An evening that will change your life…
Barbara Rubio? Seriously?
I dont know these other women but “hearing what it’s like to be up both sides of the Bridge” must be some sort of code for “don’t end up like me”
The Warriors…
All 3 of them. Under the guidance of a full time Sea Org mission. Wow.
Still using Brutus
I suspect this is about as far from what Brutus wants as possible….
I guess these really ARE the only 3 people they can round up.
I can grant you personal immortality…
Ermmm, I thought that was a given?
Begs the question: what about the impersonal immortality?
And “well” — does that mean no heart attacks?
Join the Sea Org…
Nowhere is more expected of you — as in FUNDRAISING for empty buildings. This seems to be the ideal scene for the Sea Org — their poster child is an Ideal Org Fundraiser. Now that is something to aspire to…
Oddly, Toronto has had the same building since 1978 and in 40 YEARS has not managed to raise the funds to renovate it.
But the crossed arms look is really appealing.
Arms crossed is the thing
And darkness. Always darkness.
The Sharks are going 80’s
Another amazing night of high pressure sales techniques
Hmmm…
Must be having a lot of desertions?
Highest Ever onto Solo NOTs…
Odd thing to promote in a Class V org that does not deliver Solo NOTs (or anything close to it).
Who knows, might have been two people.
Up Coming?
This is probably NOT a typo. They simply don’t know how to spell.
These guys do everything BUT scientology…
Here’s another one from Foothills…
It’s missing the bottom. Hubbard would be turning in his grave. Origami. Bingo. Pie Action. OMG
Just a bit over the top…
The only organization in the world effectively fighting for human rights in the field of mental health?
Limited availability!
OMG, they are selling like hotcakes.
Quick, buy them before we mail them out to radio stations, libraries and anyone else we can think of so they can throw them in the garbage and we don’t have to (and can announce that 200,000 copies are “in the hands of the public”)
What does this have to do with “Going OT”?
What is the bee about?
Anyone know?
Is it just me, or does this guy look like a telemarketer on an SNL skit?
Leadership?
From this guy? Who married into money and has run in circles to “completion” 3 times already?
What exactly are his credentials? He completed scientology auditing? So did Reed Slatkin — and he was ALSO a trained auditor…
More fakes pretending to know how you can make money…
So you can hand it over to them.
A new look at OT…
From someone’s house? With staff from Flag in attendance? Tells you how hard it is to get people to agree to go to Flag these days…
Yep, he looks motivated for sure…
Well, maybe the motivation is because he is a stock photo model?
I cried 3 times…
When I realized I have handed over a ton of cash, all for nothing.
These statements are so ridiculous.
What this means for the world? Dan Sherman prattling on about some imaginary accomplishments of Hubbard?
People who knew LRH “blew me away”?? Well, if that’s all it takes, I could REALLY blow you away.
But crossed arms look GOOD on “Liberty Can’t well”, can’t you see….? [Such an unfortunate name to be saddled with….
AFRICA: The Winds of Change” With 2 songs composed by LRH.
WHY would Auckland be promoting AO S. Africa’s opening? Don’t they have a new one of their own? (AO ANZO or some such name)?
Code of Honor #3:”Never desert a group to which you owe your support”
Funny: Tubby did EXACTLY that when he did a bunk without naming his successor(s) At the appropriate time, he DID many things which could have easily been codified as the succession plan but wasn’t. He left enough leeway so a pipsqueak squirrel could jump in and grab all the nuts for himself, the hell with scientology’s future.
When I put Flag firmly behind me, I felt some guilt for deserting the friends I left behind. THEN I examined the myriad of ways that scn & the S.O. had failed to support those of us who were giving our all. At least One crew member I knew died because they couldn’t allocate $$ to excise a brain tumor that slowly, painfully killed him. I didn’t know him so much as his wife, who was understandably devastated. I wouldn’t have heard about it but for knowing her. In scientology, dropping the body wasn’t something to be noticed, much less mourned, and the survivor(s) only ‘support’ was:”Get back to work.” “No case on post.”
I really miss getting notifications for articles and comments. It’s so hard to keep up without them. Please bring them back! ☺
The notifications I get sometimes 2-3 days later but the thing I miss most is where one can see one’s comment has actually been temporarily posted waiting for approval and exists on the page. Sort it out before Thursday 2PM Mike otherwise it’s the Decks for you (again), or at least Liability!
Your comments nowadays are about as hard hitting as a fart in a cylcone.
Ah! Kronomex the Mexican Time Bandit! But now we have comments being reproduced on the page so at least you have a chance to edit the invective you post. Good eh?
“Competent,Confident. Truly free” it says above the CD-like ad…
When I first read that, my dyslexia served up “content free”, which might be closest to the mark, now that I think a little. Having neurons sometimes make interesting cross-connection is a blessing some times. It served me well while reading some of Tubby’s scribblings, trying to find SOME way that what he was saying had any connection to anything in the REAL world. Often, it took an inspired leap of illogic to get it to fit. ‘Twas good only in the short term, getting through that issue. Long-term, I’m still discovering some of his pronouncements that I’m sorry I ever integrated into my worldview, as he didn’t plagiarize a LOT of good stuff; only the few things I see now that he said that are based on real life. Others, REAL thinkers and philosophers first formulated the good stuff. The stuff he pulled out of his ample posterior has value ONLY if you’re interested in trapping people in your cult and destroying anyone who crossed your path the ‘wrong’ way(as if there is a RIGHT way with a malignant narcissist. Yesterday’s ‘right’ is today’s “HIGH CRIME”.
“The true power of you”?
The true test of your powers of reasoning is how long before you ditch the cult.
Really, the arrogance of SOME people tasked with managing volunteers. First thing to realize is you can not ORDER volunteers like employees. They can just un-volunteer and there’s nothing you can do about it. Even if orders seem to work, their work product is likely to be such that 1 or 2 really dedicated folks will need to go behind the reluctant volunteer and clean up the mess, which can be considerable. (wish I had something funnier to say about that. This comment’s too serious for the subject, as if teaching them how to do their job will ultimately benefit mankind in any way; as if the proper terminals will ever see these words before they’ve appropriately run screaming out of CF and down the street to the nearest bar.
I know too little of Ohio…. Someone who knows, help us out: Is Brutus, which I suspect is Ohio State’s mascot anything Ohioan scientologists in general care about? Maybe if they used a wolverine in some negative light they might get something with some “bite” in it. Meanwhile, I believe they found a non-button of biblical proportions as even the ad didn’t seem too enamored about it as I scanned it. I’m not an expert in marketing, but have some glancing familiarity about it.
OMG! CCHR has turned 50(!) and has done nothing but make weird noises out of both sides of their mouths. IF CCHR has done ANYthing to improve Human rights, it must be related to how many people were turned off of scientology when they found out CCHR was one of scientology’s front groups.
So what’s the “WHY” of Columbus NOT having CF up-to-date? It’s not as if the place was such a hotbed that they had 100s of thousands of people who purchased anything from them….
Fun Fact re: the CCHR golden anniversary (yellow turd award)
In my hometown org where I spent so much time…..
Our branch of CCHR was where the Illegal PCs went to volunteer to try to amass enough proof to pad their petitions so that they might be allowed on service.
What constituted an “illegal PC” was constantly in flux. People who had an approved petition could have the approval revoked out of the blue, new rule changes coming down the pike once again.
Hapless souls who had any history of ‘psych treatment’ … even down to visiting a school counselor ..told “NOPE! No auditing for YOU!!” …and then spend months and years trying to prove that they hadn’t been damaged much, were “bigger beings” than the psychs, and were stable enough to get case gain and not go nuts and give us baaaaad PR.
CCHR and Criminon: also the one-stop-shop for doing ethics amends, particularly for those on A-E, trying to get back in good graces after being declared.
yay.
puke.
The Bingo Bake Sale one, I did an actual spit-take on…
This is EXACTLY what Hubbard derides with dripping dismissal – there are numerous instances of him naming these things as being totally off the rails. (you’re supposed to entice people with scn, and then use scn to get them to want more, and then keep delivering scn, not woggy things)
The fact that it’s complete with Hubbard era period-piece art work is just Sooper dooper!
“A New Look At OT” – – – – At someone’s house…
Isn’t this an FSM ploy to pull in people who could possibly be then sent to the org for commission? “Recovery” type shyte?
I’ve steered clear of “power FSM’s”, (I was staff and then just on the bridge and had an FSM friend) but I think this is one of the things they do, right?
Invite you over to fancy houses or something, all informal and fun and fizzy drinks or something…”look at how successful we are”
Carol, Naomie, and Mary —– y’all split the commish 3 way?
Rip,
Either that or the echoing, cavernous expanse of an empty org is off putting to people so they are attempting to move people as far away from reality as possible….
Could be! But Flag is so different from any other org. It has people from all over the world coming to it. It was jammed during the time of the Golden Age 2 release, and thereafter for awhile as they forced everyone to re-do everything… but as I continued to go back for OT 7 six-month checks, I saw how it had emptied in comparison.
It was STILL busier than any other Org … but it lacked the temporary inflation of activity that had been for the time leading up to and after the GAT release.
Flag will be able to get away with the appearance of activity and public longer than any other org, just because of what it is.
The message behind the code of honor quote, “never desert a group to which you owe your support” ..for Scn TV?????????
hahahahhaha!
Transparent much?
We need to guilt our public into watching Scn TV? We need to bring out THE CODE as a stick to herd ’em round the tube so ….
so WHAT? So that the ratings are up?
OR is it another part of keeping people IN. People who are not active on course or auditing drift AWAY. … Scn TV is just another tool to keep people in the soup pot of agreement so they don’t accidentally Wake UP!
and they run this on people parallelly with promoting it as made for the world to learn what a great thing SCN is and to make everyone come beat down the doors.
Div 6 is not supposed to be for the active public. It’s outreach.
Scn lies are so much fun to point up.
The crosses arm thing is really puzzling. I’ve popped over to many of the “speakers” and groups mentioned in these posters, and generally there is someone on the web page with crossed arms. I went to Christopher Musics page (he runs a company that gives financial advice- you’d be safer putting your money on the front stoop and hoping no one saw it than taking financial advice from a member of this cult) and – sure enough- a group of people with their arms crossed. Did Hubbard write some policy on how to be photographed?
Oh Dear. No one ever told you? When victims are brain washed, the washers tell them that when they stand with their arms crossed, it gives them temporary Super Powers that make them smarter than any Wog so they can win all arguments they ever have with Wogs.
It is an amazing Super Power and a shining example of the greatness of LRH.
Lol! Thanks for the heads up- makes perfect sense!
kat,
Body language betrays the true attitude of the individual. Only by extensive drilling can one hide their true feelings. Hubbard did come up with TR-L, a drill to lie without betraying the fact. Apparently he was unaware that the body language gives it away.
If Ron did not say do it, then they do not o it.
Jim,
That’s just sick- teaching an entire group how to lie well? How ethical and moral is that? Don’t they see the problem with this logic? I just don’t get it at all. If someone told me to lie for a “church”, I’d go running the other way so fast you would see smoke. If nothing else, THIS ‘policy’ screams cult. Legitimate religions don’t teach parishioners to lie- that is something only cults do.
Muslims are also taught to lie and deceive to protect themselves and Islam (eg. taqiyya, tawriya, kitman, darura, muruna, etc). Abhorrent, yes. Yet arguably few would consider Islam an “illegitimate” religion. Why is that?
Origami? ???
My “fall from Grace” as a staff member started because of this lunacy ? thanks miscabbage because if people listened to me wanting to “solve it with Scientology” I might not have left when I did!
I’m now certain that Miscavige either reads or gets briefed on this blog. Today’s Thursday Funnies shows to date yet another 3 Sea Ogres in recruitment promo NOT giving out the fixed, dedicated glares but instead smiling. Arms crossed, yes, but because they’re smiling they look MUCH less forbidding then before. Possibly this was SURVEYED? Or are they applying Danger, e.g. “Bypass Habits and Normal Routines?” (In other words, whereas they always glared and frowned and that never worked, have them smile now.) Or just maybe Dwarf simply got tired of our J & Ding and sick of looking at the old, unsuccessful promo himself, and ordered them to smile.
Now, I’m waiting for the day when they become SO desperate for Sea Org sign ups that they show the Ogres having FUN! Swimming, dancing, couples in uniform walking hand in hand and smiling into each others’ eyes – that sort of thing.
When we see THAT, we’ll know beyond any shadow of a doubt that the cult is dead.
“Never desert a group to which you owe your support.”
Let the heartless robots, who – despite all evidence that they should not – turned their backs on, and devastated and broke the hearts of, the parents/children/ siblings/sweethearts and friends who miss them, long for them, think of them constantly, love them dearly and would take them back, no questions asked, in a heartbeat.
Every one of these clueless, stone-hearted bastards should word-clear every word of this thing Hubbard wrote until the message really, really sinks in.
Sorry. I hate them today. I know I shouldn’t, and I don’t often – just sometimes. And right now is one of those times.
Aqua,
If you didn’t occasionally let the hatred flow, it wouldn’t be healthy. You deserve your hate, and as long as it’s not a constant that keeps you from living, embrace it in the occasions that it rises up. That’s my advice as a friend.
Kat
Thanks, Kat. It doesn’t keep me from living. Not in the least. When the hate, or possibly its a sudden, recurring, fierce resentment against the cowed and cowardly ones from time boils up in me from time to time, I unload it here 🙂 and then it subsides and i go back to pitying them for the craven creatures they are and for the awful burden they will bear one day when they realize the enormity of the pain they caused to good people who loved and needed them.
Typos and grammar and spelling, Oh My. Always happens when I write whilst in an emotional state.
🙂 me too. I always manage to misspell something or include a typo or two. I propose a moratorium on any spelling, grammar, puctuiation etc. being noticed on the blog.
‘”?@
What is the picture of the bee about?
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/glyph
Just my guess but maybe since they don’t know how to spell, they are starting to use glyphs or pictographs to use instead of spelling words. Didn’t one of their ads say “Be There!”? Maybe the person who wrote this poster didn’t know how to spell the word “be” and was using the picture to help.
Of course, many people say that knowing how to spell is not really necessary since everything has access to spell checkers. But if you have never gone to school, you might not know how to use a spell checker. Life sure can get very complicated for Scamologists.
Just a guess of course. But then again, the level of ignorance runs deep – Super Power Deep – when you are a Scamologist.
I liked the poster with the OT Super Power Auditor shown. Cesar Rodriguez.
I figure he paid $5,000 to become an Auditor.
Then another $5,000 to become a Power Auditor.
Then another $5,000 to become a Super Power Auditor.
Then another $5,000 to become an OT Super Power Auditor.
So now he has 4 diplomas for which he paid $20,000 and which cost The Scam 20 cents to print.
The Scam sure does have a high profit margin. You have to hand it to them. But if you do, check to be sure you still have your hand afterwards.
Training packages are in the tens of thousands, not 5 grand. It’s sooooo much more expensive than that!
At the release of the Golden Age of Teck 2, all the levels were 4-5 grand a piece at Flag. I don’t know the current “training package” prices – this is where if pay for a bunch at once you get a discount, and maybe the Student Hat (5 grand all by itself at Flag) thrown in for free.
Student Hat, Pro Training Routine Course, Pro Upper Training Routine Course, Meter Course, Level Zero, One, Two, Three, Four, then internships, the Dianetics Course…all about 4 or 5 grand a pop. (The Briefing Course, Level 6 was like 30 grand) (class 8 another 20)
Unless you’re staff and get training for “free” so then you work 80 hours a week for the next 5 years or quit early and then get a Freeloader bill which then bills you full price for everything you did.
Only SO staff are allowed to do Super Power Auditor training. So that just costs you the next billion years.
(oh, and throw in every single cent you have along the way for IAS and Ideal Org regging)
If the cult were really serious about clearing the planet, auditor training would be dirt cheap and available would be scholarship programs galore. for every level. to train auditors and supervisors to deliver auditor training. Whales would be falling all over themselves to fund auditor training; instead of IAS Status’s there would be prestigious awards for funding auditing grants. Whales would be the Patrons of Auditors, not of the IAS. There would also be help in the way of housing and other life needs for those who would auditor train full time. They wouldn’t have to join staff or go in the SO. There would be all KINDS of options and opportunities and help and support and encouragement for every Scientologist to become a trained auditor. somehow. There’ be a way to do it for everyone, each unique situation. That’s how it would be if the cult really wanted a Cleared Planet.
yes. as you paint the picture…. the movie plays out in my mind, peopled with my past staff comrades and staged in my old orgs….
When I think back to the youthful years on staff … already and just naturally it’s hued with the photographer’s Golden Hour light… the camaraderie and esprit de corps… the energy and verve… it was such a purpose driven time…
What you describe fits right into that…….
…
Yet…
the dark underbelly of truth beneath my halcyon recollections…. rolls out….
we don’t validate down stats
you must reach with money
to give free of cost is to turn the person into a criminal
judge judge judge…. degraded beings, big beings, criminal exchange, “psych mentality”
…
and … if OT and Clear had actually been happening…it would have worked!
Lately…. there is a simplicity that has been creeping in and soothing my struggles.
Clear was the solution to mankind and would have been a worthwhile life’s dedication.
If it was true, it would have been honorable. We would have won, hell, they would have had it in hand even before I was first swept up and away.
But with Clear being the big lie in the big trap… it’s polar opposite to honorable.
..
Thanks for your rainbow dream…. 🙂 We were good. And we were wrong!
What the hell is a “Royal Natal” yacht club?
Google it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Natal_Yacht_Club
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natal_(province)
Thanks, PM.
My bad! I assumed that “natal” either pertained to birth, or that it was a typo for “naval”.
Couldn’t they find a picture of Sharon Lonstein that doesn’t make her look like she spent the last three days doing a pub crawl?
It looks like either substance abuse or someone just killed her cat. Are they allowed to have cats on the Freewinds?
But we all know it is really the days and nights without sleep that give you that “rode hard and hung up wet” look. If the “Secret to Prosperity” really had anything to do with coffee and cigarette consumption we might pay attention to her seminar.
As it is I can only feel pity. Been there, done that, came home with the T-shirt. Long-term health issues are all I got for the dedicated Sea Org 24/7/365 schedule.
🙂 Bruce.
Nobody’s been able to answer this question so far – or, possibly someone did, and I missed it:
How do Sea Org members afford the smoking habit? Cigarettes, last I checked out of idle curiosity in my neck of the woods – cost $12.50 PER PACK in a DISCOUNT chain store. $12.50 per pack…Holy Cow!
At a pack a day – that’s what I smoked for years until I finally quit 30 years ago – at a pack a day, that’s $87.50 PER WEEK.
Most non-elite Org members make, optimistically, $50 a week.
Even smoking HALF A PACK a day – that’s 10 cigarettes – not that much for a nicotine addict, as I once was – even half a pack would cost nearly an ENTIRE week’s salary.
I don’t get it.
You can roll your own cigs using ultra mild pipe tobacco for about $1.50 a pack. For some reason pipe tobacco isn’t taxed. Just a tip for sea orgers.
Hello Aqua,
You wanna know how they are able to be heavy smokers on their chicken-shit salaries? I would guess there really only exists one cigarette and they all just pass it around to each other endlessly, pretending to be heavy smokers. After all, since they’re all brainwashed anyway, how difficult can it be for the Brain Washers to implant the wish they are all heavy smokers and have Super Smoking Powers so they never need to buy any cigarettes? Their Super Smoking Powers enable them to smoke that single cigarette and make it appear to last for years and years. When they are not smoking, the cigarette remains lit and it’s in LRH’s possession.
Did you know it was LRH who originated the expression “Wishy Washy”? Yes it was! He was also the inventor of almost everything and he was also the one who discovered all the good things in this world. If anyone ever finds something good, it was originally discovered by LRH. If they find something bad, it was placed there by Mike and Leah. I bet you never know that. Did you? Well, just repeat that sentence after me a thousand times and every time you don’t say it perfectly, the person sitting next to you will say, “Flunk!”. Soon, you will believe it and that will be because of the Super Powers that LRH discovered and bestowed unto you. Ain’t Scamology wunnerful? Yes it is. Now repeat after me, “Yes it is.”,
“Yes it is.”, “Yes it is.”. Soon you will discover that you have Super Powers. But, it will really be LRH who discovered the Super Powers within you. See how that works?
I just wish my guess was funnier. But, I came late to this party and some of the other people here have already thought of all the best jokes. Oh well, maybe we can pretend that is a sign that everything is dwindling down because the end is near?
Best wishes to you Aqua. Just repeat after me. “The end is near”. “The end is near”. “The end is near”.
Very soon you will believe that is true and you will be supported by everyone here because we all hope and pray that truth is really true. Sometimes it just gets difficult to believe because in the world of Scamology, it often gets difficult to tell the truth from the lies. After all, everything was created by LRH – as you know. Yes you do! Yes you do! Yes you do!
Lol! Thanks for the heads up- makes perfect sense!
True,
OMG, I’m trying to run in circles and now I have to repeat phrases over and over again!
So Hubbard really DID invent Pie AND origami??? Wow.
Hi TB:
As far as being a heavy smoker on nearly no income: I started rolling my own; Bugler or Drum, Drum being a slight bit better because the can was wider and sealed well between rollings. Can also was better for re-use. Kept on rolling my own for a few years after I left scn; the tobacco’s better-tasting I felt. IIRC, it was under about $2 for a can which yielded about 200 cigs. Even at my greatest consumption, a can lasted me a good week or the equivalent of 1 or 1.5 packs a day.
Jere, quite a few smokers do exactly as you say at the Int Base. They sell the Zig-zag papers and Skoal tobacco in the canteen. They use the cigarette rolling machines with the rubber rollers to make a cigarette that doesn’t look too much like a blunt.
They can casually roll a fast cig with one hand while they are “working”. A sight to see.
But for those lucky ones that are on the Event Crew another strategy is possible – most of them fly to the Caribbean and the UK once a year. So a quick visit to the super-cheap tobacconist on an island or a trip to the duty-free shops can net a large supply of smuggled cases of cigarettes. Some for their own use, some for resale to selected discreet friends at the Base.
Not strictly legal but when has legality, common sense or health risk gotten between a dedicated smoker and their habit?
In order of posting;
Richard True, Jere and Bruce,
Thanks for all the data! Now I can make sense out of something that’s puzzled me for years.
Muchas Gracias amigos.
Good luck explaining your visit to Mike’s blog in your next session as auditing king! I’m sure it will go down a treat! Unlike scientologists…we are all free to look at whatever we choose on the ‘backwaters’ of the internet without fear of getting punished?
OK- I am fairly new here, but it seems like if this awesome “religion” holds these “amazing” events weekly, monthly (whatever), everyone would be ‘clear’ and have wonderous, stupendous super powers by now! What’s the malfunction- surely someone should notice that no one is gaining anything except Miscavige. (his wallet must be so uncomfortable to sit on by now he’s gonna need that chiropractor from last weeks seminar) I guess people are eating too much pie to actually learn anything???
I was struck by the poster reminding people of where their loyalty should be…hinting at some internal trouble at the old cult?? too many people ‘deserting their group’- maybe for the pie…or would that make it ‘dessert’ ing their group.
And they passed up the opportunity to claim that Hubbard created the first origami and gave the civilization the ancient wisdom of paper folding to make it relevant.
Well, I’m off to research the psychiatric professor who supposedly co-founded the group that is anti-psychiatry…and to buy one of Leah Reminis ‘don’t be culty’ sweatshirts- so cute!!
The “co-founder” of CCHR is a “Professor of Psychiatry”? How does this work, did he turn on his profession?
Paul,
From what I can find, Szasz was a reformist who believed that mental health matters should not be forced on anyone. He wanted to reform the profession and seems to have been genuinely concerned with some of the abuses that occurred within the system. This is definitely a problem within the mental health system, just like the health care system. Szasz did co-found cchr, but IMO he never approved of the outright condemnation of all things psychology/psychiatry. He more likely helped found an organization that he probably believed would help bring about reform within the system. IMO he didn’t know enough about Scientology and where it would take the CCHR group. Just like a legitimate group that unknowingly aligns itself with the many front groups in Scientology, I’m pretty sure he thought he was advancing his cause. I will be the first to say that mental health still needs reform (most people who work in the field would say the exact same thing), but it’s come a long way since Szasz practiced. In that time frame, some of the treatments used were barbaric and unnecessary. While I condem CCHR, Szasz’s heart seems to have been in the right place. He may be rolling in his grave
To add to my last; It’s astounding what we addicts would give up for that nicotine “hit”. Also surprising, at the time, was how we learned to improvise to make the few bucks stretch to fit. Some of the things I did were from lessons Mom taught me about her and Dad scrimping during the Depression, when she and Dad first got married. It’s amazing that they could live on as little as they did and still get together a mortgage for their first house, a real fixer-upper (to say the least) that led to the home my much older brother was born & raised in and then their 3rd house, where I’m sitting now; a good, solid home in a great neighborhood.
As far as living with no $$ goes: When living on credit or credit cards isn’t an option, it’s possible to get by, if not exactly flourish, on next to nothing. Not expecting instant success or having all the toys “right now” makes it more possible. Separating “necessity” from “want to have” was sometimes quite a hard lesson that I’ve been told the “Millennials” are loathe to learn. At one point, I discovered I needed independent transport; Instead of shooting for a car + all that entailed, I found a fairly good used bicycle I could get for the cash I had; Later, I got a used motorcycle at a distressed-owner price I restored to working condition, nearly showroom; Thanks Whitney catalog sales and the guy who rear-ended me &paid for the mufflers I needed for inspection. Insurance on that little old bike was negligible for my usage and greatly improved my mobility (as long as I kept a rain suit on the bike). Later, another crew member traded me “even” for his bigger, much more capable cycle. When I left Flog in the rear views of that bigger bike and got a real job again, the frugality I’d practiced as S.O. allowed me to build a nice bank balance fairly quickly. I bought only real necessities or the materials to build the necessities like my bed frame; my mattress was hand-me-down from someone. Other required furniture got bought at 2nd hand shops & I refinished it, as desired.(I had the skills; materials are cheap. Buying only well-used vehicles and fixing them myself (it wasn’t rocket science then in the ’80s.) saved another bunch of bucks, and I still could afford to drive to work, etc. WITH insurance etc.(in NJ, insurance is VERY EXPEN$IVE!) The first car I got after the SO….: About the time I got done mostly fixing it up, I picked up the original owner hitchhiking. He didn’t recognize it as having been his at first, it was so improved, though by no means showroom-quality. Since then,I’ve bought used; keeping them maintained so they were reliable enough. Then, rather than get a ‘new’ car 25 years ago, I deferred that & got a well-used sailboat and fixed it up, giving us the small, capable cruising sailboat we renamed Xanadu (after the pleasure dome in “Kubla Khan” which could take us anywhere along the ICW & into the Caribbean. We haven’t done the Caribbean trip yet due to a stroke laying me low — too much smoking, said the doctors. [Damn you, Tubby! Damn me for believing that con artist!]. If not for that, I believe we could be in Paradise now, possibly stopping by where the “fleece winds” is currently hiding out and gloating at the poor sheeple trapped onboard. My wife and I used Xanadu heavily for 20 years, learning a lot about cruising and getting closer with each shared experience in our ‘Summer home’ & pleasure dome, to the point where I believe she could agree to our ‘doing it’ finally. Last time I saw our little girl, all she needed was soap applied with some elbow grease.I wish that was all that we needed to get me out on the water again, but there’s something about the wholesale loss of grey matter called a stroke which interferes with being active enough to sail. I’ve noticed some slight improvement; not much, but I’ve learned it’s best to concentrate on what I’ve got working and what’s improving than listing things that don’t work and what I can’t do. The latter is a sure express ride to depression since it’s a pretty long list; and depression don’t help no one. A friend made my week not too long ago by pointing out how adroitly I’d shifted a story detailing a bad situation into being an opportunity. I’d dance a happy dance if I could, thinking back on that. These “SP” anti-scientologists” I’m meeting on the “ASC” sites are SO much more supportive than scientologists were “back in the day”. DM learned the S.O.lessons so well: “Dog-eat-dog” & the Devil takes the hindmost. I suppose he’s getting/gotten what he wanted, but am undecided whether his Karmic imbalance will be corrected within my lifetime(s). When it happens, couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy, IMO. And I suspect there will be some who will ever after suffer the pangs of their consciences being reactivated.
Meanwhile: Happy SPRING, ALL. We got a bunch of rain in the NorthEast for the Equinox, but nothing like the floods in the midwest and far west I saw on the weather Channel. They’re calling for lots of rain & some flooding this spring. Right now, all we’re getting is strong winds which are causing minor tree damage. Doesn’t look like we’re going to have to jump in the old boat we have on its trailer in the back yard to escape flooding; We’re 500′ above sea level and near the top of the local hills. More likely is that we’ll have to repurpose that little boats bilge pump to help drain the water coming UP due to the high water table. That’s if the power goes out or the sump pump stops working. Until then, we’ve only a few drips coming in from the rain. Looks like our cozy home will keep us safe until it’s turned 75 years old
Jere,
Unsolicited advice coming- keep reading at your own risk. First, your attitude rocks- you always seem upbeat even when faced with adversity, ok- here is the ‘advice’- your doctor may have already gone here but anyways: have you tried video games? There are some newer studies that show major improvements in stroke victims when they play video games. The hand eye coordination improvement is amazing. The study suggests starting with something small and easy then working up to more complex movements. The addition of wii for lower limb work was mentioned in another journal.
Sorry for butting I’m, but I’d love to hear that you were back on the water before the end of the summer.
Kat
Kat: AFAICT, Szasz was an emeritus (past-tense – no longer teaching) prof who later joined scientology wholeheartedly, taking their “spin” on the psychs hook, line, and sinker.
“Back in the days”, my impression was that he was less an evil shrink than a true-blue scientologist. (Which SHOULD have been impossible, since those by-definition SPs were supposed to be categorically denied any of the benefits of scientology. IIRC, he became the scientologists’ little darling while Ron & the S.O. were still being kicked out of all the available ports in the Mediterranean, a period when Tubby was getting increasingly paranoid and strident about the evil SP psychs who had been screwing up EVERYthing for the past millions of years.
Jere,
Thanks again- that info was certainly not in the bios that I read. I would have loved to have gotten to speak with him- that would have been a unique view. (Or maybe he was senile? J/k.)
Kat
Szasz could be characterized as sort of at the tail end of an anti-psychiatry movement that predated Hubbard, though Dianetics and Scientology typically piggybacked on it, and acted as if they had come up with the ideas. Also, typically, Hubbard was well behind the curve as well, as the sort of abuses he railed against in the early 1950s, such as assembly-line ice pick lobotomies – which were actually very short-lived and limited, and mostly the work of one wayward practitioner who had the same sort of pseudo-scientific self-assurance in misguided theories that we see in Hubbard – had been ended in the late 1940s.
By the time Szasz took up the cause in the 1960s, more nuanced, but still needed, reforms were at issue. Those reforms, such as the end of involuntary commitment, and de-institutionalization, took place, but of course Hubbard and Scientology continue to rail against an imagined image of psychiatry from the 1950s.
Another very interesting, and even admirable, psychiatrist who was involved in Scientology, was successful mission holder “Sarge” Gerbode. After the debacles of the 1980s, he went his own way and developed Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR), publishing research showing it as a moderately but not exceptionally effective therapy, which I think demonstrates that there is likely nothing more than that at best, that is “good” in Dianetics and Scientology.
Peacemaker,
The issues of mental health in the US are so numerous and are difficult to untangle. Under Reagan, there was a huge deinstitutionalization of state and federally funded hospitals for people struggling with mental illness. While this was seen by many as a positive reform and a giant step forward, it created mountains of problems for patients.
The system is still broken, and it doesn’t look like it will be fixed any time soon. when the state and federal facilities closed, the patients were ousted (and soon became a massive homeless population) without any way to successfully manage their mental illnesses. It is a very close mirror to the inadequacies of the American health care system- the rich can afford private care, while poorer patients are left with no where to go. (and before Foolproof jumps in, these people cannot afford scientology either) the outpatient facilities are inadequate to help, so it reverts back to medicating those who ‘act out’. Many end up in jail rather than getting help.
So, along with the closing of the state and federally funded facilities, many of the out patient treatment and mental health clinics also closed or became so overwhelmed that they were completely ineffective in helping any one. Back to the problems that were common during the bedlam days- over warehousing for the facilities that are currently still able to be run, and a large majority of the population receiving no help at all. Many of these people end up addicted to drugs or alcohol because treatment isn’t available.
I’m not a fan of involuntary commitment, but the way the government turned its back on the whole mentally ill community just pisses me off. It is still a ‘taboo’ subject to many, with many more uneducated about the issues within the system and still believing the old stereotypes associated with mental illnesses. Its pitiful that an enlightened society can still hold on to medieval views on mental illness and its treatments.
The profession, like every single profession, has good people and bad people in it. Most people don’t think that the ‘bad’ medical doctors are the norm, but let it come out that a psychologist or psychiatrist did something that would be considered malpractice, and some people pick up the torches and pitchforks. ANY malpractice should be prosecuted, but I can guarantee there are hundreds if not thousands of medical malpractice suits to every one that may be brought against a psychologist.
I will get off my soapbox for now but reserve the right to step back on….
Your soapbox is strapped to your back all day it seems. Still all this will look good on your job resume when you aspire to the lofty heights attainable in the world of psychology. You’ll go far…
Just a handful of disgruntled ex Scientologists posting here in the backwaters of the Internet … nobody reads what you’re posting and quite frankly no one cares. You might as well be screaming in a wind tunnel. Yes our orgs are not always filled to capacity but they will be as we continue to expand. You know L Ron Hubbard’s tech does in fact work, and you’re just furious that the Church turned you out for all of your ethical violations. There is absolutely no way we can be stopped. The planet will in fact be cleared. We’re working hard every day to accomplish that mission. Get used to it.
I think this might be a serious effort by someone to communicate their perspective, not merely a troll. It has all the hallmarks of a well-indoctrinated scientologist. “Everything will be good in the future as we “continue” to expand…” “The planet will be cleared.”
They literally have no concept of reality and the fact that if it were not for those trying to end their abuses, they would be completely irrelevant.
If, as you feel, that this is genuine then the writer has not not just drunk a cup of the kool aid but a whole barrel and come back for seconds and thirds. Truly a fully inducted member of the cult of $camology.
I am reminded of the Orthodox Jews. They believe a Messiah is coming and when asked “When?”, they all say, “Very soon now. It could be any minute now.” They have been saying that for many years now.
Interesting parallel how the Scamologists believe the planet will be clear soon.
The Orthodox Jewish religion does have some parallels to Scamology. When some of them try to leave the sect, they face many of the same kinds of problems that any cult members face. There is an excellent documentary movie about the plight of Orthodox Jews who leave the sect.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7214842/
It’s called “One of Us” and it explores a self-help group of ex-Orthodox Jews who try to help others who leave the sect. But it’s essentially a self-help talk group. They just meet and talk with each other – kind of like a 12 Step Meeting. Still, it’s an interesting film and that sect may make for an interesting episode of Aftermath.
Hahahahahahaha this is hilarious….and to think a lot of us used to think this way ????
Speaking of “screaming in a wind tunnel,” there is no “expansion” – Scientology is, factually and by every real data point, shrinking and dying.
Just pull up a list of orgs and missions from a couple of decades ago, like this one from 1979, and compare the real data: http://www.truelrh.com/1979%20WIS%28org%20list%29.pdf
Yes, the orgs are empty – emptier than ever, many of them not even as busy as the missions used to be. And there just about exactly as many of them as there were 30 years ago (and just a few more, than in 1979) – no “expansion” in decades.
The missions are also emptier than ever – and there are far fewer of them left, only about 50 in the US, and most of those reduced to a back office in someone’s business or residence.
What are the actual critical stats of WDAH Scientology-wide, active membership, and so on? Those haven’t been reported in decades – because they would reveal the truth of Scientology’s decline.
The independent Scientology movement is faring no better, and probably worse. They have virtually no presence to be found in the world, IVY Magazine is long gone, the BBSs and their internet forum successors have mostly vanished, and the indie websites and blogs are embarrassingly derelict and devoid of activity.
Auditing King,
I’m not an ex-scientologist who stumbled into the ‘backwaters’ of the internet. I’ve never been a scientologist. In case you were unaware of it, this blog is very well known in mainstream communities. Im interested in why you feel that you need to post such vitriol- it doesn’t help your cause at all.
Kat
So how has it worked in St Louis for Edison Bros? Oh yeah, they tried to use WISE tech in their mega million retail arm and it cost them the company. Poor decisions based on the tech. Anything that has to function in the Wog world that’s LRH related ruins everything it touches. I used to work for EBS and watched it fail. Thank you LRH for thousands of people losing their jobs due to the management drinking the kool aid at the local Org and using (UN-) Wise tech.
This would have been a multi billion dollar failure if it would happen today btw. Is there any other greater proof than the truth?
“Yes, our orgs are not ALWAYS filled to capacity, but they WILL be as we CONTINUE to expand.” Cap emphasis mine.
Auditing King, what are you smoking, hon?
Not only are your orgs “not always” filled “to capacity” , but going on 2 decades there’s barely been anyone in them AT ALL.
But – but – “they will be” (filled to capacity)…”as we CONTINUE to expand”.
GREAT! What statistic ARE you looking at, Auditing King?
OR, are you just spouting what Miscavige tells you at Int Events, backed up by “graphs” that have no numbers or dates, just Affluence lines?
Would THESE by any chance be your “proof” of the expansion of Scientology, genius?
Last but not least question:
Are you really that stupid, or just practicing?
I love satire! Its important to show the world your vulnerable side, and also show your humorous side!! “Cue slide whistle”
Auditing King
If expansion were to occur of be occurring
One would actually see people
Orgs are empty
People are leaving
Curious as to why?
Watch A&E Scientology; the Aftermath
And
‘Going Clear’
You can’t as is Scientology’s lack of expansion without the missing data
Look
But, Looked, what you don’t fully and actually and totally get 🙂 is that, in Scientology, expansion CAN occur – WITHOUT people.
Yes, its true! It doesn’t MATTER if orgs are empty!
It doesn’t MATTER if you don’t see any people in the orgs, on course, in the HGC.
It doesn’t MATTER if the org is operating with a barely there, skeletal staff.
None of this is RELEVANT.
Expansion of Scientology IS occurring – by leaps and bounds!
Do you understand?
Good!
Neither do I!
But they do 🙂
I’m not quite as nice as Mike. I walked out of the Cof$ in disgust while in good standing from their administrative statistical perspective. I was afforded no ethics protection – whatsoever! I loath to remember the experience and witnessed a vast amount of financially destitute staff members struggling just to live, let alone go up the Bridge. My own family was and still is, ripped apart by disconnection policy. I would have thought 20 + years of selfless commitment might be rewarded with some sort of exchange with doesn’t involve a make believe future shoved down their throats to shut staff members up. There are no longer any staff members I served the cause with left on staff. Literally, the numerous ones I have talked to since all hate the Scientology Organization with a passion! For a number of years I reported out tech & out policy over and over again being foisted off on org staff and their public. Not once was any situation ever addressed from management, except to assign me lowers for following policy. What sort of organization allows it’s members to go hungry when they have millions in reserves? The gap in services delivered compared to income has grown and will continue to grow as delivery is and continues to be in non existent per Hubbard’s own elevation. You just gobble up the bs from up lines. Don’t you know it’s off your sacred policy to accept money for donations/status levels etc without exchange and is a suppressive act by policy. There is no longer the SHSBC available in the CofS (why?). Just what do you expect? You’re on the side of organizational evil buddy. Go ahead enjoy your auditing, Hubbard himself would call it squirrel except for the vast amount of money now held in reserves. One day you’ll wake up and realize you’ve been ripped off, or worse don’t care if others are, all in the name of Scientology. Notice I haven’t uttered a word on the workability of the technology – I don’t have to, your precious church is a criminal enterprise first and foremost using lawyers as advisors. I guess a good question for you is : have you ever lied to get out of an official Scientology event? Where does your personal ethics lie with comradeship? Oh that’s right, better to follow the words of a dead guy than to help a fellow who needs it.
Yawn, hats off to you for a perfect, and perfectly eloquent summing up of the existing scene in Scientology, then and now. Straight from the heart; straight and true as an arrow. Just beautiful, thank you!
Cheers Aqua. Have a wine, relax, summer is on the way.
Indeed, both literally and figuratively. Good advice, Yawn.
It can’t be a real life claim, it just couldn’t be. They just don’t come out and play ever. Boy but I wish it was.
Auditing King, Scientology has been in Clearwater for 45 years now. How many Clears have you made in Clearwater? Not counting Scientologist who moved to Clearwater or were born into it. How many? You talk about ” Clearing the planet “. You cant make a Clear in your own backyard, much less the planet.
Haha! You tell ’em Auditing King! This will set the Kat among the pigeons! The lunatics will be falling over backwards and frothing at the mouth to respond as quickly as they can hit their keyboards in impotent rage. It’s about time I had a bit of support here (Marildi where are you?) and I’m an Indie not even a still-in!
Here I am, Foolproof! I peek in sometimes and read some of the comments — mostly yours.
Keep up the good work! I’m rooting for you. 😉
Here I am, Foolproof! I peek in sometimes and read some of the comments, mostly yours.
Keep up the good work! I’m rooting for you. 😉
Foolproof,
In one post you claim to disdain the new “management” and how you would never support it as it corrupted Hubbard’s true essence or some such idiocy, then you are claiming support from the same group you claim to hate. Which is it?
Haha! Poor Kat trying to catch me out with a seeming contradiction as I have so often caught her out. The common denominator (somewhat anyway) between the Indies and the Church is still the technology of LRH, which actually is Scientology, not the Church nor Hubbard, and which I have laboriously mentioned time and time again. But as a Johnny-come-lately only interested in lumping everything together you wouldn’t know that, or even if you did or do know it, you’d still do so in your desire to damage. Now you can feel a tad more educated on your new “pet” subject. You might one day come to know what you are talking about but I doubt it. I’m not going to explain any further as really you’ve got no business here – unless you are looking to expand your psychology business or media career.
And as for “hate”, no no, I leave that to Wynski and now you it seems.
Fool,
Your comment that I have no business here is interesting- this isn’t the first time you have said something to that effect. Is this blog/subject only open to scientologists and ex-scientologists? Us ‘wogs’ aren’t allowed I guess…figures you would take that stance. I have no interest in changing your mind- you wouldn’t change it if your life were at stake. My interest here is stopping the abuse and disconnection that this group practices. It is to help people to escape a horrible cult that has dangerous practices and is headed downhill fast. The exchange of ideas, debate and rants that we all engage in here is educational. Im sorry you don’t enjoy it. I do.
I have tried to engage you in an intelligent debate regarding your view points and
my own, but you consistently ignore the proffer. I have to ask again- why is that??
Kat
Is it ‘off policy’ to wear sunglasses in Scientology? Never seem to see a Scio wearing them, mmm… too expensive I suppose. One has to save whatever meager amount of money they have to buy Miscavige a birthday pressy.
Maybe we should make a board game and call it: ‘Scientology! Oh, go on and join!’.
You posters can take it from here!
Says the wise one: “Never desert a group to which you owe your support.”
I wonder how this applies when a scientologist is required to disconnect from their own family? Or when they are asked to put support of the cult before support of the ones they first and foremost owe to.
Then again, consider the “Source:” This brilliant piece of advice comes from a charlatan who abandoned a staggering three (3) family “groups” and flat out refused to pay the support he owed them!
As with most scientological weaseling and dodging, it probably comes down in part to how “group” is defined. It apparently isn’t intended to include family – does anyone know if there’s a Scientology technical definition of it, and if so what that includes?
But as I noted in previous comment, it’s obviously a bit of disingenuous ideological trickery, that only refers to Scientology and no other group – not someone’s prior religious group or any sort of “other practice,” etc. I’d guess that any member who ever questioned that, or tried to explain that they needed to put time or resources towards another group that they thought deserved their support, got an explanation about how Scientology transcends that and is the ultimate group – does anyone have any experience of how such a situation played out?
The CF project of the small and failing Columbus org looks like it’s on the same trajectory as Orlando’s – which had to be taken over by Clearwater public, and still apparently didn’t get done before the “ideal” facility opened like it was supposed to. As I’ve noted previously, based on specifics provide for some projects, CF cleanups require approximately 5,000 -10,000 man-hours – several tens of thousands of files, that average 20 minutes each to go through and re-do – so a couple of volunteers aren’t going to cut it, they would need something more like a dozen people working full-time for several months.
The Foothills mission putting on the origami event and bake sale (Hubbard actually wrote of such things, “Don’t engage in ‘fund raising’ or ‘selling postcards'”), is the failed little one now run out of a couple’s house. But they’re apparently on fire – or have got a fire lit under their feet – to try to make a go of it, somehow; I think we hear more out of them, than some of the smallest of the failing orgs, including even the nearly non-existent one in Philadelphia (in a metro area with a population of 6 million, nonetheless).
Hubbard’s “Never desert a group to which you owe your support” quote is one that has always astonished me with its trickery and hypocrisy. Obviously it’s a tool of rhetoric and indoctrination that actually only applies to Scientology, and no other group; members are encouraged, if not coerced, to abandon any other allegiances, such as under the policy against “other practices,” and the admission to the IRS that “Scientologists are expected to and do become fully devoted to Scientology to the exclusion of other faiths.”
But, Scientology IS NOT a faith. It is, however, a business.
Just like the Mafia is a business?
One in the same…
Chris Shelton posted a new video today called “Scientology’s Public Image Policy.” It actually touches upon Mike’s current situation with his daughter Taryn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=812&v=pBT94zsPpkM
I am a never in but am so curious about Scientology and it’s demise after watching and getting addicted to the show on A&E – Scientology the Aftermath docuseries. Mike – I start my morning on your blog. Then I go to Tony Ortega. I am reading every book written by every ex member and watching every video and movie on the subject. I love this stuff. I have read all the hateful sites Scientology puts out too. Wow! Evil people! The organization is helping the destruction of their own cult. They are really evil and people in my circles are talking about how evil they are. I think you can call it the Shrinking cult of Scientology. No one is going to join it. Oh- and I have absolutely no interest in reading anything written by the chkarlatan L Ron Hubbard. The only thing I am curious about is when season 4 starts on A&E?
All these ‘invitations’ look like the C= grades in a high school marketing class.
About the CCHR announcement of their 50th anniversary, one can only be gobsmacked and wonder WTF. With all of their anti-psych rhetoric even a highly dedicated OSA staff member has to wonder about these completely fictitious claims.
Just compare the number of mental health professionals that are graduated each year from institutions of higher learning in the US alone. I don’t know what the numbers are, but you can bet your ass that these numbers are way more than the number of scientology auditors that are being certified annually on a worldwide basis. In fact it’s not even close. Not close at all. Even back in the day when scientology academies were actually busy the psych based mental health practitioners were kicking ass in the numbers department.
Now, as for results. Psychs don’t have a fancy ‘grade chart’ to show the abilities gained that their patients could achieve. In fact, I don’t even know what they are out to accomplish other than help someone through a difficulty that a person might encounter in their lives. scientologists on the other hand do have fancy ‘grade chart’ outlining all of the sublime abilities gained as one progresses on ‘The Bridge to Total Freedom’. In scientology, one is supposedly handling their personal ‘ruin’ while advancing to the exalted states of ‘clear’ and ‘OT’. The trouble is, there are no ‘clears’ or ‘OTs’. There never have been. If someone can come forward and demonstrate these states, Ms. B. will gladly cut a check to the IAS to up your status to the next level of Patron Foolatorious. Or, if you’re of an indie bent, I’ll just give you some cash so that you can buy a complete LRH library on eBay for $19.99 + shipping & handling. In other words, scientology is nothing more than a scam selling snake oil and placebos while claiming to be the most ethical group on the planet.
If I were to need some mental help with whatever obstacle life throws my way, the choice won’t be a hard one to make. It would be one incredibly cold day in hell before I ever pick up the cans again. What with global warming accelerating, I’m hoping that the time on my future ‘whole track’ will be can free for many trillions of years.
Not if you can’t run engrams. Chief Lab Rat – this is what you can do: turn Fabian and go and find a competent Indie C/S and auditor and get some auditing – then one fine day you can post your Success Stories here! Think of the outrage you will cause! Otherwise you will indeed be can free for many trillions of years. Good luck!
Fool,
Again, engrams is a made up definition- (again, again) Hubbard just plagiarized a previous school of thought and made up a new definition for it to sell it to the cult. Semon first described the cognitive psychology Engram in 1904. Since Hubbard was Born in 1911, he couldn’t have been Semon in a past life- therefore he stole the idea just like he stole every other idea he ever put on paper. I’ve been looking at the “theories” he claims to have discovered and making a chart of where the theory originated- it’s pretty interesting that so far EVERY thing he claimed )except the Xenia’s BS) can be found elsewhere before he decided to “invent” it. If you don’t believe me then look for yourself!
Yes some people have somewhat observed natural phenomena (although the observations tend to be skewed). But they never did anything about it though, wherein lies the rub. Hubbard stated somewhere or other that “Scientology is only reminding you of what you have forgotten”. I think now that it is in “Fundamentals of Thought” book but as I am not so frantic for “references” as Peace-Pipe-Smoker is, we’ll leave it at that.
Pie action sounds more exciting than the pie auction they have planned.
The poor girl in her rumpled uniform. They couldn’t wait to find an iron?
The Foothills Msn is aligning itself with 50’s homemakers and bingo. Come up to present time!
Staff and SO members’ problems with uniforms and their upkeep are well-reported, and infamous. Particularly having been in the military, I see small signs of it all the time in these photos, and then the occasional awful example.
The thing that struck me, was the picture with 6 Melbourne staff members holding up a banner – 4 rather unkempt older women, and 2 men with too-long pants that are all bunched up around their shoes. Typical for Scientology, very unprofessional.
Indeed PeaceMaker. Seeing folded arms while in uniform is awkward to digest and often Miscavige has his hands in his pockets at official functions and photo shoots. Being pathetic and disrespectful is all part of their game. It does show the Scio navy that Hubby boy threw together is nothing more than a distraction to mask criminal intent and associated activities that money is their only goal. And that’s just a visual, read Hubbard’s policy and the true operational nightmare of Scientology is in print.
Peacemaker,
They always remind me of people who would check you in to an inexpensive hotel late at night. They look about as miserable too. Kind of like the hotel workers during spring break in Daytona Beach- kind of harried and very unhappy.
‘A New Look At OT’. What, is he going to jump? After handing over every dime he had? That’s Scientology.
When the most interesting man in the world jumps off a cliff. He only has to do it once my friends.
It takes a full time Sea Org mission (2-4 people) to stand over a couple of people doing alphabetical paper filing? OMG, Hubtard was THE management and organizational GENIUS!
Wynski,
Sadly, for the sea Org, PRESENT TIME will forever consist of color-coded and banded manila folders; along with a telex machine and Gestatner ink-roller copier.
I think that someone said it was just one SO member sent to oversee CF – or perhaps it’s just one member of a larger mission sent to the org, who is working on that specifically. There’s certainly no sign in the photos of a larger SO mission at work, and as far as I’m a aware they’ve never previously assigned SO crews to such a task.
It’s certainly a sign of Hubbard’s management ineptitude, that he directed orgs to have these filing systems that they fall years behind in keeping up with, and will only fall behind in again after the push for the “opening” event – and all of which effort, produces virtually no new business for the orgs nowadays. It’s one of those things that probably worked to some extent back in the early days when the files were small, relatively current, and there was an appetite for things like Dianetics and Scientology and little awareness of the organizations failings and abuses, but now about as useful a tool as a buggy whip (unless you’re Amish, or a sulky racer). Organizations and regimes that are dying, and gone mad, are typically marked by their dogged adherence to ways of doing things, that no longer work.
It occurs to me, perhaps Sears is a fairly good comparison to Scientology, with its roots in turn of the last century practices, a heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, and current decline into oblivion due to inability to adapt, despite a remaining large infrastructure of (mostly failing) locations. Of course, there are some differences – such as that Sears actually sold useful products, known for working reliably.
I helped in CF a few times.
One Saturday afternoon I was volunteering and there was an Sea Ogre who’d been sent to “activate” and “product officer” our volunteer work in CF. Unsmiling, micro-managing, your typical regular-army/fake navy Sea Org female, a creature right out one of RB’s comics.
As I recall she began practically every thing she said with, “So”.
She was said “totally” and “actually” a lot.
I had arrived at the org at 1PM, having pledged to spend 4 hours. That evening I had dinner plans.
At about 2 I received an unexpected text necessitating that I return to my office immediately to handle something. It was an urgent situation that could not be ignored or postponed.
I started wrapping up, gathering my things.
Instantly this creature was at my side.
“Leaving already?”
“Yes.”
“So…why?”
“There’s something I have to handle at work.”
“Oh…so… what do you do?”
I told her.
“So, what has to be handled ?”
I told her.
“Could someone else actually handle this? Couldn’t you get your ___or your ____to handle this?”
I told her no, and precisely why it was that I was the only one who could handle it this particular issue.
“Hmm, totally…. I totally get it. Ok, so…but, couldn’t this actually wait? Couldn’t you actually complete your cycle here and then make it go right to have this situation totally handled afterwards?”
“I’m afraid not.”
Shifting tactics, she said, “So, the thing is, we actually need EVERY pair of hands here today in order to make our target!”
I told her I understood and apologized for having to cut my volunteer time short.
A moment of silence and then, “Sooo…how about if you left right now, TOTALLY handled this and then came right back afterwards?”
“That wouldn’t work.”
“Why not?”
“Because its going to take me several hours to handle this.”
“What’s the problem with that?”
“I have plans this evening.”
“GOT IT. Soooo, what are you doing?”
Up until this point I’d been patient, polite and respectful.
That was about to change.
“I’m sorry; WHAT is it that you’re asking me now?”
“I’m actually asking you WHY you can’t come back later, to help us make our target? What are you actually doing tonite?”
Smiling tightly, staring wide-eyed at her, I answered this incredibly annoying bitch in my worst, my VERY worst, mocking, sarcastic tone, “What am I DOING tonite? What am I ” actually” doing? And, this…this would be YOUR business…because …???”
She blushed, but rallied quickly. “That’s NOT OK! Your tone is TOTALLY NOT OK!”, she exclaimed, adding, “Don’t you CARE about getting a PRODUCT here?”
By this time, after 25 years, I’d actually 🙂 LEARNED a thing or two.
Do NOT engage.
Do NOT allow yourself to be baited.
“I’m SO sorry,” I replied, not answering her, and switching my tone back to high-ARC-friendly-and-sincere mode. Laying it on thick, I said, “You know, I ACTUALLY DO FULLY GET HOW TOTALLY IMPORTANT THIS IS! But I must end cycle now! Thanks SO much for your help! I’m REALLY glad I was able to contribute to this motion today!”, and with that, I flashed what I hoped was a genuine smile, gave her arm a quick, friendly squeeze, threw my purse over my shoulder, and left her there, gaping a little.
She wrote me up, of course 🙂 For “cutting her comm” and “being disrespectful to a Sea Org member”…. some other bullshit 🙂
…………….a fake navy Sea Org female creature – Laughter!
There was very little Sea Org presence in the orgs and missions when I left in 1982. I guess they hadn’t yet spawned and surfaced.
Richard, as it seems was the case with many things, it often depended on how close things were to the main Scientology and Sea Org centers such as in the LA area – or not, as apparently in your case. I’ve heard and read multiple accounts of Sea Org influence, and the the implementation of Sea Org style tactics like “gang bang sec checks” and requiring staff to work schedules that allowed inadequate time for even sleep, in Southern California missions starting not long after the Sea Org came ashore in the early 1970s.
It took time for Hubbard’s paramilitary force to extend control throughout all of Scientology, and thus the more far-flung orgs and missions seem to have not necessarily seen such clear signs of it until much later, into the early 1980s. Many ex members are under the impression that was when it started, around the time that Hubbard happened to be fading and Miscavige filling the power vacuum, and thus assume falsely that Miscavige was the cause of it, when he was more of a symptom.
I spent about a year and a half off and on at the American Saint Hill Organization in LA doing training, internships and co auditing. In my recollection it was an oddity to see someone walking around in the public areas in a sea org uniform but I’m sure they were busy behind the scenes.
For about two months I dated a sea org woman but she was always a bit “not there” and I assumed she always had some attention back on the job. Or maybe I just wasn’t the man of her dreams. Oh well.
Aqua – Your mention of a sea org creature immediately put me into the “mental image picture” of The Creature From The Black Lagoon. Scary stuff. lol
Richard and Aqua-
I thought I was the only one. Although I was picturing ‘Sigmund the sea monster’ from 70s TV!
Kat
🙂 @ Richard, Peacemaker and Kat,
In fairness – I like to be fair – factoring in what I know today and didn’t know then – in fairness, this woman I’ve skewered here because her rudeness and pushiness and utter cluelessness about how to treat a volunteer got under my skin that day, this veteran SO female was, in all likelihood, exhausted, stressed, and in great fear of not making the set (and completely unrealistic) target – a target which had likely NOT been set by her, but instead, FOR her, by her Seniors.
Talk about getting a flash from a film: Writing this I just got one from “Gorky Park”. At the end the hero lets all the sables on the fur farm out of their cages. One by one, each door is opened, one by one they each scamper off into the tall, Russian wood…so beautiful!
That’s what I feel like doing for every Sea Org member right now. Just go in and free them, somehow. Run!…Fly!…Go now! You’re free! Life is so beautiful, go live it!
Aqua,
That would be wonderful…well, I think I might get upset if we were to find the sea org members in cages, but still…
Wynsky offered:”It takes a full time Sea Org mission (2-4 people) to stand over a couple of people doing alphabetical paper filing?”
How many SO missionaries® does it take to change a lightbulb? Just one if the bulb isn’t a CICS.
I’ll bet the mission is making the job go slower by their helpful advice
As a note, I was CF when DSM came through on his OEC Vol 2 internship. After I spot-checked his understanding of the purpose of CF, a policy he should have seen within the previous few days, He didn’t touch anything in CF; Since we were Flag, he wasn’t our first intern & the department had had a few disappointing experiences previously, so we’d worked out how to weed out the hopelessly clueless and keep them from making a mess. At best he was an indifferent student who didn’t believe anyone could teach him anything useful. As it turned out, he gave us GAT & GAT II, GAK and GAG and bastard child of GAT IX and X, 4-swing FNs, and other lovely squirrel techniques which are destroying any gains people might have been having
God I want a copy of that CD. Friend of mine has a podcast where he makes fun of bad music. Wish I knew which dumpster to look in, because I wouldn’t give them a penny for it, if anyone can leak it to YouTube please do.
“What is the bee about?
Anyone know?”
I guess this is their logo?
From Struffoli to the Manchestini – try the food and drink inspired by the city’s iconic symbol
When Manchester was granted status as a borough in 1842, its coat of arms included a globe with seven bees flying above it. This was to symbolise the fact that Manchester was a hive of activity in the nineteenth century with the products of the city’s industry being exported all over the world.
Manchester’s worker bee can be seen almost everywhere in the city from lampposts, bollards and bins to shop signs, company logos and even restaurant door handles.
source: https://confidentials.com/manchester/be-the-bee-in-manchester
Question about the folks standing at the top of the mountains – are they getting ready to jump?
Wow… so absolutely underwhelming. I keep forgetting, what does Scientology do again?
Ummmm….they fuck with your mind? Break up families? Drain your bank account? Force members to do the purif, SRD & Student Hat over and over and over again?
Just wondering…
Oh that’s right, it’s a family and friends rip off affair where even Sunday picnics have armed security and potted trees strategically placed for cover. Where even sitting in a park minding your own business is a threatening gesture. Oh, and not forgetting ‘rice & beans’ is often the only thing on the menu, if you’re lucky that is and don’t mind never sleeping.
They’re still giving members rice AND beans? I never had it that good…
I certainly do not have much experience with this cult. But after following events for 40 years – as best as I could – I would venture an answer to the question, “What does Scamology do?”
I would answer by saying, Scamology is a cult that tried every way they could to get Tax Exempt Status and ever since they managed to get it by using every dirty trick in the book, almost all of their activity since then has been about keeping that Tax Exempt Status.
I would also say that given all the harm they do, it is of the utmost importance and urgency for the IRS to withdraw their Tax Exempt Status. It was a terrible mistake to ever grant them that status and until it is revoked, there is very little chance they will stop doing the harm they do.
…the young lady in the Toronto Org promo.. jacket too tight – shIRt un-ironed.. bottom button not closed. Just saying’….
But she is a Shit Mate. Is she not? Or is that a Shit Head?
Worker bees are a traditional symbol of Manchester. Looks like another one of these flyers where someone googled “what is famous about [place]” and pasted in everything that would fit.