JustSheila • 7 hours ago
The COS 'official' photograph shows shooped in faces to the left in front of the pillars. 500 is a very generous estimate. Personally I'd put it at 350 or so at its peak but it could have possibly been 500 at the most since nobody had a full view with the wall in front, but It is narrow between the brick wall and stage and the pillar front and sides were empty of people, as we could see from the back. I didn't stay the entire time as I was with a local friend who is not an ex and we were there many hours after a long drive and he was tiring.
Police were mainly concerned about the radical right Christians as they drove past, as well as people getting hurt trying to cross. It's a very busy and dangerous street and Spring Break is going on, too. The police assisted some pedestrians and were actually fairly decent, but I saw them pull over a van that stopped in the middle of the street to take pics or whatever. Not our guys. I suspect some local Christians, as some were furious and yelling out things like 'Satan Worshippers' as they drove past.
COS served snackies to those poor SO Members who'd spent so many hours on the buses, no real meals, and the food was pretty much gone by 1 pm even though the celebrations didn't begin until about 3 pm Disgusting.
The event began by thanking all those who had come in by bus. NY/NJ gave the biggest hoot, There was no sound at all when the speaker thanked 'Atlanta local staff.' Too funny! When she mentioned thanking 'government officials,' there wasn't a single person named. Lol. Making it up as they go, as usual. Just about everyone we spoke to was from Nashville, though there were some from LA who flew in days earlier to set up the event. My friend was charming and not the least intimidating - everyone talked to him. We learned a lot.
There couldn't have been more than 60 or so cars parked in local lots, so that gives a good idea of how many buses were used. Just 1-1/2 blocks away the lots were empty, even with businesses closed for the day, and there weren't many lots to use.
We overheard grumbling amongst staff and public. Quite a bit of it.
They weren't happy to be there, they were obligated, and they were over it. The sun was strong and it was windy. Some were unhappy about the lack of assistance to the children, who had a small tent set up in the Post Office parking lot, but not a single toy and whatever adults that were supposed to supervise the kids weren't even there so the kids were running around the place as they had nothing to do. Already tired and overworked staff were trying to supervise the kids, too. Public (??) in attendance were anxious to leave. At 1 pm we saw some 30 or so leave. They must have heard it wouldn't start until 3 and come back later. It wasn't fun for them waiting around all day.
I believe we saw quite a bit of cognitive dissonance, something I haven't seen with scientologists at their own events and orgs since the 'LRH is dead' event, which split the true believers from others. Imagine the betrayal they were experiencing, being ordered around and treated like dogs with minimal expense on them, forced on these long, awful bus rides and not even fed well, then seeing such extravagant expense on this opulent building in an exclusive, pricey residential neighborhood of Atlanta when there wasn't even staff or public in Georgia. Talking about how expensive and beautiful the building was actually caused pained looks through smiling faces. Misplaced love, misplaced loyalty, misplaced idealism. People willing to give everything they had to make the world a better place who ended up getting sucked into a con that only abused them and threw the misuse of money in their faces. I liked the staff members and felt so sorry for them.
IMHO, the 'Ideal Morgue' scene has backfired. It has created some serious dissonance and it's game over. We can talk to the staff and public now and they will talk to us. Time to talk one on one with them again.
Neighbors across the road let some of the videographers who were exes/anons/media and had been shooed away by COS use their balconies for videotaping and the view was excellent. So there's vids around, hopefully they'll be edited and released soon.