What Scientology did when Narconon was Exposed

Harold's Journal
Editorial Opinion By RWL - 05 October 1989

Since Scientology ® /Narconon ® can't refute facts, and they won't address the real concerns, all they have left is to attempt to discredit. And, as the reaction to their mailing last week proved, they did a rather miserable job, even, of that. More unity has been demonstrated in Newkirk than we can remember in the past decade.

Scientology spent a lot of money, used a lot of words, and managed to make just about everybody in town unhappy with them, especially our former mayor, who said Monday that he felt he had been "raped."

We didn't dream up Scientology. We didn't create its nefarious 30 year history.

Scientology did.

We didn't attempt to frame people like Paulette Cooper and Gabe Cazares and Michael Flynn.

Scientology did.

We didn't break into Government offices.

Scientology did.

We didn't hire any "private investigators" to try to discredit Scientology. Scientology discredited themselves without our help.

We didn't ruin Scientology's reputation.

Scientology did.

We didn't shoot Scientology in the foot.

They did it all by themselves.

We just made sure everybody noticed. Which is our job.

***

We simply insist that any drug rehab program at Chilocco be proven safe, effective, reliable, and medically sound by independent scientifically acceptable studies verified by Oklahoma professionals.

We insist that any drug rehab program at Chilocco not consist of any portion of the religious dogma of any religion, or require the services of a minister of any religion, or the use of any religious artifact as part of the treatment.

And we insist on basic honesty and accountability.

Why can't they do that?

Is it because their program has never been independently proven safe, effective, reliable, and medically sound?

Is it because their treatment program does consists of the first steps up the Scientology chart of religious progress known as the Bridge to Total Freedom, thereby violating the principle of separation of church and state?

Is it because they do require the services of a "minister" of the church of Scientology in their treatment?

Is it because they have no accurate and accountable reports of the results they have attained?

***

It's standard procedure to attempt to discredit those who oppose them. Eugene Ingram, sent by Scientology to "investigate" many of Newkirk's leading citizens, is reportedly a former Los Angeles Police Officer who left the department amid a cloud of un-prosecuted allegations that he was involved in pandering, pimping, prostitution, and harboring narcotics dealers. The charges were later dropped for lack of evidence once he left the force. He was later allegedly implicated in an attempt to frame Boston lawyer Michael Flynn. Currently, there is a warrant outstanding for his arrest in Kay County allegedly on charges of impersonating an investigator and carrying a concealed weapon.

This is the type of individual a "church" sends out to investigate us?

KOCO's Larry Blunt was threatened with legal problems and told he would lose his job for reporting on Narconon. A KOTV reporter and cameraman were pushed around when they attempted to report on Narconon. Mr. Ingram subtly suggested that Newkirk Mayor Garry Bilger and School Board President Jana Shafer would be subject to some kind of phony "conspiracy" lawsuit if they didn't retract their opposition to Narconon. The Newkirk Herald, he suggested, would face legal trouble for running a "hate" campaign.

The only people who are allowed to have an opinion, it appears, are Scientologists. And they are only allowed to have one... the one written by their late leader, L. Ron Hubbard. Free thinking is not a hallmark of Scientology.

It's called Training Routine L. Persons properly trained in TR-L can "outflow false data effectively." It is the opposite of TR-1 (which, incidentally, is one of the drills used in Narconon's program).

The person who visited Mayor Bilger last Monday may have been trained in TR-L. He said he had a daughter in a government class at Ponca City High School who was supposed to interview a small town mayor to find out what his accomplishments were... what his goals were, and how small town government worked.

It was a good story, except that Ponca City High School has no one enrolled by this person's name.

The person who called the Herald Journal a few weeks ago may have been trained in TR-L. He said he had been hired by Prudential Life Insurance to locate RWL and another person because we were beneficiaries of a policy from Atlanta, Ga. Mostly, he wanted the other person's address. He said we were both in line for a lot of money. He was told to put it in the mail.

It was a good story, except that Prudential Life insurance doesn't know anything about it, and nothing ever arrived in the mail.

The person from Brooklyn, N.Y. who wrote and called several ministers in town, all the city commissioners, and RWL several months ago told a sad story about a child hooked on drugs who wanted her to send money for Narconon, she said. But she had heard this "bad publicity" about Narconon and wanted to know the source of it...

It was a good story, except she gave a couple of different names but the same phone number to several different people. One time it was her son on drugs - the next, it was her daughter. She probably had poor TR-L.

We suspect all of the above incidents (and a few others) are deceptive attempts to gain information from those opposed to Scientology/Narconon. We can't prove it, of course, but it's funny we never received any "stories" that wouldn't check out before Narconon arrived in our midst.

These "Battle" tactics were outlined by their leader, L. Ron Hubbard, in 1969. Some more of his advice (paraphrased to avoid infringing on the gentleman's many copyrights) is as follows:

1. Make those who oppose Scientology unpopular to the point of total annihilation.

2. Gain the backing or fidelity of the news media. (Are you awake, Ark City?)

3. Get command or loyalty of top political figures.

4. Take over those who oversee finance, and shift them into an unstable situation.

5. Blame everything on a conspiracy headed by psychiatry and psychology.

6. Always attack. Never defend.

7. Never be reasonable. Give non-sequiteur answers (double talk)

8. Fight on somebody else's turf, never Scientology's.

9. Cut off communications, funds, connections. Deprive the opposition of political advantages. Take over opposition territory. Raid and harass.

10. Public Opinion is what Scientology is trying to win. Make people love Scientology and hate the opposition by using standard wartime propaganda... complete with "atrocity, war crimes trials, the lot."

11. Preserve and improve the image of Scientology and degrade the image of the opposition to "beast level."

There's more, but you get the point.

If we are running a "hate" campaign, it is a campaign against deception, against harassment, against fraud, against smear tactics, against frame-ups, and against intimidation.

But we surely don't hate Scientologists. They are more the victims than we are of their own warped management practices.

We could care less what the "religious beliefs" of Scientology are. But we are very aware of the outrageous behavior of the organization. We don't think it is deserving of our taxes or our insurance benefit money. The war on drug abuse is too important to allow a dime of it to be waisted on an outfit like Scientology's Narconon.