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THE FABLE -- HOLLYWOOD, SATANISM, SCIENTOLOGY & SUICIDE |
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Another factor to consider when evaluating Scientology's denial of OT 8 is the potent nature of the document itself and its media effect on Scientology and Scientology's celebrity members and political supporters. OT 8 is such a security leak and PR nightmare for Scientology, that when it was forced to acknowledge OT 3 and its other secret initiations after the most recent raids on F.A.C.T.net and other individuals in the court copyright verification process, it is not unreasonable to believe that a decision was made to stonewall OT 8's authenticity as they had done for 30 years on OT 3 and publicly disown the document. This is reasonable because Scientology could finally publicly acknowledge OT 3 because it had already slowly worked out its potent embarrassment value over a 30 year period of media republishing. OT 8 though is another issue altogether. OT 8 is far beyond OT 3 in embarrassment value, is relatively unknown, and has worked almost none of its super potent embarrassment value. If Scientology chose to stonewall claiming OT 8 as its own, cover stories would have to be developed and drilled with its key PR and litigation handlers. It appears that in post raid confusion, because so many of the other Scientology secret initiations were being publicly acknowledged in court, that not all Scientology's key staff were up to date and clear on the new OT 8 disavowal policy. Here's the relevant excerpt from one of the early F.A.C.T.net raid trial transcripts:
In which case RTC's lawyers broke the law, since they impounded something they did not consider a copyright infringement. It's a hell of a dilemma; did Moxon validate OT 8 or did he break the law? Scientology was caught in a real bind in the raids because of the OT 8 document. It couldn't admit it was one of their copyrighted documents because of the PR nightmare. The only option was to commit a fraud on the court,disown the document,and hope they could get away with the fraud and the selective copyright infringement on documents that were not embarrassing to them. The following is from Rich Leiby, a writer who first published excerpts of OT 8 in the Washington Post.
Please note Helena K's initial vacillation. "Probably" a forgery. Seems to me she knew it was real and was momentarily confused as to whether she should abandon all copyright claims. 3.) Another factor to consider when evaluating Scientology's denial of OT 8 is not only their long term practice of denying everything, if even one period is misplaced, but their practice of regularly changing the contents, sequence and numbering of the secret OT initiation levels. For example, a few years ago OT 1 became OT 7 and a new OT 5 was sequenced in. There have been numerous other such switches. Consequently, the O.T 8 numbering of the above OT 8 document does not necessarily mean that this is the current O.T. 8 being used by Scientology. When OT 8 first appeared in the early 1980's it was not broadly distributed and had no media republishing. Because no more than an estimated two dozen of Scientology's highest initiates have the security clearance to view a document of this level it would be relatively easy to change the OT numbering and sequencing after the security leak and insert a new OT 8. In light of all the problems Scientology had when OT 3's security was broken, and in light of their years of bad experience trying to deny its authenticity, it again is not unreasonable that a decision was made right then and there to move OT 8 to a new higher OT level such as OT 15-20 and create a new lower OT 8 to give to the members that would help to create a plausible denial of the original OT 8. This is a real possibility considering Scientology's Machiavellian history and its full intelligence agency capabilities. This move also helps improves future security leak problems in that the higher up the OT levels the initiate goes, the more security and loyalty tests they must pass. At this post-OT-8-leak-period, it is not unlikely that only a handful of the highest people in Scientology are deemed secure enough and spiritually advanced enough to know the real OT 8 identity of Hubbard and the real destiny of Scientology. Using the OT 8 numbering switch and the creation of a new OT 8 Scientology in no basis to legitimately deny the OT 8 of this story is their OT 8. Another factor that may give this theory additional credibility is the counter-intelligence principle that if you were going to create a new misdirecting and misinformation OT 8, you would probably want to create one that is relatively innocuous cancels out the negatives of the old OT 8. It would be even better and would be a good cover story if it could be deliberately leaked out to cover the PR problems the earlier OT 8 was causing. The following section purports to be a summary of the New OT 8 being given to current members. In this new OT 8 one of the end results is that the initiate is supposed to discover that Hubbard is really God. (Good intelligence reversal!) This new OT 8 comes from the paraphrased notes of a former member who claims to have had access to the materials. It is full of Scientology terminology. The 8th dynamic referred to is what would normally be called God.
1.) The OT 8 "Confidential Student Briefing" document of this story has been verified in the early 1980's through an Episcopal minister in Baltimore with recent high ranking Scientology defectors. The defectors verifying this confidential document did have the requisite security clearances and initiate\staff positions in Scientology to have had access to this document. Efforts to get these defectors to go public and disclose their identities to others besides the minister have not been successful. Their given reason for verifying the OT 8 document privately but not publicly is fear. It is not hard to understand this fear if you understand Scientology's history of extreme actions against its perceived enemies and that the content of OT 8 constitutes the most secret of secrets and "holy of holies" of this group. 2.) The context of all the previous materials presented in this story. The authenticity of the OT 8 statements should be particularly evaluated in the light of Hubbard's previous statements about the subject matter. OT 8 is ideologically congruent with his earlier secret statements and the deceptions of classical Satanism. The OT 8 concept of the Devil coming to mankind in the guise and reversal of an angel of light is common to biblical prophesy." 3.) The style of OT 8 is very much like Hubbard's style. His defamatory remarks about people's sexual habits are part of a long pattern in his dealings with people he considered his "enemies". The mood of urgency and impending calamity are similar to many of his other writings. The extra terrestrial bodiless wars remind one of the content and tone of OT 3 and his writings in his earlier books like "The History of Man." A former member:
A former member:
A former member:
A former member:
In conclusion, it is extremely difficult and dangerous to drag a secret society's practices out into the light of day. Part one of this story has attempted to give the reader the available contextual information that could be relevant to OT 8. In light of all the materials presented so far it is you the reader who will decide the probable level of authenticity of OT 8. Until a brave defector comes forward to break the fear grip this group exerts on its highest level initiate defectors this is the proceeding is the best summary that is possible at this time. It is interesting to note Scientology's Office of Special Affairs (its intelligence division) has begun flooding the Internet newsgroup called alt.religion.scientology with endorsements from purported religious scholars from various denominations who offered their opinions that Scientology is a religion, and not in conflict with mainstream Christian and non Christian religions. As the testimonials are unsigned and undated, and most of the authors are unheard of, it is difficult, if not impossible, to authenticate these statements. It is doubtful if the religious scholars used in paid-for-Scientology-religious-authentication-articles have had any exposure to the information of this story. PART THREE: SUICIDE AND SCIENTOLOGY The story of ongoing reports of suicides and other casualties in Scientology has to include the story of F.A.C.T.net. F.A.C.T.net, Inc. (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network) is a nonaligned, nonprofit, research and educational public service consisting of an electronic lending library, electronic mail service, and electronic news transfer service. F.A.C.T.net specializes in informing the public about human rights abuses caused by coercive psychological systems, much the same way that Amnesty International informs the public about human rights abuse caused by physical coercion. Among its libraries on other coercive groups, F.A.C.T.net had created the largest electronic and hard copy library on Scientology in the world (about 1 million pages.) F.A.C.T.net is connected to the Internet. People from all over the world go to the Internet library to download numerous documents that Scientology was trying to keep secret, and make up their own minds about the real Scientology. Because of the size and effectiveness of the F.A.C.T.net library, and Scientology's history of reprisal, there can be little doubt that David Miscavige, Scientology's absolute dictator, has ordered as priority one that the F.A.C.T.net library and preservational archive be destroyed. This could include, among other things, Scientology's "scorched earth" litigation techniques designed to bankrupt the corporation and its directors. This tactic could allow Scientology to "legally" seize and destroy all the "electronic books" in the library. (The previous statement is not unrealistic. Recently Scientology's "scorched earth" litigation tactics [Scientology filed 44 lawsuits] drove the Cult Awareness Network into bankruptcy, and Scientology is now trying to seize all their assets.) The destruction of F.A.C.T.net also could include covert operations to sabotage the library data base and computers, and the pursuit of ongoing litigation, Black PR campaigns on F.A.C.T.net and its Directors, and attempts to remove F.A.C.T.net's non profit status. So far two former directors of F.A.C.T.net (Gerry Armstrong and John Atack) have been driven off the board and into bankruptcy. The remaining F.A.C.T.net directors: Bob Penny, Lawrence Wollersheim, Arnie Lerma and Jan Merrill, are carrying on the valiant fight with humble resources. However, there is little doubt that eventually F.A.C.T.net, like the many other individuals and organizations who have previously tried to stand up to this multi-billion dollar paramilitary secret society, will be utterly crushed. There are many reasons the attacks and "copyright" raids on the F.A.C.T.net library and its directors have been so ruthless and unrelenting. The paramount reasons were not the "Fishman Geertz documents" (the documents behind the copyright and F.A.C.T.net raids.) They were already published many times and were part of public court records. The central purposes of the raids and attacks on F.A.C.T.net were to: A.) gather intelligence on approximately 600 million dollars in worldwide ongoing litigation against Scientology, and to pierce attorney client and work product privileges associated with F.A.C.T.net and that litigation, (F.A.C.T.net has been a research resource for much of this litigation.) B.) gather intelligence on several government investigations on Scientology, outside the U.S., that are using the F.A.C.T.net library and archive, C.) gather intelligence to silence the approximately 8,500 Scientology ex members and defectors in F.A.C.T.net's mailing list. Some of these individuals are defectors from Scientology's own intelligence division, and have been helping F.A.C.T.net gather up and verify reports of Scientology's ongoing abuses and illegal activities. D.) gather intelligence on the approximately 300 reports F.A.C.T.net had accumulated over the last three years on suicides, attempted suicides, and cases of people going psychotic because of Scientology's processes and tactics, (particularly those cases relating to the secret initiations contained in the copyrighted "Fishman Geertz documents." (F.A.C.T.net spent approximately $60,000 gathering this suicide material in preparation for a formal request for a U.S. grand jury investigation. Scientology now has, or may be able to seize, all these reports and data. With its litigation tactics, Scientology has successfully temporarily crushed this grand jury preparation work because all F.A.C.T.net's staff is occupied with surviving this litigation. F.A.C.T.net, for the last 2 years each December or January, has put out a new report on the secret suicides and casualties in Scientology. It is doubtful that with the crush of ongoing litigation, a 1996 update (that would have conceivably added nearly 70 new names to the two previous reports) can be released. (At the end of this report in appendix 3 the reader will find F.A.C.T.net 1994, and 1995 Scientology suicides and casualty reports. The following is a brief explanation to read before reading the extensive appendix 3 summary.) THE UNDISCLOSED DANGERS IN SCIENTOLOGY'S INITIATORY TECHNIQUES Scientology's control techniques are derived from a collection of sources -- some benign, others not. Some of the more benign techniques are plagiarized without recognition from a mish-mash of pop psychology and other psychological and psychiatric schools. After an individual is hooked by a bait and switch come-on, Scientology uses exercises that covertly put the receiver in hypnotic trance. The purpose of covert trance induction is to increase the subject's suggestibility and to control the subject's resources. These techniques are derived from traditional hypnosis and from cult rituals used to produce fanatical loyalty from the initiation rites of past secret societies. These coercive control techniques alone could explain the many reports of psychosis and suicide in Scientology, but Hubbard went far beyond traditional techniques. He studied and wrote a book on brainwashing, and secretly boasted that his methods could turn people into "willing slaves." Hubbard combined these new control techniques with the bizarre occult cosmology of his satanic and secret society past, high pressure sales techniques, traditional deception (con man) techniques, and advanced sociological and psychological stress techniques. (For more details on how Scientology uses trance and brainwashing see the Internet report called "Coercive Persuasion and Scientology".) Hubbard boldly experimented with first generation Russian and Korean brainwashing processes on unknowing members under a cloak of "religion." His innovative experimentation helped produce a second generation of thought reform and mind control techniques. These new methods are considerably more dangerous than their first generation predecessors. While developing what Scientology calls its secret L-12 initiation, Hubbard allegedly said that if the initiators performed this rite incorrectly you might as well build a pine box for the individual receiving it. These second generation thought reform programs are commonly called "coercive persuasion" in the courts. In United States v. Lee 455 U.S. 252, 257-258 (1982), the California Supreme Court found that "when a person is subjected to coercive persuasion without his knowledge or consent... [he may] develop serious and sometimes irreversible physical and psychiatric disorders, up to and including schizophrenia, self-mutilation, and suicide." The goal of all coercive persuasion programs is to produce target compliance and control of the target's resources by holding the target at a point of maximum psychological stress, without inducing psychosis. Unfortunately, the second generation coercive programs have increased the chance of error because their targets tend to be less well monitored, and the advanced techniques used to induce stress are more powerful and less predictable in their effects upon individuals. In coercive persuasion programs, the main attack is done through frequent and intense attempts to cause a person to reevaluate the most central aspects of their experience of self and their prior conduct in NEGATIVE ways. Efforts are designed to destabilize and undermine the subject's basic consciousness, reality awareness, world view, emotional control, and defense mechanisms. These tactics are engineered to induce the individual to reinterpret his or her life history and to adopt a new (often irrational) version of causality. On Scientology's secret initiations, the individual is told (while under the suggestibility of hypnotic trance and stress) that he or she is really not one individual but a composite of hundreds, possibly thousands, or even tens of thousands of alien beings (called "body thetans" or "BTs.") These beings are trapped in his or her body as the result of a galactic war that occurred 76 million years ago (OT 3, and OT 5.) Individuals subjected to these initiation techniques are told (while vulnerable) that these alien beings are fighting for control of the individual's body and identity, that these alien beings can make them act insane or become terminally ill, and that only Scientology has the technology to safely "remove" these alien beings from their bodies. Members spend sometimes hundreds of hours of exposure to these secret levels, talking to their various body parts, trying to get these alien beings out of their bodies. They are repeatedly told that they could go insane and die if they do anything procedurally wrong while trying to remove these other beings. In these secret initiation levels, to more effectively attack the person's core concepts of self, Hubbard's methods trick the person in trance into believing he is not who he always thought he was. To fragment the individual's personality and integrity on order to facilitate better initiate control, Hubbard induces a hypnotic state of multiple personality similar to an artificial schizophrenia. Many observers report Scientologists switching "personalities" dramatically and abruptly. It is no wonder people could become psychotic or suicidal when tricked into deeply believing and acting upon this alien being story when their suggestibility is at its highest and their defenses at their lowest. DEATH, PSYCHOSIS, AND SCIENTOLOGY The pattern and similarity of reports electronically summarized in the F.A.C.T.net 1994 and 1995 suicide reports from former members and from tens of thousands of pages of affidavits, books, and articles, and other materials tell a chilling story about this controversial group. It is also a fortuitous miracle that so many of these reports have squeezed through the cracks of Scientology's secrecy structure, intelligence agency procedures, and practice of destroying incriminating documents. Reports of cover-ups of Scientology members becoming psychotic or suicidal, or committing suicide, while under the influence of Scientology's control are far too numerous to be ignored any longer. (See appendix 3 summary for the list of names and details.)
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