I am taking the liberty of republishing this article from the South African blog here because it is SO perfect, I wish I had written it.
There is some really useful information being put forth on this blog. Keep it on your daily reading list.
With the Golden Age of Tech Phase II event happening live at Flag today and the replay showing in orgs around the world next Friday the hype is at a fever pitch: Consider these statements sent in official promo:
“We will make you a perfect auditor. Period.”
“The dawning of a new age for all Scientologists is here. The skills and knowledge vital to your eternity can be acquired faster and easier than you ever dreamed possible”
“What makes this new dawn possible are three revolutionary training tools that bring a whole new meaning to the words, competence, certainty and “speed of progress up THE BRIDGE.”
“So welcome to the Golden Age of Tech and the era in which your dreams as a Scientologist will come true – for real, for keeps.”
“It will also, very factually, change the face of this civilization, while bringing a whole new reality to the phrase, Let’s clear planet earth once and for all.”
“The new Student Hat Course – Accelerate your study speed with perfect application of study tech.”
“New lightening-fast courses.”
“We are a new breed of supervisors and word clearers, trained at Flag to bring the Golden Age of Tech to you. We trained long and hard under tough Flag sups as part of the biggest training program ever… We are a technical force exceeding the magnitude and competence of any earlier corps many times over and we are in your org now – armed with the most spectacular training tools ever. We are here to create a Golden Age of Tech”
It might (or might not) surprise you to know that these statements were made in May of 1996 at the release of the FIRST version of the Golden Age of Tech.
16 years later as we stand at the dawn of a new Golden Age we look back at the last one and wonder why between 8 class V orgs in South Africa (including the Foundation Orgs) there are less than a dozen trained auditors on staff and why 2 of the 5 active field auditors in South Africa have just been expelled and why “speed of progress up the bridge” is hardly noticeable.
The message to those Scientologists who really believe the knight on a white horse is about arrive is this: If you are attending the event, do so with great skepticism. This is an old movie with the same actor. Just better special effects. The story will end in the same way: What is coming NEXT is going to blow you away and Clear the planet once and for all!
It seems that an effective counter strategy to CoB’s current madness would be to circulate his prior madness in Debbie Cook-style flash emails to the entire church. How could that possibly be wrong? I am astonished at how much “newspeak” Miscavige gets away with. There must be pneumatic tubes taking the “old” news away and sending in the “new” news. “Today Gat II will save the world because GAT I was an evil Oceania plot.” All that is needed is for Heber and company to be found sitting teary-eyed, in a cafe, while the TV blares:
Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me
There lie they, and here lie we
Under the spreading chestnut tree
We are getting more and more Agreement outside the Church. If there was some more Affinity and much more Organising… but this will happen too. Thanks to South Africa and to you Mike for keeping some of those hats of that org board I have been dreaming of. it’s coming along. The article is spot on… !
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein
Heh. “Lightening-fast courses.” As in lightening your wallet!
(How many dictionaries are in a courseroom, and they still can’t spell?)
The above quotes about the quality of tech from the GAT were mostly a lie. I’m sure there were some tech delivery people who were very competent, but for the most part, when I now re-read that quote 16 years later, it’s obviously just a bunch of hype that someone had to come up with to make it sound good.
I remember in our org one of the guys who trained to deliver the GAT when it first came out was a kind-of punk kid who was sent for the training at Flag. I was not one of the ones who did the training for the initial release.
When he came back, a lot of people were raving about, “how much of a changed person he was.” He trained as a Word Clearer.
When all the hype had died down, I found that he could only word clear or false data strip people who ran textbook. In other words if the person just naturally ran smoothly, answering the questions with the generally expected answers with the meter showing what you would hope it shows, like on a GAT drill, he could do it okay.
But the minute you had someone who didn’t just give the expected answers, and needed real guiding and understanding in order to get the word found or what have you, he got totally lost. He had practically zero conceptual understanding. For him, it was just a bunch of memorized actions – when this happens, do this, when that happens, do that – but as soon as someone gave some unexpected answer or the meter didn’t do what he had been led to believe it would always do, he couldn’t word clear his way out of a paper bag.
I remember having to bail him out of many bogged word clearing and false data stripping sessions, and I hadn’t even done the GAT drills up to that time. And I was far from perfect myself but the majority of time, this “new breed of word clearer” was just totally lost.
I couldn’t help but think about this person while reading the above hype. At the time that stuff first came out in 1996, I didn’t recognize the bunk it was communicating, because I wanted it to be true and I hoped it would be true. It took getting out of that bubble, and now reading all that fluff again after being out for a few years it’s absolutely glaring how much BS is inherent in the above statements.
Well put Dave. When my wife – a Case Cracking Auditor from the good days at SFO – had to do a GAT I study course at CCI, she told me a little about the ordeal. From what I heard, it would be like asking Bill Shoemaker (one of the best horse jockeys ever!) to go back and ride a horse on a merry-go-round to “get the feel” of riding again. The course had ZERO connection to reality. Any who … +1
Yup, I remember 1996. And 1986 (LA Crusade). And ’85 in Portland. Hell, I remember 1976 and before.
Around the early 1980s, roll call for the BC took *15 minutes* solid. 15. Fucking. Minutes. Because the courtroom was that crowded.
And forget Fdn, that was DAY.
Some “Golden Age” this is.
Gus
The real news is twelve to sixteen weeks up the road, when the few that make it through return home, and the building meets the same fate as the Freewinds. Vacant.
Promises that obtaining a ship would “free the planet” were not exactly forthcoming in fruition. So they decided all the public were out ethics. Super Power has been promoted as the key thing that will put the public’s ethics in. So NOW the planet will go free. The WHY has been the consumers.
The feeding trough has been opened for the consumers to feed, as a gift from the spiritually supreme, who have been stopped by the degraded out ethics beings called customers. If the planet doesn’t fly free within months after this release and putting these suppressive public in proper form, there will be no hope left, and Scientology will fail because of the customers. (Laughter)
Witch hunts and justice actions will be thick, it will be a blood bath. You will be able to smell the metal in the air. That is exactly what is going to happen. It has already started in motion upon the people that have been invited to do Super Power that had their telephones disconnected or said, “Um, sorry, busy this week…..” Yes, golden rod has started flying already. From what I understand it looks today as if the business of Scientology is 5% delivering something of value to a customer, 70% begging, 25% witch hunts, legal messes fair gaming and spying. Which eats up more than half of the begging revenue.
There is not one single L.R.H reference that states the way to boom orgs is to release Super Power, not one. But watch the drowning applause of the “L.R.H. fans” at these events. Listen to them chant and mimic the spiritually supreme. Presenting their memberhsip cards although there is a very specific L.R.H. reference to NOT sell memberships, or exclude people.
Contrary to popular opinion that thetans are basically evil and dangerous, it turns out they are mainly gullible , trust openly and willingly for others to think for them, have many learning disabilities and just don’t wanna be lonely. Or left behind . Like pets.
I guarantee that the members and staff have heard this talk so much that it has lost all meaning. It is manufactured hype followed by let downs of epic proportions! I bet they have so many no shows – it will be a total flop! Can’t wait to see the first person to finish Super Power and watch the “no case gain” right before our very eyes!!
It has been quite evident that dm’s days are numbered, since any staff or SO Member knows that they would not last on post with this type of repeated failure.
I just got a call from Nashville org. Apparently they don’t know I am an sp! I might go to the event there…
Thank you for re-posting this, Mike. This is very helpful information.
More like a remake of a very bad movie with the same bad actor who looks somewhat like a cross between Ken without Barbie and the alien leader of Plan B from Outer Space
Man they even recycled the old promo and probably the stage props from their first failure.
Now that’s chutzpah!
Wonder if they think no one will notice or if the crowd they’re dealing with is at Dave’s IQ level.
History once again repeats itself only with less supporting actors.
Golden Age. Really? That was a major hiccup in 1996.
I’m so blown away, I’m permanently adrift.
This is a funny comment. Really funny.
Again, I wish I had penned this.
+1
Ahahahahah!
John, you nailed it…..
Greta
For so long, as a staff member, I’d listen to the accolades being shouted; the hyperbole, and feel that somehow something was just wrong. There can only be so many let downs before a bitter taste develops at the word of “the nextest greatest”.
Made my day with, “This is an old movie with the same actor. Just better special effects. The story will end in the same way” Can’t wait to see what happens next.
Yes Dee. This is some sharp observation and sharp writing. Like I said, wish I had penned this….