The Church of Scientology is an international cult founded by science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard. Hubbard was an authoritarian with delusions of power, who sought to have his movement conquer the world and have his teachings form the basis of the new society.
But every utopia has its dissidents, every Eden its snake. And Hubbard was ready for them.
But every utopia has its dissidents, every Eden its snake. And Hubbard was ready for them.
The following excerpt is taken from Science of Survival, one of the core texts of Scientology.
"The reasonable man quite ordinarily overlooks the fact that people from 2.0 down have no traffic with reason and cannot be reasoned with as one would reason with a 3.0. There are only two answers for the handling of people from 2.0 down on the tone scale, neither one of which has anything to do with reasoning with them or listening to their justification of their acts. The first is to raise them on the tone scale by un-enturbulating some of their theta by any one of the three valid processes. The other is to dispose of them quietly and without sorrow.
"Adders are safe bedmates compared to people on the lower bands of the tone scale. Not all the beauty nor the handsomeness nor artificial social value nor property can atone for the vicious damage such people do to sane men and women. The sudden and abrupt deletion of all individuals occupying the lower bands of the tone scale from the social order would result in an almost instant rise in the cultural tone and would interrupt the dwindling spiral into which any society may have entered.
"It is not necessary to produce a world of clears in order to have a reasonable and worthwhile social order; it is only necessary to delete those individuals who range from 2.0 down, either by processing them enough to get their tone level above the 2.0 line — a task which, indeed, is not very great, since the amount of processing in many cases might be under fifty hours, although it might also in others be in excess of two hundred — or simply quarantining them from the society. A Venezuelan dictator [Juan Vincente Gomez] once decided to stop leprosy. He saw that most lepers in his country were also beggars. By the simple expedient of collecting and destroying all the beggars in Venezuela an end was put to leprosy in that country."
A clarification for those who aren't up on their Sci-speak: a "tone level" is the Scientology means of measuring someone's emotional and mental state. Level 2.0 down - i.e. those who must be "deleted" for the betterment of society - includes Suppressive Persons (critics of Scientology), homosexuals, and other undesireables.
Just what this "deletion" or "disposal" would entail is not made clear. However, it should be noted that the above quote speaks favourably of both "quarantine" (some would call it "internment", perhaps "imprisonment") and the "collecting and destroying" of those deemed undesireable. That his example in this case was a military dictator is simply another point towards his authoritarian personality. Prior to "deletion," those who have not met Scientology's standards - or who reject Scientology itself - have a world of second class citizenship to look forward to:
"Perhaps at some distant date only the unaberrated person will be granted civil rights before law. Perhaps the goal will be reached at some future time when only the unaberrated person can attain to and benefit from citizenship. These are desirable goals and would result in a marked increase of the survival ability and happiness of man."
Without wishing to invoke Godwin's Law, there is something unsettlingly familiar in these words. A supreme group - a master race of sorts - controlling society, with suspension of civil rights, internment or worse for those who refuse to comply, or even worse, dissent. Hubbard's open contempt for democracy, his pathological hatred of those who criticised or refused to follow his dictates, his hunger for absolute power - all of these things should be cause for concern.
The Office of Special Affairs - Scientology's KGB - has as its stated aim "to bring the government and hostile philosophies or societies into a state of complete compliance with the goals of Scientology." Orwell himself would be hard-pressed to create a more terrifying dystopia than Hubbard's vision of the future.
Further information:
-
http://www.solitarytrees.net/racism/dispose.htm
- http://home.snafu.de/tilman/krasel/germany/quotes.html
- http://www.lermanet.com/cos/exterminate.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_scale
"The reasonable man quite ordinarily overlooks the fact that people from 2.0 down have no traffic with reason and cannot be reasoned with as one would reason with a 3.0. There are only two answers for the handling of people from 2.0 down on the tone scale, neither one of which has anything to do with reasoning with them or listening to their justification of their acts. The first is to raise them on the tone scale by un-enturbulating some of their theta by any one of the three valid processes. The other is to dispose of them quietly and without sorrow.
"Adders are safe bedmates compared to people on the lower bands of the tone scale. Not all the beauty nor the handsomeness nor artificial social value nor property can atone for the vicious damage such people do to sane men and women. The sudden and abrupt deletion of all individuals occupying the lower bands of the tone scale from the social order would result in an almost instant rise in the cultural tone and would interrupt the dwindling spiral into which any society may have entered.
"It is not necessary to produce a world of clears in order to have a reasonable and worthwhile social order; it is only necessary to delete those individuals who range from 2.0 down, either by processing them enough to get their tone level above the 2.0 line — a task which, indeed, is not very great, since the amount of processing in many cases might be under fifty hours, although it might also in others be in excess of two hundred — or simply quarantining them from the society. A Venezuelan dictator [Juan Vincente Gomez] once decided to stop leprosy. He saw that most lepers in his country were also beggars. By the simple expedient of collecting and destroying all the beggars in Venezuela an end was put to leprosy in that country."
A clarification for those who aren't up on their Sci-speak: a "tone level" is the Scientology means of measuring someone's emotional and mental state. Level 2.0 down - i.e. those who must be "deleted" for the betterment of society - includes Suppressive Persons (critics of Scientology), homosexuals, and other undesireables.
Just what this "deletion" or "disposal" would entail is not made clear. However, it should be noted that the above quote speaks favourably of both "quarantine" (some would call it "internment", perhaps "imprisonment") and the "collecting and destroying" of those deemed undesireable. That his example in this case was a military dictator is simply another point towards his authoritarian personality. Prior to "deletion," those who have not met Scientology's standards - or who reject Scientology itself - have a world of second class citizenship to look forward to:
"Perhaps at some distant date only the unaberrated person will be granted civil rights before law. Perhaps the goal will be reached at some future time when only the unaberrated person can attain to and benefit from citizenship. These are desirable goals and would result in a marked increase of the survival ability and happiness of man."
Without wishing to invoke Godwin's Law, there is something unsettlingly familiar in these words. A supreme group - a master race of sorts - controlling society, with suspension of civil rights, internment or worse for those who refuse to comply, or even worse, dissent. Hubbard's open contempt for democracy, his pathological hatred of those who criticised or refused to follow his dictates, his hunger for absolute power - all of these things should be cause for concern.
The Office of Special Affairs - Scientology's KGB - has as its stated aim "to bring the government and hostile philosophies or societies into a state of complete compliance with the goals of Scientology." Orwell himself would be hard-pressed to create a more terrifying dystopia than Hubbard's vision of the future.
Further information:
-
http://www.solitarytrees.net/racism/dispose.htm -
http://home.snafu.de/tilman/krasel/germany/quotes.html -
http://www.lermanet.com/cos/exterminate.html -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_scale
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