An eagle eyed Special correspondent sent me this Daily Mail story which could be about scientology. I have excerpted some of it below, there are more photos at the Daily Mail site.
Apparently the North Koreans are envious of the scientology “ideal buildings” strategy for placating the sheeple with photos of empty facilities, all set up for action, but with nobody to use them.
The motto seems to be “Build it and they won’t come — but they will be certain other people are and that proves how well things are going inside our bubble.”
Empty corridors, restaurants with fake grass and no SNOW: Inside North Korea’s only ski resort which Kim Jong-un says is ‘impeccable’
The communist enclave’s one and only ski destination, on top of Taehwa Peak, boasts a hotel with wood cabin style rooms, complimentary toiletries, and spa facilities and 110 kilometres (70 miles) of multi-level slopes.
However, photographer Aram Pan, from Singapore, who took the photos while on his fourth trip to North Korea from 16-20 October, did not find any other tourists to mingle with.
‘I saw one western tourist on a “private tour” at the Ski resort. I’m not sure who he was. I didn’t ask,’ Mr Pan told Daily Mail Australia.
The Masikryong ski resort was built on top of Taehwa Peak, near the port city and naval base Wonsan, in just 10 months
Photographer Aram Pan was given access to photograph the wood cabin style bedrooms, including this one in the ‘Second Class Accommodation’
The Dome Cafe at Masikryong Ski Resort has a fake green grass floor and wicker chairs for skiers to enjoy refreshments in
The sprawling 1,400-hectare resort was built in just ten months as part of a push by leader Kim Jong-un to increase overseas tourist numbers from 200,000 to 1 million per annum by 2016.
Although tourists and official regime photographers have taken some photos of the resort before, Mr Pan was given exclusive access to all parts of the destination – apart from two prized new areas that are still under construction…
‘I was permitted to photograph a comprehensive collection of images of the entire facility. The only stuff I wasn’t permitted to photograph was the new helicopter landing pad currently being built and the latest extension to their ski lift system that is also under construction,’ he explained.
Mr Pan stayed in the onsite hotel in a ‘third-class room’ and tried out the facilities, including a gym, sauna, hairdressers, and restaurant and had the whole place to himself.
North Korea has alot of places like this, stores with clothes or food or other things that the leader comes to inspect. I saw a documentary about it (on youtube but I can’t find it now) and some reporter had gotten permission to look at these places. He had a hidden camera with him and he asks a woman who “worked” at this one store. He asks her why there is no one but them here and could he buy something? She told him that nothing is actually for sale to anyone, it was all just for show. Same thing at a hospital he was allowed into, it was huge and had the latest equipment, but no patients anywhere. For some reason, North Korea has all these places with the latest and bestest stuff…..but no one is allowed to actually buy or have it.
Off topic (?) but I just got an email from Victoria Mission with this link:
https://scientologyvictoria.org/newbuilding.html
Warning: you may wish to NOT click on the above link, but copy and paste it in your browser, so as to prevent the COS knows you are coming from Rinder’s blog. 😛
Over on WWP when someone posts a link to a COS site it is usually consciously broken, i.e. not clickable.
Go ahead and click all you want if you don’t care though. 🙂
Hmmmm…I’m wondering if it’s legit. Not a single name anywhere in it. But my reply to the t-shirt message would be, “Who was I supposed to expect you to be?” LOL
There are deeper parallels between the two “leaders”, more dictators. Kim Jong-un has returned to the public eye recently, looking very chubby and mentally ill. Not too long ago, I watched a PBS special, that went into the details of how poorly the people of North Korea were doing. Many are starving and have fled the country into China. The show highlighted one family who were living in a cave in the woods foraging for food. This obsessive compulsive desire to create ideal buildings has a great price. In Scn we have most of the senior membership being shunned, thousands in very poor financial condition and too many in sorrow over the loss of loved ones. Dm and KJ-un are truly insane busying themselves with marble floors and fake grass, at the expense of human beings that depend on their decisions. These dictators are spoiled brats. They have no comparison to a real leader, like the current pope, who when asked about the church’s stance on gays answered, “who am I to judge”. With a few words he created a wake of decency and tolerance, and not a single brick was laid.
Did not The Man say, “Judge not, lest ye be judged”? The Pope finally got it right.
Some of the interiors, like the tables that look like stone, I am pretty sure they stole those from Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
One important item on the list above I forgot is the “new” Student Hat of course. This “new” course could be described as to how to make a dog’s breakfast of a quite straightforward proposition. And charge $4000 for it as well (when it used to be free as part of an Academy package)! The revisions to the course itself and its pricing will throw yet another huge spanner in the training works.
And as regards the Student Hat – cancel the Method 5 HCOB which pointed out a possible weakness in Method 4 word clearing – but as Method 4 is now the “new” thing for the Student Hat, we can’t have any HCOB pointing out any possible weakness in the new line-up can we? So we simply cancel this “non-LRH” HCOB on Method 5 word clearing. Simple!
Do scientologists quickly switch back and forth from hubbard-speak to plain language? Is it even possible to discuss scientology without lapsing into the jargon? So much of the vocabulary is such an insult to the language.
This is not a swipe at foolproof or the comment, rather just an observation and question on my part. Every time I see “cognite” I want to slap my computer.
Well, some can and do – switch back and forth that is. I wouldn’t walk into my office at work and say “I was Dev-ted on the Freeway last night” or to a fellow worker “the boss is actually a PTS DB SP with an ARCX” – ha! It would be quite hard for Scientologists to discuss Scientology “things” without using the Scientology terms, but then it depends who we are discussing them with. Every subject has its own vocabulary – and as Hubbard stated there are a lot of new concepts in Scientology that needed new terms, and so we use them. To Scientologists and amongst Scientologists we have no need to explain or express ourselves otherwise – well, sometimes we do but you know what I mean.
EVERY study or “new” area has it’s own language. There’s nothing new in that re scio. Listen/read any pedagogue or group discussing the inner workings of their knowledge area and you need a new dictionary.
And actually I think you will find that Scientologists, who are usually very literate and grammatically correct – because of Hubbard’s insistence and teachings, very much add to the “stats” (sorry, couldn’t resist it) or number, of literate human beings. I was quite well-educated but when I did the Student Hat (and Grammar Course amongst other courses) it was only then that I considered myself fully literate, which was quite a result, almost like “night and day” figuratively. So when you say that the use of the terminology is insulting to the language, there is another (positive) side to this coin and that is that most Scientologists have become extremely literate because of their connection to and study of the subject. Which is not a bad thing in this day and age of childish texting and misspelling on social media. The “pool” and number of literate people on this planet has increased because of Scientology, not despite it.
And anyway, we don’t want any C.I., B.I’s, false KRs, Dev-T or out-R! Otherwise you will be sent to HCO WW or the FOLO MAA for an SRA if you are PTS, SP or DB and you will have to donate to IAS! Joking W. Martin (although acronyms weren’t your beef I know).
I am approving this comment though it opens you up to tremendous ridicule. If you truly believe scientologists are “usually very literate and grammatically correct” I think you are living in a dreamworld, reminiscing about how things “used to be” back in the “good old days”. And that is my charitable response.
Well, ok Mike, I understand your point if one regards some of the promo pieces from the Orgs that you post. But these are usually from stressed “admin” type staff who are under TMs to get something out etc. and also probably never get time for study either – I am making a good guess at this I think (which doesn’t excuse their errors). But actually all the Scientologists I know (quite a few!) are indeed quite literate and have become so because of Scientology. Of course there were/are always staff and public who weren’t so literate but nevertheless even those people have had their level of literacy increased by, as I say, Hubbard’s insistence and courses that improve this level. Of course there are grades of literacy throughout the whole range of Scientologists starting with trained admin and technical staff with PRD etc. and possibly KTL Graduates at the top down to the new staff member/public in from the street. But my point was/is that even those at the bottom of this particular pile will have been benefited, and far more than the general “Joe” on the street.
And Mike, don’t worry about me being opened up to ridicule from others – 16″ shells can’t dent my “armor” – ha! I simply state what I see to be the case whilst (believe it or not) trying to be fair.
Donations for Idle Orgs, IAS etc. I have just realized is a clever way of “keeping going” whilst actually destroying the delivery of Dianetics and Scientology by
a) diverting funds away from services;
b) pissing people off by being donations regged at every opportunity so they no longer appear in Orgs;
c) sending people to be handled in “Ethics” if they disagree with this modus operandi thus pissing them off even more;
d) somehow keeping some staff on post by letting them get 10% commissions;
e) burning the “old” books in furnaces and forcibly selling the “new” ones (Basics Packages etc.) over and over, several or many highly priced packages per person;
f) covertly raising prices (actually overtly but the remaining public don’t see it as that) (as just 1 example to get onto Solo NOTs you have to be a $40,000 “Patron” which is much more than the level itself costs);
g) filtering out a large proportion (50%+?) of former public who simply cannot afford the extra costs now;
h) Pretending to have found “the why” for so-called poor training by inventing GAT 1 and GAT 2 when the why is/are the above items on this list (LFBD F/N on this – ha!) and then of course asking trained people to pay again GAT1 (and again – GAT 2) for re-doing their training – this will knock off another large percentage of trained people not willing to do this;
i) Not having to train staff any more as all they need to do is reg donations;
On top of the above we have now (as regards training)
j) Changing course schedules Policy so that all students have to be full time and thus emptying Academies;
k) Poorly trained Course Supervisors who have learned from some fool to constantly interrupt and interfere with students when they look up in the air when reading a bulletin – a Grad V C/S I know told me that to handle this nonsense she had to fiddle with her demo kit whilst cogniting or thinking about some datum which she had just learned to ensure that the Supervisor did not interrupt her;
l) not forgetting the 3 swing F/N debacle also;
m) forcing people to do the Basic Book Courses (and thus buy them of course) when these have been read and digested decades ago by many of the trained auditors thus diverting them away from more or higher training;
n) Creating a camouflaged hole by pretending that Academies have some students when mostly it is comprised of these same auditors reading Basic Books. And secondly to this there is an LRH reference that states the Tech is actually contained in HCOBs and tapes, not in books;
Actually I got fed up at this point but there is probably a lot more I could list but I think that the above will do – to destroy the delivery of Dianetics and Scientology.
A beautiful list as it is. And spot on.
Thanks thegman77. Of course there should only be 1 item on the list that gives the LFBD F/N and I think we know what (or rather who) that is!
Oustanding observations as always:
It makes a change to have a reply post from someone who knows and duplicates the subject so well.
I bet you are a KTL graduate, and M1.
Refreshing, rather than a barrage of Anti Scientology comments and rants, which are a waste of time really.
At the end of the day are we not all trying to attain a better state, and who else has anything to offer.
What strikes in the North Korea / Sicentology comparison game is this — One has unchecked authority, and one has limited authority within a small group. One is free to kill at will, and one is limited to the occasional inadvertent death. One is the actual government, and one can only make astoundingly absurd claims to running governments.
But just imagine. If David Miscavige, or L. Ron Hubbard before him, had the kind of authority that Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un have had, what monstrous works would they would have wrought. There are plenty of people like that floating around. The only difference is that the crazy country of North Korea actually exists — where the leadership of a grotesque and phantasmagorical cult, Juche, controls the lives of 25 million unfortunate people.
By te way .. great interview Mike!
Could THIS be the govenment “we are running”? (Per recent event) Just askin’
I saw the golden squares in the exercise room and thought they might be engraved plates honoring the donors…
Go up the Lift to Total Freedom!
The IDEAL Lift to Total Freedom!
Ideal comparison !
Kim Jong-un also needs and wants praise, admiration raptures about his greatness and there are severe punishments for dissidents similar to SP hole.
For those that missed Mike Rinder’s radio podcast posted yesterday ~ here it is. Some great analysis on the recent Airport ambush of Marty and other “State of the Union” type overview on Current Scientology Inc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpTH-phukNw
Thanks Karen
Yes, it was very good… and “State of the Union” is a good description.
Mike, the Communists have been doing this stunt almost a century now. Look up http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/potemkin%20village When I was in Poland in the 70’s I visited the Palac Cultural (Palace of Culture) in the middle of Warsaw. It had theatres, libraries and a great big multistory “department store” full of the kind of things you would find in an American department store like swing sets and furniture – except all the items for sale were also stocked right there on the display floor. I figured it out – it was all for show to Western visitors, no Poie had the money to buy any of this merchandise. No need to stock more than one of anything!
A Pole told me a real Polish joke – An American was visiting Poland and saw the Palac Cultural and was very impressed. He told a Pole “You must be grateful to the Soviets for this beautiful Center of Culture with all its splendors.” The Pole replied “Yes, we MUST, we MUST!”
Maybe Dave has got the same idea – LRH did say appearances were sometimes more important than actual results. PR PR PR. So now Tom Cruise can walk into an “org ” in any big city without being embarrassed at the messy process of actual Scientology being done. And with no real Scientology being done, no refunds! No need to actually train or process anyone! It all looks great on the 3D flythroughs at the events for the applause lines and that is all that really matters. As long as the donations keep rolling in. Stalin would be proud.
So would Mao.
Bruce, My guess is that you were privy to the joke that Tom was a great Product Officer because of all that got done to impress him prior to his arrivals at Int.
Well, the fear of Tom (or TC as we used to say) was certainly a motivation. I don’t know if it was for TC or not but I sure remember unloading truckloads of sod to cover acres of ground by dark of night so the grounds would look right. We were given the gardening training needed (Brown side Down) and made the hills green in one night in grand Sea Org style. I worked on the irrigation for the “Field of Wildflowers”. What a crock! And the Clearsound recording rig that was supposed to make his voice sound as though he actually had some cojones – many a sleepless night on that silly thing. Only to be told he was working harder than I was! In front of the IAS event crowd! At rehearsals he kept saying Dave was more dedicated while Dave was saying he was, back and forth. While the sleep deprived slaves looked on hoping they will eventually run out of steam so we could grab a nap before daybreak. Ah well.
Bruce, Speaking of that Clearsound rig, it is interesting that Louigi is still guzzling Kool-Aid. He, too, had a perceptive and biting sense of humor. And a degree in Physics from UCLA to boot.
This may give some validity to Hubbard’s ‘raisin in the turd’ of observations about contagion of aberration. Experience seems to show that it is about 50% contagion and 50% propensity to the contagion due to a weakened spiritual immune system (possibly what Hubbard was trying to address with his ‘PTS Tech’). Graduation from Scn and Int is a real conundrum.
A basic lack of snow (in October) seems to be the root problem. What’s this place like in January?
Interesting how totalitarian cult leaders have the same fashion sense.
Unquestioning 100% support of whatever their decisions equals unquestioning redefinition of people’s happiness. Meaning is enforceable.
North Korea’s Way to Happiness is so similar Scientology’s Way to Happiness.
Scientology’s RPF camp/units, North Korea’s Work Camps.
Scientology’s empty unaffordable buildings.
North Korea’s empty unaffordable buildings.
I wonder if North Korea has lawyers (or similar persons) and interior decorators with similar personalities to those servicing Scientology.
I wonder who in North Korea assures their Dear Leader of what is doable, similar to the persons (lawyers) who reassure Miscavige that his behavior is doable/legal?
It lies in the obsession to create .. but it is created by others not by self ..
I see your point, but North Korea has a long way to go if they want to become Ideal. COB would have never approved these plans!
Sure he’d approve them. But just around the time they’re almost executed, he’ll order a redesign requiring everything to be torn out and re-done. After several more of these cycles of ‘build it, tear it down’, he’ll eventually get bored and let it get finished while he goes off to disapprove previously approved plans elsewhere.
Gosh I hope the media pick up and do an article on these similarities.
It’s also worth of a college student paper that gets that student some credit.
Even the bogus “new religion” students could get some credit doing the architectural similarities between Scientology and North Korea, that would be a fun article for the Cultic Journal and a good leg up for some budding new “new religion” watching college grad to be.
Unquestioned boss leaders of groups dictate similar style architecture uniform bad taste for everyone who isn’t allowed to complain and can only gush praise!
Lmao!
The comparison is impeccably Ideal. I imagine Kim won’t let the undeserving citizens to go and enjoy this resort, heaven forbids, they are lower beings (exclamation marks).
It is so extravagant and reminds me of a prior posting Mike, the one of MEST. It seems these characters -including of course Black Heart- feel a sense of grandeur in entering these massive constructions where they have total control of how they should look, the colors, and so on. It ‘gives’ them power (they are at effect), yet, if there were no buildings maybe they would realize the fact that they are, essentially, small, powerless, and purposeless.
Real power does not depend on mest, rather on personal honesty and truth.
“…yet, if there were no buildings maybe they would realize the fact that they are, essentially, small, powerless, and purposeless.
Real power does not depend on mest, rather on personal honesty and truth.”
You said it, Silvia!
Nice Sylvia!
Wow, this could have easily been a phototage of cob’s fly through of the next “ideal-[in-lies] org”! Purif and all…
My thoughts too.
Wow! What a beautiful place! Now I want to go to North Korea! I never believed that one was free there or could go free there until I saw these pictures of an Ideal Utopia. (No, that’s not redundant.)
I am so excited; I just paid big bucks to go there and even booked my flight. I am so looking forward to what David Miscavige – I mean Kim Jong-un has in store for me! See you all on the other side.
Hey! Can I tag along? I want to visit the People’s Paradise too!
This is SO Miscavige! Piloted at the Gold Base, eh Mike? At what cost–was it $50Mill? (correct me if I’m wrong). And that doesn’t include the RTC building which came later. Really, this so reminds me of what was done at the Gold (Int) base. (the one with the world class film studio with one of the largest green screens in the world–the one that’s not big enough to produce some web videos for that ‘internet thang.’)
The only thing missing in these photos is a framed picture of Kim Jong and David Miscavige sitting too close together on motorcycles.
🙂
Is there a Kim Jong Un luxury office maintained on the premises? That has always seemed like a very wasteful practice.
Once his grandfather Kim Il Sung rode in the Pyongyang metro, and the carriage was taken out of service and turned into a shrine.
Of course these photos were taken at Flag Land Base yesterday
Bwahaha! That could be so true, Jose.
The other similarity is that, who wants to go to such a beautiful place where it’s surrounded by suppressives and traps.
Wow, just like an Ideal Ski Org, although I must say that the building’s visually offensive exterior and interiors make David Miscavige’s projects look masterful in comparison.
All that is missing are the Panels that speak. Than it would truly be an Ideal Ski MORGUE…
My bet is that all the guest rooms, like auditing rooms, are wired for sound and visual. )
“Ideal Ski Org”. That’s funny.
Good things come to those who wait. Be patient, the next Phase is coming. It is designed to fill the Buildings. Most are Built, (all 170 Ideal Orgs) [ that do the Biz of up to 200 regular Orgs] that was the hard part and they are now ready for the next REALLY big thing. You guys just have no faith in what Scientology is doing, becauses the ones spreading the info about it, that you bought into, don’t have the big picture and really, has no clue, unfortunately, what we are really all about. Just opinions, without all the info. Just wait, you have the surprise of your life, heading your way.
Anyone who would simply, honestly look, would know what is comming down and wouldn’t be doing things to make themselves look so foolish, when it does…
Everything BIG, comes of age, when the time is right. When the next BIG, BIG, I mean BIG’ thing is released, it will fill all those buildings, don’t you worry about that. The leadership is much smarter than the masses give them credit for, just know that, really, just be patient. What is comming will change the world to a much better place, and most will know it, know that…