I thought all the ***** were quite amusing, for sure trying to sell themselves to the unsuspecting public who they want to “drop the net over” and drag over to join “the organization”. Would have been much better for them to state “I found it fascinating, and informative, I suggest you also drop in for a visit”….at least THAT would have intrigued a few to at least think about it
Thank you RB. The piece this Friday shows with great skill how a couple inside the fortress bubble married or not, staff or Sea Org can get on different tracks as to their beliefs about the Scientology cult. The dude in this piece is hellbent to keep his lady from ever looking up and out. He has already decided she is the one who is not on source. No good will come of this rift. Outside the fortress bubble this happens also. I have lived it for many many years, so I know all too well. RB you help keep me going. When I see any of your work, I say if RB can keep creating and moving forward, so can I. You were one of the first I ever blogged to and you remain forever in my heart. Hi Mike. ?
Love you too! The sad thing is his entire family (including extended members) are coo coo for cocoa nuts: and VERY narcissistic. My therapist said that many narcissists hae low self esteem..maybe the wasband; but Not his mother , or his father or his bro & sis..They think they are just too too perfect in every way.
A funny thing about this family. They are very lucky and have never really had a time when they struggled with a serious loss; or difficulty. That maybe why they stay involved in the cult. Of course the cult does not help them; but it is a form of superstition I think.
Hmm, that phrase in the intro, “This year’s Freedom Medal goes to…..”, just made me wonder about something. I’m pretty sure I remember hearing that Tom Cruise was the first person to be awarded the “Freedom Medal of Valor” (still can’t figure out what he did that was so courageous in the face of danger….but maybe the word “valor” is just another LRH term that was re-defined).
But does anyone know if TC is the ONLY one that has ever, uhm…..”earned” this particular medal? Or has anyone else since then been awarded this “Freedom Medal of Valor” (as opposed to just the normal “Freedom Medal”)?
And have there been any other Freedom Medals that CoS has given out that are named for other virtues besides “Valor” (such as honor, compassion, loyalty, generosity, etc.)?
Nope — Freedom Medal of Valor was a one time deal, coined by Miscavige for Tom Cruise. Bigger and gaudier, with more jewels, I think he got his inspiration from Flavor Flav.
Everyone else just gets “IAS Freedom Medals”.
There will never be another “Mr. Tom Cruise, the best scientologist I know.”
If that did happen, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall! TC looked so pleased with his award, and himself. I wonder where he keeps it? Mike, I could not stop laughing at the “Flavor Flav” comment……sadly that piece of “jewelry” does closely resemble the large clock on chain Flavor Flav wears….
I love the fact that the woman (Eve?) is reading from an I-pad with the bitten apple logo on the back. Oh, oh, she has eaten from the tree of knowledge in their Ideal garden. Now it is only a matter of time before she takes down her hubby and both are banished for ever to the dangerous toil and strife of the world outside. Wait …. maybe not!. Tune in for the next episode to find out whether Adam choses to leave their cosy worry free paradise and hit Woglandia with her ……or whether he disconnects and stays where he feels at home, with the stalking serpent, for his eternity in the promised land of Ron.
This RB reminds me of something I have been curious about for a while. Do $cientology couples have conversations about doubt, ever? Are their couples who would never write a KR on their sig. other? Are public more apt to discuss, over SO members?
And, how long on average does it take a new Scientologist to become fully indoctrinated?
i will never know if the “wasband” wrote any KRs on me. Or if his mother wrote some on me.The wasband is on staff at a struggling Org. (May they ever be so; as in struggling.) When he was going through the demands of his superiors to leave me (I was very naive & trusted them all;) the wasband was spending his time, while in bed w/me, doing the “doubt Formula!” Oh was I ever the chump.
Jesus H. Hubbard, can you imagine a living in a world where the $cientology ethics run our daily lives? You wouldn’t even sneeze in front of your five-year-old for the fear of an East German Stasi “Knowledge Report” being written. When this “religion” dies, if it is not already dead, the world will be such a a nicer, kinder place.
I’m not sure if you are heading into a ‘series’ here RB but if so, I can’t wait to see what dear hubby does when the free thinking wife takes control of her life. Maybe next week…?
I’m ok with most forms of pyschiatry now and most pych drugs. I have been to 3 different practioners since l left scn. -almost 30 years ago. None were psychiatrists, but therapists just the same. I feel if you have the right therapist and a good repore with them, they can help a lot. lt depends on you [the patient] and finding the right person at the right time . I’ve definitely been helped a lot, especially with the loss of my family-those still in.Its up to you.
I have personal experience with people who have been helped with psych drugs. In general I still think too many people are prescribed too many drugs for too many things, but I have witnessed success with individuals who needed help and took drugs prescribed by psychiatrist for their mental condition and they dramatically improved.
This is not including Brandon Reisdorf who we featured on one of the Aftermath programs who had a remarkable improvement after being properly diagnosed and prescribed.
There may be those who remain “anti-psych” as a hard and fast rule but this must be because they have not witnessed anything like I have. Because if you did, you would not be able to hang onto the fixed idea that it is all evil.
Thank you Mike and Bkmole. Im asking because I almost always diagnose, but thats what my mom did. It’s judgmental and wrong, I fight the instinct.
I feel very strongly about a need for therapy or therapeutic techniques for PTSD. What you all have described, a shrieking hell of fear, degradation, sleep deprivation, shouldn’t be ignored, or shunted aside. The body remembers, sometimes the energy changes and wreaks havoc. Diabetes, fibromyalgia, anxiety.
I hate meds too, prefer holistic, but sometimes meds help.
I wouldn’t be too keen to jump on the psych drug bandwagon unless I have some serious problems that needed addressing.
Being a fence sitter so so many years, I have sought out the help of psychologists and LCSWs through the VA medical system for my PTSD from multiple auto accidents which also resulted in mild TBI (traumatic brain injury) from concussions. Most methods are pretty benign and do help.
But the drugs are, for many, difficult to step down from — more so than heroin.
This psychiatrist, Kelly Brogan, saw the light and now deals with many emotional issues with diet, meditation and exercise. http://kellybroganmd.com/
Dr. Daniel Amen has done numerous brain scans that can definitively show brain malfunction resulting in bi-polar, ADD issues and autism. http://www.danielamenmd.com
Dr. Hyla Cass is familiar with better methods in dealing with brain issues also.
Brain and emotional issues can be devastating to your sanity and body, especially if you were high functioning (mentally) in the first place.
No. That’s like saying all Muslims are bad because a small group of them are extreme.
I know of many competent therapists and psychiatrists who dislike giving meds unless absolutely necessary. And I have met many people who have been helped by therapy from licensed psychologists and therapists.
At this point CCHR does help with abuses. Primarily though it’s used to raise money that does not go to cleaning up the field of mental health.
To anyone who has not read it, I recommend “Fair Game” by Steven Cannane about the role played by many Australians (and Australia) in the history of the Co$. The chapter on the CCHR is absolutely fascinating.
It may not shock people that, although people involved in the Co$ became very important to exposing severe abuse, the Co$ lied about it all…
Yeah, that pretty much fits my bill too. It didn’t take Hubbard to tell me but he was right about generalities for the most part, psyches have good and bad. Cults on the other hand deserve their reputation.
There’s big trouble indeed, that’s waiting for any $cilon who dares to question Moonchild Miscavige’s massively miscreant missives on any subject, at any time, or for any reason.
Indeed, just having personal thoughts of disagreement that never escape your very own head have the same weight of evidence against you when you’re coerced to confess them during metered interrogation, that they would if you’d actually acted on those thoughts or voiced them out loud.
Final completion of your own personal prison of belief as a $cilon only comes when you’ve accepted responsibility for policing your own thoughts, based on the insane proposition that thought and action are equivalent.
What $cilons who’ve accepted that thoroughly whacked orientation to their own minds don’t seem to realize is that once you’ve internalized this formerly extrinsically enforced mind control function, it’s really not you t all that’s in control of your own mind, but the cult that’s doing so with you as a robotically controlled, degraded being who’s well on his way to becoming the equivalent of one Elron’s imaginary BTs.
The proper answer to the sec check interrogation question, “Have you ever had a negative thought about COB?” is. “It’s no one’s business but my own what I think or feel in the privacy of my own head!” If you can’t say that for fear of punishment or other sanction, then you are in a cult for sure! And if even the thought of doing so causes you internal distress, then you’re deep in the Kool-Aid and have lost yourself almost entirely.
I’m currently reading Going Clear by Lawrence Wright (excellent book so far by the way), and last night I was reading the portion about how groups (such as Communist China and CoS) conduct “mind control” on their people. The observations were basically that the process involves isolation, manipulation, coercion to endorse the group’s goals (or either destroy the will to resist), and finally confessions to completely expose them in order compel loyalty to the group.
Then Wright stated: “The paradoxical result can be the opposite of total exposure: secrets proliferate, and doubts about the movement go underground.” When the lady in RB’s last slide discusses how, in the novel she was reading, people under the leader of the “thought police” learned to “compartmentalize their own thoughts” seems to go to what Wright wrote about the doubts going “underground”.
It’s easy to call members of this cult “brain-washed”, but hopefully they have compartmentalized who they really are at their core in an area of their psyche, so it can be recalled once they leave the organization, which seems to be the case with the former Sea Org members I’ve heard about so far. That keeps the hope alive that their lives can one day be salvaged from their years in this cult.
As an aside, I believe the worst thing someone can do to a brain-washed person is to say to them “You’re brain-washed!”, which I’ve heard about some folks shouting at SO kids at Flag and LA. That seems like it would be extremely counter-productive (despite their good intentions to help “wake them up”), because it only serves to push them further into the group who will provide them comfort, in addition to adding validity to what they’ve been taught about how cruel and evil the “outside world” can be to those who leave. I hope people will stop doing that.
Mick, yes, it’s counter-productive to aggressively confront “true believers” of any type, as research shows that can even cause a reinforcement of belief. I just picked up Steve Hassan’s new book Freedom of Mind, which covers more subtle and compassionate approaches that are actually more effective, though I haven’t yet read enough of the book to specifically review how well he handles the subject.
Hassan and others have written more in-depth books about high control groups and cults, and the mechanisms of thought control or thought reform and “brainwashing,” if you’re interested.
When it comes to addressing people encountered in the street, I’m not sure if anything would be effective, but the more subtle approach involves approaches like tapping into members’ original intents for joining the group that have typically been redirected from idealism into drudgery. So there would be more of a chance of making an impact by asking someone if they really joined to spend their life running around on make-work projects (or handing out flyers no one wants, or whatever might relate to what they’re doing), which probably reflects on doubts lurking in the back of their own minds. Perhaps someone can chip in with even more useful things that might be said.
I’ve also been thinking that if people are to use protest signs or flyers intended at least in part to read by members and staff, it would be more effective to start off with thought-provoking Hubbard quotes like some of the ones that sometimes show up in the Important Quotes section on the left hand side of this blog. The one of those that particularly comes to mind is where Hubbard says that Scientologists should revolt if buildings become too important to the organization, which would be particularly thought-provoking at ideal org openings.
If I lived near a mission or org, I think that I would periodically tape printouts of some of those types of quotes along with the most pointed Regraded Being strips to their door late at night.
I’ve actually thought about using stuff from Friends of LRH, mostly because it is likely to sneak past their defenses, and it makes the case that Davey is the SP of the Board and destroyer of the tech etc. I personally don’t believe any of it (other than some of the common sense stuff) but I figure having them face the contradictions in the church can only have good results.
Peacemaker, as I am now SURE that there are more staff members (mostly S.O.) in the US than active non-staff scientologists, the best approach would be to target S.O. members with a message of who they can contact and go to if they want to leave along with assurances of food, shelter and help with employment. Otherwise even many who may want to leave don’t know how to depart that “ship” mid-ocean.
Mike W, I would VERYmuch like to believe what you have stated above as regards your certainty that there are more staff members, as you’ve said, mostly SO in the US than active non-staff scientologists. Could you possibly furnish some hint or other as to how/why you are “SURE” of this? And btw I’m not being snotty or sarcastic (which I can most certainly be at times). No, I’m sincere; and would be thrilled you. That said, if for any reason you can’t furnish further back up, just say so and I’ll leave it at that, and exist in my hope 🙂 Thanks.
By active I mean on course or auditing weekly or monthly.
From what has been reported at the “large class V orgs by themselves via comps and multiply by # of orgs minus ~30% for the small orgs and add a few hundred for Pac & FSO (I worked in both Pac & FSO during the HIGHEST points so know there are NO more that a few hundred combined in both now).
There are about 4K 5K max SO members.
N.B most “orgs” only have a handful of public on lines. Go to a place like Phoenix and get a tour one week night or week end. Try Miami, Dallas, Portland. These are places I’ve walked into in the last few years.
Mike, like Aquamarine, I would question that estimation, as it doesn’t quite fit with anything that I’ve seen, and this is an area of interest that I keep an eye on. Checking a few quick references, I see that Scientology a couple of years ago claimed 6,500 in the SO, but that observers like John P. think that is yet another overblown claim and the put the real number closer to 5,000, out of 15,000 – 20,000 members.
But even at that, It does look like they’re in the ballpark of 2:1, which is a reminder about just how distorted the shrinking world of Scientology is getting. If the CofS claim was correct with staff on top of that, and the total membership was really down to 15,000, then it could be at 1:1. If you have specific information that such is really the case at this point, I think you should pass it to someone like Mike, John P. or Tony O. to verify and publish. But it could well be that “members in good standing,” a strangely more limited category that has been discussed recently and which maybe in some way does reflect truly active members, is actually about the same as SO and staff.
The point at which Scientology really did or does reach an equal number of members compared to SO and staff, is another of several I think they are approaching, including also building sizes compared to actual active membership, that I think would violate IRS guidelines and requirements for their status and at least trigger a re-evaluation. Scientology lost its tax exemption once already due to Hubbard’s inurement when he was alive, and the Synonon rehabilitation/therapy cult lost its exemption around a while later and had their re-application for religious exemption denied, though there are only one or two other major cases of revoked exemptions. Also in the 1960s-70s era, two largely communitarian groups were denied religious exemption for primarily serving the private interests of members who were provided with food and shelter, rather than the public interest as is required.
And you are right that offering SO members information reassuring them that they would have help in re-establishing their lives if they left, is important. I wish that there was more being done on an organized basis to offer and provide that, but if I recall the CofS has attacked and undermined past attempts. I have heard that law enforcement may actually provide departed/escaped SO with assistance and connections to resources, perhaps particularly if them claim human trafficking, and that would be something to verify and publicize. It would also to have information specific to foreigners in the SO, such as reassurance that if their passport his been take that their countries’ embassies will replace them and perhaps offer other assistance. Protest and other information that provided human trafficking to SO members, would also help raise public awareness of what is going on.
Since I’m not close to an org where protests are being held, I can only offer ideas. The other thing I should have mentioned that, is if I were close to an org, I think that I would actually try taking them a gift of toilet paper.
I agree with the “You’re brainwashed” counterproductivity. In your face challenges to deeply held emotionally held beliefs are rarely successful. IMO usually people need internal, self directed, challenges to their mind set to walk through a door. Though it is possible sometimes to pry open that door a little. One of the reasons I admire the simplicity of the ‘call me’ billboards. Wish there was a way to erect an enormous electronic billboard outside of every Scientology base with disconnected family members talking about their lives (“Your sister has a new baby and she looks like you”) and saying how much the Scientology stuff is loved and missed. Might help some people.
Liz, I would think messages such as that might help get through to some of them. Everyone would have different triggers that might “bounce around in their heads before it gets processed” (as Bruce stated below). The key is finding what those triggers might be on a case by case basis.
Hi Mick. When I read this, I thought “dissociation”, but maybe that’s a titch extreme. We are all multi faceted. Since I don’t work ft any more, I dont have to “be” a couple of people. Much more restful.
Some of the time it does lead to dissociation. If you read Nancy Many’s book, “My Billion Year Contract” she describes an extreme example. But any time you have to worry about what you are thinking it is a good sign you are in a bad situation.
The invitation to human contact, the “Call Me” billboards, expressions of love and respect are far more effective than shaming. They are not ready for the truth. A lot of internal cognitive dissonance must fall away before they are ready to accept simple facts. But you can be the first step in their recovery by just showing them that the outside world is not as dangerous as they have been told.
Accusations and shaming build the wall higher. Love and compassion break it down. Probably you would not see any immediate results. Everything they see bounces around in their heads a lot before it gets processed. But there are a lot of other cracks in the wall. Eventually it will break down at a time when there is an opportunity and they will break free.
For anyone who was in, you know while drinking the Kool Aid that if anyone said anything negative to you, you would immediately jump to the defense of COS. When your heart and soul is deeply bonded to something, and when it is all you have ever been taught, seen, heard or lived most of your life, you give it your all, no matter what negative feedback you receive from those outside who you’ve been told are “evil”..
.
Only when the cloudy haze is removed from your eyes and ears do you come to the realization of what’s really going on. It would be truly awesome if there was a way to post billboards that would somehow inspire someone on the inside to reach out to a “Suppressive Person” who was once living that life. The problem would be what would happen to THEM while they are still living under the “care” of the COS, they might be moved to another state or location and contact would be lost, as for sure pressure would be applied to ignore the billboard posting.
Mike, Leah, anyone who is in…PLEASE I hope what we are all reading over these many days, weeks, months, years will show up in a NEW book, there is so much validation noted here of what those now out had endured while “in”…….ammunition you might call it. Yes some have reached the statute of limitations….but what IF there is a few people who have recently left who might step forward with testimony if this goes to court.
BTW…to the author of the possible new book, might I suggest a title for it:
I’ve disagreed with you on a few things but regarding Scientology management style and application I completely agree. The evidence is overwhelming that it created a cult and it parallels everything 1984 could ever dream up and then some. Any Scientology Styled Organisation cannot be permitted to be influential to any degree anywhere.
Remember, Orwell patterned 1984 and Animal Farm after Stalinist Russia. Do not think for a minute that Deviant Miscarriage wouldn’t be as much of a monster if he had the power. It’s interesting to compare the Lenin-Stalin dynamic to Hubbard and Davey. The parallels are eerie,
By the way, I’d love to see a Regraded Being referencing Animal Farm:
“All scientologists are equal, but some are more equal than others” and reference the hypocrisy of condemning wicked psychiatric practices while doing worse to their own people.
RB! You da man! A step forward for a Scientologist is 6 steps of compartmentalized backwardness in mental computing (if such a thing could be so defined?).
What an awesome RB today! Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of the greatest books of the 20th century, and not only because its a great read. It’s also because it’s so damn relevant at all strata of society and timeless. And there’s no better example of the structure of the country of Oceania in our society today, that I can think of, than Scientology.
Newspeak: Hubbard gibberish and acronyms
English Socialism (Ingsoc): IAS
thoughtcrime: “counter intention”
Thought Police: Ethics
Inner Party: Sea Org
Outer Party: Public
doublethink: “agreement”
Ministry of Love (Miniluv): RPF
Room 101: the Hole
Ministry of Truth (Minitrue): OSA
memory hole: previous, forgotten expansion targets
Big Brother: David Miscavige
Emmanuel Goldstein: Psychiatry
Orders of the Day (dayorder): daily dispatches from the Apollo, HCO bulletins
memory hole: photo of Hubbard with (and without) Sara 2nd wife
Two Minutes Hate: fun with Mike Rinder in doctor’s office parking lot or Marty Rathbun in LAX
Ownlife: other fish
Unperson: SP
Yo Dave,
It’s time to fix Your Pee-Are debacle good buddy. You have Your SuMP and you have Your war chest so step up and use Your uncorrupt communication line to speak Your Truth to the billions.
Yo OSA,
Have any of you that read this blog daily wondered why He doesn’t JUST DO IT? Tell Him, it’s your job! Git er done before another Toosday at Too rolls around with more failed stats. The rest of us out here on the fringes are waiting anxiously for some word … from above. Dave, are you still there?
Doesn’t the e-meter come from a large family? Matheson and Hubbard were the parents and the big brother was called Azimuth and the rest were Mark something or other. Sibling rivalry is often mistakenly misunderstood and results in family feuds. They had a whole string of pets though, some were called Long or Short Falls, others were Blowdowns and yet others were just Ticks (blood sucking little bastards!). Rocket was my favorite but he bit Dirty and had to got a Rise to bail him out but the TA was too high and he got creamed! But Rock came along and Slammed them all and it resulted in the fact once canned you can’t escape Scientology. Is any of this readable to you or is it one of those Prior or Latent thingos? If any of this does get a reaction… please circle it in red and get it back to me… I’m Stuck in the 4th Stage so it’ll need to be tested and passed 5 times through. You got the date right on any of this yet?
Very funny, IY, I pity any never-in trying to figure that out.
However, Hubbard cannot be described as a father of the meter. At most he could charitably be said to have inspired Mathison to create it, but the story on that is a bit murky. I suspect Mathison really came up with the idea on his own and later decided to go along with the “inspired by a Hubbard lecture” story just to make some sales.
In any case, Hubbard’s role was better analogous to a pole dancer on date night than an actual participant in the conception of the early meter. There is no evidence that Hubbard ever knew the difference between a volt and an amp and his nether anatomy.
In the meter family there are something like a dozen tube versions from the Mathison era, then oddities like the Beep meter, Japanese transistor toy meter, the mini-tube cigarette case meter, and others. Then the family went inactive for a while until the explosion of Don Breeding transistor meters including the American Green, Gold and Blue.
When Hubbard fled across the pond he got some otherwise reputable British manufacturers to cooperate with Don to create the Mark I to V. In a few years Pat Flanagan of the pyramid razor blade sharpener fame was making Azimuth Alignment meters, then a range of meters were made by various other semi-official groups which got forcibly taken over by the Sea Org in the late 70s.
The Don Breeding three transistor DNA bred true all the way through the MK VI, but then some major mutations created the VII and Quantum. The VIII bears almost no genetic relationship to any of the earlier generations except it still uses a mechanical moving needle.
The shining star of the current meter family, the VIII, developed in the 90s and using an 80s interface that almost no computer uses anymore, has one innovation that even Hubbard never foresaw. It requires the operator to be in good standing with the mother Church to get the yearly updates. No more rogue meter users with the VIII!
All in all a raucously contentious large family, most of whom have fled this mortal coil. But if they ever open the Int Base to tours you will be able to see all the meters on display. In working condition. From the earliest Mathisons to the latest NSA inspired version.
In the wog world there are alternative facts which lead to acceptable truths, but in $cn those acceptable truths lead directly to delusional beliefs about the nature of reality, the origins of the cosmos and, ultimately, to the perception of your core self as being a composite entity, formed from an amalgamation of space alien spirits.
Words completely fail to capture how truly whacked all those fundamental beliefs and core tenets of the $cn faith truly are. No wonder the cult works so hard to keep them from newbie Kool-Aid sippers, because most folks who weren’t already deeply indoctrinated would turn and run upon hearing such utter nonsense and bad sci-fi story plot lines being sold as fact.
Heck, it’s extremely unlikely to have something as massive as the planets all in stable orbits around one big mass of nuclear fission and fusion in the middle of absolutely nowhere … isn’t it? What are the odds of something like that? My guess is the chances are infinitesimal. I don’t know where to begin to work out those odds. Do you?
My big question, still unanswered by anyone here: “What do you have that explains better, and works better? Anything, or … nothing at all?”
Thought I might “pop in” for a visit next time I visit NYC……I changed my mind after reading this:
https://www.yelp.com/biz/church-of-scientology-new-york-2
whats funny is all the ***** ratings all sign off with “check it out for yourself” or something of that sort. I think we all know who they are
I thought all the ***** were quite amusing, for sure trying to sell themselves to the unsuspecting public who they want to “drop the net over” and drag over to join “the organization”. Would have been much better for them to state “I found it fascinating, and informative, I suggest you also drop in for a visit”….at least THAT would have intrigued a few to at least think about it
Thank you RB. The piece this Friday shows with great skill how a couple inside the fortress bubble married or not, staff or Sea Org can get on different tracks as to their beliefs about the Scientology cult. The dude in this piece is hellbent to keep his lady from ever looking up and out. He has already decided she is the one who is not on source. No good will come of this rift. Outside the fortress bubble this happens also. I have lived it for many many years, so I know all too well. RB you help keep me going. When I see any of your work, I say if RB can keep creating and moving forward, so can I. You were one of the first I ever blogged to and you remain forever in my heart. Hi Mike. ?
me too; same story
Love You petlover 1948 So so good to see you. Yes a very very very tough path to walk with someone who is a narcissist. ?
Love you too! The sad thing is his entire family (including extended members) are coo coo for cocoa nuts: and VERY narcissistic. My therapist said that many narcissists hae low self esteem..maybe the wasband; but Not his mother , or his father or his bro & sis..They think they are just too too perfect in every way.
A funny thing about this family. They are very lucky and have never really had a time when they struggled with a serious loss; or difficulty. That maybe why they stay involved in the cult. Of course the cult does not help them; but it is a form of superstition I think.
Hmm, that phrase in the intro, “This year’s Freedom Medal goes to…..”, just made me wonder about something. I’m pretty sure I remember hearing that Tom Cruise was the first person to be awarded the “Freedom Medal of Valor” (still can’t figure out what he did that was so courageous in the face of danger….but maybe the word “valor” is just another LRH term that was re-defined).
But does anyone know if TC is the ONLY one that has ever, uhm…..”earned” this particular medal? Or has anyone else since then been awarded this “Freedom Medal of Valor” (as opposed to just the normal “Freedom Medal”)?
And have there been any other Freedom Medals that CoS has given out that are named for other virtues besides “Valor” (such as honor, compassion, loyalty, generosity, etc.)?
Nope — Freedom Medal of Valor was a one time deal, coined by Miscavige for Tom Cruise. Bigger and gaudier, with more jewels, I think he got his inspiration from Flavor Flav.
Everyone else just gets “IAS Freedom Medals”.
There will never be another “Mr. Tom Cruise, the best scientologist I know.”
Per your last sentence, be thankful for small favours! And “small” fits both Miscavige and Cruise! LOL
Wouldn’t other “dedicated long time celebs” (no names mentioned) feel somewhat offended that they will never be “awarded” this dubious medal?
How do you know that John Travolta didn’t throw an all holy shit fit when Tom got his oversized neck charm?
If that did happen, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall! TC looked so pleased with his award, and himself. I wonder where he keeps it? Mike, I could not stop laughing at the “Flavor Flav” comment……sadly that piece of “jewelry” does closely resemble the large clock on chain Flavor Flav wears….
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vTtzc7sTZ-8
more suspicious deaths.
I love the fact that the woman (Eve?) is reading from an I-pad with the bitten apple logo on the back. Oh, oh, she has eaten from the tree of knowledge in their Ideal garden. Now it is only a matter of time before she takes down her hubby and both are banished for ever to the dangerous toil and strife of the world outside. Wait …. maybe not!. Tune in for the next episode to find out whether Adam choses to leave their cosy worry free paradise and hit Woglandia with her ……or whether he disconnects and stays where he feels at home, with the stalking serpent, for his eternity in the promised land of Ron.
This RB reminds me of something I have been curious about for a while. Do $cientology couples have conversations about doubt, ever? Are their couples who would never write a KR on their sig. other? Are public more apt to discuss, over SO members?
And, how long on average does it take a new Scientologist to become fully indoctrinated?
Agreed, if there is anyone out there who can talk a bit about these two questions, I also would be interested in hearing. Thanks!
i will never know if the “wasband” wrote any KRs on me. Or if his mother wrote some on me.The wasband is on staff at a struggling Org. (May they ever be so; as in struggling.) When he was going through the demands of his superiors to leave me (I was very naive & trusted them all;) the wasband was spending his time, while in bed w/me, doing the “doubt Formula!” Oh was I ever the chump.
Jesus H. Hubbard, can you imagine a living in a world where the $cientology ethics run our daily lives? You wouldn’t even sneeze in front of your five-year-old for the fear of an East German Stasi “Knowledge Report” being written. When this “religion” dies, if it is not already dead, the world will be such a a nicer, kinder place.
I’m not sure if you are heading into a ‘series’ here RB but if so, I can’t wait to see what dear hubby does when the free thinking wife takes control of her life. Maybe next week…?
Love your style RB. Thanks for a good Friday!
I’m ok with most forms of pyschiatry now and most pych drugs. I have been to 3 different practioners since l left scn. -almost 30 years ago. None were psychiatrists, but therapists just the same. I feel if you have the right therapist and a good repore with them, they can help a lot. lt depends on you [the patient] and finding the right person at the right time . I’ve definitely been helped a lot, especially with the loss of my family-those still in.Its up to you.
I don’t know if this is the right place to post this, but here goes. Question to anyone. As an Ex $cient~~ are you still anti-psych?
Can only speak for myself.
No.
I have personal experience with people who have been helped with psych drugs. In general I still think too many people are prescribed too many drugs for too many things, but I have witnessed success with individuals who needed help and took drugs prescribed by psychiatrist for their mental condition and they dramatically improved.
This is not including Brandon Reisdorf who we featured on one of the Aftermath programs who had a remarkable improvement after being properly diagnosed and prescribed.
There may be those who remain “anti-psych” as a hard and fast rule but this must be because they have not witnessed anything like I have. Because if you did, you would not be able to hang onto the fixed idea that it is all evil.
Thank you Mike and Bkmole. Im asking because I almost always diagnose, but thats what my mom did. It’s judgmental and wrong, I fight the instinct.
I feel very strongly about a need for therapy or therapeutic techniques for PTSD. What you all have described, a shrieking hell of fear, degradation, sleep deprivation, shouldn’t be ignored, or shunted aside. The body remembers, sometimes the energy changes and wreaks havoc. Diabetes, fibromyalgia, anxiety.
I hate meds too, prefer holistic, but sometimes meds help.
I wouldn’t be too keen to jump on the psych drug bandwagon unless I have some serious problems that needed addressing.
Being a fence sitter so so many years, I have sought out the help of psychologists and LCSWs through the VA medical system for my PTSD from multiple auto accidents which also resulted in mild TBI (traumatic brain injury) from concussions. Most methods are pretty benign and do help.
But the drugs are, for many, difficult to step down from — more so than heroin.
This psychiatrist, Kelly Brogan, saw the light and now deals with many emotional issues with diet, meditation and exercise.
http://kellybroganmd.com/
Dr. Daniel Amen has done numerous brain scans that can definitively show brain malfunction resulting in bi-polar, ADD issues and autism. http://www.danielamenmd.com
Dr. Hyla Cass is familiar with better methods in dealing with brain issues also.
Brain and emotional issues can be devastating to your sanity and body, especially if you were high functioning (mentally) in the first place.
No. That’s like saying all Muslims are bad because a small group of them are extreme.
I know of many competent therapists and psychiatrists who dislike giving meds unless absolutely necessary. And I have met many people who have been helped by therapy from licensed psychologists and therapists.
At this point CCHR does help with abuses. Primarily though it’s used to raise money that does not go to cleaning up the field of mental health.
To anyone who has not read it, I recommend “Fair Game” by Steven Cannane about the role played by many Australians (and Australia) in the history of the Co$. The chapter on the CCHR is absolutely fascinating.
It may not shock people that, although people involved in the Co$ became very important to exposing severe abuse, the Co$ lied about it all…
VERY early in its history, the CCHR pulled of a terrific win in the case of Victor Gyory and his imposed shock treatment #50. Worth a look.
No, just kind of severely anti – cult.
Yeah, that pretty much fits my bill too. It didn’t take Hubbard to tell me but he was right about generalities for the most part, psyches have good and bad. Cults on the other hand deserve their reputation.
Have ever had a negative thought about LRH or COB? Yes, why do you ask?
There’s big trouble indeed, that’s waiting for any $cilon who dares to question Moonchild Miscavige’s massively miscreant missives on any subject, at any time, or for any reason.
Indeed, just having personal thoughts of disagreement that never escape your very own head have the same weight of evidence against you when you’re coerced to confess them during metered interrogation, that they would if you’d actually acted on those thoughts or voiced them out loud.
Final completion of your own personal prison of belief as a $cilon only comes when you’ve accepted responsibility for policing your own thoughts, based on the insane proposition that thought and action are equivalent.
What $cilons who’ve accepted that thoroughly whacked orientation to their own minds don’t seem to realize is that once you’ve internalized this formerly extrinsically enforced mind control function, it’s really not you t all that’s in control of your own mind, but the cult that’s doing so with you as a robotically controlled, degraded being who’s well on his way to becoming the equivalent of one Elron’s imaginary BTs.
The proper answer to the sec check interrogation question, “Have you ever had a negative thought about COB?” is. “It’s no one’s business but my own what I think or feel in the privacy of my own head!” If you can’t say that for fear of punishment or other sanction, then you are in a cult for sure! And if even the thought of doing so causes you internal distress, then you’re deep in the Kool-Aid and have lost yourself almost entirely.
Thanks for another Regraded Being Friday. 🙂
RB starts off our weekends. We can read his wise posts and know all is right with the world.
I’m currently reading Going Clear by Lawrence Wright (excellent book so far by the way), and last night I was reading the portion about how groups (such as Communist China and CoS) conduct “mind control” on their people. The observations were basically that the process involves isolation, manipulation, coercion to endorse the group’s goals (or either destroy the will to resist), and finally confessions to completely expose them in order compel loyalty to the group.
Then Wright stated: “The paradoxical result can be the opposite of total exposure: secrets proliferate, and doubts about the movement go underground.” When the lady in RB’s last slide discusses how, in the novel she was reading, people under the leader of the “thought police” learned to “compartmentalize their own thoughts” seems to go to what Wright wrote about the doubts going “underground”.
It’s easy to call members of this cult “brain-washed”, but hopefully they have compartmentalized who they really are at their core in an area of their psyche, so it can be recalled once they leave the organization, which seems to be the case with the former Sea Org members I’ve heard about so far. That keeps the hope alive that their lives can one day be salvaged from their years in this cult.
As an aside, I believe the worst thing someone can do to a brain-washed person is to say to them “You’re brain-washed!”, which I’ve heard about some folks shouting at SO kids at Flag and LA. That seems like it would be extremely counter-productive (despite their good intentions to help “wake them up”), because it only serves to push them further into the group who will provide them comfort, in addition to adding validity to what they’ve been taught about how cruel and evil the “outside world” can be to those who leave. I hope people will stop doing that.
Mick, yes, it’s counter-productive to aggressively confront “true believers” of any type, as research shows that can even cause a reinforcement of belief. I just picked up Steve Hassan’s new book Freedom of Mind, which covers more subtle and compassionate approaches that are actually more effective, though I haven’t yet read enough of the book to specifically review how well he handles the subject.
Hassan and others have written more in-depth books about high control groups and cults, and the mechanisms of thought control or thought reform and “brainwashing,” if you’re interested.
When it comes to addressing people encountered in the street, I’m not sure if anything would be effective, but the more subtle approach involves approaches like tapping into members’ original intents for joining the group that have typically been redirected from idealism into drudgery. So there would be more of a chance of making an impact by asking someone if they really joined to spend their life running around on make-work projects (or handing out flyers no one wants, or whatever might relate to what they’re doing), which probably reflects on doubts lurking in the back of their own minds. Perhaps someone can chip in with even more useful things that might be said.
I’ve also been thinking that if people are to use protest signs or flyers intended at least in part to read by members and staff, it would be more effective to start off with thought-provoking Hubbard quotes like some of the ones that sometimes show up in the Important Quotes section on the left hand side of this blog. The one of those that particularly comes to mind is where Hubbard says that Scientologists should revolt if buildings become too important to the organization, which would be particularly thought-provoking at ideal org openings.
If I lived near a mission or org, I think that I would periodically tape printouts of some of those types of quotes along with the most pointed Regraded Being strips to their door late at night.
Thanks Peacemaker. I’ll add Freedom of Mind to my reading list (this list is getting pretty long). That sounds like a fascinating book.
I’ve actually thought about using stuff from Friends of LRH, mostly because it is likely to sneak past their defenses, and it makes the case that Davey is the SP of the Board and destroyer of the tech etc. I personally don’t believe any of it (other than some of the common sense stuff) but I figure having them face the contradictions in the church can only have good results.
Peacemaker, as I am now SURE that there are more staff members (mostly S.O.) in the US than active non-staff scientologists, the best approach would be to target S.O. members with a message of who they can contact and go to if they want to leave along with assurances of food, shelter and help with employment. Otherwise even many who may want to leave don’t know how to depart that “ship” mid-ocean.
Mike W, I would VERYmuch like to believe what you have stated above as regards your certainty that there are more staff members, as you’ve said, mostly SO in the US than active non-staff scientologists. Could you possibly furnish some hint or other as to how/why you are “SURE” of this? And btw I’m not being snotty or sarcastic (which I can most certainly be at times). No, I’m sincere; and would be thrilled you. That said, if for any reason you can’t furnish further back up, just say so and I’ll leave it at that, and exist in my hope 🙂 Thanks.
Edit: “and would be thrilled to believe you.”
By active I mean on course or auditing weekly or monthly.
From what has been reported at the “large class V orgs by themselves via comps and multiply by # of orgs minus ~30% for the small orgs and add a few hundred for Pac & FSO (I worked in both Pac & FSO during the HIGHEST points so know there are NO more that a few hundred combined in both now).
There are about 4K 5K max SO members.
N.B most “orgs” only have a handful of public on lines. Go to a place like Phoenix and get a tour one week night or week end. Try Miami, Dallas, Portland. These are places I’ve walked into in the last few years.
Mike, like Aquamarine, I would question that estimation, as it doesn’t quite fit with anything that I’ve seen, and this is an area of interest that I keep an eye on. Checking a few quick references, I see that Scientology a couple of years ago claimed 6,500 in the SO, but that observers like John P. think that is yet another overblown claim and the put the real number closer to 5,000, out of 15,000 – 20,000 members.
But even at that, It does look like they’re in the ballpark of 2:1, which is a reminder about just how distorted the shrinking world of Scientology is getting. If the CofS claim was correct with staff on top of that, and the total membership was really down to 15,000, then it could be at 1:1. If you have specific information that such is really the case at this point, I think you should pass it to someone like Mike, John P. or Tony O. to verify and publish. But it could well be that “members in good standing,” a strangely more limited category that has been discussed recently and which maybe in some way does reflect truly active members, is actually about the same as SO and staff.
The point at which Scientology really did or does reach an equal number of members compared to SO and staff, is another of several I think they are approaching, including also building sizes compared to actual active membership, that I think would violate IRS guidelines and requirements for their status and at least trigger a re-evaluation. Scientology lost its tax exemption once already due to Hubbard’s inurement when he was alive, and the Synonon rehabilitation/therapy cult lost its exemption around a while later and had their re-application for religious exemption denied, though there are only one or two other major cases of revoked exemptions. Also in the 1960s-70s era, two largely communitarian groups were denied religious exemption for primarily serving the private interests of members who were provided with food and shelter, rather than the public interest as is required.
And you are right that offering SO members information reassuring them that they would have help in re-establishing their lives if they left, is important. I wish that there was more being done on an organized basis to offer and provide that, but if I recall the CofS has attacked and undermined past attempts. I have heard that law enforcement may actually provide departed/escaped SO with assistance and connections to resources, perhaps particularly if them claim human trafficking, and that would be something to verify and publicize. It would also to have information specific to foreigners in the SO, such as reassurance that if their passport his been take that their countries’ embassies will replace them and perhaps offer other assistance. Protest and other information that provided human trafficking to SO members, would also help raise public awareness of what is going on.
Since I’m not close to an org where protests are being held, I can only offer ideas. The other thing I should have mentioned that, is if I were close to an org, I think that I would actually try taking them a gift of toilet paper.
Peace, I said ACTIVE scamologists (on course weekly or monthly). There are no more than a couple thousand of those in the USA.
John P. is giving a number of ANYONE who claims to be a scamologist without qualification.
I’m talking about people doing the bridge. Walking the walk not, talking about it.
I agree with the “You’re brainwashed” counterproductivity. In your face challenges to deeply held emotionally held beliefs are rarely successful. IMO usually people need internal, self directed, challenges to their mind set to walk through a door. Though it is possible sometimes to pry open that door a little. One of the reasons I admire the simplicity of the ‘call me’ billboards. Wish there was a way to erect an enormous electronic billboard outside of every Scientology base with disconnected family members talking about their lives (“Your sister has a new baby and she looks like you”) and saying how much the Scientology stuff is loved and missed. Might help some people.
Liz, I would think messages such as that might help get through to some of them. Everyone would have different triggers that might “bounce around in their heads before it gets processed” (as Bruce stated below). The key is finding what those triggers might be on a case by case basis.
Hi Mick. When I read this, I thought “dissociation”, but maybe that’s a titch extreme. We are all multi faceted. Since I don’t work ft any more, I dont have to “be” a couple of people. Much more restful.
Some of the time it does lead to dissociation. If you read Nancy Many’s book, “My Billion Year Contract” she describes an extreme example. But any time you have to worry about what you are thinking it is a good sign you are in a bad situation.
The invitation to human contact, the “Call Me” billboards, expressions of love and respect are far more effective than shaming. They are not ready for the truth. A lot of internal cognitive dissonance must fall away before they are ready to accept simple facts. But you can be the first step in their recovery by just showing them that the outside world is not as dangerous as they have been told.
Accusations and shaming build the wall higher. Love and compassion break it down. Probably you would not see any immediate results. Everything they see bounces around in their heads a lot before it gets processed. But there are a lot of other cracks in the wall. Eventually it will break down at a time when there is an opportunity and they will break free.
For anyone who was in, you know while drinking the Kool Aid that if anyone said anything negative to you, you would immediately jump to the defense of COS. When your heart and soul is deeply bonded to something, and when it is all you have ever been taught, seen, heard or lived most of your life, you give it your all, no matter what negative feedback you receive from those outside who you’ve been told are “evil”..
.
Only when the cloudy haze is removed from your eyes and ears do you come to the realization of what’s really going on. It would be truly awesome if there was a way to post billboards that would somehow inspire someone on the inside to reach out to a “Suppressive Person” who was once living that life. The problem would be what would happen to THEM while they are still living under the “care” of the COS, they might be moved to another state or location and contact would be lost, as for sure pressure would be applied to ignore the billboard posting.
Mike, Leah, anyone who is in…PLEASE I hope what we are all reading over these many days, weeks, months, years will show up in a NEW book, there is so much validation noted here of what those now out had endured while “in”…….ammunition you might call it. Yes some have reached the statute of limitations….but what IF there is a few people who have recently left who might step forward with testimony if this goes to court.
BTW…to the author of the possible new book, might I suggest a title for it:
BLOWING THE BUBBLE………..
Wouldn’t be surprised if DM uses the book 1984 as a guidebook on handling Scientology.
He sleeps with it under his pillow…
No need Lost Control. Hubbard wrote operating procedures for scientology management that was as bad or worse than what was in 1984
I’ve disagreed with you on a few things but regarding Scientology management style and application I completely agree. The evidence is overwhelming that it created a cult and it parallels everything 1984 could ever dream up and then some. Any Scientology Styled Organisation cannot be permitted to be influential to any degree anywhere.
We know how that ends, actually.
Remember, Orwell patterned 1984 and Animal Farm after Stalinist Russia. Do not think for a minute that Deviant Miscarriage wouldn’t be as much of a monster if he had the power. It’s interesting to compare the Lenin-Stalin dynamic to Hubbard and Davey. The parallels are eerie,
By the way, I’d love to see a Regraded Being referencing Animal Farm:
“All scientologists are equal, but some are more equal than others” and reference the hypocrisy of condemning wicked psychiatric practices while doing worse to their own people.
Yes, I Yawn. The management polices (under all the issue types) are very objective rather than the more subjective “tek”.
1984? Seems more like “Lord of the Flies” to me..
AAAROOUGH!
Six of one, half a dozen for the other…
RB! You da man! A step forward for a Scientologist is 6 steps of compartmentalized backwardness in mental computing (if such a thing could be so defined?).
What an awesome RB today! Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of the greatest books of the 20th century, and not only because its a great read. It’s also because it’s so damn relevant at all strata of society and timeless. And there’s no better example of the structure of the country of Oceania in our society today, that I can think of, than Scientology.
Newspeak: Hubbard gibberish and acronyms
English Socialism (Ingsoc): IAS
thoughtcrime: “counter intention”
Thought Police: Ethics
Inner Party: Sea Org
Outer Party: Public
doublethink: “agreement”
Ministry of Love (Miniluv): RPF
Room 101: the Hole
Ministry of Truth (Minitrue): OSA
memory hole: previous, forgotten expansion targets
…and the hits keep coming
Big Brother: David Miscavige
Emmanuel Goldstein: Psychiatry
Orders of the Day (dayorder): daily dispatches from the Apollo, HCO bulletins
memory hole: photo of Hubbard with (and without) Sara 2nd wife
Two Minutes Hate: fun with Mike Rinder in doctor’s office parking lot or Marty Rathbun in LAX
Ownlife: other fish
Unperson: SP
Psychiatry is Hubbard’s Emmanuel, the bitter apostates are Miscavage’s.
Mimsey
Yo Dave,
It’s time to fix Your Pee-Are debacle good buddy. You have Your SuMP and you have Your war chest so step up and use Your uncorrupt communication line to speak Your Truth to the billions.
Yo OSA,
Have any of you that read this blog daily wondered why He doesn’t JUST DO IT? Tell Him, it’s your job! Git er done before another Toosday at Too rolls around with more failed stats. The rest of us out here on the fringes are waiting anxiously for some word … from above. Dave, are you still there?
LOL! That’s exactly what scamologists have to do to avoid the dreaded e-meter.
The e-meter knows all & sees all. You can’t escape the meter. It knows your thoughts…
Doesn’t the e-meter come from a large family? Matheson and Hubbard were the parents and the big brother was called Azimuth and the rest were Mark something or other. Sibling rivalry is often mistakenly misunderstood and results in family feuds. They had a whole string of pets though, some were called Long or Short Falls, others were Blowdowns and yet others were just Ticks (blood sucking little bastards!). Rocket was my favorite but he bit Dirty and had to got a Rise to bail him out but the TA was too high and he got creamed! But Rock came along and Slammed them all and it resulted in the fact once canned you can’t escape Scientology. Is any of this readable to you or is it one of those Prior or Latent thingos? If any of this does get a reaction… please circle it in red and get it back to me… I’m Stuck in the 4th Stage so it’ll need to be tested and passed 5 times through. You got the date right on any of this yet?
Very funny, IY, I pity any never-in trying to figure that out.
However, Hubbard cannot be described as a father of the meter. At most he could charitably be said to have inspired Mathison to create it, but the story on that is a bit murky. I suspect Mathison really came up with the idea on his own and later decided to go along with the “inspired by a Hubbard lecture” story just to make some sales.
In any case, Hubbard’s role was better analogous to a pole dancer on date night than an actual participant in the conception of the early meter. There is no evidence that Hubbard ever knew the difference between a volt and an amp and his nether anatomy.
In the meter family there are something like a dozen tube versions from the Mathison era, then oddities like the Beep meter, Japanese transistor toy meter, the mini-tube cigarette case meter, and others. Then the family went inactive for a while until the explosion of Don Breeding transistor meters including the American Green, Gold and Blue.
When Hubbard fled across the pond he got some otherwise reputable British manufacturers to cooperate with Don to create the Mark I to V. In a few years Pat Flanagan of the pyramid razor blade sharpener fame was making Azimuth Alignment meters, then a range of meters were made by various other semi-official groups which got forcibly taken over by the Sea Org in the late 70s.
The Don Breeding three transistor DNA bred true all the way through the MK VI, but then some major mutations created the VII and Quantum. The VIII bears almost no genetic relationship to any of the earlier generations except it still uses a mechanical moving needle.
The shining star of the current meter family, the VIII, developed in the 90s and using an 80s interface that almost no computer uses anymore, has one innovation that even Hubbard never foresaw. It requires the operator to be in good standing with the mother Church to get the yearly updates. No more rogue meter users with the VIII!
All in all a raucously contentious large family, most of whom have fled this mortal coil. But if they ever open the Int Base to tours you will be able to see all the meters on display. In working condition. From the earliest Mathisons to the latest NSA inspired version.
wow… now there’s a history!
Scientology….Intensely Orwellian and proud of it. (Note: Big Brother approved this message)
Dave,
The best thing about you and the inconvenient fact deniers is that you only delude yourselves.
In the wog world there are alternative facts which lead to acceptable truths, but in $cn those acceptable truths lead directly to delusional beliefs about the nature of reality, the origins of the cosmos and, ultimately, to the perception of your core self as being a composite entity, formed from an amalgamation of space alien spirits.
Words completely fail to capture how truly whacked all those fundamental beliefs and core tenets of the $cn faith truly are. No wonder the cult works so hard to keep them from newbie Kool-Aid sippers, because most folks who weren’t already deeply indoctrinated would turn and run upon hearing such utter nonsense and bad sci-fi story plot lines being sold as fact.
Heck, it’s extremely unlikely to have something as massive as the planets all in stable orbits around one big mass of nuclear fission and fusion in the middle of absolutely nowhere … isn’t it? What are the odds of something like that? My guess is the chances are infinitesimal. I don’t know where to begin to work out those odds. Do you?
My big question, still unanswered by anyone here: “What do you have that explains better, and works better? Anything, or … nothing at all?”
Crickets, owls, forest at night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiAmAcaDQrM
sounds.