I’ve read a lot of Hubbard’s early stuff and I have to admit that I really can’t stand it – even things that are highly regarded, like Fear and Typewriter in the Sky. There’s an undercurrent of mean in Hubbard’s work that makes me uneasy. And the man really didn’t know much science – his stuff is really slight on the technical side, and more fantasy than hard SF. (That’s not a criticism, by the way. lots of SF writers don’t know much science. Robert Sheckley didn’t know a damned technical thing, but I love his stuff. Fredric Brown, too.) But the punch line at the end of Beyond the Black Nebula ain’t worth the build-up, IMHO.
I don’t think so. Never heard of CM being connected with Scientology.
That’s a fascinating book, though it’s been a long time since I last read it. My only beef is that the account of his last years hiding in California was rather sparse. There would have been great material, if only the author had had access at the time.
Hubbard is fantastic subject for biography, in both senses of the word. I’d have loved to meet him. Sure, he was full of…er…bovine ordure, but it’s hard to deny that his life was interesting.
I’m trying to remember if I read “A Piece of Blue Sky” or not. (I read so many books it’s hard to keep track of them all!)
I’m going to check it out of the library.
Good to know that there is hope.
Do you have a cite, CalMeacham? I can’t find anything damning.
I follow Scientology pretty closely and I have never heard about him being connected. It has never come up over at xenu.net on the boards there that I am aware of, but maybe I’ll pop over and start a thread asking about it.
And if he is, so what? If you like his music go ahead and enjoy it. I like The Simpsons even if Bart is voiced by a clam, I enjoyed Travolta in Pelham 123 and of course Pulp Fiction. Yeah it is kind of sad to find your hero has feet of clay, but judge the art, not the artist. Micheal Jackson was a Jehovah’s Witness. Does that make Thriller any less a landmark album?
Those would be the ones doing the sec checks.
Those would be the ones handling high value members like celebrities.
I wouldn’t characterize it as mild. My understanding is that auditing can be a fairly intense experience. Having not been through it, I can’t tell you much more than what I have read. I don’t think we have any former and certainly no practicing Scientologists on this board, so unless one comes along…
Some “sec check” questions:
Did you come to Earth for evil purposes?
Have you ever smothered a baby?
Have you ever enslaved a population?
Have you ever destroyed a culture?
Have you ever torn out someone’s tongue?
Have you ever zapped anyone?
Have you ever eaten a human body?
Have you ever made a planet, or nation, radioactive?
Man, have I lived a quiet and boring life! 
I’m merely a Scientology hobbyist, ever since they bought a big ranch out near my itty-bitty-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-hometown and started moving a lot of earth around with heavy equipment while cryogenic trucks made late night clandestine deliveries, scaring all of the already paranoid pot-growing locals. And don’t get me wrong, I still watch Mad Men and have probably seen 90% of Tom Cruise’s movies. I just have no qualms at pointing and laughing or being disappointed to learn of someone who buys into that there Grade A Bullshit.
Anyway, to the OP’s questions:
It is a repackaging under religious guise of Hubbard’s quack self help system, Dianetics, itself a mish-mosh of Freudian psychology (itself long disproved) and some other junk that Hubbard cooked up to make a buck. The feds took an interest so he dodged their authority over medical practices by calling it a church thus shielding the operation with the constitution.
I believe he started it out as a scam, but after a while he drank his own kool-aid. If you believe a lie you are telling are you still a liar?
Out of dozens of current a-listers, only two or three are in the cult. Is that guy from “That 70’s Show” very rich and successful? Is he even currently working? So a couple of a-listers, a handful of b-listers and various and sundry musicians isn’t a very high proportion of celebdom.
So I would say your premise is wrong. Most rich and successful Hollywood types stay well clear of the cult. Nicole Kidman bailed on the cult and Cruise the moment she figured out what was up, and it could be argued her career is doing better than her ex’s these days.
It may come as a shock to you, but the personal qualities that enable one to pretend to be someone else in front of a camera, may not be the same ones that make one a critical thinker.
In Cruise’s case, he was led into it by Anne Archer, who he was banging (or possibly using as a beard) at the time. Other posters have mentioned the famous acting coach, and Hubbard intentionally targeting celebs. Somewhere on the net is his original list of celebs to target. It was basically a laundry list of the most famous people in the biz at the time. Groucho Marx was on the list. Doesn’t seem like the sort of guy who would fall for it though! 
Edward R. Murrow was on the list as well! :eek: And Billy Graham!!! :dubious: Walt Kelly! We have met the Engram and he is us! 
The list makes it clear how delusional Hubbard really was.
You can read it here: A Piece Of Blue Sky - Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed
Though if you can get it at the library, I personally prefer reading a physical book than reading off a computer screen 
“Bare-faced Messiah” is here: Bare-Faced Messiah
I just read Janet Reitman’s new book “Inside Scientology” and enjoyed it very much.
Also see The Village Voice’s current series “The Top 25 People Crippling Scientology”. It is very interesting.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/top_25_people_c/
But I think perhaps the most interesting of all is listening to ex-scientologists tell their stories on video interviews. Amy Scobee, Jeff Hawkins, Mark Headley, and many more are all fascinating to listen to, see their stuff on YouTube. Those first three have also written books which I haven’t read yet.
For a really fascinating and complete story see John Duignan’s hour-plus video (in 16 parts) here:
He wrote his story in his book, “The Complex”.
I’ve read it many times over the years. Operation Clambake’s listing of celebrity scientologists is refusing to come up on my computer, but his picture is here: http://perezhilton.com/galleries/index.php?pgid=147115
Here’s Clambake’s entry page to the Celebrity stuff. Maybe you’ll have better luck:
I’ve done some searching, but aside from the Perez Hilton page, nothing I can grab has the connection. I strongly suspect it’s also on the Op Clambake page I can’t raise.
I see that Stan Schmenge has been searching, too.
Seems like everyone is confusing Chuck Mangione with Chick Corea, who is a Scientologist. And Perez’s list has a couple on there that I don’t believe are in the cult. And quite a few people I have never heard of, or are c-listers at best.
Thanks – I ordered it from my library. I love the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh!!! (I too prefer physical books)
What Stan is talking about is Hubbard’s belief that all of us have lived for millions of years. That is a whole big part of the scam-Hubbard claimed to remember buried treasure form ages ago, when he was an Egyptian prince. Which is why he cruised around the Mediterranean Sea, in a converted cargo ship.
Of course, he found nothing-I wonder what the "true believers " thought at that point?
People believe what they want to believe. The paradox thing about cults and religions is that from some point they leave scientific ground and just say, “and that is why we BELIEVE”.
Yeah, I wondered about that too. In my time, I’ve met some folks from some odd sects, and uncommon religions, but have yet to meet a living, breathing Scientologist.
I mean, I’ve met animist hippies, Bahai, any number of people from odd Pentecostal-offshoots, Messianic Jews, various stripes of atheists and agnostics, Unitarians, Unitarian atheists, but no Scientologists yet.
They might not be very upfront about their membership, what with the bad rap they have deservedly gotten. You may have met Scientologists and simply not known it. Also, you are more likely to run into them in the places they are concentrated, Los Angeles and Clearwater Florida.
Years ago, I was in the market for some auto insurance, and I went into the Hollywood office of a company called Survival. I was quoted a $2800 dollar a year policy for minimum liability coverage on my old car. :eek: I had zero points on my license at the time. I politely declined and as I was walking out of the place, the wierd old dude who tried to sell me the policy started yelling at me. “Driving without insurance is against the law! I’m going to call the police! If you don’t buy this policy You will be arrested!”
I bought the identical policy from another company for $700 a year. By now you have guessed that Survival Insurance was a Scientologist run company. The ran afoul of the law over their shady practices and were operating under an injuction. I think they are now trying to shut them down, if they haven’t already.
Point being, Scientologists run their businesses the same way the church runs theirs: lie and cheat to rip people off for the most money possible. After all, going up the “Bridge to Total Freedom” is expensive! If I was a Scientologist, I would be keeping that fact close to the vest.
And apparently Survival has now declared bankruptcy after the proprietor gave millions to the cult: