday, including myself. I am New OT 8 and did my entire bridge on staff in 5 years.
All of the staff positions at my mission are production based pay. There is no salary position.
If you are qualified for an exec position the pay is higher the higher on the org board. I don’t know your qualifications without doing an interview.
I can’t say anything about other Orgs or missions staff pay and their pay has no effect on our staff pay.
If you are interested in a position you can give me a call to set up an interview. If not, that’s ok too.
Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
Love,
Sean Dernehl
Executive Director
At least he is polite and literate. I would say this mission IS probably more successful than most as he would appear to be more competent than most staff in orgs and missions these days.
But it doesn’t take away from the bait and switch he is engaged in.
The reality, when it comes right down to it is that there is no $1000-$2000 a week job. Unless you make that in COMMISSIONS. And you don’t need to go to South Coast Mission to do that — you are much more likely to make that sort of cash suckering people into giving money to the IAS. They put a LOT more effort into their marketing to convince people they should turn over their cash.
UPDATE
One of our commenters noted the following:
This mission should be called the Mission of the Most Ethical Bait and Switch Because Its For Our Greater Good.
Most missions now have “official” websites build for them that are mini-replicas of the the big scientology website. However the clever people at the Orange County Life Improvement Center AKA Church of Scientology Mission of South Coast have their own unofficial website called oclifeimprovementcenter.com which makes no mention of Scientology or LRH anywhere on it.
They even offer “anger management classes”. How deceptive is that.
One of the funniest sections of the website is a place where they clearly edited LRH’s name OFF the website – check this out:
“At the Orange County Life Improvement Center we utilize techniques that have helped improve the lives of individuals the world over for more than 60 years.
His work has been recognized worldwide as revolutionary with unparalleled workability. As such, it remains the widest read body of work on self-help.”
“His work”? But no name? Opps.
These guys are ashamed to be scientologists and believe you must hide the scieno connection to get people to join.
Hey there guys and gals, HIDE is very low on the Scientology tone scale -almost at the very bottom.
But it’s working – perhaps you should go up to LA and explain your technique to the new head of the LA Org.
I am sure they would be absolutely FASCINATED.
Here is a screenshot of the top of the home page for the Mission, and the section referred to above which is lower down on the front page. Though I have not looked at the whole website, there would appear to be NO trademarked terms used on this entire site. A very strange state of affairs in the world of corporate scientology where trademarks are used as the control mechanism for keeping the sheeple in line. I doubt the South Coast Mission will be getting any more awards on stage at the March 13 events in the future. The hammer is about to come down — they are probably not paying all their tithes and royalties either.
“We pay $1000-$2000 per week and you get Bridge and auditor and admin training to Class 8 totally free.”
Where do I sign?
the best pay Ldn Day ever got was £35 each and this was a record LOL
“These guys are ashamed to be scientologists and believe you must hide the scieno connection to get people to join.”
That says it all, Mike!
Obviously the not only “bad” but horrible reputation of scienotology is starting to trickle through the bubble walls.
It is a reputation that is so fucking bad that if Jesus Christ came down and said that scientology was good, that wouldn’t change it. The only organizations I can think of that have a worse rep are the Nazis and KKK but that is stretching it. OK, I thought of another one: ISIS.
South Coast Mission developed the art of using Craigs list to entice innocent victims to their “classes”. They are still posting ads that do NOT mention Scientology. With titles like “Would you like to have a healthy baby?” or “Having Trouble with your Kids?”. That is how the Mission has duped the public into entering their doors.
My Daughter is on Staff at the South Coast Mission and the person whom put these ads up, everyday. My daughter, disconnected from me 3 1/2 years ago, because I read the ST Pete Times article about Marty Rathbun. Maybe I should give them a call about getting into that “Having Trouble With Your Kids” class!
Cindy Pl, over at the Bunker there are people dedicated to flagging deceptive Scientology bait and switch ads which never mention that they are delivering Scientology. They call it “Red X ing” the ads. I don’t know how it works but you might want to check it out and possibly contribute to this motion. There are some of them posting there who are, if you’ll pardon the pun, religious about doing this. If the ad says the word “Scientology” or “Dianetics”, they leave it alone, but if it doesn’t, they Red X it, and share their wins about doing so.
Aquamarine,
I would like to think I am the South Coast Missions biggest flagger of their ads! I am one very upset Mom that just wants her daughter back.
off-topic, but maybe useful for a later blog post:
Such a great comment I turned it into a post and put it up just now. Thanks Anke.
In this comment I am thanking Racingintheblood39, Cotch, Indie8million, MJ, JenniGyffyn and Petlover1948 for acknowledging me as you each did in your own way what I shared as my early positive experience in the CoS. This just came out of nowhere, you know? Thank you. It made my day to hear that others share this reality of mine!
That being said, Petlover, please know you did not in the least belittle my gains. You shared your experience as it really was FROM THE BEGINNING,with no invalidation of me at all. That being said, the kind of regging you described I began to experience after about 8 years of being in.
From my experience, the whole tone of the Church of Scientology began to change in the mid-90s – crush regging in those days for Bridge, with “greatest good”, “just get your (whatever) and it will all work out”, “the Supreme Test” , “Spirit of Play”, and on and on – in short, anything and everything that could be culled by Scientology registrars from LRH to justify demands for what THEY needed and wanted by 2PM on Thursday.
For me, it was in the mid-90s that “caring for the being” seem to morph into – well, something I didn’t like, didn’t understand, something that puzzled, angered me, and confused me, because on one hand I was being strongly urged to go into major debt I had not a prayer of paying off, I was at the same time being assured that this was ALL for ME. But it wasn’t for me. It was for THEM. I could tell the difference. I could FEEL the difference between what had been and what was now. They were talking the talk, but they were not walking the walk, you know? All for me, huh? Yeah, right!
But then, because of the strength of the theta, if you will, of my early years, the grounding I had had in Scientology, I stayed with it, I dealt with the registrars, I learned how to handle them and their desperation. did want my Bridge, after all (I just didn’t want to end up homeless and hungry to get it ) and even though I began to be ALWAYS, always on my guard with them and silently resentful of their phoniness and desperation I stayed with it. I saw the regges as bad salesmen of a good product. It was Ideal MOrg fundraising that finished me with the Co$, and vice versa, but not until they got a nice chunk of money out of me for that, money which, in my gullibity, I gave them, assuming it was LRH policy. Well, live and learn.
Anyway, Petlover, I’m happy that you found your own Spirituality and freedom. IMO, there’s nothing more healing to a person than being in good communication with a trusted person or people, who honestly care for you. Be they family, friends, therapists, religious people, it doesn’t matter -wherever you find people with whom you can safely be who you are while you continung to learn, reach and grow at your own pace, wherever you find such people – wow, just hold onto to them, you know? Because their is nothing more precious.
Must Edit-Can’t Edit Too Lazy Alert 🙂
Aquamarine: They were talking the talk, but they were not walking the walk .. I share you experience, when I came im the 70th into scientology .. it was a nice place to be .. very high interest around and also in me as a public (better to say a friend) .. most of all were really nice guya ..
I remember at the beginning of the 80th when the course about Dianetic Clear was taken .. I did really wonder then why all this guys became all suddenly Clear .. I had no point to be a critic of them, but it was not my reality .. there were still good friends there ..
There was some confusion around about being Clear or not .. I was not the only one who did not grasp that very well .. but here started something with which I did never agree .. lot of people became FSM .. I mean they went up to the OT levels after Clear and became FSM .. but most of them looked for rich people or who could have a lot of loan .. I did not find the sense in it, naturally it was better for them to get one who pays 100.000 than getting 10 people who give each 10.000 .. or 20 people with 5.000 .. for them, but not for the expansion of scientology ..
I myself had very quick 40.000 debts on account .. and more important is that I got nothing out of it for myself .. only long running repairs .. I have never grasped what they have tried to repair .. really!!!
In early years nobody has ever tried to do it this way. They had spoken with me in an interview about my troubles .. five, six, eight interviews .. so that it were known what should be repaired ..
The only repair which I needed at this time and also later, was: Why I spend so much money for nothing. It means why I did hang around with my hands on electrodes and answer questions wich made no sense to me .. it made no sense to me .. I could go better into the zoo and speak with an ape about, and he can probably better acknowledge me then any auditor .. it costs me only one banana .. or two .. and an ape can really show you when he is happy with you .. scientologist could do that once, but not today .. you have only to pay your next step .. this was not existing in the 70th ..
Yep. 70s for me too. One of the real, true golden ages. Real stats, real wins, real products.
AquaMarine – Yeah, I’d walk past the reg’s and say, “You know me, I’m not a cycle.” No money = no reason to reg me. Now I don’t have to have that self-protecting mechanism anymore and life is going along just fine, thank you. I’ve gotten more auditing in the last couple of years than I did in the previous 20.
My friends who are still “gung ho” tell me about their wins and how I really should get up the Bridge. I smile and say, “Yes, I really should.”
Here are some interesting stat graphs over the years. I’m not sure if this includes the mission network:
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/source/analysissummary.html
http://www.lermanet.com/howmany.htm See the Flag stats
“I’ve gotten more auditing in the last couple of years than I did in the previous 20”.
Indie8, that’s GREAT! Makes me happy to know that this is possible when I’m ready, which should be in a year or so.
Also love, “You know me – I’m not a cycle”.
No money for auditing…we had angels over our shoulders, Indie.
It looks like South Coast Mission might be Miscavige’s pilot project working without LRH’s name and without the Scientology name being used up front.
It’s hard to be upfront when you are trying to sell someone on such an insane post and crazy environment.
An honest as ad would be something like: We need staff desperately. You will struggle to make cash any way you look at it. But if you are fanatical enough and willing to destroy the rest of your dynamics then do we have a game for you! You will be struggling to earn money while we throw as many barriers in front of you as is humanly possible. If you make it this far and manage to “make it go right” for a few years, then we may declare you an SP at some point if you decide to get a back bone and tell us what you think after getting screwed over for years. Does this sound good to you? If so, you may just be crazy enough for our little nuthouse. Can I schedule you for an interview?? GREAT!!
Tony nails it! Lol
Lethal, Tony. And yet, the truth resonates. With me and with most people, I think. With the few sardonic insults edited out, it rings true. I would pay attention. I wouldn’t do it but it wouldn’t surprise me if it proved to get more sign ups than the lies and love-bombing.
True story: On a certain course I twinned with a guy who disclosed to me that in his youth he was quite the player with girls, and that he and his friends had a simple straightforward strategy. What he and his friends would do would be go to some popular crowded place and just stand around and as girls passed, kind of gently grab their arm to keep them there, and then immediately ask, in various ways, the essential question i, “Do you want to f*** ?”.
No “hello”, no flattery, no preamble about did she come here often, etc., etc, just The Question.
Now, according to him, about 1 out of twenty girls would actually say, “Yeah, OK”.
The rest, the vast majority would look incredulous, be struck dumb, or spit fire, or curse and insult them, even slap them sometimes, or just coldly and silently pull away and disappear into the crowd – he experienced, he said, every kind of negative female reaction possible but (if he can be believed) about 1 out of twenty or so would say yes right away, and THEN they’d buy her a drink.
It was a numbers game, he said, and this straightforward, no frills caveman approach saved his friends a great deal of time and expense, back in their youth.
Well, I acked him about how very charming I thought that all was, but, the point here is that if the naked truth, pun intended, worked/works on the 2D maybe it could also work in a staff reg cycle.
Tell them the truth, take your lumps, let them slam the door on their way out, and, “Next”.
Speed of particle flow.
Yes, this is what being on staff was transformed into.
Aquamarine, interesting post. I had a totally different experience. If one claimed to be unable to afford processing; ‘well make it go right!’ Beg, borrow and lie to all. Tell your parents you need root canal. Take out a loan from the bank for home improvement. Take out an educational loan. No need to really ever plan on paying it. Because you will be OT! All powerful! “The flow will return”
The true “robot brain” follower, (which luckily you are not) does everything and anything to obey and buy, buy, buy!!!!
That is the truth! That is what ruins lives, and families and the future of those families.
I lived it, my kids live it.
And, by the way, I do not mean to belittle your gains. But I found Spiritually and freedom in the great “wog” world through therapy with the dreaded Psychs; and my family religion. No need to follow a plagiarizing Mentally ill man.
He finally answered the truth, the pay is based on ‘production’, not a fixed salary. Deceptive and covert means to try to get someone to join. Why? because otherwise nobody will dare to work for many, many hours for a few bucks.
The glaring outpoint is the withholding vital information; besides hiding there is also a reluctance to be open about being a scientologist. Don’t blame them though; the subject has a reputation of fraudulent, criminal, deceptive, abusive and more. So hiding and lying won’t get them out of the grave they have dig themselves into, to the contrary, the collapse is inevitable. Tick-tock.
Yup Silvia, that’s it:
Ideal hiding and lying….
This Special Correspondent gets Max applause!
+100
I know it’s off topic to this post (belongs to the previous one on LA Org) – but then nobody would see it 🙂
The various statistics included in the magazine included this line:
217 Sea Org Staff – 2062 combined years of Sea Org experience
Mike, you did a survey on the SPs frequenting your blog and showed the results under this heading “Scientology Golden Age Of SP Declares”. There you state (on 3 June 2013):
Just the 200 people who filled in the survey account for over 2,000 YEARS
of staff experience and 5,726 YEARS of Scientology experience.
The number of years in Scientology would for sure be much less than those of SPs – mostly kids there.
As you said “just the 200 people who filled in the survey …” …. I wonder how many people actually frequent this blog every week (or even daily). I bet any org would be overwhelmingly overjoyed to have such numbers.
I thought the coincidence of those numbers was interesting.
In my experience, the old lawyer joke applies 100% to Scientology recruitment:
How do you know a Scientology recruiter is lying? Their lips are moving.
They can promise you anything because once they have you they can start using your “overts” against you and other manipulation techniques to get you to stay once you find out that they lied.
These Mission guys are walking a thin line… without saying it is actually the Scientology religion, they will need a license in CA to be practicing mental health. See government regs.. http://www.bbs.ca.gov/bd_activity/regarchive_14.shtml
Now look at Sean’s 2 minute promotional video of their services: No Scientology, No LRH, no Church. Just great mental health services! If it walks like a duck, if it…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Y2p_-Vnuw
Narconon is in deep crap for NOT saying who they are… It seems these bait and switch works for awhile, but in the end, it’s a fatal strategy.
Good point, Robert A. “Anger Management”, psych terminology, is being used in one of the cult’s CL ads, so report the cult to the authorities for practicing mental health without a license. And awaaaay we go!
I was very upset after discovering that the Mission was unlicensed to offer counselling services. so much so I lodged an anonymous complaint at https://www.breeze.ca.gov/datamart/complaint.do?applicationId=3
Thank you! My daughter is a staff member at the South Coast Mission. She disconnected from me 3 1/2 years ago. I really appreciate your help! Great source to lodge a complaint!
I filed a complaint also!
Sad that they have to obfuscate like this, but very telling of how besmirched the name “Scientology” has become.
I like that comment of someone before pointing out how “hiding” is at the bottom of the tone scale.
It is time for them to bite the bullet and fold. Then Scientology can be called something else.
Frankly, I wouldn’t care if were called “Peanut Butter & Jelly”, because I have my own reality that it worked for me, and that what didn’t work was not Scientology (like Ideal Org fundraising, IAS crush regging, etc.) but then, I was never staff or SO, only a public.
Also, and very key, I was fortunate in coincidentally being unable to afford any auditing after the 3 swing FN went into effect, and last but absolutely not least, I was extremely fortunate in not being alway unable to afford to leave my business to go to Flag. Thus, for lack of money was I fortunate in avoiding what seems to have messed many people up, i.e., being on staff, being in the SO, being audited with Miscavige’s squirrel 3 swing crap, and going to Flag – making my tech and training experiences while still in positive and helpful to me, and making me sentimental for these to re-occur again, no matter what someone wants to call the subject. (Applying Shakespeare’s “What’s In A Name” Tech 🙂
I’m with you, Aquamarine! I came into Scientology in 1976 and experienced FANTASTIC help from doing the good old Comm Course, having my OCA graph interpreted by a real person (and very accurately and with great ARC too) and doing the Student Hat. I wouldn’t invite my worst enemy into an Org these days… then again, maybe I would. At least I would know they would be bankrupt in a very short time!
Yep – me too Jenni, on all your points.
AquaMarine – High 5 on “not being able to afford it”. 🙂
This is one time where being broke paid off. 😀
I had the same blessing. I had only one little intensive with that set of (out) tech – just enough to see how out tech it was. i kept thinking, “What’s wrong with me? How come I can’t put a comm line in with this auditor?” Not that he was mean or anything, I’m just usually able to get in sync or a certain groove with people. He was robotic and out of comm to a large degree – not in comm like auditors should be.
I sat there, nearly the whole time with that “one-ear-up” puppy sensation. “What is going on here?”
And then I’d wonder what was going on when I felt like I was FNing and he didn’t call it.
I’m glad I got that experience to see what the out point was. But mostly, I didn’t get whacked with that rake for years on end.
Interestingly, when I started getting auditing in the Indie field, one of the first things my (former SO) auditor wanted to do was clean up any sec checks I had. I told him that I hadn’t had any. He was AMAZED!! haha
And see, that brings up another point that I’ve wanted to make.
The Public Scientologist and the SO experience are quite a different kettle of fish. I see a difference, if some don’t mind the evaluation or my observation on the subject.
With the Ex-SO members, I see a much higher level of feeling of betrayal. Rightly so, but it’s worth noting.
Public Scientologists, we had our own crosses to bear, to be sure. Injustices, ethics not handling people because they ‘had money’ and you were the one who caught the brunt of it, even if you were in the right because you weren’t “upstat” with tons of money, for example. Being made wrong for being so MEST’y because you were out making lots of money instead of being on staff and then having all of that money taken from you. Then, when you’re broke, you were told that being on staff would take care of you, etc., etc.
But, even so, the staff had to be somewhat nice to us so that we would come back.
Public Scientologists never had to deal with any of what the SO guys had to deal with. C’mon, being beaten, thrown in the Hole, wrong indications, invalidation, evaluation, hatred, injustices reverse dianetics. My God. I don’t know how some of you guys lived through it, Honestly.
And all this from a person/group that was believed to be the best and safest place on the planet. When all is said and done, we’re all just little kids, all grown up. When someone attacks an individual like Little Hitler and his clones did, it’s bound to dig in deep. I have empathy for the people who had to tough it through that whole mind-F*ck boot camp.
I’m so glad that it’s an equal playing field out here and NO ONE has to deal with any of that BS again.
I wonder what they do to the poor OSA folks that have to read all those postings and comments on this and other blogs. For sure they have their blinders on real good …. but don’t they need regular sec checks to make sure that nothing, but absolutely nothing they read resonates with their innermost self.
It could be a simple “possibly true” or “good point” …. and the doubt begins.
We are not just making fun of all sorts of strange things. I wouldn’t want to guess the percentage but there are a good many comments (and the posts themselves) that highlight something illegal or as “off policy” or simply an “outpoint” (per the Data Series), like “something that cannot be duplicated by a Orgs with non-SO staff cannot serve as a model for them if done WITH SO staff” (with reference to the last post about the SO takeover of LA Org, which is then titled “the Model Org”). This outpoint should ring a bell with those folks even when thinking within the Scientology framework of Ron’s tech only.
Mike, you would know – if you care to let us know I would be interested.
George — these people are SO indoctrinated with “thought stopping” phrases and concepts that little gets through. It is literally “If those SPs said it, it must be a lie” and there is a “good explanation” for whatever it is. they dont WANT to look and know. To do so would be to basically give up on their life as they know it. Eventually, something will happen that will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and they will make the decision “I am out of here”, but with people like that it is inlikely to be anything that an SP says, it will be something that is done to them internally. They are willfully blind. They HAVE to be. How could they continue otherwise?
Ta!
I received about 50 calls from the LA Org over a period of around 20 months or so. I was speaking to one young lady , I asked her if she was aware of all the negative reports from former church officials. She explained it away by saying these are all people that were fired from the church and are now getting revenge by spreading lies about the church.
“They don’t WANT to look and know. To do so would be to basically give up on their life as they know it.”
Yes, that’s it.
“Looking = Knowing = Necessary Life Change”.
Or, you could characterize it as “out KRC”, as in, “What I don’t look at = What I can don’t know = What I can neither be responsible for nor control”
A=A=A, all the way!
Edit: “What I don’t look at = What I don’t know = What I can’t take responsibility for and what I can’t control”.
So true, Mike – they won’t believe anything an SP says.
That’s why I so strongly encourage the people still under the radar to, oh-so-gently, plant seeds. If you know that someone is upset about an ethics cycle they or someone went through, tell them about yours and that it’s not something that just happened to them.
Remind the old-timers how it used to be and the win of seeing courserooms bursting at the seams. Be happy in remembering those times. They will eventually see the outpoint of what’s happening now.
Study the Data Series and point out the outpoints that are real to the people still in and under the influence of the Kool Aid. Don’t push them to get out, just point out the out points. Next time you see them be so happy to see them and find a way to plant another seed. EVENTUALLY, they will start coming to you to discuss what they see that they don’t like. Listen to them in earnest. Plant another seed.
Pretty soon you have a garden of outpoints spotted and eventually it will become an undeniable forest. As Mike says, something will happen TO THEM that will make all of the little truths undeniable. Believe me, you’ll hear about it. Then they’ll be ready to hear it.
Indie8Million – cool post. The old timers as you say would be the right target for this as they at least can remember full course rooms, the younger ones will have seen only empty course rooms from I think around the early to mid 90s (?) so that won’t be a big factor/button for them (I assume). I often wonder at the cognitive dissonance of those persons I was with in the Org who, seeing things as they are now, and surely remembering the better earlier times, simply ignore the now desolate scene. But then all those who asked questions and spotted blatant outpoints (like empty course rooms), left decades ago. But that is also why DM targeted such people as well. But there is hope, as you say. It’s just a shame that it has taken 3 decades to wear itself down, but that is because even if the tech is watered down or altered some of it still trickles through and it is this hope that people are still buying into. Empty Orgs are out-tech and stats are being held down by suppression, and not externally. That was a great post!
Hi Foolproof – thanks so much!
Yeah, I’ve talked with old timers (those who got in in about ’90 or before) and reminisced about how much fun it was. Just naturally, the conversation comes to how it is now. I say, “Wouldn’t it be great if it was still like that?” or “I don’t know what happened…it used to be HARD to find a seat on course. You had to come early.”
I imagine that it would have some effect on the youngers if you talked about the “good old days” and how there were so many people on course and in auditing every evening and weekend – and the days were no slouch either!
It’s funny. I actually talked to a young staff member one time and he let it slip that the “older Scientologists” just didn’t have it in them anymore to make things happen. I stopped him and asked him why he held that opinion.
It was interesting to watch him because you could see that he had accepted this opinion without inspection.
I say that because, he got a very blank look. He stammered. “Well,” he says, “I don’t know why but I guess because they’re older and they don’t have so much energy anymore…” Total glib answer.
I said, “Yes, but the older people really know the tech and they contribute to expansion in that way, to help govern and direct the people with not as much experience. What about that?”
“Well, I guess that would be true.” he said with a sound in his voice like Beaver (Leave it to Beaver TV show) when he’d say, “Gee Wally…”
hahaha
Poor kid. I shook his stable datum.
Thanks again, Foolproof. I think that the new renaissance of Scientology in the Indie field is really going to help some people. We don’t have to be heroes. We just can choose to do the right thing and help people when we can – and help each other. And help the others come out to the new island of succor – away from that corporate sea of insanity. Whaddayathink?
Gee Wally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5jRKp_I11w
Reply to indie8million: It seems that that young staff member has been fed a line by someone. I think one can see in this little microcosm incident what has been generally going on in the macrocosm that is “Scientology” these days. The old guard must be nullified and replaced with newer ones that don’t have a clue as to what has occurred in the past, and thus won’t ask questions. The (3rd Party) line – usually from some dude who is raking in a weekly 10% commissions vested interest scam – to the young naive staff member, will have been something like “Oh! These old-timers, always nattering about the ‘good old days’ and (not having) full course rooms and donations. They should donate more.” I think that would be a fair assumption of mine. Something like that. The young staff member was obviously struggling with his received false data from his elected “authority”, who was probably some criminal IAS Reg driving a sports car and eating relatively well (and thus the young staff member “looks up to him or her”). Never mind the “blind leading the blind”, what has actually happened is that DM has shot those who can and could see and then poked his fingers in the eyes of those who might see in future. And quite a few have jumped on this criminal bandwagon and are taking home their 10%s every week, staff and public. Thing is one can’t shoot a thetan. We are still here.
And what is even more horrendous is that having the nerve to say “why are the course rooms and the Orgs empty?” is considered an “enemy line” and that the person asking such straightforward questions is “not with the program”. In other words you cannot even ask “why are the (real) stats down?” Obviously those criticizing this “enemy line” are working on some other stat and it is not getting auditors trained and people into session. Such is straight out of Orwell’s 1984 book. Now if one thinks about this and what it actually means we can then draw the battle lines, can we not? We can simply ask “who wants empty Orgs and no auditors being trained?” and there is the “enemy in sight”.
Well, you know, any “sec checks: run on a meter can be beaten… I read of one ex-victim and heard personally from another ex victim that a F/N was just a question of a bit of practise…
Wow – this came from the South Coast Mission FB page:’
Barry ******* Completed his Purification Rundown Today!!!
Congratulate him when you see him!
This is what he had to say about it;
“I’ve come from a very Anti-Social Personality in the past and over the last 5 years I’ve gradually come to be a Social Personality. I owe my change in life to my adventures into the world of Scientology.
For 5 years now I’ve been reading a lot of LRH publications and I totally, “feel” his teachings. Especially since the completion of my Purification Rundown, I’ve a whole deeper understanding, I feel clean, awake and proud, as I look forward to expanding my knowledge and learning as much as I can through LRH teachings.”
Bring yourself and your friends to South Coast Mission and receive the wins available to all!!!
JUST WAIT UNTIL BARRY FINDS OUT THE WHOLE THING IS A SCAM!!
And…they have made 8 CLEARS this year. Someone tell the ED that there are 7-8 BILLION people on the planet. Even if you met your goal – the 50 you created are wiped out by the Declared, dead, bitter and defrocked and lets not forget the insane ones flopping around that actually think they are Homo Novus!
While that is a VWD to Sean to get any one anywhere on the Bridge these days – soon, DM will take Sean out of the picture – he is way to productive. Especially when OSA reports to RTC the out ethics behavior of Sean making money….it is a big NO NO for anyone to make money and get free services!!
Sorry Sean..find another religion! You are being bamboozled with this one!
If they’ve made 8 Clears, then aren’t they ahead of AOLA?
Whoops! Barry mentioned Scientology in his Success Story and LRH too. David Miscavige is not mentioned. Barry is in trouble.
I got a familiar sinking feeling reading that last e-mail. SOP for scientology outfits:
First: “Wanna sweety?”
Then: “We’ll pay you nothing, unless you sell.”
I’ve been thinking about that ad as well. There seems to be so many violations of U.S. laws in today’s blog post and in the commenters’ posts. I’m out of country, but have lived in the U.S. many years ago, so I might not be up-to-date or I’m confusing the two countries’ laws.
For the reason above, I’m no longer familiar with labor laws in the U.S., especially California, but isn’t it illegal to intentionally mislead people, i.e., using bait and switch tactics, in advertised job postings and rates of pay like this? The ad implies there’s a base salary involved (plus Bridge Benefits), with no mention of commissions or that it is straight commissions. In my country, if I were replying to the ad and discovered the same info as Mike’s Special Correspondent did, I would contact the appropriate labor departments, both federal and state, and file a complaint. They would then investigate, maybe even run a sting operation, and apply the appropriate penalties.
Maybe “Special Correspondent,” if U.S. based, wouldn’t mind also forwarding the ad and emails to the proper authorities? Just a thought.
If the chult doesn’t self implode at a fast enough pace, maybe a death by a thousand (paper) cuts will accelerate its demise.
What I found interesting is this guy is an OT VIII and he had no clue he was being played like a fiddle.
OMG! I just pulled up their FB page “South Coast Mission” is advertising
“MENTAL HEALTH AND COUNSELING”
South Coast Mission
Counseling & Mental Health
Does the IRS need to be notified that they are calling them self a “Psych term”?
What happened to religion?
Lord help them…the entire organization is crazy!
I don’t about the IRS but the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatry Association, and probably the Food and Drug Administration (sorry, I’m out the country so I don’t know the actual titles for these groups in the U.S.) should definitely be notified. That’s practicing medicine without a license, I believe. And if an e-meter is used in any of this, it definitely violates laws specifically enforced by the FDA from LRH’s time. Someone correct me if I’m wrong. Thanks.
Cars, you’re wrong.
As a church they can probably do pastoral counseling, sad but true.
Wow — these last few posts have painted a fascinating picture of an organization flailing around in desperate hope of striking upon some way of breaking out of the “dwindling spiral.”
Shall we expunge all references to L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, and try to rebrand ourselves as a vanilla self-help shop? Shall we fire the whole staff and bring in a steely-eyed Sea Org crew, in hopes that a strong dose of Command Intention will prove impossible for the weak-willed public to resist? Or shall we cleverly capitalize on people’s fondness for television and radio — yes, RADIO, that pop-tech marvel of the 1930s — to make Scientology a staple of every American’s daily advertising diet?
I have to say that, of the three, the bait-and-switch at South Coast sounds most promising, even though it seems likely to produce (temporarily) yet another crop of dissatisfied, angry customers and broke, discouraged staff.
Maybe at some point, some enterprising, sleep-deprived exec will hit upon the idea of Scientology Tourism: offering public tours, at reasonable cost, of these places we’ve been reading and hearing about for so many years, with a guarantee of no regging or recruitment pitches. I’d buy a ticket to tour the Int Concentration Camp at Hemet, and the New Reich Chancellery or Flag Delivery Building or whatever that place is called in Clearwater. Maybe an Ideal Org, too, if I got to turn the lights on and off myself in the big empty classrooms, and take selfies with the Ron statue.
Ah yes, the Scn Int Concentration Camp at Hemet:
And here is the garbage can so famously described by Debbie Cook in her Texas testimony…
And this, yes THIS is the very file cabinet that Miscavige slammed Jeff Hawkins’ head on…
And here we have the infamous “musical chair room” reminiscent of a very dark day in the cult’s very dark past…
Any sharp-eyed opportunist may yet take up the prompts here, from you Les, and Richard.
Since, up the line, (post-miscavige), there’s a definite public fascination, around ‘chambers of horror’!! 🙂
Already today you can inspect the chapel at Saint Hill since it’s an official wedding location it must be available for inspection to the public. No if, buts or exceptions. A splendid side effect of the (entirely inconsequential) recognition as an accepted place for holding weddings in England.
Ah, yes, Scientology Tourism. Your idea reminded me of Tiziano Lugli’s video “PSA: Slave Museum” that he premiered at the Bunker this past Spring. I’m pretty sure you’ve seen it already, Richard, but I thought I’d post it again for those who haven’t seen it. It is so very well done. I’m sure folks will also enjoy seeing so many familiar SPs’ and critics’ faces in it.
http://youtu.be/s8aqbh6yC2A
For those who haven’t yet visited his YouTube channel, Tiziano also has other scientology related videos, at least four, sprinkled amongst his professional portfolio of music videos. They are easy to find on his channel as they all have the word “Scientology” in their titles. These are also very powerful and moving.
Nothing has changed. Great report.
Scientology recruiters tend to dodge the staff pay details because their staff pay rules don’t allow straight hourly or salary wages.
They shirk laying out the pitiful low pay amounts that their staff routinely get due to the Scientology institutionalized reliance on the proportional split up the income earned each week religious worker allowance pay system.
At least joining Sea Org staff you know you are getting no wages but only staff weekly allowance of 45 bucks or less, but you get the dorm bunk, uniform, chow and other entertainment like the 6 events a year which usually includes a party here or there and some nicer meals.
This is priceless. Mike, one of your SCs did what I postulated myself doing – calling them on their bullshit with a bait and switch of them. The SC did it brilliantly. I love how she made this lying mission holder squirm and have to lie even more.
Fallback ;position: Buy a used van and stock with lots of bed sheets.
In fact after a little more thought, Mc Donalds is looking for Burger flippers.
Bait and switch is such a common tactic in the cult it has become tacitly accepted as justified behavior. The Church of Scientology is untrustworthy and if they claim to have corrected themselves they are always untruthful about that as well. You can take that to the bank. For all the glory of the tech the truth is the founder lied as well about a number of things, the culture is rotten to the core and no re-branding will ever revive or restore its public image. Even Independent Scientology has one foot shot off by virtue of association. Bait and Switch is just another ongoing nail in the coffin that keeps giving. Scientologists should demand accountability from the church, If they cannot provide it then the Cof S deserves to be shunned until it completely reforms itself top to bottom. Good luck with that,
Succinct and incisive.
I agree Doug. Scn’s loose handling of the truth is in its DNA. Honestly, I do not believe A WORD that emanates from the church. Their pattern of lying is well documented on this site, as well as others. Nor did this suddenly begin when DM took the reigns. All DM did was elevate it to an art form.
Doug – so true.
In fact, we were talking to a few UTR’s yesterday.
They have heard from Member’s that have been around a while that members are going into apathy (covertly).
The field is dried up, no one is coming in and the PR for the Church is so bad, they feel “nothing can be done about it”…and they are OT’s!
Go figure!
Good news. Die Scientology – just get it over with, would ya? It is painful to watch the “show on the road”,..everyone knows it is only a SHOW!
Yes, it needs to just die. What is being done right now is metaphorically a mummification of the philosophy of Scientology. That’s my opinion. There’s no life, just a carefully preserved shell. Sad.
What is a UTR?
Beryl – UTR means “under the radar”. “In” but not really running with the pack of yip-yapping hyenas! Ha!
This mission should be called the Mission of the Most Ethical Bait and Switch Because Its For Our Greater Good.
Most missions now have “official” websites build for them that are mini-replicas of the the big scientology website. However the clever people at the Orange County Life Improvement Center AKA Church of Scientology Mission of South Coast have their own unofficial website called oclifeimprovementcenter.com which makes no mention of Scientology or LRH anywhere on it.
They even offer “anger management classes”. How deceptive is that.
One of the funniest sections of the website is a place where they clearly edited LRH’s name OFF the website – check this out:
“At the Orange County Life Improvement Center we utilize techniques that have helped improve the lives of individuals the world over for more than 60 years.
His work has been recognized worldwide as revolutionary with unparalleled workability. As such, it remains the widest read body of work on self-help.”
“His work”? But no name? Opps.
These guys are ashamed to be scientologists and believe you must hide the scieno connection to get people to join.
Hey there guys and gals, HIDE is very low on the Scientology tone scale -almost at the very bottom.
But it’s working – perhaps you should go up to LA and explain your technique to the new head of the LA Org.
I am sure they would be absolutely FASCINATED.
Wow, fascinating find.
And this is the model, international birthday game winning mission…
The problem they have in today’s world where their statements are available for the world to see. It’s hard to pull off the old bait and switch in a world with Google.
Does this make Sergey Brin and Larry Page SPs?
Well, not exactly, but they ARE apparently part of the small handful of bitter defrocked apostates on the fringes of the internet….
🙂
If you go to the url for the Church of Scientology South Coast Mission — southcoastmission.com — it AUTOMATICALLY redirects to the url and website of the “Orange County Life Improvement Center – South Coast Mission” that, as you have noted, has deleted all references to Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard.
In other words there is NO separate website for the Church of Scientology South Coast Mission. Anyone who types in the url for the the Church of Scientology South Coast Mission, or clicks on a Google link thereto, will be automatically redirected to the Life Improvement Center website that does not mention or refer to Scientology, Dianetics or L. Ron Hubbard.
perhaps before long “scientology” will come off Org signage replaced by “Religious Technology Center”.
could rebranding be a future course of action for the little one?
I suspect the rebranding is already well on its way. There have been so many indicators this past decade, especially these past few years, that David Miscavige is slowly building, in his own mind at least, his “Ideal Legacy” – editing then republishing the tech, creating the Ideal Org strategy, and by ever so slowly expunging references to LRH and replacing himself as Ideal Source at events and on official chult marketing materials – that it would not surprise me to see “Church of Religious Technology” replace the “Church of Scientology” in some kind of corporate restructuring that would serve two purposes: Leave behind a vanity legacy of some kind and circumvent bad PR. But I suspect it would primarily be motivatived by his narcissistic need to “smash his name in history,” followed by an attempt to do another bait and switch in public perception and opinion. He must be aware that scientology is no longer feared nor respected and that, in fact, has become an object of public ridicule.
I also thought it telling when I read Mike’s comments yesterday about noticing that Reality mag featured Joanna Bach, RTC Rep at “Model Ideal Org to Sea Org standards,” instead of the ED.
Mike wrote, “Perhaps it is an omen of things to come and all orgs will soon have RTC Reps to ensure the wishes of Dear Leader are fully complied with and anyone showing any signs of possibly doubting his magnificence are found and eradicated early.”
It does look to me like he is in the process of repositioning and rebranding himself and the RTC as Source, both internally and externally. And if there’s any truth to any of this past year’s gossip about his health, perhaps we will see this process accelerated with more evidence of it coming out at a faster and more furious pace. If so, then let’s crank up the industrial sized popcorn machines and sit back and watch the footbullets. Let’s also open our doors and hearts to all the “RTC Refugees” that will inevitably come racing out of the corporation’s cathedral doors.
Interesting points WhiteStar and Cars.
They are right. You DO have to hide the connection to get the fly to come close enough to the net to get snared.
I NEVER tell people I’m a Scientologist, even though I was in Div VI for years. It’s not that I can’t disseminate, I won’t – and that’s been since about 1985 while I was still, “On board.”
The reason why is because, when I did, they would get a F’d up reg cycle which was all pressure and no benefit to the new person. Back in the day, in the 70s, when people would come out of a Div VI reg cycle, it was almost like having a session. The graph was read by a human, not a computer, the person was consulted about what was ‘messing them up’ in their life and a solution was given for that difficulty.
Yes, the solution was the Comm Course (and occasionally book one) but that put the person in communication and then they could go from there. Not this watered down STCC but real TRs.
Anyway, yes, at least at the South Coast Mission, they understand their market and they understand that the PR area control is out of their control and they’re taking evasive action.
Hey, maybe they’ll defect like the Israel org did? A person can dream, can’t they? 😉
Indie8million,
That Div 6 route into Scientology was the one I took back in the mid-80s, although before the Comm Course I was programmed for Ups and Downs In LIfe, a mini-PTS/SP Div 6 course available at that time, and then a mini ethics course called Personal Integrity, both of which helped me substantially.
Then I got onto the Comm Course, and that course literally changed my life, while from the beginning I was the recipient of interest, attention and high ARC from some very trained Class V org staff.
At that time I had a huge “help is betrayal” button covered up with a conservative tone level, which made me very 1.1. I was reaching but I was also pushing away. These staff were wonderful with me, always granting me beingness and letting me come uptone as necessary by vomiting up the doubts and suspicions I had accumulated from past experiences along with despair from losses I had experienced , acknowledging me, and then, “returning me to session” which was the Div 6 course. For the first two years, there was this ongoing TR-4 of me, as I gradually realized that I COULD say what I really thought, that it was safe, that I was in a safe space.
What I experienced as a Div 6er – these people, delivering LRH’s tech to me, made a real impact and changed the course of my life entirely.
Today I recall with amazement the patience and skill of these staff. I was quite a handful back then, underneath my conservative mock-up, but never did they force or invalidate me, nor did they even 8C me that much. I was free to go, I was free to stay. I was listened to and understood, and offered help which I was free to reject or accept, free to apply or not apply.
Because of never being ordered, forced, or invalidated in any way, after blowing I would go back on course.learn and then apply, and what I applied worked. It was terrific for me because no-one had done this for me, I had learned things and done it myself. It made all the difference, to know that I had done it. What they did was provide the environment necessary for me to stay with it.
That was Div 6, for me, back in the day. There I was, doing these very inexpensive Div 6 courses, in front of them, gradually becoming OMG real in front of them, not being able to help it, even, not being able to cover it up anymore, letting them actually see what was going on behind my suburban middle class mock up, the grief, despair, fury – they saw me ugly, they saw me horrible, they saw me pathetic, they saw me embarrass the hell out of myself, and it was all just acked, you know? And somehow, OK, and no big deal! And I wasn’t even being audited, this was just me in the Div 6 course room!
For me, this was huge. It did change my life. What I experienced back then, is what I would call real Scientology. Whatever the church became, whatever it is now, I shall always be grateful to, and in admiration of these Div 6 terminals, for caring for the being in front of them, back then.
Beautiful Aquamarine. That’s what real help feels like.
Aquamarine. This is one of those really inspiring ‘tell-it-like-it-WAS’ stories, that epitomized the movement in it’s original delivery format; CARE & FUN!
Totally unrecognizable, in the monster it has morphed into today!
Aqua, thanks for telling your story! Ive known really stellar Scns too!
Indie, I find disseminating now is so much easier. If someone I am talking to about it calls it a cult, I agree, even tell them what I have found out, because its true. There is so much I can talk about now, I couldnt when in. Then I blame it on dave and talk about the philosophy, man, people are really interested. LRH was right, put a head on a pike, I make it a tall pike so dave can see a bit farther out then he is used to.
The first line of a “Code of a Scientologist” is to keep people informed as to the current state of Scientology and thats what I do. Thats what a lot of people on this blog do. Unfortunately the current state is not good, but to me the philosophy is and always will be brilliant, a game changer for this planet.
Mention Scn now and peoples ears start maneuvering around to listen, you can see the interest peak.
As to Orange County Life Improvement Center, wow, someone in there has balls, at least they might get some public this way to help.
So so great to hear your story, AquaMarine!
I renember.
That’s right. It was like dealing with a bunch of peaceful, enlightened monks – who had great senses of humor. 😀
Didn’t we have fun back then?
The Comm Course was like a theta boot camp. You KNEW you were a spiritual being when you were done with that puppy.
It took me 6 months to get through that because I was coaching more than doing my own course. Too much fun!
I always wondered why no one did an eval of that time and used the hat write ups of how to get 20 to 30 brand new (not recycled) starts in a week and how to build a mission from 0 to 100 in just a few years.
OHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…that’s right. Mr. David Miscavige doesn’t WANT anything to really expand. Having to deal with all of these people is just too much of a hassle.
Funny that it’s almost Halloween. DM will fit right in with the other vampires. Too bad that none of them know that he’s actually real, 24/7.
Maybe he’ll dress up as a pirate this year.
http://i.imgur.com/nMo9OoZ.jpg
Indie8Millionm Aquamarine and Cotch – well thought out and interesting (and true) comments. It seems those were the halcyon days of Scientology.
I also could never figure out why STCC was substituted – I didn’t buy the “society is all druggie now” (so they can’t do the old comm course).
As to the crush regging of new Div 6 public I wonder whose idea that was? A complete criminal whoever he was. No idea of sub-products.
Great stories Aqua, Indie8 & Cotch! I’d love to see some US orgs go rogue like the org in Haifa, Israel. The parishioners did pay for them after all.
I should never read this blog first thing in the morning, my “not the best idea in the world” filter hasn’t kicked in yet. I just hit the contact us button and asked them who “His” was that they referred to on His works and asked them to clarify that on their website since he was obviously an important person since they based all their counseling around Him. Maybe Jesus?
It could be Jesus. Maybe it’s David Miscavige… A lot of folks refer to He Who Must Not Be Named as just “Him”….
Aquamarine
“For me, this was huge. It did change my life. What I experienced back then, is what I would call real Scientology. Whatever the church became, whatever it is now, I shall always be grateful to, and in admiration of these Div 6 terminals, for caring for the being in front of them, back then.”
Beautiful story, you said it: Real Scientology!
Marcel Wenger
Thanks for pointing out this web site that doesn’t mention LRH, nor mention that this is a religion.
The web site lets a person fill out the OCA questions.
In France Scientology lost a big French case appeal in part due to the OCA Test.
http://infinitecomplacency.blogspot.com/2014/10/cased-closed_28.html
I wonder if the OCA has even been challenged here in the US, it’s not religious in the slightest to do the OCA!
Typical lying bullshit. Scientology is built on it.
Same thought different day…”The most ethical people on the planet…”
This is fantastic. Thanks to the Special Correspondent for getting a Scientologist to communicate clearly.
Bait and switch which then morphs into hate and twitch.
Very funny MJ – still laughing!