This is more of the scientology bubble crazy on display.
They have been convinced that handing out copies of the Way to Happiness “reduces crime” and “brings calm” to neighborhoods.
Why do they believe this?
First is because L. Ron Hubbard proclaimed this to be the case. He determined that problems in society all stemmed from the lack of a moral code, and that by distributing HIS it spread calm and peace and bring about miraculous changes. And of course, if L. Ron Hubbard says not enough smoking is the true cause of cancer, that LSD is stored in the fatty tissues of the body or that an OT is knowing cause over matter, energy, space and time and you can achieve that with diligent application of his technology – well, there is no reason not to believe this to be true. Is there?
And this “fact” is reinforced at virtually every event they attend. Miscavige spouts off “statistics” about how crime has been reduced 50% in the entire nation of Colombia thanks to handing out some WTH booklets. They show photos of Alfraudie Johnson in S.Central LA along with a handful of smiling kids and buy the story that the booklet is “bringing calm” to this “troubled neighborhood.” The truth is far different than what they are told in every case. Alfraudie was there for a photo op with a few kids they brought in for the shot. The crime statistics in Colombia did not go down by 50% — and any improvement there may have been has no provable connection to the WTH. It’s the same level of causation as the OT VIII’s bringing down the Berlin Wall. A couple of them might have had thoughts about the wall. It did come down. But they caused nothing. It all goes along with the delusion they are saving the world and are the ONLY people who are doing so, in fact, the only ones who CAN do so.
But putting that aside. A crime-free Clearwater IS a laudable goal. And the people that participated in this event did so with good intentions. But there are a couple of big unanswered questions.
1. They are talking about a TINY part of Clearwater. Tiny. How is this level of activity going to make any difference?
2. Why is it such a small effort when according to scientology there are 12,000 scientologists in the Tampa Bay area…
3. If it were true that distribution of this booklet would make this the safest city in the US (the world, presumably…) then why isn’t scientology printing 150,000 copies (which would cost them about $15,000) and distributing them en masse to every single citizen? There are plenty of Sea Org members available. Hell, in a coupe of weeks you could put a booklet in the hands of every Clearwater resident AND all the tourists. They could even use the USPS. Just forgo a single mailing of junk promo and they could spend it on mailing it to all the zipcodes that comprise Clearwater and throw in some of the surrounding cities too so none of the criminals from Dunedin or Safety Harbor crossed over into Clearwater and disturbed the perfection of the perfect city.
The real lie this exposes is that scientologists, when push comes to shove, do not believe their own bs. Otherwise one or more of the Clearwater whales would have paid for this instead of giving another $50,000 to the IAS. Otherwise every org would be in an ideal building by now — and they would still have billions left over to waste advertising on the Olympics coverage. All staff would be Clear and moving on to OT VII to make the 10,000 needed to tip the scales of planet earth. Every staff member would be a trained auditor so they could join the top 10% of the top 10% on earth. etc etc
The evidence is everywhere — but none are so blind as those who have been convinced they do not want to look.
Surely this has to be the height of hypocrisy for Scamology , Miscavage is guilty as charged for beating up on his underlings on a regular basis ( we have all seen the interviews by Mike and Leah on their excellent doco ” Scientology and the Aftermath ” ) and LRH saying that ” Not Enough Smoking Causes Cancer ” , reckon he must have been smoking LSD at the time he said that .
Having a good life long friend in the medical field ( psychology ) who has told me that Scamology’s way of thinking is generally called ” A Self Supporting Delusion ” and bordering on the psychotic paranoia .
Hope the reference to a Psychologist annoyed many Scamologists out there , it was my pleasure .
Case closed , over and out .
Take it from someone who was a smoker for 20 years; that remark of LRH’s was just another justification for his own addiction, fear of quitting. or an explanation for his own failure to quit. I’ve heard OTs babble about how smoking doesn’t hurt them because they’re OT. Sometimes I’d ask, “Well, ok, it doesn’t hurt you. But how does it help you?”…silence. I never pressed it. They were addicts. “I’m OT, I can smoke”…”Not smoking ENOUGH causes cancer”…these are just excuses with a Scientology flair. The excuses are legion out there, until the person makes the decision to quit, and sticks to that decision, no matter how uncomfortable it is. And it is uncomfortable, but then, if you’re “OT”, where are your much vaunted powers over mest?
Hopefully Miscavige still smokes.
Yes. It’ll finish him off quicker.
I remember attending a meeting with him in the HGB once. Smoking of course not allowed in the HGB except in a tiny smoker’s room off the cafeteria, where staff could cram in like sardines at their mealtime and suck down as many cigs as they could in 10 minutes or so. Of course, the no smoking rules did not apply to Miscavige (minimally there was a city ordinance also saying no smoking generally in office buildings in LA), so the law apparently did not apply to him. He chain smoked through the meeting in a small conference room.
Ha! Interesting, SSoA. Chain smoker, huh? A serious addict. Good news.
It’ll catch up with him. Not the nicotine, even. Of course, that’s bad enough. But no, Its all the chemicals in which the cigarette papers are soaked – hundreds of them together in a kind of chemical bath so that the cigarette burns properly – not too fast, not too slow. Known carcinogens, permeating the lungs, continually in the bloodstream…it’ll catch up with him, no matter how many vitamins he takes, no matter how healthy and organic and fresh fruited and veggied his diet.
Chain smoking gave Adele Davis cancer and killed her at 67. The organic fruit and vegetable, lean healthy protein, anti-refined sugar queen. She never mentions tobacco in any of her books (which I like a lot and follow) There’s a reason; she was highly addicted and refused to give up her cigarettes. Dead of cancer at 67.
I remember seeing him at the CCNashville ribbon yanking. And, yes, it was one cancer stick after another.
It just kills me that $cientologists actually believe that the WTH booklets have the power to reduce crime in any way, shape or form. Such absurdity. We’re talking about basic, common sense advice that any moron already knows. It’s not as if there’s anything profound contained within the pages of those useless booklets.
Someone at Tony’s posted the most hilarious Facebook posting from a $cientologist today. This person claimed that his friend had purchased a car which kept breaking down. So, his friend asked him to look at it since he’s an “OT”. Lol. Anyway, Mr. OT apparently found “a thetan glued to the inside of the car”. (Yes, he actually said that. How embarrassing.) So, then he “ordered” (lol) the thetan to be gone! And now the car is miraculously fixed.
I seriously can’t stop laughing. What utter nonsense.
Katherine, not at all in defense of the Scientology Cherch do I point out that Bibles and other religious literature get handed out for free all the time, in the belief that doing so will convert people and make a better society, bring people to Jesus, salvage mankind from extinction, or whatever. Pick your woo. Its happening all the time in this country and in all parts of the world. Same concept, different woo. And of course, Scientology being Scientology, their coffers get enriched by capitalizing on disasters and guilting their believers into total absorption of the distribution expense!
Yes, this is true. I’m not religious and haven’t attended any church in over 25 years because I believe that man-made religion is nonsense.
Yes, handing out Bibles or any other religious writings does absolutely nothing to make our society any better.
“…I believe that man-made religion is nonsense.”
Agreed, and, in that all religion is man-made, I totally agree! But so long as no one’s getting hurt, whatever comforts/inspires/sustains someone is OK with me. I don’t go to church but I definitely believe in God, or whatever you want to call Him/Her/It. 🙂 and I’ve got my own personal woo that works for me 🙂
Agreed. I have absolutely no problem with people who find comfort and peace in their beliefs so long as those beliefs don’t harm anyone.
Recently, a very good friend of me & my husband went totally fanatic on me. He was always a really nice guy before his fanaticism set it, which was a couple years ago. He’s a Christian.
So, about a month ago I dropped my son off to go to Sunday school at my husband’s church. He attends about twice a month and he has no issue that I don’t go to church.
Anyway, his friend poked his head in my car and said “Kat, come and join us”. I politely declined but he kept pushing. Eventually, I got very annoyed at his rude persistence and finally said “Nope, I’m good. Church isn’t my thing”. He got very rude at that point.
Within a few days, he started texting me about how my disbelief in the “power” of church and god was wrong and he was right. There were several texts back & forth, at which point I told him, “That’s quite enough. You have no right to judge me. Just because I don’t agree with you doesn’t make me wrong and you’re totally out of line.”
He had the nerve to talk shit to my husband about me not attending their church and my husband blew up at him.
This is exactly why I don’t attend church. People constantly judge — especially the fanatics. And yet they call themselves Christians. Unbelievable.
This friend of ours has pushed away many other friends, his ex-wife and two of his kids because of his fanatic craziness.
Kat, I hear you. “Obnoxious” doesn’t begin to – I hear you. This sort of thing has always gotten on my nerves and worse. I’ve always believed that people who behave this way about their religion have something wrong with them, mentally. So glad you resisted his pushiness, and that your husband read him the riot act. Its behavior like this that makes people hate religion. Not God – religion. Because – and this is just me – I believe that God IS love. Not blame and make wrong, but understanding to the nth degree, something to strive for. And patience. Again, all things in their purity in their essence, to strive for.
I. too, am not much of a church-hgoer, so might be called non-religious. BUT, I do get religious experiences, most often while contemplating nature in an appropriate venue: watching a storm roll up to the mountain we’re resting on, observing the Canada geese flock up in the skies above Maryland’s Eastern shore, Contemplating the Universe sprawling above us on a clear night, diving a good spot in the Carribean; Playing with a newborn, watching some of the astronomical shows on Science & realizing the universe’s complexity might just require a “big guy” out there orchestratinng it all; that sorts of things.
still, I’ve matured past the days of yore when I believed in magical thinking(or should I say Magickal?)
I smoked like a chimney for 45 or so years, until, my doctors told me, they caused a stroke. ‘Twas a minor one as these things go, but it’s never minor when neurons are wiped out wholesale. Ten years later, I’ve been kept strictly away from them, and can categorically state I don’t now smoke, but am NOT an ex-smoker. I’m STILL addicted and would go back to 10 packs a week if I could get my hands on them. Much as I dispise Dwarfenführer and anything he stands for, I don’t wish smoking’s medical problems even on him. That sort of meanness is more HIS style than ours. WE, if we can, support the Aftermath Foundation to help those still in get out into the real world, where altruism and good will both exist and are valued.
Clearly, at the highest levels of Scientology they don’t even believe in their own claims – or if they’re true believers (I suspect top management is a mix of cynics and fanatics), have some rationalization such as that any mass distribution of WTH pamphlets would have its impact countered with a devious effort by psychs and other suppressives to render it ineffective.
The real purpose would seem to be, as always with their PR, primarily to keep their membership believing in Hubbard and the “tech, and believing that management is doing something (in the face of devious suppression by powerful forces), and, secondarily, to plant positive propaganda in the public sphere as a counter to the negative information that they can’t control. For a long time they’ve largely succeeded in spreading enough propaganda to convince people who haven’t had any access to critical information, and to at least raise doubts about the truth among those who have encountered some criticism of Scientology, legitimizing themselves enough to avoid significant law enforcement, regulatory or legislative action.
The reason why they stick to distributing their pamphlets in a small area of CW is painfully obvious. When you practice “science” or “tech” demonstrable results are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN to follow. That’s the nature of these disciplines.
So if they WERE to distribute these to ALL of CW–an easily manageable task as Mike points out–the results would PROVE what their “science” is REALLY worth. Statistics could be established to show the beneficial results. And they can’t take that chance!
I wonder what horrible overt those trees committed down the time track to end up as WTH booklets? You know… let’s get technical about this!
Is there a tree auditor in the audience?
“Is there a tree auditor in the audience?”
I don’t think so, Yawn. But I’d like to give them a hug.
I looked up the crime rates in Clearwater vs the national average. Easy 2 second search.
I was so surprised to find Clearwater surpasses the national average and the Florida crime rates.
Better send them more money so they can distribute more books that tell people to brush their teeth and take care of themselves.
Delusional people be delusional. Scientology not only lies to the public, but they lie to themselves.
Keep up the amazing work, Mike!
I have a question for David Lugo, et al at the mecca of scientology. You folks have been in Clearwater some 30 years. If it is not safe already, due to your presence there, what makes you think that your continued presence there will make any more safer now?
Message to OSA, you can stop with the emails. Mike Rinder never sends me emails saying the people liked my posting and are responding. You can stop with the links to god-knows-where. I’m not clicking, I’m not opening, it’s just SPAM and shows how truly desperate you are.
I’m getting those too, Doug. And they put a picture of Marty there so you will open it.
I won’t open a pic of Marty, and probably not one of a cute woman, since that sort of wog “mail” usually is SPAM of the worst sort.
The Waste Removal Company of Clearwater is begging people to not fill up their dumpsters again with those pesky little waste of time booklets.
Holy Xenu is it just me…but when I was IN Scientology I often thought L Ron Hubbard must have had a crashing MU on the phrase
“Brush Your Teeth”
Hubbard’s mouth was a barrage of foul smelling blackness…rotten teeth and stinkage.
It makes me want to PUKE just thinking about it.
WTF was wrong with El Wrong Hubbard?
What was his MU?
“Brush”
” Teeth ”
or perhaps “YOUR”
LOL 🙂
I think it was ‘sugar’.
He was a closet chocoholic but hated the taste of peppermint.
I’d say so too. And per his lectures, plenty of Coca Cola.which is of course loaded with both calories AND caffeine. He’s the poster boy for overconsumption of refined sugar, flour and saturated fat. Must have been why he blimped up hitting 60. The non-stop smoking and caffeine probably stressed his adrenals so much they blew out and ceased functioning, making him hungry all the time yet not able to feel satisfied, always starved as a wolf while at the same time all he’d have to do would be LOOK at a chocolate bar and he’d gain weight.
The first instruction in TWTH is “Brush your teeth.” Would it not be better for Scientologists who are dentists to NOT give away this book so people will have bad teeth and have to come to them?
AGP, a Scientology dentist I knew always had a large glass canister of chocolate Oreos next to pots of coffee and hot water for tea, etc., offered people awaiting service in Reception. .
Like the glazier who encourages kids to throw rocks.
Kinda! I always thought it strange.
Clearwater WILL be the SAFEST CITY, once it is CLEARED . . . OF Scientology ! ! !
Dave F.
“but none are so blind as those who have been convinced they do not want to look.” Mike, I’d like to add to your astute article, “there are none so blind as those who have been TOLD not to look.” And how about this one, “There are none so blind as those who have been threatened with SP declare and Disconnection and Fair Game if they were to look.”
Hmm..a codified LRH Moral Code. If you read about his life, especially his penchant to be waited on by young girls, read female children, what moral code? And to think Scientologists consider a hack conniving philander to somehow be the equivalent of Jesus, Buddha, or Confucius is astounding. Any cursory study of Jesus, Buddha, Confucius and LRH would see LRH was not a great moral philosopher. I have to believe, those who joined Scientology (not born into it) never read a book or critically thought about anything.
Not so amazing. Nothing new here. The Church of England was founded by Henry VIII who was not exactly your basic good person – brutal, bloody. lotsa wives, two of whom he put to death, lotsa girlfriends, lotsa illegitimate children, put many enemies and friends to death – nice Founder, huh? And yet the Church of England is a very respectable and respected religion today. Go figure. The Roman Catholic Church has had any number of greedy, ruthless,,murderous licentious popes including Borgia who poisoned people. Doesn’t bother any Catholics I know. Many America Evangelicals believe that Donald Trump’s presidency was ordained by God. Some relatives of mine are in this group. “The Party of Family Values” now headed by…this…and they’re fine with him and what he is, because God intervened, God wanted him, don’tcha know.. Well, OK 🙂 Point being – and this is not a defense of LRH, but, point being, as a founder of a religion, he’s in “good company” and vice versa.
Yes, good point. Saying, “it’s only being human,” is a contradiction in terms sometimes. Simon says, or follow the leader, as child games are played as adults their whole lives in the majority of most societies. Most people will not admit that but your point above makes it pretty convincing. People have died on battlefields in their countless millions over history fighting for freedom – exactly who’s freedom is a good question?
There is one difference between Roman Catholics, CoE, and Scientology. The adherents of Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism, while some may want to avoid or downplay the darker parts of their history, they really don’t deny it. Why, because their respective Church’s teaching is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, not the moral failures or writings of bad kings or immoral Popes. Those teachings do not stand or fall on the weakness of Church leadership. And in fact RC and CoE know fully well that their leadership, living in a fallen world, can fall short. That cannot be said for followers of LRH and adherents of Scientology. LRH crossed all the bridges, he was the perfect man. LRH, to his believers, never fell short.
Good points, A J. I don’t disagree with you, necessarily. But there has been an awful lot of murder, mayhem, torture, pillaging, and other evils perpetrated, an awful lot of bloodshed down the ages done with the ostensible purpose of “bringing people to Christ”. And this is because religious leaders are living in a “fallen world”? Well, it could be argued that they were certainly not helping to prevent the world from getting up! These characters did their best to keep it fallen. But never mind, I agree with your argument in its purity.
Missed editing this: “…not helping the world to get up!”
In my travels around Clearwater I have come upon TWTH booklets (in both English and Spanish) in various places: restaurants, laundromats and even the Bayside Urgent Care Clinic on Ft. Harrison. There were 2 Freedom Mags on the table in the waiting room of that clinic, which surprised me. In order to keep the citizens of Clearwater safe and happy, I always collect all the booklets and mags I find and take them home to be recycled.
You go girl!
Plus 1,000, Maureen!
Recycle Woman! Desposing of Scientology one booklet at a time. You’re awesome, Maureen!
You’re my heroine.
Talk about magical thinking. Yeah, simply reading a smarmy pamphlet is going to cure all human problems.
My only question is who paid for all the pamphlets? Nothing is $cienoland is free, except the escape.
Zemoo, Way To Happiness isn’t smarmy. It actually makes a lot of sense. The problem and the lie and the evil is that distributing these pamphlets doesn’t calm anything down at all. That’s LRH’s woo that the cult uses to get the Still Ins to buy these pamplets in bulk. The cult makes money on them, as Mike has detailed.
A very high mark up profit. Anyway, the Still Ins believe the woo and think they’re helping to calm down turbulent areas of the globe, whether this turbulence is being caused by earthquakes or floods or mass shootings or whatever. Scientologists actually believe that distributing these pamphlets does a lot of good. Same way that fervent Christians believe that distributing Bibles does good. You see? Its not that WTH doesn’t have helpful data and advice. It does. And the Bible also has helpful, common sense rules and advice on how to be happy and make others happy and have a healthy society, etc. But just as passing out a Bible per se is not going to do much if people don’t actually read and understand the Ten Commandments and practice them, neither does passing out WTH do much of anything unless people read it and actually practice what it says, which is markedly similar to the Ten Commandments, btw. And of course it doesn’t help that its now widely known that the author of WTH did not himself adhere to the WTH precepts and in fact violated them regularly. That doesn’t help 🙂
Looks like they are stooping to new lows. Ringing door bells. Well, we know the success statistics for conversion with that strategy so all they’ll be doing is providing bird cage and litter box liners….where it belongs.
And, really…their promo picture is of a kid not old enough to read? Good grief…..these people are morons.
There are plenty of Scientologists able to apply logic, but like they say, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak once LRH training takes effect in all areas of a life. “The LRH Way To Happiness” and logical beliefs are not very compatible. If logic were applied, people would simply leave and never be tempted to do “Steps A to E” with its attendant expense. Likewise, most of the membership would simply stop donating to the IAS, to Idle Morgues, Narconon, Criminon, and all the rest – and for sure would not allow their children anywhere near a Scientology-run school. Logic says they would also quit playing dress-up to spend hours listening to a high-school dropout standing behind a lectern the height of an end table so he can pretend to be tall, with stupidly over-the-top gilded pharaohnic scenery from a Busby Berkeley musical all around him, reading off a truly incomprehensible script with clever electronic trickery trying to add vibrancy and depth to his self-satisfied little voice. If members showed up in the first place, logic says they would leave early to beat the traffic, and to avoid the peer pressure of those ronbotic hip-hip-hoorahs, clapping wildly at a portrait of a long-dead con artist.
But true believers have no logic except that which has been force-fed to them, time after time, until it becomes, well, logical.
Thankfully the LRH way of illogic wears off once people are truly out.
Most Scientologists never signed up for what they got, that’s for sure. More and more I am seeing outies recognize the BITE and the command hypnosis built into Hubbardian cultism from the very first sessions, and to me that’s a good sign that things are being revealed as they truly are. The emperor’s clothes are never again going to cover up like they have for so many years. Hip hip…. err, I mean, good night Irene.
“Most Scientologists never signed up for what they got, that’s for sure.”
That’s what I realized and why I got out. Seemed like beginning in 1997 the water started getting warmer and warmer and then, hotter, and hotter…I jumped out.
“..listening to a high school dropout standing behind a lectern the height of an end table…”
LOL! Damn funny, Ammo.
“…why isn’t scientology printing 150,000 copies (which would cost them about $15,000) and distributing them en masse to every single citizen? ”
Yeah, with their billions.
And (if my memory serves) they make their own members buy them at retail to distribute. Retail, not even wholesale.
And none ever ask themselves why. Well, maybe those who leave shortly thereafter.
Cheers Mike. Keep up the good work.
Are you kidding? Safest place when Miscavige is there? No way
Staff used to hide and run away from him every time he walked around the Org as, whoever happened to meet him, invariably ended in trouble.
Is the dwarf still beating people up?
Is the Pope still Catholic?
Big sigh…
Even his own people despise Miscavige. I love that story someone posted about some useless event where there were rah rah cheers of applause for staff, applause for LRH, and then crickets chirping for COB Mr. David Miscavige.
Even inside the fantasy bubble they all know what a suppressive failure he has been as ecclesiastical head of scientology. (“Ecclesiastical”, bwah ha ha, such an impressive word, what bullshit!)
Clearwater under Scientology: as safe as Stepford.
“It’s the same level of causation as the OT VIII’s bringing down the Berlin Wall. A couple of them might have had thoughts about the wall. It did come down. But they caused nothing. It all goes along with the delusion they are saving the world…”
It also goes along with Scientologists’ fundamental failure to understand a very important principle of science in establishing causation: ruling out all possible alternative causes. This is why it burns me up that they have the gall to claim that their faith is scientific. I would rather they call it a religion than a science. True, it’s a religion with very bad effects, on both the individual and collective levels, and therefore should definitely not have tax exempt status. That is what I call “bad religion” or “religion at its worst,” like the Inquisition, executions for heresy, and protected rings of sexual abusers of children. I can at least make that case. But it cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered scientific. Only a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of science could allow that misapplication of the word. That’s the MU they should have worked on from the very beginning, when it was still called Dianetics. Hubbard put “Science” in the title of the first book. It should have stopped right there.
Too bad not enough scientists noticed the threat at the time. They should have had a “March for Science” way back then.
Cat W, sorry to be stirring the pot so much today, but when it comes to religion, one person’s nonsense is another person’s science. People believe all kinds of crazy stuff and it comforts them. One of my late mother’s very good friends told me that she was unable to conceive for the first ten years of her marriage, and that it had been medically ascertained that neither she nor her husband had anything wrong with them to cause the infertility. Desperate for children she consulted her priest (she and her husband were both Catholic) who told her to make a Novena (spelling?) to the Blessed Virgin – several of them, maybe – anyway, she quickly became pregnant and bore a healthy son and in rapid succession conceived and bore 2 more children. She swore that the Novenas did this. She had experienced a miracle, she believed. Now, were there any other factors that changed, in her diet, sleep habits, etc. that could have allowed her to conceive – that could have been preventing her from conceiving all along? I have NO idea. Possilby. But for herThe Novenas did it. She had no doubt and I wouldn’t have dreamed of contradicting her. Its possible that faith alone, faith in SOMETHING can of itself make something happen. I mean, its possible. I couldn’t say for sure.
As a Social Worker in my younger days…. I spoke with a woman who was in her mid 30’s and had 7 children & didn’t want anymore as she was very stressed out. They were a very religious strict Catholic family, & when she approached the Priest about getting her “tubes tied” he became revolted & told her she’d “burn in Hell for doing something as sinful as that”. Priest advised they use the “rhythm method” to which she replied “that’s how we got the last three children”.
After hearing her mention the failure of the “rhythm method” he then advised: “next time your husband comes to you for intimacy, lay there & act like you don’t enjoy it”. She replied” “Father, that’s not going to keep me from getting pregnant”……Baby #8 & #9 arrived within two years…..when baby #9 was delivered her Uterus tore apart & basically shredded & she had to have a Hysterectomy….she viewed it as a Blessing from God…..End of story….
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. This is an amazing story and you can’t make this kind of thing up. Telling her to act like she doesn’t like it = birth control, OMG, help me please. And then that she had to bear 2 more children which consequently necessitated a hysterectomy, yet she considered it to be a blessing, God had answered her prayers…wow. Whew! Real life can be so…unreal.
I had recently been handed their client file & one very rainy day, her husband came in to pick up what was then known as “surplus food authorization”. I went to our reception window & noticed a man around 5 ft 10 in wearing a long tan trench coat, hat, knee length rubber boots, carrying a black umbrella…he was wearing black glasses & had very short hair(not the norm for the late 1960’s). When I called his name he came to the window & we went to one of our interview rooms to talk.
He was very mild mannered, soft spoken & very polite….he seemed out of place for someone in the 1960’s like Sheriff Andy Taylor from Mayberry would have been in mode of dress & demeanor. After he left, I nearly burst out laughing thinking to myself “THIS man is the father of the then 7 children”…..as a few of my associates asked who he was…they too were quite surprised. They could not imagine him getting “down to business with the Mrs”.
I visited their home several times along those years. After baby #9 was born, as I held the infant, her mother went on about “How God had given her 9 beautiful healthy children & then HE knew she had been faithful to fill the be fruitful & multiple doctrine, & HE had given her the Blessing of ending her child conceiving & delivering journey”…
Wow, that was a real eye opener.
Fortunately for them, another agency had given them around $1000 & floated them a very low interest loan so they could add 2 bedrooms & 1/2 bath to their small home…again “another reward from God”……
I could write a book about all the “adventures” with social services, those stories would spin a few heads….maybe someday!
Hi Aquamarine. No need to apologize.
The case you bring up is the very definition of anecdotal evidence, which is absolutely not science. Science doesn’t just mean “experimenting” and seeing what happens. It has a rigorous process. Scientology has not been validated by that process, nor have novenas as a fertility aid. *Could* they work? Maybe. *Could* they be tested scientifically? Yes. But they haven’t been. I’m pretty sure they would fail that test. Some kind of mind-body effect is at work in some forms of the placebo effect, so I’m willing to believe that the novenas may have worked for her in those instances, probably due to such an effect. But that is a long way from scientific confirmation.
The thing about science is that it is *not* just a collection of different people’s nonsense. The bar for establishing causation is high, and Hubbard didn’t bother with it at all, even to find out what the word meant before putting it in the title of his book.
Great comment, Cat, thank you. I agree with you on the definition of “science” .Totally. No arguments! I was merely writing from the viewpoint of my mother’s friend. For HER, the novenas were “science”. In HER viewpoint, the novenas became “science”. That doesn’t make them science. It was just her consideration that they were. And Scientology is very likely an art form, and not at all the science LRH claimed it was.
I get it. We’re in agreement then. (I forgot the Scientologese for that. Hehe)
In Ohio…..The Way to Happiness…..is a three day stay at the Kalahari Resorts/Waterpark !
Sorry davie – your are not tall enough for the Adult Water Slide!
Go Bucks!
Once again showing why El Con Tubbolard tried to denigrate the subject of logic and dissuade his cult members from studying that subject.
You can still see this lack of ability to think logically when the rare cult member posts on this blog.
Wynski, off topic, but how is the girl? Hope you don’t mind; I was just wondering, all of a sudden.
Much better (took a month) but she developed a nerve condition causing large parts of the body to twitch. Sometimes happens with autism. 🙁
Understood. Even more power to the power you already possess to do what’s needed, Wynski.
One of the “Aims of Scientology” is a civilization without criminality. If that truly is their aim, and if the TWTH (The Way to Happiness) booklets are so powerful, then why not make them freely available (for FREE) in digital format for anyone who wishes to have one or give one to others?
But, shouldn’t the crime rate in Clearwater ALREADY be very low due to the presence of all the OT’s in the area? According to some Scientology promotional material I’ve read in the past – YES! But if one looks at the crime rate in Clearwater as compared to other parts of Florida it’s not good. CoS will never publish that information as it exposes their claims to be a bunch of BS.
That is such a good point. All that Scientology around and they still need pamphlets?
I’m going to be laughing about that one all day.
“One of the “Aims of Scientology” is a civilization without criminality.”
Hmm . . . So THAT is why there are NO Scientologists in CONGRESS ! ! !
Dave F.
The question is the booklets that the kids hand out and are thrown in the first garage available is..do they go get them out and try to give them out again or just let them be? If they leave them they get”credit” for giving them out?
Years ago before the SO took over, I was walking by the Pasadena, Model Idle Morgue when a very pissed off female staff member came barreling out of the front door with a hand full of tickets to the intro film. She was basically cramming the tickets into people’s hands. After she came back, there were tickets all over the sidewalk.
This must be a litter cult.
Good! I hope all Scientologists move to Clearwater and stay there….at least we will have the deadly virus isolated.
Maybe we can build a wall…
…and make Dear Leader pay for it.
Naturally.
Clearwater needs to be a museum devoted to cult religions. My goal is to construct a ten story building complete with statues, art and books. As an OT VIII, I have been postulating the building but nothing has happened so far. I imagine a large painting with Hubbard and Blavatsky fighting over the butter on the dinner table. The tourist buses would bring back revenue to the city. The way to happiness would be the fruits sold by street vendors. This could be huge.
Dooo Itttt!! Lol
Doooooo whattttttt???
Do a TV show about L Ron Hubbard and Helena Blavatsky fighting over a tub of butter.
George wants to open a museum..He should! The tub of butter fight sounds..well..gross..?
But it would make for great television!
Maybe..for boys..or hungry people. ?
“I imagine a large painting with Hubbard and Blavatsky fighting over the butter on the dinner table.”
That painting would be worth the price of admission alone!
What an excellent vision you have for the cult part of Clearwater! I say we make the walls 20 feet high.
We laugh but if things get too hot for Him he might just build His own wall. Maybe He’ll decide and convince the Sheeple that the only way to MSGA (Make Scientology Great Again) is to purify the Flog Land Base space. They’ll believe it. They’ll believe anything. And then He’ll fundraise the poor devils to pay for it.
If so, fine by me. Like a toxic waste spill, the cult can’t be cleaned up, only contained, and kept from spreading.
The Museum idea is GREAT . . .
It should also have 2 or 3 daily shows, conducted in the Gulf of Mexico, re-creating LRH’s “Naval Heroism”, including the depth-charge attacks against “imaginary” Japanese submarines and the “training exercise”, when LRH “shelled” a Mexican island with artillery . . . PRICELESS ! ! !
Dave F.
ROFL
Can the Museum have a “Dunking Booth” with Miscavige in it, too ?
That would be so COOL !
Dave F.
Hire a little person. Put a suit on him, and have him threaten the ball thrower with disconnection. Great idea Dave F!
A slapping booth would be more appropriate.
Yah! Like the Dunking Stools the early Puritans had in the 1600s. The Massachusetts Puritans, now those people had sadism really down. They really used their brains to make people wrong in the most imaginative and humiliating ways – the stocks, stringin’ up those witches. Yep, they were pistols, those Puritans. Although, I have no right to be pejorative because some of them were my ancestors. Hmmm, well, the family HAS mellowed since then. Mellowed considerably. It HAS been 370 years, after all. People change.
Salem in October is insane