The following article from Mike Rinder is a followup to the survey we published on August 5, 2010 entitled "Survey: What Impinges?" which you can see here. I want to thank everyone who took the time to contribute answers. - Thoughtful
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Vulture Culture
I recently posted a survey designed to discover what caused people to stop supporting the Church of Miscavology and what current Scientologists are disaffected about.
Many responded on Steve Hall’s website, many more sent private emails. Thanks to everyone who participated. There were enough sordid stories to keep a horror movie fan occupied for nights on end.
The responses may be helpful in reaching out to others. They are summarized below.
First, what impinged on you to start looking (there were 3 questions designed to get these answers and I have combined the results – of course this totals more than 100% as there was no limit on the number of things anyone could mention).
Not too surprisingly, OUT TECH was the most common response. Of the 68% who answered with this, most said it was problems with Clear or being sent back to re-do steps on the Bridge.
64% said it was the VULTURE CULTURE that shoved them out the door. More horror stories of late nite reg visits, money being taken off account without permission, absolutely no concern for Bridge progress – just relentless and incessant “give me your money. All of it. Now. Take a loan and give me more.”
The next highest percentage (36%) was squirrel ETHICS/INJUSTICES. Many mentioned being on the other end of an ethics cycle where the Church protected a big contributor in direct violation of standard policy.
35% said they saw Tommy Davis or the wicked witches LYING on TV or read the over-the-top Freedom Mags. Its always good to know what a great job the Church of Miscavology PR machine does to swell the ranks of those who see the real truth.
And Dear Leader’s IDEAL ORG strategy apparently only fools some of the people some of the time because 33% said they saw the lies as they had been in the orgs and knew they weren’t expanding, in spite of what the Chairman of Bullshit was trying to shove down their throats.
25% also said they saw the INTERNET and various write-ups/KRs from Mary Jo, Jason Beghe, Haydn, Jeff, Sherry, Geir, Paul Haggis, etc. usually after seeing a MEDIA report.
And the other main answers were -- the disappearance of management terminals in the church, seeing Dear Leader pretending to be Source or just being himself up close and personal (“unlikable” is the polite term), being forced to read “the Basics,” forced disconnection, mistreatment of staff, and the Glittery Age of Tech Alteration. And just one other noteworthy point – one in twenty said the behavior of Tom Cruise made them start looking for the truth.
Sources of Upset
Now, these responses were interesting, but the real eye opener was: “What things do you know from personal experience are sources of upset from on-lines current Scientologists? (What have you heard others say -- not just suspect).”
This question may have gotten the single most uniform response I have ever seen on a survey.
90% (the other 10% were people who said they didn’t speak to anyone currently in the church so had no answer!) said current Scientologists are upset about the VULTURE CULTURE.
This broke down as follows:
62% – Crush regging/IAS creating dangerous environment/no interest expressed in Bridge progress only where is your money/endless phone calls
17% – Prices (mostly cost to do endless OT VII sec checks)
11% – Mandatory events/briefings which are actually just reg events
There were other answers about out tech, disconnection, injustices, Ideal Orgs, no delivery, GAT/Basics, the impossibility of reporting outnesses internally, lies at events and how it doesn’t add up to what is seen in the orgs – but there is a button that is guaranteed to hit home with current church members: REGGING.
And more specifically, regging for the IAS/Org Buildings.
"Lost" LRH Reference
This opens a BIG door. Many have commented in the past that the way to get someone in the church to look is give them an LRH reference. Of course, there is no LRH reference for the IAS or the Ideal Org “strategy” so its hard to show an omitted.
But there is one LRH reference that is exactly on point. It is something you don’t see referred to in the C of M these days, though it used to be broadly promoted. It is a magazine article LRH wrote in 1970 entitled What Your Fees Buy (title was changed later to “What Your Donations Buy” because fees sounded too commercial). Because this is such an important issue, the full text is made available on Steve’s website at http://www.scientology-cult.com/knowledge-center/419-what-your-fees-buy.html. You will not find it in the OEC or Tech Vols.
To summarize the salient points – LRH says he knows Dianetics and Scientology services should be free and wishes they were so. But what you pay for SERVICES has to cover all manner of expenses as Scientology receives no government handouts. Your fees cover the cost of providing the services (the buildings and staff), the support for Sea Org Management, legal defense and PR, eradicating psychiatry and planetary suppression and implementing 4th dynamic programs to help society. You can now show to any Scientologist what LRH says your fees for SERVICES cover.
Of course Dear Leader, finder of lost tech and stalwart of On Sauciness (for non-Scientologists, Mike is making a pun on “on source” which means to use Scientology in the way it was intended; instead of staying on source, David Miscavige is serving out his own sauce), has thrown this LRH reference out the window. What the hell, its “inconvenient” to current plans. So, let’s lose it – after all, “I am the lost tech king, and it’s good to be the King!”
Today Scientologists are expected to pay the IAS, the Ideal Orgs, CCHR, ABLE and WISE before you buy services. And even if you run that gauntlet and make it to a normal reg, they will try to sell you another set of Basic books or ACCs for your garage storage or to donate to libraries before they show any interest in actually moving you up the Bridge.
But, the picture inside the Vulture Culture is even grimmer. While Scrooge McDuckage sits on his ever growing mountain of gold the subject itself is going to hell in a hand basket. That mountain is well in excess of a billion dollars – and if someone wants proof of the orders of magnitude, see the IAS 25th anniversary Impact Mag listing ONLY those who attained new Patron statuses just for the event – it totals $92 million. That does not include anyone who has ever become a Patron Gluteus Maximus or any other status at any other time, or annual or lifetime memberships. How much do you think the IAS has sucked out over 25 years?
Now, here is where the depravity really comes in. Dear Leader has become a broken record about how his “Ideal Orgs” are the only thing that will accomplish planetary clearing. In fact, he has conditioned the release of the mythical OT IX and X on all orgs becoming “Ideal”. And of course, an “Ideal Org” is a MEST item, not a Saint Hill size org. A lavish building. It’s why all the vultures circle – to get the MONEY to buy and renovate the building in order to make another “Ideal Org”. You cannot be an Ideal Org unless you have a new fancy building including the “Fully Automated Robot Television™ Public Divisions” (FART).
Burning Question
So here is the burning question every Scientologist should be asking.
If you could actually handle this planet and move people on to the highest OT levels (people who have been waiting for 20 years) by creating Ideal Orgs everywhere – why not BUY THEM FROM THE BILLION+ DOLLARS YOU ALREADY HAVE? (Granted, Dear Leader doesn’t let on how much money he has, but any blind bat with a calculator could read the IAS glitzfest mags and see the orders of magnitude)
If there are 100 orgs needing buildings (and there are certainly NOT more than that as there hasn’t been a new org in 20 years) and you allocated $5 million to each (which will buy and renovate a palace in most cities where there are orgs all the most expensive cities except Tokyo and Paris are done), that’s only half a billion? Wouldn’t even use half of McDuckage’s mound of gold (and just think of the massive income those orgs would generate, flourishing and prospering as they would be AND Dear Leader would still own all the property!) So, why not do this to save the planet?
Because it is predicated on a HUGE lie. These buildings do NOT make an org that flourishes and prospers. They send 50 Sea Org Missionaires to force some stats out of the latest ones for a video and the majority languish below make-break point. Invite anyone to visit the original pilot Ideal Org – the one everyone else is supposed to pattern their expansion on: Buffalo. It’s a small and failing, empty org in a lavish, oversized and now rundown building. Or stop by San Francisco where teenage body routers in Girl Guide uniforms will entice you into the org to give you free energy saving lightbulbs and then try to convince you to take a FART tour. Or, or, or.
But, I am afraid, it is even worse than this. Dear Leader is seeing that his sales pitch is starting to wear thin. It is becoming obvious as more and more “Ideal Buildings” are bought that this is NOT clearing the planet. So, what’s the new line for the Vulture Culture? Donate to the IAS so they can make a stable planet so we can build Ideal Orgs!!! Whatever happened to making a safe planet through delivery of Scientology? That’s what LRH said.
So, you want to impinge on those who are still blinded by the bs? Hit them where THEIR BPC is boiling. And give them an LRH reference, and some logic that cannot be denied, because it all comes right out of Dear Leader’s mouth and his publications.
And hopefully enough people can be woken up before what was formerly known as the Church of Scientology becomes just a bunch of empty palaces with the only sign of “life” being the hollow sound of videos reverberating off the perfectly decorated walls.
Written by Mike Rinder
To see the original survey from August 5, 2010 entitled "Survey: What Impinges?" which you can see here.
Click here to see the magazine article LRH wrote in 1970 entitled "What Your Fees Buy"