What's new

The Perfect Recruit

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
Three weeks ago I didn't know what Anonymous was, I had never even viewed an official Scientology web page and I didn't know there were Ex-Scientology forums or groups. I still have not seen the HBO documentary and I hadn't seen any of the others. I left all of this behind long ago but I was there none the less. This must be very difficult for non-Scientologists to understand - why someone would join the Sea Org knowing what we know? In my own little way maybe I can help.

I held a number of posts in a number of locations but for a brief moment I was probably the Sea Org's worst Recruiter. In that post I never recruited a single soul. I had gotten quite a few people into Scientology and I had recruited people before but not as a job. As a Recruiter, I simply was unable to convince another person to give up their life for the Sea Org. I was like an old soldier whose hand went inexplicably limp and couldn't hold the sword any longer. It was the moment my bough broke. I didn't realize it at the time but apparently this was a point I could not go beyond and it was a fracture in my faith that continued to grow.

That was long ago and I didn't think something like that could happen again. The way I left it, Scientology was a philosophy with many helpful truisms and the organizations of the Church were a related but separate issue. The power struggle after LRH died was not completely unexpected. If staff endured hardship and injustice it was because they had elected to stay. Even the Lisa McPherson matter was inconclusive. I did not know who Karen de la Carriere was three weeks ago when I first saw her in a video. However, I did remember Karen Jentzsch from those days in the Big Blue but I didn't know she had a son and I didn't know the circumstances of Alexander's death or how Karen was treated. But there is something about Karen's story that hit a nerve. From my own experience I find her profoundly believable and now once again, I am discovering that the bough has further to break. This idea that the teachings of Scientology and the Church are somehow insulated from each other needs to be explored and challenged.

Lets imagine someone who has never read a book, taken a course or has any knowledge of Scientology asks to join the Sea Org. If they expressly wanted to join in order to have themselves and make other staff work 80 hour weeks, for $10.00, in crowded berthing, with few vacations, prohibited from using cell phones, TV and the internet, and they wanted to be on the RPF or send others there and to impose disconnection policies with family members - that person would probably be told they didn't qualify. They may even be quietly escorted to the nearest exit and placed on security's watch list.

The problem would be a lack of conviction that all of these things should be done to further the goals of Scientology. Without the pretext of an altruistic purpose, reasonable people, even in the Sea Org, would probably view this kind of treatment as inhumane. The perfect recruit is someone who goes through an orientation phase and only then is willing to make the compromises of conscience. And this is where we get to the crux of the matter. In your own home or office where you have control, the books and teachings of Scientology are just another harmless philosophy. We take what we want and discard the rest. However, in the Church, the laws ensconced in the Policy Letters and the Technology in the Bulletins compose two great gears of a machine that dissembles the common sense of the outside world into their basic elements and reconstitutes them in a way where everything consolidates the ultimate authority over reason in the person of LRH. The ability or belief that the thoughts and faith of staff can be monitored on the e-meter makes this possible. If you stray - it will be discovered.

But LRH died. Even if we assume for the sake of discussion that he was a benevolent dictator, the system was still designed for one person without any effective democratic recourse. There is no Scientology parliament or Magna Carta or College of Cardinals. Humanity knows such systems inevitably fall under control by people with the strongest conviction to win. The most trusted Lieutenant.

The Perfect Recruit.
 
Last edited:

Northern Shewolf

Patron Meritorious
Thank you for the distillate of your experience, and yes Karen's story is particularly terrible. What a brave soul she is! I consider her the Grande Dame of all Exes, a title that she most certainly has earned the hard way. Welcome from the Shewolf.:)
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
Thank you for the distillate of your experience, and yes Karen's story is particularly terrible. What a brave soul she is! I consider her the Grande Dame of all Exes, a title that she most certainly has earned the hard way. Welcome from the Shewolf.:)

Thank you Northern Shewolf. I have been off the grid for a very long time and have dedicated the last few weeks towards catching up. I consider that the way Karen was treated was beneath any level of human decency.
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
The Perfect Recruit.

Some years back I saw a history documentary that covered the Islamic conquest of Spain. They made a point that the Catholic Church became so intolerant of anyone or anything remotely non-Christian or heretical because the existence of the entire Christian civilization was at stake. I don't know if it is true that the Inquisitions were the result of an over-reaction by the church to the threat of invasion but it made me think of a quote to the effect, "That which you fear you become". Help me out here please. Isn't this something LRH said? Wasn't the concept that if you fear something you create the mental image, the postulate, the mass to the point where that is the universe or reality that you are living and superimposing on the world and thereby take the persona upon yourself?

It kind of works, doesn't it? We are learning that LRH feared a lot of things: The authorities, the IRS, prison, not having enough money, losing control of the organization and the tech, being betrayed. Scientology may not have iron maidens or dungeons but it seems to have made the same old transition from emphasizing the teaching of the word to enforcing it. On the ships they had the "Chain Locker" and tossing people overboard into oily garbage strewn harbor water. I must admit, I had briefly heard of the overboard story long ago but in my mind I was envisioning that they were anchored offshore from some beautiful Mediterranean island, clear azure waters and warm sun - LRH could not be so cruel, I'll get my shorts, another romantic myth shattered. At the Big Blue the RPF were relegated to the morgue, a wall of metal body drawers on one side and autopsy tables in the center. But then there was the RPF's RPF and the RPF's RPF's RPF - descending orders of discipline. Even Hell has a hell and that was a little claustrophobic storage room about 2 doors down on the other side of the tunnel. This was Wayne's rock slammer RPF. The backbone of Big Blue's renovations. The EPF were numerous and handy, but the RPF were mostly veteran Sea Org members, highly trained execs. They were mature and skilled.

When I first heard about "The Hole" I knew it was Gold's Morgue - seniority of post, prior experience, loyalty and respect would not earn you a reprieve. Wayne's Inquisition wasn't a fluke, a momentary organizational insanity - it was just an earlier more innocent point on the trajectory.

I still have my little green Scientology Ethics book and I have done the PTS/SP Course. Looking back now, I have to wonder, "For how many people was LRH the SP and were they PTS (Potential Trouble Source) to Scientology"? I think this is what they call a Rock Slam on the e-meter - your instant ticket to the RPF (no pressure). The outside world probably relates to this as PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and became aware of it in a big way after WWI. The concept isn't new. This emphasis on Ethics, PTS/SP, internal discipline and external litigation and investigation apparently started early on in Scientology history and we can probably assume it is an integral part of its nature and will never stop. It may be time to start asking if any of the benefits are worth the costs in suffering and oppression. I need someone to explain to me how the way to lift a person from degradation to a higher plane of existence is to place them in full-immersion degradation. Maybe the greater good for the majority of Dynamics is to relegate Scientology to an obscure chapter in some social studies curriculum. But even there, it could still reincarnate somewhere else. The Greek System is just a few blocks away.
 
....I held a number of posts in a number of locations but for a brief moment I was probably the Sea Org's worst Recruiter. In that post I never recruited a single soul....

I just remembered I was int he same boat at one point. I was the PPO (personnel procurement officer) at SO org in LA for 4 months, never recruited a single person. Never even interviewed anyone. I would "drill" my routine for talking to someone and it just felt so phony. Hated that post. Left a couple years later.
 

hummingbird

Patron with Honors
Lets imagine someone who has never read a book, taken a course or has any knowledge of Scientology asks to join the Sea Org. If they expressly wanted to join in order to have themselves and make other staff work 80 hour weeks, for $10.00, in crowded berthing, with few vacations, prohibited from using cell phones, TV and the internet, and they wanted to be on the RPF or send others there and to impose disconnection policies with family members - that person would probably be told they didn't qualify. They may even be quietly escorted to the nearest exit and placed on security's watch list.
First off, Big Blue, I'm glad you were the world's worst recruiter. Think of all the lives you saved!

But something came to mind when I read the above quote... back in the 70s when I was in I knew a few people who joined the Sea Org, and they all had that determined, dedicated gleam in their eyes. But, I also knew some people who wanted to join because they had nowhere else to go. The idea of at least some kind of roof over their head and some kind of slop on the table was better than life on the streets with their druggie friends. Of course, the latter group didn't get in because of that "making able more able" crapola. I'm wondering if they're so fussy now?
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
The Perfect Recruit.

I'm going to try to tackle this question about Scientology belief. Like many other much smarter people than myself, I'll probably fail, but maybe it will help somebody.

Long ago a very dear old friend of mine got an Abyssinian kitten. Right off you knew Harvey was not an ordinary cat. Super fast and acrobatic - I could play with him for hours. One time Harvey had to stay in the shelter while dad was away. When dad returned the people plopped Harvey's file on the counter - it had big red letters on the front "Escape Artist"! When they opened the shelter one morning they found Harvey wandering the halls so they watched him. In one night he had figured out how to manipulate the latch up and over. They said, "He has problem solving intelligence".

This is a good thing. It gave us Clovis spear tips and fire. We like abstract thinking - art, architecture, theater. But abstract thinking can be a serious liability without the experience to back it up. Harvey was just lucky he didn't run into a problem solving pit bull.

And there's the rub. When people are able to integrate Scientology or any philosophy into their logical processes they find it interesting and helpful but when the real world application is dominated from within the context of a political power structure then a person needs experience to recognize when normal boundaries of behavior have been violated and they must have the personal fortitude to rebel against it.

I have a closet full of old Scientology books. I also have a bible and a copy of the Quran. On my own, I have not sent anyone to the RPF, taken out anyone's eye, or demanded a jizya payment. In my own home I am the power structure and I am relatively harmless.

The beliefs of Scientology should be challenged even if only to exercise one's right to do so, but just remember, most reasonable people don't care what other people think as long as it doesn't hurt anyone. If they don't see the harm of Scientology then it probably won't matter very much. Now that the Church's activities are increasingly viewed as abusive and illegal that can change. Even Communism has great appeal on paper, but add in the body count from the wars and starvation it has caused and the reasoning behind it takes on greater relevancy.

The first Scientology book I ever read was "History of Man". Its always fun to see the expressions on veteran Scientologists faces when I say that. Its a heavy read. This is where we are reading about having genetic engrams from an early evolutionary stage as clams. Yes, yes - I know, but hear me out. Before we were humans we were Australopithecus, and before that we were great apes and before that monkeys and before monkeys we were prosimians which were like tree climbing marsupials or lemurs. This is going back 50 million years now. So yes, its true - we are all basically descendants of squirrels. And what came before that? A single cell organism didn't just turn into a shrew overnight. So from a purely intellectual standpoint the concept of being something as evolutionarily remote as a clam is not completely impossible.

I like to say that, "Anything that can be conceived of in the mind is probably possible in some way, someplace at some time". Our frame of reference is extremely limited. We only had an industrial age 200 years ago. What would a civilization look like that had their industrial age a million years ago? People ask if there are aliens? If you lived on the moon you would now have to say, yes.

As soon as we accept the premise of the existence of the spirit or soul that opens up a whole line of questions? If we are something other than a body, what is it composed of, how old is it, where did it come from, does it have its own set of natural laws like electricity and gravity? It is a short jump from the concept of spirit to some space opera scenario - if there are souls here are they there and are they the same. Is the god of people the god of someone in another galaxy, another intelligent species?

LRH was a science fiction writer and it makes sense that this would blend seamlessly into his world view. Merging science fiction with religion - what a concept. Whats not to like? At least until they start pulling out the old manual on witch burning and it all goes sideways.

Scientologists don't get into it or go on staff to become horrible people. In fact, I think it is their inherent desire to do right that makes them vulnerable to control. You start out creating close relationships with other staff working through difficult challenges, strong loyalties and mutual purpose develop. But then comes the guilt trip - the low stats, not working hard enough, off-purpose, did something wrong, got secrets. The desire to be good and not let the team down kicks in, you compromise on ethical boundaries, willing to sacrifice more, and more, and more until you are the one holding the whip.

Someone who is amoral would thrive in this environment. Just perfect the social veneer, blend in, talk the talk - manipulate yourself into a position of authority and the entire system falls into place at your disposal. Scientology organizations were always designed for one person. LRH said he was designing the org board to last forever but without separation of powers it was always just another tyranny waiting to happen.

So the problem isn't really Xenu. If Xenu clubs were just innocent fun this wouldn't be an issue. The problem is guilt tripping people into supporting an evil empire.
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
I just remembered I was int he same boat at one point. I was the PPO (personnel procurement officer) at SO org in LA for 4 months, never recruited a single person. Never even interviewed anyone. I would "drill" my routine for talking to someone and it just felt so phony. Hated that post. Left a couple years later.

And did you use "Big League Sales"? That had to be one of the most heartless manipulative things I've ever read. You are trying to get a person to uproot their entire life, usually during their most productive years, to commit to a billion years of servitude and with all the sleight of hand you might as well be selling Kirbys door to door.

I hear you.
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
First off, Big Blue, I'm glad you were the world's worst recruiter. Think of all the lives you saved!

But something came to mind when I read the above quote... back in the 70s when I was in I knew a few people who joined the Sea Org, and they all had that determined, dedicated gleam in their eyes. But, I also knew some people who wanted to join because they had nowhere else to go. The idea of at least some kind of roof over their head and some kind of slop on the table was better than life on the streets with their druggie friends. Of course, the latter group didn't get in because of that "making able more able" crapola. I'm wondering if they're so fussy now?

I do think they were taking people with almost no familiarity with Scientology during the early days of Big Blue and many were fitness boarded fairly quickly. I'm not up on current procedures but I'm guessing they are being cautious. The liability and out-PR factor is extremely high in the new reality plus they must be terrified of getting infiltrated by Anonymous or an investigative journalist. That first Security Check is a doozy!
 
Thank you Northern Shewolf. I have been off the grid for a very long time and have dedicated the last few weeks towards catching up. I consider that the way Karen was treated was beneath any level of human decency.

That is absolutely true but there is also Annie Tidman, Yvonne Gilham Jentzch, Marie Sue Hubbard herself, Hana Eltringham, John MacMaster,David Mayo, etc. The list of people who were and are still abused, the amount and the gravity of the abuses is unbelievable. You'll find below just a couple of examples of things that took place on the Apollo as recounted by HANA ELTRINGHAM:
"He put this 4½ year old little boy - Derek Greene - into the chain locker for two days and two nights. It's a closed metal container, it's wet, it's full of water and seaweed, it smells bad. But Derek was sitting up, on the chain, in this place, on his own, in the dark, for two days and two nights. He was not allowed to go to the potty. I mean he had to go in the chain locker on his own, soil himself. He was given food. And I never went near it, the chain locker while he was in there, but people heard him crying. That is sheer, total brutality. That is child abuse."
"I saw one woman, Julia Lewis Salmon, from the United States, thrown overboard. This woman must have been in her fifties. She was - had her hands and I think her feet tied, maybe only her hands tied and a blindfold, but she went over. She was so panicked by the thought of being thrown over this way - she was standing on the edge of the deck, panicked, beside herself, shouting. And I was standing on the A deck with Hubbard and his other aides, watching this going on. And Julia didn't jump over, she had to be pushed over, because she was incapable, she was in such a fit." But coming back to Karen, she is a noble and kind soul, she is trustworthy and caring and she has done a lot to unveil the dark side of Scientology. :biggrin:
 

Dean Blair

Silver Meritorious Patron
In this day and age with the internet and all of the information available to people about the Sea Org, David Miscavige, L Ron Hubbard, and Scientology itself, I am astounded that anyone would actually sign up these days to join the cult and support it. My God... people don't even buy a washing machine without checking the internet for reviews.

How, with all of the information available can Scientology recruit anyone? I know they were going to third world countries some years ago and still do in present time to get recruits. Those third world countries do not have all of the technology that we have in the Western world and perhaps don't have access to the internet. But if someone lives in the United States of America and joins the Scientology Cult then they are really not the brightest bulbs on the planet.
 

Terril park

Sponsor
In one night he had figured out how to manipulate the latch up and over. They said, "He has problem solving intelligence".

This is a good thing. It gave us Clovis spear tips and fire. We like abstract thinking - art, architecture, theater. But abstract thinking can be a serious liability without the experience to back it up. Harvey was just lucky he didn't run into a problem solving pit bull.

Yes! Less intelligence = better survival skills. Q.E.D


So yes, its true - we are all basically descendants of squirrels.

We celebrate such fortunate genetics.

And what came before that? A single cell organism didn't just turn into a shrew overnight.

Those of us fortunate enough to be married may have a different view.:coolwink:

So the problem isn't really Xenu. If Xenu clubs were just innocent fun this wouldn't be an issue. The problem is guilt tripping people into supporting an evil empire.

The Squirrels are here to save you from that.
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
That is absolutely true but there is also Annie Tidman, Yvonne Gilham Jentzch, Marie Sue Hubbard herself, Hana Eltringham, John MacMaster,David Mayo, etc. The list of people who were and are still abused, the amount and the gravity of the abuses is unbelievable. You'll find below just a couple of examples of things that took place on the Apollo as recounted by HANA ELTRINGHAM:
"He put this 4½ year old little boy - Derek Greene - into the chain locker for two days and two nights. It's a closed metal container, it's wet, it's full of water and seaweed, it smells bad. But Derek was sitting up, on the chain, in this place, on his own, in the dark, for two days and two nights. He was not allowed to go to the potty. I mean he had to go in the chain locker on his own, soil himself. He was given food. And I never went near it, the chain locker while he was in there, but people heard him crying. That is sheer, total brutality. That is child abuse."
"I saw one woman, Julia Lewis Salmon, from the United States, thrown overboard. This woman must have been in her fifties. She was - had her hands and I think her feet tied, maybe only her hands tied and a blindfold, but she went over. She was so panicked by the thought of being thrown over this way - she was standing on the edge of the deck, panicked, beside herself, shouting. And I was standing on the A deck with Hubbard and his other aides, watching this going on. And Julia didn't jump over, she had to be pushed over, because she was incapable, she was in such a fit." But coming back to Karen, she is a noble and kind soul, she is trustworthy and caring and she has done a lot to unveil the dark side of Scientology. :biggrin:

Thank you West Grinsted. I did indeed see Hana's video. For anyone who has been immersed in this for any length of time, what she has to say serves as a confirmation of all those things our intuition told us was wrong. I'm not yet fully up on everything that has happened over these past decades - it is a lot to take in all at once, but I got the gist of it and I think its an abomination.
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
In this day and age with the internet and all of the information available to people about the Sea Org, David Miscavige, L Ron Hubbard, and Scientology itself, I am astounded that anyone would actually sign up these days to join the cult and support it. My God... people don't even buy a washing machine without checking the internet for reviews.

How, with all of the information available can Scientology recruit anyone? I know they were going to third world countries some years ago and still do in present time to get recruits. Those third world countries do not have all of the technology that we have in the Western world and perhaps don't have access to the internet. But if someone lives in the United States of America and joins the Scientology Cult then they are really not the brightest bulbs on the planet.

I believe you are correct in that something is going on with people from 3rd world countries. It would be nice to get the skinny on this. I can't imagine Scientology is financing all of this real estate and private investigator extravagance on the backs of college students and less affluent patrons. I have to think a wealthy elite are subsidizing it all - but are they actually receiving valuable services and do they know of the injustices? "I sense a disturbance in the force".
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
Yes! Less intelligence = better survival skills. Q.E.D




We celebrate such fortunate genetics.



Those of us fortunate enough to be married may have a different view.:coolwink:



The Squirrels are here to save you from that.

I like your Q.E.D. reference. Yes, smarter isn't always better and we should be kind to squirrels. They may inherit the earth. LOL
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
The Perfect Recruit.

I am very impressed with the following analysis posted on "LeavingScientology.Wordpress.com". My understanding, is that the posting of extensive material on this message board is discouraged so I have only pasted in the links and the bullet point summary. Please see the full article.

The Original Big Blue
_______________________________________________________
https://leavingscientology.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/the-dirty-dozen/

The Dirty Dozen
December 1, 2010
tags: Phil Zimbardo, Scientology. leaving Scientology, The Lucifer Effect

1. Dehumaniziation
2. Enemies and War
3. Collapsed Time, The Constant Emergency
4. Secrecy, Transparency and Accountability
5. Information Control and Thought-Stopping
6. The End Justifies the Means – Machiavellian Power:
7. Authoritarianism, Intention and Counterintention:
8. A Culture of Confession:
9. “Toughness” and the Para-Military Paradigm:
10. Money and Greed:
11. Penalizing Downstats
12. Appearance vs. Substance, Hypocrisy:

Summary
My point is this: the abusive environment that exists in organized Scientology is not merely the errant behavior of a few bad apples. There are factors like the above that are part and parcel of the culture of Scientology. Where they came from, why they exist, who put them in place, are all matters of speculation and personal experience. But these factors do exist throughout Scientology. And most of them, while they have been taken to psychotic extremes by Miscavige, have always existed in the organization culture.
If anyone is serious about reforming Scientology, these are the sorts of things that will have to be examined, evaluated, and corrected.
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
The Perfect Recruit.


‪Scientology: The Hole‬

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mho0oWe2Ypk
Tom Tobin - Tampa Bay Times
Published on Jan 13, 2013
Scientology defectors describe violence,abuse and humiliation in "the Hole". Isolated work sites. Limited communication with the outside. Psychological pressure to obey. Guards poised to chase after runaways.
The Cult of Scientology imposes a raft of restrictions and mental controls on its "religious" workers, who grind on, abiding 100-hour workweeks.
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
The Perfect Recruit.

Do you remember, "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" by Woody Allen?

"In comic Woody Allen's film debut, he took the Japanese action film "International Secret Police: Key of Keys" and re-dubbed it, changing the plot to make it revolve around a secret egg salad recipe."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061177/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_64

I started this thread explaining that I left the Sea Org a long time ago and for the most part I have been off the grid until very recently when I started catching up on 30 plus years of Scientology history. I had been invited to work at Gold when LRH was still living but I respectfully declined, so as I am learning how badly things descended into a hellish nightmare, it is with the keen awareness that but for a slight fork in the road this would have been my fate.

Woody Allen cleverly dubbed his own version of reality over an old Japanese B-Movie to turn it into something completely different. As I am reading about David Miscavige's conversion of Int into his own parody on life, I find myself wanting to dub over movies that I have seen.

The first that comes to mind is "Catch-22". I read the book actually. A WWII American occupation of a town is turned into a self contained tyranny based on black market commerce. If you want to leave you must prove that you are crazy - but if you want to leave then you must be sane.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065528/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

"The Tin Drum". A German boy at the age of 3 wills himself to become a dwarf and learns how to break pane glass windows with his screechy voice. Everyone around him succumbs to a horrible fate.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078875/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". Almost too obvious, another of my reads. We watch a normally intelligent man revert to the most basic human instincts after dabbling with technology beyond his understanding or control.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033553/?ref_=nv_sr_3

"Lord of the Flies". I've read this one also. Shipwrecked boys pit atavistic savagery against morality in a duel for supremacy.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057261/?ref_=nv_sr_2

"United Red Army" aka "The Japanese Red Army". Based on a true story, a Japanese Communist terrorist group murders some of their own and while hiding in a mountain retreat proceed to force their own members to "Self Criticize" before the group to the point of death one-by-one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Red_Army
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Red_Army_(film)

"1984" by George Orwell. Another I have read. A dystopian society where the language is distorted beyond recognition and the slightest "Thought Crime" is hunted down and severely punished.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087803/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

"The Great Escape". WWII POWs tunneling their way out of a Nazi camp. Steve McQueen's famous motorcycle escape attempt.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057115/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

They all have elements that I want to bring together into one film:
A psychotic diminutive protege manipulating the demise of any challenge to his authority, the group's losing struggle between moral sensibilities and primitive barbarism, culling the unfaithful, the demand to prove loyalty to the cause by breaking the individual spirit, and finally a brazen escape through the fence on motorcycle.

Its both comical and horrifying. I have to ask myself, "How do people who have non-conformity as a common denominator become so completely conforming?"

The people sentenced to The Hole were the elite of the elite who worked with LRH, some virtually raised by him. They had proven their dedication and Sea Org toughness many times over - but somehow all of that meant nothing in the end. We call this an "Out-point", an element of illogic or insanity. These people were trained in the Data Series and it was their jobs to make other people follow it. Did it all fail because of Dear Leader's charisma, sheer brute force and intimidation, is Sea Org toughness just a facade for inherent weakness and fear?

I want to blame the command structure. If you look at the routings on internal orders they are a long list of acronyms for posts and orgs often with no names, only a barely legible initialing, ending with the ultimate authority - a cryptic typewriter written "R", "L-" or "DM". Only the insiders, the chosen few know who these people or posts are or where they derive their authority. If any one of them walked into an org and said, "Help, we have been taken over by a monster!", the average rank and file wouldn't know who they were. So LRH's paranoia over being located or connected on paper to Church management created an insulated bubble that was ripe for a coup?

I've been in that warp, so I can honestly ask this question of myself, "If I went to Gold, would I have been an enforcer or an enforcee?" Reading Mike Rinder's story I have to admit that it is entirely possible I could have ended up being both.

Another bullet dodged.
 
Top