How Scientology Celebrity Centers Deceive Their Members
formerlyfooled
Artists, performers, musicians, businessowners or executives and other
"Opinion Leaders" who can have an influence in their field, along with
others who are associated with them, make up the typical clientele of
The 'Church of Scientology's Celebrity Centers.
These people are flattered, courted and sold a bill of HOPE, at
escalating and eventual exorbitant cost, which is supposed to help them
'spiritually' make better strides in their 'special' endeavors as well
as in life in general.
It isn't just the handful of well known celebrities you read about that
attend these centers for training and 'spiritual counseling'. There
have been and will, unfortunately, continue to be many up and coming
talented people who are lured in by the HOPE of success not yet
attained. What becomes of the majority of them? Well, they spend
thousands of dollars and hours doing classes and such and yet their
careers never seem to go where their obvious talent should be taking
them. They become excellent word processors, waiters/waitresses, temp
agency regulars and sales people of the latest multilevel marketing
products so that they can keep buying more scientology services and be
able to support themselves.
You see, money and 'production' statistics become the primary emphasis
for the 'registrar' and the source of pressure for the artist. And if
the 'artists' have 'connections' , well Celebrity Center just moves
right on in and pressures the not-yet-celebrity to bring the
'connections' in so a services sale can be had. The 'reward' for the
not-yet-celebrity (or in the case of a celebrity bringing in friends)
is a commission on the sale. But for the up and coming talent, The HOPE
gets lost in all this pressure to supply what Celebrity Center's
demand. It's 'bring in money', sign up for a service' 'bring in a
friend or family member or associate' we'll train you on how to do it
and reward you for it' and such that becomes the priority. This is
then where the wasting of genuine talent occurs.
What is worse is that most are treated as second class citizens to the
big celebrities.
What these people, not-yet-celebrities and celebrities alike, do not
know is that they are being used. Out right used. Hubbard's staff
policy is very explicit that celebrities are to be used for all they
can provide to help spread the word about Dianetics and Scientology.
Big celebrities, like John Travolta for instance, are not immune from
this process. Years ago he nearly left the church for good,partially
because he was never paid certain commissions he's earned for bringing
in some of his family members ( who never stayed with the church long
enough to join anyway).
There is only one John Travolta and one Tom Cruise but there are
thousands of others who never received the pampered care and attention
to career detail given such big "celeb's", as they call them. Yet they
gave all that they had, financially and enthusiastically, and grew
older with daunted dreams and fractured lives.
You don't hear about them, only the big names. Exactly how Celebrity
Center wants it to be.
Celebrity Center's purpose is to use their members:
As cash cows whenever they can.
As a commodity for bringing in new members to Celebrity Centers and
it's other centers.
As promoters of the church doctrine to perpetuate the false idea that
the cult is a 'religion'.
As spokespersons to promote activitieswhich make the church look like
it a charity.
I could list name after name of those who came, gave all and either
left the cult with broiken spirit or stayed and struggle to keep the
focus on their career dreams. I will compile what I know, which is
limited to years before 1995, in another post when I have time but it's
no secret, really, that Celebrity Center's have betrayed their
members.It's just that no one wants to get harassed talking about it.
For more information read this excellent article:
____________________________________
WorldWide Religious News (WWRN)
Europe - UK/Ireland - Scientology
"Lure of the celebrity sect"
("The Observer," May 16, 2004)
". . . . But what is irrefutable is that Scientology has powerful
friends who give it global influence. Each year it holds a celebrity
gala for the likes of Tom Cruise and John Travolta, which is attended
by thousands and makes for great PR. Other celebrity followers include
the actress Juliette Lewis and Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart
Simpson." . . . .
"Scientologists believe that celebrities wield enormous influence
because they are copied by their fans. 'A culture is only as great as
its dreams and its dreams are dreamed by artists,' runs one Scientology
maxim. " . . . .
"As a best-selling pulp fiction writer once noted: 'If a man really
wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own
religion.' The writer? L Ron Hubbard."
Michael Pattinson
I was one of the ones sold a bill of HOPE and betrayed by Scientology.
see www.lermanet.com/michaelpattinson
or Google my name...
I look forward to your extended comilation of this post.
Michael.
formerlyfooled
Michael, your's is a very important story and I am glad you wrote it.
I'll list a few of the people who came to mind, just to get the ball
rolling:
Christina "Kumi" Kimball was a very talented Broadway actress and
dancer who is now one of the " What is Scientology" success stories
titled as an "Executive "
http://www.whatisscientology.org/html/part05/chp19/pg0339.html
Clayton Bartner: Dancer and actor.
http://www.pa1975.com/photos/2001/1201/billy4.jpg
This is a name that should have been up in lights but his family's
money was really all that Celebrity Center wanted. This is the only
thing on the internet mentioning his work:
http://home.earthlink.net/~pero/dancing.html
Christopher Quinn: Singer, Songwriter, actor, par excellence: Not sure
if he is a Scientologist anymore but he was once a fixture at CC Int,
living at the Manor and a magnet for flooding the place with creative
types. Still a fan of Hubbard's according to his web site, he states
that he suffered illness for over 15 years but is working on coming
back to get some albums of his own ( including songs from his Manor
days) produced. This is a ball of talent that Celebrity Center Int
never knew what to do with.
www.christopherquinn.com
Thomas James Waters, aka Tom Waters: He was a gifted writer and
director who never got 'up the bridge ' much yet was used for many
years by the church's OSA and CCHR units, who knew how to take
advantage of a compassionate person such as Tom. He met another
scientologist (Wren Taylor) who loved him and his work and encouraged
him to pursue his dreams, which I am sure was a bone of contention with
OSA, but sadly, Tom died before he was able to see much of his work
come to fruition.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117939976?categoryid=25&cs=1
Some more well known members of the past who were heavily dealt with by
the church:
Al Jarreau and Susan Jarreau : Super-talented yet humble couple who
were constantly pressured until CC Int began to fall apart in the early
80's; they managed to quietly escape and rebuild what was chipped off
their lives and careers.
http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/product.aspx?ob=n&src=art&pid=10716
Diana Canova: The SOAP tv show actressexplains the process best in this
very interesting article:
http://www.bible.ca/scientology-poor-famous-members.htm
Pat Marks- professional jazz musician, entertainer. Classic example of
talent wasted while in the pursuit of the $$$ for services.
LaMont Johnson- Jazz Musician ( not the Lamont Johnson, director and
not E. Lamont Johnson, former Brainstorm bassist and lead singer).
This Lamont Johnson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaMont_Johnson
Some of you here at ARS knew him from alt clearing. I knew him before
ARS, like Chip Gallo did. Yes, Chip Gallo, he knew all about the
'bucket shop' operations used to finance his albums.
http://tinyurl.com/kwcyz
A very talented jazz professional musician , LaMont gave it all up for
Hubbard's tech.This OT mission holder got sucked into the game early on
in his musical career but he was never able to allow himself to stay
away from scientology technology, even after he blew and was declared
an SP during the field uproar of 1981/82. You'd think that he would
have taken that as a clue to get back to what was really important, but
no. He just kept on going over in the 'free zone'. This is how he was
'making his living'. $$$
Now, I know he was regarded highly by some before and after being
declared SP but I always felt his talent was held hostage by the cult.
I wonder what would have happened to LaMont's career if he'd taken a
cue from his old roommate, Henry Grimes, who did not join the cult?
(Now there is a success story: http://www.henrygrimes.com/ )
LaMont was a gifted musican & musical director. He was born for
that.Too few albums made, too many years wasted with scientology
technology Take a listen:
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/search?search-alias=popular&field-artist=LaMont%20Johnson
That's it for now
formerlyfooled
*BUMP* using Pattinson's better formatted copy.