Gee – I’m sure they’d NEVER use information like that for blackmail. Not at all.
Scientology is indeed anti-drug, but it’s still scary about what it says and does. It’s drug-rehab program Narconon sounds like other, non-Scientologist programs, and it’s been alleged that they use the program as a foothold to introduce scientology. Well-intentioned people funnel addicts into the program, or support it as an available rehab program, not realizing that Narconon is VERY Scientology-based, and proselytizes for the Church.
Narconon prescxribes high doses of niacin (!) to combat drugs, and believes that drugs are stored in the body’s fat cells. It also insists on using auditing techniques to get users off drugs.
Ironically, according to ex-Scientologists who were familiar with L. Ron, despite his claims that Scientology gave its adherents control over the body (thuis theoretically making the use of drugs unnecessary), Hubbard himself maintained a large private pharmacy, and self-medicated.
On Tony Ortega’s blog this morning is news of a class action lawsuit against NarConon, the Scieno’s scummy “anti-drug” front.
While you’re there, yesterday’s blog is well-worth looking at. It contains the story, including an audio recording, of a woman with doubts being declared a Supressive Person. There’s a transcript if you can’t listen to the recording. One of her “crimes” was watching Dancing With The Stars! It’s chilling as the dick Declaring her is so matter-of-fact, while she keeps trying to hold off what she knows is coming, that she knows might completely ruin her life.
I have to say, as interesting as this thread has been, I’m kind of disappointed that we don’t have a bunch of new users who are jumping in to defend Scientology or bash the documentary.
Either Scientology is slipping, or the Straight Dope isn’t the universal fount of knowledge that I believed it to be.
Love Catholicism or hate it, you can buy the complete Catholic catechism at any book store (or borrow it at any library) and find out exactly what the Church teaches on almost EVERYTHING without investing much time or money.
In the same way, you can get a book of Mormon anywhere- even at most hotel rooms. You wanna know what it’s all about, you can find out for yourself for free.
Similarly, any rabbi could tell you the basics of Judaism for free in ten minutes. Any Muslim imam could tell you the basics of Islam for free in a few minutes.
That’s a good point. I’m sure Google has indexed this thread; everything on here seems to be indexed within minutes; and we’ve repeatedly mentioned Gibney and Going Clear. You’d think that Scientology would have it’s minions scouring the web looking for such discussions and then signing up to defend themselves.
At the apartment building I used to live in, a neighbor had been in Scientology, and they pursued him fairly doggedly, sending him mail every single day with exhortations to “Continue Up The Bridge!” “Go OT!”
He threw the mail into the trash can in the lobby, where I would fish it out.
They even sent him a catalog of “mandatory donations” needed for each course. Back in the 80s one would have to spend well north of $125,000 to reach OT III and read the Xenu story.
And to the best of my recollection, I don’t think I ever saw a single black face in a piece of their recruiting literature.
Maybe Farrakhan got a tour of the luxurious Celebrity Centre and thought “FUCK selling bean pies! I have got to get a piece of this!”
Correct on all counts. What’s more, the rabbi will spend five of those minutes trying to talk you out of it.
I was very surprised when a evangelical sect of Islam left an English translation of the Koran hanging in a plastic bag on my doorknob. It did include a request to treat it respectfully, and I did, shelving it next to the Bible in my library.
*We must respect the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
Alright, stop now. This thread is about Going Clear specifically, and Scientology in general. To discuss other religions, people should go start a new thread of their own. You NO IDEA how many other threads/comments sections elsewhere have devolved/derailed and are now all about other religions. Practically ALL of them! It will not happen to this thread
During that slump, the National Lampoon published Diarrhetics, a parody of Dianetics, which quoted a fake Travolta saying how much Scientology had guided him: “I mean, it’s like really helped me with my recent career decisions”.
Let’s refrain from jr. modding this thread. There will always be conversation drift in a thread and some comparisons to other religions may be relevant in discussing Scientology and the documentary. If anyone feels it is getting out of hand, please report those specific posts.
I noticed the same thing (nothing but whites) while watching the documentary and mentioned it to my wife. I DID see a black man on stage at one of their meetings, standing behind either Cruise or Miscavige.
I don’t know, but I doubt the exclusion of blacks had as much to do with color as it did with money. I would suspect Scientology would be happy to take anyone’s money, regardless of their genetic makeup. When Scientology hit the ground, there weren’t that many black people that were capable of coughing up the money necessary to achieve the levels.
Or, perhaps black people have a much better BS detector than their white coutnterparts.
The links provided by davidm had quite a bit about Hubbard’s racism - which, to be fair, was not much worse than his peers. But the whole idea of the Nation of Islam uniting with the Church of Scientology - that is something that would have me checking to see if someone had sent me to an Onion article.
There were a few in the audience at one of the International Associations of Scientologists Nuremberg Rally, but they were notable by their rarity - and they might have been placed there for visuals.
And you’re right. You can join a pretty exclusive country club for about the same amount of money at attaining the OT levels, so it’s not surprising to see the same effect on membership. For his myriad flaws (psychosis, viciousness, and a smirk that I really want to slap off his face) David Miscavige sees mainly green.
True, but I just can’t reconcile Farrakhan’s beliefs with Hubbard’s. I’m trying to imagine two less likely compatriots. The Raelians and Lyndon LaRouche?
True, but it’s enough to make one believe that there is some sort of SPECTRE-style group working to unite all the fringe religions for some even more dastardly plan - although it’s hard to imagine what it could be.