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When did the International Events start?

Doesn't seem like Scientology held any big, glitzy events before Hubbard's death, but maybe I'm wrong. These flashy events always remind me of Christian televangelist shows. Its funny how no one inside questions why there is usually just the short pervert yapping on stage instead of other execs having a chance to do their thing. Maybe they just don't care and don't ask questions anymore. Was it Miscavige's idea to hold these kind of events?

Another funny thing is that no one inside questions why there is no checks and balances on Miscavige. I could be wrong, but doesn't seem like Hubbard expected there to be a "ecclesiastical leader" since the only "leader" Scientology is supposed to have is L Ron himself. RTC was just supposed to be in charge of protecting the copyrights and making sure orgs were enforcing KSW. There's nothing in their charter that grants Miscavige the right to go beyond his post and manage the entire org board. If anything, it is technically illegal for Miscavige to run all the other orgs since he is legally only a member of RTC. The whole "ecclesiastical leader" charade seems to exist to justify Miscavige's involvement in all the other orgs and bypass corporate law, though how and why the state of California, the feds, and other Sea Org members allow this makes no sense. If Miscavige was pulling this shit in any other non-profit, it would be a huge scandal with the feds auditing every entity connected to him in some way.

So Miscavige becomes the boss after kicking out Broeker, IAS was started in 1984 (by Sea Org members led by Miscavige I assume), and after Hubbard dies big flashy events are held several times a year and Scientology brochures and promo materials become more glossy and polished.

I asked about this a few times but all I got were blank stares. I don't think they ever even understood what I was suggesting since I didn't get sent to the MAA.
 

RogerB

Crusader
Nah, the first "International Event" was held in East Grinstead using a local theater as the venue in the latter part of 1968.

In the begining of 1968, based from London, I was responsible for conceiving of it and getting it going but, typical of the org hierarchy to never let a good idea go un-stolen, they usurped control and I later got booted off staff :yes: (for which I now thank them!! :yes::yes:)

You'll see references to the Int Scientologists being denied entry into the UK for the event elsewhere on ESMB.

Rog
 

Dulloldfart

Squirrel Extraordinaire
I recall a few glitzy events in the UK in the 70s, held in London. There was the infamous Battle of Britain event in 1974, but I don't think anyone would refer to it as "glitzy." There were local events, like Hubbard's birthday and the New Year event, but they were home-grown affairs. I even MC'd one!

In the early 80s, from memory, there was increasing "direction" from Int about how the events were to be run, with a script etc. sent down that was supposed to be followed. In the mid-80s, I recall going to an event at a London hotel that included a satellite transmission from the US of an "International" event.

I went to LA in January 1986 and got a different view of events there, as often the LA event was the "international" one that was beamed around the world to the local orgs. It started off with the event being satellite fed, then years later the international event was edited up and repackaged on a DVD that got sent to the local orgs a week later, much cheaper and less hairy than a satellite feed.

I remember an Auditors Day event in LA that was part local event with recognition of local area auditors, and part international event.

Others with more local org experience could give better answers.

-----

So a bite-sized answer to the original question would probably be "the 80s."

Paul
 

Lulu Belle

Moonbat
1986 was the year of the "Road to Freedom" release event. It is what propelled Scientology into mega-eventdom. It cost over $200,000 to produce.
 

Mick Wenlock

Admin Emeritus (retired)
the first one done by satellite was from the FLB in 1985 and was the "we won in Portland" event. Ironically I had been in Pac earlier to do the big "we won in Portland" event at the Shrine when the word came down that we had not won it... LOL.

The event was wild, Jack Horner was running the production. First time we had ever dealt with satellites, transponders etc
 

Idle Morgue

Gold Meritorious Patron
Can anyone who was involved please confirm that the "opinion leaders" from the area that speak at some of these events were SET UP by Scientologists. The Scillions would find some opinion leaders in the area that they would "friend" and then support them with their favorite cause or charity - then when it came time to have "framed awards from the mayer etc..." or have the opinion leader speak at an event and "wax enthusiasm" for the Church of Scientology in all of its humanitarian efforts :whistling: - the opinion leader would feel obligated to speak and of course, the Church of Scientology was ever so gracious to WRITE THEIR SPEECH which they read from the teleprompter!

I witnessed this - confirmed it with some local oldies that use to do it - and when I saw them reading the teleprompter at the event - it broke my heart! I thought to myself - what a deceptive thing to do - it is kind of like bribing someone to scratch your back cuz you scratched theirs!

I read about Bennata Slaughter (Lisa McPherson's boss that put Lisa through horrific ethics cuz her stats crashed after she went "clear" :whistling:) and how Bennata hob-knobbed with the local opinion leaders in Clearwater....and after Lisa died - she was shipped off to Applied Scholastics in Missouri where she hid out for a while. That confirmed my suspicions but would love to hear from others here who can confirm this deceitful action from the Church of Scientology!
 

Lulu Belle

Moonbat
Finally found an old post of mine on ARS (god google group archives blow) about this.


https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/alt.religion.scientology/KDH_sEvQYKc


The nightmare began, IIRC, correctly, in 1985. And, yes. it did get
much worse later.

There was an event in 1985 to release the "Road to Freedom" album. It
was decided by Int Mgmt that this would be a "gala" extravaganza at
the LA Ampitheater. It wouldn't surprise me if doing this was from
some kind of order or advice from LRH. You have discussed before, Deo,
this inherent belief/dogma in Scientology that "LRH is a known and
in-demand writer," started, no doubt, by the Delusional One himself.
I'm sure this would extend to his assumptions about himself as a
musician and songwriter. Of *course* his album release would demand a
mega-LA event in a huge hall.

Previous to this, events were held majorly in the orgs and were
relatively modest affairs. The RTF event cost over $200,000 in the LA
orgs alone.

That was the beginning.

As is typical in Scientology, everything has to be *bigger* and *more
spectacular* than what occurred before.

The events got bigger and bigger. More expensive and more expensive.
More and more pressure was put on the orgs to do call in and get
skyrocketed "confirms" and attendance for every event. They came up
with a "boiler room" in the CLO where staff were extracted from the
orgs to do nothing but full time call in for the events. If you
weren't an auditor or a reg, you were "fair game" for being yanked off
post for full time event call in.

Not to even mention the amount of money and time the orgs have to
devote to these things. All of the staff were expected to "confirm
people for the event" while they were on post doing whatever. *All* of
the staff are forced to go to every event and to "work" in some
capacity at them.

The staff hates them. Despises them. But there's nothing they can do
about them. It's management's "thing." DM's "thing." For whatever
reason. They have no choice but to STFU and do what they're told.

This is not a local thing. The orgs, personally, privately, want
*nothing* to do with these events. They are totally management driven.
And they are pretty much continuous. There's New Years. Two months
later there's March 13. Less than two months later there's May 9th.
There's the Flag World Tour event (treated as an Int event) in the
summer. Auditor's Day is in September. The IAS Event is in October.
After that, New Years is just around the corner again.

Interspersed with that are "created" events for all kinds of bullshit
reasons. PAC had a period where they were ordered to have these
"graduations" every week at a hall off the base. This mean paying for
a hall, doing call in, making all the staff and public transport
themselves there - the whole nine yards.

They are expensive, extremely draining on personnel and resources, and
have no or little effect on stats, especially long term.

And there is no LRH policy supporting their existence.
But they go on anyway.
 

Lulu Belle

Moonbat
Can anyone who was involved please confirm that the "opinion leaders" from the area that speak at some of these events were SET UP by Scientologists. The Scillions would find some opinion leaders in the area that they would "friend" and then support them with their favorite cause or charity - then when it came time to have "framed awards from the mayer etc..." or have the opinion leader speak at an event and "wax enthusiasm" for the Church of Scientology in all of its humanitarian efforts :whistling: - the opinion leader would feel obligated to speak and of course, the Church of Scientology was ever so gracious to WRITE THEIR SPEECH which they read from the teleprompter!


I have heard that it is always a major problem to come up with "wins" for these events. I believe Little Bear Victor may have posted about this a while back.

I had a girlfriend who worked at RPR and she confirmed that these "awards" were all put together and produced by COS. All the OL/mayor/whoever had to do was sign on the dotted line.

Which reminds me of a great, great article for some of you who may have never read it. It's about Scientology's attempt to buy off Tilden, Nebraska so that they would name a park after L. Ron Hubbard.

http://scientology-facts.blogspot.com/2005/11/battlefield-tilden.html
 

Mick Wenlock

Admin Emeritus (retired)
I have heard that it is always a major problem to come up with "wins" for these events. I believe Little Bear Victor may have posted about this a while back.

I had a girlfriend who worked at RPR and she confirmed that these "awards" were all put together and produced by COS. All the OL/mayor/whoever had to do was sign on the dotted line.

Which reminds me of a great, great article for some of you who may have never read it. It's about Scientology's attempt to buy off Tilden, Nebraska so that they would name a park after L. Ron Hubbard.

http://scientology-facts.blogspot.com/2005/11/battlefield-tilden.html

I canot for the life of me remember the PR book I read this in but the basic idea is that any PR should be capable of creating some BS PR award to give to someone to get them to say something nice about your client in a public setting - in fact I have seen that exact thing played out in an episode of the west wing and on AbFab
 
Re: When did the International Events start? Scn as prosperity theology

This is fascinating stuff, especially the post by Lulu Belle. The events always looked to me like they were inspired by the mega glitzy Christian evangelical telethon/televangelist wackiness in the US. If you compare the Scn promo from the 80s onward, I think you'll notice a more "evangelical" feeling, like Scientology was some kind of Christian thing. In the recent blurbs for a lot of the rereleased lectures, there's mentions of Hubbard performing miracles and making miracles possible and how Scientology makes miracles happen everyday etc etc. I assume this is intentional and not accidental.

If Hubbard was dictating that the events be orchestrated like Christian prosperity theology celebrations (and Scientology is prosperity theology taken to an extreme), did he despite his anti-Christian sentiment dictate that blurbs and promo material reflect a more evangelical feeling in order to take advantage of the rise of Christian evangelism/televangelism in the 80s? Would make a lot of sense especially if he was spending most of his time on the couch and watching a lot of TV.
 

Lulu Belle

Moonbat
Re: When did the International Events start? Scn as prosperity theology

This is fascinating stuff, especially the post by Lulu Belle. The events always looked to me like they were inspired by the mega glitzy Christian evangelical telethon/televangelist wackiness in the US. If you compare the Scn promo from the 80s onward, I think you'll notice a more "evangelical" feeling, like Scientology was some kind of Christian thing. In the recent blurbs for a lot of the rereleased lectures, there's mentions of Hubbard performing miracles and making miracles possible and how Scientology makes miracles happen everyday etc etc. I assume this is intentional and not accidental.


You could be right. I also think that a lot of what Scientology promotion started to look like after the 80s was simply the availability of Photoshop and Illustrator. Designers could sit at a computer and make these dazzling logos and images and alter photos any way they wanted.

They could take a crappy looking building, spruce it up, put in new landscaping, drop in a sky, put a 3D gold embossed logo on the bottom and suddenly the Fort Harrison is transformed into Disney World.

I have personal experience in this. No Scientology promotion goes out without it being heavily, heavily retouched. LRH images have been majorly retouched for years. They would go through hundreds of permutations, finally get approved for use by AVC Int, then you were only allowed to use that retouched photo. Later on it was electronic. The church would literally spend thousands and thousands of dollars getting an outside graphics company to do this stuff.

Another aspect of Scientology creating illusions which don't actually exist....
 

Terril park

Sponsor
Nah, the first "International Event" was held in East Grinstead using a local theater as the venue in the latter part of 1968.

In the begining of 1968, based from London, I was responsible for conceiving of it and getting it going but, typical of the org hierarchy to never let a good idea go un-stolen, they usurped control and I later got booted off staff :yes: (for which I now thank them!! :yes::yes:)

You'll see references to the Int Scientologists being denied entry into the UK for the event elsewhere on ESMB.

Rog

I recall going to one in the Park Lane Hilton, and also the wembley
conference centre where Diana Hubbard appeared.
 
Doesn't seem like Scientology held any big, glitzy events before Hubbard's death, but maybe I'm wrong. These flashy events always remind me of Christian televangelist shows. Its funny how no one inside questions why there is usually just the short pervert yapping on stage instead of other execs having a chance to do their thing. Maybe they just don't care and don't ask questions anymore. Was it Miscavige's idea to hold these kind of events?

Another funny thing is that no one inside questions why there is no checks and balances on Miscavige. I could be wrong, but doesn't seem like Hubbard expected there to be a "ecclesiastical leader" since the only "leader" Scientology is supposed to have is L Ron himself. RTC was just supposed to be in charge of protecting the copyrights and making sure orgs were enforcing KSW. There's nothing in their charter that grants Miscavige the right to go beyond his post and manage the entire org board. If anything, it is technically illegal for Miscavige to run all the other orgs since he is legally only a member of RTC. The whole "ecclesiastical leader" charade seems to exist to justify Miscavige's involvement in all the other orgs and bypass corporate law, though how and why the state of California, the feds, and other Sea Org members allow this makes no sense. If Miscavige was pulling this shit in any other non-profit, it would be a huge scandal with the feds auditing every entity connected to him in some way.

So Miscavige becomes the boss after kicking out Broeker, IAS was started in 1984 (by Sea Org members led by Miscavige I assume), and after Hubbard dies big flashy events are held several times a year and Scientology brochures and promo materials become more glossy and polished.

I asked about this a few times but all I got were blank stares. I don't think they ever even understood what I was suggesting since I didn't get sent to the MAA.

yeah the events thing is smokescreen to cover the paucity of actual tech production
 
the first one done by satellite was from the FLB in 1985 and was the "we won in Portland" event. Ironically I had been in Pac earlier to do the big "we won in Portland" event at the Shrine when the word came down that we had not won it... LOL.

The event was wild, Jack Horner was running the production. First time we had ever dealt with satellites, transponders etc

?????

jack horner of dianology?

he came back on lines?

tell me more
 

Pooks

MERCHANT OF CHAOS
Re: When did the International Events start? Scn as prosperity theology

This is fascinating stuff, especially the post by Lulu Belle. The events always looked to me like they were inspired by the mega glitzy Christian evangelical telethon/televangelist wackiness in the US. If you compare the Scn promo from the 80s onward, I think you'll notice a more "evangelical" feeling, like Scientology was some kind of Christian thing. In the recent blurbs for a lot of the rereleased lectures, there's mentions of Hubbard performing miracles and making miracles possible and how Scientology makes miracles happen everyday etc etc. I assume this is intentional and not accidental.

If Hubbard was dictating that the events be orchestrated like Christian prosperity theology celebrations (and Scientology is prosperity theology taken to an extreme), did he despite his anti-Christian sentiment dictate that blurbs and promo material reflect a more evangelical feeling in order to take advantage of the rise of Christian evangelism/televangelism in the 80s? Would make a lot of sense especially if he was spending most of his time on the couch and watching a lot of TV.

Interesting points. I never looked at the evangelical angle but I can see your point. I always looked at it as just poor taste. Like someone from New Jersey might have decorated the set. But then again, Dave's from Philly-- right next door to New Jersey. ;-)

Real-Housewives-of-New-Jersey-Teresa-Giudice-Home-Pics-500x373.jpg
 
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