The new Aftermath Foundation billboard became an instant hit.
Scientology is so desperate to prevent any of their sheeple from seeing the phone number on the billboard that they rented a cherry picker and then a scissor lift to try to hide it. The latest photos above come courtesy of Jeffrey Augustine at his excellent Scientology Money Project blog.
Of course this sort of obvious attempted cover-up draws more attention to the forbidden billboard, but it also raises questions about just how insecure scientology is that they panic about their flock seeing a billboard offering a phone number for anyone who wants help leaving the cult. They have told the media hundreds of times that everyone is “free to leave any time you want.” The official scientology website repeats this for public:
And for staff and Sea Org:
So, why are they concerned — if everyone is free to go at any time?
Because they know the reason most Sea Org members do not leave is because they don’t have the resources to do so. Many have no money. Often they don’t have driver’s licenses, credit cards or bank accounts. Many SO members come from scientology families — and if they leave their family members will disconnect from them. They have nowhere to turn. That is what what the Aftermath Foundation was created to address – by people who had to deal with this problem themselves when they escaped and who had spent a lot of time helping others who had been similarly situated. Throwing these people a lifeline is the LAST thing scientology wants. They know they have lost SO and staff members because they have been assisted by the Aftermath Foundation. Their numbers are dwindling, anything that threatens to hasten their demise must be stopped at all costs.
You have to wonder if what they are doing is legal? Is it a safety code violation to leave fully extended, untended lifts like that in a location where there are people nearby? Can you block the airspace above your property to prevent a billboard company from generating revenue? We will find out the answers to these questions.
Knowing the over-the-top reaction this has brought has set the wheels in motion for further things to be done. This is just the beginning.
If you would like to see more actions like this, you can help here.
Are Staff allowed to have smartphones? If so, QR codes could be interesting…they are small and can be put on fliers, websites etc.
Looks like someone vandalized the billboard and the Aftermath sign is gone!! 😥🤬🤬🤬
See statement on Aftermath Fdn website
And so the spiteful childish petulance from Diminutive Monsterego continues. All it means is he’s becoming more and more diminished and frightened as his cult continues to shrink.
Much of this comment I posted at the Augustine video:
That bla5ck lift appears to be a Wide Electric Model, 26′ Tall. In LA it rents for $132 per Day, $330 per Week, and $667 per Month – and about $8000 per year.
The blue lift appears to be an Electric 34′ Articulating Boom Lift. Rental in LA costs $252 per Day, $698 per Week, $1,696 per Month, and a whopping $20,000 per Year.
That Aftermath sign is contracted for one year. It will cost Scientology the equivalent of $28,000 per year to keep those two expensive pieces of construction and maintenance equipment in place. It is a futile attempt to prevent their members from even seeing such a simple message and easy-to-remember phone number.
All the billboard does is suggest that help is available for those wanting to leave Scientology, an organization described by the United States Supreme Court not as a church but rather as a “fee-for-services business.”
By trying to prevent Aftermath’s message from being seen by their membership, they are simply confirming that Scientology is a high-control cult, going to great expense to restrict their members access to information, proving again that Scientology DOES NOT want members to think for themselves.
p.s. Those two lifts and what they attempt to do are spreading the Aftermath’s message of hope and help to a far wider audience than a single sign alone could ever have done. I wish to thank David Miscavige and Scientology for providing such a huge increase in exposure of the sign, and at no cost to the Aftermath Foundation. Instead of a modest local impact, Scientology has boosted the sign’s exposure into an international incident, a staggering increase in eyeballs on the sign, more than they could possibly have calculated on their 50s era slide rules.
I think all staff in the BigBlue are talking about the billboard.
The indentured workers in the Sea Org are growing older with recruiting at an all-time low. Ever wondered why COB talks about square feet and not membership numbers? Scientology’s membership has declined drastically to a currently estimated 20,000 worldwide.
And in that context OSA simply does not have enough in-house resources any more to watch all socalled enemy websites and channels. They most likely outsourced a lot of it to what they consider trustworthy OTs.
And that is why you are here, reading and summarizing Mike’s blog. Hi there! You’re not the first and probably won’t be the last. 24 years ago it was Tory. Check out the details of her story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tory_Christman
I now invite you to call the Aftermath Foundation. One thing you should have noticed is that Mike and the Foundation will not disclose your identity so it’s safe to pick up the phone.
This billboard is just beyond awesome.
I tend to wonder how the cult is going to explain this to their staff at a muster. So I took a dive into the cult thinking and I suppose they could tell the staff it’s a trap by the evil psychs to trick SO members and cult members into promising them help but it’s just a plot to destroy Scn.
Scn will try to convince members that calling that number will lead to the psychs giving them electric shock therapy. Some members will buy the lie, and others will call the number. Thanks so much for doing this.
I’m posting on March 13.
We must understand that Scientology isn’t a religion. We must understand that Scientology is a con game invented by L. Ron Hubbard. We must understand that outside of the Collectivist movement L. Ron Hubbard was one of most vile men who ever lived. Bad people often believe they’re good people. We saw this with the harassment of Paulette Cooper. If the United States had a real government Scientology would be treated as the criminal organization it actually is.
Scientology will eventually become extinct. L. Ron Hubbard didn’t design Scientology to outlast him. L. Ron Hubbard was wrong about a lot of things. My first paying job in the private sector was a part time janitorial position at two candy shops in downtown Minneapolis. Both candy shops had picture windows, Hubbard’s method of cleaning windows was NEVER used.
Ah, the OSA public relations experts are at it again. Miscavage is such a genius. Just look at how much more well-thought-of Scientology is thought of now than a week ago…..a month ago…..a year ago….
30 years ago…… You are SO good at what you do! Just check out those stats! 🤪
It makes the sign all the more visible by calling attention to it. I hope local media picks up the story, but it also makes me think it would be fun to play the matching game. I’ll pledge a donation for each new lift that Scientology leaves at the the billboard site. Try it out! It’s even more fun than posting on YouTube.
Helping is fun! A fine thing.
Two points:
1. How close is the scissor lift to the billboard lights? OSHA requires such lifts to be at least 10 feet away from any potential electrical hazard.
2. Does the scissor lift rental company know what they are doing with the lift? Leaving a lift elevated like that for extended periods is bad for any hydrolic lines and fitting. It also puts the lift at risk of falling over if winds exceed 28mph.
Ron never realized “always attack” isn’t actually good policy.
Me thinks they doth protest too much. But that’s the cult of $cientology, always proving the whistle-blowers’ points.
They are getting desperate to keep anyone they can in this evil society.
This is 2024, people see right through 1950ties manipulation. Problem for sucio is that policy was created, in another world, another reality. Kind regards Kim
Panic and major ‘hill 10’.
In my opinion legally they cannot do what they have done, let alone keep those things like that just for security reasons. Furthermore, it risks attracting even more attention and making headlines. The staff may have been prohibited from taking certain routes or even looking in that direction, otherwise there will be troubles. But sure many will still look. Lets see what happens.
Sure but what about the public? They can’t be prohibited from passing there.
That scissor lift thing is a riot. And at the same time pathetic. It wouldn’t work on me.
If I were AOLA public this partially blocked signage about Scientology would pique my curiosity and I would be drawn to walk by there and walk around the obstruction in order to get the whole message. I would just have to do that!
Terrific article, Mike, thanks.
Aqua, I think the public also has some guidelines on this matter, but what worries them is the staff being controlled to act and think like a herd. A billboard like this can sow doubts in many of them. They can’t vandalize the billboard or they’ll get in trouble, and for security reasons they can’t keep that scissor lift there as long as the billboard lasts. They must be considering another ‘on policy’ plan.
Right on everything, Loosing, which is why that billboard is a brilliant ploy!
Confronting and shattering suppression with a scissor lift.
I am not surprised that they did this. They will do anything to keep people in and they will to anything in their power to villainize anyone or anything that is exposing the truth about Scientology. It’s sad to see how far they will go to try to keep people quiet.
Y’see, they MUST do what Hubbard says. Its SCRIPTURE. And as ridiculous as that silly scissor lift (today I learned something new, had no idea what a scissor lift was, now I know, thank you) that silly scissor lift just screams desperation on the part of the cult and of course will be largely ineffective in preventing people from reading the sign BUT…”The Wrong Thing To Do Is Nothing” saith L Ron Hubbard, and in that HCOPL, or whatever it was, he says that doing ANYthing is ALWAYS better than doing nothing…NOT TRUE! At least, certainly not ALWAYS true and just off the top of my head I’d say that roughly 40% of the time, doing nothing actually handles the problem. Look, one cannot generalize about problem solving this way; my only point is that doing nothing , ie., NOT relaliating, can at times be an effective and powerful strategy. But no, the cult MUST do something – anything – ALWAYS.