What hit You the hardest?

Jeez... There's so many. Probably the most recent "Wow" moment was watching one of Stu's videos from Plymouth. He has a way of speaking to them that reminds them - usually for just a few seconds - that they are people, not just cogs in Hubbard's machine. These are people that have to be reminded how to think, how to be human. I can't help wondering what will happen to them when - not if - the CoS comes crashing down.

Another major gut-punch for me was the thread several weeks back about a "retirement home" for Sea-Org members too old and broken down to work. I work in a nursing home - one of the best in the state - so it really hit home for me. The thought of old people being pushed out of the way because they're no longer useful to the "church" they spent their lives serving. Knowing that many of them are probably dying of lung cancer because DM wanted to save a few bucks on his toy navy. Knowing that they are told that if they "end cycle" it's guaranteed that they can come back as the child of a prominent Scientologist. I wonder how many of them believe that the only thing they have to look forward to is a billion more lifetimes of slaving away under L. Ron's mad delusion...

I don't know where I heard this, but I once heard someone describe Hell as things being as bad as you can possibly imagine, with "... a complete absence of hope of ever getting better..."

To any and all Sea Org members: There is Hope. It's on the Outside.

Originally Posted by tazor

David Mayo's story of an older man in the SO on the ship way, way back when. Elron got mad at the man for some slight mistake and made him push a peanut all over the ship with his nose. The deck was rough and full of splintered wood. The whole crew stood at attention and watched this guy pushing a peanut around until his nose was bleeding. His wife and children were part of that crew and could only stand there crying as they watched. Ok I am crying right now while I post this. L. Ron Hubbard was a fucking monster. Never forget that. DM is just his demon seed.

You forgot to mention Hubbard was laughing about it afterward.

The waste of life on such a massive scale.

Mine was two tiered... I try not to pass judgement until I have a little more info.

Started with WBM being bullbaited at the July 4th Celebration. I'm the type of person who will not hesitate to stand up for the little guy, and watching WBM being verbally attacked like that for no good reason really pissed me off.

Immediately after that video, I read Paulette Cooper's story and I was floored. I could not believe that a supposedly "peaceful religion" nearly destroyed someone for writing a book against them..

Shit, what else can they do??? OMG, ALOT!!!!

The unfunny thruth vid. The one with the music from requiem for a dream music. I watche dthat in a dark room and I was just spooked the heck out!

Astra's interview where she talked about the Cadet Org was what put me over the edge.

Originally Posted by anonymouskwisdg

From OCMB, blownforgood:

From the Cine Shoot Crew story, 1997

Operation Clambake Message Board :: View topic - Another day in the life at the SCIENTOLOGY INT BASE

Selected passage:

"After hours and hours of sec checking, it was around 1 AM at night. It was now that we would realize that up until now we had never experienced anything that would compare to what was to come.

We were told to muster outside on the road that was next to the dining room. We were told that where ever we went, we were to run, that we would not speak unless spoken to, we would be on a strict military schedule and that we would not be leaving the property to return to our own berthing until all of us had admitted to all the crimes we were involved in.

The 6 of us lined up on the road. There were 4 guys and 2 girls. We were all tired and had not really got more than a few hours of sleep in at least one month. It was July and we were not only skinny from not eating much, but the heat and lack of sleep had really taken its toll on our overall energy level. It was now about 1AM. Most staff on the property had long since gone home. Most of the lights on property had been turned off and it was very dark out. Here we were, just having spent hours being grilled about what crimes we had been committing and all we wanted to do was get some sleep.

It was at that moment when 3 off road motorcycles pulled up. Jon Stumbke, IG MAA RTC was on one and the others were driven by Gold Security guards. “Run” they said. “Stay in the headlights and run until we say stop!” We started to run. Where were we going? What the hell was this? I had heard of some crazy shit going on at the Int base but this was beyond anything I have ever seen or heard. Motorcycles driving behind us in the pitch black while we were made to run ahead of them like dogs. With them yelling out at us every few seconds to keep going or scolding us for slowing down.

They kept driving and would yell out to go left or right at certain points and we were just running all over the property. The property at the Int Base is over 500 acres and some parts were fairly undeveloped. We ran all over the property and kept on running. When one of us would slow down or stop. The others were ordered to grab that person and force them to keep going. No matter what, we were not allowed to stop for any reason. We ran across grassy areas, dirt, pavement, through trees, and anywhere else the guys on the motorcycles decide to drive. It was almost as though we were not anywhere in specific, but that we were just going to run until someone had decided we had run enough.

Finally one of the girls just collapsed. She could not run any more. She was tired and was crying. The rest of us were made to do push–ups while she was yelled at and made to get up and get running again. She cried and ran at the same time. [b]It was horrible to watch. It was horrible to experience. It was just plain horrible. That sick felling you get when seeing something awful and wrong. This moment would be burned into my existence forever. I knew then, that I would never forget this for the rest of my life".[b]

tl;dr: perverted, power and control bulls**t, f**ed up mean people and so on

This one.

Chanology to start with.

Bea Kiddo's story on exscn. That burned.

I've been a closet SP since they started posting scientology materials OTIII and related stuff--and the abuses of scientology, to slashdot, at least 100 years ago. Seems that way at least. I always thought scientology was kind of wacky but mostly harmless before then; but after this I realized how crooked they were. When scientology sued /. to remove their copyrighted materials, resulting in the only posts ever deleted on that site, it was the last nail in the coffin for me. The Cruise video, youtube and Chanology rekindled the fire which was lit that day.

edit: they issued a DMCA thingy to slashdot and threatened to sue.

The Beghe video and how many fucks he managed to say in such a short period of time. Great video.

like many of you, been reading at clambake for years, but anonymous made me focus....and then all the really ugly shit started hitting the fan. the tipping point cannot be far off.

Originally Posted by TheRoboNonymous

I've been a closet SP since they started posting scientology materials OTIII and related stuff--and the abuses of scientology, to slashdot, at least 100 years ago. Seems that way at least. I always thought scientology was kind of wacky but mostly harmless before then; but after this I realized how crooked they were. When scientology sued /. to remove their copyrighted materials, resulting in the only posts ever deleted on that site, it was the last nail in the coffin for me. The Cruise video, youtube and Chanology rekindled the fire which was lit that day.

edit: they issued a DMCA thingy to slashdot and threatened to sue.

Heh, I remember that.

Lisa McPherson's autopsy pics. Hit me the hardest and still does.

edit: and yeah, the requiem for a dream version of the unfunny truth.

1. Lisa McPherson/Joseph Havenith/the unidentified man who died in the Fort Harrison Hotel boiler room (unidentified= no one cares, which makes me sad)
2. Disconnection. The BBC Panorama story, when they interviewed the one guy who left Scientology and had an ailing father who was disconnected from ALL of his children almost had me sobbing.
3. Fair Game (all of it, but most recently Gregg's case, which REALLY boils my blood)
4. Shawn Lonsdale. NEVER forget this hero. Never.

Originally Posted by anymauser

The unfunny thruth vid. The one with the music from requiem for a dream music. I watche dthat in a dark room and I was just spooked the heck out!

The Unfunny Truth About Scientology YTMND presentation really opened up my eyes. For a long time, I was John Q. Public - yeah, I had heard about Scientology, their followers, and belief system (Xenu), but I just thought they were nuts. Then I saw that and began to realize that there was a WHOLE lot more to the story.

You know conspiracy theories? To me, they are fun to read about but never right. But then I read about Scientology, and it was too unbelievable to be true.

But it was, and still is.

Oh and by the way, I prefer the YTMND presentation more than the YouTube version, but I'm glad that there are two. The more formats that this is available, the more people's eyes will be opened.

Originally Posted by anon_david

This one.

Same. And the musical chairs and the asbestos-laden Freewinds. Knowingly and maliciously treating your own people like scum, emotionally blackmailing them and bringing them lower than dogs scraping for rubbish; raping their wallets; destroying their families; letting them and their children suffer and making them believe that there's no hope in anything but the words of a con man and his progeny, that egotistical madman DM...

It makes me want to scream.

What hit me hardest, it happened about 2 weeks ago, was realizing that I had been, not just duped or used or fucked with, but that *I* had actually been brainwashed. I thought I was fairly bright you know, not a fool down deep, and to be sure I always had doubts about things I saw in the CoS, LRH was obviously not a physicist, I grew up around them and so on. But it took about 12 months to turn me into a full blown ronbot - and what's more, it lasted for maybe 21 years - even though I hadn't been in to an org or done anything for the last 15 or so, I was still under the influence and even now find myself having to fight it off, sometimes daily. Inculcated is the word I'm looking for. Why it lasted so long? No data to contradict it. It probably would have worn off in another 10 years, but stumbling on anonymous slapped me silly (lulzy?) and it's much better but fuck, I was brainwashed! That's beyond embarrasing. Then there's realizing I did it to other people. Dumbshit me.