Subject: Way to Happiness for Boston Disaster
Please see below from the PES Boston Org. The recent bombing during the Boston Marathon has left the city in a state of turbulence. To help with this, we are shipping over thousands of Way to Happiness booklets which can be passed out to the citizens of Boston from the VM Unit at the local Org.
We are asking for immediate donations to help with this! They are being directly passed out onto the streets of Boston and are urgently needed.
Each bundle contains 12 booklets. Please see below to select the size of your donation:
Make a donation of $100 (5 bundles) <<
Make a donation of $250 (13 bundles) <<
Make a donation of $500 (27 bundles) <<
Make a donation of $1,000 (55 bundles) <<
You can also reach me directly at (323) 899-1034.
Note: Your donations are fully tax-deductible and a commendation will be issued to anyone who contributes!
Thanks very much in advance for your assistance.
Sincerely,
Patrick Howson
Mail Order Manager
Bridge Publications
From: ThetaNews [mailto:thetanews-bounces@bostonfield.org] On Behalf Of Jj Wycoff
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 10:31 AM
To: ThetaNews@bostonfield.org
Subject: YOU CAN HELP!!
Dear Scientologists,
My email needs no formal introductions. Whether or not you are a trained VM, you are all appointed as the "POST-Boston Marathon Relief Squad". Take this hat, and get in contact with me right away.
We need you, we need every Scientologist, and we need you NOW!
What happened at yesterday's marathon is only a glimpse of what our future is going to be like, unless we take ACTION. I'm sorry, but this is the way it is. We have raging lunatics in our own backyard.
Our campaign is simple:
1. Come into the Org and get hatted instantly on what we need to do.
2. Put on a VM T-Shirt.
3. Head out onto the streets of Boston and pass out Way To Happiness booklets, and get in comm with the local and state police.
NOTE: We also need donations for more booklets too.
So even if you think that you cannot come out and help (which most of you should be able to work it out to do that) You can still help. Contact me right away.
Best,
JJ Wycoff
Public Executive Secretary
Boston Day Org
(617) 266-9500
What every Bostonian is saying to themselves right now is, "I wish there were a book that……." No. These booklets become trash in the floorboards.
I love the WTH. I consider it full of tactfully written common sense which can help anyone of any faith or nationality live better. It is full of ARC and written with no make wrong and I believe it can do a lot of good, very widely.
That said, in order for the distribution of WTH to do its job, there are some vital targets as to its recipients.
The first is that the recipients can actually read, the second is that they are in shape TO read, i.e., not banged up physically, mentally or emotionally, and the third would be what many of the posters here have so aptly pointed out: that the handing out of the booklet is SEQUITUR to what is occurring.
LRH never intended for WTH to HANDLE the mayhem cause by all kinds of disasters, but rather to give a people some common sense stable datums for operating in life so that disasters don't happen, or if they do, they will be in better shape from the get-go to survive them. It is a preventative tool, essentially. The time to distribute WTH is when the scene is relatively calm, when people who are ready, willing and able to read can give some attention to what they are reading.
.
WOW !!!! Simply freaking wow ! I believe vultures won't eat meat if its too rotten, but these guys will.
Why does the "church" have the exact same response to every disaster? Earthquake? Give them WTH! Tsunmai – Give them WTH! Act of Terrorism – Give them WTH! Every disaster can be handled by a common sense moral code. WTF??? In reality, they do this because the Vulture Culture sees every disaster as a dissemination opportunity and an opportunity to get one's stats up – very opportunistic and money motivated to say the least. The "church" also fails to see that anyone outside the church sees this kind of thing as being very slimy, but this so-called "church" has lost it's moral compass a long time ago. How ironic – those who need to follow the WTH the most are the ones passing it out.
While "getting the stats up" is certainly a factor in this, there is the magic aspect. Meaning, if you saturate an area with TWTH booklets, the area will magically destimulate and come uptone. I believe LRH implied something of the sort. I have no first-hand evidence that this is the case. Any reports by RCS (e.g. Columbia, etc) can be counted upon to be embellished, or worse, lies.
I say this jokingly, but feel there is some truth to it – the true believing, kool-aid drinking Scnist is predisposed to believing in fantastic, magical things. So, passing out pieced of paper with words on it will "help" human beings who have been physically harmed, emotionally scared, are dazed and confused and more or less in a state of shock – as if by magic.
These "solutions" are latched on to as stable datums, probably more for the benefit of the individual Scnist. Once he has his stable datum, his piece of Scn Tech that puts order into the confusion, well then he can do something about it. Like whip out his credit card and purchase 1000 WTH booklets, because he is convinced it is a solution to the situation. And he now feels "at cause", that he "helped", he did something about it. On the surface this is an admirable act, and I am sure his intentions are good, but rarely will he follow-up on the results of this "solution". Did the booklets ever arrive to Boston? Did they get handed out to the public? How many ended up in the gutter? Trash bin? Real feedback from the general public expressing that this is exactly what is needed and wanted? Or exactly how WTH is effective in these types of situations? Does it prevent future situations? It is unlikely any of these question will get answered, much less asked. If you look too closely at the illusion the spell will be broken…as if by magic.
Thank you Statpush. Very well said. The actual intention behind this is to try to get some positive publicity for the church not to help anyone.
I personally love TWTH book. It has some great common sense advice in it.
To me, using it to profit off of this horrible disaster only discredits the book and the author. So sad.
"We have raging lunatics in our own backyard."
They got that right.
They are not in the back yard. They are in da house!
I could never understand what was so important about the way to happiness books. Most people are aware of these principal. I mean the bible has been around for a long time folks. So it seems kind of silly to remind peaple stealing and murder are not things happy people do. And then of course they show that crime is down some 49% in some third world country. Get real.
Had Scientology been allowed to flourish in the way that LRH had in mind the people of Boston or NY would naturally reach for the local C of S if they were upset after a disaster. Such would be the reputation of Scientology that staff and public would not have to rush out into the streets but instead prepare the Org. for the arrival of hundreds who wanted to take part in group auditing or assists. The frame of mind of the public would be “I need to find an auditor”. Scientology churches would be the go to locations for help, which is the purpose of any church.
LRH’s vision of Scientology being an island of calm was attainable-You can call me a dreamer.
Scientology can never be successful until the guy off the street can safely walk into a church without the staff immediately looking at him as a potential “money cycle”.
That seems to have happened in the Brisbane org. They just didn't know what to do with someone off the street, never mind looking at them as a potential “money cycle”.
And of course, before any of the folks out there in the Boston area (who need to read the little book of common sense to "be happy") can receive their free gift/advice book and get help, y'all Scientologists have to ……. suprise …… DONATE! (ok, it's not really a suprise). I see that there's much speculation on which group or individuals are responsible for the bombs, but one thing the CoS can helpfully let the FBI know is that, whomever did it, the perps were definately connected to …… suprise …… psychiatrists! (ok, it's not really a suprise).
Of course they have no shame. They are parasitic robots.
Dave programmed them to be mindless, robotic parasites. They are reflections of David Miscavige’s complete unreality on life and other beings – except as he can take advantage of any perceived weakness.
parasite
par·a·site
[par-uh-sahyt]
noun
1. an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment.
2. a person who receives support, advantage, or the like, from another or others without giving any useful or proper return, as one who lives on the hospitality of others.
— n
1. an animal or plant that lives in or on another (the host) from which it obtains nourishment. The host does not benefit from the association and is often harmed by it
2. a person who habitually lives at the expense of others; sponger
[C16: via Latin from Greek parasitos one who lives at another’s expense, from para- 1 + sitos grain]
TWTH booklets? A little late, don't you think? The bombs already went off. The explosion is over.
Is the purpose to calm down the "crazy Bostonians" so that they don't go off on a vendetta against the purpetrators? I don't think so. Nobody knows who they are yet. Perhaps a brilliant data evaluator could offer assistance to the FBI and Homeland Security to find out who the SOBs who did this are. But that's right, all of the well trained data evaluators remaining are independents.
How about a team of people to offer assists at hospitals to the injured and their loved ones? That would be appropriate. Of course if most people hear the word "Scientology" these days they would rather be operated on with a rusty scalpel than accept help from that source thanks to the COS's multi-million dollar PR machine. One would have to offer this sort of help without identifying the source unless asked. Again, this hat would be better worn by independent Scientologists.
The COS seem like classic abulance chasers bent on making a buck off of the misery of others. What a waste of the potential of Scientology.
This is the way the Church of Scientology use to suck money. They make the staff member on doing this. People dont need to buy a book to help people but this mather fuckers dont think that..they just this is right on more selling and making money. I can print probably 1,000 booklets for 500 dollars in my country.
Mike – The purchase of booklets is not a help during a true emergency situation. The rest of the email is also telling of the viewpoint from within the corporate church. If I may:
=====
Dear Scientologists,
My email needs no formal introductions. Whether or not you are a trained VM, you are all appointed as the "POST-Boston Marathon Relief Squad". Take this hat, and get in contact with me right away.
We need you, we need every Scientologist, and we need you NOW!
What happened at yesterday's marathon is only a glimpse of what our future is going to be like, unless we take ACTION. I'm sorry, but this is the way it is. We have raging lunatics in our own backyard.
Our campaign is simple:
1. Come into the Org and get hatted instantly on what we need to do.
2. Put on a VM T-Shirt.
3. Head out onto the streets of Boston and pass out Way To Happiness booklets, and get in comm with the local and state police.
NOTE: We also need donations for more booklets too.
=====
Notice the fear mongering. …"only a glimpse of what our future is going to be like, unless we take ACTION. I'm sorry, but this is the way it is. We have raging lunatics in our own backyard."
That is a nice theta postulate you guys in Boston have got there. I didn't know "lunatics" were handled by handing out a booklet. Takes a bit more confront. Must contact with real true live communication and handle the person. I also couldn't figure why they want to get in comm with local and state police but nobody getting in comm with the regular citizen who may be a bit dispersed or upset.
Well, they do need some photo ops for the upcoming events.
"…. and get in comm with the local and state police.." Uhm …. about what? Getting happy? The Red Sox? A free personality test?
* by the way, the writer of the email is very correct; he or she DOES have raging lunatics in his own backyard.
I have to believe that the local and state police are not going to have a lot of tolerance for a bunch of people in yellow t-shirts trying to get access to the hospitals and other relevant sites to hand out TWTH books. I have gotten more than my share of tickets on the Mass Pike (I-90) driving between NYC and Boston and can assure you that the Mass state police are utterly lacking in any sense of humor. Fair and professional, yes, but easygoing and jovial, no.
So any VM trying to "get in comm" with the police may live to regret it. And God foribd they try to sneak into restricted areas to deliver "touch assists" to emergency workers like they did at 9/11.
Fund raising and photo ops… The VFP of Cof$.
Oddly, Scientologists "on-scene" have become bad PR, instead of good PR.
Indeed. It's such an obviously misguided and shameless attempt at self-promotion under such a feeble guise of "help" that it's repugnant to any thinking individual.
Exactly. Imagine some Christian church showing up at such a tragedy and passing out their religious tracts. Any sane person would rightfully be repulsed by such a thoughtless attempt at promotion.
Things like this just further illuminate how grossly out of touch the church is with the rest of the world.
Hi Mike,
Boston is my hometown. I'm very familiar with the people there. Boston is a very up-tone city. People from Boston have always been raised with the attitude to "take care of your own." Notice how much outpouring there was for help from perfect strangers. There's a story about a physician who had just completed the marathon when the blast occured. He is an M.D. at Mass General Hospital. But the interesting part is he recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan handling combat victims. So from running the marathon to the recovery tent for himself to immediately switching hats doing battlefield triage on the victims…talk about help…and to think he didn't have to donate for booklets! Wow!
The idea of CofS descending down upon all the people in Boston with the WTH booklets is total hypocrisy. As a non scientologist I find this sooo absurd. This is NOT how to market yourself in a time of tragedy. Where is the "good will towards men"? It is apparent that it only profits the hierarchy of the so called church with much needed publicity not to mention the added cost of the poor parishioners with deleting their already non-existent funds.
The thing Donna these PR capers have backfired amongst the
populous outside the church so is mainly used in-house as PR
to show at events “look at what we are doing!”.
You are so right, this is not the way to market yourself in a time
of tragedy.
puke
The only people who might actually need to read The Way to Happiness are the terrorist or terrorists who comitted this horrific crime. So no more than one bundle of 10 is needed and not until the authorities catch the evil bastard(s) – assuming they are alive afterwards.
Michael A. Hobson
Independent Scientologist
Absolutely correct. Not sure that the thousands of disturbed and upset people need to be told to wash their theet or don't commit anything illegal. My God.
Michael, that’s right. It is like the street corner preacher promising doomsday if you don’t
repent to the mostly law-abiding citizens.
If the VM’s really want to HELP, do assists, light processes (like; “where did it happen…),
hydrate people, give vits and minerals and just talk to people and become a terminal who
they can discharge some of their grief and pain to. And take off the yellow T-shirt but when
they ask (which they would do if you really helped) “who are you?” give them your card.
That is it. Simplicity and an honest intention to help without any other fish to fry. Basta!
Lars, well said! "If the Vm's really want to HELP, do assists, light processes …hydrate people, give vits and minerals and just talk to people and become a terminal who they can discharge some of their grief and pain to. And take off the yellow T-shirt but when they ask (which they would do if you really helped) "who are you?" give them your card. That's it. Simplicity and an honest intention to help without any other fish to fry."
That is what should be done. In a nutshell.
Have they no shame?
Well no,….. or any sense of embarrasment or humility either .
Hey Mike, First off…. Thanks for this service of yours. It for me is a happy medium for missing the comfort of sitt'n and chatting/hanging with you.
On this particular post like you, my stomach turns at the gross neglect of CSI's hands on effort at helping put order into a rather disturbing environment. Boston of ALL cities in the US could be called the back bone of US History. Patriotism is what that City and Massachusetts as a State are all about.
I am hopeful that those from the org still hold the good ol' passion as a resident of this Patriotic State to of just drop every thing and get down there to simply help! Better yet they are tied into the local CERT Pgm.
I would be of the belief that a phone call was recieved by the org to get someone down there with a good camera and props in yellow shirts while the bomb smoke was still adrift so photo ops could be obtained before it clears showing how quick they were to "respond".
I mean May 9th is upon us and Weise I am sure will be overwhelemed with new footage to get edited into the May 9th Event.
Anyway, Thanks again Mike.
And Dave, since you have something new to read daily and are back to micro managing when and what the updates on this site are…….. Message for ya – Go F yourself!
— Jackson
For some reason the concept of getting WTH booklets out during times of crisis doesn't seem to be that outrageous to me. Maybe I'm still a bit brainwashed about the Way to Happiness and the original intention that LRH had. I just wish the Way to Happiness wasn't connected to the RCS. From the earlier posts it appears that div 6 is pretty much non-existant (with the new show them a DVD an whatever you do don't actually talk to new public) so there's not much real danger of people getting interested in Scientology and then actually getting serviced as a result of reading a WTH Booklet. So I guess that like so many other things the purpose behind this again returns to "Fund Raising" for the RCS from the existing public. Any and every excuse to bang additional monies out of the existing Parishioners and never let a crisis go to waste.
TP: I wholeheartedly agree that the WTH is a wonderful thing to disseminate. But this disaster capitalism is really cringe-inducing.
1. The first and most obvious things for VMs to do would be anything that directly HELPS people — like food and water and shelter, and locationals and assists
2. If it was REALLY true that people desperately needed WTH then Miscavige’s “largest digital printing plant in the universe” could crank them out and send 100,000 copies to Boston overnight and hand them out FOR FREE. The IAS sponsors every disaster relief effort on earth (according to them) and they have a billion dollars sitting around so I am sure they could spare $10,000 to provide 100,000 booklets at COST rather than collect $160,000 to buy 100,000 and $150,000 of it is PROFIT!!
Totally correct, Mike. These pamphlets could and should be just given away. That they are not is shudderingly, sidkenlngly – well, words fail me for how public are exploited, their help buttons exploitively pressed,whenever there is a disaster somewhere.
But here's what I REALLY don't understand, and Warning! Off-Topic Question & Rant Alert:
While WTH booklets should be given away, why can't LRH's BOOKS be SOLD in bookstores, like Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc? I'm not at all well versed in how published books make it into the big league book stores, but certainly the RCS has ample funds to make the right connections? Whycan't LRH's works,especially DMSMH, Self Analysis and Problems of Work, NewSlant on Life, and yes, Way to Happiness in hardcover form, be sold in regular bookstores? Also some of his lectures, like The Five Conditions, or How Can We Be Friends, others I'm sure. I know the RCS has a bad rep but its conceivable that people could buy purely out of curiousity – even if it were vulgar curiousity because of all the bad publicity? Wouldn't it be a good thing, over-all to have these books available for sale in "every bookstore in America"? Why bother to sell books on street corners, why bother with the stress test gimmick, why not have the books in the places where people go to buy books. Duh? Am I being stupid?
Mike, I really like your post and the comments you made below it. REally. Whatever happened to Obnosis? Provide what is Needed and Wanted???!!! In the Assist reference, LRH says where medical help is needed, to get medical help first before embarking on the assist. So before we litter the ground with paper that is just going to be considered more trash to clean up (because most will throw it down), how about sending VM's to go give Touch Assists? Or donate water or food or places for them to stay? That is what is really needed and wanted. To use a disaster to try to disseminate your religion is really cheesey.
ThetaPotata – I mostly just cross-post and rarely make a substantive comment, but let me adopt the persona, perspective or valence of a non-Scientologist, a complete outisider and provide you with that perspective.
TWTH is supposed to be a non-religious moral code.
So what is the message in handing these booklets out in response to this crises and terrorst attack? That the people of Boson lack a moral code? That this attack and the resulting deaths and injuries occurred because the people of Boston lack a moral code? That the people of Boston need the Church of Scientology to provide them with a moral code? (Leaving aside the BS of saying it is a "non-religious" moral code when it being handed out by, and only by, Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers.)
Quite frankly, it comes accross not only as oportunistic — just another opportunity to gain publicity — but also as arrogant, superior and insulting. It comes across as "know best."
And as others have noted, does anyone seriously think that in response to this crises this is what is needed and wanted? Way to Happiness booklets? Instead of food for displaced people? (When was the last — or first — time the COS fed people — or at least fed people under circumstances where the COS wasn't going to immediately ask for a donation afterwards?) Helping the families of hospitalized injured persons with transportation and housing? Helping anyone who was injured who is without medical insurance with their expenses? (Does anyone here think the COS would do that?)
And I'd say the same thing if someone used this event as an opportunity to hand out Bibles or copies of the Quran. I'd also be asking, "Really? This is your idea of help?"
Allow me to add this as someone who is not a complete outsider, and who has some knowledge of the COS, Scientology and the Tech. Handing out TWTH booklets fits all too well the COS pattern that all "help" it provides is in the form or in terms of "the Tech." It is always simultaneously glorified and ill-disguised dissemnation. Also counter-productive because people see through it all to readily.
Please understand, I'm sure if you handed out TWTH bookets in the past under such circumstances, you were well-intentioned. But I would respectfully suggest that you were also being used by the COS and misguided. Sometimes the help people need is not what you think or "know" they need, but what they believe, say, and think they need. It is now always about the Tech, and the Tech is not always the solution.
I agree with you 100 percent. This is a joke and a very bad one at that.
When what people do looks stupid, it is often becasue their stated intentions are different from their real intentions. They are not really stupid, they just seem like they were because the words and the acts don't match.
Bridge Publications is part of the Church that says it "helps" people at every disaster. The truth is Bridge is using every disaster to sell books to Scientologists at retail price "to be donated" (with Bridge making a nice profit on the "charity") and get "volunteers" to hand them out, along with hatting materials on how to "document" everything they do, turning the disaster into a photo op for the Church that didn't donate a penny, but actually profited on the disaster.
The RIGHT thing Bridge SHOULD do if it wasn't all talk and no walk would be to use part of its profits to donate. Dave bragged about how he made manufacturing costs so low that it puts the entire industry to shame. What he didn't say was that he intends to KEEP the difference for profit – there is NO humanitarian objective or any of the heavily advertised, but never done "charity".
"Profiting form disaster – join the Volunteer Minister movement today!"
Apart from as Mike says, completely wrong priorities, it's almost certain that not a single TWTH will actually get distributed as a result anyway. Remember "making the London Olympics the sfest ever by flooding the area with TWTH"? It was lie – a con. Paul Cocovinis who was there every single day as a volunteer for both Olumpics and Para Olympics didn't see a single copy, nor a single yellow VM shirt. Zip. Nada. It's just yet another example of using tragedy to line pockets and is despicable by any yardstick you wish to measure it.
There is a pattern here. After 911, there was a "Call to Arms" event. I went to the event at PAC, hoping the Church would have some answers to what had just happened and what could be done. The event was a Reg event, the only answer was to donate to your Bridge as this was the only answer. I went home, 1 1/2 hour ride and could not believe that was the Church's response to a horriffic incident. It was just an excuse to get many Scn in one area to ask for money! Here we go again with Boston. How sad!
Cindy P
A better term for them would be "A Call to Alms".
Great one Wendy! "Call to Alms."
A buck and a half per booklet? The printing cost is probably a fraction of a cent each.
If they're printing them offshore in bulk, about 12 cents a booklet plus 7 cents royalty.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h233/RogerRamdrive/TWTH1_zps264e9969.jpg:original
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h233/RogerRamdrive/TWTH2_zpse66baff1.jpg:original
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h233/RogerRamdrive/TWTH3_zps12be2bf2.jpg:original
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h233/RogerRamdrive/TWTH4_zps5e37cf11.jpg:original
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h233/RogerRamdrive/TWTH5_zpse3ae0dbf.jpg:original
I am going to be sick. Yet again.
Maybe I will go into town and find some of these "caring" people…..
How about donations for food for the thousands of displaced marathoners and their families? Oh wait, restaurants are already opening their doors, offering free food and drinks to anyone who needs it, while an entire network of others are donating 25% of their sales (not profits) to a fund for the victims. How about offers of beds for the people who can't get back to their homes and hotels? Oh wait, hundreds of residents in the area have already signed up to offer that on a Google app for anyone who needs shelter.
What ever happened to obnosis? *sigh*
jtg — what is wrong with you. This is a money MAKING opportunity to “help”.
You are actually proposing GIVING something?
Come into present time and smell the coffee. This is Vampire Empire. Suck em dry….
I read an article by someone way funnier than me and they called it a "tragitunity" 🙂
Suuuure, just like the donations actually went to any Narconon, just like the donations of Dianetics books actually went out to soldiers during the Gulf war, just like the donations raised for the L.R.H. biography actually got used to produce a biography. …………
Nation of Islam is selling their newspapers and raising millions. Why isn't the Church of Scientology out selling Way To Happiness Booklets? WHY do they have to be given away for free?
How come the NOI is getting paid for thier message but the Church of Scientology has to get customers to buy books to give away?
Because David Miscavige agrees the books are not of any real value. Otherwise instead of yelling at his staff, "Go suck cocks on Hollywood Boulevard" , he would be yelling "Go sell the Way To Happiness Booklets on Hollywood Boulevard!"
I copied this over to Tony's blog .. Can you believe this?
It was totally predicted as this is so typical of what the church does…it was just a matter of when.
I am so glad that I blocked Mr. Howson as a sender to my email address months ago.
The church has descended into being a tract society.
Theri priorities are so screwed. Promoting during/after a disaster, what no one wants or needs. Insane!
Sick, sick, sick!