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If It Walks Like a Cult and Quacks Like a Cult. . .

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Tom Whittle, Scientology spinmeister and conspiracy theory enthusiast, is at it again. He’s just posted an article for STAND titled Unanswered Questions About Jonestown, what’s apparently going to be the first in a series. It doesn’t take much deduction to predict which way his story will go: Whittle would have you believe that Jonestown was a CIA mind-control operation gone terribly wrong. But hey, any theory has got to be better than the more accepted theory that religious cult leader Jim Jones convinced his minion of fanatics into a horrific mass suicide.

The story is pretty formulaic as Scientology propaganda goes. With phrases like “unanswered questions” and government “cover ups,” Whittle attempts to paint a more sinister picture of the Jonestown disaster. With a combination of insubstantial innuendo and imaginative paranoia, he serves up an inviting dish of baloney, no doubt irresistible to the fevered minds of Scientology true believers.

On the other hand, good conspiracy theories always contain a few grains of truth. It allows the conspiracy-inclined to connect the dots through a disconcerting maze of dubious plausibilities. We know for example that Jim Jones had government connections. He had support from San Francisco mayor George Moscone, and had meetings with vice presidential candidate Walter Mondale and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. We know that the People’s Temple had come under investigation and that Jones believed that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were conspiring to undermine his cult. And we also know that only seven autopsies were performed, relying on eyewitness accounts and suicide notes as the only reliable evidence of the causes of death.

It doesn’t take a soothsayer to predict what Whittle’s articles will leave out. There won’t be a single word written about the People’s Temple’s long and disturbing litany of abuse and demented behavior. Sort of like Scientology. Now there’s a couple of dots that wouldn’t be too hard to connect. But guaranteed, Tom Whittle will stay clear of anything suggesting such a grim connection.
 

Veda

Sponsor
45838_342410189211231_889733165_n-jpg.198387

Jim Jones with Nation of Islam body guards.


Some background:

Years before the alliance with Louis Farrakhan, Scientology had a close alliance with Jim Jones of mass murder Kool aid infamy.

Here's Jim Jones, from 1978, denouncing Paulette Cooper. Obviously he had been briefed in detail by the Guardian's Office.

 

Dave B.

Maximus Ultimus Mostimus
There were lots of stories about the CIA connection back in the day most of them have disappeared down the memory hole. His on scene investigation got Rep. Leo Ryan killed. All the u$ual $pook agency $tuff, iirc, the point was slave labor for the various mines, diamonds, etc. the "mind control" was just for keeping the slaves working, much like $cientology.
 

ThetanExterior

Gold Meritorious Patron
I've just finished reading a book by some former members of the Children of God cult. At one point it talks about the way the cult spreads lies about former members to discredit them. It says: "They got that from scientology".
 

Veda

Sponsor
January 1986: David Miscavige explains about a new OT level which is done "in a completely exterior state," after one causatively discards the body (commits suicide):



________​


Jim Jones' last speech:

"The relaxation of stepping over to the next plane."

_________

Although this time period has been brushed under the rug, let us not forget that in the aftermath of the January 1986 Death event, Scientologists were enthusiastically anticipating following in Ron's footsteps and "causatively discarding the body" and going to the next level.


Somewhere, out there, are at least several copies of a tape recorded phone conversation from January/February 1986. This recording, which I heard shortly after it was made, and remember fairly well, was between a person (I think now residing in the Netherlands) named George (pretending to be a Scientologist in good standing) and the Executive Director of a Scientology Mission and OT 7.

It was the first time that George had conversed with this person after the "Death Announcement." It was extremely strange.

The Mission ED thought that it was WONDERFUL that Ron had "causatively discarded the body," and spoke happily - her words - of "doing OT 15, learning to discard the body [like Ron did], and going [after killing the body] to be with Ron."

If anyone out there has a copy of this stored away somewhere in his garage, please dig it out and put it on the Net.

From this, and other reactions, it was obvious that a portion of the Scientology membership - circa 1986 - had the potential to be happy suicide cultists.
 

Veda

Sponsor
I've just finished reading a book by some former members of the Children of God cult. At one point it talks about the way the cult spreads lies about former members to discredit them. It says: "They got that from scientology".
Cults borrow from each other.

1) In the first video of this thread (re. Paulette Cooper), Jim Jones talks of the People's Temple adopting Scientology tactics such as using lawsuits to harass and ruin.

2) After it became known that Scientology was using the "religion angle" to exempt itself from laws and from taxation, various other cults decided to incorporate as religions with the hope of receiving the same benefits.

3) And I'm still waiting for the Mormons to start using e-meters and adopt Security Checking.
 
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