On Thu, 12 Apr 2001 07:03:08 XXXX wrote:

>Hi Ed
>
>I have followed your adventures with the Co$ on ARS for a while now. If I
>remember correctly, they have given you back some of your money.. If so,
>good for you. The fact that they would do so without a huge fight speaks
>volumes about the state of the organisation, IMO...
>
>I was just reading the ARS thread where you and Barb compare Co$ regging to
>unnecessary surgery, and I was wondering about something. I've never been in
>the cult, other than to take the personality test when I was in college. The
>tester, of course, "found my ruin", and started with the "we can help you
>with that" crap. I asked him if Scientology had supposedly helped him, and
>he began to list his incredible wins. My answer, said loud enough for the
>other meat in the room to hear, was "Well, if you're an example of what
>Scientology can do for you, I think I'll pass." On the way out the door, I
>was given "The Stare of Death" by no less than Toronto Org superstar Al
>Buttnor himself!
>
>But, I digress. I was just wondering why, when the Tech is translated
>into another forum, as in the unnecessary surgery example, it sounds
>incredibly silly, but when it was explained to you as the answer to all your
>problems, it made sense. I'm not trying to start an argument here. Actually,
>you have my utmost respect for your courage to take on the cult. But why
>does the cult's message manage to catch so many educated, aware,
>professional people? If someone had given you the surgery example when you
>were still in the cult, what would you have said to them?
>
>XXXXXXX
Dear XXXXXX, Your question is a very good one and I will attempt to answer it by relating my experience in the sham.

First the bait: For me it was the business technology. In professional school we had NO business training and while I had confidence in my professional skills, I was intimidated by the prospects of professional practice. I didn't know the first thing about hiring staff, marketing, fee structure, etc. I went to a David Singer Seminar as my first introduction to the cult. It happened that one of my mentors was a Singer client. I saw this guy as everything I wanted to be; he was confident, successful and seemed to be on target with his life in terms of both personal and professional goals. You would NEVER have known that this guy was in a UFO cult!

After attending the seminar, which if memory serves me cost about $100, I did get what I considered to be good practice building ideas.

The Hook: At the seminars you heard from the other successful docs. These guys were making claims that they had doubled their practices in 30 days. they were stating their clinic numbers and their financial numbers. All very impressive, ecspecially to a young and impressionable chiropractic student. I thought I had foound the answer. These docs would talk openly about the management technology of Hubbard's and I could see their excitement. They mentioned auditing and courses they had done. I WANTED TO BE LIKE THEM! Man, I was broke, in college and frothing at the mouth to hit the ground running and to get successful as quickly as possible. I was willing to do whatever it took to be like these guys.

These are the people that Hubbard would have described as opinion leaders. The people that people listen to.

The Barb: This came after being introduced to auditing. One small win after another along with the influence of other successful chiropractors and dentists and pretty soon I accepted that this guy Hubbard had a lot of answers. I guess I finally bought it all, hook, line and sinker when I was at lunch with one of my mentors whom I was also working for at the time. I made a comment like, "This scientology stuff is great, but LRH certainly doesn't have ALL the answers." This very intelligent and successful chiropractor looked at me for a second and said, "You know, Ed, I think he does."

Now, this violated everything I had ever learned about science and critical thinking. It violated utterly the Socratic method of evaluating truth. I was shocked that anyone could have that much faith in another human being, and yet, that was the point where I said, "Okay." and I BOUGHT IT!

Now, I don't know how it worked for the other suckers, but that's what happened to this one. Many docs have become desperate because of changes in the healthcare industry in the last several years and I think many of them have flocked to various consultants for help. Those unfortunate enough to be referred to a WISE cult management group are the ones who, depending on how desperate they are, may fall for the scam.

Hope this helps, Ed

-- "...the internet [is] the true universal solvent-it works so good it even cuts the veneer of horse refuse off of the "Church" of Scientology..." - Ed Hattaway -

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