Horror stories

Question answered by honorarykid in Scientology

Anonymous asked this question on 9/18/2000:

I know that everyone who's ever been in the cult has horror stories to tell, but what interests me the most is how much money people get taken for. Most people seem to get away with not too much damage but there are some people who've been utterly destroyed by these scam artists.

If you don't mind, could you tell me how much money the crooks took you for? They never got a dime from me but then I don't fall for such scams.

Thank you.

honorarykid gave this response on 9/21/2000:

I just want to point out that your question isn't a very inviting one for ex-Scientologists to answer. In order for them to answer, they essentially have to give creedence to your presumption that they were stupid to allow themselves to become victims of the con.

I don't dispute that the whole marketing of Scientology is a scam, and neither do many ex-members. But I would think ex-members would like a to be given a presumption that they're capable of learning from their mistakes, and don't want to be painted as stupid idiots for all time.

Also, some people were raised as Scientologists, so were inculcated into the scam as a part of their childhood indoctrination.

To be sure, some ex-members will gladly admit to spending and donating HUGE money to Scientology. Peter Alexander of Tampa Florida has said he paid and/or over a million dollars. He's now a staunch critic. Brian Haney is another very wealthy ex-Scientologist who donated huge sums. Those men had lot's of money, and didn't put their livelihoods at risk.

The sadder cases were the people who paid in a lot less, but needed to borrow on credit cards, or sell homes, possession, and even inherited property, or take out second mortgages they couldn't afford. Especially sad are those cases where individuals joined Scientology only to abandon their financial obligations to their non-Scientologist family members, because they believed that Clearing the Planet was more important than any dumb-old 2-D.

And too, the sad thing isn't always the money. Tory Bazazian was on the OT-7 level for 7 years, paying 10s of thousands for mandatory Sec. Checks every six months. Finally, she'd had enough, and quit. She'd been a devoted Scientologist for 30 years, and more or less estranged from her mother for most of that time. Now she's out, and can carry on a fulfilling relationship with her mother, which was impossible before.

So how much is 30 years of your life worth?

And just for the record, I was never a Scientologist, so obviously I've spent nothing for their services.

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