A report from one of our Bay area Special Correspondents with some perspective on the recent events replayed in the local orgs. Not a lot of detail about the contents of the events, but an interesting overview of the state of these “ideal” orgs and their public.
One thing is certain — I recently listened to an audio recording from one of these events — the Shermanspeak has reached absolutely mind-numbing levels.
Voldemort never utters a simple sentence. Long, run on, convoluted wordplay peppered with “if that wasnt enough” and “not withstanding” and “not to mention” and all manner of other contortionist twists and devices. You literally move from one seal clapping pause to the next wondering what just happened and what, if anything, He said. Word are coming out but they seem to be some strange foreign language (Shermanspeak?) that has its own rules of grammar, sentence structure and meaning of words. Although I did catch Him proclaiming that GAG II “is the greatest recovery of lost tech ever” and it is “busting open eternity.”
Busting open eternity? Really? Total meaningless word hype.
He has become parody. Perhaps He is preparing Himself for a new career following in the footsteps of one of my favorite comedians when I was a kid, the wondrous Stanley Unwin.
Enough of me, on to our Special Correspondent Report (who deserves an extra acknowledgement for the fortitude required to sit through these events).
Maybe it’s morbid but we attended all the Golden Age of Tech ll events. This past weekend the IAS event was held locally and well, we couldn’t help ourselves again. Mike, if you and Tony O. are questioning our state of mind for attending the events, just know we all checked The Underground Bunker and yours and Marty’s blog for updates before walking in. We felt we needed a theta boost.
The attendance at the Bay Area org events was dismal at best. Each org held it’s own event. The IAS event was the least attended. Surprise! Surprise!
I think what most of us really wanted was a barometer reading for the inside attitude about GAT ll. With the staff and OSA not knowing most of us are the tiniest bit disaffected, we blended in.
It’s been made clear since the (re)grand opening events for the new(er) Ideal Orgs that no video or photo cameras, nor voice recorders were allowed. We saw this first at the Stevens Creek (re)grand Ideal Org (re)opening and they’re policing it even more now.
The local audiences were subdued for the most part. The average local age was plus 50, with about 8o% of the audience well over 55. It was clear by the age of the Purification actors they used for the video presentation that COB wants a younger crowd, not the geriatric bound ones in our audience. Also noted, when the audience was panned at the live event that there was less gray hair in the front row. As a fuck-you, COB put Grant Cardone and his green gown dressed wife in the front row and had them panned. This made us all laugh. You could see that Grant’s wife couldn’t quite understand all the Shermanspeak but had on her Wow!-game face.
Just to touch a bit on the new Purif. It seems we’re going back to junior high PE class. Purif uniforms, a gym bag and a water bottle? Also the vitamin dispensers were made a huge deal of but they’re the same cereal dispensers you serve yourself from at a two star hotel that includes a free breakfast. My friends could not get over the repackaging of this new Purif. One friend couldn’t get over having to wear a PE uniform in order to do the Purif and she’s a runner. With many public needing to lose weight and considering the age group, it doesn’t look like they could be used for the next Purif video. I guess they’ll have to hire the actors again if they want pretty videos. Somehow I don’t see Dede Johnston looking good in this current Purif uniform but hey, there’s always Photoshop.
The references on niacin levels are worthy of their own article.
I hope this isn’t offensive to anyone who attended these events and is here lurking, but the local public at the events looked empty and felt soulless. The staff were really trying but there just wasn’t that old feeling of vibrant energy we used to have at graduations. Even the few young second generation looked dazed. There is much more liveliness going on at the Elk’s Club down the street.
I believe the GAT ll events were more demoralizing to the public and the next few months will confirm this. The Usual Suspects will sign up initially but their lives will slowly guide them away. The rest feel the blocks have been made bigger. At least that’s the word around here.
Field auditors and Missions are a thing of the past. The following is paraphrased with some cynicism added by yours truly. “Bye bye field auditors and mission staff auditors. Thanks (NOT) for fronting our group. Oh, you’ve been auditing all these years? Yes, you’ve been doing it wrong. Never mind your PC gains and wins. Their wins weren’t from GAT ll. Go back to course and start all over again. Oh, and that will be $10,000.00 for your new meters. Cash, check or Visa? Oh, and you better remain in good standing or else your meter won’t work in a year. We’ll deactivate it if you’re trouble. Your next course is The New Newer Newest Newbie Student Hat. The tech on clearing a word and doing a demonstration will totally change your life. Start!” All public have been told to shred or pulp the “old” materials. All said with the straightest face.
After talking to the staff, you can see they’re so hopeful that GAT ll will solve the problems of their empty Ideal Orgs. Keep in mind that we have FIVE empty Ideal Orgs here, so that hope is even more imbedded in their zealot electrification. How did we get from doing Scientology to better our lives and trying to become better people by helping others to “salvaging this sector of the universe” and with such glee?
Oh, and Dave, in case you’re reading this, here’s some constructive criticism. Don’t tease your hair so high. Get a better shade of blonde, too red. Maybe try not to smoke before the live broadcast several weeks before as your voice sounds like you’re struggling to breathe and the left side of your face looks like it can’t keep up with the right side. Possibly too much recent stress? We’ll see you at the next event. Unless it’s in a court room.
Sincerely,
WhoIsDisaffected
Miscavige, Are you prepared for a spike in your notority once the deposition goes viral on the internet?
Thank you Special Correspondent that was a good account of the overall experience. Court room…ah yes, yes yes yes yes. Then I visualize a jail cell and get a real sense of peace. Again thank you for your post.
I’m back from the Bunker and still over the moon despite Mike’s sage advice.:) (OK, Ok, I’ll work at being neutral.)
“The attendance at the Bay Area Org events was dismal at best”.plus that the audience was largely over 55, plus that the audience seemed subdued – this is really good news!
And may I say that in this type of scenario, specifics be damned. We cannot expect nor should we press for specifics, as this is intel from undercover ops posted here and any specifics could blow cover. I am shouting out a hearty thank you and VWD to Special Correspondent WhoIsDisaffected, who did a courageous action for us.
Mike, you have a real gift for satire and never more so than when you are riffing on DM’s End of Endless sentences.
Just to amuse myself I’m going to begin my own list of ShermanSpeak connective phrases and post it here. Contributions from everyone will be welcome.
Wow, Mike, thanks so much! What a terrific Friday the 13th this has been for us!
Yes, the special correspondents need to be careful with details lest DM figure out who they are….
I notice now that Miscavige has cancelled the Method 5 and Method 7 Word clearing HCOBs and the “Spot Checks” Supervisor policy as these were “not written by LRH”. (With the same faulty “logic” then are other bulletins composed by Compilations Unit also cancelled as they are not (directly) written by LRH?) So what now then (in the Church that is) does a Supervisor then do when a student says “the HCOB states it like I am using it!”? Now that Miscavige has cancelled the Method 5 HCOB the supervisor cannot really say “no, no, you have a Mis-U”. He cancelled the Method 5 HCOB because it in some way dilutes or invalidates his new “WOW!” Method 4 handling of the Student Hat by (the Method 5 HCOB) pointing out that if the student doesn’t know he has Mis-Us then he might or will F/N on the Method 4 – thus making his “new discovery” and method of teaching the Student Hat, simply invalid or prone to being imperfect, as of course sometimes students do think they know the materials and will F/N in Method 4, meaning the F/Ns cannot be regarded as a perfect check in this instance. Read the original HCOB in the Tech Volume IX in the Word Clearing Series – it states this quite clearly.
This cancelling of the M5 (and M7) HCOB is very surreptitious is it not? The only thing one can “admire” about Miscavige is his surreptitiousness and bending of the rules of tech (by cancelling in this case) to suit his new “solutions”– he is an example par excellence at this! One supposes this is just another wild and impractical extension of Miscavige’s “the blind leading the blind” policy in that he wants to rule out supervisors or anyone saying to the student “you have a Mis-U” in other words he is thinking a “blind” supervisor may mislead a “blind” student – some sort of weird thinking like this. You can see his faulty logic on this I hope. He should of course clear up his own Mis-Us on the last page at least of KSW 1 (but then he probably had his Mis-U on this with “Remimeo” at the start of the policy). Christ! The man is a nightmare that is unfortunately – happening! However, there may be 1 good thing that might come from this and that is that students now can say to their supervisors “a floating needle is a rhythmic sweep of the dial at a slow even pace of the needle” – the supervisor cannot now respond by stating to the student “yeah, but I’ve been told to tell you it’s got to be at least 3 swings and we won’t accept any other answer otherwise you are off to Ethics!” It works both ways does it not? (There is no reference even in the revised F/N HCOB about how many times it has to swing.) The supervisors now in Miscavige’s Church cannot tell the student he has a Mis-U. Or have I got a Mis-U? Ha! Talk about the blind leading the blind!
The Spot Checks HCO PL was I believe also based on a similar policy in the Key To Life materials so to say that was “non-LRH” is ridiculous. Any Indie ex-KTL Sups might like to confirm this.
He arbitrarily “canceled” Method 5.
So how are auditors (if they ever make any) supposed to clear commands?
With telepathy???
BTW M7 worked really well on Foreign Language, low literacy cases like say Miscavige and kids.
Great.
Now I guess they’re are going to beat ’em senseless with M9s.
Sheeesh
Yes remoteviewed, Method 7 was also very useful for foreign students. I hear also that on star rate checkouts now some checkers or supervisors are asking for all the definitions of a word parrot-fashion from the dictionary and of course using it as a make-wrong when the student “flunks” if he/she doesn’t give them. I also have heard and read that many supervisors worldwide now are treating their students as if they were “enemies” to be rigorously hounded and scowled at. They have learned this “tough attitude” from Flag and it has spread like a disease worldwide, emptying Academies and thus Orgs (as if there wasn’t enough reasons to do that anyway).These sups have a Mis-U on the word “tough” – they think they have to be like a US Marine sergeant on the assault course or at parade. The “blind leading the blind” – verily! Contagion of aberration indeed! Or in other words – “my supervisor at Flag behaved like a complete a**hole so that is what I must do when I return to my Org!”
The cancellation of Method 5 does, as you say, raise the question of auditors clearing words on PCs, in principle at least as it is the same method but just applied in session although he will probably claim that as there is another HCOB on this (the Clearing Commands one) then that “makes it alright” to cancel the Word Clearing Series issue as they are not “related”. Actually he or whoever gave him these ideas hopes no one will notice and relate all the issues to each other! They probably won’t or if they do, they “keep quiet” these days. This whole thing is getting a bit convoluted now but so it is when arbitraries are introduced.
Actually this word “tough” as it is mis-applied and misunderstood (now) to course supervision is a perfect example of the Crashing Mis-U HCOB. I could hazard a good guess here and state that the misuse and misunderstanding of this one word has damaged Scientology training worldwide for decades. In a few years time if it carries on like this the Sups will be taking their students (when they exist) out to the (empty) parking lot and giving them a good thrashing whilst screaming in their faces. It has probably already happened somewhere and the EO or MAA has justified it as well – as he observed his Sups at Flag doing the same to someone – etc. etc.
Roger that Foolproof.
Where does Miscavige get the idea that M5 and 7 weren’t written by Ron?
I mean it says L Ron Hubbard on the HCOBs I got.
But even if they weren’t.
Like say PTS Type A handling (written by Mary Sue), Int Series 11 (Brian Livingston I believe) and the L3RD RD (Paulette Aisely I think) they are still very workable tech and are all actually directly based as opposed to derivatively based (like say the “Scientologists Handbook”) on earlier LRH Tech discoveries.
I mean if the lil’ nimrod was so concerned about whether it was written by Ron he’d have since canceled those squirrelly Life Improvement Courses.
But like everything else in the so called Church of Scientology these its just another False Flag Operation.
They look pretty straightforward to me and very applicable and useful, hence a good chance that they were actually written by LRH, but even if they weren’t written by him directly, they still work, and very well.AS you say many HCOBs and other stuff weren’t written by LRH but approved (or not sometimes) when they worked. But like all Scientology the actions are based on directly observable phenomena (and other similar HCOBs) in the real world that improves people’s conditions, as do these 3 issues. No, these issues were cancelled as they fire (more than) a warning shot across the bows of the “new” Method 4ing of Academy students which the Church are now praising as some sort of magic why for the lack of students in their Academies. Why couldn’t people do the old BSM or any of the smaller checksheets on study as a gradient to the Student Hat, as in the “good old days” of full Academies and auditors being made? It is of course just another arbitrary “why” to handle the wrong whys being found for poor Academy attendance and poor auditing by auditors. He also has a wrong public (for Scientology but not for him) in the Orgs these days – people who can watch DVDs (some of the DVDs are however very good to be fair) but cannot read books hence they are more pliable and will stump up their life savings to the regges for nothing in return and not say anything when things like the F/N definition is “re-defined”.
As far as the aging population of the CoS goes (and I have no personal negative opinion of the geezer set, being a member myself at almost 63 – joined staff when I was 19) … well, that IS your Church of Scientology for now and for the future, folks. It’ll be the shrinking numbers of boomers and some of their children and grandkids.
Unlike a government or state, where lowered support reaches a critical mass and the government/state collapses, a church/religion usually continues on no matter how small the numbers become. How has the Christian Science membership been going the past 80 years? The CoS ain’t disappearing. It can and probably WILL exist come the day it only has two or three thousand members worldwide. And that’s even without the real estate or money that they have. No one in the English speaking world will join up anymore. Those days are over. It doesn’t matter whether Miscavige is taken down from office soon or dies in office at 90. Who or what would replace him with any positive effect? But it doesn’t matter really, cause no one will come in the front door. Without the geezers and their progeny (and few of THEM will be going in as the years go by) there would be NO ONE at the events (which makes Miscavige even appear MORE insane for getting rid of so many of the oldsters).
Have to agree…DM will shrink the cult and it will continue…he only needs a thousand or so slaves to keep living like a king. He will slowly fade from the public eye but will continue to run his little empire of pain…unless he really slips up and gets arrested. But he’s set things up quite carefully to make sure that never happens. The main thing is to assure that as few new people fall into his clutches and as many escape as possible….this blog and others help with that.
I agree, it no longer makes any difference who’s at the helm. As far as the wavering CO$ public is concerned, the long and arbitrary tech runways and reging for other than Scientology services will pretty much ensure they’ll continue to contract as they have been for the last 25+ years. Out here in Indieland, anyone can easily within their means move up the bridge without all the stops and bullshit.
It’s awfully nice to see so very much sanity on this blog! Super well done, Mike, for creating such a safe space where even complete disagreement is usually quite civil and interesting. That reflects well upon your guidance and high tolerance level.
Roger that Peter 🙂
I read earlier in the comments that our favorite bête noire is being deposed.
Hopefully it’s as good for laughs as this one was:
http://rundbrief.org/kd0044/archiv/sc-i-r-s-ology/veritas/mailings/sw-2-1.htm
As someone that lives in the Bay Area, this is good news. I’d love to hear from old friends at the Marin Mission, the Santa Rosa Mission and SFO. Forest, Lynn, Tanja, Eric, Donna and Alesha…have you had enough out tech yet? I’d love to hear from any of you. Alive and well in my neck of the woods with former case gain, intact! 🙂
How about that, Stanley Unwin, Dan Sherman, and the sign language interpreter at the Nelson Mandela memorial service, all speak the same language!
I salute you for undergoing the torture of an IAS event! Did you get away with not donating? I remember too well events where the staff formed a gauntlet to stop people from leaving an event early. One time I went to the bathroom and ran out the door from there. Oh such STUPID games.
” Field auditors and Missions are a thing of the past.”
Not so at all. From what I can see, there are more active field auditors today than at any time since I got involved in 1973.
Why, just here in this tiny little town in Idaho, we have five active field auditors.
We’ve trained five more in just the past year who are now active in various US locations and even one in Europe.
There’s an old policy (no longer in use in the cult of miscavology) titled Superior Service Image.
Hubbard said “It is an old maxim that if auditing is occurring in the field, orgs will boom.”
Well, a major reason orgs aren’t booming despite all of all this high quality field auditing could be because davey decided we’re not welcome, our pcs aren’t welcome, our kids aren’t welcome and our dogs and cats are also declared suppressive.
If the orgs truly want to help their students and PCs, they should quit listening to davey’s drivel and send their many failed cases to a qualified field auditor or group so they can be straightened out…oh, never mind, they seem to be finding us without the org’s help,
Maybe, if the orgs start to behave themselves, we might allow them to come over and get some non-miscaviged cramming.
I’m actually not trying to be catty or critical. I am just noting that the number of independent field auditors is expanding and definitely have up stats as a completely unorganized group of independent beings sharing a common purpose. I personally feel it’s much easier to help people restore their self-determinism when you don’t make them join a cult first.
Exactly Les,
That’s why having Field Auditing in the past was such a successful action for the Orgs.
Ron also writes about it in another RED called “All Roads Lead To Auditing”.
As I wrote earlier despite the Golden Age of Tech actually more like because of it. The Field Auditing scene was booming here in LA until Taz Kember lowered the boom as the Auditor *De* Activation Chief and illegally canceled all our certs.
But as you say its picking up again.
In fact we’ve probably got more auditors auditing in the Field right now under the radar than there are at Pac.
As far as Valley Org and Pas are concerned they are total dead zones.
I mean the lights are on over there but there ain’t nobody home.
Guess the whole cult of COB thang ain’t working out for ’em.
Yes LDW, – it is very exciting to see what is happening in the indie field. I was talking about how sad it is in the current church. To watch what is happening in the Indie field now and personally experiencing huge wins and gains outside the church without stops is a great thing. The freedom of co audits and indie groups is starting to rekindle the feeling.
Your dog is suppressive because it didn’t salute his dog. Shameful disrespect. It lifted its leg, but it wasn’t a salute that came out.
Is Davey back in Clearwater or still lying low? Flag Graduation must be exciting today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khmhOQpOoek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOU-s28Zn4A
That new meter will become DM’s Waterloo. It will cut off people for any little report or false report or even any made-up dubbed in idea that the person is disaffected. So when someone realizes the meter they paid $5,000 and change for doesn’t work now, that their Bridge is now stopped, they will not only leave, but will be very vocal against DM. He is making enemies faster than you can blink an eye. Same with the disconnection policy. People who were content to just fade away quietly, once their family disconnects from them, they will become vocal tigers attacking DM and his church. Way to go DM, you keep shooting yourself in the foot.
Jane,
Unfortunately Miscavige’s deft handling has not only created enemies for himself but for Scientology in general which seems to me to be the plan.
The reason I abjure the “lone Miscavige theory” is because it seems to me that this “plan” was too brilliantly executed and I’d never considered Miscavige to be anything but a fascistic megalomanic greedy little ignorant moron with delusions of god hood.
In other words your perfect prepackaged “cult leader”.
Also simply by virtue of the fact that Miscavige doesn’t know enough Scientology to pull off this coup alone.
I mean you’d have to read other policies than “Responsibility of Leaders” to fuck things up this badly.
But anyhoo….
That’s just my opinion.
What isn’t is the fact that from his position as the pope or god or whatever he conceives himself to be he’s managed to wreck the subject totally and has created nothing but hostility toward it.
Even if he’s not totally responsible and has one of his “friends” working in the shadows advising him.
He still deserves a special place in hell.
I have never heard of Stanley Unwin and maybe many others haven’t either. But for everyone who wants to know what it is like to sit through 3 hours of Shermanspeak, here is 3 minutes of Stanley Unwin. Good gawd! http://youtu.be/323kQis2zbM
Too bad, you can photoshop the photos after the event but you can’t ‘shop the face during.
Anyway…The idea the public were feeling like the blocks were getting bigger does make sense to me. Being told to do something over again, when you did have wins on it, is really demoralizing and it makes you stay away.
I remember in the mid-70’s when I routed on to Power, I was C/Sed for a rehab of all the lower Grades before starting on Power. I think that is even a standard C/S for a new Power pc. But I was so excited to go onto Power, and had no attention on my earlier auditing at all that is served as a pretty big invalidation and I was giving that poor auditor a really hard time. Just didn’t wanna do it. When you feel like you got what you were supposed to get, and it’s there and you have it, why do it again. And that was just a couple questions in a session. It did get repaired and off we went onto Power and all was good. But to have to go back into a courseroom day after week after month redoing what you already learned and had wins on is just too gruesome.
And with the chance your meter cert will not be renewed if you weren’t a compliant robot, there goes another 80% of the auditors. Not too much will be happening within the C of $ at all in about a year.
Gato,
Yeah that was pretty much the standard C/S for Power Preps that plus a GF and In Life Ruds.
I agree it could act as an inval especially if the PC is ready to rock.
It was pretty much a standing policy at ASHO and AOs that lower grades delivered in a lower org couldn’t be trusted.
Too bad that it wasn’t applied with a little discernment and judgment.
Not to mention the whole DRD craze when the Ol’man released Unhandled Drugs and Ethics and practically everybody including OT VIIs were put back on their DRD.
But it was mostly applied to those who never had a Full DRD or only had a Prior Assessment.
Not everybody!
That was bad but not as bad as having to redo the whole fucking Grade Chart again including training.
I mean anyone who trained back then and had their certs fully validated by an Academy or SH no matter when was never told they had to retrain.
Also back then anyone who had done an ACC was given the BC for free.
I mean those poor saps who had to do the DRD were mostly able to coaudit it because they had done the HDC which was a requirement for Solo back then.
Also back then you could coaudit OT IV if you were on VIII.
Not anymore.
That policy has been covertly canceled along with the one allowing VIIIs to retread the level for nothing if they choose to do so.
Seems they’re more interested in making money instead of making auditors.
But why be so surprised Miscavige and anyone who’s backing his sorry ass wants to stop training and turn the Church of Scientology into a high end Clinic and they’ve pretty much succeeded at this point.
I mean with only 6 processes per Grade and the Quads only “if needed”.
Who’s gonna bother to train or retrain?
ASHO was freaking killing me with the overrun plus the auditor was slow. I was so glad I ran out of money. After the FUBAR Repair Rundowns I left for a year or so but I missed the mezkan food. It wasn’t Rocky Stump it was probably an intern CSing. Inc Scientologists don’t yet know how lucky they are to have the high caliber indie/fz auditors out here.
Right Gato Rojo. The gross, intentional, invalidation of every major level, as common practice in the rcs, really roasts my cookies. On training and processing you can’t f…ing finish anything and enjoy the abilities that you’ve worked for. I tried to do it ONCE and lost my will to live. This has made the entire bridge void of a dependable product. On set ups, it is possible to do it quickly with zero eval and not by pass any charge. With stupid datums, like all lower org auditors being suspect, many people were checked excessively. I’ve handled a lot of badly overrun people and hundreds of clear cycles. It is truly horrible to do this to people and it is classically suppressive, as it is damaging to beings and their cases. I consider SO staff run on copious sec checks for political/punishment reasons to be in this category also. Recognition of the rightness and goodness of the being, is essential in real auditing.
So Mike, when a big event happens and the response is less than enthusiastic, what’s the atmosphere like around DM? Does anyone gather together to discuss what went wrong and what they need to do (like every business does) or is everyone just walking on eggshells and scared ****less?
Exec meeting in the church of Miscarriage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLfDy33Kufg
Come on…that is “charge blowing off” you naughty little SP!! LOL
She needs coaching and practice … you use both hands to prop your head up, a triangle. Alternative: you sit upside down with your feet up in the air, and a stick-it “do not disturb” on your forehead so the cleaning people don’t haul you out.
re: Shermanspeak.
“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.”
attributed to W.C. Fields
You can have the wills of senior members modified at the org. Call the post the Probate Officer. Just saying so the money doesn’t go to the bowling alley or trivial things like their children. Appreciation shout out to WhoIsDisaffected.
Miscavige acts as if he still considers himself a young Turk taking on the old guard. Someone should remind him that, now that he is over 50, he is the old guard. From the stories I have heard about Miscavige, he’s a self-hater. That may sound contrary to his pompous arrogance, but it makes sense when you consider he gets enraged at taller men, he gets enraged when he thinks people look at him the wrong way, he spends a fortune on self-grooming and he wants only younger or “cooler” people around him. These actions speak volumes, they are the actions of a man who has serious self-esteem issues. Did he dump Shelley because she reflected his age (she got older) and no longer idealized him?
Yes Miscavige has long tried to market and sell Scientology as the cool and hip thing for the younger generation(s). It’s kind of a joke, but there is an ulterior motive as well. The older generation(s) in Scientology are composed to a large degree of people who were in when LRH was still around and who can remember what Scientology was like then as opposed to now, and because of this they can spot the huge departures from tech and policy that Miscavige has progressively introduced. That’s why the large defections of people with this background. The younger ones lack the background to know that Miscavige has driven Scientology far far off the rails, plus they do not have the reverence for LRH that older folks often do, and thus more easily fall for treating Miscavige with reverence and as the new Source.
However, given the reports herein, there are very few younger people attending these events. This is no surprise because no matter how many slick marketing videos and brochures DM has Gold pump out to make Scientology look new, young, cool and hip, any young person going into an org is going to see in about 1 minute that the reality is nothing like the marketing crap – if they even get that far. Most probably penetrate the lie of “Scientology is hip and cool” after a few minutes of internet research, and never show up at an org in the first place.
Good article – it caught my attention the paranoia in trying to control any devices that could majestically divulge the secretive events into the fringes of the internet. Too bad, one more is out…can’t hide? Nop, you can’t anymore.
And also the lack of attendance to the all too obvious rip off IAS event, glad people are not supporting this fraud anymore.
From the number of pictures leaked from the Clearwater events, I don’t know if his policy is working very well. He’s going to have a culture-clash with people, especially with younger publics, who are used to pulling out a phone and snapping a picture at the drop of a hat.
I stand in awe of the special correspondents. Thank you so much. To sit through one event is trying enough, but three? The thought alone is exhausting and depressing.
I’d much rather watch the Lord of the Rings or the Hunger Games in one sitting.
I think 2014 is going to be a very good year.
This gibes with the demographic report I made in ’87 and sent to ED Int. The Boomers (when in their 20’s) were the last time Scn was growing. It had been all downhill since then. Residual inflow has mainly been in the form of their children.
DM’s hair was teased 80’s high at the GATII event. My husband remarked that he looked very “blonde” but I told him he’s really grey and covering it. I would know. His make-up was impressive and covered up the chronic boozer red nose/cheeks look.
The public at the events and in the orgs these days is middle-aged to rapidly approaching seniors. The second generation I saw at the GATII event also looked dazed and bored. They don’t have the track we do with Scientology before it became so gleefully fundamentalist. The phrasing promoting anything in Scn is corny, ridiculous and out of time and this does not connect with the younger generation (or even the older, now).
The staff is still generally young and trying hard. This pool of staffers, whether they are SO or public will dry up very soon. This is because new people are not coming into Scn who have children to recruit into the cult slavery system. DM’s ruling on no children in the SO has a silver lining in that he eliminated his future slave potential.
Loved the statement that the correspondent had to check Mike, Marty’s and Tony O’s blog for a theta boost before attending the events. I do the same thing!
Pepper – Thank you for your report, as well. Your perspective: “They don’t have the track we do with Scientology before it became so gleefully fundamentalist” is valuable as a point of sanity in the midst of all the destruction. Folks do read and absorb sanity … sometimes it just seems to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r.
Teased, high hair creates the illusion of fullness and in the beginning, while there’s still enough hair to work with, can disguise a receding hair line and/or thinning/balding on the crown. Maybe He and TC consulted about this during their last mani-pedi together..
In my observation, the only public enthusiastic about GAG2 are the ones who are too stupid to learn and for who the 8th grade level Student Hat is the right gradient.
Tony Ortega is reporting
“DAVID MISCAVIGE WILL BE DEPOSED, JUDGE DECIDES”
Marty just put Miscavige’s testicles in a vice.
Mosey to Miscavige — “how do you like me now?”
Also requested the deposition of Shelly Miscavige.
Yep, I copied and pasted the coup de grace.
“Derek. On the subject of deposing Shelly Miscavige — Ray was dangling a written document, but hadn’t submitted it yet.
Lamont Jefferson then agreed to have David Miscavige deposed as long as it wasn’t too intrusive, Derek says.
So it looks like Ray used the threat of a Shelly Miscavige deposition to make the church roll over on having DM deposed. Wow.”
Brilliant strategy! Get your popcorn out cuz DM’s going down. Watch it here for free.
Wait for the real reports. Derek got confused (understandably) as the church is TRYING to make this confusing. But bottom line is the Judge ordered Miscavige into deposition and they have to try to get the Texas Appeals Court to grant them a right to appeal and a stay (this is not an automatically appealable order).
I just screamed of pleasure and the cat jumped off my lap!
That is a long-term goal moving much, much closer to realization.
THANK YOU, Mike, Mosey & Marty 🙂 !!!
This really calls for a party…
Greta
Greta — thanks. Dont crack the champagne glasses yet. It’s a long way from other. This will be fought by Miscavige until he drops. But it is good news still. Because his tactics of trying to overwhelm the plaintiffs, their lawyers and the court are not working. What this means to me is that though the battle will be long and every inch forward will be fought tooth and nail, it will be relentless forward progress as Miscavige and the church are dragged kicking and screaming into the real world and out of the bubble in which everything Miscavige does or says is right and anyone who disagrees is sent to the Hole. The future is looking a bit brighter on Friday the 13th.
Yes, the will animal reaction of Miscavige out to go up a notch now. Don’t see how that will play well in this venue.
Let’s see how will Miscavge will attempt to weasal out of it. First the request for leave and a stay to the court of appeal, then, if they can any other hopeless but time consuming actions they can dream up at the appellate level or higher. After those all fail, or while they are failing, perhaps some more motions to attempt to limit aspects of the deposition. Then, endless obstructionism in attempts by plaintiff to set a date for the deposition. Then if it ever happens they will object and instruct not to answer to the maximum number of questions possible, including ones that are relevant and permissable to ask. Then those objections will have to be litigated. This will go on…and on…until whatever point in the above sequence the court decides to start sanctioning Miscavige. Oh, I probably forgot a bunch of other hail marys from Miscavige’s team. At some point along the way, I suppose, there might be a settlement offer (which doesn’t seem likely to be taken by Plaintiff). That at least is probably a little bit of what to look forward to, unless things break open some other way or in an unexpected fashion.
Quite. As we say over at WWP: stay on target!
I don’t want him deposed in a court case; I want him deposed like an Eastern European dictator–but that’ll do for now.
WhiteStar,
Big problem ………… no testicles to be found! Not much else there either according to the Int Base rumor mill. We are not sure what He is!
May Tom protect His cruiser now?
Wow guys! Let the depositions begin! Oh yea! Going to Tony’s now to get the scoop!
Hamster …….. meet WHEEL!
HE is deposed!
OMG, I’m so derailed I think I’m going exterior 🙂 I actually need to process this first and then I can reconnect with and comment on this superb article..
Deposed! Deposed!
Awesome!
Bee told that LA Day had a big initial week after the release and is now back to its former rigor mortis self. As predicted in one of your earlier blogs.
“The attendance at the Bay Area org events was dismal at best.”
Can we get a guesstimate of how many public and how many staff were present?
In the 80’s and 90’sthe Bay Area used to have events with attendance anywhere between 500-1000.
i reckon the Bookstore Officers worldwide will feel like Winston Smith in 1984 shredding all the prior materials to make the current ones seem like the Truth. Glad we all stepped off that conveyor belt!
Thank you so much for posting this report, Mike. This gives me confirmation of exactly what i’ve been hoping was the response to GAG II. This is actually good news for me personally as it gives me real hope about the speed of the imminent downfall of RCS locally. Perhaps some key people here will start seeing the light. We can always hope.
This is also proof positive that Miscavige’s empire really is going to soon rely wholly on foreign imports to continue at all in the US while he markets his “new Scientology” to the foreign markets that have not had the decades of nonsense re-releases and “lost tech recovery”. I believe the US market has been super-saturated with Miscavige’s brand of RCS for too long and his long-winded Shermanspeak hyperbole is wearing really thin.
I think this will be the most effective weapon to convince existing Scientologists that RCS is ruining what they thought was a brilliant and wonderful thing. Just another irony in a very long list of ironies: Miscavige himself is destroying his empire faster than any of us could ever accomplish it.
” Field auditors and Missions are a thing of the past.” — This is sad, field auditors and missions were the heart and soul in the booming 70s- early 80s. What a rush it was when there was a lot of field auditing going on. Where I was literally thousands of people moved through the comm course. Students moved onto and through the academy auditing courses, lots of auditors being made, tons of co-audits and massive HGC hours were being done – all at the missions! The academy was packed and open early until very late 7 days a week. There were PCs waiting in the halls and reception, all the auditing rooms were filled and it was a total rush just to be in the building. It was a rush just to be in the area with all the theta spilling out into the local lunch and dinner spots. So sad about what has happened, – the current Orgs are just so off far off track, – Unrecognizable.
MAK- your description reminds me of the Bay Area in the late 70s. Vibrant and alive is how I would describe the field. Missions were booming. Staff were making money and could survive. Hundreds of students and PCs made it to SF Orgs. The system was working, because there were individual thoughts and decisions being made WITHOUT interference from Management. The scene, in my opinion, was not straight out of policy, and this is why it worked. It was an amalgam of business sense, common sense, personal goals realized and theta – allowed to grow. I saw this formula work in Miami, Orange County, Milan and Brescia, Italy, Mexico City and other places. Worked and then quashed as strict policy was enforced and the money drained off. Sigh!!!
Odd
Odd and MAK, I think I caught a glimpse of that from the outside in Washington DC in the 70s. The old org was just a block up the street from my apartment, and my ex-girlfriend was on staff. I only actually went into the org two or three times, but I hung out on the front steps for awhile waiting for the ex’s lunch break and chatting with people there. And of course I passed by all the time just strolling around town, had many encounters with young body-routers, etc.
I must say the scene did feel a little weird to me — but there were a lot of weird things going on in the 70s, and all the people seemed friendly and cheerful. A cynical friend once quipped that you could recognize Scientologists on the street because they would say “Hi!!” with their eyes spinning simultaneously in both directions. A little kooky, maybe, but not scary in any way. And definitely not hollow-eyed or robotic.
Richard — totally get what you mean. The early 70s was special in a lot of ways. The people I first ran into were different. They did say Hi and were interested in what you had to say, and were as close to PT as anyone I had met for quite some time – considering the late 60s was a bit of a blur for me and many others. It was fun!
Odd
” Field auditors and Missions are a thing of the past.” My memories of the ’80s are the same, packed missions, packed HGCs and hordes of people moving up the Bridge. Now, missions are gone (or empty) and orgs are just empty (when they haven’t been closed). If Miscavige is going to have another Golden Age, he should orchestrate a Golden Age of Bridge Progress. My suggestion is that (at one, and only one) Idle Org, he lower the prices on services until the HGC is packed and producing at least 8 Grades completions per week; also, the courserooms are packed and pumping out at least 12 Levels completions per week. If he can’t achieve that by lowering the prices, Bridge Progress is truly a thing of the past, and he should just throw in the towel. If he can achieve it, then it sets the price point at which services should be re-set.
Hey, Miscavige! The right WHY leads to a handling. So, when GAT II doesn’t work, try GAT III, then GAT IV, etc. etc. Don’t worry, it’ll work eventually. Keep trying! LOL
It’s good to hear how bleak it’s gotten. I hope the cob and his minion are enjoying themselves. Evidently it takes a lot of pain for some people to wake up.
Tony, pain often comes from recognition that something has or is about to happen. How often do we shout “Ouch” before the hammer head lands on the thumb? These folks don’t feel the pain … yet, because they don’t see what’s happening. There’s no recognition of the lies or the pain they will cause. They’re numb. Desensitized by the endless repetition of promises and losses that eventually turned observation into mindless daydreaming.
They’re not in Present Time listening to DM or watching the images on the screen. They are miles away, trying to recall what originally brought them to Scientology’s door. If they’re lucky enough to remember, they’ll focus on that for a while – it’ll ease the pain. But eventually, like a drug wearing off, the pain will return .. for real and then the cognitions will follow. It’s a process. Observation – Recognition – Denial – Not-is – Realization – Pain/Grief – Despair – Acceptance – Relief.
Odd
spot on Odd Thomas! I went through it all: Observation 0 Recognition – Denial –Not-Is –Realization — Pain/Grief — Despair — Acceptance — Relief. I finally got my Special Person Declare this week and I actually did feel relief.
🙂 Awesome Jane!
You WILL ALL BUY YOUR TWO NEW METERS and you WILL LOVE IT!! The beatings will continue until morale improves. Some peoples pain is another persons pleasure.
Congrats to your own “Badge of Honor”!
Greta
I knew you were special Jane Doe! Congrats! Come by and we’ll toast to your new improved status. 🙂
Thank you to the insider who made this report. ! This is like watching history being made had having front row bleacher seat for the Hunger Games. It’s odd and terrible and fascinating to watch it die.
What is the estimated head count at each of these Bay Area events? Staff count at each would be interesting too.
This is a great report. The correspondent conveys the mood of listlessness, ennui, and disappointment so well — not an easy thing to do. Kind of reminds me of a certain mode of New Yorker fiction in the 70s, which John Cheever characterized as “people walking in and out of a room.” Lots of trivial incidents, a brave show of enthusiasm, conspicuous flashes of wealth, but at bottom, a profound sucking emptiness.
The aging field can drift away to nurse their disillusionment in their own ways. But I do feel sympathy for the staff, especially younger members with limited life experience and thus little basis for putting all this in perspective. They’ll be made to believe it’s THEIR fault.
A painful assessment Richard — but true. I was 19 when I joined staff. Once “plugged in” to staff life, to its purpose and being part of LRH’s team, I well recall the energy I exerted to make it work. This energy, soon enough turned to force, as disillusionment crept in and started to undermine the joy I initially felt at being able to make a difference. And I had wins, and LRH was still on the lines, and public was still happy. Now … without LRH, without personal gains, with only the dull throbbing mantras of Dear Leader reverberating from the speakers festooned throughout Ideal Orgs — Good God Almighty.
“…a profound sucking emptiness.” That about describes it.
Odd
The staff, hopeful that GAT II will be THE silver bullet solution to all that ails them will be in for a rude surprise as Miscavigology continues to crumble and erode.
It is hard not to feel sorry for these poor deluded ones.
Meet the NEW hamster wheel…same as the old…
Thanks for the briefing WhoIsDisaffected. Did you make it down the street to the Elks Club? I would have much more enjoyed a briefing about where there was life and not a morgue.
Lol… Yes, even the local I.O.O.F. lodge has got to be better than this.
Oddfellows, UP!
That’s not really their cheer, I just made it up. It sounds kinda cool, tho’
Sorry for odd (pun!) tangent; it’s Friday and I’ve been into the wine 😀
-Gus
i wish the events were leaked. it’d be a lot of fun to watch them.
Believe me, they are NOT fun to watch. Sad. Frustrating (how can anyone buy this shit?). Hypnotizing (the cadence and sentence structure along with His voice). INtriguing (that the same old shit can be repeated over and over as if it is new and apparently nobody notices). But not fun.
My hats off to special correspondent. I used to go to these events to catch some winks. Miscavige could put me to sleep faster than anyone, I would wake up and ask my wife what just happened and she wouldn’t know either. I would have been the worst correspondent so I really commend him or her.
Wow, what some people will do to get some winks. And I thought a premium mattress-and-box spring set was expensive!
Yes, very sad to observe the depth of mind control that well intentioned folks are willing to put themselves into. It is a version of ‘going on hoping’ IMHO.
But, also very encouraging to me is to know there are those that are willing to subject themselves to the BS and report to the rest of us on how it is going inside the cult. Even with His massive efforts to cull the disaffected from the ranks we will witness an epic FAIL! Truth is very very hard to contain.
So with beinga high school drop out and such, how did the runt learn to be this charismatic or hypnotizing?
Other than Not Blonde Blubberd showing him a few tricks.
Has the midget been getting lessons from someone.
It has been my experience he would have had to learn it somewhere and not just come up with it.
NOt sure what your experience is. But being a high school dropout is no guarantee of lack of IQ or ability.
My experience is everyone learns from someone. It could be a teacher, sibling, priest, or whomever. Not a shot at education at all, just wondering in terms of who made him. I dont get the feeling he just had this corruption come to him.
Apologies if it came across as a shot, certainly not meant as one.
I would mention here, Mike, that IQ has very little to do with “performance” or being smart. It is an indication of POTENTIAL, not actual working intelligence. I’ve been a Mensa member for many decades and I can say, with fervor, that some of the most high IQ people I’ve known have been dreary losers in life. Very sad folks.
What I think Misconceived has is both a a high level of deviousness and craftiness.lll He possesses a powerful intensity which others can interpret as “rightness”. And we have seen that he truly believes he is RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT. Such absolute certainty is tough for most to go up against. Hubbard had it, too, as do all con men.
And those who got in to improve their lives desperately want it to work. Sometimes, walking away from something you have put your heart and soul into is extremely difficult to do. No one wants to admit to being *that* wrong (or being fooled that much) and they have probably had enough good wins to cement themselves into going along. They’re hoping that just a few more weeks, months, years will prove to themselves that they were right all along.
I recently heard a radio talk show host talking about how charismatic and charming Psychopaths can be and that the self confidence that they can exude can really fool women into thinking that that’s the guy for them. Miscavige was in the right place at the right time to grab power and get rid of all that opposed him. Being with Hubbard during the final years of his life gave him the confidence to pull it off.
As for the High School drop out thing, I seriously doubt that was because of stupidity. In fact if you are ever faced with a choice of hiring a hiring an Ex-Sea Org person or a High School Grad, you should really look at the Ex-Sea Org person. The ability they have to get shit done is downright amazing.
I agree Mike.
For instance Jack Parsons was a High School drop out. Yet with out him we would have never made it to the moon.
Thomas Edison had no formal schooling at all. Neither did Ben Franklin.
Completing High School or even College is no guarantee of intelligence.
Perfect example is our former Prez who’s a Harvard Grad.
Charisma?
Maybe in a closed group or his inner circle.
Me I never noticed it.
Maybe I’m just one of the few who were “in” that always thought he was a jerk. I used to have to pinch myself to stay awake through his incessant droning punctuated by moments of shock when he’d say shit like the “blind were leading the blind” or that “gradients didn’t apply” and somebody didn’t drag his sorry ass away from the podium and slap him a straight jacket or I’d wait patiently for a lightening bolt to strike which of course never came.
Anyhoo…
True High School or lack of there of doesn’t guarantee intelligence or lack of it.
I’m sure that Miscavige would have still been a moron if he’d completed college.
The only difference is he’d be a moron with a degree.
Thank you so much to the correspondents who have sat through butt numbing events and propped their eyes open with toothpicks to the puffery and hyperbole and Shermanspeak that Davie spouts. It is so good to get boots on the ground reporting to know what is going on and how the masses are taking this latest thing. Thank you!
Voldemoort is going to be deposed in Texas. Will that be fun to watch?
Whether or not we get a “You can’t handle the truth” moment, Das Midget is on notice that the teflon’s gone.
The teflon’s gone, baby, the teflon’s gone.
Let the burn begin.
I am extremely happy that DM can be deposed and I would love to watch the scene in the court room. I am concerned that he and the lawyers will manufacture all sorts of ‘evidence” and lies that will serve to “prove” that he had nothing to do with the harassment. I wonder what will be allowed to serve as evidence from the defense. Will those home videos of the Squirrel Busters be allowed, because those alone show that the SQ Busters were not filming a documentary but there to harass. I am crossing my fingers that the witnesses will be able to help create the trail that flows to DM. What I see as possibly happening is that DM will be able to skirt responsibility and the lawyers will manipulate it so that someone in the church gets blamed but DM will be found innocent of the charges. I do hope that is not what happens. LRH was able to skate from his responsibility on the GO stuff, and so I’m sure DM and company will find a way. Still, I really want to see the truth come out. Staff and public would have to be privy to that one as it would be a newsworthy item that even the church couldn’t hide from the flock.
Wow, Mike, you’ve got the best Special Correspondent EVER!
I want to especially add my reinforcement on this idea. As hard as it may be to sit through the Shermanspeak and have to stand and sit and stand and sit with the endless mind-numbing round of applause after every stupid prouncement, the inside observation from “on the ground” is INVALUABLE in finding out how things are really going within the RCS bubble. There is nothing more reliable than direct observation. We do a lot of speculating and hoping here on the blogosphere because we don’t have enough of this.
So to all Special Correspondents out there, we salute you!
Please continue what you are doing. Those of us who have been forcefully disconnected cannot get this data any other way. I, for one, am heartily encouraged by this good news from the Bay Area and I hope to hear a lot more of this from other areas too.
WANTED: A leaked copy of the legal agreement that they make people sign before sending them their new e-meter so that it can see the light of day AND be reviewed against consumer protection laws.
Once upon a time the Church of Scientology manipulated e-bay’s VERO program to keep e-meters from being re-sold. When challenged that practice was found to be in error and reversed. Thus, it wouldn’t be surprising they are doing it again on a much bigger scale. So here’s hoping some disaffected lurker makes a copy of the new e-meter legal agreement and forwards it to Mike when they’re ready to make to leap.
Interesting… I had been wondering why e-meters suddenly reappeared on eBay a while back.
UKbro here
Always good to hear tales of how Corporate COS is killing itself. Makes me feel better about the Marriage thing: If trends continue, it won’t matter a jot.
Keep up the good work!
I almost feel sorry for His Hole-iness.
Naaaah!
But I do feel sorry for people who’ve made CoS Scientology the be-all, end-all of their lives. This new reality adjustment is hitting them brutally. Senior citizens all, their reserves of resilience are depleted after a lifetime of new, better, best, newer, bester, bestest! They are exhausted, unphotogenic, and outmoded. Gas chambers?
Gas Chambers? What a terrible thought. No, Miscavige will have them studying “The Three R’s” ( razor, rope, or revolver?)
A big thank you to the Special Correspondent! Sitting through all that and having to pay attention enough to make this report must be daunting.
It could be worse.
You may have been an Uncle to
Dear Leader in North Korea.
All kidding aside,It sucks to be Miscavige.
All the talk of “purges” in N Korea reminded me of the many Miscavige purges of “useless DBs and SPs” that the poor guy is surrounded with, the only difference being He doesn’t actively – as far as I know – drag them outside to be shot. They just get mentally and spiritually enslaved.
One of Jong Un uncle’s crimes was “not clapping enthusiastically enough” at one of his nephew’s speeches – which also reminded me of IAS events I’ve attended with “clapping leaders” posted at the rear to ensure a correct level of enthusiasm be expressed, while staff posted strategically around the perimeter look on.
Next, Kim Jong Un announces a Mission Holders Conference…
That is fucking funny!
Everytime I hear Demonic Midget speak I wanna purge…..the contents of my stomach straight up and vertical!