Scientology threw its annual IAS party on L. Ron Hubbard Way, and once again we had a mole

Just a week after throwing a party on L. Ron Hubbard way to celebrate another “season” of propaganda on its television channel, Scientology threw another shindig this past Saturday night so the locals could watch video of David Miscavige’s nearly three-hour presentation at the IAS event in East Grinstead, England which took place the week before.

And once again, we had a correspondent in place to observe the action for us. Here’s their report…

Like the week before, L. Ron Hubbard Way was entirely blocked off from Fountain to Sunset. There were two police cars with officers at each end of the street. There was again a spotlight machine at Sunset with four moving beams shining into the sky mimicking an old-fashioned Hollywood premiere. The stage and projection TV screen were placed with their backs parallel to Fountain Avenue and spanning the width of LRH Way. There were multiple rows of seats facing the large TV screen on the street.

There were free food stations behind the seating. There were also tents for the four major Fourth Dynamic front groups — Volunteer Ministers (double-sized), Youth For Human Rights, Drug Free World, and CCHR. There were no tents for Criminon, Narconon or Applied Scholastics.

For the first time, the yellow Church of Scientology of Los Angeles Volunteer Ministers van was parked on LRH Way.

Also for the first time, the Strike Out Against Drugs / Drug Free World informational bus was also parked on the short lane. (You may recall that the premiere episode of “Voices for Humanity” on Scientology TV featured David Sanchez of Strike Out Against Drugs.) The bus had a flat screen television against the inside back wall to play Drug Free World videos. It also had Drug Free World pamphlets and Strike Out Against Drugs fliers. The bus was new, clean, and well-appointed and designed.

You may also recall that the Season 4 premiere of Scientology TV announced a new upcoming but currently unscheduled CCHR documentary on ECT — “Therapy or Torture.” At this event, the documentary was for sale for $20 on DVD and Blue Ray at a large booth separate from the CCHR tent. The promo for the documentary was also featured in the video of the IAS Flag event.

 
There was what appears to be the now standard respectful regging. All one-on-one regging; no two-on-one or three-on-one regging. If you were asked for an IAS contribution and responded that you could not afford to contribute right now, that response was accepted without pressure or argument. If you contributed, the contribution was acknowledged with thanks and no attempt to convince you to contribute more or increase the amount. If you contributed, were approached later in the evening and asked for a contribution, and responded that you had already contributed, you were thanked for your contribution and were not asked how much you had contributed, or asked for an additional amount.

I did not see any Nation of Islam members. There were also no NOI members featured in the video of the Flag event, either in the audience shots or in the IAS event film itself. This is in contrast to last year, where NOI members were shown leading CCHR anti-psychiatry protests and marches. The only even remote connection to the NOI was the availability of The Way To Happiness booklets sponsored by the United In Peace Foundation, the group associated with the Nation of Islam and Minister Tony Muhammad.

With one exception, neither Tom Cruise nor any other celebrity appeared in the video of the Flag IAS event. The only exception was John Travolta. While he did not appear in any of the crowd shots, he appeared in the IAS video itself with his airplane after flying Volunteer Minister relief supplies to the Bahamas.

The video of the IAS Flag event was two-hours-and-forty-five minutes long.

The video began with CCHR. The first two IAS Freedom medal winners were a man and woman who helped address psychiatric abuses in Ukraine, caused some psychiatrists to be incarcerated, some psychiatric facilities to be closed, and reform legislation to be passed. As always with the CCHR section, the language, tone and graphics (e.g., evil looking cartoon “psychs” being hunted, trapped, caged, etc.) were angry, crude and distasteful. A Scientologist (or ex-Scientologist who remembered their tech) would say that while the rest of the program was easily at 3.5 (strong interest) to 4.0 (enthusiasm) on the Tone Scale, the CCHR portion — the opening portion of the event — was mired at 1.5 (anger) or maybe 1.8 (hostility) at best. Not to say the audience didn’t eat up the opening CCHR portion of the program; they did.

Scientologists never seem to realize how distasteful and distressing the tone of the CCHR portion might be to people new to Scientology or to non-Scientologists who attend with a friend or a family member (it happens). I forget if the old line “Global Annihilation” has been replaced by the new, improved “Global Erasure” or “Global Eradication” — it was one of the two — but you get the idea. A religion, church or other organization could seriously and even proudly report on helping to eradicate abuses in psychiatry (there are some, and those in Ukraine were horrific) without adopting a tone of frothing, demented glee and using graphics necessarily implying “annihilation” even if that word is no longer used.

Viewed with no prior knowledge of Scientology, the remainder of the video of the IAS Flag event could maybe convince some non-Scientologists to believe that Scientology might be a relatively normal, benign and perhaps sometimes even useful organization, if a little full of itself. The language, tone and graphics of the opening CCHR segment, however, would disabuse them of that notion. They firmly establish that these people are angry and nuts — not a good combination.

The video showed the 17th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates presenting the Peace Summit Medal for Social Activism to Mary Shuttleworth, president of Youth for Human Rights.

There were video reports of Volunteer Minister providing aid in California, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Mozambique, Nepal, Uganda, etc.

A husband and wife won the IAS Freedom medal for using The Way To Happiness in Mexican prisons. It seems now firmly established that The Way To Happiness has replaced Criminon for reforming prisoners.

An individual from Kenya won the IAS Freedom medal for introducing many different kinds of Volunteer Minister tech to many different types of recipients (e.g., churches, schools, prisons, businesses).

The next to last segment was about the Scientology Advanced Organization of Africa. This may have been the most concerning segment for critics of Scientology. This is because it appears the Church of Scientology has made major inroads co-opting Christian clergy and churches of many different denominations in South Africa using the Scientology Handbook. More than 100 Christian congregations have allegedly started using the Scientology handbook. Video clip after video clip showed Christian clergy holding up the Scientology Handbook in their churches and promoting it. In one case, the minister gave a sermon about a particular verse of the Bible in conjunction with the Scientology Third Party Law. Attendance at these Christian churches allegedly rose more than 60 percent after they began using the Scientology Handbook.

Also of concern to critics of Scientology was the report of mass distribution of The Way to Happiness booklets at the public presidential inauguration in South Africa, including exclusive access to the security zone.

The video of the IAS Flag event ended with a promo for Scientology TV. The new series “Freedom Magazine Articles” received a much longer promo video than it received at the premiere of Season 4 of Scientology TV. The first episode of the new series “Signature Performances” featuring Chick Corea also received a substantial promo video.

There were no segments or videos about Criminon, Narconon, or Applied Scholastics.

The IAS event on LRH was well-attended, well-received, and the crowd was enthusiastic. In contrast to the recent Scientology TV Season 4 Premiere on LRH Way, almost everyone stayed until the end.

In addition to the tents, van, bus and food stations mentioned above, after the event there was a small stage featuring Chinese acrobats.

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Meanwhile, in Canada…

 
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Source Code

“The fellow who has voices talking to him inside of his head is much better off than the fellow who has voices talking to him from way outside his head. Odd that psychiatry classifies people quite in reverse. People who have voices talking to them from the outside are sane and those who have voices talking to them from inside of their head are very often classified as insane. As a matter of fact, I read a paragraph in one of their innumerable, contradictory books which had to do with just that. It said that one could always tell whether or not a person was psychotic, because the spoken voices – the speaking voices and so forth – were invariably inside the person’s head if the person were psychotic. Couldn’t they face the idea that these voices very often come from outside?” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 29, 1953

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“While he was able to establish a secure base in Morocco in 1972 with the help of the local government, the former colonial power of France had issued an international arrest warrant via Interpol for L. Ron Hubbard for alleged fraud. When LRH flew to the US within hours due to this on December 3, 1972, in order to defend himself in this matter – which the former basis for operation at sea made impossible – he was taken into custody by US agents at the New York airport and taken into a secret US prison as an enemy of the state, without the chance of a fair hearing and trial. He has been missing ever since.”

 
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Random Howdy

“You kids need to look around before you start posting comments willy-nilly.”

 
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society!

Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Ahoy, matey: We have Scientology’s new Sea Org application!
[TWO years ago] In Canada, Scientology does not get the welcome it might have been expecting
[THREE years ago] Amassing the real history of Scientology has been a long and dramatic relay race
[FOUR years ago] Hey, tabloids: Tom Cruise once again attends Scientology gala as its poster boy
[FIVE years ago] Scientology’s ‘Mecca’ awaits: More tantalizing glimpses of Hubbardian Heaven on Earth
[SIX years ago] Claire Headley Gets Us Ready to Go Solo: More Prep for Scientology OT!
[SEVEN years ago] List of People Who Have Left Scientology and Spoken Out Reaches 2,000 Names
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Dumpster-Dive: Commenters of the Week!

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 29, 2019 at 07:00

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