My ongoing conversation with an advocate of Scientology:
After watching the initial video posted by her(http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ijr2ReT8VpQ), I took pity and sent her some friendly counsel.
Hey so, having just watched your video about Scientology, you seem like a genuinely nice person. Unfortunately, I believe you need to do some research on the subject. I looked at your myspace profile and noticed that you are LDS. I am as well. Being so, I can certainly see where you would be touchy on the subject of religious persecution. The problem is that in the case of Scientology, it’s not religious persecution if it’s not actually a religion. Scientology is a massive-scale pyramid sceme. The original founder wrote their “beliefs” so that governments would recognize them as a religion simply because 1. It gives them tax exempt status and 2. Any time their shady business practices are questioned they can hide behind freedom of religion.
Low level members(the majority) are squeezed for money until they’re bankrupt. People who try to leave the organization or disobey are sent to labor camps. They practice a “fair game” policy on anyone who speaks out against them, meaning that they can lie, sue, or(and I quote) “destroy” anyone they want with little fear of consequence because of their viscious legal team. You say that you have friends in the organization… get them out.
One website that will give you the facts: http://youfoundthecard.com/
And 1 article by Time magazine printed in 1991. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972865,00.html?imw=Y It’s a good read. Note the line of witnesses(among them, former top members of Scientology) who call the organization a greedy cult, or the 11 top Scientologists arrested for infiltrating the IRS so hamper investigations into their organization.
The government is already well aware of Scientology. The IRS and FBI have been investigating them for over 20 years. L. Ron Hubbard was in hiding for the last 5 years of his life because there were orders to arrest him on sight. The current leader has just recently gone into hiding in fear of a subpoena. They were just fined by the Canadian government an ammount of 510 million dollars because they attempted to slander and discredit a prosecuting lawyer in a case against them.
It sounds insane, but it’s true. Good luck. (Try not to piss off Anonymous)
