The smoke and mirrors game that scientology plays concerning L. Ron Hubbard is pretty remarkable. This "monumental hardback collection" is hardly a recounting of a "life like no other." It is a carefully selected collection of anecdotal stories about things L. Ron Hubbard said or claimed about his life. Many of them are unverified, unable to be documented because they didn't happen. Charitably, Hubbard told "tall tales" about his life and exploits. Realistically, he simply lied about himself. The author of these "books" (they were originally "magazines") is Dan Sherman. The "LRH … [Read more...]
The Virtual IAS Event
This year's IAS event is going to be "virtual." It's a fundraising catastrophe for scientology as this is their biggest single event for raking in cash. Undaunted, they put out a "press release" on a paid news service. Of course it gets no pickup in the media at all, as it contains no news. But you can find it online. Below is the full release, 100% hype and bs. The back-patting "quotes" are from themselves. And their big accomplishment is apparently that some agency in Spain includes the IAS event as a scientology holiday in their "educational calendar." Wow, that is an astonishing … [Read more...]
Scientology & Big Pharma
This is a post from Mike Westen at his blog. He sent it to me and I thought it was a great piece so I am reprinting it here. A recently leaked church document highlights Scientology’s hypocrisy with regards its anti-psychiatry activism. On Saturday, Tony Ortega published a 1993 investment summary listing the church’s assets in bonds, equities and cash. Amongst the numerous shares listed were two pharmaceutical companies: Ciba Geigy and Pfizer. As of 1993, Ciba Geigy was the Swiss manufacturer of the stimulant drug Ritalin (methylphenidate) and the antipsychotic Clozaril (clozapine). Ci … [Read more...]
Scientology “Volunteers”
My recent post, Bonnie's Sad Tale, noted the use of the term "volunteer" repeatedly to describe working as an org staff member. I commented that this "volunteer" status is a legal sham. It is simply a way of taking advantage of the law -- and that no org staff are actually "volunteers." It's simple to prove. If they cease to "volunteer" before completing their contract, they are given a bill for services they have taken in "exchange" for their work (a freeloader bill). That, by definition, is not a volunteer. And they also have to sign a contract. And they are promised "wages." And they … [Read more...]
More Foolishness from STAND
Another recent tweet from the genuises at STAND League led me to yet another of their brain-addled articles. John Logothetis has apparently caught some sort of mental incapacity from riding in Rodger Clark's clown car of flawed logic... As a note, right at the outset, he excuses the "professional critic" who gets paid for their "opinions." Of course, he must know that this is scientology's repeated claim about me and Leah. That we are simply "paid critics" who have nothing better to do than make a buck off "scientology's good name." But don't think he actually … [Read more...]
Words of Wisdom on Education
Some newly promoted words of wisdom from the master of doublespeak: OK, anyone who has ever been in scientology will read this quote and wonder: "WTF?" This is the EXACT opposite of "education" in scientology. Studying the words of L. Ron Hubbard is viewed as the most important thing anyone can do on this earth. And this is NOT an exaggeration. One would never describe a scientology courseroom as "pleasant," "unhurried" or "casual." Anyone who ran a pleasant courseroom would be designated a dilettante, if not a "squirrel." In fact, this is what Hubbard has to say about … [Read more...]
What’s Up With Scientology TV?
STAND League makes a big deal out of the "ratings" of The Aftermath and A&E. Still at it more than a year after the last episode aired. This is one of their recent headlines, exhorting Disney to "pull the plug" on A&E. The hypocrites at STAND proclaim "the audience has spoken and they reject hate speech"... Actually, the audience spoke and made The Aftermath the biggest hit A&E had when we were airing -- though Live PD had higher audience numbers, The Aftermath was their "prestige" show. Emmy nominations across 4 years for 3 seasons and numerous other awards … [Read more...]
How to “Go OT”
They actually still promote this as if these words are absolute truth. And it happens repeatedly. If Hubbard said it, no matter when it was or how much transpired subsequently, they still present it as gospel truth. The last ACC lecture was in the early 1960's. So what "OT processes" is this referring to? The ones in Creation of Human Ability? The ones that were subsequently canceled (all "Creative Processing" was cancelled by Hubbard)? Certainly not the ones from the "OT Levels" that all scientologists know today as they had not been invented yet? Don't the people that write this stuff … [Read more...]
Scientology is Dying Off
A tiny Mission in the LA area sent out the following in memoriam announcement about 3 of its members. This is a significant number of deaths in a group of people that probably numbers no more than 100, and that is being very kind. Scientology doesn't actually promise you will never die -- though they come mighty close. These people certainly didn't discard their bodies to continue their OT research unencumbered by a meat sack as L. Ron Hubbard is claimed to have done. Therefore, according to scientology they must have been PTS, and probably had unflat NOTs. This is the cause of all … [Read more...]
The War of the Hubbards
This is a blog post by one of our regular posters, Mike Westen (MWesten), entitled The War of the Hubbards. He asked me if I would like to share it here. I think it's a thought-provoking piece, with English spelling and all. You can see the full article at his blog by clicking on the link above. I have excerpted the part that focuses on scientology (he draws analogies to islam in his longer piece -- I prefer to just focus on scientology here). A question for scientologists: what do you actually stand for? Scientologists are by no means unique when cherry-picking their most favoured … [Read more...]