This is the sort of stuff scientology churns out to try to smear and discredit those who expose their abuses.
The author, Rodger Clark, is a “STAND Blogger”. I happened to notice this article on the Patheos site, and found it was simply a reprint of the blog article on the STAND site. The text and even the image on Patheos are identical to this propaganda from STAND.
Here is the diatribe in all it’s sordid glory. I have highlighted in red some of the most egregious stuff:
While working in Florida as an installer many years ago, the boss assigned me a work partner named “A….” He was assigned to me because a DUI had just lost him his driver’s license. He’d been in jail a few times on alcohol, drug and assault charges and was sleeping on his friend’s couch. He was a proud, practicing racist who constantly made references to the Ku Klux Klan. “Intellectual” was not the first word that came to your mind in a conversation with him.
On our way to a job, we happened to be driving by the Church of Scientology in Clearwater while students were on their way to lunch. While sitting at a red light, watching students walk by, he shook his head pityingly and said: “Those people are screwed up in the head.”
“This is classic,” I thought. This guy was the poster child for the usual type of person who rages against Scientology. You’ve met this type in your own life. Ignorant, smug, self-satisfied, self-aggrandizing, self-deluded, in a constant search for anything and anyone to hate and belittle, thinking it will somehow make them look good.
He had no idea that inside that church were successful professionals from all over the world: everything from veterinarians to MDs to engineers to bankers to international financiers and internationally known artists, and that many of the staff and parishioners spoke as many as five languages fluently. (If that’s being “screwed up in the head,” count me in!)
Oh… and I must not forget my old neighbor, Mrs. M, who, while on welfare, sat at her computer all day, drinking beer, smoking pot—begging money, prescription opiates, alcohol and cigarettes from anyone and everyone—and who was constantly going to the emergency room due to brittle bones from long-term use of Prozac. There was no end to the amusement I derived from her pronouncements that I was “brainwashed” and “weird.”
Then there are the trolls of “Anonymous.” Probably the most easily manipulated lynch mob and witch-burners in modern history. It’s “members” openly admit to being ineffective as individuals and proudly tout that their sole ability is destruction. Wielding computers instead of ropes and pitch forks, in 2008, they went into a frenzy to “take down Scientology” and “expel [the Church of Scientology] from the internet.”
The results, of course, were not hard to predict, and 10 years later, the Church of Scientology is in better shape than ever. Along with a rapidly growing membership, it has a massive online presence and its own TV station and channel (oops Anonymous… I guess that didn’t work).
What the type of person who rages against Scientology does not—and never will—realize is the collateral damage they create to their own cause. It never occurs to them that there is a relatively large portion of our society who, while looking at that type as they rant and rave, will rightly conclude if that type of person doesn’t like Scientology, then there must be some merit to the subject. They then become curious and check it out for themselves.
You see the type who hate Scientology are always “legends in their own minds.” They are absolutely convinced that they are incapable of thinking, saying and doing anything wrong… ever. Consequently they cannot conceive that anyone would find them to be silly, unpleasant and repellent. People they would never want to be like or associate with. So they will go on ranting, thinking that anyone who doesn’t agree with them must be stupid, then, as Scientology grows, wondering what went wrong. It will never occur to them that they, themselves, are what went wrong, for they are incapable of self-doubt or self-criticism.
So sit back and enjoy the show, folks. The “type” will continue to shoot themselves in the foot and trip on their own tongues. They will continue to promote Scientology by offering themselves up as its opposite. The only thing they have to offer anyone.
And they will never quit. Because they will never get it.
A few thoughts.
I find the KKK to be repulsive. I don’t own a gun. My IQ is not low. Never had a DUI or been in jail. I haven’t been on welfare (and if if I had that would make me a “type”?). And yet you can be sure this article is aimed directly at me and everyone who has ever had even a bad thought about Scientology, let alone posted a comment on a blog or associated with “SP’s.” Stereotyping is the stick in trade of bigots and haters Rodger. Maybe that’s not something you noticed – most racists have no clue they are racist. They “know” others can be pigeon-holed based on their skin color. That’s just “the way things are”…
Here Rodger takes two anecdotal experience with two people who commented about scientology and uses it to try to paint everyone who has anything critical to say as “ignorant, smug, self-satisfied, self-aggrandizing, self-deluded, in a constant search for anything and anyone to hate and belittle, thinking it will somehow make them look good.” Well Rodger, this description is perhaps more apt for you. Certainly smug, self-satisfied, self-deluded and in a constant search for anything and anyone to hate and belittle fits you to a “T”. Have you actually READ what you wrote?
His other descriptions of people he knows and doesn’t know are equally smug and self-satisfied. They smoke pot and drink beer and are easily manipulated.
Speaking of gullible and easily manipulated, Rodger then proceeds to claim “the Church of Scientology is in better shape than ever. Along with a rapidly growing membership, it has a massive online presence and its own TV station and channel”. Well, if Rodger spent a little more time actually observing scientology he would know this was a string of lies. But the fact is, Rodger is the true definition of bigot. He does not WANT to know anything that would counter his preconceived and erroneous beliefs.
And he sums himself up this way: “It will never occur to them that they, themselves, are what went wrong, for they are incapable of self-doubt or self-criticism… The “type” will continue to shoot themselves in the foot and trip on their own tongues.”
Maybe Hubbard had a point when he said the criminal accuses others of what he or she is doing….
Drink beer, smoke pot and be easily manipulated. OK, I’ll confess to the first two. As for the last one, I don’t use chiropractic, but if I did, I would endeavor to be easily manipulated. Isn’t that the idea? So, overall these Scientology critics seems like a fine bunch. (As long as it’s not lite beer)
It is 1936 all over again. Only in Clearwater. Only in downtown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1lqHjPjeIU
Roger’s two anecdotal “examples” seem completely made up to me. Facile caricatures straight out of an educational pamphlet written for eighth graders. These people are so used to peddling lies, they have lost all sense of perspective on what is actually believable. This tripe is not believable, at all.
Nice try there, “Roger Clark” (pretty lame pen name, btw). Get back to us after you take a creative writing class or two.
“Mrs. M, who, while on welfare, … begging money, prescription opiates, alcohol and cigarettes from anyone and everyone”
Snort!
Head on over to Tony O’s to read about the pre-liminary court hearing of a family of $cientologists, accused of running a criminal scam from a narCONon obtaining Medi-Cal money from the government fraudulently.
As for “screwed in the head” Hanan/HANAN Islam and her son just spent the weekend in jails after claiming to be “Sovereign Citizens” and not under the jurisdiction of the court.
And don’t forget the ABC-7 TV coverage which in less than a minute gets a lot of buzz words in. A lot 🙂
“The type that rages against scientology”.
Uh, that means EVERYONE!
To the Still-Ins, has COB ordered up any unusual amount of KoolAid yet? Or do you need such an overt action by the little guy to know it might be time to pack up and leave?
Whenever I read something by the Cult of Scientology I cannot help but envision Patrick Swayze’s (RIP) character from Donnie Darko … a motivational speaker that is a pedophile. That’s the level of lies that the CO$ participates in. They position whistle-blowers with the Nazis and KKK’s while positioning themselves as the “do no wrong” “church” while being one of the biggest violators of human rights as a “church” officially recognized by the IRS. They really need their status reviewed.
I think people’s BS detector has improved in this modern age making Hubbard’s antiquated PR policies mostly obsolete. Now to get the IRS to act.
This is so funny. Roger Clarke very likely hates everybody. Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Hispanics, Asian, Indian, Native American Indian, Greek, Malaysian, anyone of mixed race, anyone who has an education beyond high school, anyone who doesn’t vote the straight Republican ticket, anyone who is a moderate Republican, anyone in the IT or banking or educational fields, anyone who lives in a city, anyone who doesn’t watch Fox News, anyone who can string 2 sentences together without a grammatical error, anyone who thinks it might be a good idea to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally unbalanced, anyone who isn’t 100% white, and on and on. He probably hates many people, many groups, and every religion except his own.
So he hates the Church of Scientology, big deal. Like a broken clock that gets it right twice a day, lets be strictly fair and give credit where credit is due :).
Whoops, I didn’t read carefully enough. The Scientology – hater is not named in the STAND article. Rodger is the writer of this article…and whatta jerk HE is. On a par with the Duck Dynasty type he’s ranting about.
About 1983 I knew a Dallas preacher whose hobby was quick-draw competitions using real guns, and bullets made especially for low power shooting. He was good at it, he claimed, and practiced regularly. But he refused to show off or teach others to quick draw. He said that was because too many beginners shot themselves in the thigh or foot, and he didn’t want to have any part of that. Footbullets for real.
“He had no idea that inside that church were successful professionals from all over the world: everything from veterinarians to MD’s to engineers to bankers to international financiers and internationally known artists, and that many of the staff and parishioners spoke as many as five languages fluently. (If that’s being “screwed up in the head,” count me in!)”
“He had an idea that OUTSIDE that church were successful professionals from all over the world: everything from veterinarians to MD’s to engineers to bankers to international financiers and internationally known artists, and that many of the NON scientologists spoke as many as five languages fluently, suffice to say those NON scientologists lead healthy, rich and fulfilling lives far removed from deception, abuse, family disconnections etc. etc.
I find it so very sad that even today with the cult being outed by mass media that people are still being imbibed with this crass and dangerous ideology.
We should have a #times up movement to end this evil abusive cult once and for all.
Best wishes to Mike,Leah and all those battling this cancerous regime!
Smudge Australia
Scientology has very few successful professionals left, unless hucksters and salesmen count; and particularly not the scientifically and technically educated, like MDs or engineers, but rather dentists and chiropractors. The average education level has got to be plummeting, as evidenced by the trouble many of them now have even with English.
Don’t “3rd party” and don’t generalise, I was taught growing up by people still in. Here Roger Clark wades in with both feet and proceeds to blast them off with his footcanon. I suspect this rant wasn’t aimed at most of us up-standing members of the community, but at the citizens inside the razorwire fence to make them feel better about the “posse of lunatics” on the outside.
That STAND article is solid evidence that the COS has truly descended into the Bizarro World. They continue to piss people off and remain convinced that they’re doing good. “Me make people mad because me make better world.” I don’t think DC Comics could portray Scios any more crazy weird than they already are.
You’re right. Their articles are so looney they have to be preaching to their own choir including the Whales & Celebs and/or to Miscavige. Appeasing, propitiating,
making the critics of Scientology OH SO wrong, and themselves OH SO VERY VERY right. So VERY right!
Yo idiots who read STAND.
Just keep reading.
Just keep believing.
Just keep donating.
BELIEVE David Miscavige.
Believe EVERYTHING he tells you.
Because he’s RIGHT.
About everything.
Every thing, do you hear?
And because STAND is right – about everything.
And last but not least, YOU are so, so, right – about everything!
Yesiree, 100% right, is what you are!
And “they”, those SPs, are SOOOOO WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!
So dig deep, imbeciles.
Go broke if you have to!
Go bankrupt!
Its the right thing to do.
Just keep on being right!!!!!!!
Much love,
Aqua
So based on two anonymous examples from the writer’s vast experience we can conclude that persons who have pre-existing personal deficiencies such as bigotry, low intelligence and a few other things will “naturally” turn on scn with their rage. After all, scn is a target not easily overlooked, with its rapid growth, ubiquitous media presence and millions of satisfied customers.
This “logic” would seem to suggest that people exposed to scn may end up forming murderous cults of their own, like Manson. Commit serial rape, like Masterson. Develop a manic cackle, like Cruise. Become violent sociopaths, like Miscavige. Commit serious crimes, like, well, too many to list. Experience extraordinary delusions of grandeur–again, too many to mention. And die in isolation, madness and paranoia, like the cult Founder himself.
The “writer” offers two anonymous, and most likely entirely fictitious, examples to describe what scn critics MUST be like. I will admit that I have no love for this cult. But I would not contend for a second that my significant list of NAMED individuals describes what a scn’ist MUST be like!
Taking the anecdotal and applying it to the general is right out of Hubbard’s playbook, “Speaking in vast generalities”.
The writer ought to be careful, VERY careful. He describes this “type:”
“legends in their own minds.” They are absolutely convinced that they are incapable of thinking, saying and doing anything wrong… ever. Consequently they cannot conceive that anyone would find them to be silly, unpleasant and repellent. People they would never want to be like or associate with. So they will go on ranting, thinking that anyone who doesn’t agree with them must be stupid, then, […] wondering what went wrong. It will never occur to them that they, themselves, are what went wrong, for they are incapable of self-doubt or self-criticism.”
This “type” sounds an awful lot like a certain Ron. And then there’s more than a passing resemblance in the picture too.
Seriously! This “writer” is BEGGING to incur the “church’s” wrath!
I had the same thought- this man is describing LRH…
Off Topic – But I just want to say that I just rewatched several episodes of Mike & Leah’s TV show and I was amazed how much I seemed to be seeing for the first time – how much I seemed to learn by rewatching these episodes.
One episode that really stood out was the one that featured a man whose name I’m not sure that I remember correctly. It might have been Bert Schippers or something close to that – a very courageous man. He “donated” $300K to the building in Seattle only to be barred from attending the opening ceremony. He also paid the alleged debts of his son-in-law and his wife in the amount of $150K only to be disconnected by them from speaking to them again.
I learned a great deal by rewatching that episode and I would just like to recommend that to any of you who might think they could get something out of rewatching it. I heartily recommend that.
YEs, that is Bert Schippers.
Interestingly, a proud new father of twins in the last few days.
Congrats to you Bert. You and your wife deserve all the happiness you can get.
And since you left The Scam, I feel quite certain that you will be getting a lot of happiness in your lives – certainly a lot more than you would ever get if you had stayed in the cult.
I’m pretty sure Scientology publications and websites are for internal consumption to keep the sheeple in line. Thanks to the hard work of Mr. Rinder, Tony Ortega, Leah Remini and others, anyone with an internet connection can find out the actual facts for themselves.
Yep. Every single thing he accused this person of describes almost everything $cientologists are — and do.
You’re embarrassing yourself, Rodger. The cat’s outta the bag. Accept it already, ya putz.
Wait a cotton-pickin’ second here…did he call detractors “smug”, while he proceeded to spit/shit on some fictitious people in his life just because of their drug addiction, while ostensibly his readers would fall in line and say “Yeah, screw scumbags, I want in with the church of the international financiers”??
And what is The Type That Rages Against Psychiatry? Scientologists seem virtually programmed to accuse others, of that which they themselves do – except that modern-day psychiatry and psychology help a lot of people, including the challenging cases that Scientology just abandons, as proven by scientific research, and aided by increasingly precise actual science such as MRI studies.
I see others have already commented on the same phenomenon. I think it’s a somewhat peculiar characteristic of scientologists, that they are so conditioned for thought-stopping when it comes to the CofS, that their doubts and frustrations spill out into bitter, almost foaming-at-the-mouth accusations against outsiders. This is one of the mechanisms referred to in comments the other day as well, about how perhaps the one thing Hubbard was successful at, was building mental traps and mechanisms to keep people in a prison of belief.
Lron carefully schooled his minions in the art of false equivalency and the psychological condition of projection. I understand projection because it is based on the concept of ‘I’m rubber, you’re glue, what you throw at me bounces back to you’.
STAAD must have a budget of some size to get any other web site to publish their crap. The Patheos site must be hard up for some cash.
One of the things that was hardest for me to break after I escaped was my tendency to judge people and assume that I was a superior human being. I can see myself 40 years ago writing those same words, making up “examples” of things that don’t exist to back up my “rightness”.
All Rodger is doing is seeing himself in others. I hope he breaks free.
First off, I doubt if either of those anecdotes are true. It’s Scientology – why tell the truth when you can make up a lie to fit your agenda?
But let’s say the first one is 100% accurate as to the facts about the guy. This really is a couch-sleeping dude with a drug and alcohol record. STAND sez he saw a queue of Clearwater Ronbots and “he shook his head pityingly and said: “Those people are screwed up in the head.” You know, that was an impressively intelligent comment full of empathy for the little guy who is getting taken for a ride. They *are* screwed up in the head, just the way Hubbard intended them to be. They have become sheeple ready at the drop of a word to write a KR on their best friend or spouse, sure to get them into an expensive sec check, and a humiliating runaround to get back up the conditions scale. They strictly follow the directive to not discuss their case, which means they can’t compare notes with friends and family as to their *real* successes from their time in the COS. They follow the “No nattering” directive, so they can’t discuss the church in general, such as why this grand Ideal Org sits empty and lifeless just two weeks after the ribbon grabbing.
They are screwed up in the head because they are not free to cuss and discuss their real lives – everything is wrapped in a shell of Scientology rules and restrictions, and off to the RP, or even worse, off to a declaration of SP if they break down and truly criticize the obvious problems in the church that are going on in front of everyone’s noses. Those problems must be carefully ignored “for the good of the greatest number of dynamics,” which is one of Hubbard’s cleverest ideas to bond people to submit to his rule. Screwed up in the head could mean mental illness, but in this case it means exactly what the words imply – someone has screwed with their heads, and that person was Hubbard, ably assisted by Miscavige.
Then there is Mrs M, a made-up lie if every I read one. But even assuming she really was his old neighbor, what does it say about the STAND liar that he was a neighbor to a drug-addled beggar living off welfare…
Their torch job on Anonymous is almost funny if one looks at it in terms of the Anonymous threat to Scientology. Everything they threatened is well on its way to coming true. The steady decline of the membership within the church can be directly attributed to knowledge spread around the world on the Internet. It might be electronic books, magazine articles, movies, blogs, YouTube, or email. Whatever the means of dissemination, the knowledge that one should stay far away from the COS has permeated western culture, and is spreading around the world fast.
The only people who might, just might, believe what this STAND liar is saying are so far gone, down the COS rabbit-hole, that they may die down there.
Oh, well, at least reading it got my blood warmed up this morning.
Well, look at the size of that blind spot! You could drive a truckload of SPs through that thing!
Pure unadulterated b.s. that’s STAND and all there operatives….😷💩
Thank you so much for posting this. I recognize this specific tone of voice from everyone I grew up listening to, from my parents to the speakers at the events.
Uggghhh, you said it. It’s the tone. It just grates on your nerves.
Reminds of Spring ’45 with Goebbels putting out propaganda broadcasts against the Allies and telling the German’s that Germany was winning. And that the Allies were incompetent criminals losing.
Incompetent Criminals: New Scientology Band.
OSD, they must have a huge # of band members 0:
As you point out in this article is an indictment of the writer and Scientology. Let’s hypothetically do a survey of 200 Scientologists, not staff members or SO members.
The break down would be:
99.99% of them hate Psychologists, Psychiatrists, therapists and social workers.
90% believe that suppressive persons run the world.
80% have no savings and are in debt with credit cards and second mortgages.
35% smoke. 45% are overweight. 88% never completed college. 75% have no non-Scientology friends. 85% are disconnected from at least one family member.
And 100% do not believe that any psychotropic medication can help anyone lead a normal life regardless of the circumstances.
I basically pulled these percentages out off my posterior. I doubt I am very far off.
And if such a survey did exist and scientologists would take the survey they would lie through their teeth.
This brings up a good point. Any legitimate organization would back up their claims with an honest survey of what their members were honestly like.
And I can say that I love your comment 100%. These idiots should be developing relationships with proctologists because they are seriously in need of help getting their heads out of their asses. 😁
Yes, BKmole, and I don’t believe that many Scns speak 5 languages. He pulled that out of his posterior too. When I was first being pitched on Scn I didn’t want to join as I’d heard all the bad stuff. The person trying to get me in used that same argument: why very upstat people are Scns, there are doctors, lawyers, artists, businessmen, and and and… But when I was in I saw a lot of regular people who just simply bought into the promise that they could be a God, or at least be more powerful than they currently were. And the sad thing is that the people who don’t have money to give are the ones giving till it hurts, till it bankrupts them, to the IAS and other Scn pet projects.
From the Urban Dictionary – This belongs with my comment below which has not yet appeared.
1. Evidence that a person or organization has shot themselves in the foot.
2. Performance of a colossal screw-up while trying to further a public figure’s agenda. Particularly regarding the Church of Scientology.
3. A mistake made by a public figure or their agents which has been pointed out in order to embarrass them or reinforce the failure.
This article from STAND made me sick. Scientology can always make themselves look good. They can always say that they are great. The truth is that they damage people and offer nothing of real value.
Scientology is a sick cult! And it will never get better.
Rodger mentions the type who shoot themselves in the foot. I wonder if “footbullet” will someday make it into the King’s English dictionary.
The other day I was talking with a friend and I mentioned something regarding politics and I said I thought it was a footbullet. He had no idea what I meant and I had to explain it to him using a scientology example. Maybe scientology blogs will be responsible for adding a new word to the language
I guess Rodger or whoever wrote the piece decided not to use the term.
Maybe footbullet is now in the Urban Dictionary. I might check.
Here’s the full definition from Urban Dictionary which I should have posted in the first place. Footbullet isn’t brand new but Rodger obviously doesn’t want anyone doing any word clearing on “footbullet”.
TOP DEFINITION
footbullet
1. Evidence that a person or organization has shot themselves in the foot.
2. Performance of a colossal screw-up while trying to further a public figure’s agenda. Particularly regarding the Church of Scientology.
3. A mistake made by a public figure or their agents which has been pointed out in order to embarrass them or reinforce the failure.
1. Subject: SCO’s “Legal Advice” Footbullet
Here is SCO saying that they got specific legal advice to keep distributing Linux two month after their lawsuit: LINK HERE
They can’t say they were ignorant of whatever alleged IP of theirs was in there and in fact said their lawyers told them to distribute it. These clowns are just so funny looking back at what they said in retrospect.
2. Subject: CCHR FOOTBULLET at Oxford Careers Fair 2/02/07
Operators of the stall, hosted by The Citizens Commission on Human Rights, told students that psychiatrists were responsible for genocide in the Balkans.
They offered no career advice at the fair, which included representatives from the public, charity and campaigning sectors. Several students were “deeply offended” by the operators’ remarks.
3. Operation Foot Bullet, a joke at Scientology’s expense; the Scientologists who’s job it is to “contribute” to ARS ((alt.religion.scientology)) (through Google Groups) often seem to be doing so poorly, it’s as if they’re shooting themselves in the foot.
#foot bullet#scientology#to shoot in the foot#shot in the foot#pr flap
by Anonymous509 March 24, 2008
That sure is a great word!
“This is classic,” I thought. This guy was the poster child for the usual type of person who rages against Scientology. You’ve met this type in your own life. Ignorant, smug, self-satisfied, self-aggrandizing, self-deluded, in a constant search for anything and anyone to hate and belittle, thinking it will somehow make them look good.”
Actually, this sounds like an apt description of every $cientology ethics officer and OSA goon I ever encountered.
Ignorant, smug, self-satisfied, self-aggrandizing, self-deluded, in a constant search for anything and anyone to hate and belittle, thinking it will somehow make them look good.”
Ditto.
LDW,
My thought too.
‘Ignorant, smug, self-satisfied, self-aggrandizing, self-deluded, in a constant search for anything and anyone to hate and belittle, …’
In their own words, aren’t they describing miscavige?
I did not read beyond that paragraph, hate is impregnated on that write up and there is not need to try to understand a criminal mind. We all bloggers on the fringes of the internet have better things to do.
“Have you actually READ what you wrote?” Perhaps, Mike, it was written for him? 🙂 In any case, it certainly demonstrates the current educational standards of the nation! Such drivel!!