Had a chance to look through the latest International Scientology News — the propaganda piece sent out after each international event to re-hype the event hype.
Based on this magazine alone, things are going to hell in a hand-basket in the shrinking bubble of scientology.
What is fascinating about it is what is does NOT contain. It is virtually “expansion news free.” Nothing that reflects the “massive international expansion” Miscavige is constantly mentioning. And all I did was flick through the pages and look at the pictures, I could not bring myself to read any of the drivel.
Here are some key points:
The first pages of “stats” all relate to the “recognitions” for LRH – from major cities like Montufar Canton, Ecuador, and the “Faculty of Maritime Study of the University of Montenegro” and a retired Superintendent from the Danish National Police. Just a bunch of puff. No substance. Not even a good “rolling thunder” (as Miscavige likes to call it) of rat-a-tat-tat “stats” said without a breath and accompanied by much crashing and banging and graphs “breaking through the roof” (though without any numbers on the scale). No “47X” or “13.134 times more people partaking in spiritual aid than in the previous 17 semesters prior to the launch of the second golden age of golden eggs” blah blah. Couldn’t even make stuff up I guess.
Then there is a filler page rehashing the “Historic Landmarks of Earth” – the 6 “LRH properties” around the world and another page promoting “upcoming” ideal orgs that everyone has been hearing about for 10 years.
In the whole magazine there are only 2 full page photoshops of “COB” – a severely crashed statistic. He must be getting embarrassed after the number of times he has been called out for filling the magazine with posed shots of himself in true Kim Jong Un style. In amongst the word-salad they proclaim this to be the “largest LRH Birthday Celebration in history.” I wonder what this is based on? The event is held in the same Ruth Eckerd Hall now for 25 years. It has never outgrown the 2300 seats despite the 12,000 local scientologists. There were NO Ideal Org openings shown. It was the same number of Birthday Game awards as ever. Perhaps it was the length of the Shermanspeak “Source Briefing” that was “largest”?
Be that as it may, there is only a short page of text accompanying a full page shot of the mulleted-one rather than the usual 10 pages rehashing the “source briefing.” Wonder if they are getting tired of the “facts” they present being shot to pieces as soon as they are heard by anyone outside the bubble.
Erin Banks – a new Miscavige pet bearing a more than passing resemblance to Lou
The biggest section of the magazine is devoted to the “Birthday Game Winners” — awards presented by “Ms. Erin Banks from the International Management Public Relations Office.” She too gets a full page glamour shot. More than “Executive director International” Guillaume Lesevre has been given in a decade or more. And he has vanished without mention and certainly without sorrow. Of course if anyone dares ask where he is, they are hustled off for a “metered interview” to get to the bottom of their “disaffection.”
Lots of bs with the winners of course. These awards totally are rigged every year. To fill up the event they brought the Continental Winners for Missions and Orgs onto stage with a little hype about each. Formerly they just showed a short video clip of the continental winners and brought the international winner to appear live at the event. They flew the “winning” org and mission ED in from every continent to try and fill out the event.
The international org winner was Basel. Check out the reality of the Basel Org recently SHOWN here — and that will tell you everything you need to know about the state of scientology orgs internationally. Basel is supposedly the fastest expanding scientology organization on earth!
The winners from each Continental area in the “Class V League”: Pasadena, Bogota, Tokyo, Tampa, London, Johannesburg, Quebec. Wonder if it ever strikes anyone as odd that its ONLY “ideal orgs” that win. You can see a report of the state of Joburg Org here.
You get a flavor of the sort of manufactured smoke and mirrors that is presented for each of these orgs by reading the text on this page. It’s so contrived only ONE Org mentions the total Well Done Auditing Hours — “over 15,000” which is 300 per week. I wonder if anyone told them that DC and Munich were doing more than 1000 hours per week in the 1970’s?
But the biggest outpoint of all is this: Not only did the “Model Ideal St Hill Size Sea Org Class V Org” (LA Org) not win the international birthday game, it didn’t even win WUS!!! This is where all executives from around the world are going to “train” on how to boom their orgs. Clearly, they are NOT booming. So much so that reports have just come in that all the executives in the Ideal PAC Bridge — AOLA, ASHO and LA Org have just been busted! These are the biggest and bestest orgs on earth. And now along with the latest “ideal” SO Org (AOSHUK) the execs have been shit-canned.
Back to the ISN.
Then there is 6 pages devoted to the same old photos of the SuMP “soon to open” and 8 pages devoted to the not yet opened Atlanta Org. In the past, there is NO WAY Miscavige would talk about an org that was not yet open as a “Done!” It’s a sure sign of desperation. And this one is announced as DONE in capital letters, “gallantly leading the ideal org advance” from behind, as it would not be opened for another 3 weeks.
There are 4 pages devoted to “The Basics”, 4 pages to the “Glorious State of Clear” and 4 pages to “A Planetary OT Boom” — these are just all old “success stories” and hype. Another 4 pages to the wonders of Flag and 4 more to the miracle of the Freewinds.
And the only other “announcement” is the hype an bout the “foundation to all metering and auditing skills” being “now available” — “The LRH technical training film, How The E-Meter Works.” There must be so few auditors left in scientology that Miscavige believes nobody realizes the film was available for 20 years, but he decided to withdraw it due to being “infested” with now declared SP’s. Look at these idiotic “success stories” making it look like this is an amazing breakthrough….
And then, the final “tell” that there is absolutely NOTHING to say at this event.
The ubiquitous EPIC WINS “Success Video” now extended to 7 MINUTES and OVER 60 VOICES! This thing is stuck to the back of the free magazine. Yet if you want to get a CD (cheaper to make than a DVD) of a lecture, it will cost you anywhere between $20 and $50 each. This is perhaps the most bizarre thing in the whole sorry story. Because they make the video 7 minutes long — too long by 3 times at least — they promote it as “evidence” that everything is peachy-keen. “Look, we made a higher stack of fake success stories, so obviously everyone is winning.”
Without doubt, this is the most underwhelming, empty March 13th event ever. I have been attending or watching (post 2007) since the FIRST “international management briefings” occurred back in the late 80’s — and participated in them from 1990 through 2006. This was an “F” – even the CGI and fake stats have run their course. There is just nothing to say any more.
Mike, okay, okay, I get it, stats may be in Emergency, okay, fine. But help is on the way, I guarantee it. Scientology and Dear Leader are about to be thrust big time into the public relations opportunity of this or any other lifetime. On April 29, just the day before Dear Leader’s exalted and much celebrated birthday, he will be heavily featured on ABC’s prime time 20/20 show, with minor cameos by his father Ron Miscavige and other lesser lights. But that’s not all! Just 4 days later, on May 3, Ron’s book “Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige and Me” releases throughout the entire English-speaking world. Rumor has it that Dear Leader’s monumental achievements as leader of the world’s fastest growing religion are given the treatment they so richly warrant. And we’re not done yet! That very night Ron will be further enhancing his son’s legacy on Seth Myer’s late night show on NBC (?). And that’s just the beginning of the media attention to be heaped upon Dear Leader. Certainly, Scientology has never had such potential for expansion and I am certain that this very moment DL is hard at work planning to capitalize on the monumental, epic and earth-shattering effects to come his way. Think of it as a birthday gift to end all birthday gifts from us to you, Dave. You deserve it.
Shared to some 24 Facebook Groups. A No Spin Zone post, thanks Mike Rinder.
Is it just me, or do the ads from $cicon look like the ShamWoW guy did the ad copy? Marketing 101 apparently isn’t part of the WISE curriculum. How amateurish!
When you’re stuck in the 50s, how effective can your ad copy be?
Whats the news about Tom Cruise moving into Saint Hill Manor.
Does he make the rent check out to David Miscavige ? or is this
an assistant Pope of Scientology thing with perks.
Will he experiment with tomatoes with an OT8 meter in the Greenhouse.
London Chicks are in fashion with Tom now, this is wild.
Things must be really dire to use the heavy artillery.
what makes them think that ANYONE would want to watch that DVD anyway? probably the people who are in it don’t even want to watch it. unless there’s going to be a test next time you go to the org…
When you say Boom do you mean Boom as in a sudden take off in the direction of up, up and away or Boom as in one of the retreaded tired tyres (groan inducing) blowing off and causing the disaster that is $camology to slow down a little more?
60 voices in 7 minutes equals a huge 7 seconds per voice gushing about “epic wins”. I’m glad I didn’t have a mouthful of coffee when I worked it out.
From the demented point of view that most members of the Church of Scientology possess, it is considered “ethical” or “right” to be famous in the church among one’s peers for having done something. But as this article proves, and as LRH has said himself, sometimes the worst thing is not what you have done that makes the difference but what you HAVEN’T done that you should have. 🙂
That was a wickedly funny description of the David Miscavige oratory style, BTW. Until now I haven’t really given much thought to the enormous effort required to mount this huge charade of scientology expansion. The demands are unrelenting and David Miscavige, either through design or in accordance with laws of nature, is carrying the entire weight of it on his back like Atlas. As time passes it gets heavier, not lighter. I don’t think he has the inclination to shrug. This reported axing of West Coast executives looks ominous. That level of desperation carries the smell of “breaking point”. How much counter-intention from the gods can a man endure before he goes genuinely psychotic? I don’t want to get my hopes up prematurely but it really looks like we don’t have a long wait to see how this plays out for him.
Don’t worry , Miscavige shrugs every time he is asked about lives destroyed, families separated, minds destroyed- the dwarfenfurher’s life is such a shrug-athon it is a wonder he isn’t considered the hunchback of don’t-a-damn.
Atlas? He is the twisted grown–up (years, not size) version of the kid getting sand kicked in his face in the old Charles Atlas comic book ads– dynamic tension has become Dianetic Tent-shows, and he is doing the sand kicking now– on the side of the bullies.
Or as I like to call Him, a superannuated 8th-grader.
Really, a DVD? Since that “Scientologists On Line” CD experience with the sneakily installed CSI censorship software, I wouldn’t connect anything to/with my PC coming from the Cof$ .. at least not before a real expert takes a look.
Sony installed rootkits with their DVDs to safeguard copyright, so I wouldn’t put it past DM and his minions to pay some company to do a similar stunt (and knowing full well that INCOMM doesn’t have the brains to pull it off on their own).
I’ve been cheated!!!!!! My copy of the magazine just arrived in the mail but the 7 minute Suckcess Video was not included. What a bummer!!! Now I’ll have to drive by the local Org to listen to it there.
RB, I say we storm the castle walls….
FYI Mike: over the last couple of days I’ve had intermittent problems accessing your site. Five minutes after getting a “Can’t access” message I can try again and sometimes get through, sometimes not. Judging by comments over at the Underground Bunker quite a few people are having similar problems.
Hi Graham, Good to meet you. Yes, gremlins are afoot. I always haveintermittant troubles if I post something someone does not like, but this week appears particularly ramped up.We must have hit a vein! Always, Ann.
Richard, your comments were well received with me. I’ve spoken before of all I got from those MUCH earlier years when things were considerably different. I got a ton from it, much of it still effective. Not the least of which is an ex-SO woman so talented, fun, beautiful and sharp, that would have been enough.
Many who claim this or that which is “bad” about scio, are never-ins and really are just puppeting the words of others. Very little, in in numbers, of truly nasty events took place early on. LRH was pretty foxy about such things, especially keeping in good with the public. Of course, his operations directly against the US government were the stupidest thing I could have imagined, the beginning of the tilt straight down. But even those things didn’t directly impose on the org publics.
There was good tech in the comm course. I taught it and got some major results for many of my students. There were, for me, some lovely results from auditing. I speak for no one else on that subject.
In any case, Miscavige is shoveling ground into the grave as fast as he can and we’ll soon find other things to talk about. 🙂
Hi P. Burnes, Thank you for a sweet and true post.I am so happy you found your sweetheart and you know if I had had a certain auditor,well the starry skies would have been no limit,but I feel so good you and yours and I escaped the grip of what you loved became.It did hurt me deeply that the tech I worshiped so could be used against me and others, xo Ann.
Got it, P. Burnes – there were a lot of fun times, too.
As Mike blows through the wall of bullshit…………
…we all come out shining on the other side.
I wonder if Erin’s mommy were in the audience. I wonder if her mommy Paula ever told her about her GO days and how she was a spy living in Paulette Cooper’s building. Maybe Erin should be asked in hundreds of emails.
Harass the girl about something her mother did 40 years ago or whatever? Make her suffer for her “mother’s sins”? Stuff that happened before this woman was born? Do you have kids, friends or family you want harassed and fair gamed about your goin ons 40 years ago?
If you think it was wrong for someone to set Paulette Cooper up for losses, why would you want to set this girl up for a loss that way?
If you have some complaint against her mother, is it right to use her child as a weapon against her? Who is volunteering to harass her in hundred’s of emails? Let it rip, on the harm attack and suppress code?
This post is about FALSE REPORTS from the Church of Scientology. Not a game plan to “do someone in” and fk with someone’s family or kids. Strange and scary justice code you are trying to weave into this social intercourse.
OTD if my daughter were in scientology, which, thank Xenu she’s not, I would think it was wrong of you to harrass her for what I did in GO.
COB’s Fifth Miracle Golden Age of Ideal Super Semi-Flubless Hyper-Invalidative Sec Checking has arrived! And it nothing less than a miracle for the ages complete with all Orgs at every level being equipped with new full body restraints and escape-proof, soundproof OT dungeons.
The “Why” for lack of expansion is COB’s peerless insights: Scientologists have crimes and evil purposes so hidden, buried, and deeply implanted that these crimes were not detectable until COB cognited on the need for the e-meter + waterboarding + bamboo shoots under the fingernails as vital technical tools to rip the crimes from withholdy and criminal Scientologists who would rather sneakily and with premeditation read hater boards instead of official Scientology news approved by we in RTC.
Bottom line: We in RTC will find your crimes using ecclesiastical torture because this is what it takes to save this planet, boom the stats, and get our cratered cash flow back to at least 2007 pre-Anonymous, pre-Indie, pre-Going Clear, pre-Truth Rundown, pre-hater boards, and pre-Joking & Degrading run amok.
COB wants a fully embracive return to the good ol’ days when he was held in high esteem as a global ecclesiastical leader, the “New Jesus” so to speak, rather than as he is seen now as a cruel, buffonish, insane, and vainglorious pompadoured nancyboy with serious anger management issues.
In happier news, Flag has been fumigated again. There are now 47x fewer palmetto bugs in the guest rooms.
Hi OTVIIIISGREAT, I am postless at the moment as your post is brilliant! I am so glad I got out before dm! Always,Ann.
Hi OTVIIIisGrrr8, Siri is bad today.Messed your name up.Ann.
No problem Ann. You can never mess up Grrr8! in any language!
Umm, OTVIII, I hate to bust your bubble, (not really) but I have never, not once held David Miscavige in high esteem and I first met him when he was a teenager.
Hi Valerie, I hear you.I first wrote to dm at Delphian School and in 74 the letter I got back was misspelled and had no logical progression as to subject.I think he is not stupid to have gotten where he is, but in terms of myself as a letter reg wanting to write back to him, I did not want to.That was highly unusual for me.
Maybe I am going nuts because of all I went thru,but I thought OTVIIIs description of sec checking was humorous for me.How much I love sec-checking could never be measured,had plenty of it done by all types.xo,Ann.
“…a cruel, buffoonish, insane and vainglorious pompadoured nancyboy, with serious anger management issues.” But enough already on his good points.
Love your posts, OT. One of these days I’m going to compile them into a booklet.
Poor Erin Banks has achieved “Pethood” status with Miscavige…that is one small step away from being Holed.
My last 15 years in the SO, I always hoped to stay as much and as far away from Miscavige as I possibly could.
True dat. I am sure he considers her to be a more acceptable image for “his church” than the old french guy with a receding hairline. So typical of Miscavige. His vanity well is deep and dark. Erin Banks, a nobody, is anointed to present the annual Birthday Game Awards because she is photogenic. Of course, there is no need for an ED Int to even exist. But I guarantee you every one of those “winners” would have preferred to receive their award from the most senior executive in scientology management (COB RTC doesn’t count, as he has stated numerous times, “I am not church management” – though this would in fact be a true statement if he added to the end of it “but I am church micromanagement.”)
Form over substance. Style before content. It’s not how you feel, it’s how you look dahling. Miscavige mottos.
Unfortunately I have to agree. In today’s church its all about appearance. You have to appear to be helping people. You have to appear to be expanding.
But, this is not new, Scientology has always had an air of pretense. Scientology pretended to be a religion. They pretend the State of Clear exists. They pretend that OT powers are achievable by doing their OT Levels. They pretend to be the largest voluntary humanitarian organization on the planet. It’s NEVER about what “is”, it’s about what “might be”.
Hype is part of its DNA.
SSOA, I don’t think Erin Banks is Sea Org. I think she’s a pubic, the daughter of a whale couple. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. I’d like to be because the idea of a public doling out Birthday Game trophies is an outrageous to me.
Edit: “..is an outrage to me”.
She and her husband are SO
Got it. Glad to be wrong about that.
And where is Lou?
Peter, she’s still in bed. She wasn’t feeling well…
Maybe He has an issue with the way she’s been handling His -um, org board.
+1! Nice! Very nice!
“Clearly, they are NOT booming. So much so that reports have just come in that all the executives in the Ideal PAC Bridge — AOLA, ASHO and LA Org have just been busted! These are the biggest and bestest orgs on earth. And now along with the latest “ideal” SO Org (AOSHUK) the execs have been shit-canned.”
So let me get this straight? Decimating the org board worked so well at Hemet (oh wait! it didn’t) that he has decided to expand the decimation to any org he can get his hands on.
Sounds like a winning strategy.
At least winning for those of us who want the bubble dwellers freed.
I wonder WHEN the Quebec city ideal morgue “introduced more than 2000 people to Scientology in the French Canadian hearthland”. The place is always empty when I happen to pass in front of it, day or night. It also happens to be the place where you get the fastest parking violation ticket I’ve ever experienced anywhere, so perhaps it’s best that way.
Oh, and BTW, calling a Québécois a “French Canadian” is a guaranteed way to piss them off.
I think I can answer that, Kemist. When each of these 2000 people were “introduced”, they said,
“How do you do? So nice to meet you. Well, I really must be going”.
And stayed gone.
” So much so that reports have just come in that all the executives in the Ideal PAC Bridge — AOLA, ASHO and LA Org have just been busted! These are the biggest and bestest orgs on earth. And now along with the latest “ideal” SO Org (AOSHUK) the execs have been shit-canned.”
Oooooo. It’s all starting to circle the drain Dave. Things are only going to get worse and you’re running out of people to blame. I’ve got my popcorn ready. 🙂
And, NOLAGirl, this is happening all over Teegeeack! Look at the faces in the ads. They’re mostly older people like me. No one new is coming in. These Model Idle Morgues are just that, idle. I don’t know how they reconcile all the hoopla at the events with what they actually see. Unless they’re using a ‘thought stopping mechanism.’
But I’m sure they are not as cool or as good a surfer as you OSD.
Oh, not even close!
Oh OSD, none of them age as gracefully as you. You = Fine Wine. Them = Stale Cheese. I hope they’ll break through the thought-stopping soon and join us out here. The air is lovely. 🙂
P.S. How are Mom and Baby Surfer Dude doing? Everything baking well & according to plan?
My daughter-in-law was in Palm Springs with her girlfriends when she felt the baby kick. From the ultrasound, he has his dad’s legs. My son is what we call a ‘hapa haole boy.’ Half Japanese and half white. But, it’s 6’3″ so he’s hope his son gets his height.
But, everything is baking well, NOLAGirl! And thanks for asking!
Circling the drain? Ha ha. More like “circling the toilet”
…circling the toilet with all of their crimes going down the shitter…
WHO is going to pry that DVD off the inside back cover and stick it in their computer (because ain’t nobody got a DVD player anymore) ?
Are you insulting my Mac Pro?????
If there’s anything gives me a chuckle, it’s stumbling across mixed metaphors. For instance, though I’ve never read a Dan Brown novel (life is too short), he famously wrote “learning the ropes in the trenches” in Deception Point, which is hilariously awful writing. Worthy of a Bulwer Lytton award, if it were intentional.
Today we have a mixed visual metaphor, from Scientology, that is so many layers of stupid, it’s like a Chinese puzzle box of maze navigation (see what I did there?). What I’m talking about is the horse racing trophy backed by checkered flags. I ask you this: Have you ever seen a checkered flag used at Churchill Downs? Have you ever seen a 2 year old thoroughbred crossing the line at Indy? But let’s get down to cases: What place does a racing metaphor of any kind have in this magazine?
Wow, the Academy Level 0 guy finally understands electricity. I understood electricity the first time I put a butter knife into the wall socket.
While $cienoLand always gives us ‘success stories’ where are the ‘fails’? I suppose they are still word clearing ‘the’, ‘and’ and ‘so on and so forth’.
The lack of proper formatting in the brag pamphlet is astounding. At least the cd label should be easily readable. I guess the Sea bOrg who put the whole thing together didn’t pass their Briant and Stratton publishing course. Are there no trained professionals left in the clampire? Apparently not.
Does not seem his understanding of electricity goes far enough to realize that he’s being sold an outdated piece of electronics worth about $40 for $5000.
I would ask for a refund.
Laughter – My younger brother was once crawling around on the floor and stuck a screwdriver into a wall socket. A big surprise, had he – lol
Your younger brother was smarter than me. I was 17 (I think) and I was in our front yard with an electric hedge clipper. I was in bare feet standing in water on the lawn. I clipped the cord. Half of my body was frying. I couldn’t let go of the clippers. My hair was standing on end. Finally, I had to hit the clippers out of my hand. Tell your younger brother what I did so he feels better about himself.
You probably cooked a bunch of poor body thetans
I might have fried all of them. Hey, that’s it! Long before I was in the cult, I must have fried all my BTs as they’ve never communicated with me! Woo Hoo! And, IT WAS FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, who’s first to pick up the electrical clippers. Let me just plug this in and away you go. Your BTs will be gone in no time!
You were a (sort of) “Natural Ot” at age 17!
LMAO!!! I guess we all were at 17, Richard! Thanks for my laugh today!
???
just for a point of reference: I work at an international law firm and once worked at a health care firm that provided services for hundreds of hospitals. Even with HIPAA and SOC2 compliance, things like that — neither found it worthwhile to purchase degaussing machines. When we had drives that needed to be destroyed, we’d pay a firm to put a spike thru them. There is no reason for most businesses (and zero for a ‘church’) to need something like that unless they something to wipe them NOW, as in ‘the cops are out front with a warrant.’
Wow. This is major, Mike. So may tells in this. The Reckoning has arrived and already on the last act. I hope that messages are getting through that there are many out here waiting and ready to help.
I think of the last mass exodus scene similar to the Close Encounters scene near the end when people from widely different time periods, ages, walks of life, the soldier, the child, all stumbling out of the mother ship dazes, confused and befuddled. And then hands reach out and help them away, citing their names, background info, where they came from. Like that.
I am so very glad we are going to live to see this happen. I’ll put on the coffee and start a batch of homemade soup.
DM’s plan to “fake expansion” in the face of contraction is lacking…… a plan B. Duh…
hahahahahahaaa!!! those testimonials for “How The E-Meter Works” epitomize so much of what $cientology is about: “i finally understand how electricity works!! this video talks about a weird-ass contraption i never heard of before, then they explain what it is, and now i understand it! i truly feel sorry for those in the wog-world that don’t have access to info like this – this religion is AMAZING!!!”
Shocking
I was watching a documentary on oil running out in the next half century recently and they cited the irresponsible use of plastic as being part of the problem. I therefore find it deeply disturbing when 3 copies of scn international news arrive in our mail box all plastic wrapped and bearing the pathetically stupid propaganda DVD on the reverse (made of unrecyclable plastic of course). Why are the always among the last to catch on to social media?
Great post. I received two copies myself. I reluctantly returned them to sender. I say reluctantly because I would have recycled them, and I know they will just throw them in the trash, as Scientology completely neglects the 5th and 6th dynamic. No matter how much I return there mail they just keep sending it. Any tips on getting off the mailing list would be helpful. Thanks.
Hi Good P, it’s easy and fun getting of Co$ mailing lists, and here’s how: If the propaganda has a BRE (business reply envelope), tape it to a brick, or a big stack of old phone books, then take it to the Post Office and mail it. It costs the CO$ about $40 to get it. If they refuse to pay, they lose BRE priveleges. INSTANT REMOVAL! They even send word to other Orgs and they remove you too. Make sure the name and address they send the propaganda to is in the BRE (tear it off the propaganda). Post Office workers are aware of this and get a good laugh.
I think the old phone books would be a no no. Instant NEW NAMES IN CENTRAL FILES for over worked staff! Tons of them. dm will be telling 4700 X expansion!
I save all pictures of Miscavige. The the more exalted they are the better – as for example, when he poses between fake marble pillars with all the gold silver and scarlet symbols everywhere and against the dela robia blue sky, like some ersatz Renaissance painting. The more the merrier because I line the cat’s litter pan with them. That heavy waxy paper underneath the litter is better than plastic.
That’s pet abuse
They never send me anything heavy enough to send back your way, James. BUT…our paper recycling box is exactly on the line between our mail box and the entry to the house. Now isn’t *that* convenient?
@goodpeople: Printouts of articles from Mike or Tony’s blog or Lisa McPherson’s autopsy photo in the BRE will get you off their mailing list also.
In Scientology, I think ‘social media’ refers to a cocktail party with members of the press.
Regarding your question Mike about the 70’s and 1,000 WDAHs stat, I remember the stat program that management used. I wonder if FB (FCB or whatever its called) people look up historic org stats and wonder WTF is happening? I cannot imagine the thought process of anyone in middle management and above.
Service Orgs didn’t have that program so could never look at other orgs stats so they can be bamboozled to a larger degree.
I think people in the church read International Scientology News the same way – just look at the pictures and read a few words here and there. Deep down they know it’s all bullshit too.
You stole my comment! I think the flashy fliers put out by scientology are more closely read by those of us on the outside than anyone still in.
I think they make the flashy fliers for us to make us think they actually are expanding. Because, as Valerie said, those on the inside don’t even read them. They heard it all before….
A quick look at just what it means to be honored by Montufar Canton of Ecuador. A canton is roughly equivalent to a county in US government. The canton of Montufar is the second largest canton of Carchu province, which is in turn one of the smaller provinces of Ecuador. The population of Montufar is approximately 25,000 people, a tiny sliver of Ecuador’s overall population of 16 million people.
Carchu province is in the jungle and appears to be rural, composed of large amounts of national park land. There don’t appear to be too many paved roads in Montufar Canton and it’s not even clear based on Google Maps aerial photos that there’s a lot of farming in the area. In other words, it’s basically the back of beyond.
For them to be giving LRH an award sounds more than fishy. It reminds me of the time that Applied Scholastics tried to claim that they had trained all the teachers in The Gambia, a small African country ruled by a tyrannical dictator.
I call bull@#$( on this and believe that the cult is making it up, solely because this claim would be nearly impossible to verify. I’m sure that the government of Montufar Canton would be very surprised to hear that they had given an award to a crazy American cult leader who’s been dead for 30 years, but my Spanish skills aren’t up to the task of contacting them to verify it.
John P, if you have ever been to the L Ron Hubbard Life Exhibition the grand finale is a series of panels that open up in sequence on motorized rails, showing hundreds of similar certificates, keys to the city, etc. etc.while the canned sound track on laser disk (!) drones on about how great the Hubster was.
There are staff whose full time duty is just to send out mountains of requests for recognitions for L Ron Hubbard. By the law of averages there are always some few who reply and send in a fancy looking certificate.
It is like the Nigerian email scammers, very few reply to the thousands of emails that go out. Of those few who reply, very few fall for the requests for money. But it only takes one in ten thousand to make the rent so the scam goes on.
It’s almost beyond belief that they have a team of people who do this, but then it’s scientology nothing is beneath them when it comes to stat collecting, I wonder how they justified repurchasing l ron’s books to try and get them to the top of the best seller list? You’d think that the people doing this sort of thing would question why it’s necessary if scientology is really doing so well?
There is a long time that scientology, even Under Hubbard, is using pretty girls faces and bodies to sell the scam religion. I wrote on this long long ago;
https://www.antisectes.net/scientology-and-sex.htm where you’ll nsee a choice of such images (I did not put the faces).
I went to Big Blue my first time last week. Given a tour by a very pretty young lady. I should have told them I was gay and could I please have a cute guy show me around.
Mike, I would have loved to see the look on her face if you had told her you were gay. She might have instantly run away…..
Hi mikefixac, Good to meet you.I would have loved to see the very pretty young tour slave handle your comment.I do not think she could keep those lovely TR’s in! Always,Ann.
Hello Ann. I was at the billboard ceremony (or whatever one would call it) that day. Being in Los Angeles, it was my chance to visit Big Blue.
The poor girl (my handler/minder) at Big Blue was a very pretty girl from Costa Rica. The girl at the desk was from Luxembourg. I had read that a lot of Scientology is now being staffed by foreigners. My Costa Rican friend asked me how I got to Big Blue. I then got to tell her the story of Phil and Willie, the billboard and Scientology’s policy of disconnection.
Since there was a camera overhead of us, I’m sure we were watched and listened to, and she was immediately called away.
After I left, I wanted to go back in to ask if I could have taken her to lunch. But I knew it would have been a waste of time. When I told her about the disconnection policy, she didn’t say anything, but I could see the wheels turning.
Hi mikefixac, Thank you for filling me in on your experience. I wish I had been at the billboard unveiling.I was the only one of my family to do cos, but I feel so strongly that disconnection is one of the most horrible policies ( along with fair game ) that the cult uses no matter what they say on the inside.
You were very thoughtful to want to take the Costa Rican SOer to lunch.I was always hungry when I was in & you may have been able to help her in someway.Although I am still wrapping my head around all the nationalities in SO now.In my day,African-Americans were the only other group that very occasionally had a SO member,otherwise all white and I never saw an Asian or Hispanic on course or auditing.Times change but Sea Org is still what it was just different faces.I will look for your posts,very interesting.Love,Ann.
“A special offer awaits you at the end”. Yes. It’s called a “SP Declare”. Almost all Class XI auditors ever made have been Declared. Since 1982, more $cns are Declared than total membership. Truly, “The game where everybody wins”.
special offer – SP declare! – lol – I wonder if they would start giving out goldenrods again if you paid for them
HA!!! That is the ONE way I would give any money to the Co$: I would actually pay them for my Goldenrod. Not a lot, say $25. Remember “never trust anyone over 30”? The new one is “never trust anyone that doesn’t have a Goldenrod”.
Man, I feel really left out! I was never declared (to the best of my knowledge).
I can fix that for you if you are really feeling deprived…
Well, Mike, so many people have been declared, I just felt left out. But, if you can give me a call and yell at me how out ethics I am and that I’m completely CI and will be Declared as soon as the ink dries, that would make my day! Oh, and don’t forget to scream in my face about my crimes! Whew! I can’t wait to get my hands on that Goldenrod! That means I’ve arrived!
@mike, I haven’t been declared either.
I was told by Larry Jacobs in late 2011 that he was going to blacklist me. Yes I did celebrate that day (and every day since because the calls went down from hundreds in a 6-month period to 0).
Put me on the list with OSD of people desiring their Goldenrod of Honor SP Declare. They are more precious than … well … um … the paper they are printed on?
“The Goldenrod Girls” would work for the ladies
“Goldenrod Girls”. Love it! The newest reality show from the cult. Add this to “Keeping Up With The Cardones”. Actually, I just thought one for the Jensen family: “Eight Is Too Much”.
Hi Richard, I think “The Goldenrod Girls would be a much bigger hit than anything put out by KSCAM TV.What a hoot that series would be for all us bitter defrocked…you know the drill.xo Ann.
I remember when I was ‘in’ thinking I knew “how the e meter works”. If it worked the way lrh said, you wouldn’t have to grip the electrodes in your hands. You could just attach the roaches to a colander on your head.
Attach the roaches to a colander on my head? Yeah, I’ll give that a try. Thanks for the tip, Good People!
Hi Good People, Your post had me laughing hysterically and I would have been all for attaching roaches to the colander on my head! Triple Float when I realize the lights will stay on too! Those darn OJ cans of yesteryears!Love,Ann.
OSD and Ann, I want a video of the session so I can check for any auditing errors.
Love you guys.
Oh, I’m sure it was recorded. All we have to do is break in……I mean, go to the org and get it. That shouldn’t be too hard, right? And…Ann B and I love you too, Good People. Wow! I’m really feeling the love….
Hi OSD, ❤❤ back at you two soon to be the most cool grandparents ever! Ann B.
Thanks, Ann B! And we will be very cool grandparents!
“….reports have just come in that all the executives in the Ideal PAC Bridge — AOLA, ASHO and LA Org have just been busted! ”
I so would love to hear a live interview with someone or someones with info of the recent demotions of the PAC Sea Org execs.
I wish the info providers or links to recent chat site info on the managment ups and downs could be centralized and an article monthly on the recent postings, up and down, in orgs.
Any recent long or short term top (PAC and HGB or Flag level) Sea Orgers quit who have been willing to talk freely?
I wonder what the legal docs signing for routing out of PAC, HGB and Flag today require them to give up.
What a dismal never ending experience, and then when they wise up if they ever do, they read books like Marty’s 3rd book, Chapter 24 “Meanwhile Back At The Ranch” and they read Lawrence Wright’s “Going Clear….” book or the HBO Special, and hear firsthand from Sarge that LRH admitted failure in the end of LRH’s life.
Scientology can be a colossal letdown if you take Hubbard’s words seriously and compare the words to the lack of OT super-people (OTs) who can do supernatural good deeds improving the world.
It’s a big learning curve getting back out from under the hype of first LRH and then ongoing Miscavige standard narrative.
Outside books, Janet Reitman’s, Hugh Urban’s, Lawrence Wright’s, and the HBO “Going Clear….” I’d give the HBO DVD “Going Clear…” as a present to every Sea Org member who successfully routes out as a free gift bag gift on their way out!
Jon Lundeen has been CO of ASHO for decades. I wonder if he would call this a ‘bad hair day’? So what will Jon be scrubbing with his toothbrush this week? You what the RPF really stands for Jon ………………… reamed, poked and fucked! They will have their way with you Jon.
Yo John,
Time to walk good buddy, things are going to shit a little bit faster these days and are sure to speed up soon! How does it feel to be on the receiving end of an ethics gradient?
Doesn’t Jon just go with the flow?
He does only when he has diarrhea.
So glad I reading this blog while eating lunch.
LMFAO!!! C’mon now, Aqua, sometimes we have to get dirty to be funny!
Newcomer, It sure sucks to be Jon Lundeen and besides the RPF he is married to Edy!!!
Hi Chuck – I had some similar thoughts, but posting names would cause future embarrassment to people after they wake up and blow. Up and down posting of org positions would be ok. It would be nice to hear from a recent escapee, but it would too tough until decompression.
I’m a first generation ex-scio and I’m coming to appreciate many things I learned in scn, subject of. I don’t entirely equate scn and LRH. Many brilliant thinkers contributed to “the tech” and who knows how much of it is a rewording of earlier valid knowledge. As I type this I realize the plus points and out points have been debated on hundreds of blog topics, but I just thought I’d give some voice to those still using some scn in their life.
“No OTs” is often stated, but how many people would have got sucked in by promo saying “Learn About Yourself!” Too lame – laughter.
No DVDs, but I donated my Troublemaker book to the local library after I read it.
I did the same, donating all my critical books on Scientology. (And I followed other people;s suggestions of trashing all my LRH stash boos/vols/CDs which was refreshing to lose those mental connections to Hubbard’s trivia}.
@chuck, I agree that every outgoing Sea Org member needs that DVD.
I know there are soft places to fall but wouldn’t it be lovely if there was a Sea Org halfway house sort of based on the battered women’s shelter, where people could go and have access to clothes, food and a place to hide while they get over their initial fear?
The underground to help slaves escape sea org is getting better all the time, I hope someday it is unnecessary.
I think that that’s what should be done with all the ideal morgues, they should be turned into housing for all the SO coming out… use some of the money to buy beds and fridges and clothes and actually help some of the people who have been damaged by the cult.
Wow, Mike — you slipped a bombshell in around paragraph 14: “…reports have just come in that all the executives in the Ideal PAC Bridge — AOLA, ASHO and LA Org have just been busted!”
This is what journalists mean when they say someone has “buried the lede.”
I mean, this is huge, isn’t it? I know Dave fires people all the time. But in this case, it’s like he’s swinging his little arm in rage and knocking all the figures off the top of the birthday cake.
I remember when you covered the big SO takeover/makeover of LA Org a couple of years ago — or was it even more recent than that? There was a page in the promotional material devoted to a “meet the new staff” feature. Sort of like, “Here are your new overlords.” There was the new ED, with her little photo and a brief, unexciting personal statement: something about “standard management, standard tech, standard ethics — the usual.” She also mentioned how LA has a lot of cultural minorities, seeming to suggest that she planned to milk that for what it was worth.
It was kind of weird and hollow, I thought, but it gave some insight into Dave’s understanding of the problems in LA Org. If that Org, and the rest of PAC Base, were not booming, then he could think of only one explanation: “standard” tech was not being correctly applied. IIRC, there was one feeble earlier attempt to pin the problem on one individual, who apparently was sabotaging command intention, and that poor schlemiel was sidelined — but that didn’t accomplish anything, so Dave went for the whole clean sweep, bringing in an all-SO team that could be trusted to apply LRH tech *fanatically*.
In subsequent months, as EDs from all over the world were flown in for a stint of remedial instruction, it became clear what super-standard LRH Class V org tech looked like in practice: banzai body routing.
Surprisingly, from poor Dave’s point of view, this clean sweep accomplished nothing at all. Worse than that, he finds himself being jeered and mocked and brazenly defied in his own playground. Even before the billboard went up (and the media jumped all over it) there were these two Oh No! podcasters trolling around all over LA, breezing in and out of his high-security paradise and serving up J&D for the masses, to the delight of SPs and defrocked apostates everywhere. The billboard was, I would guess, the last straw.
You’ve given us a front-row seat for this show, Mike. Great, amazing work!
So…what’s to become of the execs who were busted? And what were they busted for? And which place will they go: The RPF or the Hole (which continues to not exist).
In the current climate, with the internet and the many Scientology watchers, the church is walking on egg shells when it comes to public announcements. They know, as has been demonstrated, that every word will be scrutinized; all lies will be exposed.
They have a real problem. One on hand Scientology seeks to promote itself in an effort to gain new members; on the other hand they don’t want anyone to look too close. Combine that with their decades-long, habitual lying and deceiving, and the task of writing copy becomes almost impossible.
They really don’t have anything new to say. No new products, no new services, no new anything really. Same old over-the-top success stories bordering on delusion. All they can do is embellish their founder’s history through forgotten tales, and falsify their own accomplishments.
@statpush, IMHO scientology has gone past being able to promote themselves to obtain new members, they are bone crushingly frightened (which they hide under their cloak of arrogance) of any non-bubble dweller discovering the man behind the curtain.
especially with the Internet making every truth to their lies pretty hard to miss. it’s very clear that LRH did not prepare them for the real world that would have seemed a sci-fi fantasy in his time… that’s the question I would love to ask anyone who still has real faith in LRH’S visions of the distant future (or even the distant past of space travels.) why would he not have imagined the Internet? or computers people could carry in their pockets? other sci-fi writers of his Era did…
the arrogance of scns seems almost quaint as their world crashes around them, though many of them will suffer from the rude awakening that’s coming.
Please oh please put the video up on Youtube, or Rutube so the rest of the world can truly savour those 7 minutes!
+1! We want those 7 minutes on youtube!
LOL silly markthehungarian, EPIC WINS! are copyrighted. ;-0
Could we have a look at the “EPIC WINS” video?
Only if your heart is up for it, Lennart. You see, these Epic Wins are also incredible, fantastic, mind blowing and earth shattering. Sometimes people faint dead away listening to these wins. That’s how powerful the wins are. So…go ahead Lennart and get the video. You can always stop watching if your heart starts to act a little funny.
I think the EPIC WINS! are like OTIII, if you’re not ready for it, it will make you sick. I believe watching any EPIC WINS! would make me sick at this point. I must be in bad “spiritual” shape.
I think you’re in the best Spiritual shape you’ve ever been in, Valerie! Now drop and give me 10 pushups…..
If it’s as good as it sounds, we might be able to watch it on Saturday Night Live
Only a matter of time, Mike. It’s only a matter of time.
Birthday game for LA Org reminds me of legendary sales contest movie Glengarry Glen Ross staring Alec Baldwin, Al Pacino and Jack Lemon: 1st prize – Cadillac Eldorado, 2nd prize – set of steak knives, 3rd prize – you’re fired!
Also, I can assure (as I was one of the auditors) that DC was doing more than 1000 hours a week in 1974 (none of which were purification rundown or book 1). I remember one week in July we did more than 1700. These days with everyone being blanket c/s’d to do/redo purification rd – many of those 300 hours per week were purif. Orgs get to count 1/2 hour for every hour someone sits in the sauna.
A Belated Happy Birthday Mike. FYI – the format of your blog changed for my computer. Did you change it?