Lafayette Ron Hubbard and Scientology
 

I just finished reading Bare Faced Messiah, a biography of L Ron Hubbard. You can find it at:

http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/bfm/bfmconte.htm
(many thanks to the person who first posted the Clambake url on the Cellar)

I don't think I've ever read a more interesting biography than this one. This man was a compulsive liar with tremendous charisma. He was also pretty darn smart, and very very ruthless.

The question I pose is, what experiences or opinions do you have with L Ron Hubbard's works, the biggest of course being Scientology?

"l'd like to start a religion. That's where the money is."
L. Ron Hubbard

"Make money. Make more money. Make others produce so as to make more money."
L. Ron Hubbard


Seemed like a pretty straight forward guy to me....

My friend the cult deprogrammer has made a lot of money off of L. Ron and his followers.

He's also been chased around Australia because they put a bounty on his head.

Lately he's kind of backed off the big stuff and is primarily doing "odd jobs" here and there, mostly for parents with kids that have gotten into some smaller cults, including the Garbage Eaters.

But in his heydey, the Church of Scientology hated him.

Garbage Eaters Bikes and beards...might have to check these guys out.

I just might be wrong, but ain't the sob dead? BB

Yes, he's dead. Here's a great site where you can check out such things:
http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/pages-nf/main

Novels: Crappy but fun, like most pulp.
Religion: Crappy and scary, like most cults.

In addition, here is a good resource on Scientology. (scroll to the bottom)

From how I see it, Scientology served two purposes.
One: make money for Ron. Two: Stroke Ron's ego by supplying obediant followers.
Ron's dead now, but Scientology still goes on with a monster life of its own.

Some few people in the upper reaches of that org must be making big $$$.


Hubbard was okay as a sci-fi writer, but let's hope John Travolta doesn't decide to make a 10 movie saga of Invasion Earth.

It's bad enough that he decided to make that one ...

I'm afraid to admit that I have a morbid curiosity about what part 2 of Battlefield Earth would be like...

Your friend is a cult deprogrammer? That sounds incredibly cool. How does he do that?

It's a bit like cobol, but with more redunant loops

Apparently, it works like this.

Step One: Get involved in a cult.
Step Two: Figure out that being involved in a cult isn't very smart.
Step Three: Take lessons learned in Step Two and apply to others involved in cults
Step Four: Run afoul of the law at least once, beat the kidnapping charges. Decide not to do forcible deprogramming any longer.
Step Five: Develop an international reputation so that families pay to send you to Australia and other exotic locales.

Oh, and although I've used the term "deprogrammer," the preferred nomenclature is "Cult Exit Counsellor."

It looks like forcible deprogramming has become unpopular because of some combination of it not working very well as well as the legal issues. But that means there is no way to dig out the entrenched cultists unless they come out willingly.