At a $100 per person event held in the San Fernando Valley on September 6, about 500 Scientologists were told, among other things, that Google has approved advertising grants totaling $5.7 million for Scientology churches around the country.
Also, that the Chinese government has approved Scientology’s website, scientology.org, as one of only a few religious websites Chinese citizens can access without restrictions.
And that by taking over YouTube’s homepage in an advertising buy earlier this year, Scientology reached 46 million people with its “Spiritual Technology” ad.
These claims were made at the “Autumn Gala” of Scientology’s Valley chapter as it tries to raise about $8 million needed to complete the renovation of its “Ideal Org” project, a large and drab building at Lankershim and Burbank Boulevards in North Hollywood.
The fundraising for the Valley building has dragged on for years, which is embarrassing for an organization which has a greater concentration of Scientologists in Southern California than anywhere else in the world. Here at the Underground Bunker, we’ve printed dozens, if not hundreds, of advertising fliers over the past two years as Scientology has pushed and begged and cajoled its members to attend fancy events where they are pressured to donate large sums and get the building finished.
But what happens at these events? We get some idea through the fliers that Scientology puts together after such events, showing off the people who have earned certificates for writing large checks. But it’s always interesting to learn what, exactly, these people were told to convince them to donate for these projects.
Fortunately, we have a transcript of the presentation given by Brandy Harrison, the “Building Expansion Director Int,” (see above), which a tipster was able to get from video of the event (and which we were able to verify the authenticity of). Brandy’s talk is filled with enthusiasm about Scientology’s new progress with Google, Amazon, and YouTube, and also she makes numerous claims about the new TV campaign that’s going to be produced at the old KCET studios.
And of course, the people in the room were told that Scientology is expanding faster now than it ever has, a claim the audience seemed to accept uncritically. Brandy makes many claims and divulges quite a few new plans in her talk, and we look forward to interpretations of her words from our many experts in the comments section…
Here’s the transcript…
…how we focused on building the establishment of the org staff to ideal standards. And following that is your final milestone, your incredible grand opening. And this is where the excitement truly begins, as evidenced by every org that has gone ideal: It is a monumental level of expansion from day one.
The difference between an ideal org and a non-ideal org is night and day. While I know the Valley Ideal Org has been many years in the making. The truth is, you are becoming an ideal org at exactly the right time. For since the release of Golden Age of Tech Phase II, Scientology has expanded by 47 times.
[Crowd: Whoa, Wow, applause]
Now, that expansion is primarily from our Ideal Orgs and our Advanced Orgs. Ideal Orgs were actually built for the release of Golden Age of Tech Phase II. When Chairman of the Board RTC launched the strategy, he said that ideal orgs were being built for something greater to come. And that has now arrived. And this is even before we have released our international dissemination campaigns
Already the reach from raw public for Scientology has escalated to a whole new level. In January we introduced the online world to our new Scientology cathedral and an awe-inspiring view of the new Mark Ultra VIII e-meter. This resulted in people clicking on our website at a rate of two people every second.
[Crowd: Wow]
From there it was only a few mouse clicks away from finding their nearest Ideal Org and walking into the doors. And they did so, en masse.
Since the release of an introductory service xxxx we’ve had 73 times the number of Book One audit hours delivered. And we’ve had 20 times the number of life improvement course completions. And a new personal efficiency course completion every five minutes. All told the number of new people taking their first step on the Bridge has increased by a record 70 times.
[Crowd: Applause]
And as you know, once an Ideal Org opens, a full scale dissemination campaign is launched just for that org’s area. At the same time, all of the 4th dynamic campaigns are launched to establish the Division 6 for that ideal org.
In the Bay Area a representative of Google was introduced to Scientology and our 4th dynamic campaigns through the Stevens Creek Ideal Org. This representative connected us up with the department responsible for non-profit advertisements. And as a result, Google awarded us a $10,000-a-month grant for free online advertising.
But that’s not all because Google looked into the responses that we were getting from this advertisement, and they increased that grant to the Truth About Drugs and Way to Happiness campaigns, to $40,000 a month.
But that’s not all. The second man, now with established Google teams solely for the Church of Scientology, suggested that we might want to extend the same grants to some of our class v orgs around the world. We applied, and now today, every ideal org in the United States has $10,000 a month of free online advertising.
[Crowd: wild applause]
In fact, in total so far, we have had $5.7 million in Google grants already approved for our 4th dynamic campaigns in United States ideal orgs.
And now let’s take Amazon. That company started a program called the Amazon Smile, whereby they donate .5 percent of all online purchases to a charity of your choice. Amazon somehow acquired a list of 200 Scientology-related entities, including 129 of our churches. We were pretty astounded, as we did not register with this program. So we contact them to find out where they got this list from. And we discovered that an IRS rep who had been disseminated to in the Portland ideal org had sent Amazon the list of our registered charities.
[Crowd: Laughter and applause]
So we’ve now come full circle with the IRS now referring to us as a tax exempt charity.
[Crowd: Applause]
Then last year we opened our ideal org at Kaohsiung. With this the full Bridge to Clear was released for the first time in Chinese. When that org opened, there was a trend of media throughout Taiwan and across mainland China.
Now, China is a special animal. For those of you who don’t know, China has very specific rules on censorship, meaning that the Chinese government controls the media, all incoming and outgoing communications across the country. Specifically, they control what you can and cannot access across the Internet. Quickly, this is known as the great firewall of China.
[Crowd: Laughter]
Let’s put it this way. You cannot access Google. There’s a special version of Google just for China which is completely different than the Google we have here in America. You cannot access YouTube. You cannot access Facebook. In fact there are a number of normal websites that you cannot access within China. And this is a place that they don’t want their citizens hearing about other beliefs, religions, or human rights.
In fact if you were standing in mainland China, on your cellphone right now, you can’t Google the Dalai Lama. You can’t Google the word ‘evil.’ You can’t even Google the word ‘Ferrari’ because the president of China’s son drives a Ferrari and God forbid you read any gossip about him.
However, I am pleased to announce, since the opening of our new ideal org of Kaohsiung, one of the only religious websites that you can now access free and unrestricted in China is www.scientology.org
[Crowd: Big applause]
And that is truly the power of an ideal org. Combine all of this with targeted dissemination, and you come to some incredible, real life-changing stories. Specifically one a little closer to home.
This is an excerpt of a three-page letter, a very heart-wrenching letter from a chief of police in a small town in Minnesota near the ideal org of the Twin Cities. And it reads:
“A simple web search led me to the Foundation for a Drug-Free World. I was looking to see what other drug education programs were available, and felt I’d hit the jackpot. No other drug education program available today even comes close to offering what the Foundation for a Drug-Free World has put together.
During my 21-year career I have been called to five alcohol-related crashes that resulted in fatalities. I have been hit head-on while on duty in my patrol car by a drunk driver and survived. I have been called to numerous suicides where drugs or alcohol were involved. I have dealt with countless drug and alcohol related domestics and child protection issues. I have broken bones while arresting people under the influence of drugs. I have entered an active meth lab where the toxic fumes ended my colleague’s career as a deputy sheriff. One of my officers was forced to shoot a suspect that had stabbed a small child three times while under the influence of drugs. I’ve witnessed autopsies that showed the affects drugs have on bodies. The list goes on, all in a tiny northern Minnesota town.
In conclusion, the Foundation for a Drug-Free World has put together one of the most comprehensive drug education programs in this country, and their commitment to drug education is clearly admirable. The time and resources they have spent on drug education is reflected in the quality of their material, the size and scope of their foundation and in the dedication of their volunteers.
Respectfully,
Chad Loewen, chief of police, Minnesota”
So now take all of that dissemination and enter the world of social media. Because never have we been able to disseminate at lightning speeds as we have now in the 21st century. In fact, take the recent tragedy and protest in Ferguson, Missouri. If you’ve turned on the news at any point in the last month you’ve seen the photos and videos of these protests.
The Way to Happiness chapter in that area responded immediately once the protests started, with the distribution of The Way to Happiness booklets. This was given out to tens of thousands of people. and it came to the attention of one Jack Dorsey, Missouri native, and founder and CEO of Twitter.
He was in Ferguson, live-tweeting the protests, and was given a copy of a custom-printed The Way to Happiness. He immediately tweeted to over 3 million followers. And here you can see it.
This resulted in Scientology being recognized on Twitter as a fully authorized entity, something that we’ve been trying to accomplish for the past seven years.
Or what about the YouTube takeover we did earlier this year? For a full 24 hours we took over the homepage of YouTube with a special version of our ‘Spiritual Technology’ ad. It paid off spectacularly, with the ad being seen by over 46 million people. And here you can see, in live time, those are the people clicking on to our website after seeing the ad on the YouTube homepage.
The red is the ones who clicked once, and the blue are those who clicked further to start a course or take a test online.
YouTube themselves were very impressed that we had over three times the average number of people clicking onto our website with this type of ad. In fact, an average of five people every second of those 24 hours clicked on the ‘curious about you’ link that took them to an OCA test.
Now all of this brings me back to Los Angeles. As you know, we’re gearing up to open our own full scale TV studio, responsible for all international Scientology media and dissemination.
This is a 136,000-square-foot facility that will house all of our dissemination, our own TV station, radio, Internet marketing, everything you could possibly want, at a level which we have never approached before.
The last time that we did any sort of massive marketing was about 20 years ago. Do you remember that Dianetics infomercial that used to play late at night? The amazing part is that even today people will walk into the orgs, and they will remember that Dianetics infomercial. And that is the last time we did any sort of massive marketing. The time period that we ran that commercial was for one year. And within one year we doubled the size of Central Files International.
That campaign is one hundredth of what we will be launching when we open Scientology Media Productions.
So that’s why I say, right now in the Valley, you are truly becoming an ideal org at exactly the right time. However, this is just the beginning. See, the ideal org fundraising has a beginning, a middle, and then finally an end.
Many people actually don’t know this…
[Crowd: nervous laughter]
…but unlike some other Scientology fundraising activities, there is a completion to this strategy.
We have about 142 buildings internationally. Of those 142 buildings, 40 are ideal orgs. Once we complete every single org on the planet as ideal, five percent of the gross income from those orgs goes into a special account. And those funds are used collectively to fund the creation of brand new ideal orgs from scratch.
In fact, in an office at the international landlord office we have a giant map showing every single org on the planet. But we also show the next 50 new ideal orgs that will be opened from scratch upon completion of this strategy.
In places like Sao Paolo, Brazil. New Delhi, India. And many, many other major cities around the world that don’t even have an org to walk into.
You take a country like India. They’re responsible for 1.1 billion people, and there’s not a single org to walk into. So you are actually at a moment in history where you are setting the case for all of the rest of the expansion of Scientology to come.
In fact I believe that ten years from now, upon completion of all ideal orgs, and the creation of brand new ideal orgs from scratch, you will be looked upon as the history makers, the ones that set the pace for the expansion of Scientology worldwide, the founders of the ideal org strategy.
So now let’s take this to the Valley. This is the final step for an ideal Los Angeles. with all other class V orgs in Los Angeles ideal — an ideal ASHO, an ideal AOLA, and now Scientology Media Productions — Valley is the final piece of the puzzle to put in place in a truly ideal city.
You’ve heard it said before that what happens in California impacts the world. Well, there’s no truer statement than tonight, for we are one step closer to opening one of the biggest ideal orgs on the planet. An ideal org responsible for over 2 million people.
We are completing a power base for the largest group of Scientoloigsts in the world, and at a time when Scientology is growing faster than any other time in our history.
Tonight, you’re making history for the completion of the Valley.
Some notes for the new folks…
Ideal Orgs: Since 2002, Scientology leader David Miscavige has put local church members under intense pressure to raise money for the purchase and renovation of new “Ideal Orgs” to replace their existing churches, known as “orgs” in Scientology, short for “organizations.” In the 12 years since, 40 of these new facilities have been opened around the world.
Golden Age of Tech Phase II: Everything in Scientology — its counseling “technology,” its rules and regulations, and even the smallest details about how to recruit and indoctrinate new members — comes only from “Source,” Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, who died in 1986. Current leader David Miscavige has twice made significant alterations to the way Scientology works, calling them “Golden Age of Tech” phases one and two. They’ve been controversial moves inside the organization, and have in part fueled an exodus of older members who still revere Hubbard.
Mark Ultra VIII e-meter: A crude device that measures the galvanism of skin, the Scientology e-meter is used during “auditing,” supposedly to help detect a subject’s unconscious thoughts. It’s also used as a sort of lie detector apparatus during brutal interrogations known as “security checks.” The new model costs members about $5,000 each, and they’re asked to purchase two of them.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on September 16, 2014 at 07:00
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BLOGGING DIANETICS (We read Scientology’s founding text) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
UP THE BRIDGE (Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN (Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING (Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49
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