I'm a lurker but I thought I'd throw my $0.02 worth in here. While I'm a
manager by trade I have an interest in alternative belief systems and the
organisational culture of cults and fringe sects. From my studies, I would
argue that Scientology is nothing more than a business which has been very
effectively handled, and which has developed a finely honed defence
mechanism using the legal system. Their capacity to infiltrate both the
minds of their prospects and institutions is also considerable.
I certainly do not share their rather bizarre cosmology, however I can
admire, as a marketer, the way they use the popular perception of
"science", especially Psychology, as a means of overcoming their prospects'
skepticism.
Also, I would echo Ray Harrell's perspective that the Church of Scientology
is probably no worse than many other religious organisations - the child
abuse issue is a great example.
It's a fascinating story though, and I'd like to thank Chris for raising it.
Regards and compliments of the season to you all.
Brad Hanson
At 02:53 AM 12/22/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Chris,
>
>Are you serious about this? There are a lot of Scientologists in
>the arts and I don't find them anymore of a problem than the regular
>church groups with calls for public support in sending the poor to
>parochial schools. Can Scientology be any worse than church abused
>orphans of a generation ago in Quebec? Abuse where technology
>meant for the insane was used on sane orphans to keep them in line?
>
>If you want to complain about any one group with an agenda then you
>have to, IMO, do the same about the rest as well. It is good to point it
>out but I'm sure the NSA knows already and is in the business of making
>everyone more paranoid about each other. So the point here is to
>tell the story and remember that each group is busy trying to do the other
>under. The trick is to get out of the way of both elephants and hyenas.
>
>REH
>
>
>
>Christoph Reuss wrote:
>
>> Microsoft cooperates with Scientology
>> Experts suspect Trojan Horse in Windows 2000
>>
>> (Summary of an article in the renowned German computer magazine "c't",
>> full article at http://www.heise.de/ct/english/99/25/058/ )
>>
>> An integrated operating system component of Microsoft Windows 2000, the
>> defragmentation program "Diskeeper", is made by a Scientology company.
>> German data protection and security officials have expressed concerns
>> that once Windows 2000 will be shipped, "Diskeeper" will have access to
>> all data on the harddisks of government agencies, companies and citizens
>> worldwide. The psycho cult Scientology is known for attempts to infiltrate
>> key positions in industry and government, and has been involved in
>> espionage cases.
>>
>> Replying to concerns, Microsoft wrote that it is not a Microsoft-specific
>> problem if somebody can obtain access to the system [yeah, all virus
>> programmers know this], and that customers could remove Diskeeper at
>> any time by manually deleting its files and registry entries. However,
>> computer experts found out that when a user tries to delete Diskeeper,
>> another component of Windows 2000 immediately restores Diskeeper by using
>> a cached copy. In other words, the Scientology component cannot be removed
>> from Windows 2000.
>>
>> Since they don't intend to financially support Scientology and have their
>> data snooped, German churches and government agencies now consider to
>> boycott Windows 2000.
>>
>> __________________________________________________________________________
>> Scared of M$ ? Lighten up at http://www.dumbentia.com/pdflib/exploder.pdf
>
>
Marketing Manager
Faculty of Business, UTS
