Sydney is pitching some “stories” about bookselling.
“Matt” is apparently a pro who knows how to make a sale by overcoming objections.
I have included the whole promo piece here and circled some specific points of note. His technique for overcoming objections is to just lie:
As you can see, part of the pitch is the lie that L. Ron Hubbard was an “Engineer” who “travelled a lot in the East as a teenager.”
Definitely NOT an “engineer” and he traveled a bit in the East as a teenager, though being “exposed” to buddhism is a sleaze, he was also “exposed” to Hinduism because he met an Indian once, he actually studied hypnotism and black magick if you want to be honest about it.
Just fascinating that scientology has absolutely no problem promoting these lies very publicly.
Then another one came in. I chopped off the top so you didn’t have to be bothered with the preamble but just got right to the “pitch”:
This one is an even bigger stretch. This guy just makes shit up as he goes along.
“If you can recall your ability to recall a perception” you will increase your perceptions in the present. This to a guy who lost his sense of smell due to exposure to chemicals. You can bet his smell didn’t improve from doing Self Analysis.
What is amazing is that lying to people is presented as “handling objections like a professional.”
I could really have fun with that guy. I really could. He thinks he knows what a person is going to say before they say it and I realize that and would say something off the cuff in a direction he was not looking for.
I did that once with someone who tried to sell me on a pyramid scheme that was popular at the time. Most fun I had for years.
So here’s a guy who reads self-help books, “a lot actually.” However, “when I get told points by others I get annoyed.” He may want to switch genres. This is a lot like saying “I buy every Madonna album the moment it comes out. I tell you, I can’t stand that woman’s voice.”
And a bookseller who tells you that ruminating on the past (such as the time when you had a functioning sense of smell) allows you to be more in “present time?” WTF?
But the most telling is the “climax” of both stories: “He _paid_ for the book.” ($25 no less, for a book that’s readily available for pennies from other Tricking him into an org. And again, “he _buys_ Self Analysis and _booked_ in” for some other useless crap.
Most churches, ideologies, political movements, etc, proselytize. And of course, they are excited when others show an interest; that’s the whole point. But this guy’s priorities are very clear and very different: Get them to buy, pay full price, and upsell while you’re at it. If no money changes hands, none of it means a thing.
Yeah they throw away every copy of DMSMH they get ‘donated’ here at our local libraries. Lol. And for the biggest scam of the century and part of the non-ending fundraising that is currently the COS…the Basics Books Scam. Every one was regged endlessly to buy multiple sets and when garages and attics were overflowing with Basics Sets everyone was regged to buy copies that were to be donated to public libraries all over the US. Guess what… I called every library in a 200 mile radius of where I live to see if they’d been donated since I couldn’t see them on their online card catalog of available books (thought they’d probably been tossed). No Basics Sets delivered to any number of libraries. Not one library received even one set nevertheless multiple sets since every public was regged for at least one library copy. I’m willing to bet that $ was just stuck in Dave’s pocket and the books weren’t even printed.
Book Seller (BS): Do you like to read books?
me: I sure do!
BS: Do you like self-help books?
me: That depends. If they are interesting and truly helpful, I might take the time to investigate. If I had an inkling that they were just New Aged hooey, I wouldn’t bother. There’s a lot of that in the market place these days.
BS: You should check this book out, it really works and it was written by an engineer!
me: Wow, that sounds good. If it works as well as you say, there must be a lot of research behind it.
BS: There sure is. In fact, it is 100% workable, 100% of the time when applied 100% standardly!
me: That really sounds good but it also sounds too good to be true. I’d like to get my hands on that research and meet some regular people who have had such great success with these techniques. Where can I find this research to check it out for myself? Libraries? Scientific journals? Internet?
crickets: cherp, cherp, cherp, cherp, cherp…
Any scientologist asked to produce ANY research behind ANY of Hubbard’s ‘tech’ will have just as much success doing that as being able to answer a simple question like “where’s Shelly”. More crickets…
Ms. B,
Great Point.
If it smells fecal, looks fecal, and smears fecal, but does NOT fertilize, then…it’s dianutics and scienbollocky!
Might have worked in 1950, but not today. One would have to be very gullible, to the point of mentally incompetent, to fall for those lines.
But yea, go ahead and teach that. Good sitcom.
Les Dane would be proud. Not happy, but proud of the ‘salesmanship’ shown. The Federal Trade Commission might see that differently. As would an honest Better Business Bureau.
Yep, scammy is as scammy does. Now, if the salesperson mentioned ‘$cientology’ how many objections and walk a ways would result? About 99%.
I think it was Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, who said something like that if you tell a lie dozens of times people will start to believe it.
Scn does exactly the same, hoping that slowly people will believe it or use those ‘acceptable truths’ to talk about the cult.
But what I think is more tragic is that the main target of the lies is not the world of the ‘wogs’ but rather the members themselves, to whom the cult since hubbard until now has lied shamelessly and continuously to get their money and keep them inside. .
Almost always one knows that he is lying or altering the facts, but it must be done because they have told him that it is the ‘greatest good’.
In my opinion after a while it creates serious imbalances in the perception of reality and one does not come back easily from there without help.
I agree with you, Loosing – it IS a shame, but then, what’s wrong with those still in who cannot or will not see what thousands before them saw? Including us. WE saw it; we “woke up and smelled the coffee”; WE saw what was plainly in front of our faces; why cannot or will not THEY?
Are we so much more intelligent/aware/perceptive etc., etc., than they?
Respectfully, I don’t happen to think so.
Did WE (collectively) have so much LESS to lose than they? Did we (again, collectively, I’m not speaking of myself) who left not have parents, children, spouses, friends, businesses, etc., also to worry about losing if we left?
Obviously that’s not the case. Those who have left have suffered TREMENDOUS losses – precious loved ones lost due to Disconnection, businesses due to Fair Game, etc.
So I ask again; what’s wrong with those still ins who cannot or will not see what we clearly saw? Why can’t they leave? No one’s saying its EASY. It wasn’t easy for us either. Yet we did it. Why not they?
Perhaps the answer is that they see it very well also, just as we did. And just as we were, they are very scared to leave because of the dreaded consequences. But unlike us, their fear was stronger than their – dare I say it without sounding like a pompous ass? – their integrity.
Myself excepted, most who saw and left were just as scared, just as at risk in every way as those who are still in. Most who have left have suffered loss of health, wealth, and the permanent loss of people they loved, people who meant everything to them. Those who left also had to confront the fact of having wasted decades of their lives on a false dream.
As regards their leaving the cult, I don’t see any risks, any losses, any fears that those Still In know and dread than any of those who left know and dread.
And yet, some still stay in.
You think they don’t know?
Don’t kid yourselves.
They know. They KNOW!
The fears they have when they contemplate leaving are the fears WE had when we contemplated leaving. There’s nothing they’re grappling with that those who left didn’t have to grapple with!
Yet THEY stay.
How are those who stay in different from those who left? Circumstantially or otherwise?
Grammar Nazi Alert: “…I don’t see any risks, any losses, any fears that those Still In know and dread that any of those who left knew and dreaded”.
Aqua what you raise is a very good point.
In the end I think that each person who leaves has their own individual story, beside that at some point we all said ‘enough!’ when we became aware of something and understood that we couldn’t close our eyes anymore.
The fact that one goes away for overt or MU is bullshit, used to leverage the sense of guilt. One leaves for one reason only, an accumulation of “ARC breaks” and because he has finally DECIDED to admit to himself that what he has observed is true.
Those who are still in there have certainly seen things but they have kept justifying them.
Life is just a matter of experiencing and becoming aware, however many need to experience something more before waking up and stepping out of that – only mental – view of how things are.
Scn is a great gym for this: it can create ‘ARC breaks’ at will. And one day someone wakes up and says “What am I doing? I can’t have it anymore. Go to hell scn!”
That’s it!
“An ACCUMULATION (emphasis mine) of ARC breaks” and because he has finally DECIDED to admit to himself that what he has observed is true.”
And then, at some point, which can vary from individual to individual, one DECIDES that one cannot continue to ignore/accept any more, and then, its enough, and one leaves.
So, fundamentally, its a question of TIME. How much time does each of them need?
I know how much time I needed. I had my share of ARC breaks in reality and communication, and then said “Enough”.
YOU had YOUR own share before you said “Enough”.
Each of us had our own share and decided in our OWN time what was “Enough”.
So for the Still Ins, its just a question of “What and how much of this shit can I continue to justify or ignore?”
Again, its just a matter of time.
Of course, for a portion of them, no time will be long enough. They’ll go down with the ship.
But then for the rest, they’ll each reach their “Enough” limit at some point and that point can and will vary with each individual.
BECAUSE THEY ALL SEE EXACTLY WHAT WE SAW. And each of us left in our own individual times.
I was already UTR, flying under the radar, having already decided that there was something quite wrong with Scientology, the organization, when I had that Ethics cycle with that ex-Sea Org lady – someone I liked very much, btw. I had had up until that time no ARC breaks with her. She was OK in my book in every way.
But when she effectively called LRH policy “entheta and enemy line” – woo! That cinched my decision! Totally cinched it!
Thanks for helping me sort this thru, Loosing 🙂
I’d bet these stories never even happened! I think he’s just using Hubbard’s “pull some bullshit story out of your ass to illustrate a point” method. I mean really, nobody’s gonna have conversation like that with some schmuck on the street and then give him 25 bucks for a bleedin’ book lol.
You nailed that right on the head! No one is that gullible. Everyone I know would have whipped out their smartphone and Amazoned the book IF they were even remotely interested. Then googled the author (I would say 90% of people have heard of Hubbard). That would have changed this bogus dialog quite a bit. Like you I call ‘FAKE’!
Gus,
But, but…buh-buh-buh-but…
Postulates! Theta! Blatherations senior to splatter!
Mental Ass and Secondary Sass! The Whole Track Tech
Of Twerking and Jerking, Collecting Money…and Smirking!
Rising Above The Expanding Bunghole Of Hubbard To
Nuzzle The Macallan Pickled Sac of McDamage!
Teegeeackian Rough Trade at its scummiest,
Ramen🙌💩💣😉
At least they are consistent. If it is not a lie it isn’t scientology.
Reading Hubbard’s own account, he called the Buddhist monks “Croaking Frogs”. Hubbard never understood anything except his own selfish ego.
Bait and switch on an industrial-strength scale. Imagine what the book-buyer would say if they were told that Scientology will teach them to exorcize their inner demons? And that their bodies are composed of demons?
The truth may set you free, but it won’t get you any new Scientologists.
Hubbard always said that the Dianetics book was the best way to get new people in – not because he thought that old stuff was any use. He’d already abandoned it a year after it came out. Simply because it has a plausible lie in it that a few people don’t immediately reject – the idea that past trauma can cause all kinds of current conditions. Many other therapies build on this idea, it isn’t completely bananas like the later fake religious ideas.
So you get a few rubes in with a plausible lie. Once they are softened up a bit, hit them with the real deal. Then years and thousands of dollars later you find out it wasn’t the REAL real deal, on to the secret OT body thetan stuff. Then on OT VIII you find out the REAL REAL real deal comes later, except Hubbard died before he could finish it. OOPS.
For some reason the carrot on the stick keeps getting further away the faster you run. All good for the higher-level Scientologists because that keeps the money flowing. It was very good for Hubbard, who died with $640 million or so in the bank. Not so good for the donkeys.
But who cares about the weary broke donkeys? As long as you can get new ones with the same tissue of lies, it’s all good. Sick.
One of the things that always upset me about Sci and it’s lie that it was a religion is that it priced itself out of the religion business. Most all religions offer their scriptures for free. Oh they’ll gouge you for money endlessly but the actual sacred words and scriptures are free. They want everyone. Unlike Sci who only wants the rich and prices accordingly. What they end up with are the in-betweens. Those who aren’t rich but aren’t poor…yet they know poor and don’t like it so they desperately want to move on up to that next level. Well here’s Scientology. Some of the wealthiest people belong. So there must be something to it. And if I join maybe everyone will think I’m wealthy as well…maybe I’ll meet those wealthy acolytes…maybe they can help me out since we all belong to the same group. So Sci gets a handful of super wealthy and the rest are wannabes and ladder climbers (Joy Villa anyone…Vic Tipnes…I could go on but won’t).
The things here are obviously two:
either they have filled his head by dint of continually hammering the bullshit of internal propaganda into his head (therefore lies),
or he is doing it knowing that are lies but it is only for the ‘greater good’ and maybe some idiot will even bite.
It is remarkable how in the last 15 years the level of lies in scn has skyrocketed. Luckily they said that scn had all the tech to save the galaxy, meanwhile they shoot lies like a garden sprinkler trying to save their butt.
IRL
“Hi, do you read books?”
Huh?
“Books. Do you read them?”
What kind of a question is that?
“If you could change…”
Who the f**k are you?
“Oh I work at the Dianetics Centre.”
The what now…? Ohhh. Scientology, right? No thanks.
“I was just wondering…”
Could you move away from my bike, please.
“Sorry. It’s a nice bike! What would you…”
Dude, I’m not interested.
“I got that…but…”
You seriously believe in all that star wars shit?
“Oh that’s a common misconception…”
Well I know a guy who went bankrupt because of you people.
“Okay…but if you could have anything…”
He tried to kill himself.
“Well…I’m sure that’s not…”
Just f**k off.
Vrrrrooooooommm….
Another case of “scientologists lie, must lie, can’t not lie; It’s part and parcel in their “scripture”.