Sunday, November 28, 2021

Higher Intelligence And An Analytical Thinking Style Offer No Protection Against “The Illusory Truth Effect” – Our Tendency To Believe Repeated Claims Are True

 

Higher Intelligence And An Analytical Thinking Style Offer No Protection Against “The Illusory Truth Effect” – Our Tendency To Believe Repeated Claims Are True

GettyImages-952609456.jpgBy Matthew Warren

It’s a trick that politicians have long exploited: repeat a false statement often enough, and people will start believing that it’s true. Psychologists have named this phenomenon the “illusory truth effect”, and it seems to come from the fact that we find it easier to process information that we’ve encountered many times before. This creates a sense of fluency which we then (mis)interpret as a signal that the content is true.  

Of course, you might like to believe that your particular way of thinking makes you immune to this trick. But according to a pre-print uploaded recently to PsyArXiv, you’d be wrong. In a series of experiments, Jonas De keersmaecker at Ghent University and his collaborators found that individual differences in cognition had no bearing on the strength of the illusory truth effect. 

The researchers wondered whether three aspects of cognition, already known to influence how people make judgments, could determine how prone someone is to the illusory truth effect: cognitive ability or intelligence; the need for cognitive closure (i.e. the desire to avoid ambiguity); and cognitive style (whether someone thinks in a rapid and intuitive manner or takes a slower and more analytic approach). For example, someone who relies more on intuition and wants hard-and-fast answers might be more likely to use the fact that information has been repeated as a cue to its truthfulness.

Across six experiments involving between 199 and 336 participants, the team measured the illusory truth effect while also tapping into these aspects of cognition. The exact methods varied for each study, but generally participants would first read a mix of true and false trivia statements, then complete various cognitive tests and surveys, and finally they would re-read and judge as true or false the earlier trivia statements, as well as new ones interspersed among them. A seventh study was similar but involved fake and real political headlines (the participants’ final challenge in this case was to judge which were real and which were made up).

The researchers found the illusory truth effect across all seven studies: participants were more likely to rate trivia statements and headlines as true/real if they’d seen them previously. Crucially, the strength of this effect did not vary according to the participants’ cognitive ability or style, or need for closure. (A couple of studies found some small significant associations, but these disappeared when the researchers integrated all the data.)

These results suggest that we are all predisposed to believe repeated information regardless of our own particular cognitive profile. And while that might make us all susceptible to advertising and the fabrications of dishonest politicians, the researchers have a more optimistic take. “These novel findings are in line with the assertion that processing fluency is not a judgmental bias and flaw in the individual, but rather a cue to truth that is universal and epistemologically justified in most contexts”, they write. In other words, it’s not that there’s a foolish subgroup of people who are more vulnerable to the “illusory truth” effect, but rather it’s an advantageous and universal bias that’s arisen because most of the time fluency actually is a reliable signal of truth. For example, a statement that is often repeated may tend to be endorsed by more people, which could be a useful cue to its truth.

But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t individual differences relating to the illusory truth effect waiting to be discovered, the team adds. Individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, for example, seem to show a less strong effect, suggesting that certain fundamental aspects of memory and cognition may be required to support the effect. With a greater willingness to publish null results like this one – and not just leave them in the file drawer – researchers should be able to build up a much more complete picture of the illusory truth effect and other cognitive biases.

Investigating the robustness of the illusory truth effect across individual differences in cognitive ability, need for cognitive closure, and cognitive style [This study is a preprint meaning that it has not yet been subject to peer review and the final published version may differ from the version on which this report was based]

Matthew Warren (@MattbWarren) is Staff Writer at BPS Research Digest



Friday, November 19, 2021

How concentrated corporate power makes inflation worse

 How concentrated corporate power makes inflation worse


Judd Legum Nov 10 


Why are prices from everything from laundry detergent to potato chips to My Little Pony going up? Inflation is a complex phenomenon. Supply chain disruptions, increased labor costs, and surging demand all play a role. But one factor driving inflation is seldom discussed: mega-corporations with massive market power. 


In competitive markets, profit margins should approach zero, as long as there are reasonable substitutes available for a given product. But corporate profits as a share of the American economy have risen dramatically over the last two decades, from 5% of GDP to nearly 12%.


As prices have increased in recent months, corporate profits have surged to record highs, according to data from Bloomberg:


Faced with rising prices for everything from lumber to oil to labor and computer chips, chief executive officers have cut costs and boosted prices for their products. The strategy appears to be working, with first-quarter income from S&P 500 companies jumping five times as fast as sales, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show.


As a result, their net margin -- which measures how much profit companies are squeezing from their revenue -- has risen to a record high, according to Bank of America Corp.


...“To a fundamental analyst, inflation is called ‘pricing power,’” said Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research. “And it is very good for incremental corporate earnings.”


As Colas alludes to, corporations are not being forced to raise prices to stay afloat. They are choosing to raise prices to maintain large profit margins because they have enough market power to do so without losing customers.


Let's take Procter & Gamble (P&G), one of the largest consumer product companies in the world, as an example. In April 2021, P&G announced that it "will start charging more for household staples from diapers to toilet paper, the latest and biggest consumer-products company to announce price hikes." To justify the increases P&G cited "rising costs for raw materials, such as resin and pulp, and higher expenses to transport goods." The price increases, P&G said, will "be in the mid-to high-single-digit percentage points." 


In the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2021, P&G reported an "operating income," or profit, of $3.785 billion. That represented a 20.9% profit margin compared to total sales. In the fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2021, after some of P&G's price increases went into effect, the company reported a profit of $5.06 billion. That represented a profit margin of 24.7%. The company spent $3 billion in the quarter buying its own stock. 


It's clear that the price of Pampers and Tide cannot be explained by "rising costs for raw materials" or transportation alone. Rather, the price increases were necessary to maintain — and even increase — large profit margins. 


But how can P&G get away with selling diapers at a huge margin? Shouldn't competitors in the diaper industry undercut P&G on price and grab market share? Unfortunately, there isn't much competition in the diaper market. "The lion’s share of the market for diapers meanwhile is controlled by just two companies (Kimberly-Clark and P&G), limiting competition for cheaper options," according to a report released this month from the Roosevelt Institute. Kimberly-Clark, which produces Huggies and Pull-Ups, announced similar price increases at the same time as P&G. 


Data provided to Popular Information by Accountable.us told a similar story across a range of industries. Corporations that are raising prices are also amassing huge profits and spending billions of stock buybacks. While a variety of factors are at play, insufficiently competitive industries have stripped consumers of bargaining power. 


The costs of these price increases are often borne by those who can least afford them and the benefits go to wealthy shareholders and executives. "[A]cross a range of sectors that produce the goods that people need to provide for their families, companies are extracting from their consumers using the excuse of inflation -- all while lining their shareholders' and CEO's pockets," Rakeen Mabud, Chief Economist at the Groundwork Collaborative, told Popular Information. "This has nothing to do with inflation, and everything to do with corporate greed by those who are focused on enriching themselves at the expense of workers and families."


Other major brands announcing price increases and large profits


In April, PepsiCo — the parent company of Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Quaker, Tropicana, and other brands — announced it was increasing prices. The company blamed "higher costs for some ingredients, freight and labor." 


In July, the company announced its "pricing was up about 5% in the North America businesses." Those price increases supported better than expected performance. The company recorded $3 billion in operating profits and increased its projections for the rest of the year. The company expects to send $5.8 billion in dividends to shareholders in 2021. 


PepsiCo's chief competitor, Coca-Cola, took a similar approach. The company — which owns Dasani, Powerade, Minute Maid, and Fairlife — announced in July that it "plans to raise prices." These price increases were good for business. The company recorded $10 billion in revenues (up 16% from the previous year) and increased its profit margins to 28.9%. Coca-Cola has over $11 billion in cash reserves. 


The trend extends beyond the food industry. Whirlpool — which owns Kitchenaid, Maytag, Amana, and other appliance brands — increased prices 5 to 12% in 2021. The purpose of the increase, announced in July, was purportedly to "compensate for increased raw material costs, including for steel and plastics." In the 3rd quarter, however, Whirlpool announced profits of $608 million and revised its estimates for profit margins moving forward — from 10% to 11-12%. While the price increases were billed as offsetting raw material costs, they ended up increasing profit margins significantly. 


Numerous other companies that announced price increases to compensate for increased labor and material costs are reporting large profits, including Conagra, Hasbro, and Chipotle.


In June, two of the nation's largest supermarket chains, Kroger and Albertsons, said "that they expect to benefit from rising prices." According to retail analyst Burt Flickinger, the stores will "mark up the full rate of inflation plus a little bit more." Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen was quite open about his intention to exploit inflation to increase profits. "A little bit of inflation is always good in our business," McMullen said.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

The Church Of Scientology What Judges and others have said about Scientology!

 From The Interactive Bible



L. Ron Hubbard

lronhubbard_globe


The Church Of Scientology


What Judges and others have said about Scientology!


"Scientology is evil; its techniques are evil; its practice is a serious threat to the community, medically, morally, and socially; and its adherents are sadly deluded and often mentally ill... (Scientology is) the world's largest organization of unqualified persons engaged in the practice of dangerous techniques which masquerade as mental therapy." (Justice Anderson, Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia)


"The government is satisfied that Scientology is socially harmful. It alienates members of families from each other and attributes squalid and disgraceful motives to all who oppose it; its authoritarian principles and practice are a potential menace to the personality and well being of those so deluded as to become followers; above all, its methods can be a serious danger to the health of those who submit to them... There is no power under existing law to prohibit the practice of Scientology; but the government has concluded that it is so objectionable that it would be right to take all steps within its power to curb its growth." (Kenneth Robinson, British Minister of Health )


"The crime committed by these defendants is of a breath and scope previously unheard of. No building, office, desk, or file was safe from their snooping and prying. No individual or organization was free from their despicable conspiratorial minds. The tools of their trade were miniature transmitters, lock picks, secret codes, forged credentials and any other device they found necessary to carry out their conspiratorial schemes." -Federal prosecutor's memorandum to the judge urging stiff jail sentences for 9 top leaders of Scientology who had pleaded guilty to criminal charges


"Scientology is both immoral and socially obnoxious...It is corrupt sinister and dangerous. It is corrupt because it is based on lies and deceit and has its real objective money and power for Mr. Hubbard... It is sinister because it indulges in infamous practices both to its adherents who do not toe the line unquestionably and to those who criticize it or oppose it. It is dangerous because it is out to capture people and to indoctrinate and brainwash them so they become the unquestioning captives and tools of the cult, withdrawn from ordinary thought, living, and relationships with others." (Justice Latey, ruling in the High Court of London)


"[The court record is] replete with evidence [that Scientology] is nothing in reality but a vast enterprise to extract the maximum amount of money from its adepts by pseudo scientific theories... and to exercise a kind of blackmail against persons who do not wish to continue with their sect.... The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and this bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder, L.Ron Hubbard." (Judge Breckenridge, Los Angeles Superior Court)


"In January 1980, fearing a raid by law enforcement agencies, Hubbard's representatives ordered the shredding of all documents showing that Hubbard controlled Scientology organizations, finances, personnel, or the property at Gilman Hot Springs. In a two week period, approximately one million pages were shredded pursuant to this order." (California appellate court, 2nd. district, 3rd. division, July 29, 1991, B025920 & B038975, Super. Ct. No. C 420153 )


"It is common knowledge among senior executives of the organization and it is the policy of CSC that members of the Boards of Directors are mere figureheads, without authority or control, not for internal corporate reasons, but rather to vest control in Mr. Hubbard. I have personal knowledge that in order to carry out this corporate fraud, organizational executives have engaged in the various unethical practices including backdating phony Board minutes and forging signatures." (Affidavit of Gerry Armstrong, former member)


"When a person is subjected to coercive persuasion [as in Scientology] without his knowledge or consent ...[he may] develop serious and sometimes irreversible physical and psychiatric disorders, up to and including schizophrenia, self-mutilation, and suicide." (California Supreme Court, United States v. Lee [455 U.S. 252,257,258 (1982)*/)


"The dispute in this case surrounds Lerma's acquisition and publication on the Internet of texts that the Church of Scientology considers sacred and protects heavily from unauthorized disclosure. Founded by L. Ron Hubbard, the Scientology religion attempts to explain the origin of negative spiritual forces in the world and advances techniques for improving one's own spiritual well-being. Scientologists believe that most human problems can be traced to lingering spirits of an extraterrestrial people massacred by their ruler, Xenu, over 75 million years ago. These spirits attach themselves by "clusters" to individuals in the contemporary world, causing spiritual harm and negatively influencing the lives of their hosts ". USDJ Judge Leonie Brinkema 4 Oct 96 Memorandum Opinion, RTC vs Lerma ("...capable of such danger that the public interest demands that people should know what is going on" LORD DENNING)


"It is an organization with medical, social and ethical practices that are dangerous and harmful," "It claims to act freely so as to draw members who subsequently undergo ... brainwashing by dictated ways of thinking that limit reaction capabilities." (Judge Constandia Angelaki wrote in her [December 1996] ruling.)


"[The court record is] replete with evidence [that Scientology] is nothing in reality but a vast enterprise to extract the maximum amount of money from its adepts by pseudo scientific theories... and to exercise a kind of blackmail against persons who do not wish to continue with their sect. [...]In addition to violating and abusing its own members civil rights, the organization over the years with its 'Fair Game' doctrine has harassed and abused those persons not in [Scientology] whom it perceives as enemies. The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and this bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder [L. Ron Hubbard]. The evidence portrays a man who has been virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history, background and achievements. The writings and documents in evidence additionally reflect his egoism, greed, avarice, lust for power, and vindictiveness and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile." (Judge Paul G. Breckenridge, Jr., 6/20/84; Scientology v. Armstrong, affirmed on appeal 232 Cal.App.3rd 1060, 283 Cal.Rptr. 917.)


"It is an organization with medical, social and ethical practices that are dangerous and harmful [...]In some countries, this organization presents itself as religion (CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY in Greece however as Centre of Applied Philosophy - KEPHE).


 There is no, as results from foreign Court decisions and Press articles, a presentation of Scientology in the world with uniform directions and similar goals. It sometimes appears under the cover of religious movement in order to receive constitutional protection and enjoy the advantages of 'religion' such as tax and currency easing." ... "The 'Centre of Applied Philosophy' operates under the cover of philosophic Association, it does not have religious character (as its BoD President stated in the 8.6.95 document to the Holy Synod of the [Orthodox] Church of Greece, signed by the then BoD President, mentioning that it is not a religion. However, since 1995 it arbitrarily and in a way contrary to the public morals, started declaring that it is a religion, in order to present itself persecuted because of its members' religious beliefs". (Judge Constandia Angelaki, December 1996, Greece, Attiki Prefecture vs KEPHE (Scientology in Greece) No. 7380/1996; Verdict dissolves the organization)


" The members are praised, in writing, for conducting unethical or criminal actions. [...]The most important, however, is that the Center is maintaining a Department of Special Affairs and Office of Special Affairs, which conduct monitoring of people and report their movements to unidentified centers abroad." (Judge Ioannis Angelis, Oct 1995, re: Raid on Scientology center (KEFE) in Greece)


"She is especially praised because she managed to bring to KEFE the KIP Report... and consequently offered to the International Administration a vital product, which considerably contributes in handling the suppressive elements in Greece and abroad." (Document dated Feb 23, 1993 seized in raid upon Dept. of Special Affairs Office in Greece in 1995, KIP is the Greek Intelligence service, Investigation of espionage is ongoing.)


"L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, has been quoted as looking upon law as a tool to [h]arass and discourage rather than to win. The law can be used very easily to harrass and enough harrassment on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway, well knowing that he is not authorized, will generally be sufficient to cause his professional decease. If possible, of course, ruin him utterly." (Judge Brinkema, U.S. Eastern Virginia District Court, 11/28/95, No. 95-1107-A (RTC [Scientology shell corp.] v. Lerma, Digital..., Washington Post, et. al.))


"The invidiousness of the alleged conspiracy is best reflected in the fact that plaintiff was sued 21 times over the course of a 17- month period in jurisdictions ranging from New York to California.... we hold that plaintiff has sufficiently alleged the elements of the tort of malicious prosecution and, for purposes of this case, the tort of civil conspiracy to commit malicious prosecution." (Chief Justice Freeman, Illinois Supreme Court, 9/18/97, No. 80868; Cult Awareness Network v. Church of Scientology, et. al.)


"In reality the church is a hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a Mafia-like manner. [...] Eleven top Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife, were sent to prison in the early 1980s for infiltrating, burglarizing and wiretapping more than 100 private and government agencies in attempts to block their investigations. [...]Scientology has brought hundreds of suits against its perceived enemies and today pays an estimated $20 million annually to more than 100 lawyers." ... "One legal goal of Scientology is to bankrupt the opposition or bury it under paper. The church has 71 active lawsuits against the IRS alone. [...]'In my opinion the church has one of the most effective intelligence operations in the U.S., rivaling even that of the FBI,' (Ted Gunderson, a former head of the FBI's Los Angeles office.)


Foreign governments have been moving even more vigorously against the organization. In Canada the church and nine of its members will be tried in June on charges of stealing government documents.... Since 1986 authorities in France, Spain and Italy have raided more than 50 Scientology centers. Pending charges against more than 100 of its overseas church members include fraud, extortion, capital flight, coercion, illegally practicing medicine and taking advantage of mentally incapacitated people. In Germany last month, leading politicians accused the cult of trying to infiltrate a major party as well as launching an immense recruitment drive in the east." (Richard Behar, TIME Magazine article "Scientology: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power", May 6, 1991; cases above all resulted in convictions; TIME was sued for slander by Scientology over this article, TIME prevailed)


"Convictions, seized church documents and defectors affidavits demonstrate that Scientologists have already indulged in burglary, kidnapping, false imprisonment, espionage, blackmail, and conspiracies to steal government documents and to obstruct justice." (READER'S DIGEST, May 1980, SCIENTOLOGY: Anatomy of a Malignant Cult)


"He is a fraud and has always been a fraud." ... "My father has always used the confidential information extracted from people during [confessionals] to intimidate, threaten and coerce them to do what he wanted, which often meant getting them to give him money. My father routinely used false threats and [information from confessionals] particularly about crimes people had committed to extort money from them." ... "My father has always held out Scientology and auditing to be based purely on science and not-on religious 'belief or faith. We regularly promised and distributed publications with 'scientific guarantees'. This was and has always been common practice. My father and I created a 'religious front' only for tax purposes and legal protection 'from fraud Claims'. We almost always told nearly everyone that Scientology was really science, not a religion, but that the religious front was created to deal with the government." (Ronald DeWolf a.k.a. L. Ron Hubbard, Jr.; son of L. Ron Hubbard, Affadavit in Schaick v. Church of Scientology, US District Court Mass., No. 79-2491)


"Mr. Hubbard showed up for the divorce proceedings in Port Orchard, Wash.; he had another woman with him that he was supposed to have married during 1946." ... "Mrs. Ochs produced two old newspaper article which gave an account of the divorce proceedings of the second wife. The articles in 'The Mirror' Los Angeles, Calif. paper dated April 23. 1951 page 12, and the 'Los Angeles Times' April 24, 1951 related how Mrs. Sarah Northrup Hubbard, from a Pasadena family, was kidnapped, had her child (Alexis Valery - 13 month old daughter) taken from her by Hubbard and was asking for a divorce." (FBI report of interview with Margaret Ochs (1st wife of L. Ron Hubbard), Inspector W. Beale Grove, Philadelphia District, 2/20/63; Official documents prove that L. Ron Hubbard was in fact guilty of bigamy)


"[L. Ron] Hubbard once spoke about his strategies for 'handling' his enemies. The best way was to, literally, drive them crazy, to use all one's resources to find their weaknesses and hit them hardest where it hurt the most. He said there were few men in history who mastered the techniques to do so successfully. He intimated he was one. [...] A Hubbard bulletin of 5 November 1967, 'Critics of Scientology', states, '...Never discuss Scientology with the critic. Just discuss his or her crimes, known and unknown. And act completely confident that those crimes exist....'


Hubbard policy of 25 February 1966, 'Attacks on Scientology,' ...states, Scientology must respond to attacks by '...attacking the attackers only. NEVER agree to an investigation of Scientology. ONLY agree to an investigation of the attackers. This is the correct procedure: (1) Spot who is attacking us. (2) Start investigating them promptly for FELONIES or worse using our own professionals, not outside agencies ... (4) Start feeding lurid, blood, sex, crime, actual evidence on the attackers to the press. Don't ever tamely submit to an investigation of us. Make it tough, rough on attackers all the way....'


[...]Because of the continued refusal to cooperate, Lyn [Froyland] was rapidly assigned to the RPF's RPF. This was several steps down from the RPF, in the boiler room under the Ft. Harrison hotel building. It was a dark, filthy, smelly place where the huge boilers roared and clanked day and night and where the rats lived. Lyn was chained to a pipe down there for weeks, under guard. She was taken meals and allowed toilet breaks, but no other hygiene. I tried desperately to get her to repent and get out of the hole, but she would not. The longer she stayed in the hole, the less she spoke and the more unwilling, sullen, filthy and feral looking she became." (Hana "Eltringham" Whitfield, 4/4/94, Declaration in Church of Scientology v. Fishman & Geertz, No. CV 91-6426, US Central California District Court)


"On May 19.1973, a New York journalist, Paulette Cooper, was indicted before a federal grand jury on charges of sending bomb threats to the Church of Scientology. In October 1973, in a legal move born of despair, Ms Cooper agreed to take a truth serum test to prove her innocence. It worked and the state shelved the charges. Four years later Ms Cooper was telephoned at her Manhattan apartment by the FBI. They had seized documents from the Church of Scientology and had learned that she had been framed by the sect over the bomb threats and had been the victim of a carefully planned operation aimed at driving her insane or having her gaoled." ...


 "Ms Cooper qualified as a target of Scientology's dirty tricks operations because she had been an uncompromising critic of Scientology since December 1969, when her first article on the followers of L. Ron Hubbard was published by a British women's magazine. The holder of a master's degree in psychology, Ms Cooper had written a book about the sect, The Scandal of Scientology, published in 1971." ... "The seized Scientology documents show that in the course of their campaign of vilification against Ms Cooper the scientologists: 1. Framed her on the bomb-threat charges, stealing stationery from her apartment to forge the threatening letter. 2. Sued her 14 times, at one stage themselves importing copies of her book to the UK to take advantage of Britain's notoriously tough libel laws. 3. Put her name on pornographic mailing lists. 4. Stole a legal note from her lawyer to gain an advantage in litigation. 5. Made spurious allegations to the internal revenue service about her father's tax affairs. 6. Sent agents to befriend her, date her and spy on her. 7. Wrote graffiti in public places giving her telephone number and address. " (John Forte, former British Vice-Consul in Corfu in book "The Commodore and the Colonels")


"For most of the mission holders, it was their first glimpse of David Miscavige. Security guards never left his side during the evening. Apart from introducing each speaker, he had little to say to the audience. He merely warned them what would happen to anyone who turned against Scientology." ... 'That person's future is black. It is so black I can't even describe it right now. I can't even even find the words to describe how black that person's future is . . . I mean it is really black.' ...


 "Within a few days, some of them found out exactly what he meant. Eighteen were taken out to the Scientology prison camp at Happy Valley where they joined David Mayo, who had been there since the summer. They were kept for several months before being released." (Transcript of 1982 "Mission Holder Conference" entered as evidence in July 1984 child custody case before Justice Latey, Family Division, High Court, London; David Miscavige is the leader of Scientology since the death of L. Ron Hubbard)


"For 25 years, IRS agents had branded Scientology a commercial enterprise and refused to give it the tax exemption granted to churches. The refusals had been upheld in every court.... "Scientology's attorneys hired private investigators to dig into the private lives of IRS officials and to conduct surveillance operations to uncover potential vulnerabilities." [...] in October 1993... the IRS announced that it was issuing 30 exemption letters covering about 150 Scientology churches, missions and corporations." ... "'It was a very surprising decision,' said Lawrence B. Gibbs, the IRS commissioner from 1986 to 1989 and Goldberg's predecessor. 'When you have as much litigation over as much time, with the general uniformity of results that the service had with Scientology, it is surprising to have the ultimate decision be favorable. It was even more surprising that the service made the decision without full disclosure, in light of the prior background.'" ... "At one time, the church and its members had more than 50 lawsuits pending against the IRS and its officials." (Douglas Frantz, St. Petersburg Times, 3/9/97, "Details of Church's IRS Battle Emerge")


"I also witnessed a fourteen year old boy being locked up in the chain locker of the ship, where he was made to spend the night. The chain locker is a small dark space where the chain to the anchor to the ship is stored when the ship is not at anchor. I witnessed this happening several times to people" ... "Hubbard claimed that the RPF was an act of benevolence on his part to 'rehabilitate' psychotic criminals. Actually, in my opinion and experience, the RPF was a prison camp." (Document written by Monica Pignotti, 9/26/89) 


"The four-year-old boy could no longer cry. He had been nearly 40 hours in the chain locker of the flagship Apollo and his entire body was aching from his efforts to chip off rust. His knees and hands were raw with cuts and bruises. His voice was raspy from crying, and he was desperately afraid. He was constantly making resolutions to never, never again eat the Commodores telexes--the most recent crime of which he had been accused." ... "Little Tony had entered the chain locker through the tiny manhole that led to it. The metallic sound as the lid slammed shut sounded final somehow. The space was cramped for even his small body, and he was enveloped by darkness. It was wet in there and very, very scary. The chains of the ship's anchor took on the dimensions of a monster. At one point a rat scuttled by him squealing. He was sure he was going to die." [...] Tonja Burden claims that she saw people placed in the chain lockers on a number of occasions at the direct orders of Hubbard. Tonja wrote, in a legal affidavit, years after leaving the Sea Org: 'I saw one boy held in there for thirty nights crying and begging to be released. He was only allowed out to clean the bilges, where the sewerage and refuse of the ship collected.'


[...]Ron Jr. states in a sworn affidavit: 'I have personal knowledge that my father regularly used illegal drugs including amphetamines, barbituates and hallucinogens. He regularly used cocaine, peyote, and mescaline." ... "According to statements made by attorney Michael Flynn, Hubbard, until at least February of 1980, filled out fraudulent 'doctor's' prescriptions for a large array of medical drugs for himself". "Sara Hubbard explained that Hubbard was 'self-medicated,' but that during the five years they were married, she knew of no instances when he used 'street drugs'." "Armstrong, told me, among other things, of a letter from Hubbard to his third wife Mary Sue when Hubbard was in Las Palmas during 1967 at the inception of the Sea Org. This letter is now in the custody of the court. In it Hubbard tells his wife: 'I'm drinking lots of rum and popping pinks and greys.'" "John McMasters told me that on the flagship Apollo in the late sixties, he witnessed Hubbard's drug supply. 'It was the largest drug chest I had ever seen. He had everything!'" ... "It was shown in the Armstrong trial in Los Angeles in 1984 that Hubbard even had blank prescription slips from the U.S. Navy, one of which had a prescription for phenobarbital (a barbituate and hypnotic) written in Hubbard's handwriting." ... "Also, in the Armstrong trial where the "Affirmations" [handwritten essays by Hubbard] were introduced, a letter by Hubbard to his first wife was revealed, the last sentence of which declared: 'I do love you, even if I used to be an opium addict.'" (Bent Corydon, former Mission owner, in his book "Messiah or Madman?")


"Scientology is being planned on a religious organization basis throughout the world. This will not upset in any way the usual activities of any organization. It is entirely a matter for accountants and solicitors." - L.Ron Hubbard, 1970


"I'd like to start a religion. That's where the money is." -L. Ron Hubbard to Lloyd Eshbach, in 1949; quoted by Eshbach in Over My Shoulder.



Monday, November 8, 2021

Eight Big Reasons Critical Race Theory Is Terrible for Dealing with Racism