I disagree. Nobody is holding guns against anyone's heads in the Sea Org. While comparisons to totalitarian regimes are
somewhat appropriate at times, there is not one single person in the Sea Org who can't get up and walk out
if he or she chooses.
The ONLY reason any person stays is because of his or her OWN self-created, agreed-upon prison of
mental beliefs and attitudes.
I routed out of the SO twice. It wasn't "easy", but also, it was in no way "horrible" or "traumatic". I just didn't buy into the shit, I kept my TRs in, I persisted, I quietly giggled to myself when they told me I would become a DB if I left, I ignored the executives when they threatened to bar me forever from my OT levels, I knew the "rules", and I kept going until "out". Yawn. I played along, but it was not even moderately "disturbing".
It seems to me that people at times (overly) exagerrate the "force" exerted by the group on members. Yes, there IS a tremendous amount of force, but all anyone has to do is
change a few beliefs and ideas, and just WALK. Nobody can stop you if you really want to leave. The problem is that few REALLY want to leave. There IS a reason for that. Some seem to miss what this reason is. I will spell it out for those.
What holds any person there is his or her own BELIEFS about Scn, "eternity", "the workability of Scn", and all of THAT nonsense. Staff stay because they buy into that horseshit. Yes, there also may be some fear of having to "make it" in the big, bad wog world once one leaves. And after 20 or 30 years, that fear might grow. But, it is still minor when compared to the "severe KSW mindset" that acts as the iron that forms the prison cell bars.
I don't intend to be "mean", but I get a little tired of hearing some of this BS about, "oh, he or she was so great but was held against their will in a brutal environment". "He or she had no choice, and was only following orders". They ALL have a CHOICE.
This is NOT Saddam's Iraq or Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Russia! There are NO bullets threatening to kill you. In the end, each person who stays there CHOOSES to stay in the Sea Org, largely due to the
dumb beliefs this person has agreed with, and these beliefs set him or her up to become the effect of all sorts of threats and coercion - threats and coercions that would not and COULD NOT exist if one didn't buy into the Scn paradigm.
While the prison and fear in Stalin's regime was physical, the prison in Scn is almost entirely "mental".
Even prison guards herding Jewish people to the gas chambers at times exhibited "decency" and "compassion". You have to be a fucking ROCK to fail to display these things at some point.
Scientology is a mindfuck. Sea Org members are severely mind-fucked. It is not a minor thing. The degree of indoctrination (i.e. brain-washing) is severe.
Scientologists do NOT take responsibility for their "beliefs". Usually, they can't even recognize these AS "beliefs" in his or herself, and most see their thoughts and views only as "truth". It is known as delusion. It is known as believing in fairy-tales, but worse, involves attempting to make the rest of the world ALIGN with these fairy tales. Nutty stuff really, this Scientology.
I don't mean to minimize RR's death, as ANYONE'S death hurts someone somewhere, and ANY death "is too early" as far as someone is concerned. But, people do die every day. You will die. I will die. We will, for the most part, die wherever we do based on own OWN CHOICES.
My wife died of cancer in the Sea Org. The FSO paid for all of her chemo and radiation treatments. She had a care-giver for the last 3 weeks, when she was on a morphine drip for the pain. There was NO intention to "cure her with auditing", and to forget about "regular medicine". I don't know where some of this shit comes from. Yes, I had to make a great deal of NOISE, and flapped on FSO lines to get some action in the beginning, but they did address the situation in all possible ways. In fact, she WANTED to also try Hulda Clarke's "zapper", but at the time the Church viewed it as "other practices", and forbade her from doing so. Whatever. Maybe if she had routine physical exams, and this is also probably true for other staff in the Sea Org, such diseases might be detected "earlier", and thus might be able to be better addressed if caught in time. But THAT failing is NOT unique to Scientology or the Sea Org. Poor people everywhere, who have no health insurance, are often the
victims of "late detection".
The truth is the truth. Facts are facts.
The Church of Scientology sucks. Marty Rathboner sucks. Much of what Hubbard did sucks. And, people who choose to be there and stay there make their own beds. They are not all blind and dumb (though it may seem that way at times). For the most part, I suspect many simply compromise their values and integrity. Ortherwise, really, how could he or she STAY THERE? :confused2:
It is a criminal cult, set up by a master deceiver, which takes advantage of the good will, hopes and dreams of many decent people. But the buck DOES have to stop somewhere. The people who choose to stay DO assist and forward the abuses - each and every one of them.
And, every one of them will die sooner or later.
Note: Many of the SS elite in Hitler's Germany truly BELIEVED that they were "making a better world" and helping Man to evolve to a new and better "ubermensch". In a sick, demented sort of way, they had IDEALS and truly wanted to "help" Man attain glorious new heights! BEWARE such nonsense. The road to heaven is often strewn with the dead bodies of those who disagreeed! The SAME sort of crap exists in Scientology. "Good intentions" and "a desire to help ones fellow Man" are meaningless when the RESULTS contradict that claim or feeling.
Judge ONLY on behavior and results. Do not be suckered by listening to claims, assertions, ideals, and expressions of "feelings" and "good intentions".
Look, don't listen! Look (at the real products), and don't listen (to all the claims, ideals, lofty intentions and PR).
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