Another provocative essay from our old friend Terra Cognita.
Teenage Mutant Ninja MAAs
Is it just me or have the staff in Department 3 at Scientology Advanced Orgs gotten younger? And younger. For those of you who’ve forgotten your Org Board, Dept 3, Inspections and Reports, is that section in charge of ethics and justice. And where people are sent when they’ve been bad boys and girls.
It’s one thing to get unjustly raked over the coals by an MAA—Master at Arms; it’s another to get screamed at by a sanctimonious teenager.
From Cradle to Sea Org
Most, if not all, of these young Dept 3 staff were born into Scientology families. Their parents were either Sea Org members who had to route-out when Mom got pregnant, or their parents were long-time Class 5 Org or Mission staff. [Ed note: the qualifications for HCO, especially Dept 3 are THE most stringent in scientology, virtually nobody who is not raised a scientologist meets the qualifications]
Kids born into these families begin suckling the LRH Kool-Aid the moment they first emerge from the womb and from then on, are taught that pretty much everything worth knowing was written by LRH.
Public schools are not only worthless, but dangerous, and college is for losers. Scientology kids go to Scientology schools, and when they finally get their GEDs at fifteen, they’re ready to sign their billion year contract. They’ve always known they would join Staff and help clear the planet. There was no other ethical choice.
A Very, Very Dangerous Place: The Outside World
Most of these young staff know little of the outside world. They didn’t watch TV or surf the Internet while growing up. They didn’t participate in sports. Didn’t go to parties. Didn’t sneak home drunk at two in the morning. And of course, they never had to sheepishly pay for condoms at the local pharmacy. Associating with non-Scientologists was risky business and frowned upon. Young Sea Org kids led very cloistered lives.
People outside the church were considered Wogs—a bigoted acronym standing for Worthy Oriental Gentleman—and NOT worthy of association. Wogs are irresponsible. Wogs are out-ethics. Many are degraded. Wogs lack the Tech and Policy to “make it go right.” In LRH’s own words, “a wog is somebody who isn’t even trying,” (SH Spec 73, 6608C02).
Speaking of Responsibility
I was recently reminded of something LRH said in Scientology, 8-8008: “Slaves are made by giving them freedom from responsibility.”
Sounds reasonable. The more responsibility and self-determinism you take from a man, the more of a slave he becomes.
Sea Org members are quick to say nobody takes more responsibility than they. They work insanely long hours for little to no pay. They endure hardships and humiliation that few sane people would subject themselves to. No one but them are up to the task of saving the planet.
And yet…
These young Sea Org members have never had to find and work a job in the real world. They’ve never had to come up with rent money. Gas money. Never been threatened with foreclosure. Never had to shop for their own food, much less had to prepare meals for themselves and others. Never had to worry about health insurance, car insurance, homeowners insurance, insurance period. Vacations! Kids! Diapers! Cars!
They’ve never had to deal with that big bad outside world. In truth, they have little idea of the responsibility the average “Wog” must take every day to ensure a full belly and a roof over his head.
Once these young recruits join staff they’re told exactly what to do. Given quotas; given targets. Told how to dress, how behave. Their whole lives become regimented. In a sense, they’re the ones whose responsibility has been curtailed and who’ve been turned into slaves.
The worst of it is, though, they’re told what to think. When they join staff, they abnegate all responsibility for using their minds, questionings things that don’t seem right, and thinking for themselves. If LRH didn’t write it, it isn’t true, and if David Miscavige didn’t say it, it must be a lie.
Back to Department Three
And so it is with great indignity that Scientologists—especially older ones—are forced to submit to the demands and injustices of nineteen and twenty year-olds with little life experience and little reality of the people sitting across from them. To these kids, an ideal world is one organized per the Scientology Org Board and run on LRH policy. Operating any other way is treading water. And out-ethics.
All they know is that this person in the room with them is there because he or she has tons of overts and withholds. There is no other reason. The public are out-ethics and irresponsible. If they weren’t, they’d have joined the Sea Org. The public not “innocent until proven guilty;” they’re guilty. Always. To think otherwise is “reasonableness.” Which in the church, is very, very bad.
If LRH was correct in writing that Affinity plus Reality plus Communication equals Understanding, then it’s easy to see why these young MAA’s lack warmth, affinity, and understanding. Their reality is so low with anyone not in the Sea Org, it’s hard for them to empathize with anyone outside their insulated bubble. Young MAAs quickly lose their compassion and kindness and become as “solid” as the furniture in the room.
This lack of understanding translates to gross injustices. They know the Sea Org way is the right way and thus, assigning people unreal conditions, remedial courses, and hours of amends and security checking is the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics.
If they have to look the other way now and then and disregard the very policy they’ve sworn to follow and uphold, so be it. They’re saving the planet!
Last Words
Ethics personnel are out of touch with their public. The fact is they’re the ones who are out-ethics. Hugely out-ethics.
Still not Declared,
Terra Cognita
I was training to be an auditor when the first I was told that all my previous certificates were cancelled and I would have to start over from the beginning (and pay again) of all my training. Disheartened and not really enthusiastic to begin with, I fell away. I was retrieved and decided that maybe the fault was with me, not Scientology (familiar story?) and thought I would give it one more shot. The first step of Miscavige’s new training line up was a visit to the Ethics Officer. This was for everyone, regardless of circumstance. The Ethics Officer was a young adult girl that looked like she was 17 or 18 years old. She got me started on writing down all of my crimes. I spent an hour or so doing this, until I had to leave. I was supposed to come back a couple of days later to continue working with her. The next day, dinner was interrupted by a phone call. It was the Ethics Officer who started screaming over the phone so loud that I couldn’t understand what she was saying. After some effort, I got her to lower her voice and found out that a family member of my ex-husband, who was also the Chair of the local OT Committee, and a friend of mine (who had convinced me to give it one more go) had gotten into a heated argument over what my handling should be. She thought that I needed stronger more thratening handling and my friend felt that I was following the prescribed steps. Apparently the conversation did not go well and ended up in angry shouting and name calling. I wasn’t there, but this is what I heard. This OT Chair wrote all sorts of angry reports on my friend and also on me. Then, she went into the Org and convinced the Ethics Officer that I had somehow been the true cause of the upset, which prompted the screaming phone call to me. By the next day, I received notice of a Scientology Justice action on Goldenrod paper, which was demanded by this woman to deal with my “3rd party sabotage of her communication lines”. Since I was working for a company owned by a Scientologist, I was warned that if I didn’t resolve this, my job would be at risk. So I went in and dealt with it. That difficult meeting was the last time I set foot in a Scientology organization. I eventually found another, better job and have never looked back.
Rather than being a source of ministerial counseling and guidance, these young Ethics Officers are used as a tool to harm people and act as instruments of retaliation and control of members.
“Children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy.” G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
So, yes, that’s why many of the most merciless Red Guards, Khmer Rouge, fascists, and MAAs have been indoctrinated teenagers who’ve never had to make any compromises in life, are “pure” in heart and intent, and regard any compromise as a sin against the great doctrine and the great leader, whoever he (it’s always been a he) may be. Better to have a wise old judge than a zealous young judge, every time.
Terra, thank you for writing about this. As a born in I have spent many hours thinking about my former best friends and first boyfriends who now live a life completely different than mine, in the same city, miles apart… and I have heard that most are in upper level orgs now. I am sad for them, but I don’t feel they are sad for themselves. I, too, signed my name on the dotted line to save this planet for the next billion years at age 12 though I never went in because thankfully I was dating LRH’s grandson at the time and they didn’t want to enforce our contracts and create bad PR with the family, as the recruiters knew they weren’t allowed to be picking us up from school, etc. and that is a “guilt” I still struggle with on the daily….feeling as though I deserted my team….On the last visit with my father before he disconnected he told me how much all my childhood friends (who are mostly on staff) miss and love me. It can be confusing at times when it seems as though you’re “the lone wolf off hobnobbing with the evil SPs.” But, I would NEVER do it differently and I stand by my choices. I thought I may be able to make your day … At 15, I took my state proficiency exam as you stated frequently happens and I enrolled in Hubbard College Of Administration, for the degree program (the “WOG” side of the family was pressuring for a real school and this was the solution.) I finished almost entirely but just couldn’t get with the policies and that this was how I was supposed to behave in ANY business. So I went on to work full time at various SCN companies to make ends meet and keep up with my college debts, and life, etc. I was depressed and in a state of confusion, not believing in the tech anymore but not having any other options, and badly in debt.
Fast forward to now, I am 29, I have come out of the church without my family and after believing that college was not a path for me this lifetime…guess what? I signed up for community college and am taking some AMAZING classes, including Philosophy which is teaching me the critical thinking skills I am so grateful to Chris Shelton for highlighting we miss at times. I am enjoying this WOG world and finding beauty in this life. I read this blog daily and though have never commented before, I just wanted to say THANK YOU. I have HOPE again. All of the efforts to help have been noticed. Please keep up the inspiring work. Mike, I’ve heard your voice since I was a kid. Thank you for attempting to rectify all of this the best you can, I appreciate it more than you know and you’ve given me a tool with your show that I can’t begin to describe the value.
When you are only permitted to see one side of the coin, and you are sheltered from the world at large, you can’t possibly achieve Critical Thinking. You have seen nothing else to compare what you’ve been taught to anything else without ever having access to it.
The FLDS and other strict religions do the same thing, they sequester their children from birth to access to the outside world….thinking with no access to “it” you will never want or long for it.
Best wishes on making a difficult choice Vanessa…..stepping away from it was the hardest decision you’ve made, but it will benefit you in the long run. You are now your OWN person, can make you own decision and choices in life, including stepping into a REAL college education that will open many door for you.
So many lovely and supportive people here for you and other, and a lot of humor too! Hold you head high young lady, the world needs more young folks like you.
Thank you L. And people like you, strangers full of love and support, just make the “free world” so much brighter <3
You are so welcome! Just think about when you’ve completed college, where you can now go in life without the chains that would have bound you and held you down. You can chose where you want to work, and where you want to live, and have total control of the $$$ you will earn. As you’ve read many stories here, others have left “the organization” after DECADES of loyalty, and finally realizing in the end what you’ve found out for yourself. You have your entire life ahead of you and the chance to DO something you’ve always wanted to do. Maybe some day you will be helping counsel others who have “blown the organization.”
Sometimes in life Vanessa, you can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved….you can only save yourself. Sadly many on this blog have stated they’ve also had their families “disconnect” from them & they understand your pain. Keep in mind all good thoughts from here on out…….Your feet are now on the ground, your “nose” in your college books and a good future is assured….the BEST is yet to be…you GO girl!
Vanessa: Thank you for you story. Wow.
This is totally off topic, but can anyone tell me about the $cientology cross?
Answered this on the show. Also in an earlier post about being a Christian, Jew or anything else and a scientologist.
I know that I risk getting into areas that might seem sensational, but I’m going to go ahead and point out that the cross is very similar to those used by mystical and esoteric groups. In particular it is nearly identical to the so-called “crossed out cross” of Aleister Crowley’s occult atheist (and, arguably, anti-Christian) group OTO that Hubbard was involved in several years before he started founding his own groups. Hubbard refers to Crowley as a “good friend” in one or two taped lectures, and L. Ron “Nibs” Hubbard, Jr. said that Crowley and his Thelema magickal practices were an important ongoing influence for Hubbard, Sr. Hubbard would have had to have known that he was using something that would widely be taken as a Christian religious symbol, but in a form nearly identical to those used by groups with a very different if not even entirely opposite intent.
In the same way that older children sometimes like to play tricks that capitalize on younger children’s ignorance, like getting them to use a naughty word they are unfamiliar with by telling them that it means something else, Hubbard seems to me to have taken perverse pleasure in pulling similar tricks on his less savvy followers (presumably figuring that any worldwise enough to pick up on it would appreciate the prank). Thus for instance Hubbard told his followers to refer to outsiders with the term “wog”, which he claimed meant “Worthy Oriental Gentleman,” but which is actually the British version of the n-word slur for non-white people:
wog noun British informal, offensive
1A person who is not white.
1.1Australian A foreigner or immigrant, especially one from southern Europe.
[Oxford dictionary online]
Wogs, lower class Babu shipping clerks on the Indian coast.
[Sea Slang, Bowen, 1929]
My father, who knew nothing at all about Hubbard or Scientology told me in 1970 that the letters in the racial slur “wog” stood for “Worthy Oriental Gentleman,” and if I’m guessing, I guess he’d heard that explanation in the 1940s or the 1950s. By the way, he was a professor of English literature, and had been married to an Englishwoman before my mother.
It seems that nobody knows where or why British people began calling (particularly) Asian people wogs during the late 19th or early 20th century. It’s obvious that “worthy (or wily) Oriental gentleman” was only an after-the-fact joke, made up to explain the peculiar insult in a humorous way.
What I always noted was the sadistic-abusive way that Hubbard picked up an especially nasty, contemptuous, dismissive term (that he may have learned while in England during the Saint Hill years), and then applied it to the vast majority of the human race, who weren’t in Scientology. A wog is a “common, everyday garden-variety humanoid … He ‘is’ a body. [He] doesn’t know he’s there, etc. He isn’t there as a spirit at all. He is not operating as a thetan.” (SHSBC 82 — thanks, Wikipedia!). So characteristic of the man.
As usual a very relevant analysis by Terra Cognita. Poor people, what a delusion.
Police Pot, Hitler, all great dictators are adding good Ole Dave to the list.
Unfortunately ole Davey is going to go find LRH soon, the slaves will be without leadership. Maybe one person in the Sea Slave Camp, will be brave an revolt. I know wishful thinking, but who has Miscaviage cloned?
Clearwater needs to step up their game, clean up downtown an squeeze flag down a small hole. New businesses, theater, and other entertaining and growth inducing places need to open up. Most, if not all know to avoid flag like the plague. Maybe they could post signs outside downtown saying buyer beware for those not enlightened.
Wishful thinking, I know.
Every time Terra writes such brilliant, insightful, and clever articles, King OCD Miscavige is one step closer to having an aneurism. True fact! They’ll say he dropped his body and some 12 year old who’s supposed to be LRH’s reincarnated “thetan” will take over as COB. What do you do when the leader is trying to deal with puberty? Oh, he’ll ignore that, he’s skillions of years old….
Where is love and compassion for all in this “religion” ?
They aren’t there. Because it was created by a narcissistic sociopath who was largely incapable of feeling them, and is probably now run by a similar personality type.
Have you seen the post Love and Compassion in Scientology from January 30th, which is about why they are lacking?
Love and compassion was not a virtue taught by L Ron Hubbard. A compassionate man would never seek to destroy people, and teach others to do the same.
It’s the religion for narcissists.
To amusingly contradict one of the statements in today’s post, Thomas Cabral, one of my local Scientology friends, said “One well placed STD could take out all of Clearwater'”
Aaron Smith-Levin, I don’t understand your comment, “one well placed STD could take out all of Clearwater.” Maybe that is true of the NON-Scn population, but the SO don’t have sex until marriage and if they are caught having sex, they are either drummed out of the corps or are separated and sent to RPF. Am I missing something here?
I’m referring to the younger non-SO Scientology population in CW
Pol Pot would have approved of David Miscavige. Get the children to “discipline” the adults. If he was able, I am sure that the frightened little dictator would employ land mines around his sanctuary near Hemet. Let’s bring this little despot down before he really hurts himself. Infants shouldn’t run with scissors, so please DM, set the scissors down.
Also don’t forget chairman Mao’ s cultural revolution. The young, with dogmatic literature from Mao in hand, were encouraged to expose the crimes of their elders
And Ron, as an older man, ordered David as a young man to beat people up and spit in their face.
Teachers teach and students learn.
Mike, TC, Brian, Anyone…..As a “never in” I have a few questions about all this re-incarnation that’s discussed For instance:
IF LRH should “re-appear”, would LRH be coming back as an infant since “we live many lives and have many parents”…..and since being cleared of past trauma (i.e. the stroke)…..how will LRH or anyone else even KNOW he is the re-incarnation of LRH and would want those Thom McCann slippers and special foods and cigarettes since you are supposed to be “living in the Present”.
Would LRH, if he were to reincarnate, agree and accept all the changes that the current COS has made in the “temporary absence” of LRH or would be very angry.
The BIG question is this…..If LRH does magically reincarnate….just how would LRH re-take control of “the organization”….does any one even THINK that the present man in charge, the infamous current COB would willing step down and hand over all that power and $$$ $$ right back into the hands of the reincarnation of LRH?????
As with all fables and fairytales — your answer is as good anyone else’s to these and numerous other questions.
So what you’re saying here is that if I WERE a member, I would be ex-communicated or worst of worst “declared” for questioning COS??………I
‘d answer them with “I know a BRIDGE you might be interested in buying”…..
Terrific piece, Terra. The very young in general can be lacking in compassion due to their own lack of life experience. The very young Scientology MAAs and many of the very young SOs I considered as completely obnoxious people to be avoided whenever possible. As a public I had contempt for them, frankly. And I let my contempt show. Subtly – I didn’t insult them or use profanity with them. They had nothing they could Use to write me up. But they got it, the contempt, the disdain I felt for their presumptions based entirely on dogma and no life experience. Strangely enough, when I showed how little regard I had for there guidance they would get nicer to me! Those interactions showed me that there was something wrong with them – though I wasn’t sure what it was back then. Today I know that what I was dealing with were the real Degraded Beings – slaves – circuits – lights on/no one home type of thing. Obnoxious brats suffused with their own importance, majorly impressed with their own extremely limited talents. At events they’d surround me and I’d flick them away like houseflies. That’s the treatment they understand and respect.
I think you’ll find this very informative.
Scientology is run by screaming teenagers, which makes sense given that it’s led by a superannuated 8th-Grader.
Good post, TC. Well written, too.
I was both a staff and public ethics officer/MAA in the early ’90s, when the purpose was still to help a person get in their own ethics. By the 2000s, things had evolved to the way you describe.
And it wasn’t just the ethics section that had changed to an attitude of “cold, chrome steel.” TRs were now required to be that way too, instead of simply being there comfortably – obviously, chrome steel is an additive. Being a staff member had also drastically changed in that period of time.
But it was gradual enough – like Mike’s analogy of being a slowly boiled frog – that I was shocked when I thought back on it and saw the radical changes. It still took me a couple of years longer than that decade or so to know with certainty that I did not want to be there, regardless of what I had to lose, and to make my way out.
LRH doesn’t get all the “credit,” by any means. Miscavige and his supporters have effectively brought the lessons home.
I think that I am noticing an interesting pattern here, that many seem to accept that things were somehow okay or normal when they started, but then see them as having gotten worse. Except that, one person’s start point, is often what was considered worse (sometimes, unbearably so) by someone who started earlier.
I noticed that old-timer (and, I would say, still Hubbard loyalist/apologist) Ken Urquhart seems to trace the beginning of the end of what he thought Scientology should have been, to the very introduction of “ethics” itself in early ’65. But he had only joined staff himself in 1964.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? It seems to be a phenomenon of human nature (always seeing one’s beginnings as the “good old days”) and I suspect it is also noted as something particular in the literature on organizations and high control groups, but I am not specifically familiar with how it might be classified. I think it’s a variation of the slowly boiled frog analogy, that people get into something and justify the current state of it as normal, even if that is actually a deteriorated state that they might have rejected if they had more experience; after that they may have their own boiled frog experience, where the state of things slowly gets even worse without them noticing, until finally some change gives them perspective on how intolerable it has become.
p.s. marildi – I expect to post my response to your previous question about Urquhart by tomorrow.
A lot of it has to do with where you were. In many of the remote organizations the senior staff were good people who took the best of the tech and focused on that. Raucous academies with tons of co-auditing, good supervisors in basic courses helping people improve their communication skills with very little attention on getting more money out of most of the public, a general atmosphere of friendliness and comradery.
The further away from the sea organization and their meddling, the more individuals were having a relatively fun time exploring the subject. But, alas, having fun and philosophizing wasn’t anyone’s stat and couldn’t be plotted on a graph by Thursday at 2:00
LDW, you took the words out of my mouth. And I’ve said it before, too – WHERE and WHEN make all the difference.
Indeed, I think that’s an important dynamic to consider – the flood of idealistic young seekers into Scientology from the mid 1960s on led to local groups making Scientology what they thought it ought to be.*
But then if things were so different in some of the far-flung reaches, was it really even Scientology, or could it just have been “squirrel” in every respect?
I know that there are all sorts of explanations and rationalizations to explain the obvious inconsistencies and discrepancies, but don’t you at least sometimes wonder?
* Until, of course, the Sea Org, trained by Hubbard in things like “heavy ethics,” came ashore and slowly started establishing a different and standardized Scientology.
PeaceMaker: “I know that there are all sorts of explanations and rationalizations to explain the obvious inconsistencies and discrepancies, but don’t you at least sometimes wonder?”
I guess it hasn’t occurred to you that this is what you yourself are doing with all your speculations – where you try to explain away any and all experiences that are positive, while accepting the negative ones without question. Don’t you realize that is being just as much a “true believer” as there ever was one, although in reverse?
marildi, I’m not necessarily trying to explain away any and all experiences that are positive. I may even cherish a few myself 🙂 You may notice that I often acknowledge that positive experiences and some even some initial benefits may come from initial involvement in Dianetics and Scientology – and point out that goes to explain why people stay in.
The stated point of this blog is doing something about the abuses of the CofS, if I’ve put together the title and our host’s introduction correctly. But many of the comments about positive experiences and “wins” seems to me to start to smack of attempts to excuse the abuses – and if I’m ever mis-reading that, I apologize. So I think it’s fair to challenge people to quantify and demonstrate any such claims, and dismiss them as speculative in the absence of adequate proof since it is supposed to be “science” – and if that seems like a smack-down, sorry.
PeaceMaker: “But many of the comments about positive experiences and ‘wins’ seems to me to start to smack of attempts to excuse the abuses – and if I’m ever mis-reading that, I apologize.”
I do think you are misreading that. And similarly, did it ever occur to you that the comments about abusive experiences might be attempts to make nothing of the gains?
“So I think it’s fair to challenge people to quantify and demonstrate any such claims, and dismiss them as speculative in the absence of adequate proof since it is supposed to be “science” – and if that seems like a smack-down, sorry.”
Okay, but do you challenge in any way people who claim that there were few if any gains, or even that there was harm done?
marilidi, the abuses and the harm done are well documented and have even been affirmed in court, so I don’t think they can be compared with supposed “gains,” which have been disproven in what little scientific testing has been done and which generally come down to vague and unquantifiable opinions or hearsay. That’s not to say that you might not have had gains or good experiences, but that’s still just an example of anecdotal testimony in the larger picture.
And I may challenge anyone who makes unsupported or extreme claims, including those who claim absolutely no possible benefits for Dianetics and Scientology. I think it is important for understanding, to be accurate when evaluating a subject.
I will try to pay a bit closer attention to exactly what is being said in some of the comments that seem to be getting into apologism, and perhaps we can revisit some of this on a more appropriate and current topic.
PeaceMaker: “the abuses and the harm done are well documented and have even been affirmed in court…”
I’m not at all negating that there have been many cases of abuse – you’re misrepresenting what I wrote. My point was that you aren’t suspiciously reading things into comments about abuse the way you do with claims about the benefits.
As regards the negative generalilties that are made about gains, including “There are no actual gains,” or at best “very few,” you haven’t challenged such claims, when in fact they have not been proven scientifically either, and are not even based on scientific polling let alone overall testing.
PeaceMaker: “I will try to pay a bit closer attention to exactly what is being said in some of the comments that seem to be getting into apologism, and perhaps we can revisit some of this on a more appropriate and current topic.”
The point is that you’ve already scrutinized and paid a lot of attention to what you consider apologists’ posts but virtually none to the detractors – which indicates your bias and mindset. Anyway, I think we’ve both said our piece, at least for now.
marildi, there’s a limited amount of time and space to try to be perfectly fair in these comments. And as our host Mike wrote earlier this evening on the current topic, “This blog is about the abuses and lies of scientology.” It’s not Hubbard and Scientology in the balance. And at the other end of the spectrum, if it were an indie blog, I’d focus rather differently – and try not to risk going off topic there, with too much about the sorts of things that are on topic here.
Anyway, like I said before, let’s see if there is an opportunity to revisit some of this on a more timely topic.
Indeed, this blog is about the abuses and lies of the church of scientology and that extends to the subject of scientology itself and its founder. Abuses and lies are in the domain of facts, not personal opinions. Trying to be “balanced” on the subject of scientology isn’t going to be possible because “balanced and fair” begs the question: “by whose reckoning?”
There will NEVER be agreement on that. This rare forum on scientology is one in which people are free to express their wildly divergent opinions. One might say the purpose of “fair and balanced” is to arrive at the truth but another (I, for instance) might say that there is no ‘truth’ in this matter, there are only facts, opinions and emotions. LOTS of emotions.
Maybe Jack Percel would have a different timeline when things got bad around Ron.
Maybe Paulette Cooper has a different timeline, when the Scientology “benevolent” phase was waning.
Quentin may have a different time.
If the internet was around to protect Paulette Cooper because we can see what’s going on in real time, maybe we would have thought that that time was when things got bad.
My X wife may have the time she went nuts on OT3.
From the time LRH wrote Fair Game, when he branded all critics criminals could be a good place to put a marker on when things went down hill.
But maybe Sara, Ron’s X wife being pistol whipped by him will have different time when things went bad.
Or how about the thousands of us who could never afford to go up the bridge yet struggled to put pennies on causes. Feeling jealous of those who had the money. Thinking that those who had money were more OT than us.
In Scientology there are always victims as well as those who could pay for mental processes and an OT group ego status.
MIscavige simply revealed the corruption that was already there. With more enthusiasm and vigor. And fists.
Brian, well put.
I woke up this morning thinking that I should have also mentioned that noted early auditor Jack Hubbard had left in 1965 over “ethics,” suppressive person declares and disconnection. And that John McMaster, who was supposed to be the first real clear and was declared the “pope” of Scientology by Hubbard, resigned in 1969 over abuses including particularly the “ethics” that had been introduced in 1965.
1965 is perhaps just an easy date to pinpoint when it can be shown that things were going wrong in Scientology under the personal direction of Hubbard, at a time well before the typical claims of an idyllic Scientology experience. I think that it did probably mark a turning point when Hubbard decided that he wasn’t going to be able to build a true mass movement that would have political power, and so he could be less concerned about trying to maintain a benevolent public image and instead needed to focus on turning his following into a powerful force to be reckoned with – but that’s a complex topic for another time.
But I agree with you, when one starts to really turn over the logs all the rot turns up, the Manual of Justice of 1959 that details policies on attacking people, in 1955 the Manual of Dissemination that sets out the policy of using lawsuits to harass and even ruin people, all the brutal craziness you mention regarding Hubbard’s early Dianetics associates and his then-family/families, and before that the Affirmations of the late 1940s. That history forms a consistent arc of immorality (or at least callous amorality) and injustice marking Hubbard’s career, and that clearly projects into the present time.
PeaceMaker: “I noticed that old-timer (and, I would say, still Hubbard loyalist/apologist) Ken Urquhart seems to trace the beginning of the end of what he thought Scientology should have been, to the very introduction of ‘ethics’ itself in early ’65.”
True. He said Hubbard “sowed the seeds of conflict unambiguously and irrevocably, and he nurtured them in the years that followed. The Games Condition that monitored all future Scn games began in earnest.” http://freezoneearth.org/ivy/35/ken35.html
That hardly sounds like a Hubbard apologist, however. I still say that Urquhart is balanced in his view of Hubbard – he had no problem talking about the bad as well as the good. Just because someone sees there was good and is willing to say so doesn’t make him an apologist, unless one is coming from a biased and fixed point of view, or perhaps is still in a Games Condition. (I’m not specifically referring to you.)
marildi, it appears that Urquhart just admits all the undeniable things about the “despotic” (his words) Hubbard and his CofS “monster,” which is an improvement on the many loyalists and apologists who try to deny the obvious – but I also think he avoids digging any deeper, such as into Hubbard’s early history of abuses and lies and taking credit for others’ work, and anything Urquhart didn’t personally witness himself. And Urquhart apparently thinks that all Hubbard’s ills and harms are counterbalanced by the fact that he was a figure comparable to Christ, Buddha, and Michelangelo (see Urquhart’s current blog) who gave a unique gift to mankind and who will be further exonerated for his failings will when he returns (reincarnates) “1000 times more brilliant.”
I don’t think that’s “balanced” except perhaps in some extreme definition of the word that is not common sense. And Urquhart is still definitely an apologist, justifying very concrete past abuses and crimes on the basis of theoretical benefits and futures.
It is apparent to me that Urquhart is still stuck in something like “games” of his own, and I’m only one of many to make such observations. More on that, later.
Methinks your interpretation suffers from ingrained bias.
In reply, I’ll let Ken Urquhart speak for himself with the following excerpt from a recent blog post:
“Hubbard…hurt a lot of people by promising to help them resolve their problems but instead giving them other and often greater problems including the pain of humiliation and betrayal. He began the practice of ‘disconnection’ that led to the splitting up of families. He tacitly encouraged or at least allowed the salespeople to promise results they could not deliver, and to pull from customers money they could not afford or might not have. He habitually bullied his staff and his organizations; he imposed what could be described as slave labour on loyal followers. He was addicted as a boss to periods of (as it were) spraying staff with gasoline and then throwing lit matches about; he thus could prove himself the only one able to put out the blaze – which he would blame on the staff…Hubbard left us some marvelous work but enforced on us his weakness, his self-torture. This we can’t and don’t overlook although we might in time come to learn from his mistakes. He was generous with his mistakes.
“Next, we’ll look at what might be of value in what Hubbard produced.”
http://urqbones.com/2017/01/05/here-we-go-looking-at-failure-and-success-1/
And if you care to check it out, the blog post that follows that one is written from the perspective of someone who had many years of experience delivering the tech – not someone who is merely speculating on the basis of little or no first-hand data.
Can we let Ken Urquhart rest now please? This has been going on interminably, debating whether he is biased about his views of whether Hubbard was good or bad. Next we will remove it another level and debate about whether the people debating about whether Ken is biased about his views of Hubbard are themselves biased. What is the point. Ken Urquhart has his perspective. If you are interested, read what HE says and make up your own mind about him and then reach some conclusion about Hubbard (because in the end, nobody really cares much about Ken one way or the other — not that he is not a nice guy, but he never claimed to be saving the world/universe).
Peacemaker,
The only semi-OK time for me was my first intro course. After that it was all crap in one form or another. What you are seeing mainly is the mental conflict happening as a result of an axion mentioned by Sam Clemens. “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
As a result they subconsciously try to convince themselves that at one point it was really cool (thus avoiding responsibility for being fooled)
I once sat in front of a very young, unmarried female MAA at Flag to discuss my feelings of love for someone and to work out a handling. I stopped and asked her, “Have you ever been in love?” She snorted and said, “No.” I got a puzzled look on my face as if to say, well then how can you counsel me on this if you’ve never been in love? She must have picked up that thought and said, “But I”ve lived billions of lives and known love in those lives, so I have plenty of experience.” Maybe. But she didn’t have recall on all of them at that time. In fact, she was low on the Bridge as are many SO members. But that is the reality of these young SO members. Shocking, really.
Cindy, that’s a good example of cultish, group think. Cringe-worthy.
Yes, cultish group think. That is what it is.
marildi, I was one in the late 70’s early 80’s and the job was to ruthlessly ENFORCE ethics & justice on people. To be SWINISHLY suspicious and find out and eliminate those who are trying to stop Dept. 3 (LRH’s instructions).
You are thus stating that after LRH was no longer running the church DM came along and changed the post to be kind and gentle.
The MAJOR stuff you have demonstrated to NOT know about, (what we are talking about now, the contents of RJ-67, et al) indicate to me that you either had very little to do with the church or you have some type of mental problem and actually have partial amnesia.
Mike,
I think it is a manifestation of the belief system being held in place to try and explain the experience. Miraldi belives it and there is no mental problem or amnesia.
Seems humans are reasonably blind to their own sleight of hand. I certainly qualify. I lapped it up for years. Why? I believed it was a subject created by a person of good intentions trying to improve the lot of mankind. I believed it was true so why look seriously at opposing viewpoints, “they are obviously not informed” and besides, “it is their bank talking”!
Oops ….. that didn’t work out so well! Beliefs are a ‘risk on’ asset IMHO! Proceed with caution.
Newcomer, I don’t want to talk about anyone in particular here, though I think that I did gain some additional insight into this subject while reading into a couple of Scientology old-timers, and can generally address the subject of seeming “amnesia” or “blindness.”
There is the fairly obvious psychological defense mechanism, that people who put a lot of time and resources into something want to believe that it had some purpose or benefit – that’s essentially what is now known in sociology (and investing) as commitment bias. Additionally, in high control groups, I think that people who have done or been party to abuses or crimes, are especially invested in continuing to believe that there was some purpose to what they did, or else risk confronting that they were party to terrible things that really had no justification at all – there is probably some better classification of this in the literature, but I’m not familiar with it.
Another thing that I think may be going on in some cases, is an aspect of the self-blame of trauma survivors (think, for instance, of domestic abuse survivors who believe that they had a part in bringing it on themselves, failed to keep their abuser pacified, etc.*). In the case of Scientology in particular, which really reinforces self-blaming by individuals, I think that people may often be left with a mindset of excusing people and organizations that had actually become abusive. I do get the concept in Scientology of individual responsibility taken to almost “unreasonably” high levels, but when that is coerced or enforced on people by superiors or organizations that are not themselves sharing the responsibility, then it actually becomes blaming and is abusive.
* In sexual abuse and in particular where there is something like a child-parent relationship, victims may continue to idolize their abusers, as counter-intuitive as that may seem – but similar to what we know in Stockholm Syndrome, when captives come to identify with their captors.
PeaceMaker , you hit the nail on the head. This would explain people “remembering” stuff that just wasn’t so and blanking out really obvious things that everyone at the time knew. It also explains the frantic, circular logic that Ronbots engage in order to defend the indefensible and explain the inexplicable.
I saw things wrong in the mid 60s and said so. No one jumped on my ass. It *WAS* very different earlier, especially if you were never in the presence of any SO people. (I thought they were quite odd.) There were good times to be had, good friends to be had, good gains for self to be had. I experienced them directly as did many of my friends. I don’t personally know what Hubbard was like in those days. Many others did not as well. To condemn someone who has differing points of view and differing experiences hardly helps. And accusing them of some mental problem is surely not a lot different that was is NOW going on, 50 years later.
There was a LOT going wrong early on, but most of us were not a party to it or experience it. For us, things WERE different and those were our realities. We saw a lot of good and partook of it. And if you can’t realize that, shame on you.
Hear hear. I experienced tremendous gains back in the day (70s). There were lots of people in that boat. And another huge part of it was the camaraderie of fellow staff in the org, mixing it up with public.
Back then, there was a lot of over-kill regging. People would fly in from Flag specifically to reg me. I was 19. We saw the start of 5x your stats.
After a successful Bridge, I saw that the church was being taken over by the CMO. Not good. I spent less than a year in the Sea Org, then left.
I guess the moral of the story is – don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Thegman77, you have said it all. I couldn’t decide which sentence to quote – I wanted to quote every one of them. 🙂
marildi – Scientology has never been there to really help anyone. Making a statement that “when was in Scientology was there to get peoples ethics in”
Scientology has been killing, spiritually raping, destroying and mind shattering people since the inception.
It is very carefully hidden.
Go all the way down that rabbit hole
The Truth will set you free.
The story is telling and an alteration of the concept of “brain washing”. If it is all you know, all you have ever known, it is not brain washing, it is life… No wonder people are terrified to leave. If you had to give up all you knew and believed in or used to and start over in another world where the codes and language and values and expectations were not only alien to you, but once considered evil and a path to damnation, you might have a hard time just picking up and leaving as well.
Very much agreed. And if we can only condemn and hate them, we demonstrate a total lack of compassion for people who are, without doubt, in serious trouble. They may well pass on without ever experiencing any personal freedom or compassion of their own. That’s surely enough burden for them to bear.
This is so spot on. Nothing pissed me off more than a teenager telling me how to improve my business or marriage by applying the tech. Hello!! Which policies did he find worked for him? What if I was the only one in the family dumb enough to even be at flag? Worse was being assigned a wrong condition because we didn’t agree on what was “normal”. Even the haughty auditors had more compassion…by a hair.
In the 80s AOLA had an MAA in his 30s who so bravely ordered me to time off every week because I was PTS to the city! He is now in Call-In and in his 60s. I passed him on the street and he visably jerked his head away from me. Wow wow wow. The Swartz kid at AOLA must have 100s of enemys. Adds a whole other layer of what would have to be confronted if he were to leave. I only had to apologize to my family I got involved which is bad enough. I only 2 or 3 times failed to treat others with respect in those 36 years even thou I’m sorry for all the slave labor to LRH/Scam. Those poor kids but the only way we can help is likely to let them be the last ones left.
Cece, thank you for relating that brief incident with a formerly abusive young MAA. There is a lot to be gleaned from how he “visibly jerked his head away” from you upon identification. I also am in my 60’s but have arrived at a state of mind in which I, upon recognizing someone I had done dirty, would be thankful for the opportunity to express my feelings about what I had done.
I maintain my peace of mind and clear conscience as assignment #1. I think most people my age are the same way but if you are in service to your religion and to the highest of principles, being in your 60’s and avoiding eye contact with people, is the equivalent of total failure. It also shows consciousness of being wrong.
Ethics subjected a couple to a comm ev when the woman sought help from the state to enforce child support payments from the father. Their earlier divorce ordered child support be paid but the father ceased paying a short while later. Years of arrearages stacked up so she sought assistance from the state which was wholly within the mother’s rights under law. But the cult decided to comm ev them both for two principal purposes; (a) try to squelch any further legal action and, and any potential publicity and (b) penalize them both and demand they perform amends projects which of course only benefited the cult. NONE of it demanded the father pay the arrears. The only beneficiary was the cult. Self-serving, despicable motives only resulting in injustice. That’s what one can receive from these idiots.
If the father paid the arrears, it would have meant less money for the Chult.
AAAROOUGH!
There are warnings that those in and those out have ignored. From the “God is Dead” philosopher Nietzche: “He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.” From the Bible: “Pride Goeth before a fall,
a haughty spirit before destruction” There are no gold stars, status upgrades, trophies, recognition or certificates that come with understanding these lines. They are more profound than anything Hubbard ever thought of. The ots that I know have spent a long time thinking that other people are pathetic. A close look
reveals that many of them have now become pathetic. A kind of justice, I think.
Using teenagers to administer policy is always dangerous. Look at the abuses that Hitler’s Youth Group and Mao’s Red Guard used to terrorize others..Street gangs of young people are often the most vicious of all and often exhibit extreme sociopathy in their behavior.
In groups they tend to be idealist in the extreme, don’t ask many questions, have not developed empathy and don’t know how to administer authority well. Their cerebral cortexes are not fully mature until they are 21 or older which impacts judgement and impulsivity. Which is why most societies in general don’t task them with holding or executing much power, probably from bad past experience. They often just don’t have the maturity to handle it well. Very Lord of the Flies. Regardless of how old we think people’s souls are, good judgement is often something that requires experience.
The fact that the hierarchy at Co$ is designed to exploit those immaturities – the fact that the current head of the organization exhibits them unchecked – the fact that nothing in the ideology is directed toward empathy or compassion to anyone else for their condition – blaming everyone for their own problems and ridiculing outsiders – is pretty telling and bound to exacerbate problems.
Even the act of “saving” humanity by “clearing” people through “tech” is nothing more than self-congratulatory zeal with no accompanying attitude of mercy or generosity regarding service toward others. It’s a closed system available only to insiders. There are religions that believe salvation is only available to true believers in their faith, but they generally discourage openly displaying the clique-y, clubby, “we’re on God’s bowling team and the rest of you are just losers” attitude of superiority that Co$ engenders. Even if they believe it, they can see how hypocritical those optics would be and counterproductive that would be to “growing their brand” which is ultimately every religion’s goal.
Our entire society elevates the opinions of younger people over others in all kinds of ways. They are the golden demographic unfortunately, even when they do not constitute a majority. They are often hired for positions of authority because they are relatively cheap compared to the more experienced. I know I was when I was young and thankfully had been brought up to see that I needed to respect the opinions of older more experienced workers. Otherwise the arrogance and hubris of my youth would have caused me more regret and embarrassment than I already have. Allowing that arrogance to thrive in a closed system is just toxic over time.
Exactly why young people under the age of 18 or in some case 21 are not permitted to SIGN legally binding contracts…..or why the law won’t let them legally consume alcohol. They do NOT have the mental capacity to fully understand what they are signing or the consequences their signature or behavior might bring about.
Sheltering these youngsters from the “bad” world outside as in some OTHER forms of strict religious upbringing prohibits them from ever achieving Critical Thinking…..as I noted before…they aren’t given access to anything else but what they are being indoctrinated into on the inside so they can’t see both sides of the coin, they only see this side they are permitted to see. This stifles them socially and intellectually…..if the bubble bursts quickly & they are forced to deal with the outside world…..they would drown in a sea of “what am I supposed to do now”…..all too sad.
Excellent points. I believe the age of maturity for a person’s cerebral cortex is actually around age 24. And yes, they are much more idealistic and arrogant, believing themselves to be invincible (which this philosophy provides them the justification to believe this). No offense to any young folks reading this, because we all go through it and it’s perfectly natural (hell, sometimes I question if I’m even fully mature……even at the age of 42).
You would be correct. Age 24/25 is the age our brains change and reflect our way of thinking.
I also like to add (from someone else’s comments) that I truly believe, unless one has developed a mental disease, we all innately have compassion and perhaps critical thinking skills (misguided maybe), that may be suppressed under certain controls and/or learned behavior. Otherwise, I don’t see people escaping Scientology. May not be the reason one wholly leaves the ‘church’ but it’s a reason they stay out. Among other reasons I’m sure. I only say this because I like to empower people and to show people they have inner strengths. The organization itself shows no sympathy, no empathy nor compassion, but doesn’t mean people inside the church are incapable of these, and love. How could I forget the most important!?
Enjoy reading this blog and everyone’s comments. For now I’m more of a silent reader but couldn’t resist commenting. With you all in spirit.
TC, one of the well-known MAAs at Flag was a little girl who grew up exactly the way you describe here. Her parents were OTs with lots of money. She was completely sheltered and naive. She literally had no friends from the big bad wog world – only her parents and other OTs to hang around. I remember her alone reading books most of the time. She was extremely introverted and shy. Zero real-life experience with confronting anything. It seemed like such a sad, lonely and miserable existence to me.
Excellent article TC and right on the money. Hits home for me having experienced the young MAA at AOLA who had been in the SO since 14. Absolutely the worst experience and I constantly felt as though I was a real DB. It did not matter to her that I had actually worked for LRH directly as a messenger. In fact she not once asked me anything about LRH. It was surreal. A real B….ch and a robot. That is what I realized working with some of these youngsters, they are total and utter robots, there was never one ounce of compassion either.
Was it Theresa?
Or Jamie?
No, it was Lindy.
Lindy , so cute and pretty , lol .
I should thank her for helping me out of the church for good when she threatened me with losing my family , with a sweet smile on her face as if she was doing me a favor.
These kids have no idea who they are talking to , they are in fact so easy to fool , stuck as they are in a tech that doesn’t allow them to look.
So ironic, we all thought we were in the business of getting better at perceiving what is.
Nice post TC. I would have called it “Hitler Youth Redux”….last one out turn out the lights.(cue the
Doors…either ‘The End’ or ‘When the Music’s Over’).
And yes, I am dating myself by picking those choices. My kids skipped Ninja Turtles and gravitated more
towards Japanese Manga.
Having seen countless rounds of shellacking of the subject of scentology by the media, before, during
and after my direct involvement, it seems that now the strategy is to discredit and bury the subject.
Do not mistake psychopathy for immaturity. There is a difference.
This seems to be the key point of ‘scripture’ being ‘not-ised’:
“Unless we can detect the social personality and hold him safe
from undue restraint and detect also the antisocial and restrain
him, our society will go on suffering from insanity, criminality
and war, and Man and civilization will not endure.
Of all our technical skills, such differentiation ranks the
highest since, failing, no other skill can continue, as the base
on which it operates — civilization — will not be here to
continue it.”
And thus we have ‘world leaders’ committing the most horrendous crimes, while being lauded for their
‘leadership’. And self-appointed popes, who remain un-impeachable, by being unreachable..
On the other hand, we have immature people, who, through life experiences, observing for themselves
and increasing their literacy come to realize there a)are other people out there; and b) they can either
be hurt or harmed depending upon choices and actions made or done (or not).
And so, a young teenager pulled for speeding (75 in a 25 zone) learned early that “the truth shall set
you free”, when he answered the LEO inquiry as to why he was going so fast honestly; saying he ‘traveled
these roads every day, and it was a favorite place to speed.’ Both parted their ways amicably, one
highly amused, the other greatly relieved, with a new respect for law enforcement, and the slander they
receive. Such is growth. Growth is a part of Life.
Self determinism may seem like a luxury, but it is a vital human right, for everyone.
I’m glad I wasn’t pulled by a 13 year old ‘MAA’…lol.
Your mileage may vary.
A story of some 15 year old maa girl who had to “handle”some 45 year old married man whose wife was send off somewhere on his criminal masturbation comes to mind.
In Holland reported some 15 year girl there questions a 45 year old about his sexual practices.
Even the famously liberal Dutch press went hysteric on that one.
On the bright side the day that the world is cleared of scientology because the last two remaining scientologists are writing KR’s on each other is approaching soon.
Xenu’s son I had read that article also. How horrifying to discuss masturbation with a 15yr old…intimate details discussed with a kid…
Agreed. Just in case anyone missed this:
http://tonyortega.org/2017/01/06/scientologys-disgusting-secret-young-teens-used-to-interrogate-adults-about-their-sex-lives/
Nice post TC. It gives us never-ins a glimpse into the life and mentality of these poor kids. The more information I learn from articles like this, the more saddened I am for these folks who are trapped in this reality-altered mental prison (and the more pissed off I get at this entire organization, particularly its founder and current leader).
To not think for yourself (how can you know what’s really “true for you” if you never research other sources?) and to have an arrogance that you and you alone have all the answers (provided from only a single source, which is a long-dead science fiction writer who made millions off of his “gift to mankind”), then reality itself as it truly exists is something they simply can’t comprehend.
These kids’ lives are being stolen from them. It’s one of the most evil abuses of human rights I have ever seen. That’s what makes the fight against this organization in particular and the overall philosophy as a whole so urgent and necessary.
I went to Flag in 2006 after more than 20 years off lines. I thought I had entered the Twilight Zone. After less than a day there, I told the MAA that the absence of compassion was palpable. She was not only a TMNT, but one from an eastern European country. She looked at me as if I had dropped in from outer space. My subsequent interaction with some of the IAS teens resulted in a letter than said in part: “So while we are willing to respect your opinions, we find those to differ with that of the Association and it purpose and therefore, unless there is further information which we have not been made aware of, we regret to inform you that the Association has chosen not to accept your application for a membership at this time.”. I recieved this via snail mail. I searched in the envelope for my return of membership fees, but needless to say these were not forthcoming. Great post TC. You have once again accurately identified and described another of the multiple pockets of insanity that make up the nut house.
What is off lines? What is a TMNT? What’s IAS? It would be nice if regular English phrases were provided for those who don’t speak Scientologese (thankfully I was never in)
Off-lines means ‘not involved with scientology activities’. Dave at one time was an Executive Director of one of the non-sea org churches during the life of LRH, pre-miscavige.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
International Association of Scientologists – a delusion of miscavage
TMNT, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Threw me for a bit too.
IAS, International Association of Scientologists. “Off lines” means not actively doing Scientology, not taking courses or receiving counseling.
I try to make my comments accessible to non-Scientologists but sometimes you can say a lot in a few words using the inside lingo.
If you don’t recognize some of the words or acronyms it is probably just Scientologese. But of course some seemingly English words like “reasonable” (means wishy-washy in Scientologese) or “suppressive” (sounds like something to do with firearms but means sociopathological or some such) are just not going to make sense.
I think you can safely skip over the comments that are obviously in code. Heaven knows there is no point in learning Scientologese. It is 99.9% just baloney made up to fool people.
Good comment, Bruce. Always use verbal tech when talking to never-ins.
Google is your friend.
One of your more accurate writings Terra, no need for any opinions or speculation to write about this subject. That’s a very accurate summary of observation of what is the hinge pin of arrogance that underlies one of the more gross injustices within the framework of organised Scientology. Everyone who travels up their Bridge eventually is subjected to it, exceptt of course BIG beings like TC, JT or the big money whales etc – they’re in for special consideration while being wined and dined from the top.
Of all the crap I endured within the Cof$ I can recall quite vividly sitting across from a number of snot nosed little shits of teenagers barking ridiculous ethics orders at me. At first when I realized what was going on I truly felt like joining the little asshole on their side of the table and giving them one of life’s more direct lessons in manners. Luckily I was a bit smarter than that and did have experience dealing with young arrogant officers in uniform elsewhere. You tell them what they want to hear with just enough bullshit to baffle them without actually lying, which of course you are, but it’s not provable. It’s a game I’ve played before. But still, it is one of the more degrading aspects of Scientology and for that alone the organisation requires to be seriously brought to justice and that system of control exposed, the ring leaders (the ones behind the scenes who don’t actually do this themselves) jailed and the mechanism disbanded. It is no accident people like that are put in such positions, it’s all done according to an intentional plan to degrade you and make you more malleable and tolerant of the dictatorship you’re now heavily invested in. You either do what you’re told and begin paying expensively for your “own benefit/correction” or end up being excommunicated. Some choice from the “masters of communication with the stated function of saving mankind.” It’s one of the more functional enemy making gestures they engage in. The injustice of it eventually catches up with everyone who is subjected to it, it’s only a matter of time. What you see in Scientology today is the direct or indirect result of crap like this.
Humiliation and degradation at the hands of children has been a corner stone of $cn’s management plan at least since Elron escaped to international waters with his faux navy, where barely pubescent teens clad in hot pants were trained to serve him hand and foot, and to deliver his “comms” in his exact words and emotional valence.
Elron’s Moonchild, lil davey the sadistic, came up through the ranks of the CMO and was mentored in madness by the evil old coot himself. So, is it any wonder at all that lil davey has created a cult cadre of completely compliant Hitler Youth Ronbots to be the instrument of his own sadistic desire to humiliate, degrade, terrorize and dominate all those around him?
In order to survive in $cn you must become as ruthless as Elron and lil davey themselves; yet when you do, the YOU that you once were is no longer anything like what you’ve become. And since childhood is all about achieving an independent identity, “born into the cult” kids are brought up to be ruthless from the start and, as a result, never form a non-cult independent identity to lose in the first place.
Indeed, the cult not only breeds ‘ruthfullness’ especially in children but insists upon its application in and for all its members. It’s one of the sadder aspects of organised Scientology because all it catches with you later in life and there is no harder, more tougher teacher than life itself. The only respite in the long run is to learn you get along a lot better using “honey rather than vinegar” in dealing with people. But for the Scientologist they have no idea what they are setting themselves up for with their ruthless treatment of people.
If “kids” are running things and mess up – nobody can shove, hit or knock them around, right?? Cuz they’re kids..right?
Whereas I have read what happened to Mike Rinder & many many others.
Wrong. Younger people have no special protections.
That simple sentence of yours Aaron spells it out in rather plainly. It is just about as wicked as it can get if you can think with the evidence that organised Scientology presents. It’s amazing just how much evil they get away with.
Behold what Ron Hubbard hath wrought with his scientology. Despite all the “wins” some people claim to have gotten from it, the most conspicuous effects of it are noxious by universal standards. The sheer numbers of bad effects and the badness of those effects can’t be ignored. It’s highly relevant data.
What do we see in young people who have grown up knowing little else? We see people ill prepared to function in the world that encompasses them. We see lack of compassion and empathy because of lack of understanding. We see people with deficits not advantages.
These people are suffering hardships and deprivation for the purpose of saving mankind! What a cruel joke, huh? Scientology saving the world…oh God, what words are there to comment on such an absurdity?
Roger, what happens if CoS puts youngsters to “handle” elderly CoS members? If these new SO ppl are lacking compassion, empathy, etc…they hold no respect for “senior” member- ?
Sorry if my use of terminology is wrong.
Scientology itself has no respect for the people who dedicated their whole life to it and are now elderly. When they become less productive, they are encouraged to “drop the body” (die). It does not end well, or with any dignity.
Here is an example : http://tonyortega.org/2016/12/16/some-churches-take-care-of-the-old-scientology-instead-works-them-to-death/
Very sad. I knew Claire Reppen (the subject of this article).
When I went back for a year about six years ago, I didn’t mind going through ethics. However I thought I could get some things straightened out, but didn’t really, until out.
He was from Italy and neither of us could understand each other well. I did see all others who were very young in that area too.
A example from the “outside” world from a “WOG.” It seems like every business is putting teenagers in charge of departments. One can only assume the reason being, they are easier to control. For much the same reasons as younger MMA’s.No real world life experience. Blindly follow and do what they are told. They wouldn’t have been giving this responsibility if not qualified, right? Brainwashed.
They’re pasties.
People who don’t know enough to refuse to assume the responsibilities they’re given
1) for peanuts
2) with very little real authority
3) with no experience or competence, which is essential to earn respect from your underlings in a non cult context
I’ve seen a lot of pasties when I had to work crummy minimum wage jobs. We were all laughing behind their backs, sometimes in their faces. The smarter ones quit very fast. The stupidest tried to threaten you with getting fired. Guess what sunshine, getting fired from a lousy minimum wage job with no benefits when you’ve got 3 of them and can find another within the same day ? Bwahahaha… You can’t fire me because I quit.
After giving the church here $50,000 for a “package” in advance, the first step was sec checks. After 5 intensives I was sent to Div 3. Now when I visit the org I am escorted nicely to the door and told my only contact is the MAA. This MAA never picks up, never answers my messages and never calls. All I want to do is take the purif, but maybe that is a bad idea. Anybody have advice on how I can at least get some of my money back?
Please, do not do the purif. It is quack science and could kill you. There is absolutely no medical or spiritual need to subject yourself to that nonsense.
I am sure there are others here that can advise you on how to get your money back, or at least try.
My mom just did the Purif. She’s a long-time Scientologist. A few things bothered me. First, she’s anemic but somehow the MAA (not an actual doctor) approved her to start. She’s never done drugs or even drank alcohol, yet they let her take two months to complete the Purif, taking huge amounts of niacin the whole time. I was afraid for her life! Literally!!! Of course I couldn’t say anything to her, I just hoped beyond hope that she’d be okay.
Luckily she made it.
But this made me look into the Purif a little more. I had done it once when I was a child, just so a family member had a twin. I remember throwing away all the vitamins when no one was watching as I was so young and hated taking them. Needless to say, I got nothing out of it.
But I figured by now, someone would have done some research and hopefully found some truth to the Purif. There is none. You can’t sweat toxins out of your pores, it just doesn’t work that way. And the amount of niacin they make you take, can actually shut down your liver.
And they charge you $5000+ for this?? This scares me more than anything. I feel it’s irresponsible and dangerous.
Keener – could you simply hire a lawyer? Maybe that in itself is too expensive. Perhaps file a claim yourself? I’ve never done this. You would obviously be off CoS lines forever, probably not a bad thing.
Try contacting Jeffery Augustine. I think he can help with a course of action.
I’ll second the idea of seeking out one of the people who has experience in helping those with money on account to get refunds, though I don’t know about Augustine in particular – but based on his online activity, he seems like someone pretty on top of things. If you start searching online for things like Scientology refunds and money on account, you will start to find some information, and perhaps several people who offer help, though I would suggest taking the advice of someone who not only has a successful approach but recent experience with how Scientology is dealing with refund requests.
Scientology is supposed to refund money according to their agreement with the IRS, so I think that everyone who does not get every penny that they wanted back should file a complaint with the IRS when they are done. Even if the CofS were to try to make partial settlements with agreements that included clauses prohibiting reporting to the IRS, I don’t think that is enforceable or that the CofS would dare try to enforce it, and that both the failure to make a complete refund and any attempt to prevent reporting of that to the government should be reported to the IRS.
I concur.
Don’t you guys ever worry that some questions here are a plant in order for COS to get info on ex-sci strategy, who is helping whom get refunds and what current strategy in order counterattack and to take them down…. infiltrating the ex-sci network?
Have a lawyer send them a letter. You’re a prime target for bullying. They find it a little more problematic challenging an attorney. Just filing a lawsuit is cheaper than the $50,000 you’ll lose if you do nothing. Just say you recover only part of it. You’re still saving hundreds of thousands of dollars. Not to mention the money you’ll spend trying to get your head on straight after they’re done wringing you dry of every penny you have. Good luck. You’ve learned a valuable lesson.
Sec checks before purif, that’s very strange. Was that the 1st auditing you ever had?
Ask for a refund for starters.
It used to be that you couldn’t get a Refund (return of money spent on a service that you actually took) but you could ask for a Repayment of unused money. All the people you needed to see were listed out on sheets of paper called a routing form, and what they were supposed to do with you (Interview, sec check, find out why you don’t want to do the services, try to fix what you say went wrong, at your expense, verify the finances, see if you’re PTS, on and on and on…). Your chances of getting through all those steps are very slim to none.
But maybe these days a letter from an attorney could help. If you threaten legal action that immediately puts you in a category called “Type C,” which means just that…threatening a church or scientologist with legal action. Many years ago this used to scare the smaller orgs and it would help the person get at least some money back if the org hadn’t spent it all already. They would have to save it up again in order to pay it back.
That routing form is just a long, drawn out list of procedures evilly intended to make you lose hope and drop the request so they can keep the money.
Remember too the staff who have to talk to you can always avoid you and break appointments, another way of getting you to forget about it. For the group that always talks about “integrity” this is a very pathetic state of affairs, trying to take money for nothing by giving the applicant such a hard time.
They think that there is lots of leverage in the last step of the form, which is to sign something that says you will never apply for services again. They think there is some sort of punishment in not allowing you to do services again. That might be the most fun part of the entire procedure!
Apparently you didn’t see the big flashing neon sign that Leah Remini and others have erected above the entrance to every $cn org, which reads: “Abandon all hope (and money), all ye who enter here”.
The purif is a quack treatment devised by an unqualified madman who somehow got the idea that massive overdoses of niacin, coupled with many hours spent in a sauna, would rid you of all your body’s toxins and drug residues. Not only will it not accomplish that, medical experts have repeatedly stated that it could potentially harm your health.
Whatever portion of the original $50K that was allocated to services that have already been rendered is gone for the good. If you have any remaining funds on account, then your only hope of getting it back is to hire an attorney and have a letter of demand sent to the org on his/her law firm’s letterhead and threaten civil action if immediate repayment is not received.
I’m confused. If science has found the purif to be dangerous, why doesn’t the AMA just step in and shut the whole mess down?
Don’t say because it’s religion. Under the law, you can believe what you want but you can’t always practice what you want .Hence a Satanist can’t legally offer up human sacrifices and Mormon men can’t legally have more than one wife.
alcoboyy, it is for the exact same reason that the AMA cannot step in and shut down Indian peyote taking ceremonies with children.
A WELL run class on the U.S. Constitution will give you a firm grounding.
Not to be argumentative but I am familiar with the Constitution. My point is that a religion, under the law, cannot always do what it wants. This explains the big ‘sister wives’ hoopla going on in Salt Lake City right now. It’s because, under Utah law, what they’re doing (polygamy) is illegal but they claim it is part of their religion. That’s the point I was trying to make regarding the purif.
Keener – WTF?
What is the matter ….
Stats down this week?
Keener, just do yourself a favor; consider it a life lesson and walk away. Don’t waste any more time or energy on trying to get a refund or anything else from the CoS. If this is all that has happened, then consider yourself fortunate and move on to better and brighter things. It’s pretty much what we all do at some point when you think about it. Good luck to you, whatever you decide to do.
eth·ics
ˈeTHiks/
noun
1. moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity.
mor·al
ˈmôrəl/
adjective
1. concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character.
In the “Wog”” world, we read those definitions and see that ethics mean we chose the good choice.
the correct choice, the choice that is kind and humane.
In scientology, those words are twisted to say that you must choose the greatest good for the greatest number and if you somehow believe that the greatest number is not the group called scientology, you must be reeducate until you believe it is, in other words, you have no freedom of choice. Help scientology the way we say or be punished for not doing so.
When the word lie is turned into the acceptable truth the ethics of the entire group have been twisted beyond reason. That is why all the good people eventually see the light and flee.
Swagger sticks.
Are they still carried by MAA’s?
So many children are forced into this by their parents. The parents feel proud of their son or daughters accomplishing this status.
My personal experience is that a kid is “donated” to work by the parent that should be teaching them how to survive, loving them, helping them figure out their own dreams and goals…for selfish reasons like getting their OT levels.
Scientology parents are puppets themselves controlled by the church.
Where does the responsibility begin and end?
Parents that put (allow) their kids to join staff or worse JOIN THE SEA ORG should be investigated by child protective services. It’s slavery!!!!
It’s like they don’t want kids to consume the time they need to be in course. Kids are Dev-t and it is easier to force them to learn how to survive on their own.
I had a friend with 3 daughters ages 8, 10 and 14 in Scn. They were public. She went to court to have the oldest daughter become an “emancipated minor” so she could join the sea org.
What year? Are they still “in”? Did she join?
WOW.
Can someone call CPS?
This kids are going to have their lives ruined…some adult should step in and stop it from happening.
Bad as it is at AOLA or the FLag Land Base, there is an even worse example of this at the International Base. Dave Miscavige always used to say that the Gold Crew were all criminals but somehow the Div 3 staff (like Stephanie Headley and Gerald Duncan) were too wimpy to find them out. So he got some teen kids up to RTC International to be his “enforcers” or something. You can’t call them MAAs, and what they did was not a confessional. It was more like the Gestapo with an e-meter.
They all had those “Jenny Linson eyes” that you see in the video when they attack at LAX. Like the eyes of a serial killer. No compassion. No reaction. No humanity. Cold chromium steel.
One time Dave was convinced that I was fooling around with the girls on the cassette duplication line. I was up almost 24/7 trying to debug that giant mess of electronics. So he sent two really pretty supermodel class RTC girls down to watch me working. I guess I was supposed to hit on them so he could RPF me with cause. They were down there for weeks but I never more than glanced at them.
Later he decided to really find out my crimes so I got the full RTC interrogation treatment. It looks sort of like auditing but the questions are all attacks on your integrity and the answers you give are never accepted. The only way out is to make up something big and useful for blackmail. Something actionable in a court of law. After one of those “sessions” one time I looked the RTC goon directly in the eyes and said “What we just did is not Scientology”. She did not even acknowledge me. Just that chromium steel 1000 yard stare.
Bruce,
Yeah, it was always tempting to give those RTC goons (giving ‘Meter Checks’), a big fat “FLUNK” for lack of acknowledgement.
Disgusting, Bruce. And crazy. Outright insanity.
Wow Bruce. I knew it must be worse up there but only after 2010 Amy’s book. I actually ‘thought’ DM was cleaning up from the top down is why it took so long for AOLA to get fixed. I did get one of those meter checks with 4 persons behind the ‘auditor’ asking questions! What a joke and one was ED Into who I couldn’t understand his English… It was all like a whirl wind adventure. Every day was completely unpredictable and I actually raised 4 kids midst it. Thank goodness memory does comeback with a much fuller picture now from out for 6 years even without an auditor or believing only a CS53 will do it. I advise anyone don’t put up with being a victim of this. Get healthy, find a safe location and do what ever you love. If its speaking out and helping others get their life back thank you. So well done for those that get healed from this. I was very surprised last week listening to Leah’s radio interview for her to speak of the exact same thoughts she had coming out that I’ve also had to sort out. Hugs and happy Saturday 🙂
I’m with you sister!
Get healthy, find a safe location and do what you love.
The best thing you can do for yourself.
Thanks for the reminder.
The ship is going down …
Hopefully sooner rather than later…
Completely correct TC! That there are even “ethics officers” on the org chart is contrary to what L. Fraud said ethics was about. But, if L. Fraud was writing, typing or speaking, he was lying.
He even lied in his sleep…
Say it ain’t so OSD. How ’bout while during his dirt nap?
My final MAA in New York was not a teenager, but I was. I had to do everything in my power to prevent myself from bursting out laughing in her face as she read me a “Special Program” unknown to her that I already knew was a twisted version of LRH tech designed to confuse any person that might be confused already into turning over their money to the church without any benefit to themselves. I never actually went back to the church for anything again ever following that fateful day in 1979. How can it be worth it to anyone to go somewhere and pay for something one already knows is a lie disguised as “Ethics Tech”. This is the true face of the Church of Scientology. 🙂
Love this post TC! Gotta be honest with you, I always look forward to reading if you sign off with “Still not Declared.” Heads must be rolling because of that! Look forward to your posts every week.
My take on the reason for a ‘not yet declared’ is because TC is very well known and has a lot of friends. It would become another earthquake for the cult if word came down that yet another long time and revered $cientologist had left the building.
Yo Dave,
I think You know who TC is, even if you have not yet figured out who keeps sending those pesky Oh Tea Committee minutes out to Mike. You are now down to ‘Hiding’ the truth. Where is that on Your tone scale Dave?
BTW, You’re done good buddy. Stats will continue in the most ethical direction for all things that matter ………..and that is spelled D.O.W.N. Big time down! Hip Hip ……..
Dave hates it when his goldenrod gets published on the internet.
His 3/8″ “goldenrod” with little man syndrome!
More like Tiny Man Syndrome. And I mean teny tiny. Microscopic.
Excellent article, thank you for putting my thoughts into words you’re amazing.
Thank you Terra Cognita once again for your tremendous pieces here. Way back 74-78 in Sea Org Asho F, I was Div 2 but I was sent to Div 3 alot,not because I was horrible, but because I had been kind or listened or tried to help other SOers get their auditing or training with a donation so they could advance faster. The perception of doing that first got me in hot water. And my honesty. Even when in 77-78 all Ethics ramped up for me I never was screamed at or harassed by a very young SOer. No, I got the veterans. I cannot imagine what I would have done with these Robot SO MAAs Gone Wild. Of course now I know in my heart ” putting Ethics in On the Universe = taking Ethics out completely. For me after 1977, Ethics was a different animal. These SOers who were born and grew up to be super slaves for dm very sad. Makes me cry. ?
You know, Ann, appearances to the contrary from what I posted above, I felt sad for them too. Just not when they were around. Then I couldn’t stand them.
I never let them reg me for anything, never bought a single thing they wanted me to buy, or did anything they wanted me to do. Never had an ethics cycle with one of them. This would not have been possible for me.
I simply refused to allow of these kids to control me in any way and because I never went to Flag I didn’t have to. I would have lasted at Flag maybe 2 days.
But, in and around my old org, these kids, well, as soon as I put enough distance between myself and them, I could and did feel badly for them. They were so – what’s the word? – joyless. It was sad.
I could only feel compassion though, when they weren’t near me. And I like children, and teenagers, and I deal with many young people in my business. But those very young SO? Grrrr. I emanated right back to them what they were emanating to me. Hint: it wasn’t a high tone level.