28 Jul 2000

http://www.newtimesla.com (July 27)

Elron vs. the critics, cont.

Lawful harassment: I would like to rebut Stanley Gainsworth's and Roger Harrison's vitriol-laden replies to the letter to the editor by L. John Galt ("Free speech vs. hate speech," Letters, July 6-12).

First, in defense of L. John Galt not using his real name, Scientology is relentless in its persecution of its critics, and the threat is real. Thus I am entirely sympathetic to his desire to conceal his name. I quote L. Ron Hubbard:

"The law can be used very easily to harass, and enough harassment on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway...will generally be sufficient to cause his professional decease. If possible, of course, ruin him utterly." From The Scientologist, March 1955.

And harass they do. Go to www.factnet.org/site_map.html and enter "lawsuits" into the search field and see how many Web pages turn up. This is the most litigious religion on earth!

What kind of religion charges upwards of $300,000 for the privilege of undergoing "pastoral counseling" and reading its "scriptures"? Scientology does.

History has proven that intelligent people can be duped by the charm of a madman.

Hubbard states that the best political system would be a "benign" dictatorship. I recall back in the '70s a widely circulated, step-by-step plan to achieve this utopian vision. A yearning to establish a Scientology-controlled world order is still firmly entrenched in the minds of its leaders.

To achieve this world order, Scientology imposes on its staff a siege mentality; they are at war, and things like sending people to the RPF (slave labor) camps for years, 16-hour work days with little pay, are justified in their twisted world of self-righteousness.

Everyone should read the book A Piece of Blue Sky at www.cs.cmu.edu / ~dst / Library / Shelf / atack/. The entire book is online and documented.

It is time that the world is alerted to this most insidious of "religions" and the fascism they espouse.

Phineas Fogg
San Diego

The right to pseudonymity: Ah, yes, Scientologists. Aren't they that bunch of arrested-growth cases who swarm to the retail outlets of that science fiction hack? You'll notice, in their frothing letters about the mysterious L. John Galt (hilarious take!) that they never address the points that he, or anyone, brings up? That's because, in the innumerable articles and books published about the scurrilous corporation, there is nothing that can't be readily proven (and has been, as seen in all the hundreds of court cases they've lost) and they certainly don't want to reopen those cans of worms!

Hence, the howling indignity, the theatrical anguish, the wounded screeching about "religion," and the childish references to Nazis. All they need do next is drag in the kids ("we're doing it for the children!") and they'll be Christians. Maureen Finnegan Redondo Beach

The mystery man strikes back: The disingenuousness of the Scientology propaganda machine never ceases to be jaw-dropping. ("Deconstructing the digit," Letters, June 29-July 5.)

Reading Scientology spokeswoman Pam Shannon's rodent droppings, one cannot help but be struck by the huge avoidances evident in her missive. One, all major religions (i.e., those created for purposes other than tax dodging...ahem) have a prophet of some sort; Scientology has a science fiction writer. Two, Hubbard was, and is, far from a master of the genre, just a talented hack who entertained aficionados in an infant, and too often infantile, field.

Three, Hubbard's Dianetics was written as a (successful) attempt to blend sci-fi with religion for "more cents per word," to paraphrase a well-known quote from him to fellow SF writers. Four, Scientology was created when Hubbard saw how gullible the American public could be and that Dianetics was not going to feed his greed adequately.

Five, Scientology was granted religious status by the IRS (of all people!) only because they were tired of the 25-year legal battle they've had with the organization. Nor were they willing to keep putting out funds to underwrite their side of the war (a fact well known even to Scientologists). Six, there may well be 30 reports on Germany's excesses regarding religions, but there are hundreds of world reports, and a shelf-ful of books, on Scientology's horror stories.

Seven, that the IRS regards Scientology as a "religion" does not obligate Germany to do so. Eight, Germany and France's "religious legs," contrary to Shannon's snipe, precede Scientology by thousands of years, although I would agree that the history is as worthy of attack as Scientology, and for the same reasons: hideous abuses, insensate greed, grotesque oppressions, etc.

Nine, Scientology may well be here long after the New Times bites the dust, but so what? So will bubonic plague, dysentery, Ebola, and a host of things equally as abhorrent as Scientology. Ten, no organization on earth has been as litigious as Scientology, certainly no religion, not by a long, long shot, and it is only by that misvirtue that they maintain their existence. Merely look at the overwhelming roster of celebrities, who daren't breathe a word about the organization, and everyday people who have not only dropped out of the "religion" but condemned it, albeit only in confidence, since who needs a gaggle of venomous religio-lawyers hounding them into the grave?

I am sure The Finger wears Shannon's snitty petulance like a badge of courage, as well it should. To be an enemy of Scientology is to be a friend to mankind.

Johannes Gaulthe
Manhattan Beach