Me v. Scientology

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Pekka
Is Scientology legal in UK? I think it's banned here in Finland... In school we studied it a bit, and it was taught to us that it's completely a fraud, shameless and ruthless scam. We also got to see maybe 30-40min document about it, former members were int it etc. They had these weird machines which they used to measure something out of themselves.. energylevel or something, can't recall.. it cost like maybe $10k and you had to have two of them, in case it brakes down.. funny indeed.

My opinion is you should run the story, dig deep, and expose their shameless fraud. That they make people addicted and crazy, just to get money out of them. About that harrasment.. what can they really do? Start taping your phone, so you get it on tape when they call you. Get the backround of that lady calling you. When the going gets tough the tough gets going .

Personally i'm very hard against cults etc that are obviously fake and damage people. You should contact people from other countries to take joint-operation . I'd be willing, but i think we don't have any of them here. I'd really like to do some agentstuff and go into their classes and make them believe i'm their new sucker, just to expose what they do and how. If only someone would pay me .

don't give up to harrasment! When they do it, it's obvious they doing something suspicious, and it needs to be exposed, so no new people will get hurt.

The irony of it is, this is what Christianity started out like in Roman society. It is amazing how, over time, it has become legitimised...

[Evil Knevil]

PH, you seem be a reasonably smart bloke, what do you think I should do?



Update]: Another phonecall to the office today, thankfully not at home, asked me to stop talking to certain ex-members of UK Scientology since they're 'mentally unbalanced' and would divulge 'trade secrets'. She was really nasty about Jon Atack, despite the fact that I've never even talked to him -- I thought he was dead! She said contact with these enemies of Scientology, automatically makes me an enemy.

I said:

1/ Under UK law, it is never a crime to talk to anybody (anymore not even presumed terrorists, the 1990 criminal justice act was repealed recently).

2/ If Scientology is a religion, then why does it have trade secrets?

Eventually she said something like "Conversation with you would be a waste of time.....but could you please fax over a list of your sources when you're done with your report....".

To this I said no way.

She said she'd be in touch again.


So now I'm an enemy, a suppressive person (SP) woo-hoo!!

This makes me want to fight, I think. Still, if I start getting phonecalls in the night, I might reconsider.

[Arrian]

People are idiots. That's all I have to say about this.

Carry on, and good luck.

-Arrian

[chequita guevara]

EK, I know what I would do, which is go ahead and do it and be prepared for having to deal with these f****rs for a long time. If you have any pretentions of being a great journalist, that's gonna happen sooner or later. I'd talk it over with your wife and decide whether or not Scientologist harrasment is something you wish to fight for a good chunk of your life.

Don't freelance the piece. They'll bury you with lawyers.

[Gatekeeper]

Evil Knevil:

You're taking on a cult whose power lies in its secrecy. As you're discovering, they don't like it when journalists and others try to rip away the dark veils they keep wrapped around their warped cult. This may not seem like much, but you have my support as a fellow journalist and as an ordinary Joe Public sort of guy.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a planetary military offensive against Scientology. They deserve to crash and burn. All they care about is money and hurting/warping people.

Gatekeeper

[TCO]

EK, I would go for it. Just be ready (really ready) for the fight. Oh and try to document as much of their harrasment as you can. For instance trick this lady into sending you a written document with her threats or demands. That will be great to publish. Try to blow the whole thing up for maxiumum publicity. Make it your ticket to a more prominent byline.

I hope you have done a thorough Nexus and library search. I'm often UNDERimpressed by research methods of journalists. You seemed a lilttle shaky in your knowledge of background info at the beginning of this thread. (But seemed more up to speed later.)

FYI: I saw a pretty decent (unauthorized) biography of Hubbard in the book store about 4 years ago. Can't remember the title, but a search should come up with it. It has info on how Hubbard came up with the idea of forming a religion. Also has some juicy stuff about other silly stuff he did. Failure as a USN officer, etc.

[TCO]

Gatekeeper, what is your status as a journalist? And EK, also. Where do y'all stand in the food chain.

I'm pretty impressed...good job.

[JohnIII]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
The irony of it is, this is what Christianity started out like in Roman society. It is amazing how, over time, it has become legitimised...

Yes, I recall tales of the early Christians enticing popular Circus stars of the day to join them, and their thorough knowledge of the Roman legal system was legendary. And their methods are so similar--Christians would preach that desire for money was not important, and Scientology takes care of that for you.

Spot on!

[Bereta_Eder]

evil kvevil another little tid bit of dirty laundrery that you maybe don't know? is that the members of scientology are reqquired to sign a contract which allegednly binds their soul to that cult for a number of millenia (2 if IIRC). They believe in recarnation too.

of course it's all about the

[ixnay]

I say go after them. You'll have our support. Hmm...maybe I should make the villains in the next movie i'm planning scientologists...

[Gatekeeper]

GP:

I'm not among the "big fish," so to speak, when it comes to journalism. Been out of journalism school for four years now and number myself among the "rank-and-file" reporters, copy editors and whatnot — basically, the people who work the trenches and put the paper out on a daily basis.

AFAIK, there are no Scientology chapters in my neck of the woods. EK ... would you be able to get ahold of the Time personnel who worked on their Scientology article? They might be able to lead you to even more sources.

Gatekeeper

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

EK- what you're getting is verging on criminal harassment. Go to the police, get an injunction and print it. It'll make interesting news, and it'll be fun seeing them try to use the courts to silence a judicial verdict.

[Bereta_Eder]

It would also be interesting, as a side hit, to compile a list of countries where scientology is legal and unhindered and where it is not legal or not so unhindered. That should be fairly easy to do. (just send the same pre-written fax to all embassies and maybe call them to let them know you did). Some european countries would suffice. (and of course US - Canada)

[Gatekeeper]

EK:

Also, that woman who keeps phoning the office is nothing more than the vanguard of Scientology's harrassment forces. She's on point, but you can be guaranteed she's got goons behind her who'll resort to less-than-ethical (and possibly illegal) methods of trying to shut you down.

Gatekeeper

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Evil Knevil
PH, you seem be a reasonably smart bloke, what do you think I should do?

I'd say blow them sky high. I'd even go as far as calling it a civic duty to expose these charlatans and the lies they stand for. Be truthful, because quite honestly, you don't have to be anything other here to expose the lunacy of this organisation.

If they do try to sue, it would be the publisher who gets it, surely?

And go for that injunction if they are harrassing you. Besides if you publish that story, it looks good, like they were trying to silence you. And keep records of everything like this just in case.

Waste 'em fella!