Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
From: dennis.l.erlich@support.com
Subject: They did it again...b
Message-ID: <9506271354.0JJP101@support.com>
References: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950627071426.7150H-100000@eskimo.com>
Organization: L.A. Valley College Public BBS (818)985-7150
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Distribution: world
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 95 13:54:51 -0700
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"Barbara J. Snow" <barbsnow@umich.edu>

>[Much text deleted--Dennis was responding to a post in which
>I took a high ground stand regarding complaining to a book store
>about their carrying large quantities of the Scientology books;
>my point was that if we were going to stand in favor of full
>dissemination of information, we had to be gracious about pro-Scientology
>books; they have as much right to exist as the anti-Scientology
>books]

Me:
>     The scienos put little "Would you like to know more about
>     yourself?" flyers in a display and place them in businesses
>     all over Glendale and Burbank.  I politely inform the owners
>     of such businesses that the scam is for the cult and that I
>     will not be doing business with them any longer if they
>     continue to provide for this cult recruitment.  It indicates
>     to them that having some stupid little display in their
>     establishment is an important enough issue to some of their
>     customers to cost them money.
>
>     They ususally thank me for the info and toss the garbage into
>     the trash.  Or I notice it gone the next time I'm in and
>     thank them.

Me:
>--I can't whip you with a wet noodle for that. It may not
>be intellectually consistent, but I get much more vehement
>about suppressing books than advertisements. (I'm a librarian
>remember!) In fact, one of the things that *really* polarized
>my opinion about Scientology was when I realized they were
>systematically stealing anti-Scientology books from libraries.
>This was a conclusion I drew from my experiences in various
>cities, but it has since been validated by information
>posted on A.R.S.
   
    I know they steal anti-cult books from libraries and it has 
    been going on since the 60's.

>As to the advertisements; it may not even be necessary to
>threaten to withhold your business. Once the store owner
>realizes the nature of what they promote he may be more than
>willing to withdraw permission to have them displayed in
>his store.
 
    It often isn't a threat so much as sharing information with 
    them.
    
    On the question of what to do with cult materials, I have had
    to deal with this question in ministering to ex-scienos a 
    number of times.  Before I knew of the Cult Awareness
    Network and could advise them to donate such material to CAN, I
    advised against selling the books and keeping them in
    circulation, lest anyone get infected with the mindset they
    convey.  Trashing them is probably most recommended, if the
    ex-cultie wants them out of his possession.

    Burning is highly symbolic and could provide some temporary,
    but IMO, incorrectly based, relief, for certain people.

    Donating them to an anti-cult group or destroying them
    completely is (IMO) best for the ex-er trying to get the sh*t
    out of his house or head.
                            
    Getting past the cult-think is a long road as you can see 
    from the postings of Ken Long and Koos-koos.
    
            +--------------------------------------+
           Rev. Dennis L Erlich  * * the inFormer * *
      dennis.l.erlich@support.com  +  inForm@primenet.com
                           "tar baby"