Radical Corporate Scientology has become a collection of individuals begging for money under various guises and for an almost unlimited number of reasons. It is hard to imagine what it must be like to be one considered fair game by the circling vultures. I am sent the pleas and demands on a via and invariably the person who send it to me reports the insane volume of calls, texts, emails and snail mail that they receive. Fortunately, I get nothing from the RCS directly.
As time goes by the “reasons” to give become more and more “creative.” It’s like a convention of snake oil salesman gathered around a table — those with the best (most pathetic?) pitches will get to eat from the ever-diminishing amount of meat left on the few remaining carcasses. As the salesman get hungrier, their pleas become louder, more frequent and more insane.
See the post a couple of days ago concerning using Sea Org Day as a poor excuse to give money to the IAS.
And yesterday’s posting on Tony Ortega’s blog that reported the REAL truth about how many Scientology books are in libraries around the world, a summary sent in by a librarian who has access to a computer system available only to libraries.
Now, Bridge’s most prominent snake oil salesman throws his Sea Org Day hat in the ring with this plea for more donations for the “Ron Series.”
It is of some note that Bridge pushes these books SO HARD — written by Dan Sherman, not L. Ron Hubbard. Miscavige pounds on SCIENTOLOGISTS to buy the “BASICS” and then pounds on Bridge to get Dan Sherman puffery into broad distribution. Bridge SHOULD be getting BASIC BOOKS into raw public hands. That is their job.
Except, as with everything else in Radical Corporate Scientology, it comes down to short term MONEY MAKING. Those Ron Series are a big profit item. And according to Howson they have “completed 73,000 presentations” in the last few months. No details whatsoever about what those “presentations” consist of, but we all know that this really means how many have been SOLD. Some may have been mailed. How many actually reached the supposed “OLs” is probably a handful.
But in addition to the insanity of promoting “Sea Org Day” as a ” buy now” to Non SO members (a celebration by the way that has been canceled because no Sea Org entity is ever “upstat” enough to have Sea Org Day, yet more proof that the straight up and vertical expansion exists only in Miscavige speeches), he comes out with one of those insane LRH quotes to justify why we have to “make this target before Thursday at 2.” It is just so twisted and weird it’s virtually impossible to get your wits around. The ONLY way this quote could make sense is if the reader literally thinks “Oh, Patrick says LRH says we have to get out 100,000 Ron books this week before 2 — and if he says it, its gotta be true.”
And finally, he is going to issue special Sea Org week commendations to all the non Sea Org people who give money this week. That gives me a big time money-making idea (or maybe it’s a premonition?).
The RCS can start SELLING SEA ORG RANKS. It’s the PERFECT status button. They can pull out some LRH quotes about how Sea Org Members are the super elite, the Loyal Officers, the ones who would be lionized were they to walk into any organization etc etc etc. By levels of donation you move up the Sea Org ranks and ratings. You start out as a Petty Officers and move on up. When you finally make it to Midshipman (sort of the make-break point equivalent to a patron with honors or $100,000) you qualify to wear a thin gold stripe on the sleeve of your tuxedo and have everyone who has not attained that status call you “Sir.” You can progress all the way up to Commander ($10 million) with scrambled eggs on the brim of your cap (no Captains, that is reserved for Voldemort exclusively unless someone offers $25 million and he will assume a new rank of “Commander In Chief” with gold stripes all the way to his elbows).
Now this is a real potential money-maker. You read it here first.
From: Patrick Howson <patrickh@bridgepub.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 5:40 PM
Subject: Update: Sea Org Day Game!
|
In the ASI traffic from LRH to ASI execs over promoting LRH’s fiction properties, LRH stresses not following the advertising world’s quick changing shifting to numerous products offered, but to instead focus and really sell sell sell and focus on one product of LRH’s at a time.
Battlefield Earth was to be focused on and packaged and sold as a movie, first, before then going one by one through the other choices of LRH’s fiction properties.
I believe, some of the Hubbard principles of focusing on one big “release” at a time, is one thing Miscavige has done “right” in keeping with LRH’s marketing/dissemination broad principles.
Pushing out the story of LRH’s life, the official version, while of course to everyday normal average intelligent people are offended by Hubbard’s hype and obvious lies about how great of a man he is to the world, as the Ron Series books claim.
But to the undereducated, the hype and lies about Hubbard are being pushed and thus that they are even printed in such nice books nicely bound, has impact.
It’s like the nice promo one feels guilty throwing out, since one thinks someone spent so much money making the nice promo, one hangs onto it.
Anyone wishing to donate their Ron’s encyclopedia books, there are a couple scholars out there who would like anyone’s set that was headed for the garbage. (But I dare say even defectors who bought the Ron’s encyclopedia books, themselves feel they don’t want to part with even their sets, for this same principle, they paid so much for them, they must be of some value.)
chuckbeatty77@aol.com
Hi Mike,
Regarding this: “It is hard to imagine what it must be like to be one considered fair game by the circling vultures.”
Most of us fair game either never answer their calls or we have represented ourselves as “broke”, “don’t have any extra money this week” or other utterances of “I’m not a cycle.”
Now, what do you think is happening with all of the Scientologists who are forced into this denial of wealth? Bingo! They can’t have wealth!
They know that any time they make some headway in the monetary make/break point, they are going to have to give it up anyway. Think that might contribute to their PTS looking life and their cowed and ill status? 😉
Thanks for the good work, Mike. For a bitter, defrocked apostate, we think you’re quite alright.
I’ve so enjoyed this post, Mike. “Beggars’ Banquet”. Good alliteration. Please write a book.
I second Aquamarine’s motion. All in favor, +1 🙂
+1
Money making scheme indeed. As I understand it, your rank in the sea-org and post are tenuous at best, and are at the whim of DM and his minions, who can swiftly send you back to the bottom of the ladder for the slightest (or even no) violation whereby you will need to pay to climb back up the ladder.
Mike… you ought to start your own cult… this is genius! Evil genius, for sure, but genius nonetheless.
Busted:
“A 2011 Times analysis showed that the church had raised $145 million for the massive seven-story structure, which covers an entire city block.
A federal lawsuit filed in January by former parishioner Luis Garcia alleges that the church entity that was responsible for raising funds for the Super Power project purposely kept the building incomplete “to use it as a shill to induce further payments from members.”
The church paid $290,000 in taxes on the property from 1999 to 2011. The property is now fully tax-exempt. It has been valued at just over $80 million by Pinellas County appraisers.”
145 Million raised to build an 80 million dollar building!
http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/church-of-scientology-sets-opening-of-long-delayed-flag-building-in/2136935
the infamous “Super Power Building” is STILL used for $……fools, gotta feel bad for “Corporate Scientologists and if it works it IS coming down…..or do people forget last time people attempted to become “gods”.
Thank you for posting the facts about Super Power Oracle. It’s good to keep reminding people about that massive shell game. I hope the Garcias win big!
“As you may have noticed from this week’s LRH quote, yesterday was the 46th Anniversary of the Sea Org and this week we are playing a game for LRH – the Commodore of the Sea Org!”
The delusion is so sad. This lad thinks L.R.H. is the commodore of the Sea Org and he passed on in the 80’s.
sighhhhh.
No freakin’ comment. Imagine.
******SPECIAL AND URGENT MEMO*************
FROM: COB RTC
TO: ALL INTERNATIONAL MANAGMENT
SUBJECT: GREAT NEWS, FANTASTIC NEWS ACTUALLY
I have just received an advance copy from the Rand Corporation of their new study “The Most Gullible Groups in the World.” And …. YES!!!! Members of the Church of Scientology are NUMBER TWO!!!!! In the entire freaking WORLD!!! (We are second only to Chicago Cubs fans, but they have been waiting for a World Series Championship since 1908 and they STILL think it’s gonna happen some day – ha ha ha. so those guys are so low, really WE are number one among all the sort of intelligent people on Earth).
What does this mean to our day to day operations? It means DON’T WORRY! Keep asking for donations, donations, donations – BUT be sure to ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS use one of the magic terms – you all know what they are – STATUS, IDEAL, PSYCHS, THE BIG PUSH, EXCITING, HISTORIC, COMMAND INTENTION, yadda yadda yadda, …..there are about ten great ones we’ve been using and they always push the right buttons and get the implanted ….. I mean “survival” responses …. but do remember to rotate the words, don’t use the same ones too often consecutively …. they sort of flatten out …. but you can use “ideal” more than the others, they LOVE that word …. who doesn’t want things to be IDEAL? C’mon now!
But remember the survey …. they’re GONNA be with you! And I absolutely GUARANTEE we’re gonna have 50 billion in the bank before the Cubbies ever win a World Series.
Much much much love (and kisses too – you know who you are),
Dave
OMG
How about a COLD Calling phone list
of Cubs fans who are Scientologists ?
The Big Push on Pushovers Campaign.
“As a team, we’ve completed 73,347 presentations of the Ron Series to Opinion Leaders”
…To OPINION LEADERS??????????????
Who? What groups are these people the opinion leaders of? Think about this for moment…if you were going to get these mags out to opinion leaders all over the planet, where on earth would you find 73,347 of them????
Mike, this is your hat. You are requested to get a copy of this recent blog out to 73,347 OPINION LEADERS. Where do you start? Who’s included in your list? How do you get a list of over 73K OPINION LEADERS?
And what does that mean, “completed presentations”? Does that mean some telemarketer called a local cop and asked if he wanted one…the cop says “hell no” and that qualifies as a presentation?
Is there a minus awareness scaled for the IQ of people who fall for this stuff day after day and week after week and year after year?
It is always more glossy in Scientology than for real. Growing up in this environment, I absorbed a thing or two, and one of them was becoming practiced at the art of hot air and creative embellishment. Sadly, due to many O/W write-ups I lost my cherished survival skill of lying and was left with PR. Truly a loss, as nowadays I see that all the hot air and embellishment learned in the church really is so transparent for the rest of the world.
COB listens and he cares about status-obsessed Church parishioners. Accordingly., we in RTC are pleased to announce that Sea Org ranks are now for sale: http://otviiiisgrrr8.com/2013/08/16/church-of-scientology-now-selling-sea-org-ranks/
Good to hear from you Baghdad Bob. Few individuals have managed to stay in the hot seat as you have since going to work for the RC$. One question: How can the runt possibly make himself the Captain in Chief since his Captain’s bars already nearly come down to his elbows?
“You don’t have the f***ing rank”: Hollywood’s break-up with Scientology
http://moviepilot.com/articles/1069774-you-don-t-have-the-f-ing-rank-hollywood-s-break-up-with-scientology?stamp=38921&utm_campaign=you-don-t-have-the-f-ing-rank-hollywood-s-break-up-with-scientology&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=fb-stream-post
“The RCS can start SELLING SEA ORG RANKS. It’s the PERFECT status button. ”
Hey Mike! I think you might be onto something here. This idea may be a perfect end-run to solve the whole problem with the COS……. So, …..how much would it cost to purchase the rank of COB?!?
We could take up a collection and donate it to a worthy individual who would then clean up the mess, put in an org structure with checks and balances as LRH intended, and then abdicate the rank of “COB” as the off-policy, made-up “rank” that it is. I like it! 🙂
I wonder how many church members are aware of how many LRH biography sets end up in library dumpsters or on eBay selling for $10-20. The irony is that if the church produced an honest and accurate biography instead of a transparently ridiculous and false narrative meant to deify the guy I think libraries would welcome it. Love him or hate him LRH was a fascinating and IMHO very complicated person. He definitely led an interesting life worthy of documentation.
“Gotta pick a pocket or two boys. Gotta pick a pocket or two.”
posted door Michael Bennitt who many of you could know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDZyR7YXsuc
Does COS play any games that don’t involve collecting money? Everyone must cringe when they hear that word…
Just imagine what it does to your relationship with money, long-term.
Exactly, Dollar Morgue – I just posted something about this.
Don’t want to contribute every dollar you earn to the IAS/want to help the world.
Want to have for self/not have for the IAS.
Make wrong from the IAS/make wrong from you by withholding money from the IAS.
Compromise with your own moral code on money/never be able to get out of the 1st Dynamic treason you’ve put yourself in because you can’t say to the MAA that you put yourself in treason on your personal finances by maxing out your $20,000 credit card for the IAS.
No case gain because of massive financial PTPs. No Case Gain – then you’re declared…and still paying off your IAS debt.
How do you spell financial ruin? I. A. S.
Yep Indie 8Million. I spell it the same way you do.
We must have gone to the same school (of thought). +1
I just had a realization about why it seems that a lot of “OT’s” get cancer and such. STRESS. They live under constant, irrational, artificially-created STRESS. Public can have it. Staff have it bad. Sea Org members get it the worst. Everything is a flap, a hill-10, or a long-term Emergency or Danger condition. The weight of mankind is on YOUR shoulders. So glad to be out of that environment. Sure I get stressed at work sometimes, but nothing like what these people undergo constantly!
Yes, SO members have incredible stress. It finally started killing me when I was in the SO and I realized that if I did not leave I was going to have miserable remaining life with poor health and an early death, and that probably more than anything drove me out of the SO. My weight had ballooned and I was regularly getting sick all of a sudden, plus other weird and scary body conditions started popping up. So, I saved myself. Once I was out my health immediately began to markedly improve and today I am very healthy and happy to be that way.
Yep. After I left staff, my internal clock still stressed out at key times, especially Thursday a.m.’s right up til 2pm. It took about 8 months before it finally chilled out. Sometimes I would just start feeling anxious not realizing the cause. And then I would spot it: “It’s almost time for product conference/staff meeting/advisory council, roll call, etc.”
And getting over the weird guilty feelings for not getting everything done in a day or a week – that took years, and still sometimes kicks in if I am tired or stressed for other reasons.
Astonishing and Sad how Stimulus/Resposce can be reached by such conditioning. Under stress the brain reaches for low energy operation and the inprinted routines that are familiar to it pop up because they require less energy consumption.
Or in Scientology terms, Your Thetan has built a machine to punish itself and has hidden it and has forgot about it
You’re on to something there XClassV. I agree about the stress. But don’t think for a minute that the registrars don’t use the big C scare against you….. “get auditing now and fast and only at Flag, or else you too may also come down with Cancer…. so many others have…” Talk about scare tactics and entheta and fear to reg people! That’s not Hard Sell per LRH.
Yes, I’ve certainly seen that done. Although I wasn’t ever a public long enough to get that much pressure from that end.
Ironically, out of all the groups of people I know, there seems to be a higher percentage of Cancer amongst those in the CofS.
My observation also. I never knew anyone with cancer before joining and in my stay on staff I saw about 8 – 10 friends die and a few disappeared I don’t know what happened to them in the end.
Interesting point you made, Mike, about how DM and Idle Orgs are always bragging up how amazing stats are, yet stats are never up enough for staff to be validated.
When I was on staff, for many years of that time, I (and some other “full full-time staff”) just didn’t have days off.
If your stats were up on a one week, your senior would point out how they were down on a 3. Or if up on a 1 and 3 week trend, down on a 6. Oh, were they up on a 1, 3, AND 6 week trend? Too bad, they’re still down on a 12 or a 26 and not on target to make your 5.4x targets.
Just goes to show no matter how much a staff member (Cl V or SO) dedicates to Scn, he/she can still be wrong!
” During the indenture period the servants were not paid wages, but were provided with food, accommodation, clothing and training.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant
True enough, Singanddanceall!
And as a Class V staff member, not even always that. Certainly no quarters, food, or clothing were provided, Sometimes no, or very little, pay. And depending on your post and your schedule, often no training. There were plenty of days where meals were skipped for those of us who didn’t moonlight (work a paying job outside of staff). One of my juniors lived in her car for a while until someone took pity and gave her a place on their couch.
On more than one occasion I was told by Sea Org members on tour at the org that the conditions they saw for full time staff were harder than for SO.
Wow. XClassVStaff and Sets Guy, I have no words. I suspect there may be no words……..
in my 18 years I had 2 days off. Both were over 10 years ago. 🙂
Sets guy, I almost cried when I read in 18 years you had two days off. OMG. Yet when they were recruiting me for SO, the story was different…. you get libs most of the time and you get 3 weeks off per year for vacation. That was the lie the SORO told me. And I guess if all the planets align and you find a replacement etc, maybe you can take time off. But to you and all the other unsung heroes, the Sea org members, thank you for your service!
Yikes, Sets Guy! The longest I ever worked with no day off was 473 days in a row. Were you SO or Class V staff?
One thing that’s handy is that now if I’m feeling stressed or overworked, I can always think “this is nothing compared to those staff years!” 🙂
Int base 🙂
Go figure. With a name like “sets guy”, there’s only one place you coulda been. 🙂
Are you fully out now or under the radar?
The motto of the CoS: IT IS NEVER ENOUGH!
BEINGNESS FOR SALE! does it give you more doingness or havingness? NO! Quite the Opposite. but don’t tell anyone, and they will be none the wiser. THE GAME WHERE EVERYONE LOOSES! – what else do you expect from the church of miscavige? – he of course looses too but he is also none the wiser.
INSANITY!
http://www.showbizspy.com/article/261464/john-travolta-being-watched-by-scientology.html
Hey, the quote is off time, it was written 1952, plus it can be taken as an insult: “A survey of all of this demonstrated that at any one time on Earth there were not more than about 10,000 people of a caliber that was sufficient to do a little steering or leading. … There’s only about 10,000 of them, really”.
So, all those contributors, including Patrons with “Horrors” are NOT included in ‘only those 10,000 people of caliber’. Well, the quote may be all right after all, as those who just blindly donate money for “expansion and freedom” are not, after all, men of caliber.
Okay, let me see if I got this…73,347 presentations in the last few months. “Few” months commonly taken to be three, or 90 days. That’s 814 presentations per day! I don’t think the church can produce 814 of anything per day (not including IAS regs or Ideal Org crusaders). Also, by quoting a number like 73,347, which is very precise, which implies someone is actually counting these “presentations”. Geez…that’s a whole buncha countin’.
And this LRH quote:
“There’s only about 10,000 of them, really. And below that level you have something in the neighborhood of about 100,000 or 150,000 – 200,000 people who have a competence of assimilation”
I’m sorry folks, LRH has said some brilliant things, but this ain’t one of them. Only 200,000?? Let’s see the population in 1952 was 2,628,448,169, so that’s only 0.007% capable of assimilation! How can any thinking person even begin to consider this statement has merit?? And to trot it out 60 years later, like some sacred text, simply indicates that ol’ Patrick isn’t one of the 200,000.
Maybe Patrick is a clever chap and figures if the recipient of his email is dumb enough to buy that, they’re probably dumb enough to give him some money.
Sea Org day was Aug 12th, already passed.
And if SO Day was Aug 12, what happened? Did they actually get a SO Day? Did they actually get time off post to celebrate?
oh well, there’s always next year, or maybe not. – one can always hope!
Maybe it will be a very bad idea, but what if:
I once recall seeing a French painter selling canned “Merde de artist” for his survival.
Let´s suppose HIM start selling “Merde de Leader”!!!!! Nothing would be more authentic and perhaps someone will pay lot of money for these original byproducts of His leadership
THE RCS CAN SELL SEA ORG RANKS.
This is done in Third World Countries just before they are over thrown
or collapse. AS the authority and “Power” depletes to nothing they sell “Rank” as
as a commodity. Just like those $10,000 pin’s.
I’ve been through 3 coups and one invasion and from these reports I can say that
Voldemort better have his wristwatch collection packed, briefcase with Gold Bars
under his bed ready to grab and run.
True story: At Pancho Villas stronghold in Sonora Mexico, Pancho Villa always slept
in a room on the floor next to his horse fully saddled and ready to ride, just in case.
Miscavige you should take a lesson from Pancho my feeling is you are going to need it.
Interestingly, the idea of selling ranks in the Sea Org revives an old established tradition of the British Army of the 17th through 19th centuries. Members of the aristocracy would purchase commissions to particular posts, sometimes for second and third sons (i.e., people who wouldn’t inherit the family title), as would wealthy middle class looking to secure respectability and also to secure a favored post where they might not get shot at and killed. I am not enough of a historian of that time and place to know what negative effect that might have had on the longevity of the British Empire, but I would have to believe that it made them just a tad less effective than militaries with highly professional and well-trained officers.
Oh, dear. This is so typical. Almost everything Americans think they know about the social system in Britain, past and present, is wrong.
At that time the British military was one of the most professional and efficient in the world, which could have something to do with British Empire being the world’s dominant military power in the centuries you mention. To appraise an Early Modern military on the basis of modern concepts of professionalism is to come at things from the wrong direction. The relevant comparison is the other militaries which existed at that time.
The purchase of commissions didn’t apply to the Royal Navy, and even in the army promotion on merit was possible, especially in wartime. On the other hand, in many continental armies social rank was just about the only factor in appointment to command. For example the Spanish Armada was commanded by a duke who barely knew one end of a ship from another, whereas Sir Francis Drake was a professional sailor of middle class origins.
On a separate point, in aristocratic warrior culture reckless bravery was expected and esteemed, even if it resulted in death. When the idea of abolishing the purchase of commissions was put forward in the 19th century, one of the main arguments used to defend the system was that the high death rates among officers in battle supposedly demonstrated the quality of the officer corps provided by the commission system.
It does appear that little HIM big head really is straight up and vertically cracking up!
So,the ron series donated to opinion leader, THIS action will clear the planet!! It will definetly clear Bridge Publications Warehouse shelves of stock and possible a few peoples wallets as well!!
I would like to see the following titles: “Ron and The Occult” or “Sex Magik by Ron” perhaps “Ron on how to alienate your children” maybe “Ron the bigamist”
I think it is disgusting the way CofS presents LrH, as a Saint when he had many shortcomings and closets with skeletons.True, he did formulate some workable technology AND that should be emphasized!
I am should you guys can come up with a few titles???
“Ron on the Run” how to avoid arrest and prosecution!!!
It would be hilarious for someone to write a series of books entitled that… L Wrong Hupturd: the Biggamist. L. Wrong Hupturd and Sex Magick…. etc. A duplicate series of books pointing out the truth. L. Wrong Hupturd the Fake Navy Commander.
Fabulous post. Thank you for your good sense and courage. This is freeing so many.
Mike, every time I read one of your post you stretch my imagination into the red zone where I think it can’t possibly be stretched any further – then the next day you come up with even more! -and now this over-the-top completely unbelievable “Beggars Banquet” – Regging Your Fellow Sea Org Members for Status!!!???
I really am questioning if I can take any more this!
I like the Sea Org rank idea. Reminds me of arcade game high scores.
DB
Loser
Wog
Raw meat
EPF
RPF
Rank and File
No Case on Post
Command Intention
Petty Officer
Petty Cash
…
IAS Scam advisor
Supreme Extiortionist
Commanding Beggar in-Chief
Washer of His Majestic Feet
Lubricator of His … Bank A/C
Beggars indeed.
It’s a good thing that fellow has such a tall top hat; he is going to have to pull some real magic out of it to make his quota by Thursday at 2PM.
Excellent article, Mike. Occasionally I get sentimental about being having for many years been IN, about having been “part of the group”, etc. .I recall some of the excellent people I knew who I admired and respected and who helped me. The cure for that is to read something like this, which clearly brings back of what being IN was really like and why I left. I recall how it became that I could never relax due to added pressure of having to lie, to pretend all the time that the insanity of phone calls and the being asked the same thing over and over and over again by different people was actually OK with me when in fact I loathed it AND them, and how I didn’t WANT to loath them because I knew they were good people.actually. Must like can’t like, must lie can’t lie…it was insane! This is what insanity is! I’m so glad I’m out, and I’ll never go back there, never.
pathetic!!!