We ARE going St Hill Size
Just like the 150 other orgs that havent done it in 30 years.
Not even all the “ideal orgs” though some have now been “ideal” for 15 years!
But it IS happening in Auckland…
Weirder and weirder
The reason it’s untold is because it’s absolutely bonkers…
Family Tragedy
This is NOT going to turn out well for this family…
And Columbus is really rocking — they are so excited to promote that they have one guy who has done ONE DAY in the sauna… OMG. Stop the presses.
The Oscars?
More like the Razzies…
The Stunning Truths
If they DID tell the actual truths about Stupor Power and what it is REALLY for they would be boo’d off the stage.
This is the L. Ron Hubbard handling for “dead in the head” staff… It includes a LOT of word clearing.
There is nothing super about it other than a marketing gimmick. He loved to give exciting names to things to make them sound great. The Survival Rundown. Ket to Life. Wall of Fire. Living Lighting. etc etc
Let’s make some cookies
Not sure what this has to do with anything, but they sent it out and we have it for you here hot off the press…
Havingness = money to pay me
The one ability which will instantly increase your havingness — the ability to apply for a new credit card.
A bit long in the tooth?
He’s been gone now for 33 years. Isn’t he overdue to return to duty in the Sea Org?
If anyone should be applying the “We Come Back” motto it’s the Commodore himself surely? 21 years is the standard Sea Org leave of absence for those who expire. Though in the 50+ years of operation not one documented case of a SO member actually returning after that leave? And this includes some of the most powerful OT’s ever…
What fun!
“Splendid news on the strategy…” sounds amazingly groovy.
Just don’t forget your check book and credit cards.
Based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard…
NOT based on the LIFE of L. Ron Hubbard because it would need a very different title.
Showing the world how it’s done?
What is “it” exactly?
8 years later and still not St Hill Size?
Can’t be doing that well… Or is this better than the rest of the world who have trying to get to St Hill Size for 15 years after “going ideal”?
Normal people spell it Caribbean…
But it will no doubt be incredible!
What is it that is going to be Caribbean or Carribean anyway? Like what will be different than just being in Orlando?
It’s Crazy Eddy The Discount King
Our prices will not be beaten for cheap “Carribean” cruises and “accomodations”
Keep those postulates rolling…
If only you could postulate your way onto a plane…
BTW, YOUR Advanced Org is in Sydney, just a couple of hours flight away.
But Africa is offering CHEAPO rates right?
It’s like scientology orgs have turned into used car lots competing with one another to attract customers with lower prices than the other guys.
I guess you don’t need to actually go do it
You can unleash your super powers with Barbara Dews presentation alone!
More stunning truths…
Not really. Just PR bs.
Anything to get anyone to come in the door…
Even if just to watch football — not even Scientology TV
The Cause of Suppression
What scientology is focused on. Being suppressed.
The answer is simple.
Come clean on your own overt acts. At least according to your tech….
How is an AO doing this?
Aren’t they supposed to get people through the OT levels?
Not conducting introductory lectures…
Another one — they ARE going St Hill Size
And why now exactly? What’s new and different?
The world of make-believe
Needs no comment
Huh?
They’re going ideal NOW!
Right. They have had this empty building for well over a decade.
Now they are going to do it! Of course.
Oh, another one…
Two of the OLDEST ideal org buildings, bought back in the early days — BC and NW.
They each got a spiffy new poster.
Maybe Uncle Dave is going to pay for their renovations after all this time because he is running out of ribbons to yank?
The Final Words
Fortune cookies…
Maybe this is what the woman postulating a trip to AO Africa needs. A fortune cookie…
Scientology, the only game where everyone gets nuttier as time goes on.
Ah the delightful Suzy Hunt, she’s the charming lady that tried to set Aaron Saxton up on false charges when he challenged her for following him around Sydney https://youtu.be/CWPJuke7YyE
She’s ex Sydney staff who moved back to NZ as she was destitute, unfit to continue her staff contract and no one in Sydney wanted to deal with her mental health challenges.
Let’s all ‘postulate’ that she gets the help she needs and doesn’t waste any more of her life on the cult
“Meet the international man of mystery” They finally got Pat Broeker back?
The stunning truths about SuperPower start with “It’s super-useless.
Reading the posters, all I can think is “Poor Columbus”.
” [going IDEAL!]
“Just like the 150 other orgs that havent done it in 30 years.
Not even all the “ideal orgs” though some have now been “ideal” for 15 years!
But it IS happening in Auckland…
”
Has no one told them that continuing to do the exact same thing and expecting a different outcome is a definition (or indicator) of insanity? Guess not, as IIRC, Tubby didn’t write it.
Fearless, honey, I love you but nobody is fooled with your going on about Scotland’s beauty, history, Celtic Mythology and other non-applicable data because you have nothing pertinent to share as re your org’s actual STATS.. We know the actual scene at HAPI, John. We KNOW what’s going on there, which is – nothing. Absolutely nothing. And so while you attempt to fill the page with whimsical Scottish ephemera and razzle dazzle, for the sake of your own sanity, of which I am presuming, you are still in possession, keep in mind that you’re not fooling anyone.
The Vancouver Org is already ideal, at least as far as location goes. Downtown, on a major street with lots of foot traffic, lots of money in the business core and in the condos sprouting like weeds to the west, one of the poorest postal codes in Canada and thus opportunity to demonstrate their humanitarian chops to the east, and a building that’s worse for wear but with some capital investment could be made good as new again.
Of course, no one’s stupid enough to walk in these days. But if there was ever proof the ideal org business is a scam, Vancouver’s it.
‘Pleas’ contact me for the ‘Scientologst’ Convention asks Crazy Eddy. Seriously, is there any Scientologist that can spell?
I would love to see a chart (if anyone has put in the time and effort to keep up with it) of how many times somebody has proclaimed “We Are Going St Hill Size”. I imagine it would look something like this. (I did a quick look back – the specific dates are when they showed up in the Funnies.)
GOING ST HILL SIZE
Auckland
– Some month, 1999
– Blah, blah, 2005
– Blah, blah, 2012
– January 31, 2019
Sydney
– Blah, blah, 1986
– Blah, blah, 1998
– Blah, blah, 2007
– January 31, 2019
Cambridge
– September 20, 2018
Cincinnati
– October 11, 2018
San Francisco
– October 18, 2018
Re: Durban org event. Wait….. isn’t this the same Grant Boshoff who was convicted of federal money laundering charges in 1991 and served jail time? How did he end up to be an OT Ambassador???
I’m pretty sure it was a tax matter, invoicing for a sale of rare coins. A couple of other scns went to club fed on this one too.
O/T. Joan Summers at Jezebel has a strong take on the US Weekly story about John Travolta and Scientology.
Highly Recommended:
https://jezebel.com/this-week-in-tabloids-can-you-imagine-mariah-carey-wat-1832182843
***** BEGIN EXCERPT *****
A few paragraphs later, the writer describes Scientology as “having its fair share of critics and skeptics.” Here’s where I genuinely saw red, as it’s not just simple criticisms currently plaguing the Church of Scientology—take, for instance, the multitude of allegations contained in Remini’s explosive A&E series Scientology and the Aftermath, including allegations that the church covered up the rape allegations against Danny Masterson. Us’s hedging is a weak deflection from the press storm around Scientology; there are certainly paragraphs detailing the Travolta’s mundane private life and careers. But going four pages into this profile without bringing up any of these issues is a disservice to readers. I’m coming to realize it’s the inherent problem in entertainment journalism. We need to bring the heat when questioning the lives and choices of people who largely affect the world they live in. We also need to de-prioritize proximity and access! These people rely on gossip bloggers to further their careers. Press the issue! Direct action and organizing works! Unionize against press agents everywhere!
“”””” END EXCERPT *****
Wait. I’m Australian, so maybe a bit slow. Rewind. I never heard anything on Leah & Mike’s Scientology Aftermath that stated that Danny Masterton was “interfered with” or “interfered with” anyone else. More info pls. New to the post but a wanna be, gonna be, vocal advocate for trangressions against humanity, for which Scientology are certainly guilty of. The breach of trust, relationships … it all just leaves a bad taste. Fuck Scientology. Fuck you all for presenting yourselves as something you’re not. You’re a business. With a bottom line. Advertise as such. Utters wankers. Peace. PS. One of my idols, being a total film buff, is Giovanni Ribisi, & that he is a Scientologist is so disappointing. Apparently. Jason Lee has thrown his hands up finally & said “fuck this” & is no longer a practisicing Scientologist. Yay! Hope it’s true & not just “fake news” hey.
I’m sorry about this, I really am. I usually try to refrain from commenting on things that people can’t help (even for an ass like Miscavige), but in reference to that Austin Powers poster, when I look at Dr. Evil and Mini-Me, I can’t help but see them as epitomes of L. Ron Hubbard and David Miscavige, respectively.
Muck, I too usually try to refrain from commenting on things people can’t help, but you are spot on!
Muck was only mucking around here Ann. “Muck” – yes very spot on! “Muck” now! What with other’s uses of “Brain” instead of “Brian” – slippery Sigmund Freud and his slips would be very happy to confirm that perhaps one thing he uttered was indeed true.
I live in the Columbus area. I’m going to let you in on why Mr. Spence is doing the Purif. It is…. to GET WARM FOR A FEW MINUTES!!!! It is blankety-blank cold here!
Hilarious Miss Dutch! I’m in Kentucky and that’s the only reason I can think of! ?
So if I understand correctly, you can book a trip on the Fleecedwinds and pay $1,700 to share a room with 3 other people. Then I’m guessing that in order to do anything other than eat (since food was included) you would have to pay for services? Seems like this $1,700 just jumped to $17,000. Cheap vacation for sure. Oh yeah, and get hounded by Regs. Super fun…not.
It’s said that Scientologists are not allowed to reg NOI. Tony Muhammad and associates will probably be on deck to do the honors.
Thanks for the funnies!!!!
ANDY & MELANIE HOOVER:
Take that beautiful little boy & RUN in the OTHER direction. Once you “join the Sea Org”…..Well, ask around about just WHO will be caring for YOUR BABY.
FORTUNE COOKIE UPDATE:
IF YOU WANT TO GET OUT, CONTACT US AT AFTERMATH…..WE WILL HELP YOU!
BATTLE CREEK & NEW HAVEN ORGS;
LOOK LIKE UPSCALE PRISONS….THEN AGAIN THAT’S WHAT THEY ARE….
CRAZY EDDIE:
BLACK SCIENTOLOGIST CONVENTION….
Is something wrong with Caucasians, Latino, Italian, Irish, Scottish, English, Australians, CHANGE THE NAME & INVITE EVERYONE!
******Notice the spelling ..Scientologst*****
Enough said…..I have no SUPER POWERS to continue
Ballet lady, that was my first thought too when I saw the pic of that nice family and beautiful baby boy. WHO will take care of the boy while BOTH parents are on staff? And who will hold down a job to pay for living costs while both parents are on staff? I feel sorry for that little kid cuz his parents just assigned him a second class seat where neglect will blossom while they save the world on staff.
I live about 3 hours from Columbus. It hurts my heart to see that family with the beautiful child joining staff! Andy and Melanie wtf are you thinking? Run for your lives! Your family doesn’t need scientology. It won’t ever be beneficial to your family unit. Poor child is in for it. So sad.
I’ve been fascinated by the show on A&E, and now this blog. I’d just like to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, and many more THANK YOU’s…to Mike and Leah, to every guest that has appeared on the show, to A&E, everyone commenting on the blog…
I’m having a hell of a time putting into words what I’m feeling, so I’ll start off by saying that I’ve never been a Scientologist, or even very religious or a part of any faith based organization. Reading today’s funnies, I see Columbus mentioned, and I never would have thought there would be a Scientology building so close to me. I now feel the need to talk to my adult children and warn them to never ever have anything to do with this cult, to always be aware of who or what organization is sponsoring any events or activities they are taking part in. This is all so scary…
What they WILL tell you: “$1703 for 7 nights […] in a 4 person shared cabin.”
What they WON’T tell you: In order to make up for the discounted rate, your three cell mates are all regges.
Bon Voyage…
What is with the Keto snacks in Clearwater? They are obsessed with Keto snacks.
Mike, I am writing an ethics conditions order “UnDeclaring” YOU an SP! You are going to like it. Watch for it on LinkedIn and let me know if you are for hire. Loving you infinitely!
I watch each and every show glued to the tv basically. I absolutely laugh out loud when I see you folks sitting on the benches in the ‘parks’. It’s pretty obvious they Co$ knows who is sitting out there, so they send in the law.
I wonder what would happen if a group of unrecognized citizens dropped by and had a picnic lunch! lol
As well – if the buildings are there, as is believed by the IRS, for the ‘public’ – what would happen if that same group of unrecognized citizens went into the building to look around or maybe even sit and ‘pray’! It’s a ‘church’ after all….
Mike and Leah – someone in our area sent me a mail piece: “Curious about it? Watch: Scientology; the Aftermath
with photo of you and Leah on the front.
It impinged!
Well, I was curious as to why Scientology was rabidly antagonistic about any Scientologist watching this program. What on earth was Scientology hiding. Surely, I could confront it. After all, I am OT.
So – I watched it and have not stopped.
Wow! Whew!
This is tough stuff to confront but for the first time in my long Scientological caree, finally, it all makes sense.
I finally completed my Doubt Formula for real.
I recommend everyone lurking and in doubt, to watch it.
Your eternity depends on knowing the truth. Never has that been more appropriate before. Watch this show.
What has been amazing for me to watch over the past 40 years is how some people who at one time or another were so passionate about a subject are now so passionately opposed to that same subject, yet they are doing more for the spreading of information about the subject than those who are responsible for promoting the subject. Does that make any logical sense to you Mike? Love You Infinitely! Save Your Pennnies! “What you resist you are! Whatever you persistently attack you eventually become it.” Alex S. Gabor. Not “What you resist you become”. L. Ron Hubbard.
Alex
L Ron Hubbard was a criminal con man
A lying thief
Scientology destroys families
Scientology Financially ruins people
Scientology kills
Scientology shatters lives
Scientology deceives and manipulates people
Scientology is BAD!
Just finished watching the latest Aftermath. I never knew that Stacy and Bob Minton flipped. I only knew of those youtube videos that Stacy did while with the LMT. In them she always looked so… fragile that I’ve often wondered exactly what was done to her to wound and warp her so much. I got a tiny taste of that in the episode.
The same way I sometimes see Mike Rinder looking so distraught when he is confronted by real people in the pain that he helped cause a long time ago. He looks sad and on the verge of blurting out where all the bodies are buried, but then remains silent. The damage must be so deep; we know about the loss of his job and income and family and reputation, but we’ll never know the extent of the psychological hurt inside.
Solzhenitsyn said:
If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
Speaking of funnies, Mike, others, have any of you seen the “Church of Cosmetology” episode of Tina Fey’s Netflix show “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”? They parody the “We Stand Tall” video (with lyrics like “Shelly is alive!”) and have one of the show’s main characters stuck in a basement signing headshots of John Travolta. Highly recommend. It’s season 4, episode 9. The rest of the plot won’t make a ton of sense if you’re not a fan of the show, but still. It’s clear that with The Aftermath and increasing numbers of memoirs and podcasts and websites speaking out, this info is pervading mainstream culture. Congrats to all who have worked so hard to keep making that happen. Here’s a Hollywood Reporter piece about the episode:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/kimmy-schmidt-sliding-van-doors-episode-explained-scientology-choices-1179534
Sunny – that is awesome news. I will share this with everyone I know and send it to my Scientology friends and family. 😉 Thank you.
That’s funny. Funny sells better than sex!
I just started watching the latest run of “Kimmy” episodes, and can’t wait to see this one! “Brooklyn 99” also did a parody of Scientology in a 2018 episode called “NutriBoom.”
That’s too cool! ? Definitely time to get Netflix.
“Maybe this is what the woman postulating a trip to AO Africa needs. A fortune cookie…”
Suzy will need a fortune to pay for her Scientology cookies.
Wake up little Suzy, wake up!
Ol’ El Wrong Tubbolard always ran when the going got tough. Typical criminal behavior. To any lurking Hubbard followers; Where is he now?
Target 2.0 – stuck in antagonism. It’s a lonely place. 10,000 BTS blown, 50,000,000 to go before he’s at 2.5.
Perhaps in Hell???? Seems more than logical.
I don’t think he’s in downtown Clearwater.
Nothing new here in this latest issue of Thursday Funnies. Just as with all previous Thursdays, EVERY-SINGLE-POSTER is about regging or recruiting. Why is this? Is Mike being mean by cherry picking posters? Nope. These are the only posters that the cult produces. This is the recurring theme of scientology from before the first incorporating documents were signed in the early 50s. It’s all about the money and ONLY about the money.
In a real church the plate is passed every Sunday or members are requested to tithe a portion of their income; more as a background activity to cover expenses. In scientology, members are squeezed for every nickel they have and then some and get absolutely nothing in exchange.
Yeah, that’s important.
In most churches giving is anonymous, or if the person wants giving to be tracked for tax purposes, it’s done in an automated way. People aren’t pressured individually for donations and if a person can’t or doesn’t donate for their entire life, no one would know, and they would get the same services and membership as everyone else there does. It would not affect your standing in the church.
Of course there are guidelines in the scripture saying that everyone should contribute out of gratitude for what God has done for you, and some guidelines as to how much based on one’s income, but it’s not like you have to donate a certain amount to receive special spiritual powers, or that the most important books of the Bible are held back only to those who donate hundreds of thousands of dollars and kept secret from everyone else. And the financial books are open too.
But I guess that’s the difference between a church and a boiler room style money making operation.
MarcAnon:
“In most churches giving is anonymous”
In scientology Orgs, your donation might start a folder in CF, never to be removed, even in death – Your survivors or the next occupants of your house might be tempted by the lovely mailings sent ‘to’ you irregularly, but often.
I mentioned this once before, but Battle Creek owns that huge building… and yet, the one they have been operating out of forever on North Avenue is about the size of a single family home. How exactly do they expect to squeeze BCMI publics for enough cash to reno that building? They probably don’t have the public to field a softball team.
And Suzy Hunt – you plan to go to the AO in Africa to do 5 OT levels, but can’t afford a plane ticket… would love to see how you’ve mocked this up. I suppose it’s possible you’ve married into money or something, but if you were staff for 15 years, it seems unlikely you’ve got a few hundred K to burn on this. If you’re trying to postulate a couple hundred bucks through facebook into your checkbook, the regs at AOSA are going to laugh you out the door of their disney castle…
Short answer: the don’t expect the tiny Battle Creek Scientology population to fund the renovations. You may notice the poster says Ideal USA Alliance. They are leaning on Scientologists all over the US, most of whom already funded other orgs local to them, to fund the remaining unfunded US Orgs – which are clearly the dregs in terms of their US enclaves, with the tiniest numbers of members. And if that doesn’t work,then there is the IAS if totally desperate to open a “New” org. Save for Inglewood and Harlem, they don’t have any new orgs, but they call opening new buildings “opening new orgs” in all their PR BS about their “incredible expansion.” When they are near ready to open a new building, they then press gang Sea Org members and and a few other people to show how the org is big and well staffed, then after the opening, these staff quietly melt away over the weeks after. It is all BS. It is all Theater to convince Scientology public of their incredible “expansion.” The only “expansion” happening is in the BS levels and cynicism of the entire operation.
SSoA, Battle Creek is one of the orgs in the smallest metropolitan area, so they don’t have much of a population base to recruit from, one of the reasons they are one of the tiniest orgs.
I notice their PR piece with its Ideal USA Alliance branding has a counterpart in the one for New Haven – another badly-off small and failing org (SFO). New Haven is economically depressed, except for Yale University and and some well-off residential enclaves that represent the sort of demographics that Scientology no longer gets any business from.
ust about everybody walking this earth knows that an organization is NOT the building that houses it. The two are not the same! Yet, the highly trained, long term OT Still In Scientologists can’t tell the difference. Man!
MarcAnon, about a year ago Battle Creek moved from their longstanding walk-up space in the main commercial district, to a sign-story mid-century medical/professional office building away from downtown. It’s a couple of doors down from a Narconon facility, so I wonder if that means Per Wickstrom is sort of the local whale keeping the org afloat (some of the failing orgs now rely on donations from members when they have crises over rent and utilities).
Battle Creek is one of the odd accidents of Scientology history, where the existence of an org is due to just one person or a couple of key players, and what should be a mission got made into a class v “church” due to internal machinations or organizational politics. It was originally a mission in the college town of Ann Arbor, got made into an org possibly due to inflating their statistics for an annual “birthday game” appearing more lucrative than they were, and then as they were really failing (possibly in part because they were close enough to Detroit to be in competition with that org) a couple of major local players arranged for their move to Battle Creek – which of course isn’t big enough to really support a “church” – it’s half the size of Ann Arbor.
As I like to say, orgs are the new missions – and sometimes just the old ones with grander titles but poorer prospects.
John G over at HAPI is just so delightfully random.
#unicornfacts
That man is a complete twat !!! Unicorn for f’s sake. All that’s missing is a haggis blawin the pipes with a sprig of heather up its jacksee. Is he really Scottish ? We are not the Hollywood , brig a doon numpties he seems to think we are.
Every time I see the Scilons use “Scots Wha Hae” it makes my half-Scottish blood boil. So here’s the last two verses, just think of it as an anthem for resolving to get friends and family free.
‘By Oppression’s woes and pains,
By your sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free.
‘Lay the proud usurpers low,
Tyrants fall in every foe,
Liberty’s in every blow! –
Let us do or dee.
Y’know? If I were to go to the time and effort to find a pretty and glitzy picture of the globe to celebrate ANZO’s 8th, I would consciously and conscientiously select one with Melbourne and New Zealand much, much closer to the center! Most def not centered around Indonesia, where there are very few Scientologists.
If any! LOL
About the only Super-Power $cientologists seem to muster is copious amounts of flatulence. Along with hot air signifying nothing but financial ruin.
L Ron Hubbard’s quote: “To Go OT one must BE OT” LRH
and that is how $cientrickery works when standard application is applied.
You see – first you convince the person they are OT….then you charge them a shit ton of money.
This solidifies the Identity a Scientologist takes on.
Translated to Scientolgese – a Scientological Valence of arrogance and insouciant certainty!
Deprogramming the arrogant ego I took on whilst Being OT in Scientology.
Thank you for allowing me to deprogram here before your eyes. I want to be a caring and compassionate human being that does not care if I am having a Spiritual experience (parlor tricks).
You would think for the “Black Scientologst Convention” the morons who did the graphic could at least spell Scientologist correctly. Seriously, a lack of formal education really shows up in these ads.
Scientologist is a big word – they can’t even spell PLEASE!! hahaha
More misspellings:
1. Accommodations, not accomodations.
2. Please, not pleas.
‘You would think for the “Black Scientologst Convention” the morons who did the graphic could at least spell Scientologist correctly.’ Ken – I can’t believe that Anyone is still Reading any of their nonsense. I’m barely Scanning the ‘pretty pictures’ these days and even They show an appalling lack of expertise! Miscreant has ended up surrounded by a group of minions who possess an even lower intellect and skills set than He does – All Praise Xenu/Xemu . . . . . Whatever !!!!!!!!!!!
…and forgetful of Rule One: Spell Check and Double Check – because if is is if or it, or if it is is or if, or if if is is or it, it’s still wrong.
(and iff’n ya cain’t Spel Scientologist on a Black Boat Ride, is that some back=cutting play on ebonics?)
It’s rife with grammatical errors as well. I suspect that the NOI draws from a very uneducated demographic, similar to Jehovah’s Witnesses – there’s actual Pew survey data on the JWs, and they are at the bottom of religious denominations in terms of educational attainment, shockingly less educated than the top groups:
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/04/the-most-and-least-educated-u-s-religious-groups/
I suspect that Scientology itself is also dropping towards the bottom. Early on, Hubbard attracted a lot of reasonably well educated – and some highly educated, even technical and scientific – people, including to his inner circle, but just as Hubbard ended his days surrounded by high school dropouts, it appears that the education level of all of Scientology is falling as they become similar to the JWs in that regard, adopting beliefs that secular education is unnecessary if not even undesirable:
Growing Up Jehovah’s Witness: ‘Higher Education Is Spiritually Dangerous”
https://www.npr.org/2017/02/19/510585965/poor-education-leads-to-lost-dreams-and-low-income-for-many-jehovahs-witnesses
I know of a few people involved with a STRICT Christian “religion”…..their children are home schooled with THEIR educational materials, they have NO contact with OTHER children outside of their “religion”…they DO NOT participate in any type of after school or social activity. Boys & girls are forbidden contact until age 18.
A few of the older teens tried to take the GED test for their high school diploma…ALL FAILED several times…they were not “up to snuff” & basically said that “the test was impossible to pass”.
The educations are all “religious based”….very little science or history….only about “the creation & the Son of God”….they know nothing about who their State Governor is etc…..the ONLY music they are permitted to listen to well, you know the rest.
The one girl I was helping was 15 years old & maturity wise, she was on a 6 yr old level…she didn’t know how to do anything for herself, her mother did everything for her.
Balletlady,
I live in Utah and can confirm this practice.
Balletlady, I’m sure homeshooling – and awful Scientology schools that seem focused on skirting legal minimum requirements while preparing kids to be Sea Org worker bees – is bringing down Scientology’s educational level (the first generation of dropouts like Miscavige, his wife Shelly, and Annie Tidman Broeker, were the products of Scientology’s internal “cadet” system, which was so abysmal that it had to be disbanded) and also partly accounts for the JWs dismal educational attainment.
I’ve also seen really bad homeschooling, and have an interest in education – including having taught some of my kids classes over the summer, so they could test out and skip ahead to AP work. Homeschooling advocates like to point to examples of success, which is frequently the case because well-educated and highly-motivated parents are often the ones to take it on – but then as with most other things in education, there are also a lot of really badly-performing examples that serve kids very poorly, and invalidate most of the attempts to draw generalizations or particular policy conclusions.
What’s bringing down Scientology’s “education level” is that Scn kids are encouraged to quit high school at 16 and either join the Sea Org or go on Staff at a Class V org! And what do I mean, “encouraged”? Jesus! These children from the age of 13 are coerced and cajoled: nagged, badgered, cornered, hammered and hounded to quit school at 16; they are stalked and regged within an inch of their lives, with every button on their adolescent console pressed, to do this.
Is that a fact or an opinion? There are certainly SOME examples of this.
I know from an ex HCO CCI staff member that as of about 10 years ago ALL teens on course/auditing at CC were regularly regged by PAC orgs to join the SO. This was on a weekly basis during breaks and after course.
I’ve read many accounts of teenagers being heavily “regged” and even virtually coerced to join the Sea Org, so I think there’s good evidence such practices are indeed all too common nowadays. Accounts are often about how recruiters target Scientology schools, which would obviously be fertile hunting grounds, but also about how they prey on teens at the “church” orgs.
I see that Wynski has chipped in, and maybe we’ll get some more personal accounts. In one of the cases that’s been publicized – and it may have been more than one – that really gets into undue influence if not coercion, a teen was kept in a room with recruiters wearing them down into the middle of the night, when they finally signed a billion-year contract if only so that they could go home and get some sleep.
Of course in the supposed “good old days” for public, particularly at missions, none of this was visible. But the old system back then, with hellhole nurseries (sometimes leaving children with serious and permanent medical problems – I know a former SO with a disabled now-adult child) and negligent cadet orgs (at best, abusive at worst) for children of Sea Org staff, was even more exploitative, and produced a generation of fodder for the Sea Org by raising kids who knew nothing else and were put to work in their early teens (sometimes even younger).
I know it’s hard to confront what we enabled, by quelling our doubts and even disagreements about the signs that things were amiss, and contributing time and money that went “uplines” to support hidden (mostly) horrors. After my brush with Scientology, I spent some time living and working in Germany, where they were grappling with the moral implications of everyone’s complicity in the war and the holocaust – one of my friends had a grandfather who’d been a soldier who had fond memories of being stationed in Paris during the war while, of course, people literally burned by the millions elsewhere.
Richard, I personally know (or knew when I was in) 3 young girls who were INTENSELY regged for Sea Org in their teens. 2 joined, one joined staff at 18 after volunteering at her local org for 2 years; all 3 girls quit high school shortly after they turned 16. I know 2 other sets of parents who sent all their children to Scientology schools; the regging was intense. One girl told me when she was 13, she was regged in a room by several Sea Org members for 4 hours straight. She resisted. She did not join Sea Org. She did join staff though and she’s on staff today. She also quit high school at 16.
If Aqua’s assertions are anywhere near accurate, in “the good old days” the Scientology parents I knew would have torn the place apart if the Sea Org tried that on their kids.
Aqua – I just saw your comment after I posted mine. Different time, different place. In my time the Sea Org was behind the scenes and not yet ramped up to a paramilitary police force. I did several courses at ASHO FDN and in 1980 someone walking around in a Sea Org uniform was an anomaly.
Balletlady, your stories give me chills sometimes. You must have had (or have) quite a career, counseling such people.
Ken it drives me bonkers!