One hopes you didn't tell these "lurking reporters" that this article reveals significant similarities between CoS and the TMO, because that wouldn't be true. The folks here who know what the TMO is really like would just laugh, but outsiders might not know enough to recognize such an attempted deception.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote : From: TurquoiseBee <turquoiseb@...> To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, April 11, 2014 9:56 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] An article on the Co$ for those who are interested in cult topics I know that at least a couple of lurkers are interested, because they've told me offline that they follow $cientology forums looking for story leads. For the TMers here, the story is worth a read to see the similarities -- the ways that one cult (the Co$) uses essentially the same tactics that another cult (the TMO) uses. Escape From Scientology http://www.vocativ.com/culture/religion/escape-scientology/ http://www.vocativ.com/culture/religion/escape-scientology/ Escape From Scientology http://www.vocativ.com/culture/religion/escape-scientology/ How one young woman risked everything to break out of the prison that is the Church of Scientology View on www.vocativ.com http://www.vocativ.com/culture/religion/escape-scientology/ Preview by Yahoo Just to anticipate the backlash, certainly not *everything* about the Co$ reminds me of my time in the TMO. Here are a few quotes from the article that did. YMMV. "Her parents were Scientologists, as were her friends—basically everyone she knew. If she left, they’d disown her." [I've seen the "shunning" process many times when a former TMer -- especially if they're a famous one -- leaves the fold.] "Founded in 1954, it [the Co$] is a highly insular faith rooted in ideas of American self-help and psychotherapy as well as Eastern mysticism. It maintains, as many religions do, that society needs healing, and also purports to be the only group with a cure." [The funny thing is, I'd have little problem with it if either of these groups said 'We have A cure'. It's the claiming that they have THE cure, the one and only that is odd. That's insular to the max.] "Sea Org members live deeply controlled lives, working seven days a week year-round, with few, if any, days off. They earn between $8 and $50 a week, sleep in dormitory housing and have virtually no contact with the outside world." [This is pretty much what many people working for "course credit" told me life was like in Europe, except that they didn't get $8 a week.] "Scientology’s essential pitch: that society is sick, full of dangers, and only the church can offer relief." [There's that "only" again.] "'They pressure you a lot to join,' she says. 'They’ll tell you how bad everything is in the world, and that they really need your help.'" [Anyone remember the many "You must go to this course or the world will end" speeches from MMY trying to get people to come to the butt-bouncing courses?] "Sea Org members are cut off entirely from current events, in part to prevent them from reading negative information about Scientology. Schlesinger had no idea Remini had departed, and now she was floored. She’d met the Reminis before and thought they were kind people. As she flipped through the pages, what she saw was a revelation: They’d broken away without fear, and remained intact. Schlesinger thought, Perhaps I can leave, too." [Haven't we heard stories here that MUM actively discourages student reading of Fairfield Life? Where such stories are told?] "For those in the Sea Org, there is the inculcated belief that, should they go, they’ll live for the rest of eternity as an unhappy spec in the universe." [How many times have you heard some long-term TMer lament about someone who's left, concerned about the "bad karma" they accrued by leaving?]
