What Has Scientology Done?!

For this blog I will use Scientology's jargon. I will post at the bottom definitions for them. So if you have an MU or if a particular word doesn't fit right in the sentence, clear it and do not skip a gradient! I'll try to highlight them as I go along.

A lot of people have been asking me why I am such an outspoken critic of Scientology when I was never in or even met a Scientologist before I picketed against the church. They ask in real life as well the internet. When most ask me I think they are really trying to find out more on Scientology than my personal beef with the Church of Scientology. So I will address both at the same time.

Let me make a few things clear right off the bat. I have no problem with what you want to believe. Be it Hubbard's tech, Jesus dying for your sins, or even the PETA lie that beer is better for you than milk. Believe it, shout it, live it, I don't care. My problem isn't Scientology the belief, it's the organization of The Church of Scientology and their practices of fraud and abuse.

My knowledge about Scientology was very limited before early 2006 when I first started looking into Scientology and the Church. I knew L. Ron Hubbard founded it, tons of celebrities are Scientologists, and it was based around the book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. So right off the bat I knew there was some quackery afoot but I never investigated it any further until Tom Leykis (radio talk show host in Southern California) was telling his listeners that "Trapped in the Closet" was the best episode of South Park he's ever seen and to go watch it. So before any spoilers could be said, I turned it off and tracked down a copy of the episode to see what all the fuss was about.

Here's a link to the episode for those who haven't seen it yet.

Xenu? Body thetans? No way! This can't be real right? After I looked around I found the answer; Yes it's true Xenu is a part of Scientology, yes people buy it, and they buy it for about $300,000 USD.

So I went on various anti-Scientology groups on MySpace and was inquiring and talking more about the Xenu story. Now remember these were full of people who were already critical of the Church. There were no fence sitting Wogs or Scientologists to enturbulate. Even so, it was enough for them to put me on a list and passed around various pro-Scientology to have my account with MySpace shut down. I was lucky and my account survived. I could not say the same for others who I was talking to. They kept it up to the point where I was left with 2 options. Get more angry and passionate about my right to free speech and critical perspectives or give up and shut up.

Like 90% of the population, I don't give up or shut up when people try to get me to. I get louder. That is what they have done. Tory Christman, a critic whom I have infinite respect for told Church officials that they create their own enemies with OSA and their tactics they use to silence critics. She was right. They created me. It infuriated me that someone was willing to infringe MY right to free speech because they didn't want possible adherents to be scarred away or have their own members blow that I met up with a fellow critics "marlysfan" and "Messenger" to hold a sign outside of the Kansas City Org.

All they had to do was just let me have my weeks worth of fun talking about Xenu and I would of been over it. I would of just thrown it in with all the other crazy crap I've heard only to be brought up to friends or maybe mentioned in a blog post, but no. They insisted I take further actions against the Church by stifling my gift as a human, my right as a human, and the very one they claim to be champions of.

Now as for me, even something like this could grow old for me. I could of just dropped off the critic scene, and I almost did, until they tried to get it shut down for the 13th time (that I've counted at least.) I haven't even posted anything anywhere about Scientology for at least 10 months. However, once a critic, always an SP, always an enemy. I few under the radar even still just until I could have gotten situated in my new home. Then they tried again! I stopped even bothering to count or look because it was clear that even though they have been very successful in shutting down most of my anti-Scientologist friends on MySpace, they couldn't get mine down.


In the frame of those 10 months without Scientology interactions I spoke earlier about, I visited other message boards and became quite fond of one called 4chan.org ebaumsworld.com and found this video.



My fist reaction was not a pleasant one. I've seen how Anonymous has acted before and had just as much hope as I did fear having seen good things they've done, while at the same time had to deal with a group of them called "Patriotic Nigras" giving me shit in Second Life. But it looks like Anonymous, with the help of Mark Bunker, did the right thing. Before I saw the February 10th protest I decided to not attend any of their protests until I could see the way they conducted them selfs before I joined the next one. I was surprised how well they did, and I was there for the protest on March 15th and will be there for the one on April 12th in Hollywood.

I did meet some interesting people at this protest that reminded me why I fought so hard in Kansas City to get people to see. I met a woman who was in the Sea Org for 30 years and was scarred she would die if she left the Church because she lacked a high school education and loved ones outside the church who was there to protest Scientology forcing Sea Org women into having abortions. I met a man who was declared an SP because he helped his Son leave Scientology and now he cannot speak to his Daughter who is still in.

One of the most disturbing revelations of that trip came after I got home. Scientology claims that Anonymous is a terrorist organization and made a short DVD and posted a copy on the internet:


You cannot see in this video but you can in the DVD video (UPDATED: The Road to March 15th video contains the best video proof of this. http://www.vimeo.com/824772 at about 12:30) that the Bomb threat message at about 3:18 that claims they ripped it from the YouTube website from an Anonymous member. A closer look reviels that the video "ripped" from YouTube is in high def. Meaning one of 2 things. Scientology got ahold of the master copy of the video somehow and just said they ripped it from YouTube OR they made the video them selfs to paint Anonymous as terrorists. Here's a obvious giveaway that proves this bomb threat was NOT Anonymous. Notice how "Anonymous" said "This will be the world's biggest terrorist attack on a religion." Terrorists do not call them selfs terrorists or say "We're going to commit terrorism", especially if they are not really terrorists not committing terrorism. The other big giveaway was saing Scientology is a religion when Anonymous's message is that it is not a religion but just a tax exempt multi-level pyramid scheme cloaked as a religion.

Does this sound like a Church to you?



Cult Jargon:

• M/U, Mis-U, or MU - a misunderstood word, meant to cause everything from blows (sudden departures) to overts and withholds, and actually being the root cause of SPs. Because of the centricity of "MUs" and their destructive potential it is a crime to go by them when studying, and subjects the student to the risk of getting a kangaroo "court of ethics". The cult is fanatical about not going by one, and insists that everyone look things up endlessly in dictionaries and go through every definition. This becomes quite tedious with words like "to", "set", and "be." Extensive pieces of the "tech" are devoted to "word clearing", qv, and so the hapless student ends up trapped in a arbitrary system which may punish or help, punish or help, alternately, with the word clearing or the ethics actions. The very definition of "MU" is mutable and arbitrary in that it is a word that makes one frown or blink or stumble on or slow down on reading, etc., as spotted by others - all of this adds to the coercive, conforming, and group- pressure nature of the beast. See M3, M4 for more on this topic. "Look up your M/Us and quit your nattering Mister, or I'll have you busted down to Ethics!"
• Gradient - a gradual approach to brainwashing that Scientology employs so as not to scare off potential recruits. Things like OT-III, widely available over the net, are deemed to be "out-gradient", as they drive away raw recruits because they look like insane gibberish sputtered from the foaming mouth of a brain-fevered baboon. Also called a "gradient scales approach". Deviating from this tech is called going "out gradient"; a serious error.
• Xenu (ZEE-new, ZEEN-you), sometimes spelled Xemu (ZEE-moo, ZEEM-you), the evil galactic ruler that packaged us all up, put us on Hawaii, and blew us up with H bombs 75,000,000 years ago, according to L. Ron Hubbard, author of Dianetics. The picture on the cover of Dianetics is meant to restimulate this incident implanted by Xenu, and force us to buy a copy. What's that you say? Hawaii didn't exist 75,000,000 years ago? Shhh! You'll wake him! Note: which spelling you choose is up to you; the field is split about 50/50 in ex-Scientologists, critics, and even authors on which one is best. Each side vigorously defends their pet spelling, and both sides have documentation to back up their version, which they insist is the only correct one. I believe either is correct, but I prefer Xenu with an N, pronounced ZEE-new. It is rumoured that this emotional debate will eventually lead to a schism of the arscc into two distinct and warring camps (can't you *see* the difference? *He's* black on the *left* side!)
• BT, Body Thetan - Usually plural. Evil spirits which need to be exorcized. "OT 5 consists entirely of running out BTs; what a bore."
• Wog - a derogatory and racist term the cult co-opted from British slang, and now uses to refer to people outside of Scientology's purview.
• Enturbulated - Hubbardese for being upset. "Suzy found ars so enturbulating, she ran away."
• OSA, Office of special affairs. The "dirty work" department, the cult's KGB. Took over from the GO, Guardian's Office, when the GO's leaders went to jail for infiltrating government offices, stealing and altering official files that put the cult in a bad light. "OSA Int - Office of Special Affairs International - Oversees DSA (Director of Special Affairs) network as well as handling international external threats against the Church of Scientology and international legal matters." - Jonathon Barbera. Also called GOSA as a pun on GO+OSA, and as a means of putting the lie to the constant PR refrain that "we've reformed; we're no longer criminals". Yeah, right. Only the name changed, in fact; the dirty tricks and harassment operations continue to this day. Just ask any of the ars regulars for examples; many have first-hand experience. OSA Int is now located at the HGB, qv.
• Blow, 1. To leave suddenly. Also, the person who does this. "Sam Blew off post today; he's our third Blow this week!" 2. To get rid of the charge or mass of an engram (a moment of pain and unconsciousness). "I blew so much mass in my session!" See MU, M3, M4.
• SP, Suppressive Person, an evil person; someone who criticizes Scientology in any way. (the two are one and the same in the cult) SPs are the cult's _1984_ Goldsteins, and give definition to the group and a common enemy. Supposedly, some large fraction of the total population is composed of these "anti-social" characters, variously cited as 2% or 20%. Hubbard listed 12 traits of the SP, such as talking in generalities, criticism, and so forth. SPs are formally "declared" with a goldenrod issue, and lists are kept of these dangerous people. Ars has adopted its own SP levels as a badge of honour; in Scientology, there are no levels of SP. SPs create PTSes, people who are influenced by them. See MU, PTS, Disconnection.