What do Scientologists believe? What follows is an excerpt from ABC’s documentary on Scientology. You’ll learn about the “purification rundown.” You’ll also learn a bit about Scientology’s confidential scriptures–meant only for those who have reached the highest levels of Scientology–including the teachings about the Intergalactic emperor named Xenu, who allegedly brought the spirits of his people to Earth 75 million years ago and buried them in volcanoes. These people were supposedly alive quadrillions of years ago (this is far older than the big bang). One Scientologist who appears in this video claims that it is against his religious beliefs to discuss his religious beliefs, leading to an entertaining ending, at least for those of us who don’t believe in Xenu.
Good for Martin Bashir. The fact is, Scientology is an invention of a Golden Age era science fiction writer—and not a very good one at that. That later "disciples" may have turned some of these principles and ideas into useful methods which some people have found beneficial has no bearing on the cock-eyed nonsense Hubbard came up with, in just the same way that modern Mormonism has aspects which have nothing to do with the fact that Joe Smith was a charlatan, does not retroactively validate those assertions. We have an opportunity here to unmask the whole process of religious establishment by showing this thing for what it is—a shell game that attracts people who want to believe in SOMETHING that makes them feel special.
Of course, the difficulty is that once we do that we have to see how this process is no different than the establishing processes of ANY other religion and so all of them end up looking fraudulent, regardless of what has been made of them since their initial propagation. Which leads members of other faiths to have perhaps a bit of sympathy and a reluctance to really attack the bullshit.
For anyone interested.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Chanology
one thing I found scary was the mega-dosing on niacin.
B vitamins have long been used in detoxification programs for drug and alcohol abuse. Niacin has several effects in moderate to high doses. It temporarily increased blood flow throughout the body, has an anti-inflammatory effect, and in many people causes a "flush", a prickly heat sensation that can range from barely noticeable to intensely painful. However very large doses can perforate ulcers, leading to death.
I disagree with Mark about L Ron Hubbard's quality of writing. His stories are all engaging page turners, light burners, wage earners. They show a keen grasp of storytelling.
They also show a near total ignorance of science and math, and only the faintest grasp of the distinction between magic and technology.
In fact, his instinct for storytelling is probably why he was deemed unfit for independent action during his stint in military intelligence: He couldn't tell observation from his imagination in the real world.
Dan,
This is probably a matter of taste, but that Hubbard was "engaging page turners, light burners, wage earners. They show a keen grasp of storytelling" is hardly the same as saying he was a good writer—the same can be said of Dan Brown and I think he's little better than a hack.
Hubbard was, however, popular in the 30s and part of the 40s, at one time one of the Big Three—Asimov, Heinlein, Hubbard. Hubbard lost his place first to Van Vogt (whose career was later wrecked because Van Vogt fell into Hubbard's Dianetics orbit) and then, depending on which year, Sturgeon and Clarke.
But, yeah, I agree with his slippery grasp of science and its distinctions, which is why it always amazed me that Campbell put up with him. But then Campbell allowed him to use Astounding SF as the springboard for Dianetics because, Campbell claimed, Hubbard had cured his sinusitis.
I've never read any of Hubbard's books, but I have seen the movie version of "Battlefield Earth" with John Travolta as the lead villain.
If the film was anywhere true to the story, (and I suspect is was), it wasn't bad in the beginning. It started off by setting up mankind being treated as semi-intelligent beasts of burden by an occupying alien army. Much of the story focused on the political games played between the aliens.
But somewhere in the middle, the story began to fizzle. It was as if Hubbard got bored with his story, or maybe never really planned for the story to have an ending, and pasted a sloppy and hokey ending on just to finish it up.
Okay, I can accept the idea of an alien race having long-range teleporters, because they are such a well accepted plot device in a lot of scifi stories. I'm fine with the idea that the master's underestimation of the intelligence of their slaves ultimately leads to their downfall. I can even accept (though it is a stretch) that the aliens home world can be destroyed by a single bomb causing a chain reaction in the atmosphere.
But I draw the line at the idea that people who have never had any education can become proficient at flying jet aircraft in a matter of days. Or the the aircraft stored in the bunker would be actually flyable after decades of neglect. Or that any jet fuel would not have turned into a viscous gummy ooze during that time, rendering it useless.
I've read Battlefield Earth. A few times. It's a deeply detailed adventure story covering several years and phases of action. Savage turns prisoner becomes military leader becomes political figurehead becomes actual political leader becomes savior of mankind. Granted, the story is one dimensional and loaded with stereotypes and prejudices from early in the 20th century.
I was surprised that they even attempted to tell the whole saga in a single movie.