More of the church documents that describe how they go about parting the pocketbooks from their parishioners. (Part 1 here, Part 2 here)
This one is from Craig Jensen and it describes in detail the lengths to which these events go to squeeze every last dollar they can out of the attendees….
Nothing really new here, but Jensen manipulating the crowd by doling out his $100,000 (“strategically”) at various times to goad others into giving money is a “shame game” that is pretty repulsive.
Reading this is like reading a write up produced by Reed Slatkin or some scam artist that sells fake “investment opportunities” to the elderly door-to-door. But here, we have the added factor of the victims believing the church would NEVER lie to them and that by giving their money they are truly doing something noble to “save the planet.” And now they probably look at that empty org and are too ashamed at how gullible they were to believe that a different building was somehow going to change things. So they “see” the “amazing expansion”, just like the people saw the Emperor’s fine new clothes.
The first section where he explains how to get the suckers to commit by telling them a lie that they were competing with 4 other orgs to have a “management speaker” (who then “fell through”) is a perfect opening that sets the tone for the whole, slightly slimy write up.
Need to take a shower after this….
“This IS the ONLY thing “OT Committees” and many org staff have been working on for a DECADE.”
A disgrace and these people are actually in the Ethics condition of Treason per person.
As a group they are as we know in NON-Existance.
Did I read it right when I read that the marks who contribute the most are the ones organising the scamming? Talk about stupid!
RolandRB wrote:
“Did I read it right when I read that the marks who contribute the most are the ones organising the scamming? Talk about stupid!”
Yes, I think what happens is that a person’s own self-interests get replaced by the cult’s interests in their own mind.
And so they “take more responsibility for the third dynamic” as a “fundraiser”, or as a volunteer OSA agent, or as a Field Staff Member, and this is just a hyper-level of commitment to the cult’s interests, making them even more blind to their own self-interests.
They are now a soldier bee for the hive, or a robot for the cause.
They probably do this because sacrificing their own self-interests makes them feel part of something larger than themselves. They believe that they are helping “all mankind” by depleting everything of value in their own lives and everyone else’s around them.
Tony Ortega’s profile of Richie Acunto is a great example here of how this works. This guy was a business man, and then he became a soldier bee for the hive. And then he was gone – taking a lot of others down with him.
I’ll bet Craig Jensen’s got a lot more to give as a soldier bee the hive than Richie Acunto had.
Will Craiggy end up like Richie?
A great book that gives a lot of insight into how all this works is here:
http://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416761425&sr=8-1&keywords=the+righteous+mind
Alanzo
Lukers..Those still in.. If you are still in after you read Mike’s post then you do know that you are a sucker don’t you? Just read.. and read again. You are NOTHING but a mark.
I think they all worked out that they were marks some years ago. They know that these events are staged, designed and role-played in such a way to extort the maximum donations out of them — yet they still turn up. What they perhaps don’t know is how their money is being used. I would say that most of it is used to keep the “Church” running in its day-to-day activities, which is the most pointless thing of all, since the whole of the Church’s day-to-day activities are dedicated to extracting the maximum amount of money out of its members. It is a purely parasitic organization. Their donations go towards helping to get themselves scammed at future dates. That is the truth they have not “cognited” yet.
My former FSM, Drew Johnston, told me once when I complained to him of the constant regging for materials you didn’t need, donations you didn’t have money to make etc, , he said, “Just consider it the cost of being on the level and budget for it.” His answer to it was that no one likes being regged for donos, but you have to just figure it in to the cost of “being on the level” and pay it and shut up. That was his successful action. So yes, I do think people know that they are a “mark” and are being crush-regged. But they put up with it and do it so that they can reach OT levels of nirvana available to them only in the RCS. (Not).
Cindy: yes donations are a covert/overt price rise.
babybunker, you nailed that one.
Thank you Gerhard and Roland.. If Regging is so damn important how come no one Regges DM? Can you imagine him playin the ” Match Game? ” haha
Babybunker, you are right, though I have to assume that every on lines Scientologist has been to many fundraisers, so they KNOW what is going to occur at them. Also, anyone who has any funds or other assets KNOWS that phone calls and meetings are on the way to deplete them of such. Soooooooooooo ….. at SOME point there is individual responsibility here, you know – election of cause. One can either confront the scene or work out some sort of evasive “strategy” in this area or I guess, just sink to apathy (my suspicion is that this group is already AT apathy and thus can no longer even make any actual self determined choices). A very VERY low toned group who nevertheless runs off of “faux uptone circuits” where they appear to smile and “cognite.” Oh, well, there was a time when Scientologists trained a lot as auditors, but there was a time when rents in San Francisco were low too, so I guess all things must pass.
Yep Apathy.. It comes full circle. Thanks Joe
Don’t they understand that the more they donate, the more they betray L. Ron Hubbard and his original form of Scientology. They are handing their money over to a wheezing dwarf who thinks Scientology and Scientology training and auditing is a waste of time. Certainly, this wheezing dwarf will not waste his own time to be subjected to “auditing” — nor those of his underlings. What remains of “The Bridge” is a merry-go-round scam that goes back to the start every three years when the next GAT is released. And before the three years is up it is used to blackmail people into giving donations. They either donate and donate big and are happy about it or they are given the R-factor that because they are not doing well enough in life to feel like donating big then they never made the level and got the promised benefits — so they have to pay to do it all over again.
These people who are donating are BETRAYING L. Ron Hubbard and they are betraying Scientology. They have become the enemies of L. Ron Hubbard and the enemies of Scientology. Why don’t they laugh at the LRH quotes and make rude gestures in response to them at these events — because that is what they are doing with their money?
God this is sickening.
I have a confession to make – I didn’t get very far past the sentence “look for real tear-jerker LRH quotes” and then “the pace only slowed down 6 times for enough time to get a quote in”.
I actually felt the bile rise into my mouth when I read that.
How utterly denigrating of LRH – find “tear-jerker” quotes and then brag that it was only necessary to “slip LRH in” on 6 occasions. Proof positive that Ideal Orgs have squat to do with LRH and “having” to use his quotes are viewed as Dev-T.
And of course, quotes taken totally out of context from entire P/L’s or articles that when read in context, mean something different.
I’m going to rinse my mouth out.
Hubbard would probably be saying “dayum, why didn’t I think of this?”
“Then during the regging, we played “We Stand Tall” continuously, though at a subdued volume…”
Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhh! Jee-Zus, just thinking about that piece of shit playing for three hours makes me wanna puke.
Then there’s the “Collection Officers.” That’s real religious. What a racket.
Damn.. FBI what are you waiting for..for Christ’s sake!
All this foul manipulation of largely decent people will make the inevitable demise of the cult all the sweeter.
Here is what I don’t get. Craig Jensen is a reasonably astute businessman, and if his business wasn’t sufficient to fill up his existing premises, he would never go buy a bigger, more expensive facility and expect that to expand it. And yet he thinks this is a good strategy for the Org. Not just good, but so good that it justifies covertly manipulating and outright lying to everyone in the Pasadena field, and risking that the whole thing will get uncovered and blow back on him and the Church. As it just has.
Craig, you couldn’t see that coming? I can only assume that the logic portion of his mind must somehow get a short circuit whenever Scientology is involved.
I wonder how long ago this event took place? In the early days of fund raising they might have got away with it but at my old org the flow of funds became a trickle of just a few $’s as people got wise to these party tricks and either didn’t turn up or went home as soon as the board regging started. There was also the factor of people being hit so many times and so often that they just couldn’t raise their credit limits any more, or had already declared bankruptcy.
Watch the 1992 Steve Martin/Deb Winger movie, Leap of Faith. Same way of working up a crowd and getting money. Jensen is a fairly well trained, experienced ‘fundraiser’. All his tips and tricks he wrote up are to impress the overlords and DM. Will Craig get the smile and well done from COB? Or just an extra helping of rice and beans? Glory in the CO$ isn’t fleeting, it’s non-existent, Only DM and the clebs are the ‘saints’ to be worshiped and emulated.
Did he take 10% home with him? Will he get 10% from mOrgs using his methods? I doubt it.
Mike, I have a question. Do you think Craig Jensen will see, or will be shown, today’s post?
I’m sending it to him.
Re: “… we raised $250,000; Bob Carroll did the… regging; … two Collections Officers; … we accepted all donations, large and small; they even brought their dog up on stage and announced that he wanted to donate $50; … there were several… reges ‘working’ the crowd; … the products… will be realized for a long time after…” (“Successful Actions for Pasadena Org Fundraiser,” Craig Jensen, OT Committee Chairman, Pasadena Org)
“That Church is exquisite and working on that was one of the most exciting projects I have ever done. I was getting the staff set up in the new facilities, uniformed, getting them trained, grooving them in, working on promotion and reaching out to the local community, bringing in new public.”
http://www.freedommag.org/sites/default/files/declaration06.pdf
http://www.lawrencewrightgoingclear.com/sites/default/files/App11-Jenny%20Linson.pdf
Is this manipulation legal at all?
I don’t believe it is.
It is perfectly legal. Moral, no.
Chairman of the Board’s response: “F**k wog law.”
The victims have to sue to bring the law to bear on it.
Each country differs in how it deals with this. Start with “undue influence” and work from there.
In some countries sales regulations have caught up with these scams. For instance, time share holiday home sales are heavily regulated. There’s a reason for this.
Australia one of those countries and the spiel reminded me too, of the timeshare holiday sales tricks.
Ah, Craig Jensen. He epitomizes dedication to the C of S. And he sure can use those LRH quotes in ways they were never intended. Pasadena’s fundraisers were always charged for but we never could do that in Orange County – no one would have come! I remember it was really easy, at these events, to end up donating something even if you hadn’t planned to. But no one’s pockets are bottomless. It will get harder and harder to complete ideal org fundraising. And there’s no respite. Once you complete YOUR ideal org, you’ll be asked to donate to another org or to the IAS, or the library project, etc.
Many thanks for exposing that, Mike.
I would lie saying I always knew. Yet I will not be lying saying I did feel there must be something like that behind it when I was at those events. And what did I think looking at them, ferocious supporters? The less able to think and to do something by themselves, the more supportive they were. So it has to do also with thinking ability. And the motherfucke.s like Craig? I feel sorry for him as a being (even though I do not overdo it 😉
Okay, he uses the words; “harvesting” and “shills” to let others know how to raise money for a ‘church’. How spiritual of him.
I was living with a semi whale in Vegas when they were regging for that Ideal Org. This guy was lied to and manipulated every step of the way. They told him when he said, “no more; I can’t pay my bills now…” They lied and said, “this is the last time we’ll ever ask you for money.” Ha! They kept on putting the touch on him. Then they told him they had ALL the money they needed and they were done with fundraising. Then a week later they’re back saying they need more for rennos, or the contractor hasn’t been paid or or or…. just give more more more. And then they said he would get his name on a plaque attached to the building as a big donor. Well it’s been almost 5 years now and still there is no plaque with his name on it. And to make matters worse, he was regged to go on staff to make the quota of staff members to open the org. He signed up. They promised him he could be part time foundation since he worked and had body problems. Well they worked him to death, got him a uniform, and then only hours before the grand opening, kicked him off staff and said his help was no longer needed. He was crushed. They chewed him up and spit him out after all his donations. I’m surprised he didn’t leave the church and is still drinking the Kool Aid.
“They shoot horses, don’t they?”
Really fascinating behind the scenes account of how the fleecing works. Thanks for posting this Mike.
If you are member of the CO$ you can take from this write up the following stable data:
a) You are being assessed how much you have to donate. Others make that decision for you and without you.
b) All the attention you get is just to manipulate you in whatever ways possible to extract the amount of money from you that was decided upon in step a)
c) No gimmick, no charade and no deception are spared to get you in a state of heightened euphoria so you give what you were assessed for.
d) LRH tech and quotes are degraded for sales pitches and are selected not for their applicability to a situation, but to create the greatest emotional effect to make you open your wallet.
e) The gimmicks are lies and not real, so you cannot trust anything a CO$ fundraiser is telling you. Nothing that happens in a fundraiser is spontaneous or for real; it is all controlled and planned for effect to get the money from you as they have planned.
f) The people orchestrating the charades and deceptions to get your money are themselves guilt tripped into doing so by DM himself.
g) DM and RTC themselves do not believe that Scientology Orgs can expand and prosper by delivering Scientology. Otherwise they would not guilt the Craig Jensens of this world to raise free money for real estate. If they believed in Scientology they would use it to help and make Orgs expand and prosper. But yet in secret RA’s in on the FW 2003 DM makes the statement to some dupes: ‘Scientology cannot be used to make the Orgs prosper’. He tells them what is needed is free money from fundraising. And these dupes let themselves guilt into becoming the leading shills to assess and extract that money from you.
h) The shills themselves are so delusional that they think they make you cause in this process by creating the false appearance you had selected your own targets. And if you feel at cause in any of this, you are completely delusional as well.
i) After you have been played like a worn out piano, lied to, manipulated into giving up your hard earned money and you “go nuts” because the target was made. Pause a moment and realize you were already nuts in the first place to be a willing participant in this scam.
Than visit the next idle org in your area at a time of prime business and watch the masses flowing into the building. If you have been taken for substantial amounts of money already this last step maybe the most disheartening one but should not come as a surprise. Since COB and RTC by their actions and plans already admitted the orgs cannot be made booming by using Scientology, it is still Scientology when you see empty idle orgs. The real estate is just fancier.
So if you believe in Scientology and put your money where your mouth is, realize COB and RTC see it somewhat different. They do not believe in “solve it with Scientology” as their actions demonstrate.
I am not saying you are wrong or management is wrong, all I am saying it is obvious you and your church management are not on the same agenda if you still believe in Scientology, because they obviously don’t.
You are so right, Gerhard. Miscavige and his supporters have long since stopped believing in the value of Scientology. Miscavige instituted “The Basics” so that Scientologists would have many small, inexpensive courses to do to keep them going and make it look like stats were good while fundraising for the ideal orgs. One of the characteristics of an SP is to take your attention off higher goals and put it on lower goals and that is what DM is doing.
Very well stated Gerhard. An axiom could be expressed as follows: the amount of shock upon realizing one has been tricked and deceived is proportional to the depth of one’s own delusion.
Interesting write up Gerhard. COB and RTC mess up Scientology delivery over decades and then as a solution for that say that it could not have been done in the first place and therefore to go for donations. Yes, I can see that scenario happening. Explains away their failure (to do something quite simple) wonderfully.
As one who has come out on the losing end of a number of registration cycles, I can say that even though I am off limits now, I am still angered by what this “group/cult” will do to make money. And the guy talks about all this in such a self-assured and smug way. He has to know these people are being ripped off. Ugh!
Shills, fake phone calls, prearranged donations, false promises re: speakers…..really does sound ‘uptone’. Anyone know what happens during the ‘Pass The Pen’ game?
Pass the Pen write up coming in a future installment of this series….
Wow…’crowd control’ a la RCS!
You got to admire it, Craig Jensen did his due diligence. Not for nothing is he the CEO of a prosperous (?) company. And yet he completely misses the bigger picture and his product goes into the complete
opposite direction of where it should go.
Craig do yourself a favor, exteriorize, break through the bubble, at least up to the Troposphere.and look down at the BS and the mess you just created. The unnecessary financial hardship on 100s of your teammembers.
Might you be under the spell of a certain David Miscavige? Could it be that the person you seem to trust the most is your actual suppressor?
Darn that wool around your face!
Greta
I had a thought. Did Mr. Jensen, who seems an enterprising scam artist, actually donate $100,000, or was that a prearranged phony donation amount for him to use to hoodwink the other $150,000 out of the “OT Committee” (committed suckers) and the rest of the contributing public (dilettantish suckers)? It seems slightly unlikely to me that he’s the head cheese of this operation and also the principal Mr. Moneybags.
Yes, I thought along those lines too. Be interesting to follow the money and see what’s actually there.
Putting up a falsity to deceive is the standard operating procedure of everything to do with miscavige’s $cn.
Trust nothing with those people.
Don’t forget that as the Reg he is making commission on everything he pulls in, hence his dono is less than it appears.
“Prearranged phony donation amount for him to use to ”
Oh Hell yes.. I don’t believe for a moment he donated anything. He took, but didn’t donate.
Gordon Gekko would be soooo proud of these people. Like him, they’re nothing but SCUM.
Three “hip,hip,hoorays” for Tommy Cruze’s girlfriend (Li’l Davy) :
Hip,Hip . . .Oh fuck him!
I feel nothing but hatred for these animals.
To paraphrase Al Jolson, here’s one of David Miscavige’s favorite lines: “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
MJ,
I think he’s right!
they first regged themselves for a 114 thousand…….almost half the total came from the organizers themselves and 85% of that came from one donor who is the head organizer. they “pre regged” up to 170k so that means the raised 80k at the actual event that required constant pressure and work to coax the last bit money possible. 75% of the people wouldn’t even stay four hours to see if the goal was even met.
and it only gets harder the next time.
they”re barely kidding themselves anymore. they know something doesn’t add up. they just need to face up to what it is.
Craig ( broomstick up his ass) Jensen : CKD Chief Kool-aide Drinker
Michael! Great to see you here! Please keep up the posts!
It is quite the disgusting set of techniques. I’m all for wealthy people donating large sums to causes they believe in. 100K to Craig Jensen was a trivial amount. Same as 10K for Norm Novisky.
But these charades are designed to squeeze blood out of turnips.
When I was on the ship getting behavior remodification a few years ago, every Sunday night there was a mandatory fundraiser with 285K+ targets. I saw people that I knew from staff that had very little money being pressured into donating.
I was even pressured by my Russian room cleaner to contribute at these “events.”
I still remember quite well the ship captain, Sharon Webber, working the crowd into a frenzy with intense rock music and her “Who’s IAS is it??” “It’s not MY IAS – It’s YOUR IAS.” Now “Who’s IAS is it?????”
Was gross and you could not leave until past midnight.
No matter how much you budget and pre-pay for your trip to the ship or Flag (or probably any SCN organization), you better count on being hit up for WAY more.
In the real world when you say no twice to a sales pitch, that normally signals the end. Not the case in SCN by a long shot.
A very good (x) friend that was would fundraise for IAS told me the more the person said no the more he was convinced the person would pay – ESPECIALLY if the person started enforcing his “NO!” Was just a sign he was moving up the DEI scale from Inhibit to Enforce. If the reges kept at it – maintaining interest and not going down the scale themselves – the person would come up to Desire.
Was incredibly manipulative – always justified by the it being for the greatest good.
First let me say, Mr. Jensen’s whole set up sounds like what “faith-healers” do to squeeze cash out of their crowds. The complete lack of any care for anyone in this letter is disgusting. He could have just rounded everyone up and beat the money out of them, it’s basically the same thing. But rather than inflicting physical harm on these people, it’s emotional extortion.
We planned the event to the Nth degree. Nothing was left to chance.
You forgot to plan what to do if this whole front-loader full of crap ended up on Rinder’s blog. Oops.
The cost of the tickets covered the cost of putting on the event so all the funds could go straight into the Building Fund.
What the hell are you talking about Craig? Where do you buy your tickets? The LRH Titanium Ticket Emporium? Nice try though. I’m sure Mini Miscavige is happy that the money is flowing straight to him.
We also identified seven people who had pledged substantially less than expected and assigned one of these people to each reg as a priority.
ROFL!! Oh Craig honey, you and I both know you assigned more than one reg to those people. Those CICS were probably the last to leave.
So the important point here is that some control freak has to be on the ball to watch for dropped balls or delays and steamroll them out of the way.
Lil’ Davey wasn’t available?
Then during the regging, we played “We Stand Tall” continuously, though at a subdued volume.
Musical torture is musical torture at any volume. The Geneva Conventions should be amended to include this song.
I then made a 20-minute speech drawn from the seminar by the Chairman of the Board RTC…
You’re pushing it with the war crimes Craig.
What I learned from this whole event is that it is no accident. Planning and control make it come off as intended.
Sounds exactly like COB, RTC, IAS, and Co$.
When the $250,000 target was met, the place erupted in cheers, hugging and general elation.
Yeah, because everyone knew, for the time being, you were done squeezing every penny they had out of them.
The products in terms of not just the dollar amounts but the activation of the field will be realized for a long time after the event.
Oooo so close Craig, but not really. It will be realized until Dave needs more money for lawyers, PI’s, private planes, etc. Then…not so much.
I really can’t comment on his speech and the rest, I’m attempting to keep my breakfast down. 🙂
Under “LRH Quotes”: Well isn’t that special, using LRH quotes to restimulate someone into handing over their hard-earned cash! Screw you Jensen.
I just threw up in my mouth. A LOT. Craig has always given me the heebee-geebees anyway but this just puts it over the top. His blatant bragging about shills and convincing dogs to donate is disgusting. Scientology is at a low that I didn’t even thing was real.
I have to admit, the Miscavige Brand of Scientology has extracting money
from the yokels down to a science. I have been free of this scene for a few years now and failed to bail out years earlier when the huge red flags began showing up. Could have been worse I suppose,
see Tony O. on Richie Acunto today. Many horror stories that all lead back to D.M.
First of all I know you warned me, but his thing was nauseating. The best thing I can say for it is that it takes all pretense out of the whole “Scientology is a religion”
“We signed up 200 people to attend and made them pay 50 dollars to ensure they would attend.” Hey Joe, we want you to pay $50 for the privilege of coming to my party where I’m going to make you turn over a lot more money. Hmm…..sign me up for that one.
So the important point here is that some control freak has to be on the ball here Because every party I go to is all about walking on eggshells and perfection, not about kicking back with my friends.
Then we took a prearranged cellphone call from Norm Novitsky…well actually we faked it with his permission. This paragraph brags of A couple of shills, a fake call from Norm, Craig’s held back donation, etc. The bragging over lies per second is over the top.
Ok I must be one hard hearted “Summmabitch” but Not. One. LRH. Quote. In this entire write up ripped my heart out.
And last but not least, if Craig was to be honest with himself, what exactly did the fundraiser achieve? He had already planned to donate $100,000. Norm had planned to donate $10,000. He said they raised $250,000 that night. In all honesty, lies and shills aside, $170,000 was prearranged at minimum, which he even stated. The entire scam was for an $80,000 fundraiser.
False stats are false stats
I didn’t plan properly for enough cups for lemonade. But, thanks to Admin Tech, I knew to ransack the house and find more. OT powers on display!
Scientology: Handling situations and making it go right since 1952.
Lol!
I’m now in awe of you, hgc 10! Wish I had those super powers…
OSD,
You DO! If you would only get some distance from these assholes that post on Mike’s blog you might find out the magic a little sec checking could do to rehab your OT abilities. I recommend you especially get away from that Kessel fellow ……………. he is obviously really bad news and could not be doing your great potential OTness any good.
BTW, parking is limited at AOLA so do your best to postulate a space when you come in for your fucking …I mean fleecing, sorry.
Hummmm…sounds like a money grubbing, covertly hostile cult activity run by a sociopath who couldn’t care less about the marks he seduces into poverty.
I have some comments about to make about Mr. Jensen but right now, I need more than a shower, I need a full post-nuclear waste exposure, decontamination process. Blech!
This blatant cash extraction/extortion/fraud/ripp-off is suicide: As the general public becomes more informed of their blatant ripp-off techniques, they have fewer new “suckers” to work over. Which causes them to be even more abusive to those inside the bubble. And, those abused will fight back and the church will attack them too, which will cost them more legal dollars. This cycle will continue on automatic. RCS will collaps on itself because attacking the attacker does not work if you are creating the attackers. RCS is simply dying from its own hand.
Fake phone call for a $10K pledge from Norm Novitsky…..my my Norm….how you have changed!
David Morse $25K prearranged pledge…wonder why he didn’t attend? Let me guess….he doesn’t like
tear jerking LRH quotes.
David and Norm….you are not the guys I once knew…..you should be ashamed of yourselves.
Craig Jensen has always been a know best arrogant prick (my personal point of view only).
And what is the tone level in using tear jerking LRH quotes to squeeze money out of people, Craig?
When I first met Norm (nearly a billion years ago), I thought that he was a person of real integrity. I loved his “you gotta wake up pretty early in the morning to make a fool out of Norm Novitsky” attitude. I was so far “south of the Auks” that I was disappointed when he left the S.O. – but also pretty impressed: by the time he left I was pretty certain that we had all been betrayed but I still stuck with it for a few years. When I exited, I researched to locate Norm and was very surprised to find that he’s still gawking at The Emperor. I guess they buy from the same tailor.
There will no doubt be some others here who remember both Norm and long-time COSMOD C/S Bob Lauffer – don’t know if they knew one another – but to me they were so much birds of the same feather. (I would imagine of the species Corvus corax.) I was so shocked when I heard of Bob’s disconnection from his wonderful daughter… as I recall in a story from Tony Ortega, that I tracked him down through facebook to see what I could see. That was one of the shortest lived “facebook friendships” I ever had.
Dan, had to look up species Corvus corax. I’m so glad I did. Mimwasmthinking you were calling them vultures. Common crow is much more apt. ROTFL.
These distasteful actions are disgusting. I think there will be a special place in Hell for L Ron Hubbard, David Miscavige, Craig Jensen, and the others.
You’ve just got to be joking! This is a hat write up and people actually buy this drivel? Obviously there’s truth to the saying, “a sucker is born every minute.”
Geezers, I’ve never felt so elated that I walked out on that madness.
Their going to have to reserve a whole prison block when they clean the criminals out of the Cof$ – then they can reg each other for the KY 24/7.
Those “ideal people” who come up with these scams need to do some serious jail time.
Degrading.
“some people were not heavy hitters so we assigned one reg teach to drum them up” – the lack of care for others is evident; referring to the attendees as if they were an ‘objec’t out of which extortion could be made.
The write up also conveys obsession and greed; but the lack of care is the more nauseating point.
Mike wrote:
“But here, we have the added factor of the victims believing the church would NEVER lie to them and that by giving their money they are truly doing something noble to “save the planet.” And now they probably look at that empty org and are too ashamed at how gullible they were to believe that a different building was somehow going to change things. So they “see” the “amazing expansion”, just like the people saw the Emperor’s fine new clothes.”
Exactly, Mike.
This is one of the spiritual vulnerabilities of human beings that was exploited by Hubbard, and now by Miscavige, using Scientology.
Scientology “works” mostly because a human being is very vulnerable to this kind of manipulation when they are seeking spiritual things. In spiritual pursuits, human beings can become as trusting as a 4 year old is to his parents. Just like a good parent feels a responsibility to his child, a genuine spiritual leader feels a responsibility to never lie to and to never exploit this vulnerability in their followers.
But Scientology was created and maintained by L Ron Hubbard to do this very thing. For the same reason we don’t let pedophiles become kindergarten teachers, we should not allow Miscavige to raise money from Scientologists.
Other countries, like France, have a long history of protecting the spiritually vulnerable from people like Hubbard and Miscavige.
Not so in the US.
Maybe that can be changed. Maybe Scientology can be used to finally teach US authorities that religious freedom can not be a shield that criminals use to keep harming the spiritually vulnerable.
I hope so.
Alanzo
Hi Alanzo,
I can’t say I agree with you on this one. France is very anti-religion, not only against Scientology. There is no need for special laws to protect the “spiritually vulnerable” and I for one, would not want to be “protected,” I’d rather make up my own mind. The laws that apply to everyone can apply to Scientology and Scientologists too together with the right to sue churches as some ex-Scientologists have done. This is enough to protect people’s rights. Adults should not be treated as children who need to be protected.
Your position is well-stated, Jenny.
And I understand it.
But what would you tell people like Marc and Claire Headley?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headley_et_al._v._Church_of_Scientology_International_et_al.
Here is a case where there is certainly something which should be done legally, but the Church is able to be shielded from that justice because of the First Amendment in the US.
Had this been able to be tried in France, the Headley’s would have gotten their day in court.
But not here in the US.
What do you think about that?
Alanzo
You seem to be making the point that France has special laws against religion. Please cite one. Other than About-Picard which makes it possible to do something about repeated offenders but which do not make it illegal to be a cult (for instance). Here’s my starting point, where’s yours? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/About-Picard_law
The criminal organisation known as the “church” of $cientology is on a list of organisations considered to be cults, but I have yet to see any fall-out from this – I’m sure you can point to some (ahemm) specific cases.
France has seperation of religion and state, not that you would know it when politicians discuss working on Sunday, but other
.. but other than that, I don’t know which laws you’re referring to.
As for making up your own mind, I assume you’re OK with being lied to? Because that is what the criminal organisation known as the “church” of $cientology does to its victims, it has nothing to do with these victims deciding to be victimsed, it has everything to do wityh these victims being lied to and their weaknesses exploited.
(And I’ll grant you that the law against ostensibly religious clothing in state run etsbalishments like schools is, self avowedly, anti religious; that is – IMHO – actually institutional racism masquerading as islamophobia, so that’s a different point than the “protecting the vulnerable” that appears to get you going.)
I would have to disagree with you about France being “anti-religion.” It is still a very Catholic/Christian country, it has a very active Muslim minority, as well as an active Jewish community. It also has no problem with Buddhists, Hindus, etc. You are allowed to believe what you want, however in order to gain the tax breaks for being a religion, you need to pass certain tests. Scientology doesn’t, can’t, and in its present form never will. Like the Raelians or other new-age philosophies. However, that shouldn’t be a hindrance to the CoS… If it were “good” that is.
Re: “But here, we have the added factor of the victims believing the church would NEVER lie to them…”
“No Scientologist would ever listen to their lies, as they know the truth.”
http://www.freedommag.org/sites/default/files/declaration06.pdf
http://www.lawrencewrightgoingclear.com/sites/default/files/App11-Jenny%20Linson.pdf
I think we should protect the “spiritually vulnerable” from your bile and vitriol Alanzo. Scientology works because it does and despite any generalizations and drivel which you write here in some sort of vain attempt to drive people away from getting audited (although Miscavige’s version is not Scientology).
(Normally, I don’t, but I couldn’t pass this up…)
“scientology works because it does” – Well, that settles that!
I hope you won’t find it out of place, though, if I add that whatever effect “scientology” has – whatever “scientology” is – it doesn’t appear to equip you in particular to deal with critical comments on a website.
That’s a shame. I think.
+++++1000 , Foolfproof..
Alanzo misses no opportunity to twist the whistle blowing articles and facts that Mike writes about regarding the evil acts of the Church of Scientology into attacks upon the subject of Scientology and/or ad hominem attacks directed at L. Ron Hubbard.
I think that you are spot on when you say that he wishes to discourage the activity of auditing. Seems to be his game.
Too bad he can’t find something else to do because his comments usually distract from Mike’s message in my view. He might as well be working for David Miscavige.
That’s well put Foolproof.
ESMB, Marty’s & Ortega’s sites are the perfect place for Alanzo type viewpoints.No one is allowed to say actual Scientology benefits anyone there without a massive negative response – it’s all bad according to most of them and they will say it over and over as they have for years now. Any sane person would be repulsed by what happened to the Headleys and the countless other victims of corruption, me included but I know what I’ve seen when I applied it as LRH instructed. Anyone that tells me my PCs and students were betrayed by me and I’ll spit in their face.
Resisting change is a doubled edged sword. I’m glad I’m not stuck in the incident of my time in the cult. BIG difference between being stuck in an incident and insisting on or fighting for justice.
Miscavige’s cult is like a snake, but cut it’s head off and it dies.
I think that, through the leadership of David Miscavige, being “audited” is reverting back to its more traditional meaning.
Seriously? Scientology works because it “does”?
Alrighty then…
I Yawnalot wrote:
” Any sane person would be repulsed by what happened to the Headleys and the countless other victims of corruption, me included but I know what I’ve seen when I applied it as LRH instructed. Anyone that tells me my PCs and students were betrayed by me and I’ll spit in their face.”
I think you are taking this a little too personally. I’m not saying that your pcs and students were betrayed by you.
But, having said that, your handling above is 100% On Source:
https://www.mikerindersblog.org/running-program/#comment-41381
Alanzo
Foolproof, can you point to even one person who is “Clear” because of Scientology?
You remind me of this:
Reply to the Dark Avenger: Don’t worry, I won’t look or point in your direction.
A bit off topic here but I wanted to put in a plug for getting the ‘Indy 500’ list pushed over the 500 mark. Steve’s blog shows the number at 485. If you know of any fence sitters re: wanting to slide out from under the radar, perhaps we can do some ‘fun raising’ of our own and give Dave a real treat this holiday season.
Yo Dave,
Better get your buddy Craig over to the Valley and shore up those sagging stats. For gawdds sake, seems like between Craig and the Queen Mayor lady you could git er done over the phone? Do yourself a favor, call Bart.
Cooper! Or as we say in Maine, Coopah! Thank you for reminding us of this list.
I guess many new escapees may not have discovered this yet. Here is a link to the list itself, plus a description of what it’s all about and easy instructions for adding your name to it:
http://www.scientology-cult.com/declarations-of-independence/the-indie-500.html
I see a few regular commenters to Mike’s blog among the recent additions to the roster. It’s a brave step, and it gains more power with each new name. By my rough reckoning, there’s a millennium of Scientology experience represented here.
Thanks for putting up the link Richard. The only game the cult can play is the ability to instill fear into those flying under the radar. OSA is happy enough if they can at least neutralize those that are dissaffected and beyond through the use of fear and intimidation to at least KEEP THEM QUIET.
Once a person speaks up, states their name and gives the Miscarriage the finger in public, all control is lost. It is the worst of the worst for Kool Aide Central and OSA has to go into plan B to be sure no contact is made by the still-ins. This is where the fear gets turned back onto the perps because they then fear you!!!
Yo Dave,
Are ya gettin a tad ansy over losing control? Good luck to you finding some more lies to burp-up for your New Years Event this year. How about 47x ing the number of lawsuits against your stupid cult for starters? You are such a frickin loser!
I can’t say that I feel sorry for them. They all know the Miscavige-redefined game called Scientology and that is donos, donos and more donos. None of them are taken by surprise. They all know what is going to happen. They all know that they have to give to stay in good standing with their “Church” and that they will have to give a lot and frequently. They know that if new Ideal Orgs get built from their contribitions then they will be regged for refurbishing them. They know that when they are refurbished then they will stand empty. I guess they stay because they do not want to lose their “friends” in the “Church”. Also, they do not want to be disconnected from their family members. But others have made that hard decision to leave. They can do the same if they choose to.
As my mom used to say, “with friends like that, who needs enemies?”
That’s all very interesting Craig, but tell me this – are your stats at Pasadena Org as big or bigger than St. Hill in its prime? Do you currently have 200 students in your Academy? No? Then I can only conclude you are full of caca.
Craig is still heavily involved fundraising for the Valley idle org. He is still comatose.
Brings to mind this film for me:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Green_Was_My_Valley_%28film%29
He’s proud of being a manipulative liar… and Scientology is proud of it as well. Just… wow. Thank you for publishing this!
Ya gotta admire all this….. (whew…)
Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.
Mr. Jensen is covered in David Miscavige’s fleas as evidenced by the tactics that he suggests to get others to give to a failing campaign.
It’s very sad and disgusting.
“So they “see” the “amazing expansion”, just like the people saw the Emperor’s fine new clothes.”
Re: “So they “see” the “amazing expansion”, just like the people saw the Emperor’s fine new clothes.”
“Mr. Miscavige… was going to bring the religion to new realms. That expansion has now become… unparalleled. In the last few years, there has been Church expansion at orders of magnitude only previously dreamed of, led by David Miscavige, and with a proud management team following his lead. We have so much more to come. We are in our prime and are just now getting going. The Mecca is now starting. The future is brighter than it has ever been.”
http://www.freedommag.org/sites/default/files/declaration06.pdf
http://www.lawrencewrightgoingclear.com/sites/default/files/App11-Jenny%20Linson.pdf
Flood public into the org always seems to be the last thing on those to-do lists. Not a very practical order of significance for a “Church” I must say. But when your litigation expenditures in the last year alone could have bought a space program, I guess it’s time to retool ones extraction procedures. How sad it is to belong to an organization that strictly forbids internal criticism.
LOL congolium, when you put it that way, this $250,000 fundraiser probably didn’t pay for one week of all the lawyers in Monique Rathbun’s case.
It bought them. lunch LOL.
Disgusting. And the term Pre-regging? Weird.