Next in the ongoing series of essays by Terra Cognita. See earlier posts here: Integrity, The Almighty Stat, The Reg, The Horrors of Wordclearing, Why Scientologists Don’t FSM, Respect, The Survival Rundown – The Latest Scam, Communication in Scientology… Or Not, Am I Still A Thetan?, To Be Or Not To Be, An Evaluation of Scientology, Fear: That Which Drives Scientology and Justification and Rationalization.
The Knowledge Report
One of the most abused policies in Scientology is the knowledge report—KR for short. Anyone who’s been in the church and “stepped out of line” has received one. For many, nothing causes more charge (really pisses one off) than getting one of these. Most staff and public have written KR’s. Many have thick ethics folders filled with these jewels.
All Scientologists hate getting KR’s. Nothing messes more with a person’s day than receiving one, and nothing perpetuates the “snitch” mentality within the church than these reports.
The Knowledge Report Defined
Writing reports was instituted by LRH in Policy Letter 1 May 65, “Staff Member Reports.” His intention was to provide a means for staff to report “outpoints” so that “bad spots in the organization be recognized and corrected.” He listed twenty-one different types of reports, including everything from “An Annoyance Report,” to “A High Crime Report.” The last on the list was “Knowledge Report,” defined as, “On noting some investigation is in progress and having data on it of value to Ethics.” “Staff Member Reports” was issued to staff only—not public.
In 1982, LRH followed with “Knowledge Reports” in which he wrote, “Anyone…WHO DID NOT FILE A KNOWLEDGE REPORT becomes an ACCESSORY in any justice action taken thereafter.” He noted that, “The single most notable difference between an upstat, easy-to-live-and-work-with group and a downstat, hard-t-to-live-with group is that the individual group members themselves enforce the action and mores of the group. That is the difference—no other.” In summary, he said, “IT IS A FAILURE OF THE INDIVIDUAL GROUP MEMBERS TO CONTROL THEIR FELLOWS THAT MAKES A GROUP HARD FOR ALL TO LIVE AND WORK WITH.”
As in the earlier policy letter, this one too, was issued to staff only—not public.
Despite being written for staff, the public embraced these policies over the ensuing years, no doubt encouraged by Ethics to control the flock.
A Mechanism of Control
The KR is a major method for controlling staff and public. For many, the mere thought of receiving one of these reports triggers the fear of harsh ethics—or for Sea Org members, being RPF’ed. For me, receiving a KR prompted an angry response. Whichever the emotion, the KR is dangled over the heads of Scientologists as a threat. Step out of line and somebody will report you.
All Scientologists know that receiving a KR is cause for getting called into Ethics. This usually involves being assigned a lower condition and doing some sort of inane and superfluous “program.” Inevitably, one of the steps involves sec-checking at your expense.
Receive enough KR’s, and one’s invitation to do the OT Levels is jeopardized—or at least made to cost more. In cleaning up one’s ethics files, LRH wrote, “Any amends project must benefit the org and be beyond routine duties…” As for staff, he wrote, “But the person’s staff pay is also suspended…” Of course.
Communication
Writing a KR is a weak and cowardly method of ratting out a friend without having to confront them face to face. Despite “being able to communicate freely with anyone on any subject” (ability gained on Grade 0) the average Scientologist is too scared to physically speak with a person with whom they think may not be in harmony with the church.
This fear of OT O (zero) with a live human being runs so deep that, more often than not, the author of the KR doesn’t send a copy to the interested party—which he or she is supposed to do per policy.
Not providing copies to interested parties has become pervasive in the church. Multiple MAA’s refused to forward copies of KR’s written on me. They told me sending copies through the mail was “out security.” When I pointed out that the church sends boxes and boxes of PC folders around the world on a daily basis, they had no answer.
Ethics
Ethics does little to investigate the veracity of KR’s beyond the most rudimentary level. They assume everyone is guilty and don’t want to hear your side of the story.
Having to confront real truth can be a real bitch.
Truth and the KR
I’ve received many KR’s over the years and not a single one ever contained the whole truth. Most were filled with missing data, altered sequences, half-truths, and outright lies. Many were based on third party and circumstantial evidence. Many quoted bullshit policy that had no bearing on the situation whatsoever.
The level of self-righteousness runs deep for the author of the KR. They feel they’re “keeping Scientology working” and doing what’s best for “the greatest number of dynamics.” They are completely right and those on the receiving end need correcting.
Much of the confusion, missing data, and lies contained in KR’s could easily be cleared up if the “offended” simply talked with the “offender.” But of course, as I already mentioned, most writers of KR’s are too spineless. Talking with a person face to face is beyond the confront level of the average Scientologist.
Up-lines
The public is encouraged to write knowledge reports to RTC (Religious Technology Center) regarding outpoints within the organization. Good luck with getting a response. At best, you might get a note back saying, “Thank you for your communication.” More likely, you’ll get a call from Ethics.
It’s OK to report friends and juniors in Scientology. Public and staff that use KR’s to report criminal behavior or outpoints within the organization are considered “critical,” and “disaffected.”
Last Word
Interestingly, in “Knowledge Reports,” LRH wrote this bit of truth: “When misconduct and out-ethics is occurring in a group, it is almost impossible for other members of the group not to know it.” I wholeheartedly agree.
And yet, as much as Scientologists snitch out their friends for petty offences, they’re afraid to report the real crimes of those running their church. Fear and hypocrisy flourish and prosper in The Church of Scientology.
Still not Declared,
Terra Cognita
Who is reporting me?
Who should I be reporting?
All day, every day, this is the cycle of thought, coupled with the threat of punishment for any step out of line.
Punished, even, for NOT reporting.
This sets the tone for every Staff, as a matter of policy.
Hubbard was unable to tolerate criticism. His psychological profile is clearly reflected in his created organization.
His personality manifests as the model case example to define both the terms:
schizophrenic, and
megalomaniac.
And of course we were all soon enough running around with genuinely paranoid thoughts of our own, dominating the course of self-contemplation. Dominating being the operative word.
If you are staff, your thoughts are governed by Hubbard and his rigid and very strict policy of zero deviation.
Then, he forces you to step out and say how free and liberated you are… “Yes, tell this to the world…”.
Just don’t say anything that might get you reported.
In my experience in 23 Years in the SO I received no more than 40 KRs. I have seen others get that many in a month. So I should have no major beef with KRs and I don’t really. I have done a number of Comm-evs on staff (about 20) and so have read a lot of ethics files.
In the beginning for me (1979) it was not too bad. You looked over the Bill of Particulars read the file, figured out what it was about, called the witnesses figured out if they were guilty of the charges and tabbed the evidence to show how you arrived at your findings. Later it got so the reports were embellished and you were supposed to accept them even though they appeared false. You could not find the person innocent without finding the issuer of the Comm-Ev guilty and the Convening Authority wasn’t about to accept that even though you were being ordered to try them unfairly. Then I felt in some Comm -Evs that I was under more strain than the Interested Party as I knew that if I didn’t hang them that I would be hung myself.
In all I felt that I was relatively unbiased but not really as I hoped that the IP was guilty so that we could deliver what was needed and wanted. It degenerated further from there when my wife DIR I AND R FSSO (and the one putting on the Ethics Conventions on the ship for the last 25 years) simply changed the F and Rs without telling the actual Committee even though there were no KRs or evidence to back up what “we” had found them guilty of. From there it degenerated into when the IP had pleaded not guilty: “The Interested Party pleads guilty and the Committee concurs” with no evidence at all. (This was my own comm-ev.)
SO THERE IS A POINT WORSE THAN BAD KRS, EMBELLISHED KRS OR FALSE KRS. IT IS BEING EXPECTED TO ” GIVE THEM A FAIR TRIAL” AND THEN SHOOT THEM WITH NO EVIDENCE OR KRS WHATSOEVER JUST BECAUSE A SENIOR (in thi case RTC) WANTED THEM SHOT.
In the end it left me hoping that I would be shot myself so as to escape the pain of having to pretend that this was real Justice.
.
Wow. Just wow.
Dear Bill,
Thank you for your generosity in sharing your story from the inside.
I share here one of my KR stories.
When a dear friend wrote up recollections of somethings I’d said here and there over a year or two as she cleaned house getting ready to get on the level, OTVII, I knew we’d never be the same before reading it.
I persisted until I got a copy. I stared at this random compendium of statements I had made. Colored darkly and exaggerated with what my friend had added to these convos. Only now like magic these back and forth conversations become monologues by me.
This is friendship?
This is truth?
This is what a church asks of a parishioner when they bow their head to step to the holiest of holy spiritual steps?
They lie about conversations and agree to ditch their long term friends?
They do this because their spiritual path precludes a sarcastic, dare we say cynical conversation from sullying their past?
This is cray-cray. Nuts. Ireligious. Spiritually backrupt. Horrifically betraying a friendship and a trust. Sick.
I was left like a hit and run body by the side of a road called friendship, judged, fudged and kicked.
Gladly I’m OK. But it was not an experience I’d like to repeat.
The weapon of the destruction of a full and lovely friendship you ask?
A KR!
When I got wind of a knowledge report written up on me by a friend, I knew I was seeng the darkness at the entrance of the tunnel.
I could write for days about KRs ( and I still may) but for now I will just write about one. Around 1999 I was SO on the Freewinds and was running the launch (boat) to the shore in Cozumel Mexico. I was about to turn over the boat to the next watch when the Executive Officer Carol Miles was getting off the boat. The boat was tied up to the Freewinds just next to a Mexican boat which was moving the passengers. As she stepped off the boat onto the ship she dropped a passport into the water. Knowing that the water was moving swiftly and the passport would be gone in a few seconds I told my relief “YOU HAVE THE WATCH” and I jumped in the water after it. It turned out that the passport belonged to Fred Hare, the #2 person at ASI and he was going to Clearwater to show the Shinto leaders from Japan all about Scn. Carol Miles had been sent to the airport to get him a ticket. I managed to grab the passport (and save Carols ass) and I felt pretty good about it.
The next day I received a “Stupidity Report from the Dir Security in which it stated : HE CAUSED A PANIC WITH THE MEXICAN CREW WHEN HE JUMPED INTO THE WATER BECAUSE THE PROPELLERS ON THE MEXICAN BOAT WERE TURNING IN ORDER TO KEEP THE MEXICAN BOAT AGAINST THE SIDE OF THE FREEWINDS AND THEY THOUGHT THAT HE (myself) WOULD GET SUCKED INTO THE PROPELLER.” Later it was reported that the Shinto leaders trip was a great dissemination of Scn to many millions of Shintos. I had wished that I had gotten that KR framed as it showed my dedication to the SO that I risked my life without a second thought. Now if someone would ask me how I managed to survive th SO I would have to say” I DONT KNOW. I REALLY DON’T.
Great article here! This is exactly my experience.
I was declared for a couple KR’s (which I had actually handled) a few years prior. And these days you won’t even be given a copy of a KR by ethics, it has to be given to you by the author. It’s turned into a very suppressive and paranoid system (if they’d only deal in truth instead of lies then it wouldn’t matter if crap was put on the internet).
And beyond KR’s there is another widely misused and squirreled report known as the Things That Shouldn’t Be. This takes spineless to a whole new level.
Per HCO PL Knowledge Reports, you give a copy to the person you are reporting on (this rarely happened anyway), but with a TTSB report it’s simply an informal “something seems wrong, you should check it out, I don’t know everything, this is what I know.” And it’s supposed to be addressed to the Inspections Officer. Well, I’ve seen THOUSANDS of these little pieces of paper end up in ethics files as truth without the person on whom it was written, even getting a chance to see it or be confronted by his or her accuser. In fact, even if you request to see your ethics file, they are often omitted. The TTSB reports are supposed to trigger an inspection of the data to see if there is a situation and if so THEN a report is filed and/or the person is called in to answer, otherwise they are waste-basketed. In my time, these things were as good as KRs. In fact, they are like “KRs you don’t have to show the recipient” thus shadowing the spineless author from revealing themselves.
Anyway, it sort of makes me sick to think of it. Nazi Germany, comes to mind when I think of stuff like this.
I get somewhat of a kick when I see someone compare the Church to NAZI GERMANY. Hell I thought that I was the only one that did that! Take it from me, it is an accurate comparison. I should know, I WAS IN NAZI GERMANY!
I was coming up the gangway once and the German Quartermaster on the Freewinds gave me the Nazi Salute!
I thought ” Damn, he recognised me!
I almost forgot: HEIL MISCAVIAGE
Dear terra cognita,
If you really have not been declared yet it can only be because they have a tremendous backlog of SP declares to be issued. This is due to one of two reasons: There are so many people blowing the whistle on DMs crimes that they cannot keep up and there are too few staff who have not been declared to issue them.
I think it is more likely that you have been declared and don’t know it yet.I was declared 5 years ago and no-one from the church has told me, let alone shown me the issue. This is because the SPINELESS COWARDS Don’t have the guts to tell me just as they did not have the guts to tell me that I had tested positive for HIV before they sent me off the ship.
As an aside, I am sure you have a good reason not to use your real name just as I have a good reason to use mine. I use my real name because I know that there are people who freak out when they see my name and realize that I am still alive after all they did to ensure that I was dead.(including telling my wife to put me in a hospice to die.)
Also Terra Cognita, I have found it liberating to know that I have been declared. When you have been dead-filed, you will no longer get mail from the church or IAS.
It is part of PTS tech; handle or disconnect. Just as I tried and failed to handle NAZI GERMANY and had to disconnect, it was the same with the Church. Now I know that they will no longer try to reconnect with me.
Bill: You’re probably right. I haven’t been declared because they’re too busy, or I have, and nobody’s had the guts to tell me. Last I heard, my “cycle” was being routed to the “Justice Chief,” as the MAA couldn’t seem to handle me herself–especially after I told her that her predecessor was a liar and the man at the helm was an SP.
Bill: HIV! I hope you’re doing OK, man. All the best.
Dear terra cognita,
If you told the MAA that DM was an SP and are posting on Mikes blog then I am.sure that you will b moved to the front of the list of pending declares. I was no doubt declared for posting on Martys blog and for the 2 videos I did on Karen de la Carriere’s Surviving Scientology site. You can find them by searching for my name plus either Scn, Freewinds Hiv or AIDS. They are pretty hard hitting if I may say so myself. As for me, I am fine and happy to be out of the Church even though it took nearly dying of AIDS to do it.
I would like to attend an “SP Convention’ like the conventions they have on the Freewinds.
Since I cannot go back to the ship where I had been forced to leave my friends ( the clearance I/C OSA WEST US told me that ex SO members do not have friends) and was told that I could not go back even when I was in good standing I would like a place where I could join my 3rd dynamic of fellow SPs . We could drill techniques of driving the remaining church nuts and meet up with friends. As LRH said a group is stronger than an individual and I knew quite a few people in the SO many of whom are out now but I do not know where they are now.If anyone has any sugestions i would appreciate hearing them. You can probably post them here or you can call me at 214-756-0988. I have no fear of OSA or others knowing my number. The church had me within a few weeks of being dead but they could not finish the cycle of action. Nothing they could possibly do could compare with what they have done already.
Dave had been commanding for some time but never seemed to get the results he craved, namely, to ensure those who left his inner circle (and the Sea Org in general), ended up flipping burgers at McDonald’s. So, in a eureka moment, he decided what was needed was an even more rigorous application of LRH policy. He then put together specific issues directly related to his post and privately enrolled himself on a self study program he dubbed The Professional KR Course.
Knowledge reports…hot subject! Good article with the truth in there as well as the nuttiness. Or should I say psycho-ness. I feel also that the stupid, continual and usually intentional misuse of the KR policy has really created a scary environment. Horror stories above tell it like it is.
The person writing it can exaggerate and leave out other things they know, and therefore twist the direction of the report to be upsetting and make it worse than it really is. For some reason or other it became the vogue at the int base to cc anyone you felt like–20 or 30 people at all levels of management, with the black PR you are writing about this other person. This angers all those other people too.
Trying to write a rebuttal back to the Ethics Dept. is futile, knowing that all those other people don’t want to read any more of the crap but they are believing what they just read. So you want to cc them too….what a mess. Third party runs rampant with this gross misuse of the policy. Many years ago it was turned into part of the nightmare…not part of the solution.
I’m so glad I don’t work and live there anymore!!
Interesting. Back in the day, I was on a twinning course. My twin and I had been doing consistently very well on this course from the very beginning of the course. Consistently high stats together on this course. Long story short, my twin was a part time staff member who was “ordered” onto another course, mid our course. I wanted to finish the course. I queried this busting up of a twinship that was working well. “Its off policy, its punishing upstats, isn’t it?” , I asked our Supervisor. “Wouldn’t it be better for us to finish our course first before Alan (not his name) starts another course? Should I KR this and send it uplines?” “Won’t do any good”, responded my Sup. “We got an order. Alan has to go onto the TTC immediately”.
So much for the effectiveness of Knowledge Reports when “orders” are involved, people!
And, by the way, I long ago learned how to write a proper KR. ONe writes one’s own observations, sequentially, in simple, declarative sentences. No opinions, no dubbing in, no conjectures, or assumptions. Just what happened, or what one was told, with no embellishments or histrionics, just the truth according to one’s actual observations, in sequence. That’s a KR. Not that they mean a damned thing or do anyone any good.
Knowledge reports, high crimes … reminiscent of Soviet Russia with their overarching distrust of their own citizens, their need for control, their snitching culture, gulags, spies, and institutionalized lies.
It’s quite obvious that Scientology is the organizational embodiment of Hubbard himself. Lust for control, lust for money, paranoia, pretensions of grandeur (eg navy uniforms), contempt for humanity, deep seated self doubt.
All traits of both Hubbard and Scientology.
Did I read somewhere that part of Scientology staff training is how to avoid process servers? Very spiritual.
If you want to see what a cleared planet would look like, look no further than North Korea. Shaped by Kim Il-sung (grandfather of the current Dear Leader) on a supposedly “socialist” philosophy but if you get into it, resembles Scientology in many ways. It’s all about controlling your own destiny, yada yada.
The Kims got an entire nation under their spell – they achieved everything Hubbard wanted and did it without any Scientology tech! Eat your moldy old heart out, Hubbard.
Shows why it will be so hard to “normalize” North Korea when/if the dictatorship falls. They are an entire nation of kool aid drinkers.
“The last Knowledge Report trials were a great success, there are going to be fewer but better Scientologists…”
paraNinotchka
Something not really in that KR subject but I have to put it somewhere. I have been in Scientology as a public (never as a staff) from 1975 to 1993 but episodically, not constantly. When I came to Scientology, I already believed we were spirits and I also believed to reincarnation, having had some souvenirs of some past lives and most of all, I had an experience with LSD when I was 17 that really unlocked so amazing doors in my mind that I had no doubt about being a spirit and not a piece of flesh. Knowing what I experienced and being interested, I started to read books from people who could naturally travel out of their bodies without being in a religion or cult or so. They discovered their ability by chance, without really searching for it. They describe incredible feelings, sensations, universes they traveled thru with very precise details (a little bit what happened to me with my LSD trips). What they described in their books was fabulous. And after I left Scientology being clear in 1993. And it’s only after that that I realized that I’ve never read anywhere in Scientology (well, I did not read everything nor listened to all tapes but read and listened to a lot nevertheless) about this kind of experience. We are told that agreement together about the MEST is reality but also that the MEST is an illusion. Ok! So what’s behind this illusion? How does theta universe look like ? What kind of universes you can create or experience ? I’ve never seen any description of any other universes than the MEST one with it’s rules etc. When on LSD, I could experience floating in a kind of etheric atmosphere as a spirit with full perception and knowing exactly what I was doing. So during my Scientology time, I had the feeling that finally, it was very MEST. And thetan ability to handle MEST. That’s very limitative for a being that can create universes at will and have infinite power. Finally, I think Scientology was very MEST oriented thinking that with LSD, I could create and rule in my own universe with some other beings invited in it.
Nice post, Fox. I remember scientology from a slightly earlier era, when there were still people who talked about whole track and theta perceptions. By the 1980s such subjects were beyond the pale of polite conversation. Early issues of Advance! had wonderfully detailed OT phenomena stories, and I don’t doubt that some of them were true. The most recent Advance!s that I’ve seen had at the most a few heavily redacted OT phenomena items – and these were old ones recycled from decades ago.
The Church has always attracted MEST-oriented people. They are the ones who feel at home in orgs and move up the administrative ladder. People with reality on spiritual experiences and other universes soon drift out or get kicked out for being ‘theety-weety’ or ‘namby-pamby pantywaist dilettantes’ or something. Could be one reason why they are afraid of the psychedelic experience, meditation, Buddhism, squirrels and so on. Afraid that scientology students will make comparisions and realise they aren’t actually progressing in the direction of greater freedom and understanding.
I’m not advocating the use of LSD, or any specific practice here. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that everyone must take responsibility for finding their own route to higher states. And that it is not impossible to find your route.
Excellent posts, Fox & David. I had my best out of body experiences of my lifetime while doing scio in the late 60s/early 70s. More transpired after I left. I agree that by 1980. everything had become so screwed up in scio that it no longer made any sense to do serious “OT” work there. Far too intensely aimed at the 3rd dynamic and destructive of first and second.
Psychedelics are probably the route to trancendental experiences. It’s a shame there are so many drawbacks, though nothing in comarison to mystic cults. Obviously in the future there will be less harmfull ways to “See God”.
David Cook asked, “Could be one reason why they are afraid of the psychedelic experience, meditation, Buddhism, squirrels and so on. Afraid that scientology students will make comparisions and realise they aren’t actually progressing in the direction of greater freedom and understanding.”
No “THEY” about it. ALL that was forbidden by El Con. ALL of the basic f’ed up crap is El Con.
Didn’t you ever read his “rules” et al????? ALL of the substantial rules vis-a-vis that stuff was in place when you joined the cult.
Thank you for your comments @David and @thegman77, there are so many things to say about this subject…
@David, like you, I don’t advocate LSD. I was 17 and used it 5 times only. My purpose was experience and not addiction because I knew that keeping on LSD would sooner or later fry my brain. When I took my first LSD pill, I didn’t expect such a reaction. I thought I’d have meaningless hallucinations and that it would would just recreative drug. But the effect was coming slowly up, up up, up, and suddenly, I had the flash and at that moment, I was in a compete familiar state of mind and world that was mine and I had the feeling that I never left that state and it was my natural state ion being. In some way, I met again the real me. You know,it’s difficult to explain this with words. There was time and no time at the same time and I was the one choosing if I wanted time or not. When there’s no time, you can see things after they happened, before they happen and while they’re happening. I understood some mathematic problems, understood some physical laws in this universe, I could see the aura of people and could see their emotions as if they were painted with colors. I knew what space was, what matter was and what energy was. I understood that the exact answer to a question is the question itself. Any other answer is a distortion of the question, so partially a lie. Don’t ask me now how this can be, I can’t explain. But answering the question by the question itself as a perfect duplicate makes you question vanish so there’s no question anymore. So to tell you I don’t advocate LSD, I can say I used it to see what was at the other side of the mirror and once I saw, I knew I had to use a different way than LSD to reach it but at least, I knew what to look for. Amazing thing too. I was with some people who took exactly the same sh.t as me without having at all the same effects. One was just like drunk like with alcohol but much deeper drug. So I guess you should already have some degree of awareness to get full benefits of this drug.
@thegman77, I just feel like you ! I think the seventies was the best time for that kind of awareness discovery and by the 80’s, it was ethic ethic and ethic. And discussing with friends at this time, I got sometimes very strange opinions. My thought was that scientology was just a tool to help a “lost” thetan recover its power. But a thetan in its native state is above scientology an much more power and existed before scientology was created. But some of those friends almost said that scientology was more powerful than the thetan because it could help the thetan improve and get more abilities. So in short, they mean thetan is effect of scientology that is cause. Of course, I don’t buy it. But this to say that indeed, we had great conversations amongst scientologists in the 70’s about many supra natural things and fantastic universes explorations. And the conversations became much more matter solid in the 80’s. I might have some explanations about that…
Originally the Knowledge Report was to alert the organization of crimes/transgressions against the group. But it quickly morphed into a weapon to use against someone one has a grudge against.
The most absurd pillow talk is reported in Knowledge Reports about sexual fantasies etc…….how could this possibly be a “transgression” against Scientology?
My son Alexander Jentzsch RIP was trained from a young age to Knowledge Report me and he did. Later he was trained to spy on me and report it all in KRs.
If there is a Grudge Match and someone wants to harm another Scientologist, they write a knowledge report and cc (carbon Copy) 20 other Org staff so it becomes a Black PR campaign.
CC RTC Reports Officer cc OSA INT cc Osa Int invest (intelligence) cc Incomm (computers) cc Ethics Office AOL cc Ethics Officer Flag Service Org cc Ethics Officer Freewinds cc IJC CC Senior HCO.
+++++++
I know of a case history of a certain “OT 8” who would have fantasies of sex with 2 women. His wife tattle taled on this fantasy reporting it up and down the Scientology structure and he was then re-called for Freewinds for another $75,000 of confessionals for sexual deviancy.
The system is designed to monetize with sec checks, that which is reported in Knowledge reports.
Exactly. After I had walked out, the MAA called in my husband and son and asked them to spy on my emails and write reports on me. A real evil religion that does that while pretending to care about the family.
Absolutely disgusting. Had something similar happen to me with my son. Wrote so many disgusting KR’s on his dad and mom. We were so shocked.
The goal has morphed from total freedom to pleasing Dave.
There is a tried and tested “tech” used by organizations as large and far apart as every military on Earth and the mafia when it comes to such things as KRs. It can be summarized in three words: Snitches Get Stitches. If the subject of the first KR had gone to the writer of the first KR and punched his teeth out, like he should have, maybe L. Fraud could have thought back to his time in the Navy and remembered that turning a crew against each other by turning the bunch into informants doesn’t do wonders for morale, cohesion, or ability to command. No, instead he decided to turn his followers into the petty version of the Stasi.
This organization needs to be the subject of what we in the US Army called a “blanket party”. Les could provide you with the details.
I never actually witnessed a blanket party but everyone was fully aware of the concept.
Nicely put TC.
How can we save them the last scientology diehards?
Should we even try?
Maybe it is better for them that they just stay in their little shrinking world.
Kind of like an assisted living facility where they relax the oldsters by putting them on chair with a vr screen where they go through their neighborhood like it was 30 years ago.
I’ma thinking NOT to try and I’ll tell you why.
Slowly and reluctantly it occurred to me that the die hard people come in two flavors. One is the sadistic bunch that love to put pain into others. The second is the masochism bunch who WANT someone to punish them. Together they make a tightly held group that satisfies each others needs.
The old gradation and awareness chart lists Sadism at -23 and Masochism at -24, so they are well paired.
Me and my friend Joel Tupper were at a party smoking pot. A month later I’m informed he’s KR’d me as part of an amends project. By that time I was UTR and finished with scientology but I was so outraged by his treachery I ended our friendship right to his face. It wasn’t long after that we were back on good terms and laughing about OTIII (it had been exposed by the LA Times a few days before). He was again in trouble with the church but this time instead of doing an amends project he just flipped them off. He was too decent of a guy to go on playing that game.
The ‘game’ I’m referring to is the “third dynamic”, the all-important GROUP concocted by Ron Hubbard. He made the GROUP a big fucking deal with the big fucking purpose of saving mankind and the MEST universe. Such a big purpose requires priorities that place you and your life second to IT.
Never mind that scientology never had a formal plan to clear the planet. Never mind that scientologists as a group never exemplified attributes that caused outsiders to admire them and think scientology had transformative efficacy. Clearing the planet was never anything but talk, a sales gimmick and a means to Hubbard’s self-deification.
The GROUP was to be the #1 thing in your life and Hubbard personified the group. Scientologists loved the idea of being part of something BIG because it made THEM big. That’s just a matter of plain, simple, vanity. It’s not about saving the world it’s about being a SAVIOR of the world.
Being a member of the GROUP started out as serious fun then it was just serious. Skipping all the theories, guilt entered the picture and the natural resulting cascade of fear, denial, self-hate, general hate, dirty tricks KR’s…rabid meanness. With all due disrespect to Hubbard I think one should NOT give allegiance to a group. Have an agreement with a group if necessary but put it in writing and have it signed in front of a lawyer.
Christianity has never had any KR policies nor SP detection tech to preserve the Church from attacks or from ennemies within and is nevertheless still here after 2 milleniums with about 2.4 billions christians while scientology has both policies and tech to protect itself and is about to collapse after 70 years only… Any comment ?
Depends on what you include in the big umbrella term “Christianity”, Fox. Certainly the Spanish Inquisition was far worse in terms of loss of life than anything Scientology has done. If you include some fringe elements like the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Fundamental LDS you can find practices as bad as Scientology being promoted as “Christian”.
But I agree that in the main, talking about today’s leading Christian denominations, Christianity has far less authoritarian practices and is far more successful. There really is no comparison, a minor cult of maybe 20,000 adherents versus a real religion that spans 2.4 billion.
The authoritarian practices are necessary for Scientology because the basic principles of the cult go so far against the grain of the natural wishes of its adherents. A lot more information here https://cultsinsideout.com/
I am sure that if you walked into a Christian congregation anywhere and did a survey of the parishioners, you would find some atheists, quite a few agnostics, lots of people who believe but really have no idea what Christianity is, and many who are strong in the faith. For example, many believe that a relative who dies becomes an angel that can watch over them. This is definitely not in the Bible and makes no sense in any Christian theology I ever heard of. It is not in Judaism either. It is really a holdover from various ancestor-worship pagan beliefs. But we are not expelling Christians who have such beliefs.
The situation in Scientology is different. No deviations or wishy washy namby pamby panty-waisted dilettantes allowed (to quite Hubbard from “Keeping Scientology Working”). You have to toe the line, Hubbard’s way or the highway. Not because the Scientology technology is so strong that misuse could be damaging. Because it is so weak that the natural tendency of normal humans is to reject it. So it gets “forced in with an atomic branding iron” (another Hubbard phrase). Then they are surprised that so many branded dupes escape.
By the way, if you study the early Church fathers, Eusebius, Irenaeus, Origen’s “Contra Celsus” you find a very dedicated conscientious effort to weed out the many competing forms of early Christianity. But then Origen was condemned as a heretic after his death. In the early centuries of Christianity there were definitely attacks on enemies within and without. Remember the Arian controversy. Wars were fought over whether Christ was equal to God or subsidiary in some way. The Trinitarians won, but traces of the Arian idea are still around. But of course that was thousands of years ago. Nowadays if you have waffly ideas you can always just join the Anglican Church.
False report report:
20.000 was kind of an consensus figure a year ago.A decline of 15% this year seems conservative.No one new coming in. Old geezers go to assisted living facilities,people are broke fed up and just go UTR.Now seems to be getting closer to 15,000 worldwide left circling the drain.
this is probably true.
Good stuff from Terra Cognita. (Cool name, by the way.) I would like to add a few notes on Knowledge Reports—and ethics in general—from the perspective of a member born into Scientology. Specifically, I attended the Delphian School in Oregon from 1982 to 1986 when I graduated from their high school program and was then convinced to join staff (at age 17) where I endured for four years and eight months until I finally walked away a mere four months short of fulfilling my staff contract—for which I received a $16,000 freeloader bill. (Ah, Scientology! Few others in history have dedicated themselves so totally to the art of kicking somebody when they’re down.) I digress.
I was the Student Cramming Officer, a position requiring close coordination with the Ethics Department to ensure the personal misadventures of students were not a factor in their academic difficulties. I’ll never forget the very first student I worked with at my desk across from the Examinations Officer in our little slice of Qualifications heaven. The student was a nine-year old boy escorted to me by the Ethics Officer who dropped the boy’s thick folder from three feet, causing the entire desk to bounce off the floor. As every eye in the room swiveled to the unfortunate boy, the EO smirked. Scientology chooses its Ethics Officers (and MAAs) for maximum “impingement”, which I consider a euphemism for “asshole”.
“Good luck,” the EO said to me with a wink. He bent his lanky frame to whisper something in the boy’s ear, whose lips tightened. The EO tapped the boy’s forehead twice, and finally strode out of the room, his cowboy boots echoing behind him. Even the Exam Officer could not stop a mild glare from escaping his normally placid face. That EO was an obnoxious jerk, and everybody hated him. It was quite a set-up for me to try to figure out why this little nine-year-old boy was such a poor student.
As I perused the giant folder in front of me which contained only the forms deemed pertinent by Ethics for the lesser Division of Qualifications to perform its duties, I regarded in dismay the Knowledge Reports…
– From the boy’s classmates, ranging from seven to ten years of age, complaining about the boy’s disruptive actions in the course room.
– From the boy’s classmates in pottery class detailing the boy’s destructive behavior.
– From the boy’s six-year old sister advising that the boy had said “mean things” about his Supervisor.
– and of course the numerous KRs from all of the much put-upon adults who had to deal with the little monster.
The KR from his sister was the worst. It literally had been written on note paper with a picture of a smiling sun with pretty birds flying across a sky full of puffy clouds. The words had been written in her six-year old hand, scratched out here and there, almost as if an adult had carefully instructed the girl what to say. I was so dumb-founded I could only stare at it, wondering how such a thing could exist.
The boy peeked over at the object of my attention, and said his first words:
“Mommy made her write it.”
“What?”
“I was there. Mommy said what to write and then I had take it to the EO.”
I only lasted three more months before I walked away from the Delphian School forever.
I am honored to greet you are.I could not put your post down.For all the Abuse we drew as adults in SO or on staff,how the children were treated shreds my heart every time.The cult is evil.XO
Annie B! OT…. I hope you are safe and sound with all the flooding. Thinking of you!
Hi Chee, Very kind of you and thank you for thinking of me.Where the house is would be fairly near the Tiger Stadium at LSU.Southeast part of BR.We built here15 years ago knowing it was higher ground.So the entire sub division did not flood.OK give me The OT9 cert now!lol, but many many around us lost it all.Not only houses and cars but all their keepsakes as there is awful mud everywhere.Have been keeping my eyes out for those VMs.Have not caught one yet but bet they are circling.Just the sheer force of the rivers running backwards because the Miss River could contain no more water is astounding.So glad to comment with you.❤️❤️
Ann….your OT 9 comment had me laughing! And yes, you can bet the VMs will be circling with the vultures.
Or, waiting for the claims that other local OTs turned the flow of the waters away from them.
These KR stories are so reprehensible (children reporting on parents, siblings on one another) that it really does boggle the mind.
So glad to hear you are well.
As for the KRs…..I hope the UTRs and OSAbots who read this blog stop to think about their actions.
KRs serve no other purpose than allowing COB and his minions to have even more control. And to what end??
Next to disconnection, this is the next most toxic element of this cult. It’s like handing someone a gun and ammunition, then putting a target on your back.
Chee, Applause for your comment.Disconnection, KRs, Fair Gaming & lying 100% of the time the sacred orders of the cult.Really good to hear from you.XO
Ann, Glad to hear that you didn’t get flooded. I saw the news today about Obama visiting the Baton Rouge area. I was there in 05 as a VM just after Katrina.
Hi Bill, I would never hold any stuff done when in against anyone.Lord knows I certainly regged the heart and soul away for Ron’s World when I was in.I am sure you were the best VM you could be back in 05 too.I live about fifteen minutes from Tiger Stadium in a new subdivision that was built on higher ground.None of it flooded either.However so many lost all and many have no insurance at all.I bet the VMs are here but not setting foot in the southeast part of BR where I am.Celtic Studios are here and they opened their huge sound stages for shelter when the storm hit.I heard when TC filmed that gem SF movie awhile back,his posse tried to hand out flyers on how great cos is,well they all ended up in the trash.No-one working the film for Celtic wanted to associate with cos.I enjoy your comments.XO
It was Jane Kember ( pre prison convicted felon) who made
the concept popular “Always Kick them when they are down,
because when other time do you have a chance”
Jose, is Jane Kember a “pre prison convicted felon”. Is this just you saying that she should and may go to prison in the future? Or did she have a brush with the law? From what I have heard, she is a nasty character.
Jane Kember went to jail with Mary Sue Hubbard as one of the Snow White 11. From all reports, she was Mary Sue’s enforcer in the GO and had the morals of a mink in heat.
My god:/ What a story. Thanks.
Man, I wish you’d write a book!
Thankyou,
I got boatloads of true snippets as staff.
No book yet maybe a TV series.
What a story that shows just how evil that organization is. I’m very glad you’ve walked. I hope your family is with you. Thanks for speaking out 🙂
IMT: Love your prose.
Whattt?? You can get a freeloader bill from being on staff at Delphi?? Good Gawwdd. I thought they paid their staff more like at a normal school.
Cherch staff are billed for courses they took and sec checks they endured, but what does Delphi put on their “freeloader” bill? What do they say you “freeloaded?” It gets stranger and stranger.
I imagine the 9-year-old was a staff kid. Poor little bastard, having to grow up like that.
Delphi is a Scientology Org that has no use for freeloaders. I started working there when I was 17. Because I was a Delphi graduate, I was under intense pressure to assume leadership positions. In two years, I was trained as a word clearer, supervisor, cramming officer, and I was in the middle of training to be the qual sec when I blew. Additionally, they sent me to the Freewinds for a week in 1989. They used list prices to determine the worth of my training, claiming that they had delivered $240,000 worth of services to me. This amount divided by a five-year contract came out to $4,000 a month. Thus, I owed them four months, or $16,000.
I never paid. (As if!) Ended up not mattering, however: they had three banner years in a row during the late 90s and declared a general amnesty. The supercilious douchebags, so generously clearing away my debt, and inviting me back to their good graces. The best part was that three of my training packages (word clearer, supervisor, cramming officer) were all declared squirrel, so, in my estimation, the school owes me money for their worthless training.
The Portland CC had the nerve to call me around 1998 to offer me a discount for the GAT reissues of those courses. Something like 50% off to redo all that training — which Delphi had already tried to collect $16,000 from me, for their squirrelly training. Scientology is so ridiculous. Especially David Miscavige’s shadow of Scientology that is being scammed right now.
And, yes, that nine-year old boy was a staff kid. His mother had been offloaded from the Sea Org, while the father had stayed in. (Some weird out-2D situation, apparently.) Poor kid was seriously messed up. He was a great student. He just wanted his mother to acknowledge his existence. The only way he knew how was by being a nightmare.
Terra, when I was on staff in Hawai’i, I walked into the comm center one day. To my horror, there was a B of I staring me in the face. I thought I was doomed! My eternity gone forever. I was so brainwashed, I cried like a baby when I got home.
The next day, the execs sat me down with a huge amount of KRs in my files. As I started going through them, a calmness came over me. I knew I was done with staff. The relief I felt was overwhelming! The next day I walked into the mission and quit. Then I went surfing. Not sure how staff deal with all the shit that goes on in Idle Morgues.
OSD,
Not Bad,the calmness is you as a Thetan already handled the problem.
Try Being cursed by the Freemasons or hunted down by Russians armed to the teeth.
Only Doomed forever is old hat for me, no worries Mate.
I was doomed once. But, when I polished off a bottle of Cab, the doom AND gloom went away. Now…if I can just get these damn Russians out of my home!
Surfer Dude: I surfed for years. The salt water is good for the soul.
P.S. You’re lucky you got to read what was in your file. Nowadays, that’s not allowed.
I deserved it, almost sank a Russian fishing ship.
They were really pissed.
The fairness and effectiveness of any management or justice system is dependent on the tone level of the persons administering it. In a group composed entirely of sane, happy, winning people, 90% of the abuses of Scientology would never have happened.
Properly applied (meaning as practiced 40-50 years ago under LRH not COB), Scientology auditing and auditor training raises tone level in most people. I know this because I experienced it in myself and saw it in others. And per LRH, HOW auditing is delivered is more important than the actual processes used. That certainly was my experience. I made rapid case gain when I had high-toned auditors and C/Ses, and very slow gain plus big upsets and battles when I had low-toned auditors and C/Ses.
The initial 12 Sea Org members were all Class 6 OT 3, personally trained by LRH. Within a year the quals were lowered to Class 4 and Clear, trained anywhere. Within another year they were reduced to “given and received case gain.” Finally anyone who could fog a mirror was let it, pretty much with no regard to tone level.
Most of these bottom-of-the-bridge recruits were put in positions of responsibility for which their cases and understanding weren’t ready, and then were pressured for production while being denied any meaningful Bridge progress for themselves. Due to this way too steep gradient, the only way to “make them produce” was draconian (low-toned) control, which by contagion of aberration ended up replacing compassionate real help as the main operating method of the organization despite its lofty goal of “total freedom.”
Thus LRH’s biggest mistake was the same as that of his greatest enemies, the psychs. He tried to use force to make people good, and that became a downward spiral that ruined the organization and eventually turned it into a cult.
If Scientology (or any re-named and re-organized version of the same basic philosophy and technology) is to have any future success, it will be in the hands of high-toned, compassionate auditors and C/Ses, who clone themselves by auditing and training others as pure help to those individuals, without any impatient effort to save the world, despite how badly it does need saving.
Well said 2 Cents, I really get where you are coming from and mainly agree. There are many non or new Scios who are up tone with good help flows and these people can be very valuable to an org. LRH had the Qual back door policy, so those not suited to staff are routed out, without rancor, with pgms to help them get up the Bridge and qualified if they want.
This would have worked really well if it had been applied. Unfortunately this would have affected HCO recruitment/staff stats and so was rarely applied. It was another case of the solution to this problem had been written up but not done. Again, it seems to me, to be a case of fear of lower statistics leading to the taking of solutions not in the long term best interest of the Orgs.
Thank you My 2 cents for your perspective and
informative post.
While I don’t doubt the veracity of what you have
said, I would suggest that it was the ‘theta’ or
individual personalities and their high tone and high
purpose and compassion and high ability, which they
all had BEFORE they came into scientology. It was
such value that the imported into Hubbard’s
enterprise whic both enabled them to reach their
Class VI and OTIII levels as well as produce/bring
about the tone and success of the organization and
it’s newer individual members rising up the bridge
and becoming more capable. To attribute it to Hubbard
I do believe is in error and there are some
supporting reports to coroberate such opinion.
Although I would like to provide links and actual
quotes to do absolute supporting justice to my
eclaims, I will not do so at this time.
I will however provide rough references to items
which I can recall off the top of my head of which I
have read online over the years.
1) the MD, I believe it was J Winters circa 1950-51
who included in one of his reports that the Hubbard
Research Foundation was essentially ‘draconian’ and
hubbard was the ‘draco’ who would tolerate no
adustment to his theories and or authoritative
statements from others. This might be in a ‘report
from a Doctor’ or if not, in other statements by
Winters.
2) The overall meme, which is very strong in the
editor of the “compleat Abberree” a publication put
out ‘in the field’ from 1954? to as late as 1962?,
that essentially Authoritanism, Greed and Fair Game
were well underway as instigated and even in some
cases directly carried out by EL Ron, through out
that period.
3)L Ron Hubbard JUNIOR talking about the thuggery
missions which he and his father personally carried
out upon at least one if not more of Lavaette
enemies.
Brief summary conclusion: It was not L.Ron Hubbard
who created the benevolent and beneficial aspects of
early Dn and Scn organizations but rather it was the
very capable individuals who came into the
organization. This is very likely more accurately the
truth of yesteryear and continued in greater or
lesser degree in the ensuing years with a probable
huge drop starting somewhere around the late 70’s or
early 80’s.
PS It was El Con’s strong ability to spot sources of
energy or power, contact and market to them, and
extracting their assests whether financial,
connections network as OL(project Celebrity)( and
currently other politicians and community betterment
groups and religious group, insights and proposed
TECK of the mind(students and researchers of the
mind) then claiming such as his own (eg:the
educators) and finally despatching with them and even
attack as needed or out of paranoia imagine need to
Fair Game even including the vexaticious litigant
tools.
I am not saying that LRH did not provide some
benefit, but there are almost 70 years of tales which
support that he very much was an accomplished Con-
fidence man. So let us not attribute, the benefits
and help that occurred around him because of others
who who he drew in to him, but rather to the actual
sources.
Please excuse the typing and other writing errors.
Hi Terra Cognita, Thank you for another insightful piece.Much appreciated.Thinking back,far back! I knew about KWs but I was never shown any against me,although I am sure they were there.Your piece brought further out an understanding of why I stayed and took the abuse I did in 77-78 in SO.Partly I now see it was because I did not want to “Let the Team Down”in a sense by leaving.That was drilled into me that when it was said to me Make it go right as a SOer,I was then responsible for all that might happen.during whatever cycle.Amazing still to me how Ron wove these bombshell policies into the fabric of a mission sold to me as one of Help,Love, Save the planet & Universe plus Eternal Knowledge via those OTs.What a fantasy of lies and traps.XO
Once again TC comes thru with a great article and one which I am compelled to comment on.
Having been declared in 1982 from Gold base with no comm-ev or anything and being kicked out of the SO having been in the SO w LRH from the age of 13 years old. I then did my A-E steps so I could be with my family in South Africa. I had never in all my years of being in the SO ever written a KR that I know of. It was not a big thing to write KR’s and that was at the top of Scn. We stayed off Scn lines and kept our mouths shut so would not lose my family and just really had nothing to do with Scn, but still believed in it to a certain extent. The mind-control never really left me.
In fact, LRH did not think much of people who “tattled on others”. So it was something a bit foreign to me in later years when I came head first into the KR culture that has become Scn.
Fast forward to 2012 when we got sucked back in due to my son being involved w Scn. I tried so hard to keep my family together – 2 sons and my whole family in SA. But the world of KR’s hit me in the face and something I could not wrap my mind around. Being shown the policies which were changed in 1982 as TC mentioned above and which I had no knowledge of. My own son, writing KR’s on me, my one sister etc etc……then receiving and paying for sec-checks as a result. More sec checks than I had ever received in all the years of being in the SO. I was shocked that “public” were being treated in this way, someone who wanted to get back on lines, being treated in such a horrible manner. Being told by the MAA that I needed to write up KR’s on ex-Scn’ers and others who had spoken to me and told me stuff……I was horrified to say the least. I protested and even said to the MAA that this was not normal when I was in SO with LRH – I was told that this was because those days were the “cowboy days”!! I quickly became disillusioned and knew without a doubt that at the very least, tech was being changed. Then started my investigation on the Internet and from that point on, there was no turning back. There were actually 2-3 times that some SO member at AOLA said the “cowboy days” to me.
The good news is that we saved one of the sons, but lost another son and my whole family. But I feel “free” from the horrible control and thought control that had put me in a state of anxiety for 4 years. Having read all the stories of past SO members, staff members and public people who have gone through these awful “ethics handlings”, sec checks, KR’s etc has been eye-opening to say the least.
The culture has become just like Nazi Germany and Communist China and I am sure N Korea.
As a side note – I do believe that LRH became horribly paranoid and crazy hence the reason all these changes went into effect from 1980 onwards. Actually it started earlier when the 77 FBI raids happened and I watched him slowly go crazy, also around this time he had his heart attack, Quentin suicide etc……….things went downhill.
Thanks TC for your continued insight into the various aspects of Scn. I look forward to your posts. Of course Mike is just great and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for what he is doing.
Hi Lowie,You are a very strong light.Thank you for your comment and I so wish all in this cult would see the way out.77 started the bad years for me in SO as well.By 78 I knew I had to leave.XO to you & yours.
Thanks Ann. I have been reading all your comments on all the various for awhile. You are also a light out there!
?? XO.?
Wow, thanks for your story and history of your involvement in Scientology. What a eye opener for you it must have been to ‘get involved’ again. Family is family, there is no sacrifice you wont make for them, I understand that. That’s what makes the Cof$ such a horrid thing – it rips families apart!
Best of luck getting the rest of family back.
Reminds me of a quotation from Richard Bach’s “Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah”: “The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.” I’ve found it to be true.
So true. Yes got a long history from birth……Apollo….a messenger…..worked with DM in the beginning before he chucked me out……goes on and on….but despite all the loss of family & son, I feel quite liberated!
All the luck, Lowie.
Thanks TC.
Oh yes! A subject near and dear to my heart. When I was a sup I got heaps of ’em, about a 2 to 1 ratio compared to when being KR’d as just a humble staff member saving the world but requiring correction. From my now fickle and picked memory the best were multiple ones for swearing and being abusive on bullbait & ruthlessly insisting on, “YOU HAVE AN MU, FIND IT!” But the best of all were a couple I got from SO members for not donating money to whatever “cause” they were peddling at the time. Must have been a way of taking the pressure off them by their over demanding seniors – I had to targeted as the bad guy for no complying. Terra is right they do affect you in negative ways, mostly like a kind of sneaky underhanded betrayal, but they always contained lies and wild misinterpretations. But that was ages ago and church members are pretty much brainwashed souls anyway following a broken system. Wish I had some of those KRs now though, I’d frame them.
Church Policy – It’s another example of what seems good on paper but turns out to be totally and organizationally useless, damaging to personal integrity and gives power to those who either don’t know how to use it or uses it in a game of cowardly make wrong. It did morph into a system where ALL Scientologists, especially the public eventually at some point, “got right into it!” Probably the worst was writing KRs to get ethics off you back, that’s really sick. Snitching on family and friends is about as low as you can go & the Cof$ revels in it!
There is one similarity with Scientology and the military system. Somehow the occasionally totally useless idiot rises in rank and power doing the most outrageously damaging things to others. KRs helped create a system where some are honored and advanced for their vindictiveness. The Cof$ really, really sux in this regard!
Before I left I wrote a letter to RTC on the outpoints in the organization–primarily around all the lies being told at the events–number of members, reduced crime rates, etc. I pointed out specific examples and sent in my research to show their facts were not correct. I did not receive a response, but was told by my MAA that my letter was critical and they don’t respond to critical letters. He wanted me to come in for a sec check and I said forget it. Of course this doesn’t stop the IAS from contacting me all of the time for more money.
I had something similar to yours, Mary Smith. It says right in the KR policy, that a junior should not be afraid to KR their senior if they see outnesses and that the junior will not get in trouble for turning in their boss. Ha! The opposite is the actual way they operate, which is off policy.
After a horribly abusive trip to Flag in 2012, I wrote KR’s on about 3 or 4 SO members who had gone squirrel on me. I made it polite and didn’t use that term, but quoted the exact policy that was violated with Time, Place, Form and Event on each person. I did this as a Cram so that the offending personnel could be corrected in Qual etc. This is what should have happened. Not so with the new church that David, let him die, Miscavige at the helm. Instead of correcting the out tech and offending SO members, they sent two MAA’s to my house unannounced and unwelcomed, to “handle you on your KR’s.” Handle me? I did the in-tech standard thing which was to write up the abuses and misapplications of the tech, even if the offender is my senior.
It is so true that as much as a Scn snitches out their best friend and family member for petty or trumped up offenses, they are ALL refusing to KR the real crimes in Scn that they see every day — the altered tech, and missing tech volumes in the course rooms, the missing Class VIII Course, the missing SHSBC, the missing top execs from Scn, the missing wife of SM the missing President of the C of S, Heber Jenchetz, etc etc etc. There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Perhaps you might be familiar with the name of a former Flag Class XII auditor named Pierre Ethier? Perhaps not? In any case, whether you are or you aren’t. Pierre Ethier has cracked more cases at Flag than any other auditor on the track. He was Flag’s top auditor for years. My point is not to immortalize Pierre, but rather to point out that David Miscavige considers him a dangerous auditor. A dangerous auditor? I am sure DM meant the kind that actually does pull O/W’s such as the kind DM suffers from daily. Hence, the reason anyone might fear an auditor. 🙂
Cindy, you have made every point I didn’t have the patience to make. Every one. KRs in this cult are not used to get tech in, policy in, but to get YOU “In” – to Ethics.
You can say that again, Aqua!
Getting ordered to Ethics for writing up outpoints and crimes happened to me too, Mary. I can relate.
One of the best laughs I’ve had in recent times was reading someone’s KRs. I postponed doing this for over 3 years, mostly because they were hand-written and the script was bad but also some sense of privacy. Well, what a treat. They included everything from driving too fast to finding a one-night-stand had hygiene issues to erectile dysfunction to not paying back loans. Standard stuff? I have no idea, but how I laughed.
I wonder if LRH had an Ethics Folder, and who did the filing paperwork of that folder if it existed.
He had preclear/solo folders I know, but I am curious if he had an Ethics Folder and a Personnel Folder or folders.
Chuck,
Of course LRH has Ethics folders.
Walk into any supermarket and look for the National Enquirer !
At the macro level, Scientology could be likened to a vast and complex intelligence gathering organism which has its own survival (and growth) as a prime directive.
At the micro level, an essential basic building block is the Knowledge Report.
Without it, the organisms survival is in jeopardy.
Insightful comment. Thanks.
When I saw the headline I thought Mark Bunker had finally finished it.
Knowledge Report
L. Ron Hubbard
Apparently LRH admitted failure at the end of his life. See the verbal KR from Sarge Steven Pfauth recorded within the “Going Clear….” HBO documentary. (The “Going Clear…” HBO Documentary is vital information all Scienotlogists need to repeatedly see the Sarge interview, until LRH’s final state of mind sinks into all of their minds.)
Therefore all his certificates and honors and self-bestowed titles are hereby canceled.
He’s to report to the Running Program In Charge of the star Arcturus. He is ordered to complete the OT running program 9 times start to finish. He is not allowed on any planet and is NOT allowed to play civilization changer or messiah/savior anywhere for 9 eons.
All Scientologists are now allowed to go home. “Quit fast!”, as LRH allowed, per KSW #1.
Xenu’s Deputy Chief Minion 3rd
LOL! Go Chuck!
There are more than just a few uses or applications of the words “ethics”. There is Ethics the philosophical subject. Then (not necessarily in order of importance) you have professional ethics, then you have organizational ethics. And you have personal ethics, which comes full cycle back to the philosophical subject, Ethics.
The idea of having group members stand up for the ethics of the group is fine. But what is left out is that these individuals must themselves have their own principles of ethics. The conclusion of your article is correct, that the real out-ethics do not get reported. Who is one to report them to? Mike Rinder seems a likely choice.
To me it seems obvious that the central purpose of Scientology, all the data, procedures, and philosophy, is to enable the individual to work things out, reason things out, for himself. That would necessarily, and primarily, most importantly, involve the establishment of principles by which to conduct his life – the development of his own personal ethics, in brief. That’s not so easy. Scientology is there for that, to help out the individual. Following organizational ethics orders is not establishing one’s own admin scales with policies (principles).
On this blog, people who do not know any better take “Scientology” to be exactly the same thing as “the Church of Scientology” in it’s Miscavige configuration. This is allowed, apparently for some notions of political expediency which I do not comprehend. I use the word “Scientology” to refer to the data, procedures, and philosophy. So if someone thinks that definition is the same as the church, then that same person probably thinks that organizational ethics are the exact same thing as personal ethics, and the logical continuation that is simply that there is no such thing as personal ethics.
I trust only material up to about 1976, and I begin to toss stuff after about 1978 – especially after 1980. I simply do not believe LRH even saw half of any of that. It is well-known that even auditing technology was developed by individuals other than LRH prior to 1976. TR’s (Training Routines) were the results and conclusions of a work group study, I was told, and not LRH’s idea. It went past LRH for approval, and was tested, and it went under his name. I do not believe LRH had reliable information about what was going on in the church after he left.
I wish one day that Dan Koon and Janis Grady would co-author a long paper on “LRH Compilations” history, for what they both first hand observed, being both so close on LRH’s lines and having seen the history of compilations of LRH’s notes and cassette audio orders into final written format.
Mickey Lipton too, she I hope someday writes.
There ought to be a serious writeup of all the people over the last 20 plus years of LRH’s life who were involved in the LRH compilation job. LRH extensively wrote enough “compilations” orders for there to be an “LRH Compilations Officer Full Hat Checksheet” when I did that checksheet in 1988 at Int when I was for a tiny period of time I was in the LRH Tech Compilatons Unit which was within the Senior C/S Int Office which was within the CMO Int Org Board at that time.
Steve Cook, he used to be LRH Tech Comps Admin, and saw all manner of the “originals” and manuscripts.
Both Dan Koon and Russ Williams saw tons and tons of the microfiche of the “original” manuscripts and actual LRH hand and type written raw stuff.
If you are interested, Google all of the above person’s names and search “compilations” on the same search line, for example:
“Dan Koon” “LRH” “compilations” on the same search line, and then read all that Dan has written.
It is
Chuck, or anyone: http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?33-OPENING-PANDORA-S-BOX-Part-One has a lot of leads on the early inventors mainly through early ’60s, from Alan Walter and others. It’s worth continuing through all 42 pages of comments for nuggets of stuff that you won’t find anywhere else.
From TC’s post: “Not providing copies to interested parties has become pervasive in the church.”
I know of one incident where a Committee of Evidence (Comm Ev) was convened against a married couple that lived 2,000 miles away from the scientology organization (org) initiating that action.
The org’s Ethics Officer (a Sea Org Master at Arms, or MAA) refused to provide any Knowledge Reports to the couple, refused to inform them of the charges against them, and expressed disdain at any impact on their work schedule and finances. They were ORDERED to appear at the appointed time & place.
The couple refused the invitation and scientology officials have not contacted them in the year since, nor informed them of the Comm Ev’s outcome. They were tried in absentia and have likely been declared as Suppressive Persons. (Such declarations these days are only shown to scientologists in good standing and on a “need to know” basis.)
Imagine the outcome of this situation if this church organization had political power: People are guilty unless they can prove otherwise; There is no right to face the accuser(s); Evidence against the accused is not provided to them until the trial begins. This is a sociopath’s idea of justice.
Needless to say, they (this couple) are no longer scientologists and all of us who watched them go through this will have nothing to do with this so-called church.
Nailed it WhatWall. What is remarkable about Scn justice is, outside the bubble it is seen as oppressive and insane, inside the bubble they just shrug their shoulders and figure the defendant must have been guilty of something. They never allow themselves to admit Scn justice is just PLAIN WRONG.
More importantly, the real purpose of Scn justice is:
1) protect the organization and its agents
2) scare its members into proper, church-approved behavior
It has NOTHING to do with truth or facts or evidence. Nor does it even attempt to be fair or honest…doesn’t even pretend to be.
If you are experiencing Scn justice on your Road to Declare, guaranteed you will become an enemy of the Church before its over.
“…, the real purpose of Scn justice is:” Perfect summation, statpush. Thanks.
I had a similar thing happen when the I was “ordered” to go to LA, 2000 miles away, for a comm ev. I also asked for the relevant KRs and any other “evidence”. I also asked for a listing of the “crimes” I’d supposedly committed. I quoted all the relevant policy and LRH quotes on the subject of both Ethics and Comm Evs. I was refused anything. I gently told him to FO and never heard another word. And such is life in the chaotic world of scientology. LOL
Remember, our nation’s biggest domestic spying scandal was perpetrated by this cult. So I say to you, Scientology is not only a vicious, evil & toxic cult, it’s also an anti American cult…
Oh Dude, that’s selfish! It’s way more than just an anti US cult (why should you have all the fun anyway?) It’s also an all encompassing anti-culture, anti-life cult. It seeks to make nothing out of the likes of you, me and anyway else that doesn’t give $ to them & we as examples are half a planet away. They even have a fully functioning declare system which is well oiled daily and has to be kept secret as it’s just too out PR for the humongous figures ever to go public.
The tentacles of Scientology’s corruption will go as far as they can unless stomped upon.
That’s “anyone else” above. Sheesh, it’s 6am here!!
Whatever! No excuses!
Well put and good for them, you and us. I astounds me that some of the persons I thought I knew so well and thought so much of are stuck in this evil nasty cult. Then again – some it doesn’t surprise me like that robot Julian Swartz at AOLA.
This whole KR thing really escalated from my years on the ship. I got assigned lower conditions and even comm-ev’d because I didn’t snitch on my fellow deckhands. One time the deckhands (and separately the engineers) robbed a neighboring, empty ship named The Caroline. We were trying to get deck equipment that we could not get through Financial Planning so we robbed it in the dead of night. My deck buddies wouldn’t let me take part because, as Steve Nichols (boson) put it “Kid, you’re too young”. But, I knew of the plan. Someone opened their mouth about the crime and I got comm-ev’d and punished right along with the other crew. My crime was that I didn’t turn them in. With the deckhands and engineers both getting comm-ev’d, it probably went down as the largest number of Interested Parties in one comm-ev, ever.
The point I’m trying to make was that I learned at 17 or 18 years old, that you didn’t snitch on your work buddies (friends) or family and I stuck with that viewpoint throughout my time in the S.O. In my 11 years in the Sea Org I may have written 2 or 3 KRs. I think the snipes (engineers) and the deckhands had this hidden code. Honor amongst thieves I guess.
Oh, and I know it was wrong to steal and wouldn’t allow it now that I am a little older and wiser (62). Further, it was a case of no harm no foul. The Captain made the Port Captain’s Office, Jerry Armstrong, bribe a guard on The Caroline with some expensive whiskey and we loaded all of our stolen items back onto the ship telling him that we just borrowed it due to an emergency. I did get the feeling that not ALL of the stolen goods made it back onto the Caroline.
At the time, I would rather have taken punishment over being known as a snitch by my fellow deckhands.
Re: clearlypissedoff’s statement: KRs I think have been, like many phenomena, subject to time and place and you might say, “ethnic” or local mores. I’m 65 and back in the 70s certainly on staff, it was CLEARLY understood (and I don’t recall even ever talking about this with anyone) that you certainly DID NOT write a KR on a friend, that such a thing would be considered a complete betrayal and assuming the guise of an informer. (I recall having two idleness reports written on me by non-friends). But I know circumstances have certainly changed in Scientology as the “soviet -ization” of the CoS slowly but very surely took place. I was surprised (and yet in a way not surprised) when I read Leah Remini comment that she had written KRs on her husband (no doubt “for his own good.” I cannot even imagine having an intimate, open, comfortable relationship with someone on any level if I thought that what I said to them might be reported to an authority of some type.
You got me started with this one !!!
I have more KR’s than PC folders and I’m OT 8 X 3
Every slur and lie has been thrown at me that my enemies call me the TEFLON OT
My secret is I don’t return lies or” get even”as a policy I work hard getting honest products.
GO FIGURE
If you add MONEY THERMOMETERS then I will crack and jump on my CHOPPER and roar
around waking up the city.
So you’re the noisy one! Bad Jose… I was wondering who to KR for that.
Some of the most cringeworthy actions I did while in the cult were writing KR’s on friends, who still don’t talk to me 35 years later. I can’t say that I blame them.
My defense was that it takes more courage to write a KR on a friend because I was so convinced of the veracity of the tech, thinking the friend would be fixed by the subsequent handling. LOLOLOL
What happened was the now ex-friends, weren’t spoken to by an ethics officer, weren’t confronted with me present and the problem simply festered and festered.
This is an example of LRH demanding compliance to his cartoon dreams of a loving and devoted following who value LRH at the expense of friendships, families or the personal lives of his followers.
The KR is one of the nastier bits of the cult’s tech, guaranteed to work at generating enemies and ill will and pissed off people, 100% of the time.
That’s true – I never saw a KR result in doing the right thing by the receiver. And I saw a heap of KRs as sup & auditor. Oh, the amount of them I wrote up after sec checks and such for people’s eligibility to move on to the OT levels… Yikkes!. Few skeletons in my closet, but at least they don’t drink much – I do it for them. They do rattle around a bit though.
“Talking with a person face to face is beyond the confront level of the average Scientologist.”
May I suggest a communications course.
Another El Con obviously unworkable solution. But wait! Perhaps the new Gag II course will fix it.
Yo Dave,
Could you give us a demonstration of how well you can communicate to anyone on any subject?
Perhaps that’s why TRs are done first with the eyes closed? Gets you prepped to be the final Cof$’s acceptable’s product.
This is not exclusively a problem within Scientology.
I quit the best paid job I ever had because of the abuse of a supervisor and the refusal of the management to do anything about it. I was told that I shouldn’t be focused on being right. Given that the company ran a chain of hospitals I found this to be insane and quit. The company was sued later by another employee who was wrongfully fired because of the supervisor.
I need some coffee.
Another insightful post from Terra Cognita. This reminds me of the time I was talking to a long time staff member from Mountain View (or is it Silicon Valley now? Is there even an org there anymore?) and she really wanted to do the Flag Executive Briefing Course but the ED wouldn’t let her because “she would go into out-point overload.” It was my first glimpse into how bad things were. That you couldn’t allow a staff member to train because too many KRs would get written. I was so incredibly shocked by that statement and yet she was saying it so matter of factly. I think a better excuse would be the org can’t afford to send her on that kind of training – but outpoint overload? In hindsight, I would say that was my first WTF is going on with this church moment. Fear and hypocrisy…for sure.
What is fascinating about this is that early on El Con ridiculed paranoid states that turned everyone into spies. But, the more I study primary sources about Stalin the more El Con fits his personality mold. Stalin was paranoid about people becoming popular. If he felt they were getting popular he usually had them killed or at least sidelined (if they were too powerful). El Con was similar. That’s why most of the well known old timers were declared SP. El Con had Mayo declared for the same reason. Same with him having the Mission Holders stomped in ’82. (plus he wanted all their money)
El Con was a paranoid, delusional psychotic.
My observation is also, that church staff write KR’s to each other in the missions, orgs and Sea Org orgs, not always to report others, but to update, alert and keep others informed of people targeted in church scams (such as bogus ethics handlings that require intensives of auditing to complete without any conditions formula or amends ever actually being done). The Hole is a perfect example of this kind of prison. All brought about by the “mighty KR” 🙂
It’s worth mentioning the “Things That Shouldn’t Be” report. This often serves as a KR, but without the need to CC the offending staff or public.
When I was Comm Ev’d (and, as a result, declared), I was presented not with KRs, but with Things That Shouldn’t Be reports. These types of reports are supposed to be used when the author does not know the policy or code being violated, yet is “taking responsibility” by bringing it to someone’s attention.
Interestingly, many of the authors of these reports were OTVII and OTVIII and had been in Scn for many decades. How is it they can part of an organization for so long, yet cannot cite policy? Could it be no policy exists? Could it be what they write is untrue and cannot confront the accused?
I have experienced both “wog” justice and Scn “justice” – I will take wog justice over Scn justice any day.
Scn justice would make Stalin blush.
x47, TC!