It’s the Real Deal this time…
Not going to cancel this one. Absolutely going to happen this time. Just $100 to take a tour of the “new building.”
Flag LOVES Tampa
Because Tampa sends them MONEY. “Remote Reg GI” is money they collect for Flag. Nothing crass about this.
H-E-L-P!!!
As with EVERY “ideal” org, they can raise $25 million but they cannot get their damNed backlogged filing done!
It’s monumental
Of course… Bubble is back from her enormously successful reg tour to S. Africa where she spoke to crowds of 10 or more people. It was epic.
Another ideal org completion
Big news! They had two people finish Objectives and this is a HUUUUGE deal. One of them is the former Sea Org member and disgraced spokesperson of Flag, Tricky Dick Haworth.
A “special guest”
Must be someone really important if they cannot mention names — perhaps it is Voldemort himself stopping in to say hi on a weekend Vegas gambling getaway?
You’ve never heard this before…
…unless you listened to the ACC’s, or this guy is just making new shit up.
It’s exciting for sure
We have no idea what it is, other than they are going to need your money and your time to do filing. That is certain.
Will Voldemort be there?
Is He Who Shall Not Be Named going to show up to give some “postulates for Ideal Orgs”?
No greater investment for our dynamics…
Really? I can think of one. Steer clear of the IAS. Or anything connected to scientology.
OMG – Space Plans Are Done!
15 years on, after selling their magnificent building, replacing it with a dump, doing nothing with that and selling it at a loss, moving into rented 2nd floor rooms above a pizza parlor, they have space planning done. The self-hype of these people is astonishing.
Use your imagination
Just pretend these people know ANYTHING of use to you – if they’re so good how come the Freewinds is empty and bankrupt? And use your imagination and believe they are not really there just to take your money.
No comment
Well, here’s a twist…
“Your name and your guests name does not need to be on the guest list”…
But it won’t be a happiness celebration if you are on the OSA list. Not that this has anything to do with the church — this is strictly “secular” right guys?
Where’s the IAS?
Raffles to win “cash + prizes” to try and raise money for CCHR. The IAS takes credit for everything they do…
The Greatest Event of the Year
And David Miscavige is not even part of it… OMG heads will roll for this one. How dare they diss Dear Leader like this?
The Coolest Religion on Earth!
Only out in the hinterlands are they still using this line. It had a brief moment at Maiden Voyage and then everyone decided it was decidedly douchey sounding.
This is going to be a REALLY short briefing. One word. Nothing.
Huh?
I will take “Mr. Jackson Wyan for $1000” please.
The correct answer: “Who is the guy that nobody has ever heard of.” 
We are going to tell you how to Clear UK
Brilliant idea. And how do you know this based on the fact that you haven’t even cleared East Grinstead after 60 years?
Ditto for Orange County
Hey guys, if it’s so simple, why are you failing so miserably?
Survey
Well, the latest news I heard is that the backlogged filing is STILL not done.
What do I think of that?
Poor show Mighty My Mammy.
Speaking of files
The “deadline” is March 9th. Another date to come and go….
More Raffling
Now I could have sworn this was forbidden by L. Ron Hubbard?
You think this is a used car that someone “donated” in order to get the regges to unlock the door to let them go home?
Spectacular Performance by Executive Directors
Sing? Dance? Magic tricks to make your wallet disappear?
Might be worth catching this one…
Come for the history and stay for the breakthroughs?
They sure come up with some strange concepts.
But you have to admit that “feeling Ron’s presence in the pond” and thinking you are “one of Ron’s roses” has got to be a big draw.
COB, did you read this?
CCHR has a new PI
Be on the lookout.
Special Treat
Right from Dear Leaders own FB page comes a candid snapshot taken on his iPhone 7 (nothing but the best for Dear Leader) of SuMP.
Somehow it’s a little odd that his candid snapshot has embedded text and images on it — but put that aside. Look at what his caption says. Not a person in sight anywhere in his shot (like every scientology facility on earth) and he captions it “another beautiful and busy day at SuMP.”
Seriously?
And also note, of the 12 million scientologists on earth — only 20,000 of them like his page. Perhaps a pretty accurate reflection of the true size of international scientology? And clearly plenty of that 20k are NOT scientologists, because the random name that shows up here is a very vocal critic of all things Miscavige, Christi Gordon.
Plenty of laughs to go around from just this one entry.
I bet you if you look through the profiles on Facebook half are fake profiles just like their twitter profiles!
LOL they are charging $100 to tour the new building.
Hi, long time lurker here. Just an FYI… I live in Birmingham U.K and I know for a fact that the Studio in Birmingham doesn’t open on Sundays… so that advert for clearing UK is wrong / a lie… also, why would you hold a meeting 250 yds from your Birmingham org? There is zero interest here… the new org is still derelict
In case someone is wondering where those likes on DMs facebook page are from, I’ve compiled a list below. Quite a few of these countries are without any Scn presence, so it’s pretty safe to assume most of these were bought using services such as “will add 5000 likes to your fb page from around the world for $5”. Romania, Pakistan, Brazil… seriously? Can’t even get their own members to like the page of Dear Leader?
8204 USA
3088 South Africa
868 Italy
864 Mexico
765 Russia
650 Taiwan
526 UK
433 Hungary
367 Venezuela
357 Colombia
332 Canada
316 Australia
245 India
223 Spain
204 Germany
203 Israel
194 Denmark
165 Romania
122 Switzerland
120 Philippines
119 Pakistan
116 France
102 Brazil
91 Sweden
81 Kosovo
77 Argentina
70 Ukraine
68 Ecuador
67 The Netherlands
63 Indonesia
60 Slovak Republic
59 Japan
58 Kasachstan
57 Greece
52 Macedonia
52 Belgium
51 Costa Rica
45 New Zealand
44 China
38 Austria
38 Nigeria
38 Guatemala
37 Czech Republic
36 Bangladesh
32 Portugal
Fascinating. 45 from New Zealand and he was just there opening an “ideal” org and they can muster only 45? He has also opened “ideal” orgs in Belgium, Japan and Sweden. All of them with less than 100 people…
Thanks for that, I was thinking it would be interesting to look at a breakdown like that and it’s great that you did it.
I’m not surprised at some of the less obvious countries with small numbers, at least some of those could legitimately come from members scattered there or people attracted to some of the small “groups” that CofS says it has established – many of which were probably short-lived efforts. Depending on how long Miscavige has had his Facebook page up, the numbers could be mostly legitimate, representing in part the typical turnover of people joining and leaving, particularly outside the US.
The one that really stands out is South Africa, that has got to be vastly inflated. I would expect it would be half or less of the UK, where the numbers do more or less make sense – about 50 from each of approximately 10 cities.
The numbers are an interesting reality check, even if somewhat suspect. There’s an expectable number of hits from Russia, and a few from just a couple of the former Soviet republics, but not enough to suggest that there is a lot more activity there than we are aware of. The numbers for Japan and China are small, and presumably the latter includes Taiwan, which would seem to confirm that their Asian presence is actually as minimal and the orgs as empty as everywhere else.
Presumably all members who have been active in the last couple of years and who have Facebook accounts, have been strongly encouraged to like Miscavige’s Facebook page, which still amounts to fairly pitiful numbers, especially in contrast to their claims. It’s telling that outside of the US and the dubious South Africa count, the numbers seem to fairly consistently correlate to around 50 to 100 per org, which fits with other accounts of the number of active members in the cities where they have a presence.
EDIT to previous comment: I missed properly accounting for Taiwan. They have about a dozen churches and missions there, so their count of 650 “likes” puts them in the average ballpark of about 50 to 100 per location, and also just a bit behind Russia, which generally fits with the amount of activity reported and observed in those countries.
Ol’ Gavin and Raffy. Here’s their entire “OT Hatting Seminar” on prosperity: “Gimme your money.”
Speaking of “turn of phrase”, one of the Scientology expressions I was exposed to during the 80’s during one of my two forays into Scientology was “buttered all over the universe” which, as a proud WOG, I still use today! I thought it was hilarious and still do…but I I never hear it referred to or uttered by anyone. What happened to that bit of lingo?
I rather like the quote from the visitor to St Hill about the attention from the staff. I actually thought of this as unwanted attention. Seriously if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time (walking through the front door of an org would quality) you could get hit up by the book store officer, ias reg, ideal org reg, supervisor – taking money out of your purse/wallet – yes this actually happened, sea org recruiter, and many more. Do these people not realize that their desperation for cash is really not encouraging people to be there?
Well there are soo many events, how will i decide which one i’ll go to and what should l wear ? Also not sure how much it will cost me. I can only come up with $1500 . They may demand more. I’m willing to give up the ones with food, because that food isn’t really good. I hope to see many of your readers there too. I’m so excited to find out how much the cherch has grown this month! Thanks Mike for letting us know. I’m not getting as much shit– oh, I mean promo , in the mail any more. See you all there !
I’m pretty sure a ninety minute workshop on disseminating scientology is not a needed and wanted commodity in even the most ardent ranks. But I understand and sympathize with the necessity to visually promote such a workshop in the form of a graphically designed flyer. It’s a matter of keeping up appearances as the listing ship takes on another hundred gallons of sea water. No need to ask why the speaker is mysteriously “special” and not an actual identified person.
The last thing a scientologist wants is to be asked questions about scientology and that is if they don’t mind fessing up to being one. And that’s a big IF. Being a scientologist might be a little bit fun once in a great while when there’s no push for funds. Look, as a man of science I have to allow for the possibility, okay? I’m just saying it might be fun to get together with other scientologists and pretend that day dreaming about clearing the planet is somehow a cut above perfect idleness. But no way is disseminating on any scientologist’s to-do list.
“Its a matter of keeping up appearances as the listing ship takes on another hundred gallons of sea water”.
Good one, Roger. 🙂
History of magic and OT on Earth? Should I bring my own copies of the Verbal Data, Hidden Data Lines, and The Why is God PL’s/Bulletins, or will they provide them?
Ok then, which of the following imaginary inhabited planets is NOT a sci-fi creation of L.Ron Hubbard: Farsec, Kolob or Teegeeack? ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolob )
See how hard it is to tell them apart there with their equally silly space opera nonsense? There’s no evidence-based or logical basis to distinguish $cientology’s space alien beliefs from the LDS’s.
Without going into exhaustive detail here regarding the other close similarities, I’d just note how close the LDS belief in the importance of performing post-mortem baptisms is to $cientology’s belief in the absolute necessity of space alien spirit exorcism. These are both bizarre and completely unsupported beliefs that MUST BE swallowed whole, then regurgitated on cue, by every member in good standing of each of these respective religions. It’s the high-demand aspects of both groups which make both groups a cult.
Of course you don’t see Mormonism as a cult, because it’s YOUR cult; $cientologists can’t see their own sheep-like behavior or complete indoctrination for what it is either!
Btw, what’s the LDS Church’s current official position on homosexuality among its parishioners? Has the president had a new revelation from God yet on the issue, just as earlier LDS presidents did concerning black folks and plural marriages?
Mormonism became a cult when Joseph Smith decided that, instead of revelation from God being the birthright of all, only divinely-ordained revelators – like him – were to be taken seriously. Why would anyone except sheeple ever give up their own self-determinism in this way, especially when revelation from God is so incredibly transitory and subject to change based on completely secular concerns of the moment!?
The above is in response to Donna May’s post concerning her view that the Mormon faith is fundamentally different than $cn and not a cult at all.
HF,
To the best of my knowledge, Mormons do not prevent people from leaving their church or enforce the kind of control on members that you would see in SCN or the Moonies. Joseph Smith may have been a crackpot, but the histories I’ve read do not imply anywhere near the level of paranoia the LRH had. (The Mormons were actually persecuted for a while, and Joseph Smith was killed, so he had better reasons as well.) The Mormons I have debated with are willing to argue for their faith in the same way I would argue for mine, as opposed to trying to pull some Fair Game BS.
For reference, I am a fairly traditional Christian who views the LDS as a heresy. I just don’t think lumping a misguided, maybe even loony group of decent people with a group that is run by a sociopath and is driven toward evil is even remotely accurate.
You’re right, besides the similarities that I have drawn, there are some important differences that also exist.
I was responding to the specific claim made by another poster that her religion, the LDS faith, was nothing like $cn, which is just not so. Chris Shelton’s interview with a former Mormon goes into much more detail about both the similarities and the differences between $cn and the LDS church. Here’s a link to it for those who’re interested and wish to learn more http://tonyortega.org/2017/03/02/leah-reminis-troublemaker-finally-gets-a-uk-publisher-and-you-can-probably-guess-who/
omegapaladin, I think that there have already been a couple of comments showing that the LDS can treat wayward members more harshly than might be assumed, if not as severely as Scientology.
Joseph Smith and his followers were “persecuted” in part because they had committed financial fraud, and had picked fights with ex-members and outsiders – much like Hubbard and Scientology. They may have been the subject of unjust persecution as well, but they were neither innocents nor pacifists.
Mainstream Mormonism today certainly doesn’t rise to being as abusive and cult-like as the CofS, though some of their offshoots like the FLDS do show aspects of that.
One interesting difference that comes to mind, is that Mormonism does not have the combative behaviors typical of righteous new religious movements written forever into it scriptures, while Scientology does.
Some years back, LDS church president Thomas S Monson gave a talk in which he admitted that Mormons did in fact contribute to the persecution that they suffered. No, our people were not perfect little angels being harassed by demon inspired bullies. And, yes, Joseph Smith did make mistakes during his ministry. This is no reason to liken him to someone like David Miscavige.
Serious question about that “History of Magic” promo when it states: “You will discover things about the history of OT on this planet that you were never supposed to know.”
When they say “that you were never supposed to know”, what does that mean exactly? Is that some reference to some super-secret “Xenu-type” of knowledge that was supposed to be kept from us that some random sailor fella named LRH that came along 75 million years later was able to figure out or something? Wouldn’t that be bad to reveal this type of information for people who aren’t on a particular level up the Bridge, based on what CoS says about maintaining the confidentiality of the upper OT levels? Or are they just trying to stoke curiosity so they get more folks to show up (i.e., is this just a bunch of marketing BS)?
I know that sounds like me just being a smart-ass again, but I’m really not. I’m actually curious what that means when they say they will present something “you were never supposed to know” to their members.
About that third “Help Wanted” promo for the Valley Org Files…..“Pay: High levels of production with great people and a lot of fun – plus commendations.”
Well sign me up baby! $3 billion plus in assets and this is the best they can, uhm……“pay” people to work on files? Ok, that sounds like a decent wage to me…. (now THAT was me being a smart-ass).
Presenting something “you were never supposed to know” is their way of drawing gullible people to attend some stupid event so they will find out what this secret, magic information is.
Mick, as a never-in you probably don’t know of the 100s and 100s of tapes that LRH made from the various lectures he gave. In them he would very often ramble on and on about random things. Like the time he blew up a planet to when he was a youngster living with Indians and he wrestled a bear with his bare hands. The speaker will probably give some earth shattering information about some lie that LRH told and everyone will applaud for about 5 minutes. And then they hand over their checkbooks for some future empty building.
The something “you were never supposed to know” is simply is the cult’s idea of cutesy mystery bait to draw in the gullible and naive to attend this thing. This ploy never works on seasoned Scientologists. Its strictly for the new/naive/gullible. Everyone else recognizes it for the pathetic strategem that it is.
n actuality, anything the cult REALLY thinks you’re not supposed to know is something they’ll NEVER tell you, and if God forbid you happen to find out about it on your own, they’ll deny it ’til the cows come home, lie themselves blue in the face, and shunt you over to Ethics.
Gary, I’ve heard about some of LRH’s lectures. I recall hearing audio of one of them that was leaked and he seemed to ramble endlessly with no focus, sometimes about fantastical or very strange things. I wasn’t able to make it very far at all listening to that video. Didn’t realize there were that many tapes though. I can’t imagine having to listen to that stuff for hours on end.
Re:Huh? I think you missed the obvious one…YOU can put your money in “Double Jeopardy”!
Of the 20,000 likes on DM’s new FB page, how many of them are paid click farm clicks from India?
About half?
I just love the $ciloonery involved in some of these adverts and notices which unintentionally give readers the real truth about how the cult keeps it scam going!
For example, check out the text promoting an upcoming “special briefing” (read that, “crush regging event”) at the OC Idle Morgue: “What it means to be Saint Hill sised and how we’re going to open the bottom of the bridge to the top for the largest $cientology movement in history!”
For those $cilons who, somehow, didn’t get the memo already, the clam plan is to get all of the $cilon sheeple who’ve already spent a fortune chasing non-existent supper powders and who’ve made it to OaTy 8 to re-do the entire bottom of the bridge, starting with the Student Rat course, followed by months and months of overrunning basic objective processes until each and every one of them ends up needing tons of repair auditing and, perhaps, some more pole running, sauna sitting and regular niacin overdosing.
I’m sure that what was meant there was something like, “We’re going to open up the bridge from bottom to top…” but these Oaty $cilons managed to inadvertently give away the true clam scam plan, while demonstrating that mastering standard written English isn’t a super power that’s available at any point on the bridge to Total FreeDumb 😉
$cn is like the young children’s board game, Chutes n’ Ladders, except in the $cilon-approved version it’s ALL chutes and NO ladders!
It’s like the worst MMORPG ever. You grind and grind, and as soon as you level up, you are busted back down again! Sisiphus could sympathize.
The very name of the Santa Barbara/Ventura Ideal Org is a lie. THE NAME IS A LIE. The building is in Ventura, an hour’s drive down the coast from Santa Barbara. However, Ventura is directly adjacent to Oxnard, a city twice its size (and more than twice the size of Santa Barbara). How is this not the Ventura/Oxnard Ideal Org? Is Oxnard not a sexy enough locale? To quote Lewis Black from his guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory, “… and we’re not talking Oxnard at the beach! No! We’re talking Oxnard in the onion fields!”
Oxnard is so not the same as Ventura or Santa Barbara. It’s a poor step cousin.
Seldom do I suggest something like this but over on Tony Ortega’s site is a Chris Sheldon video where he interviews Johnathon Streeter (a Texan Mormon, a seemingly nice fellow and is a medical practitioner) and they compare Scientology to Mormonism. If you’ve never been a Scientologist or even if you are/have been and would like to understand a different explanation of how it operates, ie something to compare it too this interview will show remarkable parallels between the two religions. Even if you don’t know anything about Mormons this will help you understand them and why they could easily be classified as a cult too. Background mechanisms creating ‘control of thought & behavior’ or the term brainwashing if you like have common practices and similarities. The Mormons have been at it a lot longer than Scientologists and have smoothed out a lot of their mechanisms over time, but it’s basically the same sort of thing as what Scientology gets up too. It’s a long interview but well worth it imo, there’s something to learn in it.
I am a Mormon and we are nothing like scientologist. We believe in families being eternal and would never encourage family members to disconnect. We follow a living god, his son Jesus Christ, hence the name The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My advice is if you want to get the truth about latter-day saints, contact the missionaries and I invite you to attend a worship service in your area. Before you compare the two groups, keep an open mind. The church website LDS.org is a great resource. Even addresses members mental health issues and where to get help. Scientology denounces mental health issues. Vitamins and exercise and that solves all problems. The church has doctors of all specialities that work with members and nonmembers.
Please…don’t lump Mormons with this cult. My testimony is my most prized possession. Next to my family and being disabled parent, that means more to me than you will ever know. I read and study the Bible, Book of Mormon. My faith keeps me grounded.
Thank you for listening. God bless you!
I am a former Mormon. And, just like former Scientologists see things differently, you and I are not seeing the same things. I agree that Scientologists are not exactly like Mormons, but there are similarities. You are using the same tactics Scientologists use in your comment. Let’s look at some examples.
You say the way to learn about Mormonism is to invite Mormon missionaries over, and that’s how you get the “truth” about Mormonism. Similarly, Scientologists say they are the only source of “truth” about Scientology. Go to their website and look at it. They say if you want to understand their religion, you should walk in to an ideal org and sign up for some classes. This is like saying: “The only way to know if Toyota makes a good car is to ask a Toyota dealer or ‘happy’ owner. No one else can tell you. Not former owners of Toyotas, or third parties. You MUST go to the source! And certainly, don’t review any criticisms of Toyotas. They are all lies written by jaded former Toyota owners or competitors who are just being selfish. Come in for a test-drive today and see for yourself just how great these cars are!” I find it odd that you are reading Mike’s blog. Somehow it is okay for him (a vociferous critic) to be viewed as a source of truth regarding Scientology, but if someone criticizes Mormonism they aren’t a good source of truth.
You mention that Scientologists believe that “vitamins and exercise” are the cure to ail woes. I agree that Mormonism does not go to this extreme. However, considering that Utah is the MLM capitol of the world, I have to believe that maybe (just maybe) there are some similarities. Beyond the “vitamins” part, Mormonism teaches that olive oil placed on your head, with a bunch of men praying over you, will heal you of illness. Every Mormon I know has a story they feel backs up this narrative. However, the evidence is lacking. What heals Mormons is the same thing that heals everyone else, modern medicine. I do agree, and you are right to point out, that Scientology takes it to an entirely extreme level! Mormonism does, in fact, encourage members to seek medical and mental heath professionals when needed. However, they also encourage members to go to their local Bishop or home teacher first (just a man in the neighborhood). Further, they are happy to point you in the direction of LDS/Mormon mental health professionals. They don’t discourage you going to someone else, but they don’t exactly make it an even playing field. If they can “keep it in the Ward family” all the better. This is especially true for cases of child abuse. Church leaders are quite wary of bringing in government agencies when abuse is uncovered. Why? Because when they report it they are legally obligated to stop talking about it. In many cases they feel more capable of handling it on their own than a trained child psychologist. “The spirit will guide them.” Your Heavenly Father knows more than all those psychologists, right? And your Bishop is getting inspiration directly from Him. So, listen to your Bishop!
Finally, I want to address the topic of “disconnection.” Here, again, we see similarities. Please remember that Scientology takes it to a totally insane level. However, to say there isn’t a policy in the LDS church about this is being quite dishonest. Ex-mormons, like myself, are labeled “apostates” by the church. The LDS church teaches that, unless we repent and come back to the church, our families will be lost for eternity. Mormonism teaches that families are eternal, but only if everyone remains Mormon. Doesn’t that sound just a little like Scientology’s point of view? I have seen several wonderful LDS families broken up by the teaching of apostasy after a family member has left the church. Divorces happen over this. Parents stop talking to children over it. People lose their jobs. Sometimes, it ends in suicide. LDS folks claim, just like Scientology does, that as long as everyone stays in their church there are no problems. Yes, there are mixed-LDS families that make it work! The LDS church doesn’t have a strict policy of disconnection like Scientology does. However, the LDS church doesn’t exactly make it easy by labeling former members apostates. It is apples and oranges, but they are both still fruit.
To sum up, I agree that Scientology is far more insidious in its policies that Mormonism. Stay away from both religions and live a truly genuine life. Find truth wherever it is, and be wary of anyone who claims they are the keepers of the “real” truth.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. Appreciate getting different perspectives like this…
Yes, thank you. I do not leap to conclusions but take time to digest things these days. Your response is excellent. It conveys a perspective one can only get by experiencing something personally and then being able to portray it with well written prose a layperson can understand. Indirectly I have been the effect of Mormonism through my wife’s attitude and history, she’s resentful of how she was treated as a young and innocent girl in her own community. Now it is a lot clearer and understandable – thank you again!
I wish no offense but it wasn’t the beliefs nor spiritual aspects but the historical mechanisms. Maybe you’ll never see that video and I wouldn’t blame you if you can’t, but guarding secrets and not being allowed to look “over there or talk of things” are part and parcel of many organisational beliefs and link them to a hierarchy of power. It’s not for me to judge anyone’s beliefs but I too have my experiences and your use of the term “open mind” is one you should look closely at too imo. But not is all as it seems with Mormon history nor the secretive system which did a few about turns. I found it to be an enlightening discussion. My wife was born in Idaho and spent a lot of time working and living in Utah so I had an interest on what she lived with and thought. She knows many Mormons and was basically raised within Mormon communities. She was ostracized more than once and missed out on many social and especially business activities because she wasn’t Mormon, and even one Mormon boy wanted to marry her and because she wasn’t a Mormon his parents refused and sent him off someplace. I don’t believe in “Church first and only” in all matters of life. All I trying to say is the discussion on Ortega’s site was interesting in giving me explanations of segregation because of belief and guarded secrets at the top end of the belief trail.
Chris put together a very helpful talk comparing and contrasting Scientology and the LDS Church. It is helpful for us former Scientologists to see how other religions affect their members.
Near the end Chris says he is still not sure whether to call the LDS Church a cult.
Certainly there are destructive cults like the FLDS “Church” that are based on LDS in some ways, but the LDS Church itself is emphatically and definitely not a destructive cult in the same way that Scientology is.
Here is a discussion of the question by cult expert Steve Hassan https://freedomofmind.com/an-expert-responds-to-the-cult-controversy-re-mormonism/
There is a spectrum of belief among anti-Scientologists, from those who don’t think any religion is helpful at all to those who strongly believe in another religion and condemn Scientology as false. The truth is we are free under the First Amendment to believe as we will, but we are not free to violate the civil and human rights of others in the practice of our religions.
When a “religion” like Scientology tears apart families, illegally confines members, defrauds its customers and subjects them to coercive undue influence we are right to call it a destructive cult. There are also destructive cults that have no religious elements at all, like some multi layer marketing schemes.
It is not the beliefs or size or dress or diet of a religious group that makes it a destructive cult. It is the abuses and undue influence that they practice.
Bruce, I saw film. Very, very informative.
“open up the bridge from the very bottom to the top” one of my favorite giggles comes from Scientology making enthusiastic claims as to how it’s figured out solutions to problems that it has created for itself and it’s more gullible adherents. NEWS FLASH SCIENTOLOGY, just drop your prices to be more in line with average wages. Oops. Forgot. Scientology only helps the above average wage earner. He’s the one having a “tough time of it” thats the fellow who you can help. (Hubbard voice/Off)
“…it’s figured out solutions to problems that it has created for itself….”
From the limited information I’ve learned so far, that sounds like a very simple, yet very effective way to accurately describe this particular organization (and their current “Ecclesiastical Leader”).
After all these decades scientology is still waging it’s one-sided war with psychiatry. Only scientologists know about it! That’s pretty funny but even funnier is that all the while scientology is making noises about eradicating psychiatry, it is scientology that’s circling the drain! It’s disappearing while psychiatry is doing just fine, thank you.
I love your comments and the flyers. They are ‘Trying’ sooooo hard.
Hi Mike…..just a quick comment……I see our boy has attempted a last minute Hail Mary pass against the Clearwater aquarium land sale…holding court with city officials the past couple of days.
What a piece of work he is….Only I Can Make It Go Right.
COB…..stop getting your panties in a twist about a small land deal.
Seems to me….you got bigger problems on the horizon.
Tick tock.
Mike….keep doing what you are doing.
It’s working!!!!!
Yours….OverTheBridgeTPA
Anyone interested ….go to tbt.com and type Scientology in the search box. ?
Gee… so many to choose from… so many 4 color glossy lies… how does one get to choose their favorite Scientology Flyer of the week this week? I guess my favorite would have to be Gerald Peissl, the OT 8 SO Vet from SuMP. I admire anyone with such a busy schedule doing all those broadcasts to the multitudes of Scientology starved Earthlings to take an evening off to tell us about the history of Magic and OT on Earth. Plus… (drum roll – wait for it…) The secret data no-one ever before got to know from the ACCs! (Phew, it was tough writing that!! I dripped nervous sweat on my keyboard). Maybe it’s one of those mystical things where if you play the last 3 minutes of the 8th (that’s infinity stood up) CD from each of the ACCs backwards, there’s a special message from Ron in an ancient Swahili dialect uniquely tailored just for you. I’m all bubbly in anticipation!!! Can’t wait!!! Maybe I can get to sit beside Michael Chan too – geezers!!
I forgot the secret Data and the image of us both dripping sweat on the keypad, Priceless! Love the message from Old Ron in ancient Swahili. That’s clearing the prison planet go for it dm and company, you have been trying for decades now and CF well still the old CF, just in plastic bins instead of my banana boxes. Love to you I Yawnalot ?
Same back at you too Ann.
My favorite was the empty SuMP! I just can’t get enough of it!
Surfer Dude now isn’t a new empty sump just a thing of joy? You don’t want to be there when it fills up with you know what And boy “Duties: cleaned out a dirty sump with a wornout toothbrush in our goal to clear the planet” does not look good on a blown sea ogre’s resumé when he or she has to cobble together job applications in the Wonderful World of Wogtopia.
Yeah, IY, that’s something that has had me puzzled for years now. They used to be able to dig up some obscure quote from some 50s tape and make a big deal out of it. Nobody else had ever heard of it. It was Hubbard. So you could spin a whole “Prosperity Seminar” out of it. Or “How to Make Your Postulates Stick.” The public might not be impressed but at least they might get a few shore excursions and some evenings in the Starlight Cabaret with obscure Scientology musicians out of the deal.
But now supposedly every single Scientologist has studied all the “Basics”. And the Congresses. All the ACCs. Supposedly they know all about the invader forces and the bases on Mars and so on. So how do they come up with a seminar that nobody has ever heard before?
Of course it is probably not true that every Scientologist has heard, understood and remembered every Hubbard lecture. The intelligent thinking brain tends to turn itself off in self protection after 15 minutes or so of Hubbard drone. So I guess they could get away with the 1000th Hubbard “OT Hating Seminar”. Scientologists are something like chickens that way. Every day they wake up and it’s a Whole New Day! Unprecedented! Straight up and vertical! Same old same old but never seen before.
On a human level, dementia has some noticeable effects on the sufferer, most things and people are a new experience for them, on friends and family it can be devastating. Scientology has a distinct tendency to create a dementia of sorts and no one can’t blame it on old age and deteriorating body/minds. Similar to that saying about Elvis – the mind of a Scientologist has left the building, a disjointed alternate reality took its place.
People r so Gula blend with the lack of money each of us have. I had a Catholic father in law the sweetest man man every had 5 kids worked 3 jobs so he could give 10% of his wages to the church so he could go to heaven. Told him one day charity begins at home and lm not buying my way to heaven my kids mouths come first. Live in a cardboard box so you can go to heaven. NO .
Sally, what is “Gula blend”?
Maybe it was “gullible” before the spell checker got to it?
Gula Blend is a smoothie. Or not….
I wouldn’t send them my old dirty sock shame on them
Oh, come on Sally, don’t be so miserly. What harm could it do? – let them have your old dirty sock.
What happened to your other sock?
Went to that special place lost socks go, always leaving a loved one behind, all lonely in the drawer. Sock disconnection – it’s pretty widespread you know! Of course the underwear claim there’s no such thing as disconnection.
And another thing: the “Win a Car” raffle is from what country? 1,000 pesos per ticket can vary in value a lot depending on which country’s “peso” you’re using. In Mexico, 1,000 pesos is about $50. In Colombia, 1,000 pesos is currently worth about $0.34. In Chile, it’s about $1.50. I don’t think there is any Scientology presence in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba or the Dominican Republic, all of which have a “peso” as their currency. So it’s gotta be either Mexico or Colombia.
If Colombia, it’s going to be pretty interesting if everybody buys one ticket… the cult gives away a car that probably costs $10,000 to $15,000 and makes only a couple hundred dollars. In Mexico, the picture is probably a little better, but the cult probably doesn’t make enough to justify the donation of the car from one of their local “whales.” And that’s got to worry some local businessman who gave until it hurts to cough up the cost of the car.
I also wonder what happens if the raffle has the customary exclusion that relatives of Scientology staff or the individual or organization that donated the car can’t win. There probably aren’t many public in either Mexico or Colombia that either don’t have a relative on staff.
That is ODD Org in Mexico City
So glad to see that the Boston Ideal Org planning is complete. Unlike what the flier says, it’s actually across the Mass. Turnpike from the new “Boston Landing” hub (https://bostonlandingdevelopment.com/) that is now being developed. So it’s sort of close as the crow flies but it isn’t easy to get from one to the other, especially on foot. This new building, easily seen while driving on the Mass. Pike, has much empty office space with big signs on the building that space is available for lease. Good luck to y’all.
Perhaps the most interesting “Thursday Funnies” entry for today is the “Help Wanted” from Valley trying to get more help with the files. As I recall, about a month ago, they ran an ad saying that there was something like 18,000 hours worth of filing to be done. Now, a month later, they appear to have had 16,000 hours of filing done towards that goal. That represents 4 x 40 hour work weeks from 100 people. Given that they can’t get 20 of the most die-hard Scientologists in the richest concentration of Scientology public in the world to show up for weekly OT Committee meetings, where on earth are they getting 100 bodies at the drop of a hat to reorganize decades old files containing information about thousands of people who are either dead or don’t even remember buying a book in 1971?
Could they perchance be making up numbers at random about the amount of filing to be done, just like they make up numbers about how many Scientologists there are in the world?
Nah, they wouldn’t do that.
I’m pretty sure they never expect some nit-picking analyst to actually keep track of their lies!
Do they even have a broadcast license or are they just going to “create” their BS media there and make a lame video or something?
Over the top and down the other side Mike. Thank you to all those busy correspondents who send you such delicious tidbits. All the promo is amazing, but two that really grabbed me. The Boston Ideal Org is such a hook, signifying zero. Any group with any sense to have bought the mansion on Beacon Hill and then tossed it aside for the dreck the Ideal Org is in now, has got to be bonkers. And the entire text of their announcement was written by someone who does not know Boston or its history. Let them dream on, most Bostonians know now what a crock the cult is. My most favorite was the Saint Hill piece. ” The attention the staff pays to you it is as if you were one of Ron’s Roses… oh help my two favorite flowers bird of paradise and roses have already been cleared by Old Ron as Scientology Regging Flowers. What about the poor tomatoes, they were amoung the first to be audited and where are they now? With the cult’s penchant for digging up trees and gardens and mountains left right and center, I would not get too comfortable as a rose in Saint Hills fortress garden. As to It is another beautiful and busy day at SMP, with my XRay eyes I see millions of eager cult member rushing the doors of the old studio. What no one is in the picture? You SP Ann you just do not have your TRs in to see them all!! ??
Here is the location of the new Santa Barbara Org. It is as well hidden and completely inaccessible to foot traffic or, even cars driving by. It is tucked away where no one would EVER accidentally see it.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/2151+Alessandro+Dr,+Ventura,+CA+93001/@34.2680013,-119.273106,617m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80e9ad24526d9e5d:0x6219273c63fc09ec!8m2!3d34.2679381!4d-119.2704676
There are two reasons that I’m sure the cult thought that location would be absolutely wonderful for a new Idle Morgue. First, the building can be seen from the freeway, and that section of Highway 101 has at least 125,000 cars per day passing that point. So they probably figure that “dissemination” opportunities by having a sign visible from the freeway would be significant. Of course, that ignores the fact that the Scientology brand is toxic, so absolutely nobody who has seen the sign would actually come in to find out more.
Second, the building is just across the freeway from an In-N-Out Burger. If you have spent significant time in California, you know how important it is to be close to an In-N-Out Burger restaurant, which merely offer the greatest burgers in the known universe. Staff members can save up from their meager paychecks for several weeks to afford a trip to burger heaven and, as they enjoy a Double Double “animal style” with fresh-cut fries sitting outside in the sunshine, they can truly feel “cause over MEST” for just a few minutes before trudging back to the gloom of their empty building.
Is this called hiding? If so, they’ve got this tech down pat!
I’m trying to figure out what the “Real Deal” is with that location. It had been on the market for a while, and appears to have just been sold (or at least taken off the market). They had picked out another building for an ideal org a few years ago, and even put pictures of it on flyers, but never actually succeeded in buying it.
Then, it looks like in recent years they had put their old building up for sale, but later were fundraising to pay off the mortgage on it. These real estate deals seem to be getting messier and messier as the local orgs struggle to come up with the money for them.
Also, it’s a bizarrely shaped dark older building, almost sinister looking and about the least likely structure for a church, unlike the bright contemporary building that they missed buying.
I’m currently staying in Ventura/Oxnard (two more months and then return to my home in the mountains of northwest Thailand). While I am not familiar with the exact location of the new org here, I can tell you it is certainly not on one of the main commercial thoroughfares of Ventura (Main St. downtown and parts of Telegraph, Telephone, Victoria) so maybe it is for the sign as John P says. But, c’mon now … what are there? Five Scientologists within 50 miles? If that. It doesn’t matter if orgs nowadays are near foot traffic or not, no new people are gonna walk into Scientology anymore, as I did in 1970. The business plan is fundraising and the expanding real estate portfolio. .Again, the business plan is ….
Underwhelming, Mike, despite the “big” words used repeatedly. What’s next? “Extracalifragilisticexpealidocious”??? Or did I just give them an idea?D
I look forward to this every week, not just for the hilariously snarky comments, but for turns of phrase that make me wonder what the heck they’re talking about, such as: “…being part of the IAS team has become a TREMENDOUS HAVINGNESS for us.” Say what???
Thanks mike.Nice update on the delusion and desperation in the bubble.