All of them, those in power, and those who want the power, would pamper us, if we agreed to overlook their crookedness by wilfully restricting our activities.
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St. Petersburg Times: "Is he a slumlord or ethical specialist?" by Shadi Rahimi and Robert Farley
In the world of Scientology,
Scott W. Snow is a winner.
He has achieved the religion’s highest level of training, higher even than megastar Tom Cruise, a distinction that brings with it lofty ethical standards. But in St. Petersburg, city leaders call him slumlord. Snow, 51, is the owner of the Chinook Apartments in Midtown, which the city shut down May 2 after finding multiple fire code violations. Now two dozen Chinook tenants have hired a lawyer and are preparing a lawsuit. And the city is investigating 39 separate code violation complaints at Snow’s other three St. Petersburg apartment buildings. Gerry Armstrong (Feb. 2004): "Complaint Report"
25. Hubbard and Scientology taught that the need for the
severe “Ethics” penalties and conditions such as the RPF
was because for the “technology” to work it was first necessary
to “get in ethics.” Hubbard and Scientology taught that
since the “tech” was mankind’s only hope for survival, it
was necessary that the people using and delivering that
“tech” be highly disciplined and ethical. Hubbard and Scientology
taught that: “The purpose of ethics is to remove counter
intentions from the environment. And having accomplished
that the purpose becomes to remove other intentionedness
from the environment.” In other words,
anyone or anything that was “counter intention” to Scientology’s
intentions or activities, and anyone with an intention that
differed from the organization’s intentions was unethical
and was to be removed from the environment. Hubbard
laid down Scientology’s intentions by order and as policy,
and his intentions were forwarded and opposition removed
down through the organizational hierarchy.
Bob Penny: Social Control in Scientology - Scientology Ethics
Scientology's inability to tolerate disagreement makes it
seem an act of loyalty to label others as enemy and to discredit
non-group persons and values. In this authoritarian atmosphere,
the Church is always right. In taking
any independent position, the individual is always wrong.
In the logic of Hard Sell, a clever person can produce an
infinity of reasons why the individual is wrong-for-some-reason-or-other
without regard to the facts of any particular situation.
Jon Atack: "The Total Freedom Trap: Scientology, Dianetics And L. Ron Hubbard - Ethics"
Hubbard stepped up his control over his followers in the
mid1960s with the introduction of various so called "ethics"
procedures. Anyone who criticises Hubbard or Scientology
is labelled a "Suppressive Person", "SP" or "anti-social
personality".
The Forbidden Side of Scientology - A Means to an End
By the way, if you have some kind of a beef with a Scientologist,
better first check the donors list from the International
Association of Scientologists. Scientologists
who make large donations to the Church are far less likely
to be subject to Ethics actions. In fact, the Church
might start coming after you. As Hubbard laid it out, "When
people do start reporting a staff member with a high statistic,
what you investigate is the person who turned in the report."
Jon Atack: A Piece of Blue Sky / Chapter 2 - Heavy Ethics
Staff members are assigned an "Ethics
Condition" every week in accordance with their stats.
A slight upward trend on the graph is called Normal, while
a level graph, or a slight downtrend, is Emergency. From
top to bottom the Conditions are Power, Affluence, Normal,
Emergency, Danger, Non-Existence, Liability, Doubt, Enemy,
Treason, Confusion. For each Ethics Condition, there is
a "Formula," through the application of which the individual's
star is supposed to rise.
Cyril Vosper: The Mind Benders, Scientology - 10. Ethics
As religious zealots, Scientologists exceed any that have
gone before. They have not simply a deep faith that theirs
is The Way. They can present a comprehensible whole; an
all-embracing answer to many of the problems that beset
humanity. Normal procedures of democracy, socialism, capitalism,
religions, laws and social standards seem incapable of saving
us from a future, pointless and dehumanised.
Hubbard does not bother to justify
the inhumanity of his Ethics. If families are broken
up, if friends are turned against friends, if suicides occur,
if an entrapment of the very spirit that makes humans human
should occur, then that is subsidiary to the aim to prove
Hubbard right.
Affidavit of Jesse Prince (20 August 1999)
29. In 1987, I was at a place called Happy Valley, located
behind the Soboba Indian Reservation in California.
Happy Valley is where the Scientology Rehabilitation Project
Force, RPF, is located. It is a prison/slave labor
camp for Scientologists who no longer ascribe totally to
the doctrine of Scientology. I, along with six other Sea
Org members, were ordered to do a "isolation watch" on another
Sea Org member who was having a psychotic break. Prior to
having the psychotic break the person was very normal.
She had been deprived of sleep for many days due to a deadline
she was ordered to meet on her job.
She was sent to "Ethics" and was constantly
humiliated and degraded for making errors and for
falling asleep at her work station. When she was given
to me to watch she was on her hands and knees and literally
barking like a dog. She thought she was L. Ron Hubbard.
Affidavit of Nan McLean (23 November 1978)
7. I have copies in my possession in which ex-Scientologists
were declared "suppressive persons" and made subject to
the "fair game law" and a copy of
Auditor #37 placing
4 persons under auditing process R2-45.
In the context of such Ethics Orders auditing process R2-45
cannot be considered humorous or a joke, but a serious order.
The document attached hereto and marked Appendix "D", is
a true copy of an original copy of the Auditor. The reference
to Auditing Process R2-45, found in paragraph 7, under heading
"Racket Exposed", was known by me as a staff member of the
Church of Scientology to mean to kill someone with a Colt
45 automatic Pistol.
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Affidavit of Martin Ottmann (19 April 1996): How Scientology Ethics Was Applied
The Scientology-organization claims to be a religion with
a high ethical awareness. Hubbard wrote many policy-letters
about the subject ethics and within Scientology exists even
an own judicial system. The Sea Organization, the fraternal
organization on top of Scientology, is composed of the most
dedicated Scientologists and should be therefore a treasure
of applied humanity and kindness. Here are some quotes from
different Flag-Orders (FOs) written by Hubbard, which reflect
the claim of the Sea Org best to be a community with the
highest ethical standard on earth:
These Flag Orders were part of the "Basic Sea Org Member Hat" and the "Key To Competence"-course. A fresh Sea Org member was expected to consider them as basic Sea Org guidelines. If it is true that the real character of an organization is revealed by the treatment of its own members, then Scientology and especially the Sea Org must be classified as highly schizophrenic, if the above instructions mean anything to the Sea Org and Scientology of today. Declaration of Jonathan Caven-Atack (9 April 1995)
43. In 1968, Hubbard introduced the practice of "overboarding".
A photograph of this practice was published in Scientology's
magazine "The Auditor", issue 41, with the caption: "Students
are thrown overboard for gross out tech and bequeathed to
the deep!" [JCA-95]. Overboarding
was used as a punishment for failure to comply exactly with
Hubbard's orders. At about the same time, the tank
punishment - where individuals were put into the bilge tanks
and kept awake for 84 hours - and the chainlocker punishment
- where individuals were put in the dark, cramped, waterlogged,
rat-infested and filthy chainlocker. Witnesses have said
that even children were put in the chainlocker at Hubbard's
order.
Jeff Lee: Introduction to Scientology Ethics
That was enough to convince me that what Keith was doing
was a Good Thing; his actions had disturbed people so much
that they were willing to undertake illegal activity in
order to destroy his credibility.
Affidavit of Mary Tabayoyon (5 March 1994)
Scientology's Senior management determined, we, at this
high level, could not afford the time and resources it would
take to raise children. Having children was found
to undermine our production and our purpose. It became
an Ethics matter. An Ethics matter is an offense against
Scientology. An ethics matter
arises when a Scientologist does something which detracts
from the spreading of Scientology. Ethics matters
are dealt with through Scientology rituals administered
to those who have "wandered off the straight and narrow".
(See definition of "out ethics", attached as Exhibit 1).
48. If the student can't see why he should have to do one
of the lower conditions and if the
ethics officer can't convince him even with denigration,
intimidation and incrimination, he would order the
student to write up all the bad things he's done, especially
to Scientology. The belief in Scientology is if a person
has that much resistance to following the rules of getting
his mind reconditioned in ethics he must have done harmful
acts, especially to Scientology. (Following the steps
of the formulas of the lower conditions would have made
him resolute to never go play basketball or anything else
when he's scheduled to attend Scientology courses.
82. I had had so many security checks and had told
every imaginable smallest damaging thing I'd ever done,
over and over, I really started to think that since this
lifetime has been gone over with a fine tooth comb I must
have a multitude of crimes in previous lives that I hadn't
properly exposed to scrutiny of the Ethics Officer.
To help account for the bad experiences I was having in
the present, I, like a number of other Scientologists, began
inventing atrocious acts committed in prior lifetimes.
I conjured these up to explain why I was so unhappy and
always being yelled at despite my efforts to do everything
perfect.
Wikipedia (Feb. 2007): "Ethics (Scientology)"
According to the
Church of Scientology, "Ethics may be defined
as the actions an individual takes on himself to ensure
his continued survival across the
dynamics. It is a personal thing. When one is ethical,
it is something he does himself by his own choice."
[1]
According to Hubbard's teachings, Scientology ethics is predicated on the idea that there are degrees of ethical conduct. [2] However, experts point to ways in which Scientology defines "ethics" quite differently from ethics in its generally understood meaning. Professor Stephen A. Kent quotes L. Ron Hubbard (founder of Scientology) as pronouncing that "the purpose of ethics is to remove counter intentions from the environment. And having accomplished that the purpose becomes to remove other intentionedness [sic] from the environment" and "[a]ll ethics is for in actual fact is [sic] simply that additional tool necessary to make it possible to get [Scientology] technology in. That's the whole purpose of ethics; to get technology in". What this translates to, says Kent, is "a peculiar brand of morality that uniquely benefitted [the Church of Scientology] ... In plain English, the purpose of Scientology ethics is to eliminate opponents, then eliminate people's interests in things other than Scientology. In this 'ethical' environment, Scientology would be able to impose its courses, philosophy, and 'justice system' - its so-called technology - onto society."[1] [...] |