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What is the magic number?

Cherished

Silver Meritorious Patron
Just reading and chatting to people, it's clear that there are a large number of people around the globe who are "under the radar" - because they fear disconnection from family, losing their job, or someone in their family losing their job, or... so on.

I was thinking about this and began to imagine a solution, specifically for Sydney, but this could be applied anywhere.

What if these folks were asked to make a commitment to go public on a specific date, let's call it "Freedom Day", just for fun, but the commitment is CONDITIONAL on a certain number of others from that field going public on the same day.

In Sydney, if the field is x00 people, then what is the magic number that would give everyone enough confidence to go public?

eg. I will publicly declare my independence from the Church of Scientology Inc on Freedom Day IF 250 Sydney scientologists who have never publicly declared their independence commit to doing so on the same day.

Or 200, or 400? What is the magic number?

For a different org/field, the magic number might be quite different. It might be 20, or 1000. I don't know. Only those who know that field and know the people in it can ascertain the number.

We'd need to have some HIGHLY trusted people to manage the commitments: people that have great reputations for confidentiality and can be trusted NOT to disclose any of the names if the magic number isn't reached.

Imagine, we could have a tally board so that we could see (and celebrate) the unnamed people who are out, even though they're under the radar. They could write up their own personal declarations of independence ready for release if the magic number is reached. And if the magic number is exceeded, we could keep partying in anticipation of Freedom Day!!

Too idealistic?

Worth asking people "What would the number be for you?"
 

AnonyMary

Formerly Fooled - Finally Free
Great idea, especially because it encourages forward action in numbers by those who would be afraid to do so alone.
 

WildKat

Gold Meritorious Patron
yes

This sounds highly achievable.

I think it's doable as well. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a majority either. In most cases, you would only need a few opinion leaders to come forward and the rest of the sheep (I mean true believers) would follow. Scientologists do love their Opinion Leaders.

What would happen if John Travolta and Tom Cruise both came out together and said they'd been living a lie for years, they really are gay, Scientology is shite, and they've only stayed in this long because they or their families were threatened?

The bottom line is, once you feel you have nothing left to lose, it's much easier to come forward.
 

WildKat

Gold Meritorious Patron
I don't get it

Just reading and chatting to people, it's clear that there are a large number of people around the globe who are "under the radar" - because they fear disconnection from family, losing their job, or someone in their family losing their job, or... so on.

I was thinking about this and began to imagine a solution, specifically for Sydney, but this could be applied anywhere.

What if these folks were asked to make a commitment to go public on a specific date, let's call it "Freedom Day", just for fun, but the commitment is CONDITIONAL on a certain number of others from that field going public on the same day.

Why is it that threads like this one, which I think merit discussion and keeping alive, tend to drift quickly to the bottom and die out, and threads about nothing just go on and on and on and clog up the board?

Doesn't anybody else think this idea warrants some discussion?

Alas, maybe I am the dreaded "thread-killer"?
 

Mystic

Crusader
Just reading and chatting to people, it's clear that there are a large number of people around the globe who are "under the radar" - because they fear disconnection from family, losing their job, or someone in their family losing their job, or... so on.

I was thinking about this and began to imagine a solution, specifically for Sydney, but this could be applied anywhere.

What if these folks were asked to make a commitment to go public on a specific date, let's call it "Freedom Day", just for fun, but the commitment is CONDITIONAL on a certain number of others from that field going public on the same day.

In Sydney, if the field is x00 people, then what is the magic number that would give everyone enough confidence to go public?

eg. I will publicly declare my independence from the Church of Scientology Inc on Freedom Day IF 250 Sydney scientologists who have never publicly declared their independence commit to doing so on the same day.

Or 200, or 400? What is the magic number?

For a different org/field, the magic number might be quite different. It might be 20, or 1000. I don't know. Only those who know that field and know the people in it can ascertain the number.

We'd need to have some HIGHLY trusted people to manage the commitments: people that have great reputations for confidentiality and can be trusted NOT to disclose any of the names if the magic number isn't reached.

Imagine, we could have a tally board so that we could see (and celebrate) the unnamed people who are out, even though they're under the radar. They could write up their own personal declarations of independence ready for release if the magic number is reached. And if the magic number is exceeded, we could keep partying in anticipation of Freedom Day!!

Too idealistic?

Worth asking people "What would the number be for you?"

Over many years I have been/was a student of a subject called "Sacred Geometry", or SG. SG gets into many aspect of mathematics and geometry all within a creative spirit. I even drew and painted (fine art) SG for years. Is a very fascinating subject.

Cutting to our subject here:

And The Magic Number in this case would be: 61.8033989. There are always fractional folks so the .8033989 is easy.

 

Anonycat

Crusader
I love this, Cherished. 10 sounds comfortable - but that might be only 2 families in some cases. 25 is my guess to get a comfort zone.

Can this be made to happen? I dearly hope so! Too many are caught in the web of fear, and none deserve to be forced in life to lose freedom by disconnection.

Let's do it!
 

Feral

Rogue male
The magic number has to be small enough to be doable but large enough to impress the feeling of safety upon those risking being amongst them.

It also has to be too many for the local OSA to overwhelm.

It could be as simple as 5X or 10X the local OSA and DSA personnel.

Good idea Cherished!
 

Cherished

Silver Meritorious Patron
Over many years I have been/was a student of a subject called "Sacred Geometry", or SG. SG gets into many aspect of mathematics and geometry all within a creative spirit. I even drew and painted (fine art) SG for years. Is a very fascinating subject.

Cutting to our subject here:

And The Magic Number in this case would be: 61.8033989. There are always fractional folks so the .8033989 is easy.

For which field, Mystic?

The magic number has to be small enough to be doable but large enough to impress the feeling of safety upon those risking being amongst them.

It also has to be too many for the local OSA to overwhelm.

It could be as simple as 5X or 10X the local OSA and DSA personnel.

Good idea Cherished!

Well, helloooo, Sydney!
 
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