Picket Report: The Complex/LA
November 23, 2001 "Any Picket is Better Than No Picket" I learned this early on from my friend Bob Minton, when I had first left Scientology. He had told me, "Stacy and I are going into Boston To picket". This was in August of 2000. Since I was newly out, I told Bob, "Well, I'm not going to picket.I'll go shop!" To my great surprise he said, "Fine". But as we drove closer and closer, I kept thinking of all the parents I had spoken to that week who had called into LMT trying to somehow find a way to get back in touch with their children who had either disconnected as they were declared, or had just gone out of touch, as they weren't really with the program. I thought of the four young men I know personally whom all four killed themselves, with one thing in common: Disconnection. In honor of them, and with these parents in mind, I said, "I'll go try to talk to the org, while you both picket". It was pretty amazing to see a man in his hometown standing on a street holding up his picket sign. I had never seen a two person picket, and it has it's own pride to it. They had something to say, and how many were there wasn't the point. This picket can be seen on the video, "Magoo: Dancing in Boston" at http://www.lisatrust.net
So with this in mind, and since I had two friends visiting from Canada who are critics, we decided to give "old Blue" a picket yesterday, November 23, 2001. The three of us parked on the street behind the Complex, and walked around to L Ron Hubbard Way with our picket signs. My sign says, "Scientology: Stop Hurting Families", and they other mentions families too, and they have www.xenu.net on the back. As we walked along, immediately the security guards began slowly riding near us, and others walking on the street. On this day there were about 5-6 kids skateboarding and walking around the complex. Now here is a group who SAYS "Communication is the Universal Solvent". However the ONLY people willing to talk with us AT ALL were the kids. This was pretty amazing to me, having spent years here training and studying, working with RPR (Ron's Public Relations Office) And volunteering for OSA, as well as puting on Book One Seminars. A lot of my life had passed by on these streets and with these people. Suddenly they looked quite different. Memories of good times and bad flashed in front of me, as I walked passed people saying hi as I always had, and seeing them sneer at me. I knew why, and I cannot put them down for this. They know nothing else. This IS their life....as it was mine. But it still is shocking to me that NONE of them even try to talk to me, or say anything at all. I was always happy to go try to "handle the critics"...which I guess is why I am out. Perhaps that is why they all hide now. But it is SO against all of Hubbard's basic Policy's. I had my red horns on...as I always wear, in honor of being declared an SP....worse than the devil. It is often a great ice breaker when talking to people not in Scientology. As we walked one young kid yelled from across the street, "GET OFF OUR STREET!" To which I said, "You don't own this street". (I was part of the legal getting the name of LRH way done, and part of it was it's still a public street, just with his name. They were talking to the wrong person there.) We quietly continued walking up one side to the Sunset end of the Complex. As we did, the kids followed us, as did the security guards. To my surprise, there were more cars in LA orgs parking lot than usual..but I remembered they always do these big hypes for Holidays: "Come be on course and help your org and LRH .blah blah." Sometimes they would even give people commendation chits who came in and put in extra time. As we walked, one little girl (maybe 12 we figured) came up to us and said, "We aren't hurting families". I said back, "Tell that to the kids who are dead". She said, "We didn't kill anyone" and I said, "I didn't say YOU did" ....hoping she ~might~think about it. The kids also continued to tell us to "Get off of our street". I told them, "We actually ..per the Constitution..have a legal right to be here and picket. "Did you know that?" Her response? "I don't care!" About this time we had curved around and were walking back down the side of LA Org and ASHO. LA ORG seemed it's usual totally empty look. You can see inside many of the rooms that years ago when I got in LA org was booming with people. Now (and for at least 10 years or more) it has been for the most part a ghost town. As we walked the kids followed. There were quite a few people sitting outside at tables by the Canteen eating when we arrived. Now, all were inside. The only people communicating were the kids. My friend asked her, "Do you realize you are being manipulated?" Her response: "I don't care!" How sad to hear such a young person already SO shut down. About the time the security guards took the kids across the street and "handled" them so they stopped talking with us. We decided to head over to Bridge, which is around the corner. As we walked along side of AOLA I could see the Examiner I had gone to while Co-Auditing FPRD in the 80's. I could see the Reg's on the phone, busy calling people trying to get them to buy more of the "Route to Total Freedom". How much I had bought this hype...for so many years of my life! It's a good hype....until the cracks come through the Scio/Truman show and you begin to realize it IS just a show...and nothing more. It is such a tight show that most "in" have no idea even how many people have left. I certainly didn't. Even while talking with the critics as I did often, when asked by OSA to come "handle" them...I never heard them....ever. Well, I didn't think I did. But that's a key point here today: You Never know when you are actually making dents in the show. As we walked around the corner, the sun began to set. I remembered their big Crusade theme: "The Sun Never Sets On Scientology". Really? It sure did for me, and the tons of people I keep meeting who left. But that's their hype, and for the few still there, you could see in their eyes a bit of tiredness. They used to look so much happier to me. But then, it is key when in that you hang with "uptone" people. For our picket, we had gotten some good photos of my friends in front of signs, which hopefully they will post. So we did the same in front of Bridge Publications. This was the last place I had worked, in June of 2000 for one week, before I realized it was over. Sharon Runyon had been flown in from NY. She had run the Dianetics PR campaign in the mid-80's and she had hired me and 3 others. We set up interviews all around the country about Dianetics in the mid-80's and boomed the sale of Dianetics. In June of 2000 she was brought back, to try to do the same thing and she again hired me, briefly. But as I worked there days, I was waking up rapidly and after one week, I left and got onto ARS. So walking by now with a picket sign brought back many memories, and was quite amazing in itself for me. As it was getting dark, and we were having a little critic, X-Scio party at my house, we decided to head off and get ready for the party.which turned out to be a GREAT success too. So always remember, Any Picket is Better than No Picket.as you never know whose life you might touch by picking up a sign, or talking to people about the data we all know. Happy Thanksgiving Week-end To ALL :))) Tory/Magoo~dancing in the moonlight~
In for 30 years
Was
On OT 7 for 7 years
Grad 4, HSSC, interned at Flag, FPRD auditor
Scientology Minister
OSA volunteer for 20 years
Golden Age of Crap Student Hat Grad (barf~~~)
ED Scientology Parishioners League, with The VP of C of S as Senior
Part of the Secret OSA INT Internet Mafia until I realized what they were up
to, and left ~
Am now
Declared and Expelled for thinking and speaking my mind
SP 6 ^with CC, and voted "Queen" by OSA
Free at last!!!

For more info, please read (((it won't hurt you, Scios)))
http://www.xenu.net
http://www.lisatrust.net
http://www.lermanet.com/cos/toryonosa.htm
http://www.torymagoo.org

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