Saturday, April 18, 2009
Scientologists: Have You Been Scammed?
If you donated money to the Library Campaign, then, yes, you have been scammed.
You were told that every library was to get a full set of "The Basics". You were even told this was accomplished. It never happened. Oh, yes, the books were probably all sent, but the project never accomplished even a small fraction of its goal.
Because of limited shelf space, all libraries handle unsolicited donations the same way. They throw the unasked for books in the dollar bin, or they give them to someone, or they just throw them away. This is exactly what happened to the books you paid for. This is very easy to check. Go check all the libraries in your town. Have your Scientology friends go check all the libraries in their towns. You will find that, for an overwhelming majority of libraries, those donated books never made it to the shelves.
And you have to be asking yourself several questions about this. Why didn't the Library Campaign people know this? This isn't secret information. The libraries will tell you this up front. The Library Campaign people let millions of dollars go to waste because they didn't do the most basic of checks. Or maybe they did, but that interfered with their fund-raising.
You should also be asking yourself this: If this was such an important project, and if Bridge Publications, who printed the books, thought it was so important, why did you have to pay full, retail price for the donated books? And why are all those sets showing up on EBay, priced for a dollar.
What was important? Getting full, retail price from you for lots of book sets? Oh yes! Actually getting the books onto library shelves? Not so much.
Yes, you got scammed.
If you made any donations to the "Ideal Org" Campaign, then yes, you got scammed.
You thought your local church would end up owning their own building and never pay rent again. This is not true. If your local church ever buys a building, the building's ownership will be transferred immediately to "International Landlord". The building and all the expensive renovations done to it are all the sole possession of International Management.
And that "never pay rent again"? Well, if Miscavige has funded any of the purchase or the renovations, then there will be rent due every month. Even though Miscavige's money originally came from Scientologists, maybe even you, he still will insist on charging rent.
And the chances of the new building solving your local church's problems? Slim to none. Since your local church wasn't hurting for space, and since the old quarters weren't that bad looking, a new building simply isn't the solution. But it is a very expensive, wrong solution.
What was important? Getting millions and millions of dollars from Scientologists for real estate going to International Management? Oh, yes! Solving the local church's actual problems? No, not so much.
Yes, you got scammed.
If you sent donations to the IAS (International Association of Scientologists), then, yes, you did get scammed.
You are, I am sure, under the impression that your donations were going to some soon-to-be-released dissemination campaign or were going to "fight the psychiatrists" or some such.
Nope. A very big portion of your donations went to multi-million dollar out-of-court settlements. In simple terms, it means the Church of Scientology committed criminal acts, was taken to court, was very certain to lose the case and "settled". They have paid many, many, many millions to various plaintiffs over the years to keep from officially losing all those cases.
But they paid these huge settlements from your money. Not only that, they paid their lawyers more millions of dollars -- from your money.
You didn't commit the crimes, you weren't guilty of anything, but you paid!
What was important? Getting money from Scientologists to pay for court costs and settlement costs so that the Church of Scientology doesn't have to pay? Oh, yes! Helping Scientologists? Not so much.
Yes, you were scammed.
If you donated to Super Power, then yes, you got scammed.
This may be the best and longest-running scam in Scientology. Let me explain.
First, do you know what the building was called around the Flag Land Base? It was called "the Flag Annex". Yes, the building was always intended to primarily be expansion space for the Flag Land Base. It was called "Super Power" elsewhere because that raised more money.
Second, do you know that, at last count, they raised four times as much money as they needed? It was such a good money maker, they kept using it to just raise money. What for? Who cares? It was so easy to raise money for "Super Power"! Tons of money has been raised and spent for things you didn't agree to support.
Of course, you know that they never finished it. They got very, very close to finishing it and then quit. Why? Several reasons. One was that David Miscavige wanted a big chunk of the building for his own personal apartments, very lush, very secure, but couldn't decide on all the features he wanted to include. That took forever!
And, the primary reason the Super Power Building has never been finished: If Miscavige finishes the Super Power building, people are going to expect Super Power to be delivered. That's a problem! You see, they can't figure out how to actually deliver Super Power. What L. Ron Hubbard wrote up isn't actually deliverable. Not only that, but rumor has it that the few people who have done the prototype Super Power rundowns -- left Scientology. Not the "end phenomena" that Miscavige is looking for.
What was important? Getting more and more money from Scientologists for something that wasn't real? Oh, yes! Actually finishing the building and delivering Super Power? Not so much.
Yes, you got scammed.
If you donated to the Planetary Dissemination Campaign, then, yes, you got scammed.
This one is very, very simple. There is no actual Planetary Dissemination Campaign. Never has been, never will be. This "Campaign" is only used for raising money from the faithful. International Management never intended to ever use the money for, well, planetary dissemination.
They will run a few advertisements on TV to help with the fund-raising, but not for very long and only locally where they're holding the fund-raising event.
What was important? Getting millions of dollars from Scientologists for a bogus campaign? Oh, yes! Actually doing some planet-wide dissemination? Not going to happen!
Yes, you got scammed.
If you donated to the Way to Happiness Foundation, then, yes, you got scammed.
This is another one, much like the Library Campaign. The goal was to get lots and lots of the booklets "out there". Then "success" was reported, the booklets are "out there". Where?
Sure, some are handed out on some street somewhere. But the rest? In some warehouse. In someone's garage or back room -- eventually recycled.
What was important? Getting full price for printing booklets that cost almost nothing to print? Oh, yes! Actually distributing all those booklets? Who cares?
Yes, you got scammed.
If you became a "Volunteer Minister" and donated your time and money, then yes, you got scammed.
I admire, greatly, those who volunteer their time to help others. No one should be criticized for volunteering, but ...
The Scientology Volunteer Ministers, as created and run by International Management, are not what you think they are.
Shucks, if you've gone out to "man the tent" for your church, you already know this. The Volunteer Ministers are out there to sell books. The Volunteer Ministers are out there to sell courses. The Volunteer Ministers are out there to "route people into the org". They've got stats. Scientology Volunteer Ministers are just salesmen. No more, no less. That's a scam.
But it's worse when Scientology Volunteer Ministers show up at a disaster site. International Management calls for VMs to go (using their own money of course). These VMs show up with nothing for the victims. No food, no medicine, no materials for shelter, no clothing -- these are the things that are most needed at a disaster site and the VMs bring nothing!
In fact, the VMs, because they bring nothing, add to the burden of the relief agencies already there. The VMs need shelter, the VMs need food -- and they, therefore, take vital food and shelter away from the victims who need it.
Why are they there? Because the Church of Scientology wants photos of the VMs at the disaster site, "helping" the victims. That's not help, that's a scam.
What was important? Using Volunteer Ministers to go out and drum up more business for Scientology? Oh, yes! Actually providing what disaster victims really needed? Not so much.
Yes, you've been scammed.
I'm sorry to report, Scientologists, you have been scammed.
Scientologists: Have You Been Scammed?
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Originally Posted by Telepathetic
Sometimes I'm the Evil Twin.