The Super Power Building

December 30, 2011 7:47 PM

The purpose of the Super Power Building has been stated as providing a dedicated center for delivering the Super Power Rundown, a high-level Scientology training course that has not yet been released.
posted by Trurl (79 comments total)

aka The Suri Cruise Dollhouse
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:58 PM on December 30, 2011

Finally, I'll be able to make Level 5 Laser Lotus!
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:04 PM on December 30, 2011 [6 favorites]

Those renderings are amazing - a weird combo of upscale boutique hotel, Kubrickian space station and military boot camp.
posted by subbes at 8:06 PM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'd like to ride a gyroscope thingy that requires you to stabilize your thetas or whatever in order to slow it down. Maybe they will sell day passes so you can go ride all the woo-woo mechanical bulls and get celebrity autographs.

At any rate, with these new facilities I suspect we'll see some kind of rebooting of the Scientology mythos that will come with a much much tighter copyright protection to stave off embarrassing leaks.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:09 PM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

I seem to remember killing splicers in this building.
posted by Grimgrin at 8:10 PM on December 30, 2011 [10 favorites]

Oh lordy, it's a chronosynclastic infundibulum!
posted by drhydro at 8:11 PM on December 30, 2011 [3 favorites]

I suspect we'll see some kind of rebooting of the Scientology mythos

Crisis on Infinite Teegeeacks
posted by Trurl at 8:12 PM on December 30, 2011 [8 favorites]

"Motion Quadrant," whatever the heck that's supposed to be, seems more than a little inspired by No. 2's control room from The Prisoner.
posted by JHarris at 8:13 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Scientologists are small time. The actions of various other religious groups whuch have been brought to light make them seem pretty harmless. Miscavage isn't an altar bo. Scientologists get a bit pissy if you insult Dianetics or draw L Ron in a bad light. They have a few hundred people in Florida working for slave wages to do the churches laundry. They built some over the top buildings and have made some miraculous claims. All this for a few million followers. A handful of leaders hiding out to avoid lawsuit.
posted by humanfont at 8:20 PM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

It's the Baxter Building for idiots.
posted by doctor_negative at 8:20 PM on December 30, 2011 [3 favorites]

All this for a few million followers.

Oh please. Not. Even. Close. The numbers they claim are as ludicrous as their beliefs.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 8:23 PM on December 30, 2011 [3 favorites]

*squints* I feel like all it's missing are people in sexless unitards pointing and smiling.
posted by The Whelk at 8:23 PM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

Terraces conveniently placed so that particularly troublesome kidnapping victims trainees can be pushed to their death go out for some fresh air.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 8:24 PM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

With the right PR and by dialing down the kidnapping a bit Scientology could become the premier LARPing league. Bigger than the renaissance fair at any rate.
posted by 2bucksplus at 8:24 PM on December 30, 2011 [4 favorites]

Which room will they stuff sick people in for observation as they slowly die?

Fuck Scientology in the ear.
posted by cmyk at 8:29 PM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

It's the color choice and ribbed walls in the hallways, It's like if Starfleet built a combination ready room/spa.
posted by The Whelk at 8:37 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Maybe association with Scientology will be enough to kill the Super Power meme.

I certainly hope so.
posted by jamjam at 8:37 PM on December 30, 2011

Sorta previously, we saw photos of the inside of the Freewinds, their floating prison / base / lair, and I remember thinking that for such a wealthy organization their decor had an odd skeezy convention-center-motel quality to it . . these images only further reinforce that impression.

I also think it's cute how they tout "a searchable database of all LRH references" as a major technological wonder, as though you couldn't get that sort of thing on a CD-ROM, in the bargain bin, twenty years ago.
posted by chaff at 8:52 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh please. Not. Even. Close. The numbers they claim are as ludicrous as their beliefs.

So why does the Internet get all a tizzy about it? For all the energy spent on Scientologu you'd think they had real numbers, power and influence. I know all the horror stories about them and I'm not a fan, but again looking at recent scandals they seem pretty small time.
posted by humanfont at 8:54 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Because they abuse, harass, and occasionally kill people? Seems a good reason to get annoyed with them.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 9:13 PM on December 30, 2011 [3 favorites]

It's the color choice and ribbed walls in the hallways, It's like if Starfleet built a combination ready room/spa.

I can't promise I wouldn't joint Scientology if Counselor Troi told me to.
posted by planet at 9:16 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Getting a definite Starship Titanic vibe here, with a ramped-up sense of impending doom, minus the whimsy and real people personalities that Mr. Adams would have staffed it with.
posted by HannoverFist at 9:32 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Brushed metal, bud vases, and light wood are the international symbols for evil.
posted by The Whelk at 9:39 PM on December 30, 2011 [4 favorites]

Huh. Judging by those visuals, Scientology is the Umbrella Corporation.
posted by -harlequin- at 9:55 PM on December 30, 2011

Are you surprised?
posted by The Whelk at 10:00 PM on December 30, 2011

Scientology would like to be the Umbrella Corporation, but their money comes from donations, instead of having a finger in every pie. So they have to manufacture things like this to convince the faithful that their Church still has forward momentum.
posted by Kevin Street at 10:08 PM on December 30, 2011

I really need one of those giant crystal globe thetan catchers, or whatever that thing is next to the human gyroscope. Imagine the fun you could have at Halloween.
posted by dejah420 at 10:25 PM on December 30, 2011

Are we certain these aren't set renderings for Atlas Shrugged Part 2?

So why does the Internet get all a tizzy about it?

Because they were one of the first organizations to go after free speech about them on the internet in a big way. In a very real sense they provided the original basis for objections to the DMCA and other controls on the net.
posted by dhartung at 10:50 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Welcome to the Scientology Cultural Enrichment Center. The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Companion Cube cannot speak. In the event that the Companion Cube does speak, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice.
posted by SPrintF at 10:59 PM on December 30, 2011 [9 favorites]

It's no Baxter Building.
posted by Scoo at 11:13 PM on December 30, 2011

Grimgrin is right-- Lower the light levels a bit, and it's something out of Bioshock.
posted by exlotuseater at 11:18 PM on December 30, 2011

Why? Because they are easy meat. Among the low-hanging fruit of cults to oppose, Scientology are the strawberries. Their "beliefs" are transparently ridiculous, their origins are clearly fake, their methods of operation an obvious scam. In terms of capacity for self-defence, they are politically most powerful in Hollywood, where they are something of s joke. Their fanatics are at worst armed with fully loaded lawyers, and the worst they have ever done (outside of taking money from suckers) is drive a few folks to suicide and possibly murder a couple more. They seem to be capable of conducting a campaign of harassment so powerful that it moderately inconveniences a few dozen people worldwide at a time. Scary.

Taking them on is a weenie quest. It's a way of feeling like an activist while avoiding any real danger or commitment.

As evil cultish entities go, they are far less formidable and their recruitment far weaker than Amway. Yes, your Amway-peddling neighbour would disdain getting involved in Scientology. To her, it's an obvious scam. They own a few dozen less senators and congressmen, they own a lot less real estate, and they probably turn over a hundredth of the dollars that Amway does. Amway gives a lot of money to Repugs, Dominionists, and similar vile creatures. Breaking Amway would be a lot more beneficial to the world than kicking Scientology in its collective nuts yet again.

But it would be harder.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 11:40 PM on December 30, 2011 [6 favorites]

aeschenkarnos: "As evil cultish entities go, they are far less formidable and their recruitment far weaker than Amway."

Yo, I'mma let you finish, but Scientologists had the biggest government infiltration of all time. OF ALL TIME.
posted by mullingitover at 11:56 PM on December 30, 2011 [7 favorites]

Really of all time? The story doesn't even make it into the top ten.
posted by humanfont at 12:16 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

drhydro: "Oh lordy, it's a chronosynclastic infundibulum!"

Oh dammit is that what it is. I had convinced myself that Eco's electromechanical avunculogratulator had finally been realized. I've been saving an ungreeted uncle just for this occasion for twenty years.
posted by vanar sena at 12:37 AM on December 31, 2011

For all the energy spent on Scientologu you'd think they had real numbers, power and influence.

They do have influence, and they have made a concerted effort to draw celebrities into their ranks. Few organizations have actively courted the reality-warping, multiplicative cultural effects of money and fame as has Scientology. They have destroyed lives and continue to destroy them, they ruthlessly rake church members for cash in exchange for procedures and courses, they are notoriously litigious, they have shown themselves willing to go to extreme measures to try to keep certain unflattering information about their actions from going public, and are infamous for using dirty tricks to attack reporters in an attempt to scare them away from giving them any bad press.

They are comically manipulative to such an extent that, for a long while, the people on the web that fought against them bore the stigma of net-crazy just from the hyperbolic strength of their reports. It almost seemed impossible that they could have been that bad. But a number of prominent articles, and because this is the U.S. we're talking about a couple of notorious episodes of South Park, showed that the accusations were largely correct.

Now they're kind of in decline I think, but it's important not to count them out. There are enough noises coming from former Scientologists about freeing the "tech" from the Machiavellian control of the Church that makes me think some kind of reform may be possible, and who knows that may someday meet with conciliatory gestures from the organization itself, but it seems unlikely while Miscavige is in charge.
posted by JHarris at 1:13 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh, bullshit. Defining biggest as "most hubristically over the top", sure. But it was a screwup, it was always going to be a screwup, it was conducted by idiots for the benefit of idiots, and there was simply no way it could have succeeded.

My iPad Safari crash problem has eaten my reply to this twice so far, and I just can't be bothered typing it all out again. Google Scientology Controversies. Marvel at a bunch of petty bullshit. Then google Tokyo Sarin Gas. Then take a look at Mountain Meadows Massacre (and the rest of the pre-1950's history of the Mormon church). It just doesn't rate.

I am not white-knighting Scientology. They're assholes who victimize idiots, and they deserve not just the million tiny shaken fists of Anonymous, but the force of actual law, brought down on them. I am saying that as anti-cult activism goes, anti-Scientology is pretty pissy. The worst they will do is litigate at you, and send a bunch of idiots to pester you and yours. I will grant that the Anonymous crusade has brought forward the inevitable death of CoS by a couple of years; but Tom Cruise has personally done more harm to its reputation and recruitment abilities. The CoS offers mental health, and its chief spokesmodel (while a fine actor, IMO) is clearly barking mad. To join up with Scientology in 2011, you would have to be one phenomenon of gullibility.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 1:27 AM on December 31, 2011

Those renderings are pretty cool. Maybe Scientology will start attracting tons of recruits by offering them the opportunity to live and work in cool, futuristic, Logans Run-type environments that the real world has disappointingly not offered up.
posted by jayder at 1:38 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

...And when it comes to the future, here's the likes of which has never even been conceived of on this planet.

hehe, I guess it's sort of masochistic, but I love reading this grade of copy. I might have to see if I can find some back issues of The Source just to enjoy the tortured language.
posted by Abinadab at 3:52 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Just a reminder that Scientology successfully muscled the IRS.
posted by Trurl at 5:45 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Scientology would like to be the Umbrella Corporation, but their money comes from donations

And, according to Janet Reitman's Inside Scientology, massive real estate holdings.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 5:48 AM on December 31, 2011

Here's a rare, early video showing the Church of Scientology's plans for their land near Clearwater, FL.
posted by markkraft at 6:07 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also: Amway has not (as yet) established its own navy with a flagship staffed by young women in halter tops and hot pants.
posted by Trurl at 6:21 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

C'mon hurricanes! Yay for melting icecaps!
posted by markkraft at 6:26 AM on December 31, 2011

Looks like the city of Clearwater has fined the CoS $413K in code violations, for leaving their construction project a mess for so long.
posted by markkraft at 6:49 AM on December 31, 2011

Really of all time? The story doesn't even make it into the top ten.

"This project included a series of infiltrations and thefts from 136 government agencies, foreign embassies and consulates, as well as private organizations critical of Scientology, carried out by Church members, in more than 30 countries; the single largest infiltration of the United States government in history with up to 5,000 covert agents."

Amway's just as bad though, not denying that. I've personally seen it (play a least a part in) screwing up lives and marriages, something I warned the people about in advance, but... oh well.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 6:52 AM on December 31, 2011

Why? Because they are easy meat. Among the low-hanging fruit of cults to oppose, Scientology are the strawberries.

But unlike those other cults, they are everywhere, they are well-known so people can now effectively oppose them who are not dedicated cult-fighters, and they are powerful. And given the attempts they have made to ruin people who have fought them in the past they certainly are not low-hanging fruit, unless that fruit is coated in contact poison.

Their "beliefs" are transparently ridiculous,

Only because of the efforts of those Scientology fighters you so breathlessly decry! All that stuff was held up under copyright law for a long time -- you can't say that about most religions or cults. It's only public law now because people actually thwarted the law to make it public. Scientology has long used the U.S. legal system, in whatever ways they can devise, as its attack dog.

their origins are clearly fake,

As the church itself reminds us, so do the origins of most religions. That means nothing.

their methods of operation an obvious scam.

But funny, people keep falling for it.

In terms of capacity for self-defence, they are politically most powerful in Hollywood, where they are something of s joke.

They are a successful joke, and that's no laughing matter.

Their fanatics are at worst armed with fully loaded lawyers, and the worst they have ever done (outside of taking money from suckers) is drive a few folks to suicide and possibly murder a couple more.

Full stop. The second an organization not only sponsors but causes deaths they should answer for them, whether it's Jim Jones, David Koresh or David Miscavage.

They seem to be capable of conducting a campaign of harassment so powerful that it moderately inconveniences a few dozen people worldwide at a time. Scary.

And kills a few. And bends the legal system to its whim. And stunts the social development of the children of members. They breaks up families should some family members choose against Scientology. And courts and fully utilizes the efforts of famous, charismatic people.

This is not to say that other cults aren't bad, or may even be worse in certain ways, in isolated instances, but they aren't effectively institutions, they don't invest in Earthlink, they don't fund supposed self-help groups, they don't get their books onto the NYT best seller lists through orchestrated member actions, and they definitely don't maintain sizable stables of lawyers in order to write their will large upon the world's cultural landscape.

Taking them on is a weenie quest. It's a way of feeling like an activist while avoiding any real danger or commitment.

There is no reason to One True Scotsman this. No one's saying that fighting Scientology doesn't preclude fighting other organizations.

As evil cultish entities go, they are far less formidable and their recruitment far weaker than Amway.

Bu they cast a much wider net, and prey on that current trend to not think critically about pseudoscience.

Breaking Amway would be a lot more beneficial to the world than kicking Scientology in its collective nuts yet again.

But it would be harder.

Really? Amway still exists?

I don't think that Scientology is necessarily evil. There was a very interesting New Yorker piece about a year ago, I think, that did a lot to humanize the organization without whitewashing their shameful human rights effort. But current leadership is probably unsalvageable.

If Scientology stages a PR comeback, mark my words, they aren't going to change their ways, they're just going to do what they did before but more vigorously. Let us not forget that they once forced Metafilter to take down a post about them. (ON THIS: I have tried to look for web reminders, but I only have my own memory to go by, and that is flawed at times. If I am incorrect then I am incorrect, and will vacate this statement.) But it doesn't take much Google searching though to find other indicators of the massive chilling effect Scientology has attempted to inflict on the internet.
posted by JHarris at 7:20 AM on December 31, 2011 [6 favorites]

I don't think it's so much a PR comeback that Scientology could be staging, so much as a solidification and legitimation of what was built by fraudulent, manipulative and violent means. Just as many (or all?) nations are founded on acts that would not be countenanced under the legal systems that will eventually govern those nations, once Scientology has accrued enough wealth and power and accoutrements of legitimacy, it may not need to use coercion and violence and threats any longer.

Scientology seems so crude and laughable ... Its terms (like "Purification Rundown," "Super Power Rundown," "Thetan," "Perceptics," etc.) seem like something you'd get if you gave someone with a not very good grasp of English a stack of sci fi literature and self improvement books and told them to come up with a religion using that stuff as inspiration and raw material. And some of the language kind of has a fifties-ish pulp sound to it, I guess which is the legacy of L Ron Hubbard?

Anyway, this new headquarters has got me thinking that maybe Scientology and L Ron Hubbard will have the last laugh, because they understood culture and how things rise to prominence better than most of us. They understand how we could have a Governor Schwarzenegger, they understand how reality increasingly looks like a Mark Leyner novel, and the stuff that looks cheesy and pulp to many of us can get taken dead seriously by many more. They knew that you could have a religion designed by a sci-fi writer whose doctrines sound like they are spouted by a fifties carnival barker, and given fifty or seventy-five years that religion could get legitimacy and power using the same method Coleridge ascribed to great artists, who create the taste by which they are judged.
posted by jayder at 7:36 AM on December 31, 2011

I have tried to look for web reminders, but I only have my own memory to go by, and that is flawed at times.

No, I remember that too. It's one of the reasons I haven't brought up certain things that triggered that, and I suspect the mods are watching this closely. Not for any nefarious purpose, but for the overall good of the site should this stray into dangerous territory.

Which right there points out one of the dangers of scientology rather clearly, no?
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 7:45 AM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

I've seen a Tom Cruise post removed for fear of litigation, have Scientology posts been removed too?
posted by jayder at 7:59 AM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

So why does the Internet get all a tizzy about it?

Two reasons. First, they wield power & influence far beyond their size, using a combination of wealth, fanaticism. paranoia & dedicated persistence to effect the changes they desire.

When they first went up against the Internet they used operatives who visited dozens of ISPs to buy anonymous accounts they could use in a massive DDOS attack against a single Usenet newsgroup and coordinated a lawfare attack using dozens of lawyers towards the same end. They used operatives to stalk, identify & intimidate dozens of regular Internet users because they disagreed with their opinions.

When they first went up against Anonymous in Washington DC they hired over a hundred private investigators armed with enough spy gear to track Jason Bourne himself, enough of them to follow home, stalk & identify every single protester against them. That attack only failed because of the work of an undeclared player on the field who neutralized all of the PIs in a single brilliant blow, a story I hope will someday be told. When they need to Scientology can bring to bear resources typically only available to nation states; they're prepared to be ruthless & vicious to get what they want.

The other reason is, they angered the Internet. All of it at once. They violated the core principles of open access, free inquiry, free speech & a community of trust that allowed it to happen in the first place. And the Internet never forgets something like that.
posted by scalefree at 8:29 AM on December 31, 2011 [3 favorites]

Here's the Super Power Building on Street View. I drove by it a year ago on my way through Clearwater. It was surprisingly ugly for such a large and expensive project. The exterior materials seemed cheap, the scale on the street was all wrong. Now this is South Florida we're talking about, the threshold for quality architecture is not exactly high. But something weird about the way it was trying to be all Mediterranean Revival but ended up looking like overgrown strip mall was kind of sad.
posted by Nelson at 8:32 AM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

That attack only failed because of the work of an undeclared player on the field who neutralized all of the PIs in a single brilliant blow, a story I hope will someday be told.

Why don't you start by telling it here?
posted by jayder at 8:51 AM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

Seconded.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 9:33 AM on December 31, 2011

Why don't you start by telling it here?

It's not my story to tell & besides, you wouldn't believe me if I did. If you ever catch me at a meetup though, I promise to tell it in person.
posted by scalefree at 9:33 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

"I KNOW AN AWESOME THING WHICH I WILL DISCUSS CRYPTICALLY BUT GIVE NO CONCRETE DETAILS WHEN PRESSED!"

lol okay.
posted by elizardbits at 9:36 AM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

It's not my story to tell & besides, you wouldn't believe me if I did.

Right.
posted by jayder at 9:41 AM on December 31, 2011

"I KNOW AN AWESOME THING WHICH I WILL DISCUSS CRYPTICALLY BUT GIVE NO CONCRETE DETAILS WHEN PRESSED!"

I had a girlfriend make up a comic of listening to me speak. Half the words were blacked out. Story of my life.
posted by scalefree at 9:55 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

"you wouldn't believe me if I did"

Try us.
posted by subbes at 10:14 AM on December 31, 2011

Tell the goddamned story already!
posted by Burhanistan at 10:17 AM on December 31, 2011

It's not my story to tell & besides, you wouldn't believe me if I did. If you ever catch me at a meetup though, I promise to tell it in person.

We're talking about Scientology here. If scalefree chooses not to tell the story, then I respect that. (I definitely will be seeking him out if I ever make it to a meetup, though.)

Since I wrote my above comment, someone messaged confirming the deleted thread. Someone upthread mentioned Cruise caused that, not Scientology. The two are inseparable now.
posted by JHarris at 11:44 AM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

something weird about the way it was trying to be all Mediterranean Revival but ended up looking like overgrown strip mall was kind of sad

Fitting though, don't you think?
posted by Trurl at 1:04 PM on December 31, 2011

Meanwhile the Moonies run the neo-conservative take over of our post 9-11 foreign policy. That's real power.
posted by humanfont at 1:07 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wow, you really don't like people criticizing Scientology. Or, more likely, you somehow think we can only dislike one thing at a time. I assure you, I'm capable of disliking lots of things at once, and discussing them individually at appropriate times. For example: Scientology, Amway, the Moonies, Rick Perry, Family Guy, most of the characters on Star Trek Voyager, the characterization of pre-crisis Superman, North Korea, and coconut.

If we ever find ourselves talking about one of them, I'll be happy to elaborate, but we weren't really talking about the new Super Power Harry Kim Building, so...
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 1:29 PM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

John Kenneth Fisher: " most of the characters on Star Trek Voyager"

Woah, hey, now, that's going too far. Picardo rocked his part.
posted by subbes at 2:07 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Meanwhile the Moonies run the neo-conservative take over of our post 9-11 foreign policy. That's real power.

The Moonies are more like useful fools. But neither one being bad makes the other any better.
posted by JHarris at 2:39 PM on December 31, 2011

"Here's the Super Power Building on Street View. I drove by it a year ago on my way through Clearwater...."

Oh my. It does have that "shopping mall that's trying too hard" look about it. Probably covered with vinyl siding, too. Let's if it's still there in 500 years, like the real Vatican.
posted by Kevin Street at 2:49 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Anyway since you're not telling, I have decided that it was clearly the work of John Shaft and now the story is very awesome indeed.
posted by elizardbits at 2:57 PM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'm not entirely convinced this isn't the beginning of an ARG deployed in advance of a new release from Valve.
posted by LiteOpera at 4:29 PM on December 31, 2011

Go inside Masonic Temple some time.
posted by humanfont at 5:03 PM on December 31, 2011

that building looks p cool
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 7:10 PM on December 31, 2011

Shit just got real
posted by photoslob at 2:17 PM on January 1 [2 favorites]

That is SUBSTANTIAL and IMO sufficiently unrelated to anything in the fpp to deserve its own post.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 3:09 PM on January 1

Message from Debbie Cook .
posted by scalefree at 3:56 AM on January 2 [2 favorites]

Debbie Cook's Facebook wall. With some critical replies.

Do not go into confidential matter on facebook please. This is out security. Use the standard lines and make it known to the correct terminals. This can be someone else than her writting. HCO PL KNOWLEDGE REPORTS applies. It is also an RTC Concern. You can use their site to write it up so that it gets handled quickly. Thank you!

posted by Nelson at 7:12 AM on January 2 [2 favorites]

scalefree: "Message from Debbie Cook ."

I love that it's basically impossible to tell the difference between LRH-speak and typos.
posted by vanar sena at 7:48 AM on January 2

I just reread the entire letter & can find no typos. Anything you see & can't figure out is genuine cultish.
posted by scalefree at 8:04 AM on January 2 [1 favorite]

What I don't understand are the people who are anti-David-Miscavige but still support LRH and the 'religion'. Hubbard made Miscavige what he is today, and the information you can freely read on the net (if you haven't got the Scientology censor software installed) shows that shaking people down for money was pretty much the beginning and end of his plan. Hubbard had to go into hiding at the end of his life rather than get arrested by the IRS, because he was taking so much money from the donations and putting it in offshore accounts. The religion setup only happened after the first round of IRS and FDA investigations were too successful for Hubbard's liking back when Scientology was promoted as a mental health therapy.

Of course, to keep even the skeptical coming back for sessions, the cans give you a mild electrical current which is slightly addictive, and uses basic hypnosis techniques to give you the idea that only Scientology can help you and save the world. I suppose that's why people can just about manage to leave or speak out against the 'church', but can't let go of the 'tech'. I really wish they'd put the cans down for a few weeks and see if they felt any better after the inevitable withdrawal.
posted by harriet vane at 3:37 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]

> What I don't understand are the people who are anti-David-Miscavige but still support LRH and the 'religion'.

Mainly, because they probably saw some kind of "improvement" with themselves using their "Tech". I put "improvement" in scare quotes because some probably do see some kind of change in their inner lives. Scientology teaches people to be assertive with others and to be introspective in a way. Perhaps it isn't all bad even if most of it is flower petals at Xenu's feet. So, when the people who have invested lots of time and money into their Scientology habit and can look at their "progress", the publicized antics of Miscavige are an easy outlet for them to put everything they think is wrong on. Hopefully, more and more of them will simply keep deconstructing their faith until they are ready to move on.
posted by Burhanistan at 4:33 AM on January 8 [2 favorites]