tbf everyone in that room was already somewhat high ranked, right?
― ☠ ☃ ☠ (mh), Tuesday, 19 March 2013 00:20 (eleven years ago) link
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?
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Tuesday, 19 March 2013 00:23 (eleven years ago) link
I don't know that anyone lives high except Miscavige
― ( ͡° ͜ʖ͡°) (sic), Tuesday, 19 March 2013 00:28 (eleven years ago) link
Probably true. Halfway through Going Clear myself.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 01:49 (eleven years ago) link
I finished it a while ago -- seriously everyone should watch the Koppel/Miscavige Nightline interview. It's 55 min of squirming.
― and that sounds like a gong-concert (La Lechera), Tuesday, 19 March 2013 01:55 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― zero dark (s1ocki), Tuesday, 19 March 2013 02:41 (eleven years ago) link
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
― dow, Wednesday, 27 March 2013 22:42 (eleven years ago) link
Scientlology
http://www.vice.com/read/scientologists-make-terrible-stand-up-comedians
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 June 2013 02:52 (ten years ago) link
Thought the bump would be about After Earth
― The End**^ (Eazy), Tuesday, 4 June 2013 03:43 (ten years ago) link
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.
― the strange and important sound of the synthesizer (Treeship), Tuesday, 4 June 2013 03:49 (ten years ago) link
me tooxpost
― give life back to old guys (Hunt3r), Tuesday, 4 June 2013 03:50 (ten years ago) link
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/remini-calls-police-scientology-chiefs-wife-200800838.html
King of Queens star Leah Remini has filed a missing person report concerning the whereabouts of the wife of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige.
A source confirmed to ET on Thursday that Remini contacted police and the actress alleges that Shelly Miscavige has not been seen in public for more than six years. Remini recently announced that she was leaving the Church of Scientology after disagreeing with various teachings and policies of the faith.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Thursday, 8 August 2013 22:44 (ten years ago) link
wo
― socki (s1ocki), Thursday, 8 August 2013 22:46 (ten years ago) link
she's probably at one of those slave compounds right
― Matt Armstrong, Thursday, 8 August 2013 22:51 (ten years ago) link
damn
u go leah
― R'LIAH (goole), Friday, 9 August 2013 15:29 (ten years ago) link
Nothing to see here, move along: http://gawker.com/tv-stars-missing-person-claim-against-scientology-rule-1076869636
Leah Remini, the King of Queens star who noisily and publicly left Scientology after three decades of membership over disagreements with church leader David Miscavige, filed a missing person report for his wife Shelly who supposedly hasn't been seen in public in six years. The LAPD has taken the report and "ruled as unfounded." The missing person case is closed.
― Here's the storify, of a lovely ladify (Phil D.), Friday, 9 August 2013 15:31 (ten years ago) link
Boo.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Friday, 9 August 2013 15:37 (ten years ago) link
"It is a publicity stunt cooked up by a small band of unemployed fanatics who live on the fringe of the Internet."
― staind in the place where you live (crüt), Friday, 9 August 2013 15:43 (ten years ago) link
It's a Mail link, but here are some closer up pictures of that underground base in New Mexicohttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2395235/EXCLUSIVE-Pictured-close-time-Scientologys-secret-alien-space-cathedral-landing-pad-New-Mexico-desert-return-followers-Armageddon-Earth.html
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 16 August 2013 21:15 (ten years ago) link
The Wright book is awesome so far.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 16 August 2013 22:16 (ten years ago) link
Whoops!
http://gawker.com/scientology-flack-arrested-in-plot-to-kill-cop-1188941437
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 23 August 2013 17:33 (ten years ago) link
Interlocking circles with diamonds in them carved out by removing small scrub trees:
It is believed that they are a ‘return point’ so members of the church know where they can find the works of founder L. Ron Hubbard when they come back from space after a nuclear catastrophe wipes out the human race.
Won't the trees just grow back by then?
― cardamon, Saturday, 24 August 2013 22:04 (ten years ago) link
shhh
― well if it isn't old 11 cameras simon (gbx), Sunday, 25 August 2013 16:16 (ten years ago) link
As noted on Facebook, that guy arrested in the cop killing plot looks like the real world equivalent of Achewood's Nice Pete.
― JACK SQUAT about these Charlie Nobodies (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 26 August 2013 01:39 (ten years ago) link
Reading Going Clear. Holy Fuuuuuck
― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Thursday, 23 January 2014 23:20 (ten years ago) link
yup
― socki (s1ocki), Thursday, 23 January 2014 23:47 (ten years ago) link
Any new scoops/info in that book? Seems like every couple of years a new book about Scientology comes out and they all tend to go over the same stuff everyone knows about already.
― latebloomer, Friday, 24 January 2014 00:13 (ten years ago) link
I dunno, it's pretty juicy!
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 24 January 2014 00:44 (ten years ago) link
i'll jus' have to check it out!
― latebloomer, Friday, 24 January 2014 00:46 (ten years ago) link
Any new scoops/info in that book?
that tommy davis had allegedly blown twice was new to me
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Friday, 24 January 2014 02:16 (ten years ago) link
Going Clear goes deeeeeeeep. I thought it was pretty full of revelations, to degrees, especially re: LRH, made more effective given how well reported it all is, and how straight-forward and not at all salacious the prose is. Also: many people involved are even crazier than you think.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 24 January 2014 02:40 (ten years ago) link
cool, definitely check out ASAP then. my mild skepticism was only because there has been a veritable flood of scientology books and exposes in the last few years.
― *slow clap*, immense decay (latebloomer), Friday, 24 January 2014 02:47 (ten years ago) link
120 pages in, it's fantastic, and omg is hubbard/scientology batshit [oops spoiler]
― the "Weird Al" Yankovic of country music (stevie), Friday, 24 January 2014 09:08 (ten years ago) link
made more effective given how well reported it all is, and how straight-forward and not at all salacious the prose is.
very vigorously seconded
― the "Weird Al" Yankovic of country music (stevie), Friday, 24 January 2014 09:09 (ten years ago) link
Read this last year, outstanding book. Agree with y'all about the authorial tone.
― Rotating prince game (I am using your worlds), Friday, 24 January 2014 10:00 (ten years ago) link
lates, its mindblowing. read it.
― socki (s1ocki), Friday, 24 January 2014 14:29 (ten years ago) link
Same author's al Qaeda book is also excellent.
― grape is the flavor of my true love's hair (Jon Lewis), Friday, 24 January 2014 15:40 (ten years ago) link
Just put a hold on the eBook for this at my local library. Stoked about reading it.
― Ian from Etobicoke (Phil D.), Friday, 24 January 2014 15:53 (ten years ago) link
And then declaring all of you as SPs.
I always love Lawrence Wright pieces in the New Yorker, and yes, they always have that crisp, unhyperbolic prose style that makes the facts shimmer a lot more. I love the way he'll present the obviously delusional account of a Hubbard experience without qualifying it too much, maybe just putting in a quick word or phrase, or else the brief testimony of someone else, to show that it's clearly not true -- like, here are all the things Hubbard said about how his vision improved through scientology, and then here is what another person said, which demonstrates that this is almost certainly false. But he doesn't weigh in or tilt the scales with adjectives, he just lets the facts speak.
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Friday, 24 January 2014 16:20 (ten years ago) link
Also, given the subject matter, he apparently subjected the book to a massive degree of scrutiny/proofreading/source-checking. The bind the CoS finds itself in is that to sue over this stuff, they'd have to produce suppressed or locked-away documents that would counter its claims. And clearly they don't want to or can't do that; there's a lot in this book that references Hubbard's supposedly unofficial autobiography, which the CoS has submitted as evidence in the past but has kept conspicuously locked up and out of the spotlight for most of the past couple of decades. If the CoS asserted that confessions in that book do not exist, they'd have to produce the book to prove it. Which is perhaps why the CoS has stayed weirdly silent and not-litigious when it comes to this giant tome and the earlier NYer article (with its damning revelation of massively doctored/faked documents and photographs from the St. Louis Hubbard archives).
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 24 January 2014 16:36 (ten years ago) link
the 70 or so pages of Hubbard biography was riveting
just the sheer amount of moving around the world he did in the middle of the twentieth century is crazy on its own, let alone everything else he was up to
― |$̲̅(̲̅ιοο̲̅)̲̅$̲̅| (gr8080), Friday, 24 January 2014 16:40 (ten years ago) link
Read "Bare Faced Messiah" years ago and that was :-O enough. Unfortunately, "Going Clear" isn't available in the UK, give you one guess why.
― Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Friday, 24 January 2014 16:44 (ten years ago) link
That's one thing the book brought up that I thought was most bonkers: Hubbard may hold the Guinness Record for most number of books published. Which this books brings up as an odd irony: if he were simply a con artist, why did Hubbard go above and beyond and write dozens of books, thousands upon thousands of words, developing this mythology? (Possible short answer: mental illness and amphetamines.)
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 24 January 2014 16:47 (ten years ago) link
No-one can fault the Commodore's work ethic, you've got to give him that
― Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Friday, 24 January 2014 16:51 (ten years ago) link
I heard the same but I'm in the UK and just ordered from Amazon - delivery tomorrow, been meaning to read this for ages! xxp
― Blandford Forum, Friday, 24 January 2014 16:57 (ten years ago) link
― |$̲̅(̲̅ιοο̲̅)̲̅$̲̅| (gr8080), Friday, January 24, 2014 11:40 AM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
ya for some reason this was one of the most mind-blowing aspects o fit
― socki (s1ocki), Friday, 24 January 2014 17:03 (ten years ago) link
― grape is the flavor of my true love's hair (Jon Lewis), Friday, January 24, 2014 9:40 AM (1 hour ago)
thank you for this tip i will now read this book
― |$̲̅(̲̅ιοο̲̅)̲̅$̲̅| (gr8080), Friday, 24 January 2014 17:15 (ten years ago) link
His adventuring is actually impressive in its own light, even though the officially "impressive" parts of it are fabricated. I mean just the fact that he got a bunch of people to go on this sea voyage with him looking for some portal to a space station or something?
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Friday, 24 January 2014 17:18 (ten years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, January 24, 2014 11:47 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yes, this is a really fascinating part of the book, and I think it demonstrates that it takes more than a rational, cold-minded plan to pull off something like scientology -- you almost need the delusions and the hyper-energy of mental illness in order to make it work.
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Friday, 24 January 2014 17:19 (ten years ago) link