scientology & celebrities

From LA curbed, a list of S properties in SoCal. They're done very well for themselves.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/02/mapping_15_of_scientologys_most_notable_socal_properties.php

I read Sex and Rockets and the other Parsons biog <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Angel-Otherworldly-Scientist-Whiteside/dp/0156031795/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y";>Strange Angel</a> years ago, and remember the latter being better sourced and a more complete picture of his world especially in relation to rocketry (which, as the book tells it, was only slightly more respectable than black magick moonchildren at the time). Both are worthwhile, but SA is the one still on my shelves.

So based on Going Clear it seems The Master was set during or just after the year Dianetics became huge, I think? Joaquin being a still-recent veteran, L. Ron still being with Sara (Amy Adams?) but being drawn more toward Mary Sue (Laura Dern?) Plus the sessions being geared towards creating trance states, no e-meters, travelling by ship but staying close to the US, no Sea Org yet. And according to Wright Hubbard's libido was more of a source of agony during this time than once they started cruising the Mediterranean. But I haven't seen the movie since it was first out.

I dislike that John Sweeney interview, everybody knows the scientologist will have this exact reaction and it leads to nothing. Plus him saying that he is a british subject with freedom of speech was just ridiculous in that context.

To think that people somewhere were likely swayed by that super bowl ad is frightening to me.

Is it common for them to be spending that much money on sneaky ads or is this a recent ramp up? I'm thkning also of that sponsored article linked to above that got pulled as soon as the site in question realised what'd happened.

i didn't watch the superbowl, so i didn't see the ad, but paying that kind of money for an ad in that venue would be a sign that the head scientology guy, whatsisname, is feeling a bit beleaguered atm and wanted to cheer himself up by buying himself a shiny present.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8Y800s8y9Zg

The superbowl ad was super creepy too.

― Ulna (Nicole), Monday, February 4, 2013 11:06 AM (11 hours ago)

i just watched that. the creepiness factor is entirely due to the creepiness of scientology itself. the ad itself was nothing more than sophomorisms watered down to the point where they might as well have been delivered in the form of nursery rhymes. the visuals were very much the point of the ad, but struck me as no creepier than any slick ad for perfume or cars.

macavidge, or something like that, that's the what's his name I was thinking of. he just lost a lot of his prestige in the church and prob a chunk of revenue, too, so he's just looking to cast his net for further schools of small fish to eat.

David Miscavige

All it'll take for something to disgrace tom cruise $ciwise and... wait. if that hasnt happened now it prob never will ;_;

macavidge, or something like that, that's the what's his name I was thinking of. he just lost a lot of his prestige in the church and prob a chunk of revenue, too, so he's just looking to cast his net for further schools of small fish to eat.

― Aimless, Monday, February 4, 2013 10:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

uhh, he seems to have consolidated his power pretty absolutely and neatly

yeah no idea what Aimless meant

afaik no scientologists are actually going to read any books or watch any news items about their organization and most will probably listen even more intently to the leadership, what with the threat from the outside world being intensified

i think you'd be surprised. i have no involvement w/ scientology, but my experience w/ other closed 'culty' organizations is that this kind of stuff tends to slip through the cracks. people are naturally curious about what the world is saying about them.

well sure, and then a handful leave, and the rest pull in closer.

maybe I should have said "no /real/ scientologists" in an homage to the scotsman fallacy

http://thehairpin.com/2012/12/scientology-and-me-part-six-postscript

The whole series is fascinating, but this part gets into how persecuted those still in the Church feel.

That's the most sensitive, nuanced memoir of this stuff I've seen, thanks.

http://www.rehabilitatenz.co.nz/media2/tone-scale6.jpghttp://www.rehabilitatenz.co.nz/media2/tone-scale-enthusiasm.jpg

http://www.lyricsmusica.it/img/artisti/big/the+40+year+old+virgin-the-40-year-old-virgin-40yrvirgin.jpg

the 4.0 virgin

Hahaha

woah theres a very interesting comment in the Hairpin article claimed by an ex Sci that is somethign I'd never heard of as a tactic before:

*As an example, roughly 15 years ago, when the Internet was first starting to become a Thing, the church passed out CD-ROMs that everyone was instructed to install on their personal computers. The CD-ROMs contained software that would block your computer's ability to view anything on the Internet pertaining to Scientology that wasn't an official Scientology website. THAT is how serious they are about making sure that their followers are kept in the dark.

yeah, and the point is it's an *ex*-Sci, it's her perspective that's so nuanced; for inst, I'd never thought of what she says about giving 'em the plebes the stink-eye just alienates them that much more from the outside world, confirms the asshole doctrines about the outside world, and that they've got nowhere to go now, outside THE CHURCH (just in case you're thinking of leaving). Also, they hit 'em with a bill if they do go.

The scientology center on Franklin, across from UCB, is incredible. Even without scientology it looks like a building the Ghostbusters would need to stake out.

yeah the structure of the roof cap is exactly like the kind of telemetry tracker that NASA uses to identify dead pulsars in deep space. cold riveted girders with cores of pure selenium. the architect was either a certified genius or an aesthetic wacko. the whole building is a huge super-conductive antenna that was designed and built expressly for the purpose of pulling in and concentrating spiritual turbulence.

The building was the original Cedars hospital before it moved over to Beverly Hills. Here it is before ...

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5124/5229794672_238637b08e.jpg

"Someone saw a cockroach up on 12..."

Looks like a fuckin asylum.

i like the actual cedars part

looks like the hospital from GTA:SA tbh

I feel like I have so much to say to this thread but I'll just start here -- has there been a discussion of Old CAN/New CAN?
I can't even think about CAN (the CAN I know) in conjunction with these CANs but yet I can't stop doing so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_Awareness_Network

I would still like to know how deep Florian Fricke was into this shit -- I'm hoping not too deep considering the immense German opposition to the C of S.

I finished Going Clear and I thought the whole thing was fascinating and deeply troubling. Wright basically describes H, M1$cav1ge, and sundry S leaders committing uncountable crimes, including lots of wrongful imprisonment and kidnapping.

has this been mentioned in this thread? probs, but vv relevant: http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Belief-Secret-Scientology-Harrowing/dp/0062248472/ref=la_B0094KVGVE_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361843319&sr=1-1

More on that book ^^

http://www.france24.com/en/20130316-scientology-leaders-niece-reveals-church-secrets

"Those who decide a religious order isn't for them are free to move on with their lives, as Ms. Hill did. "

lol she really had that option when she was six years old

I'm curious why it's the children of Hubbard's elite who are subjected to this, rather than strivers climbing the ranks?

you haven't read the book, milo: she had it no worse than anyone else at the ranch, probably a little better, if Going Clear is any indication

the gist is that there really is no going up the ranks -- most "highly observant" Scientologists just toil in Florida or the ranch in California

until they get the musical chairs treatment
i am still haunted by that -- i'll never listen to queen's greatest hits in quite the same way

tbf everyone in that room was already somewhat high ranked, right?

I was going on the article's description - "Those interned there until 2000 were the children of the Sea Org, the elite of the Church founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard."

I guess the Sea Orgers are just in enough to sacrifice family members without reaching the point of living high off the rest of the cult?

I don't know that anyone lives high except Miscavige

Probably true. Halfway through Going Clear myself.

I finished it a while ago -- seriously everyone should watch the Koppel/Miscavige Nightline interview. It's 55 min of squirming.

I'm curious why it's the children of Hubbard's elite who are subjected to this, rather than strivers climbing the ranks?

― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, March 18, 2013 8:01 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

purge of the highest-ranking.

Arizona charter schools using Scientology-related materials, and a tad bemused by parents' reactions
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/27/174441623/peter-o-dowd-tk

Scientlology

http://www.vice.com/read/scientologists-make-terrible-stand-up-comedians

Thought the bump would be about After Earth

i'm surprised more people don't become scientologists just so they can escape and either get a book deal or, at the very least, have fascinating stories to tell at parties.