Field report: Scientology sticks by the same old methods (because they work)
This just in from one of our readers Down Under who attended this year’s Melbourne Royal Show and found that there was a Dianetics booth in place.
To his credit, he not only snapped some photos for us, but he stuck around for a while to observe how it was getting on.
And yes, as much as Scientology is struggling and it suffers from horrible press and a terrible public image, these booths and their old-school methods still manage to bring in the curious. Why are we so easy to tantalize and mesmerize? It’s human nature, apparently.
Here’s the field report we received…
Just attended the Melbourne Royal, similar to your state fairs, and I was not surprised to see Scientology proudly promoting a Dianetics display, providing “free stress tests.”
It was quite entertaining watching everyone “fail” the tests, and of course the suggested course of action was to buy a Dianetics book and courses. I even watched them make a 15-year-old boy cry when they told him he needed help in developing friendships.
They were selling books for $35 AUD each, brochures for $7 each and a free auditing session at the Melbourne Org after purchasing a $50 bundle promotion.
I was surprised that they managed to sell a copy of the book to an old man who will never read it… but no doubt they can claim it as a win.
Life is difficult. Solutions are elusive. We’re all stressed out, and we don’t need a parlor trick with a primitive electronic device to confirm that for us. But when we’re at our most vulnerable, that’s when Scientology whispers that it has all the answers which can solve our problems.
It’s a shame that this kind of snake-oil racket is allowed to set up a booth to ensnare the unsuspecting, and especially at an event that is meant to celebrate the promise of a new season.
Thank you, reader, for sending in that field report. We can at least take some solace in knowing that Scientology in Australia is only a shadow of what it once was.
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It angers me both that they preyed on the 15 year old boy and the old man. Even if the man doesn’t go in or read anything, he will now be harassed until he dies. The 15 year old boy already has self-esteem problems, any 15 year old does. For them to prey on that is abhorrent because they won’t fix them, they will make them worse if he goes back. I hope he had a parent around who saw that happens and gets him competent help, not allows him to fall prey to quack pseudo therapy.
Two tips for talking to the Scientology street peddlers for when you wish to leave your conversation and get away from their clutches, these are exit suggestions how to get them to drop peddling to you:
1) Ask them did Xenu cause the Wall of Fire and see their reaction.
2) Ask the street Scientology peddlers if OT 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are the only way to get the body-thetans off our human bodies?
"Why doesn't Scientology have some crowd processing body-thetans exorcism, to speed up going OT?" "Like why aren't you guys doing crowd/group large more traditional church services weekly to remove all Xenu's body-thetans stuck on us, wouldn't that be faster?"
(In all my time wasted in Scientology, I never had and never saw others doing any discussion of the overall logical reasoning why the Hubbard exorcism has to be one on one, or done by oneself to oneself, and why not do the exorcism in group settings, like normal Sunday church teachings and crowd practices. Scientology does have "Group Processing" and has a whole book the "Group Processing" options. Why not expand and discuss group exorcism of Xenu's body-thetans? If they really believe in Xenu's body-thetans removal from each of us, why not do something more traditional, why make it so drawn out and individual? Why all the limitations, and why particularly limit the discussion of it? I knew when I first read the "NOTs Scholars" internet site, that it was tongue in cheek, but that principle of discussing spiritual nuts and bolts is a legitimate beef I always had with my whole wasted 27 years in Scientology, they simply disallow even tame neutral logical discussion of Xenu's body-thetans exorcism/freeing.)