Back in 2014 I did a post entitled Lights Out at Jobur Org. It chronicled the demise of this, the FIRST ideal org.
In the time-honored tradition of scientology promo piece illiteracy, they had previously announced their 10 year anniversary with a typo in their own name — thus the use of “Jobur” in subsequent posts at this blog:
Now, we are coming up to 16 years of operation of this first, model ideal org.
And they have just sent out a new promotional item — and this one has no typos.
But it does contain a couple of startling facts.
This is the largest org in Africa. A continent of 1.2 BILLION people.
They are clearly proud of their size and accomplishments — they are announcing them to the world.
150 Clears in 16 YEARS. 10 per year! And this is the BIGGEST org? (There are only 7 others in all of Africa).
If ever there was proof that the “ideal Org” strategy is a complete failure in every respect (except increasing Miscavige’s statistic of total cash and assets) it is Jobur. They are struggling to survive. They have not opened a single new country in the entire continent. They have not opened any new missions, let alone new orgs. They cannot even pay their utilities bills.
They love to quote Hubbard saying the next great civilization will spring from Africa — if that is true, scientology will have nothing to do with it.
Sometimes I picture some of the still in, loyal parishioners, watching the news and thinking, “whew, I’m so glad I’m in scn. because WE have the tools to handle all the bad news out there.” That’s fear! They are convinced the world out here is worse than the world inside the bubble. That’s my opinion. It took me a lot of years to trust people, “out here” and not, “in scn.” Those parishioners that are loyal know it sucks to be there but to them it’s the frying pan or the fire type of logic. Sad!
It looks as though John Roberts blew….
And took his initials with him!
whoa, wait a minute, in the promo piece, what the hell is a Phase II Clear?
Never heard or read that before.
of course it doesn’t matter as a clear has never been produced or to exist, just a title.
It is unquestionable and fascinating that we encounter individuals from time to time that most of us would agree are geniuses. People of abilities that are simply extraordinary to the point of them being freaks of nature.
Even if Einstein had obtained a hokey degree from Redwood University, it would still be clear that he qualifies. Even if Jimi Hendrix had lied about being an Indian blood brother, his art was mind blowingly apart from what those before and around him were able to produce. Sports have produced individuals of such capabilities as to be completely beyond explanation. This doesn’t mean that they were always nice people or well-adjusted individuals. (Although they may not be bad enough to deal in stolen valor.)
It just simply means one things: Extraordinary abilities. And unlike space aliens, unicorns, and body thetans, these can be clearly demonstrated and perceived readily by those watching.
So where does this leave “clears?” Whether it’s 150 or even just ONE, EVER!
Hubbard was the chief of clears. He dabbled in many things, including philosophy, science, religion and various disciplines of the arts. With the exception of cult hagiographies he has NEVER been acknowledged as a genius at any of these. Not one! In fact, a lot of his output, such as all of his full-length fiction books, his embarrassing attempts at science, and his music are outright dreadful and betray an appalling lack of judgment in allowing them to become public in the first place.
So where are scientology’s “clears”, its geniuses, those giants that one can’t help but take notice of? EVEN ONE? EVER?
Todd,
Excellent points – true genius manages (most times) to rise above the rest of us.
I have never understood why someone would cheat at sports (as an example)
Of course, where money is involved, I get why people cheat.
But knowing you ‘won’ a contest, when you actually had to cheat to win – not very fulfilling, IMO. It would probably have the opposite effect on me.
That’s why I don’t understand DMs desire to be awarded with fake medals.
Unless he think it impresses the sheeple.
I can’t imagine even many of the sheeple truly believe the ‘awards’ Miscavige gives himself. Of course they won’t admit that publicly….
If he had really achieved anything worthwhile, if the so-called state of clear had any value, then why did he keep on experimenting with different meters and changes to the E-meter. If “clear” had any real benefits, if it was something that was truly a positive state and a good achievement, then why was he never satisfied with his mental condition?
Seems to me, the answer is that this “state of clear” is just made-up bullshit designed to separate people from their money and the only so-called “talent” or skill he ever had was that he was a naturally born con man and figured out a good way to con and cheat people.
That does not necessarily give him any kind of “genius status”. I would suggest to you that it’s not really difficult to cheat and con people. Most of us who are able to do that refrain from doing it because ….
It is illegal, immoral, causes great harm and pain to others and we have a sense of conscience and right-and-wrong that prevents us from wanting to enrich ourselves at the expense of others.
Furthermore, since most dedicated con men wind up in prison with long sentences, most people refrain from cheating others because we don’t want to wind up in prison or in the penitentiary. It’s just a shame the authorities never caught up with Hubtard and have not yet caught up with The Little Rat.
There was a collection (in advance magazine) of times when Hubbard stated to be clear, and then he found out he is not, and then again and so on. Others were declared clear and then to them was said they are not and after paying really huge sums in tenthousands of dollars, they went clear.
It had to do with the stats and the regges. Some old but only grade auditos still believe that the folders are secretive to regges. Bullshit. Hubbard statet several times that clear is not possible as there are too many engrams on his track. And as-ising never worked except with good hypnosis.
Seen from outside, it is a real good trick on naive or greedy pc’s to get money.
If Joburg has made 150 clears over the years, maybe the real stat for Venezuela (mentioned yesterday) is actually 156 clears as of this year. I bet the OT Committee secretary was mislead by some weasel-wording out of Caracas – Scientology’s Orwellian propaganda techniques at work – and then reported it as a “win” when it’s probably actually a similarly dismal stat as Joburg’s. It certainly seems unlikely that the Venezuela org actually made more clears in one year, than the org in the largest city in South Africa has in 16 years.
So not only do we have to watch out for weasel-wording, but take into account that dubious claims may be based on the writers’ having been mislead by other Scientology staff’s weasel-wording. I think it’s interesting how they propagate deception like that, rather than resorting to out-and-out lying – it shows that at least at the lower levels they retain some human compunction about telling blatant lies to people, and instead resort to playing the childish game of “that’s not EXACTLY what I said.”
And speaking of misleading numbers, there’s also the question of how many of Joburg’s 150, were just re-dos….
They say Golden Age of Technology II Clears. That to me says that most, if not all of them were re dos if not double redos.
That is likely true. But it is also likely just scientology’s habit of using more impressive sounding names for no reason at all. “New” OT VIII. There is no OLD OT VIII. They are just communicating that THEIR Clears are really good ones, not some shoddy substitute…
Hey Mike, the photo of Johannasburg sign missing letters, does this mean they closed their doors? Or they just don’t bother to fix it?
Is there going to be an Aftermath this season?
Best, Robert
They don’t have the money to fix the sign….
OTVIII, I am a fully blown CLASS VIII interned auditor and don’t take nonsense. There is no new OTVIII, it has always been the same.
First on the check sheet is to read Handbook for Preclears. Make sure you are down pat on it. Being Class VIII I don’t see why on the Freewinds, I have to do this when I already have certainty and read it 5 times over on the SHSBC.
There is such a thing as ‘over-run and protest’. I agree with number of times over equals certainty. There becomes a point that number of times over equals over-run and it becomes an implant full of charge and thetan invalidation that once you have got it it, don’t run it anymore; otherwise you will end up in review and even the C/S doesn’t exactly know what to do.
The rule is on the SHSBC original course you read the books 5 times over. As a Supervisor you only need to read these books maybe twice as not to over-run and the moment you get bogged down, you have to do a metered review. If you are OT VII completion read the Handbook for Preclears and save yourself a week on the freewinds doing OTVIII
Stay tuned for the GAT 3 Clear. He or she is someone who can be regged over and over again without turning on a dirty needle.
It’s probably called the Church of Scientology Nesbug by now.
Nesbug?
After the O,H,A and N fell off the sign 😉
That is a totally sick stat – 150 clears in 16 years.
In 1973, in Los Angeles I was clear #5544 since 1952. That was Hubbard doing it from a small base. In the end, it does not matter because the state of “Clear” in delusional.
is delusional
You were clear #5544?
I am reminded of how Hitler decided that it was a mistake to start numbering members in the Nazi party at #1 or even #50 because it appeared too low.
So he started the numbering at #5500 and so the 44th person who joined would be member number 5544.
There are many similarities between Hitler and Blubbertard. I wonder if he learned about that technique from Hitler and used it when numbering his bogus clears.
good point
I think they assign each country/org a certain set of clear numbers…ie.. south african clears would maybe start from 6000, uk clears from 4500 – 5000, etc. Not saying I’m certain of this but have heard something similar mentioned before.
Delusional is right! My ex girlfriend was suppose to be Clear and she was as crazy as a road lizard.
Some simple math will create an equally simple picture. Jobur has been making clears at the rate of less than one per month. Or 0.180 per week if you want to drill down that far. And their Alexa web traffic number is just as dismal: currently, their overall rank is 5,155,199 globally, and no local rank exists. Those numbers tell the basic story. Dead.
love the little side note… “In the time-honored tradition of scientology promo piece illiteracy…” Their continued inability to write beyond a third grade level is fascinating. Who needs a leader with a Bachelors degree or MBA when you can be led to the Hall of Shame by someone that never learned basic phonics? As the wiser man Goober would say… “shame, shame, shame!”
Wrinkles & pit stains. Eeeeuuuuuuuuuu. But, if that’s what it takes…that’s what it takes.
Mike, I am hoping you can answer these queries for me?
What I can’t understand about Scientology is what is the intended purpose of all of the money that they constantly reg people for!
David Miscavige can only spend so much of the billions, so what is the intention for the remainder of the money?
Is it so that he can dive in and go ‘swimming’ in it like Scrooge McDuck!
What is the end goal?
Has he got a final $ total in his head and therefore regs people relentlessly so he can reach this target?
How much money is enough?
As crazy as this sounds it is a simple answer.
L. Ron Hubbard said you are supposed to keep your stats up.
Hubbard gave the stat of total Reserves to the WDC Chairman and Miscavige as COB of ASI had the stat of total income/assets of Hubbard. When he took over as “COB” RTC he then took over everything. SOR, IAS and Hubbard (now CST). These stats always have to be going up.
The drive of stats in scientology, especially at the top, is like lemmings to the sea. And as every other measurement of scientology is downtrending forever, this is the one that he stays focused on to prove his competence.
Can this stat still be increasing, with all the old money dying off or tapped out, and no one new coming into the nets?
Or are the “ideal” real estate schemes the plan to keep the asset valuations growing?
The stat is CUMULATIVE. The only thing they have to keep ahead of is the assessed values of buildings possibly going down. And making more money than they spend to keep the operation going week to week.
I doubt Scientology’s internal accounting is based on professionally assessed market values – I think they probably book what was spent on the facility, as its value, and then keep it at that. That’s one of the fundamental problems, the religious status that the IRS granted it allows it to avoid any sort of normal financial practices, even for internal accountability to keep track of where the money is going and whether it is being used properly.
Most of the buildings are realistically worth less than was even spent on them from day one, because they have been remodeled in unusual and extravagant ways that have no (or even negative) value to a possible future buyer, and will only depreciate after being finished due to lack of maintenance and updates. There are only a small number of markets where the rise in property values is so high that they might actually come out ahead – even in the strong market in Boston, they can’t sell the Alexandra Hotel property that the bought and then gave up on, for what they paid for it, and they have the same problem in St. Louis, where they probably overpaid to begin with.
If Scientology accounted for their “ideal” properties at realistic market value, or potential resale price, they’d be booking huge losses – revealing the scam for what it is. They’re almost certainly doing Enron-style accounting to keep Miscavige’s stats up, the same sort of fudging we see here all the time when it comes to little things.
This strikes to a question I have had for some time.
Is Miscavige a true believer?
If he sees his stats go down, is this something he would see as a failure to uphold the ‘holy’ principles laid down by Hubbard, OR would he see this as something he wants to avoid because it may weaken his hold on power in the organization?
If his stats go down, who would know?
The latter.
As to who would know? Those around him. That he perceives as a threat. They are so indoctrinated and beaten into submission that as long as he can convince them that he is “doing what LRH wants” they feel they are in no position to challenge his authority.
I don’t think I could ever believe that DM is a true believer. He was ambitious from the start, angling for the power and position even from youth.
And today he has access to all the true, unfiltered information. Sociopaths aren’t insane. He knows it’s all nonsense and that Hubbard was a loon, a grifter, or both.
I think DM always wanted to be the leader of the cult for all the power and wealth that came along with it. Even if that cult is a shadow of its former self, there’s more than enough money to last him 20 or 30 more years.
Thank you for the insight.
Amazing.
I can second exactly what Mike has said and expand on this a little bit more. David was declared an SP but he had what you call ethics protection so it didn’t go through.
Yes he has the ‘God Complex – Superior Being service facsimile’. He is always right and cannot be wrong or challenged….. now challenge is an interesting word in the bank and OT Case.
If I had the chance to say to him; ” Hi David, pleased to meet you, how are your clusters of black thetans’ coming along?”.
I can assure that will shut him down by merely pointing out what he is actively doing.
It’s rough being a scientologist these days. You have to pretend to be happy while paying exorbitant prices to redo things over and over without even a “whoops our bad” from the organization forcing you to do this.
Groundhog Day had it better. At least he learned and anticipated the next move and made something of the grind. Scientologists would be punished for even pretending to learn or make changes.
150 people managed to start from scratch (at least twice – because we are talking GAT II) and grind their way from the bottom all the way up to the really close to the bottom state of clear in six years.
Poor people. I hope some if not all of them have quietly left the building since then.
ValR.
You wrote: “without even a “whoops our bad” from the organization forcing you to do this.”
Please remember that the words ‘atone’ , ‘reparations’, or ‘repentant’ are not to be found in LRon’s vocabulary. To my memory they only ever repaired or compensated individuals when the flap and bad PR required it. And, all the while never admitting their error or fault. Maybe earlier on Ron was softer but with KSW the door closed and the cult became absolute in it’s views. Trouble was, the rest of the world did not buy into it.
Very true. But ‘atone,’ ‘reparations’ and ‘repentant’ do apply to those who have screwed up (real or imagined) who have to “make up damage” to the cherch or mi$cavige. They have to atone, make reparations and repent all the time! Usually with giving over more and more money. The cherch never apologies, and takes NO responsibility for anything, yet they think anyone who has even looked at them crosseyed has to propitiate to them.
My guess is that they didn’t tell those clears about the time they declared several 40+ year Scientologists down in Jobur and sent their leadership to RPF forever. I wonder if Ken K and Alex F and the others are still on toothbrush janitorial duty somewhere?
It’s amazing how many SP’s scientology has had in its midst. 40 declares in such a short time and that was just at Jobur; around the same time in the states there were lots of declares. Good thing they were spotted. No telling what a horrible state the church of scientology would be in if they hadn’t spotted all the SP’s. Nothing like that confronting and shattering suppression.
Bwa ha ha ha Mary. No kidding. It seems more like these days only 2.5% of the entire population is NOT an SP. Poor beleaguered scientologists. Or…maybe there is no such thing as an SP? I’m sure glad to be in the company as such a powerful SP as you. I hope someday soon your son also sees the light and “becomes” an SP.
HCO POLICY LETTER OF 27 SEPTEMBER 1966
THE ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY
THE ANTI-SCIENTOLOGIST
“The basic reason the antisocial personality behaves as he or she does lies in a hidden terror of others.
“To such a person every other being is an enemy, an enemy to be covertly or overtly destroyed.”
Damn, sounds like David Miscavige to me!
Due to the advances in e-meter sensitivity no dirty needles or rock slams were missed. The backlogged SP detection and routing is fully handled now. The orgs are now safe places to be.
From a thorough and rigorous study of the Data Series, I can categorically state that the lack of expansion in Joburg stems from one source and one source only: the suppressive influence of the Masai warriors.
Hahaha
1
🙂 Scribe.
150 GAT II clears: GAT II was released November 2013. Five years and eight months for those clears to be made.
I’m surmising that at least a third are staff. Whereas in the past, staff progress on their own bridges was rare and infinitesimal, these days it’s like adding a cheap bone to the cabbage soup.
Staff are being pushed through the quickie training and quickie grades, shoved into new uniforms that will be dry cleaned once a year, and photographed for their “yes you can have it all on staff” shot while the spit still shines.
six lean months later, … the wrinkles and pit stains are the only lasting “gains”
Pretending to save the world is a lot of work. It takes a lot of lies and yelling.
Just ask Scientology.
…and then later they shoot themselves in both feet by declaring most of the people in the two big extended families that comprised most of the $cientology money in SA. When the morgue were already too broke to pay the utilities
Seattle, too, right?
Think they nuked a few key families there too.
Scientology is just an ever shrinking circle firing squad.
But if it specifies GAT II “clears” then they’re probably counting a lot of people who earlier went “clear” and then had to re-do it under GAT II, right?
The GAT II bridge is stunningly quickie. I was at Flag for it all. Flag sups were pushy and quickie to start with. With the new stuff, the speed of training and achieving grade comp was touted in trumpet heraldry all night and day.
Everybody! Step right up and get to grade IV in a couple weeks and clear 2 weeks later! The training was quickie and those staff students were going clear.
They could be new clears.
Most folk are told they’re not clear when they’re trying to advance OT level. Especially if you had any time intervals between them. After III, IV, V, before VII, they give you Dianetics auditing and when you “go clear for real” it’s up to you if you want it announced.
Everything you wrote, Rip, points up my true reason for not coming “out”. I’m not afraid of fair game or disconnection. The cult has no leverage on me in those ways. No, I stay under a handle because I don’t want my name associated with this organization or these people. That I was once associated with this organization and these people is hugely embarrassing to me and I would never want it generally known. So there you have it. I’m something of a snob, in my own way. I’m proud to know and be considered a good person by my Venezuelan cleaning lady whose English is poor, whose education is sorely lacking and who cleans peoples’ toilets to support her family. She’s smart, she’s perceptive, she’s kind and she’s honest. She’s 55; if she had had an education she could be running a large company because she has executive ability. If she didn’t like or respect me, it would bother me. But the Church of Scientology and the Still Ins who are, if not outright criminals, their enablers? When I read about them, their lies, their crimes, I want to take a shower. I want to distance myself, separate myself entirely from these…people, because I’m embarrassed to the core that I was once one of them, however ignorantly, however well meaningly. Every now and then a Still In writes to me and my instinct is to brush him or her away, like a cootie that hopped off some dirty person’s body and onto mine. Get away from me, and stay away from me. Far, far away.That’s how embarrassed I am.
From what you’re saying, I think I can safely assume you won’t be doing any more bridge steps. 😂
I would be OK with getting auditing from an Indie. I haven’t yet. I don’t know any Indie auditors but I’ve heard of a few who might be OK.
But I’d never go near Co$ again, or allow them to do anything to me, and I want nothing to do with the phony baloney saving the planet koolaid drinkers as they rip each other off.
Now, UTRs are another story. I am in communication with several UTRs who are on their way out.
But the “for real” still ins – they’re nuts
They’re robots who, without a qualm, break the hearts of the unfortunate people who love them. They’ll turn on you on a dime. They’ll turn on each other on a dime. They’ll profess love and loyalty and it means nothing because in the end they will do exactly as they’re told. To me, they’re not human, and to sum up, I don’t like them, don’t trust them don’t respect them, and worse, have an active contempt for them. Good riddance.
If they ever decide to use 20% of their brains, wake up and leave, that’s when I’ll believe that they’re human. I do my bit to support that happening.
I just wonder how many other people feel that same way.
I know that I do. I only dabbled with this scam for a few days. But I never told anyone (when I wasn’t posting anonymously). I’m too ashamed. Even though I know some very intelligent people have gotten trapped in this scam. I wouldn’t ever want anyone to know I was one – even if it was only for a few days.
LOL, Skyler. Even the die hard koolaid drinkers still in feel that way. Even those in very good standing are hugely embarrassed and don’t want their association with Co$ generally known. Go to the Facebook pages of Scientologists who are in business. Not a word! Not a whisper about Scientology. These are people who’ve been Scientologists for upwards of 4 decades. Go to their Linkedin pages. Nothing, but nothing about Scientology, and some of these people have been STAFF for 30-odd years. Oh, boy! That no-mention is no accident! These Scientologists are very aware of how toxic Scientology is! They know. On Linkedin, the closest I’ve seen to what they’ve ACTUALLY been doing steadily for the past 3 decades is “church worker” or “worked for non-profit”. That, my friend, is EMBARRASSMENT. And they’re Still In! And when they write ads to get new public to come in, like on Craig’s List, they don’t say its Scientology! That’s no accident either. And I haven’t heard Tom Cruise flapping his lips about Scientology since he dumped Suri. That’s because his PR people told him to zip it if he still wants a career. Think about it: Freedom Medal Winner in 2004, VERY vocal about Scn for several years after that, but since 2012, hardly a word. Could it be he is embarrassed at being linked with a group that forces its female clergy to have abortions, persecutes anyone who speaks out, and ordered him to disconnect from his little daughter? He certainly doesn’t seem proud of it!
Aquamarine, that indeed is all very telling! Is it true that the only people who harass the general public with body routing are SO members then? Do non-SO staff workers (who presumably have SOME idea of the crappy name of Scientology in the world) ever publicly stand outside their org and get people’s attention or do they skulk from their car into the building and hide?
My time mentally out grows with each passing day… and I’m experiencing this embarrassment in growing tandem.
The absurdity of my past beliefs and goals defies description.
I am forever humbled.
You know, guys, I just want/need to clarify something: I’m not embarrassed about what I BELIEVED. I’m embarrassed that an organization with which I was closely associated for so many years is and was at the time, a CRIMINAL organization. The criminality didn’t touch me personally and I honestly didn’t know and I left because I considered them OFF POLICY and OUT TECH. I never dreamed they were also criminal. When I went UTR I started reading the internet. Little by little I began to understand that I was in a nest of criminals and their enablers! In brief, again, its not what I believed, its that I was ONE OF THEM, believing (as a somewhat sheltered public) believing that I was part of an ETHICAL group. Nothing could have been further from the truth. That’s why I’m embarrassed and don’t want to be linked with Co$ in any internet search. And thanks for reading and responding to what I wrote!
All hail the Macallan Muppet, and the Shermanator, his mulleted puppet! They and their merry, mighty assemblage of oatmeal thetans are clearing the planet of new
Sciborg recruits with a tone 40 quickness, vis-a-vis their penchant for repetitive lying
and creepy, cynical vexatious litigation. Their dreck is degrading and their reputation
is less than shit( shit fertilizes ). They destroy families. Asset rape, human trafficking,
kidnapping, slave labor, and sexual abuse/ protection of predators are scientology sacraments.
Scientology: the intersection of organized sociopathy and fuckery for profit.
“Marc, that might be true, but no one can say that I’m not the planetary potentate of profit.”
Dave