Scientology Daily Digest: Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Tommy Davis’s deposition in the Monique Rathbun litigation is scheduled for today (Wednesday) in Austin.

Thursday marks the anniversary of Lisa McPherson’s death.

Tony Ortega’s Blog

Today’s regular installment in the series where Claire Headley, recently joined by “tech” veteran Bruce Hines, walks readers through the process of actually doing Scientology, featured the OT III “Wall of Fire.” In this one, as most of us know from reading tons of stuff over the years, Hubbard introduces the Xenu mythos in an unveiling of the holiest of holies of Scientology out of a locked briefcase. Even with all the hype and build-up before opening the envelope with some notes scrawled in Hubbard’s handwriting, apparently quite a few people do wake up and say, “WTF?” on their way out the door.

Apparently in this level, Hubbard giveth and Hubbard taketh away. Part of the study involves explaining why you can’t show anyone else, even other Scientologists, that you can levitate ashtrays or do any of the super powers that OT’s are supposed to have. This is obviously a key reason that people still believe in the OT powers without any evidence that they produce any results; they know that all those OT’s are doing amazing things in private; they’re just not allowed to show anything more interesting than keen parking space hunting capabilities.

Selected comments:

Several commenters suggested sending Christmas cards to Shelly Miscavige at the “Twin Peaks” site and also to various execs in the Hole. I’m sure the cult won’t bother with those postal regulations that make it illegal for anyone other than the intended recipient to receive their mail.
Once_Born raises the point that all the cloak-and-dagger stuff around the OT III material may be to distract people from just how lame the actual materials are. That, in turn, can lead to people who don’t remember their OT III materials because they don’t have them any more, being pulled off a given level and forced to redo it.
Phil de Fontenay describes the alarm system in use in some orgs to prevent the materials from being stolen. The doors won’t open when the alarm cable is temporarily disconnected moving the Holy of Holies from the safe to the table.
Michael Leonard Tilse wonders what the fire marshal would think of such an arrangement.
Derek recalls that, while growing up in the cult, he thought OT’s were a lot like Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers with all those super powers (but maybe without the cool color-coordinated uniforms).
Mighty Korgo of Teegeack also reminisces about how his instructors in the cult tried to both sell OT powers to keep people taking more courses and, at the same time, rationalize why nobody actually seemed to have any of them.

Mike Rinder’s Blog

Today, Mike put up a fairly important post, with some estimates on the total number of Scientologists in the world, via the work of a source who did the actual number crunching. They’re estimating 25,000 to 35,000. The numbers for the most part look credible, though I think the Sea Org size is a bit high, as is the estimated public coming in through the mission system. “Deep Six” gives some further details that are useful.

Forum Sites (WWP, ESMB, OCMB)

Apparently, Tory Christman was involved in leading a rescue of someone from a Narconon facility in Michigan. ESMB and WWP both cover the adventure.
Both ESMB and WWP provide more detail on the blight of the empty Philadelphia Ideal Org building, which was purchased six years ago.
The Way To Happiness Foundation is achieving peace and sanity in the Middle East. I didn’t know that either, until I read the credible and accurate cult PR piece.
OCMB is covering the FBI probe of LA County Sheriff Lee Baca, who seems to be a little too friendly to Scientology relative to the size of their membership among his voters.

General Press

This one’s a little late (November 1) but I haven’t seen reference to it elsewhere. Worth it for the bizarro factor. Apparently, at a party, Kirstie Alley asked a PR person who had recently had a baby to express some breast milk to feed her pet baby possum. This came out in an interview on Showbiz411.com from gossip duo Rush & Malloy hyping their new book. An ESMB thread ponders the insanity.
Gossip web site “Crazy Days and Nights,” purportedly by an entertainment industry lawyer, revealed the identity of a couple featured in a blind item from January. The site claims this actor with a distinctive name tried having sex with his new wife on their wedding night (back in June 2012) and he hasn’t gone after her since. The recent piece claims that the groom is Scientologist Giovanni Ribisi.
Hollywood writer Skip Press ran a column a couple days ago on The Morton Report sharing his perspective on Scientology’s attempts to recruit black members throughout its history. Skip is apparently seeking funding to write a book on Scientology via an Indiegogo campaign.

Scientology Daily Digest: Monday, December 2, 2013

Perhaps the biggest catch of the day is on ESMB, where a guy identifying himself as the former Director of Special Affairs (OSA boss) in several different locations has popped up on the radar screen and declared himself an Indie.

There are a couple epic advertising fails and some bad news for the Ideal Org building that the cult bought in Philadelphia six years ago, and which is now apparently causing neighborhood blight.

Tony Ortega’s Blog

A fairly light day, with a couple photos of the really tawdry Way to Happiness Foundation float in the really tawdry Hollywood Christmas parade, which has been in a steady decline to irrelevance for decades. Apparently, the Dianetics Bookstore building at 6253 Hollywood Blvd. is for lease. Straight up and vertical expansion, baby!

Selected comments:

“Great White Clam” found an article from some cult pub showing “straight up and vertical” expansion graphs that, strangely enough, lack vertical axes to show what the actual numbers are. And the text claims that the Milan org gets 450 new people to start Scientology services per week. I call bullshit on that; if the cult gets 450 people per year globally, that would seem about right.
Sunny Sands, she of the Tent Patrol, has a great suggestion to get Christmas Cards to Shelly Miscavige: make the return address equal to the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater. Then when the cult in LA sends them back to sender, the Ft. Harrison staff doesn’t know what to do but sees “Miscavige” on the address, and takes them across the street to DM’s Florida office.
V4Vacation finds it odd that a friend got a direct mail flyer from the Renaissance restaurant at Celebrity Centre right after tabloid stories erupted about Tom Cruise having a date with fellow cultie Laura Prepon at one of the cult sites. Apparently, the source for this is not and has never been a Scientologist. Coincidence or a marketing campaign someone thinks is utterly brilliant? Incidentally, the flyer doesn’t mention Scientology at all, and refers to Celebrity Centre as the “Manor Hotel,” which is either its former or alternate name.
“Anonymous” provides an interesting look at the history of the cult in one page or less. Worth reading.
MonkeyKnickers provides her usual uniquely funny take on the key lessons from The Way to Happiness booklets.
TruthIWant gives a great look at one of the surprises about taking responsibility for and clearing up the effects of “overts” in the real world versus how the cult teaches you to handle it.

Mike Rinder’s Blog

Today’s post contains a reg e-mail full of unctuous, smarmy praise for David Miscavige, the hero who apparently knows better than Hubbard just how to fix all those courses that kept people from bounding up their Bridge to Total Freedom like a couple of gazelles on meth. The nauseating praise is a fun read. My favorite: “You can tell a lot of thought and care went into this by someone intelligent and who understands grammar well.” Yeah, when you’re telling me that this is the best thing to happen to Scientology since the invention of Dianetics in 1950, it makes me really want to sign up and buy when the best testimonial you’ve got is that the guy who pulled off this feat of “research” understands grammar really well. It’s like how one actress, when asked in an interview about another, will say “well, he is really punctual.” If the best you can say about someone is that they show up to work on time, that’s not exactly high praise.

Forum Sites (WWP, ESMB, OCMB)

Pix from the IAS event are on ESMB here, and on WWP here.
A 14 year old Russian is apparently the first public Scientologist to complete – YES, THE FIRST HUMAN IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF PLANET EARTH TO COMPLETE – the Cause Resurgence Rundown at Flag. Is this a real success story, a cult fabrication, or a spoof?
An ex-Scientologist with a history of working on staff in OSA starts to speak out and tell his story on ESMB.
A couple days ago, ESMB’s BlackRob found a Facebook ad from a cultie who claims to be able to “cure” autism through a “study tech” process in six weeks. Apparently, it’s an engram or something, not organic brain dysfunction. I pointed out how absurd this is. If someone can cure autism in weeks, every insurance company in the US would require Scientology processing for autistic kids, before they would permit any money to be spent on actual evidence-based medicine. Amusingly, I gots a hater on that one; my response to him is a good example of the one-shot-ton-of-bricks anti-troll technique.
Dressing up as Knights and promoting Scientology: Camelot Castle in Tintagel, Cornwall UK is at it again with a children’s literacy campaign. From what I’ve read elsewhere, these guys make Fawlty Towers look like the Waldorf-Astoria. Except with slave labor.

General News

I missed this a couple of days ago, but the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story about the urban blight of the new Ideal Org building in Center City. Apparently, in the six years it has lain abandoned after purchase, it now has too many boarded up windows and is breaking an anti-blight ordinance. Surprise, surprise. The money quote is from an ex who says that there are only about 100 active Scientologists in Philadelphia. Wish I knew who that was so I could try to understand the basis of that figure; while it’s possible that the number is that small, I don’t want to use that in anything I write until I know how it was derived.
A new low: in Israel, apparently, the cult is running ads inside of web-based kids video games on the local version of the site Webkinz. Scientology is apparently blaming Google, claiming it has no control over ad placement.
The increasingly important “BackInComm” blog of South African independent Scientologists has a great document leak, with a nasty memo from the Executive Director of Johannesburg upbraiding the staff back in 2008, saying that in the 14 months since the release of “The Basics,” they have only graduated 4 people on the course sequence. Apparently, 50 people have quit part-way through and the staff was so inept that they weren’t able to get them back on track; sounds like they blew the cult entirely.

Scientology Daily Digest: December 1, 2013

We return to action following a Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Fortunately, the news from the world of Scientology watching was fairly light and fluffy, and easily digestible, unlike the gluttonous feast most of us in the US consumed.

Chez moi, the supermodels behaved themselves, and the fights that broke out at some of the emporia where the rural riff-raff shop (the camouflage fishing tackle department at the local Wal-Mart) were not in evidence at the Vera Wang dress shop at Bergdorf’s or the Christian Louboutin shoe shop on upper Madison Avenue. Whatever the supermodels did, it didn’t involve my credit cards and the drama quotient was low when Supermodel #1 and I returned from our vacation to my parental units’ waterfront estate.

The other major American holiday of “Black Friday,” an ode to materialism the way that Thanksgiving was an ode to gluttony, appeared to be pretty solid. We’ll be interested to see who has a take on how the various retailers fared on the biggest shopping day of the year. Our biggest find: we checked with some sources in the retail electronics business and it appears that Apple may have underestimated demand, since a number of outlets we checked with were out of various iPads. Retailers seemed to have fewer units in stock than they wanted. But it appears that the folks at Samsung were anticipating this, as the stores we talked to had plenty of Samsung tablets in stock, and many frustrated consumers who walked in looking for an Apple product left with a Samsung unit instead. There are no Sony Playstation 4’s to be found anywhere, and lots of begging and whining from parents desperate to get one.

In Scientology news, more photos ratchet around Teh Intertubes from the IAS event, including a bunch posted on Tony’s blog. Mike Rinder captures the incredible gulf between the breathless hype around Golden Age of Dreck 2 launch and the reality of what’s been happening inside the cult, contrasting people saying it’s the biggest thing since Dianetics versus stats giving a peek at the plummeting membership roster.

The best Orwellian disclaimer comes from the bottom of a cult flyer from the land Down Under, where it says “Joining Scientology staff is a religious commitment and all activities are entirely voluntary. Scientology is a religious philosophy and offers total freedom.” The fact that they feel compelled to append this disclaimer actually calls negative attention to their cause, especially since the ad had absolutely nothing to do with being on staff. It reminds me of a Karin Pouw statement about the RPF which stresses its entirely voluntary nature.

Also, don’t miss Mike Rinder & Mike Bennitt’s aerial stunt at the IAS event, having a plane tow a banner asking “Where is Shelly Miscavige?” Fun, but not quite as epic as the helicopter over the Super Power building opening.

Tony Ortega’s Blog

Sunday’s story featured the usual Sunday Funnies. As always, there’s something to laugh at. I still can’t quite help feeling that the staff is so stressed that the creativity level has been on a bit of a slide lately. A lot of the Photoshop gurus on Tony’s site are turning out higher quality art in less time than the cult’s marketing department can generate with a lot more effort. In particular, they’re reaching down even deeper to get the Hubbard quotes than they have in the past, and they’re coming up with ever more inane stuff.

The bigger news was the IAS event held Saturday night in the big tent in Clearwater. The best comment ever on Tony’s blog, both in one-liner puckishness and especially when considered against the backdrop of the author, is Paulette Cooper’s comment with a suggestion for a slightly different banner that could have been flown over the event by Rinder & Bennitt. I did love the picture of the knight on the horse.

Mike Rinder’s Blog

A great data point: Mike takes apart some breathless assertions of success in Pasadena, where they have had one Golden Age of Knowledge completion in six years, and walks through the numbers to estimate the Pasadena public at about 300, no more than 500, in the greatest concentration of Scientologists on Earth (Glendale, next door to Pasadena, is home to tons of Scientologist-owned businesses). That’s got to be embarrassing.
Further evidence that grammatical standards inside the cult are plummeting: Mike happened on a fund-raising letter which says that “The next MASSIVE, ULTRA MAJOR BOMBASTIC blow against psychiatry to date is being released at the [IAS] event.” Someone needs to word clear “bombastic.”
An article dredging up an old e-mail about the expansion of the Seattle Ideal Org gives a real insight into Hubbard-style management insanity as practiced by Miscavige. Apparently the reason that the Ideal Org strategy is failing is that the cult is not doing enough of it. If the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” what is the word beyond insanity when you do more of something that doesn’t work and expect success?

Forum Sites (WWP, ESMB, OCMB)

Aeger Primo comes through once again with summaries of interesting discussion threads. Thanks!

Two threads about the Ideal Org in Taiwan opening on December 7^that ESMB and WWP. News is that the COB himself will be there for the opening ceremony. If true, that’s pretty remarkable, because DM is rumored to be chartering a Boeing Business Jet these days. Those charter for about $15,000 per hour wet, which means that round trip airfare from Hemet to Taipei is over $400,000. That’s probably more than the total revenue of the Kaohsiung Ideal Org over the next two to three years. Wonder if Dave is billing them back the cost of the jet charter or if he’s paying that out of Int Management’s budget.
An interesting indie group called the “True Source Scientology Foundation” is apparently making Scientology material available in a central location over the internet. ESMB is discussing what that might mean in terms of legal action by the cult.
Narconon Arrowhead is apparently offering voluntary Bible study as part of its treatment program. It’s just another ploy to stay under the radar.
Bruce Wiseman, former president of CCHR (Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights) is apparently hiding cash for the cult in the Cayman Islands. Does this thread confirm it because of a change in Cayman law?

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Programming note: Today is the beginning of the US Thanksgiving Day holiday, a celebration of all things truly American: hours of epic gluttony followed by sitting in front of the television watching people in colorful armored uniforms colliding vigorously with each other, playing a slightly different version of “football” than that practiced in most other countries.

The next day is an even bigger holiday, and it is even more uniquely American. Called “Black Friday,” people flock to shopping malls at improbably early hours to run up the balance on their credit cards, spending money they don’t actually have to buy the latest soon-to-be-obsolete consumer electronics gadgets and tons of clothes to overload their already bulging closets.

Thanksgiving is a little different for us in Global Capitalism HQ, however: the supermodels are not so big on the gluttony aspect and have no understanding of American football. But they sure know how to shop for clothes on Black Friday. So they spend Thursday stretching, practicing their martial arts moves, and checking the traction of their running shoes to make sure they can corner nimbly in the aisles at Barneys and all those trendy little boutiques in the Village to beat out all the other supermodels racing for the best deals. When it comes to bone-crunching collisions, American football players have nothing on the supermodels going for a half-off Vera Wang number on the “better dresses” floor at Bergdorf’s. They won’t have me to supervise them; the jet has already jetted off to the ancestral homeland, where I’ll be communing with the waves of coniferous trees at the Capitalist Parents’ waterfront estate and eating healthy.

To each his own. And however you celebrate this holiday, I hope it’s with good friends and family!

Naturally, the last word on Black Friday comes from none other than Steely Dan… I dedicate this to all of you who may be working retail tomorrow, long hours at low pay:

Technical note: I’ve been experimenting with the format of the blog a bit. This may continue for some time to come as time permits. Each new “theme” package comes with some lame picture for the top, so the default photo up on tonight’s post is not at all meaningful and will be replaced by something artistic when I have a chance.

Scientology Daily Digest: Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Today’s news seems to be focused on the new Mark VIII e-meter, with some commenters noting that it bears more than a passing resemblance to the recently redesigned Kenner Easy-Bake Oven. Some say that this is because Ideo, the legendary design firm that did tons of iconic products over the years including many for Apple, did both products. In a comment on Mike Rinder’s blog, not yet moderated by press time, I said that the design of the new e-meter isn’t half bad, and could well have been done by Ideo. And I’m actually serious. The good design doesn’t excuse the stupidity of leaving this thing in a warehouse for a decade or a lot of other mistakes in the GAT2 rollout, but it’s not bad design by itself.

Also, life seems to have dealt Mr. Thomas C. Mapother IV a mixed bag today.

My Blog

I normally don’t like to do something that looks like I might be tooting my own horn, but there were a couple comments on my blog in the last 24 hours that I thought were worth calling your attention to.

Eclipse-girl wondered how I got an estimate of 500 to 700 Scientologists in Germany when the German government’s official count was about 4,000. I went through a detailed discussion in my reply. This might be a useful read as we start to go through and build up an estimate of membership.
OrangySky takes umbrage with a commenter in another forum who says they’re too clever not to get involved in a cult. I share the experience of several very smart people who still managed to get tangled up a cult (one Scientology, one not), because that cult was able, whether by intent or by accident, to target their Achilles’ heel.

Tony Ortega’s Blog

Tony’s blog post today contained the regular Tuesday feature with Claire Headley (recently joined by longtime top ranked auditor Bruce Hines) taking us “up the bridge,” going through all the materials for each level. Today’s OT 2 stuff basically sounds like pages and pages of Orwellian “word salad” that sure looks like the goal is to scramble any remaining critical thinking skills.

There’s also a status update on the depositions in the Monique Rathbun case. The next court date is December 11. They’ve gotten depositions from cult execs Warren McShane and Allen Cartwright, plus defendants Monty Drake and Steven Sloat. Tommy Davis is scheduled for December 4 in Austin and Leah Remini is still not scheduled.

Senate House at the University of London, considered to be the model for the Ministry of Truth building in George Orwell's 1984. — Senate House at the University of London, considered to be the model for the Ministry of Truth building in George Orwell’s 1984.

My take: Some of these statements, including the first few, which read:

1. To Die is To Live
2. To Live is to Die
3. To Surrender is to Victimize
4. To Victimize is to Surrender
5. To Lose is to Win

… all suggest that somebody was reading a little too much George Orwell when they wrote all this stuff. Perhaps one could envision these chiseled on the wall at the Super Power building, which, given its foreboding footprint on its lot, resembles the immense

Super Power Building. If you imagine this in gray, you can kind of see a resemblance.

Ministry of Truth building in 1984 but with a pseudo-Mediterranean Disney-esque paint job. Even skimming this list without holding the cans, I can see my synapses frying like an egg on a hot griddle.

Regarding the depositions in Monique Rathbun case, it would be delightful fun to read Warren McShane’s deposition, given that I seem to recall a quote from Miscavige to the effect of how he loved it when Warren testified because he is the best liar on the management team. And I would certainly pay money (though I wouldn’t go so far as to hock the Global Capitalism HQ jet) to see the video of Tommy Davis’s deposition, just to watch him get “really angry!”

Some of the comments that riff on other trending topics are the best payload of Tony’s story today.

Selected comments:

iCandy notices that the new e-meter looks like the redesigned Easy-Bake oven, a discovery that ratchets around Teh Intertubes at a pretty rapid clip.
Tony points out that the inventor of the Easy-Bake oven was an early and fairly ardent admirer of Hubbard’s.
NeverIn has a nice comeback response after getting into a debate with one of those atheists who says “all religions are crazy; Scientology is no worse than any other.” OrangySky also shares her thoughts on the same issue. And Derek B. contributes a few ideas as well.
“Anonymous” gives some fairly pithy perspective on the impact Scientology members have made on the world, compared to people who have spent approximately the same amount on Ivy league undergrad and graduate educations.
New commenter HolyCash responds with some vivid imagery in a similar vein.
Ze Moo also points out that the current org structure gives no one any real stake for bringing in “fresh meat.” Since everyone is fixated on being “upstat” on whatever job is in front of them, nobody even has a reason to tell management that something needs to change.
Metaphor of the day award: Snake Plissken says “The OT levels are kind of like Sarah Palin giving a lecture on Jung, Freud, and Nietzsche at a Star Trek convention.”
Derek summarizes some of the insanity of life in the cult in a withering blast, and concludes that a Cheech and Chong-approved technique for stress reduction might help some recently departed ex’s to adapt to the real world.
TruthIWant has an OT 2 success story that reveals amazing potential wins.
Kemist starts up an interesting discussion about the e-meter and whether it actually “works,” and is engaged by “Peter,” an ex who makes some interesting points when he argues for some positive value. The whole discussion is worth reading.

Mike Rinder’s Blog

Exhibit 1: The Mark VIII E-Meter

Mike picked up on the commenter from Tony’s blog who noticed the resemblance between the new Mark VIII Super-De-Duper and the recently restyled Easy-Bake Oven. One commenter claims that these two products were done by the same design firm, the one that has done a lot of work for Apple.

Easy-Bake Oven… Separated at birth?

I contend that this is eminently possible, and in a long comment on Rinder’s site, I deconstructed the design elements of the new e-meter that make me believe this. I also tracked down an interesting tidbit on the history of the redsign of the Easy-Bake Oven.
New Valley Org solicitation. I “command” you to reach for your wallets, since asking politely didn’t work too well.

Mike also published an interesting Valley Ideal Org flyer (which a tipster originally sent me a couple of days ago). The first thing you see is the word “Command” at the top. It’s all about how DM is commanding you to get the Valley Org done. Not about how great it will be for those about to throng the doorway to learn about Scientology, nor what it will do for existing public. It’s all about how you can obey him.

Forum Sites (WWP, ESMB, OCMB)

WWP discusses new “rules” for owning an e-meter, including a clause that says you can only own one if you remain in good standing. Not sure how enforceable that is, but nice try… Also, it might be interesting to see if the requirement that you have a current annual or lifetime IAS membership before being allowed to buy a meter constitutes “tying” under anti-trust law.
A WWP thread discusses the software update for your PC that connects to the new Mark VIII E-meter, wondering if it is entirely about the E-meter or wondering if there might be other secret capabilities involved, like a new “net nanny” package. Worth monitoring in case some clever Anon manages to disassemble part of the executable to see what it really does.

General News

Some celebrity press are running a story “linking” Tom Cruise to Scientologist actress Laura Prepon. Unfortunately, she’s already 33, the age at which Cruise divorced all three of his wives. Apparently, they have had two or three dates. No word yet on whether the set decorators at Harpo Studios, Oprah’s production company, have reinforced the internal structure of whatever couch her guests are sitting on at the moment.
The Australian ABC ran a story about Larry Wright almost winning the National Book Award for “Going Clear.” It prominently features the hate site the cult set up to smear him.
Some press reports are coming in that Tom Cruise’s lawyers in the Bauer Media libel suit failed in their bid to admit “evidence” that Bauer Media has Nazi connections. Sounds like a fairly clumsy attempt to try to increase the heat on the defendant at home. The judge said this was completely irrelevant to the case, though the order is appealable; no word on whether Cruise’s attorneys will do so.
Last week, Cracked magazine published an article on different ways one can leave Scientology. They’ve certainly done a lot of cult-related material in the last year or so.

Scientology Daily Digest: Monday, November 25, 2013

Shameless plug: An earlier post today highlights a poster listing the most common logical fallacies in persuasive writing. Read this carefully every day for a week or two and you will find yourself making fewer logical mistakes in your own writing, and you will have great fun seeing what gaping errors people make in the arguments they use to sell you stuff, get you to vote for them, etc.

Tony Ortega’s Blog

Today’s post reports that Leah Remini was officially declared a Suppressive Person by the cult. While the biggest wave of actual disconnections has already taken place, this move is yet another own goal by Miscavige since it gives the Hollywood gossip press another chance to revisit the disconnection story, just when it was starting to die down a bit.

My take: As Mike Rinder points out in the article, the fact that Tom Cruise didn’t have to disconnect from Suri when Katie Holmes divorced him has probably rankled many ordinary Scientologists who have been forced to disconnect from wives, parents and kids when they blew. So with typical Miscavige ham-handedness, he’s going to “make an example” of Leah by not cutting her any slack.

It seems to me that this is yet another situation where Miscavige has boxed himself in with arbitrary decisions in the past to accomplish whatever short term goal he had in mind at the time, which then limit his flexibility in dealing with the present. His inability to think clearly about potential unintended consequences of his actions is a crippling flaw that would have, if present in a CEO of a real company, caused him to be fired long ago.

Selected comments:

OrangySky points out that people now believe what the cult is capable of, versus law enforcement in the Paulette Cooper days simply being unable to fathom that a “religion” would do what they did. So if they start leaking PC folder data from Leah to the press, she figures people will jump to (correct) conclusions as to its source.
Derek B. pens a highly recommended exposition of some of the logical fallacies that the cult uses to keep people roped in. This should be mandatory reading.
Skip Press, who has hung with a few cult celebs in his day, thinks that Leah’s official declaration will get a few minor celebs to wake up and blow.
Noseinabk scores a great find of an article about the purchase of the Ideal Org in Auckland, serving a population counted in the last census at 350 people, complete with some financial data. We’re honing in on the original government reports and will put up a post soon analyzing their numbers.
Sam Domingo expresses, with typical British wit, one of the myriad ways celebs might leave the cult: “In the game of rescuing culties from themselves there will be those who insist on having their remains scraped up off the floor or leaving it up to the cult to ship them out in body bags.”
“Anonymous” does some digging on what it means to be declared, including some Jeff Hawkins blog posts from back in the day. He rings the bell again with an observation about Miscavige’s real status in the world.
Truthiwant answers a pro-Scientology commenter from yesterday with a list of the positive life benefits that do accrue from Scientology membership.
Douglas D. Douglas pens a nice Happy Thanksgiving wish to everyone.
Cat Daddy finds an old Sunday Funnies flyer that shows how Scientologists should celebrate Turkey Day.
Michael Leonard Tilse imagines how the declare will enhance Leah’s fashion vibe on the red carpet at the next Hollywood awards show.
Still_On_Your_Side thinks DM waited to unveil the declaration against Leah until after she was voted off “Dancing With the Stars,” since that defeat to his mind obviously will take away her media platform.
IBBy rewrites a famous holiday rhyme to imagine life at the local Idle Morgue over the weekend.
George Diaz dredges up a quote I haven’t seen before. Apparently, Miscavige promised to “handle” Anonymous in two weeks. Must be two weeks on some gas giant planet around a distant star that he flew by in one of his whole track incarnations.

Mike Rinder’s Blog

Mike’s first post today reprints a letter from a longtime “field auditor,” who remains in the cult due to family connection and fear of disconnection. He complains that the new Golden Age of Dreck 2 is so awful that it’s put him back at square one. He’s wondering what to do next… I am sure some people here can come up with helpful suggestions, though it’s probably tough to formulate a pithy suggestion we haven’t already heard a few times.
Mike’s second post raises an interesting possibility: given that Leah Remini and Jennifer Lopez are BFF’s, would Miscavige order J Lo’s father to disconnect from her if she continues to hang out with Leah? Technically, according to Mike, she’s guilty of a “suppressive act” which could get Dad in trouble.

Forum Sites (WWP, ESMB, OCMB)

What type of celebrations or holidays do Scientologists participate in? Exes share their experiences when involved with the cult.
Quoted from original post: “Former long time Scientologist and film and stage actress Roslyn Cohn (aka Roz Cohn) recently made a very public announcement against Scientology in this very funny and sometimes poignant workshop performance last month at the Academy for New Musical Theatre Performers Workshop Cabaret’s 2013 production.” Video of her performance posted.
Some real photos (nothing like doctored up or posed official cult PR photos) of GAT II event people, compiled by WWP’s legendary BlackRob.
Critics of Narconon discuss the ten part series on Narconon’s internet marketing strategy from the blog written by SEOlogy.

South African Independent Scientology Blog

Today’s article estimated “crowds” for the GAT2 launch video event in J’Burg at 300 to 500, down substantially from the 800 they got in 2005 opening the Johannesburg Ideal Org, versus 1,200 confirmations on Facebook. Pretoria supposedly had about 120 as did Durban. Wonder if they had any seat fillers, which according to earlier comments on that blog, were used in the past at some events.
A great article from a couple days ago written by someone who grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution compared the mind control tactics of the government to the way Scientology attempts to stamp out dissent and disagreement in its ranks.

General Press

Apparently, the cult’s German membership base has dwindled to the point that the watchdog BFV (Agency for the Protection of the Constitution) has stopped monitoring it, despite protests from some German states. BFV officials base the decisions on what they estimate as 4,000 members in the country, though that seems rather high versus what we think is a more reasonable estimate of 500 to 700. Interestingly, some BFV offices say that the cult is trying to lure new members through “hidden Internet portals.” Craigslist, anyone?
From a few days ago, Huffington Post ran an article about local Clearwater fundamentalist Christian pastors complaining that Scientology “serves a false god.” A fairly lame “my God can beat up your God” article, but nice use of some of the aerial shots that may have come from Rinder & Bennitt. Some fairly amusing comments, though.

Analytical Techniques: Spotting Fallacies in Arguments

Impeccable logic + pointy ears wins arguments but does not necessarily help win the hearts of supermodels.

Summary: We present a handy chart that an Alert Reader passed along with the most common logical fallacies in building arguments. If you master and apply the material on this one page, you will amaze and impress (and probably also intimidate) your friends with your brilliance. And by being able to spot errors in others’ analysis, you win the right to denounce their work with an air of haughty derision, and you spare yourself the embarrassment of potentially spouting inaccurate twaddle if you believe what they said.

Fair disclosure, though: your new-found command of logic may not make it easier for you to hit on supermodels (whichever flavor is most appealing to you) in trendy Manhattan clubs. Don’t ask me how I know this.

An example of a Dadaist logical fallacy in action.

The first place to check: One of the most important things to do in analysis is to spot fallacies in your own reasoning and in that of others. It takes a lot of time to nitpick through all the data, making sure it is accurate and relevant to the argument. But it is often not necessary, because logical flaws can undermine an argument and they’re usually much faster to spot.

To become a more powerful writer, if you look for fallacies when you edit your work before publishing it, you can save yourself tons of embarrassment when one of your Alert Readers catches you at it. And you will discover that you become more persuasive, as well. Even if your readers don’t formally deconstruct your logic, people have enough understanding of logic that they’ll feel uncomfortable about your argument, even if they can’t specifically name the particular fallacy you used.

Honest mistakes: Sometimes, people make honest mistakes in the way they construct an argument. That’s especially true in areas where people have a high degree of personal involvement, emotional or economic, to a particular outcome.

To make sure you don’t do this, it’s wise to learn the art of clearing your mind and pretending that you’ve never seen the document before that you just wrote. If you can pretend that you’re about to edit someone else’s writing, it’s a lot easier to step out of the passion that guided you to write something, which may obscure logical flaws in your argument. Passion is actually welcome in analysis, because it reflects the analyst’s level of conviction in his thesis, but it is only effective when it surfs on top of a logical and well-constructed argument. Passion on top of logical idiocy gives political speech like we have today.

In the 1970s, Supertramp, which was a way cool band of the time, had a hit with "The Logical Song." — In the 1970s, Supertramp, which was a way cool band of the time, had a hit with “The Logical Song.”

Dishonest mistakes: Other times, people will intentionally use logical fallacies to “sell” a point of view that wouldn’t be supported by evidence. This is particularly common in politics. For example, many news organizations strive to report balance by reporting the political opposition’s view of a circumstance. When Democrats accuse Republicans of something, in many cases, Republicans will reply by talking about how Democrats do the same thing, or something they believe is worse. That’s a logical fallacy, and once you recognize it, it’s possible to keep the attention focused on the matter at hand.

Dilbert gets the relationship between logic, strategy and leadership right... as usual... — Dilbert gets the relationship between logic, strategy and leadership right… as usual…

How to Lose the Argument Before it Begins

There are several different categories of logical fallacies, relating to:

The structure of the argument (i.e., whether the reasoning to get from the evidence to the conclusion) is correct;
The evidence used in construction of the argument (too much anecdote, too little, etc.);
Intentional or willful distractions from a flawed argument (attacking the speaker, etc).

People intuitively know that an argument via an ad hominem attack is inherently a confession that the argument probably doesn’t have enough weight to stand on its own. Few people are ever convinced by such argument that weren’t already true believers. That’s why, though I may make legitimate mistakes in logic, I work very hard to avoid any of this deceitful, intentional reasoning error in anything I write.

And Now… The Poster!

Here’s the site: https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com

Here’s the poster:

A great poster listing many of the common logical fallacies that people either intentionally or accidentally use in logical arguments. From http://www.yourlogicalfallacyis.com. Click to show full-resolution image.

Scientology Daily Digest: Sunday, November 24, 2013

Programming note: We’re back in the saddle after a couple of days off due to an exhausting trip plus commitments that ran way late on Saturday night. We’ll be putting out Digests for tonight through Wednesday night inclusive and we’ll be off for the US Thanksgiving holiday (our annual date with gluttony, for readers outside the US who are unfamiliar). We’ll resume daily publication on Saturday night.

More details of the Golden Age of Dreck 2 release are emerging, as well as abundant evidence that the cult is going into overdrive to get people to come into their local orgs to see the videos of the events. The prose is more purple, the promises are more extravagant, and the testimonials are more over the top than ever before.

New York GAT 2 video broadcast invitation

Last night, the cult held a video viewing event in Manhattan. The tipster who e-mailed me the flyer was unable to attend, on account of being a declared SP (a minor impediment in the staff’s eternal quest to be upstat by inviting tons of people). The most notable detail is that the event was held not at the NYC org’s “chapel” but at the Washington Irving High School auditorium. That’s the biggest auditorium of any of the NYC schools. They did this because renting from the school district is dramatically cheaper than renting a hotel ballroom in NYC, but it’s nowhere near as classy and successful. But there are other private event venues that are also extremely competitive versus hotels, but which are a lot nicer than a high school auditorium.

I couldn’t get the exact seating figure, but based on a couple of pictures, it seats at least 1,500, probably a few more. I would be extremely surprised if the NYC org was able to draw more than about 50 people given that the cult has never been that big in NYC in per capita Scientology involvement. 22 million people in the metro area served by the Org and they are unlikely to have gotten more than a few dozen to show.

It would be incredibly difficult to hide the number of empty seats in an auditorium that size. I’m sure the acoustics were pretty interesting, with hard floors to make the empty hall echo all the more. And it’s a good thing there aren’t many “whales” in the NYC area, since the hard plywood seats standard in NYC school auditoriums is not the plush comfort that they presumably expect.

Tony Ortega’s Blog

Today’s post had a brief comment by Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of David Miscavige (daughter of his older brother Ronnie, who blew long ago). She says, “I can’t believe people still buy any of this BS about ‘discovery’ of ‘lost tech.’ It’s just such an obvious and blatant money making scheme.” While this is probably obvious to the readership of this blog, it’s nice to see somebody from the gene pool point this out.

Also worth noting is the annual “Christmas Stories” event invite, which features a few of the usual celebs reading Christmas stories. You know, the holiday for that guy Christ, who turned out to be nothing more than a momentary blip in the R6 implant all those years ago. Mostly the C-listers, but Kirstie, Anne Archer and others a bit nearer the top of the list are not there. Not sure about the significance of this particular guest list. People with access to prior years’ lists might be able to shed some light on the changes in the cast from, say, 3 or 4 years ago.

Selected comments:

Vistaril has a great take on how Hubbard was able to keep moving the goal posts to keep people coming back for more, setting the stage for “if Scientology works, it’s because Scientology is great, but if it doesn’t, it’s your fault,” which is perhaps the ultimate mindf**k of the cult.
Mighty Korgo of Teegeack gives his account of an out-of-body experience when he was “in” and how craziness around that helped to turn that to an “out.” Apparently, though, Korgo almost immediately replaced Scientology with another cult-like situation, with an exalted prophet that takes up much of his time.
“Anonymous” weighs in on a comment on the idea of Scientology as a “long con.”
Exterrier ran into some people he knew while “in” who were just coming back from the LA Golden Age of Dreck 2 video event at the Shrine in LA. No word on how many seats they managed to fill out of the 6,000+ total capacity.
Sam Domingo raises the interesting theory (note I’m not saying rumor here) that Kirstie may be the next defector from the cult, given that she wasn’t at the events in Clearwater and given that she’s not participating in the Christmas Drivel show. Sam also suggests Juliette Lewis may be aiming out the door as well.
Derek B. has a great disagreement with Jon Atack’s assertion that “most Scientologists are good people.”
“Ze Moo” points out that the mayor of the financially devastated city of Stockton, California is coming under fire for using a cult-based anti-drug program (not clear whether it’s Narconon or one of the other ones). The mayor appears to be a full-on douchebag given the other stuff he’s in trouble for at the moment.

Mike Rinder’s Blog

Mike’s been pretty prolific the last couple of days. Here are the most relevant posts:

Here’s the price list for the Golden Age of Dreck 2. In a related article, Mike details how some of the pricing decisions are insane; in Mexico, it costs over a month’s salary for an average middle-class worker to take even a single course.
Scientology’s New York City Ideal Org

A contributor to Mike’s blog details the surreal conversations he had when walking into the NYC org and wanting to learn more about Scientology.
The cult is putting out the same form letter over the signature of a prominent local Scientology exec or public to make the invitation to watch the Golden Age of Dreck 2 launch video seem more personalized.
Here’s the e-mail solicitation piece for the new Mark VIII (“Warehouse model”) e-meter that was announced. Apparently, Miscavige is crooked enough to not only aim high for the big donations, but also to grift for small change. The $5,450 price claims to “include tax,” a little odd since “religious artifacts” aren’t taxable, and if they are in fact taxable, he’s charging a 9% sales tax rate even in states that have a 0% sales tax rate, like Montana, Oregon, New Hampshire, etc.
Here’s an audio clip of the voicemail being left by the cult on the answering machines of potential attendees for the IAS event.

Forums (ESMB, WWP, OCMB)

New prices for Scientology training and the price of the new e-meter are discussed.
More on the blast of voicemails and phone calls.
GreyWolf announces his World Cult Watch radio show Sunday night will have ex-Sea Org members Scott and Kerry Campbell who return to discuss their experience with Scientology and aboard the Freewinds.
The history of Narconon’s internet marketing is explored and discussed. A ten part series from a blog written by SEOlogy. This particular angle is critical because this is how they manage to get all the “fresh meat,” so pushing the Narconon shill sites down far enough to open room for critical sites is probably the one thing we can do that stands a good chance of actually keeping people from getting killed by the cult.
Is it a possibility that LRH participated in drug trafficking? My take: interesting but far-fetched.

General Press

The cult recently purchased a building in Auckland, New Zealand. The purchase price was NZ$16 million (US$13.1 million). Interestingly the article reports that the building was financed by a loan from CSI to the local group, which will have to be repaid later (terms unknown). There may be less than 250 Scientologists in all of NZ, if they exist at the same rate as in Australia, excluding staff (the 2006 census listed 350, but defections have obviously reduced this number over the course of nearly a decade). Financing the building in advance of fund raising could be an interesting change in strategy, if we start seeing this elsewhere. In fact, it could be a recognition that large donors () are getting tapped out, so Miscavige is going to take more cash over time rather than getting all the proceeds from an Ideal Org purchase up front. The only problem is that if the org continues to spiral downward and is unable to meet payment deadlines a year or two out, the international management may be left holding the bag, which is of course very unattractive to DM.

Requesting your Thoughts on Independent Scientology + A Momentary Lull in the Action

Due to a relatively sudden trip out of town mandated by my Global Capitalism HQ overlords, I was unable to get the Daily Digest done last night. Tonight is not looking great, either. I expect to be back in the saddle with a Daily Digest on Friday night. I apologize for the lack of notice on this one, and thank you for your understanding.

If time permits on the trip, I’ll try to get something done on a story about the scenario for Independent Scientology, which I would love to publish in the next week or two. I would welcome your thoughts in the comments section below.

Note for the purposes of this analysis that I do not think it necessary to distinguish between various “flavors” of people attempting to practice their own flavor of Scientology apart from the official Church of Scientology. In other words, I’m looking for a scenario that encompasses Ron’s Org, Freezone, Milestone Two, “indies” affiliated with none of these other groups, etc. I believe that one general scenario is possible.

Do you think:

Independent Scientology will become an effective, organized movement that actually helps to drive membership losses at the COS by marketing its positive advantages?
Independent Scientology must inevitably be a way station for people who are leaving the cult but who aren’t ready to walk away from it entirely, and thus it is not able to exist on its own over the long term?
Independent Scientology will be able to attract a significant number of adherents from the world of the never-in’s, by putting together a case for the value of auditing and other Scientology practices?
Independent Scientologists will be able to resolve factional disputes and come together in agreements on key points, to present a unified face, thus attracting new adherents? Or will it forever look like the People’s Front of Judea versus the Judean People’s Front?
Some other scenario will come to pass?

I would welcome your thoughts. I have my own opinion, which I have shared in many comments on Tony Ortega’s site, but would love to see if there’s some sort of consensus among the cadre of Insightful Readers here.

Not to sound too much like your 9th grade English teacher, but please don’t just repsond with one of the 5 numbers; I need to understand your thought processes more than which answer you think is correct… Analysis is as much about getting the reasoning process right as it is about getting the “answer” right.

Thanks!

Scientology Daily Digest: Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Programming note: Again, exhaustion overtook me in trying to get this done last night. That and a desire to maintain some semblance of an actual life. Apologies to Faithful Readers who may depend on this before bedtime.

Perhaps the most unexpected news item today is that Marty and Mosey Rathbun recently became parents, with little William James Rathbun entering the world a few days ago. Ironically, William James is considered “the father of American psychology.” Congratulations! And, of course, this makes Mosey Rathbun a mother lioness; Miscavige would do well to remember that messing with a mother lioness (think Karen De La Carriere after the loss of her son Alexander) is almost always a low-percentage shot.

The best Facebook comment by a cultie hyperventilating over the ultra-amazing events of the weekend goes to this unnamed Kool-Aid drinker, posted to BlackRob’s WWP thread of crazy cult Facebook posts.

Some delusionally delirious praise for David Miscavige from an attendee at last weekend's events. Wonder if the Nobel committee will pick Miscavige over that Pope Francis guy. — Some delusionally delirious praise for David Miscavige from an attendee at last weekend’s events. Wonder if the Nobel committee will pick Miscavige over that Pope Francis guy.

Something to watch for: Buffalo (thanks to Ze Moo) and Melbourne report Scientology ad campaigns popping up in the last couple of weeks. It will be important to see if this is the beginning of a major initiative to ~~pollute~~ adorn buses and airwaves in major cities worldwide. Please pass along any data points on new ads in mass media (Craigslist doesn’t count).

Tony Ortega’s Blog

Today’s story featured leaked photos from the Super Power building. Apparently, these photos came from one of the books distributed as souvenirs to the attendees at the weekend’s events. There are some pictures from inside the building being posted on social media, but nothing yet that appears to be actual pix of the oiliness table or anything else on the Super Power floor. Tony also revisited the fact that the speech was 8 minutes long.

My take:

I had another thought on the 8-minute speechus interruptus (perhaps better termed quotus interruptus, evocative of another happens-too-fast problem that DM may have to contend with) and why it is such a disaster for Dave. Recall that, based on the articles on Mike Rinder’s site, all the events on Friday and Saturday gave a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo about Golden Age of Dreck 2 issues, filled with nonsensical acronym-slinging. But he didn’t say much about Super Power at that time.

So if he really wanted to “sell” Super Power to his best customers, most of whom were seated in the front row at the event, he really needed to get people whipped up into a lather before they entered the building. When you unveil a major new product, you have to get people emotionally invested before they try it out. You don’t want them making a buying decision on purely rational grounds. It’s like when a manufacturer unveils a new car at a car show — the speeches, music, lights, food, booze, etc. are designed to get people excited before they see the car, and then transfer the excitement from the other stuff to the car itself. It doesn’t matter that they’ve been hyping Super Power for 15 years of fund raising; you still have to do it all over again when people are about to sample the product for the first time.

That’s why I think this is an epic fail, far worse than just the personal embarrassment of being “confronted and shattered” by “chopper tech.” It’s a strategic blunder of the first degree. And it will definitely be felt not only in Super Power enrollment figures, but perhaps even in the IAS event in two weeks.

So what’s the next scam after this one? Ivan Mapother tongue-in-cheekily thinks we’re up for new Super Powers buildings in Europe and Australia. I think we would do well to watch the “Pacific Events Center,” an auditorium complex so sorely needed because the dozens of live event venues within 10 miles of Pac Base, ranging from the 1,300 seat Wilshire Ebell theater to the Forum, the Sports Arena and the Staples Center (each 15,000+ seats) just don’t give them any choices on where to hold an event. They’re also talking about an “L. Ron Hubbard Auditorium” in Clearwater.

But there are also local ad campaigns popping up. It’s going to be important to keep an eye on local ad campaigns (which are cheaper, and thus involve less fundraising) versus big building campaigns (which last longer, and have the potential to raise more money over time but probably a much slower start). That may give us some insight into whether DM believes his donor base is tapped out.

Selected comments:

IBBy has one of the best short rants about the cult I’ve seen in a while. Best term for Church “ecclesiastical” leadership: “a cloister of assholes.”
Ruby reports that the outer org trainees that have been stuck at Flag since approximately June are coming home; she knows of some in her area who have returned. This means seat fillers at the tent for the IAS event in 10 days will be a bit harder to come by.
Ceelou shares what it’s like to have long-time Scientologist parents continuing to drink the Kool-Aid.
Sidney18511 points out that part of the fund raising appeal for Super Powers may have been that world leaders will flock to the building, starting with its opening, to honor Scientology and to learn about the “religion.” Oops.
IBBy also notes the parallels between the Super Power rides and attractions and the ones at a place that all the smart kids aspired to go to from childhood.
Zeeeeeemu points out that the key legacy of the Super Power building finally opening is that there’s no clear direction for the future. I agree; that’s why it’s important to gather as many data points on small fund-raising intiatiives as possible, to spot the next big scam as it’s emerging from David Miscavige’s greedy little mind.
Valerie Ross reminisces about the attempts to recapture her and get her back into the cult recently, after being out for several decades. Interestingly, the constant calls turned her from someone who rarely thought of an embarrassing “aberration” from her life in the distant past into an active critic and activist. Way to pull it in, DM! She also shares her secret for getting off the phone list.
Kemist snags a photo off Facebook of the statues in the Super Power lobby of several of the “dynamics.” Clearly, Hubbard’s theories of art are in full display, wherein he believes art is only useful if it has a “message” (can’t find the exact quote), kind of like the Soviet or North Korean motivational posters.

Mike Rinder’s Blog

One of Mike’s sources talks about their tour of the Super Power building. Apparently, they’re not allowed up on the sixth floor to see the running track where the Cause Resurgence Rundown will take place. Perhaps that’s because the marketing promise that this rundown can be done at any point and will absolutely positively deliver all sorts of “case gain” won’t reconcile too well to the reality of a running track in the dark in the minds of even the most obedient public.

Forum Sites (WWP, ESMB, OCMB)

Thanks again to Aeger Primo for the eagle-eyed scan of the forums.

Ongoing thread of court dates by JBWriter. VERY valuable thread keeps track of all important court dates of the C0$, front groups, and Scientology events in the USA and around the world.
It’s a boy! William James Rathbun. Comments on the new arrival to the ex-Scientology community.
Who will be going to the RPF, punished, sent to the Hole… some speculation and J&D over who takes the heat for the Super Power ribbon cutting ceremony failure. My take: it’s a little hard to declare the FAA a Suppressive Person and restrict Miscavige’s jet pilots from speaking with them.
Start Christmas shopping early for the Anonymous Protester in your family; there’s abundant merchandise including Anonymous Lego action figures, candles, Guy Fawkes earrings, etc. Check out the Legonymous video…
Older photos of Scientology whales are compared to the close-up photos of the front row of the Super Power building grand opening event. Names are given of who they are.

General News

Leah Remini was on The View, the ABC gab-fest led by Barbara Walters. Apparently, Baba Wawa asked about disconnection, and Leah pointed out that she didn’t disconnect from her friends, they are the ones not allowed to talk to her.
In Buffalo, the gateway to the quaint rural region of upstate New York called “Canada,” the local paper notes a billboard and bus ad campaign for Scientology and considers the question of whether they’re trying to spruce up their image. Leaving aside the question of whether raising the Titanic would be easier, it’s nice to see local press do a reasonable job grappling with the question. Nice job scoring an interview with two recently departed local ex’s.
Off topic but still relevant, since many in this community are fans: Monty Python is reuniting for a show. They had rarely appeared together in public in the last 20 years (I was at a movie premiere of a documentary in NY in 2009 and actually got to shake Terry Jones’s hand) and now they’re performing together.