From Abracadabra to Zombies
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Dianetics
24 Jun 2005
In your "letters" page for the Dianetics entry, a Scientology salesperson
mentions the Scientology front business "NarConon." The salesperson ("John
Wood") asserted, falsely, that NarConon and Criminon are "effective:" all
the available evidence says the exact opposite.
NARCONON IS BOTH DANGEROUS AND INEFFECTIVE. The California state school board kicked the Scientologists' front group out of the public school system after they learned NarConon taught fraudulent and wrong data about drug abuse and addiction.
http://narconon-exposed.org is a good source of information about Narconon.
See Wednesday, July 24, 2002's issue of "Battlecreek Enquirer" titled "Prison system rejected NarConon."
The most extensive study performed on NarConon showed only a 6.6% success rate--- LESS than the 11% success rate of no treatment at all.
The evidence showing NarConon is dangerous and ineffective is easily and widely available. FBI documents seized from Scientology Inc. shows that Narconon was started by Scientology's "Guardian's Office:" the same people who were later sent to prison for burglary, felony trespassing, racketeering, espionage against the USA, and assorted high crimes.
The Narconon "treatment" has been universally condemned by the medical community throughout the world as both dangerous and worthless. The Oklahoma State Board of Health stated:
"Moreover, the multiple findings of fact heretofore entered by the Board establish that Narconon's program is not safe.
"[....] The Board determines that the Narconon Program is not effective in the treatment of chemical dependency.
"The Board concludes that the program offered by Narconon- Chilocco is not medically safe.
"The Board has reviewed the proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law submitted by the Department and Narconon. Any proposed finding of fact and / or conclusion of law inconsistent with those entered by the Board is denied.
The State of Utah ceased sending new victims to Narconon once it discovered that Narconon is merely a recruiting front for Scientology. This story was aired on FOX News-13 Tuesday February 22, 2000 at 9:00PM MST and had several follow-ups during the week after.
Narconon's bogus "detoxification" process has been proven to be medical nonsense. Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop had this to say about the Narconon treatment:
"It's dangerous. I don't think L. Ron Hubbard has credibility in the scientific world. The author's suggestions about detoxification can be detrimental to [one's] health."
Michigan Corrections Department psychologist John Hand called Narconon "So misleading as to be termed a 'con.'" Hand said, "They are phony, a front for the Church of Scientology. We found out in Michigan that most of the money that we were paying Narconon was laundered back into the Church of Scientology." [Detroit News Feb. 11 1980] The study of Narconon in the Michigan penal system concluded, "graduates of the Narconon program do not do as well as our [prison] population in general." They discovered that Narconon made things worse, not better, for those dependant on drugs.
Doctor Wolfgang Heckmann, who is the "Drugs Delegate" of Berlin, performed a study of Narconon's "success" and found that at its best, Narconon's "success" is "at most 10%". His report stated:
Finally, the question of the program's success is also of importance to assessing the quality of the institution. Looking at earlier statements by Narconon according to which the institution's average rate of success is far above the average, the list of names provided does not paint a very favorable picture. From their own figures, the rate of success is calculated to be, at most, 10%. In addition to that, the idea of social reintegration is understood differently by Narconon than elsewhere in that a not inconsiderable number of the people named as successes work as staff at Narconon, and some of those even live in the building. In addition, there are justified misgivings as to the credibility of the chances of success.
Dr. Heckmann found that in his study of 145 people subjected to the Narconon "treatment," only 10 claimed they were "off drugs" during a follow-up visit after "treatment." Dr. Heckmann also mentioned in his report to the Berlin Senate that Narconon is owned, run, and part of Scientology Inc.
Doctor James J. Kenney, Ph.D., RD, of The National Council Against Health Fraud stated that the Narconon treatment poses very serious health risks. The "treatment" involves ingesting dangerous amounts of niacin, which is hepatotoxic. He stated: "Health professionals who subject troubled people (many with psychiatric illnesses and / or severe emotional problems) to this unproven detoxification program are at best unethical and at worst guilty of health fraud." You may write to him to confirm this, at:
James J. Kenney, Ph.D., RD National Council Against Health Fraud 1239 19th Street #8 Santa Monica, CA 90404
When those who require drug abuse intervention go to Narconon, they may expend their resources so that they are no longer able to seek out and acquire valid health services.
Narconon's "success rate" is 6.6%, which is no better than no drug intervention at all. One independent study of Narconon was performed in Sweden: this study observed 61 people who had been subjected to the "treatment." Of those 61 people, only 4 admitted they were not back to abusing drugs a year later--- a "success rate" of 6.6%. The study was performed in May of 1981, by social worker Peter Gerdman in Stockholm. Swiss doctors, such as Dr. Vigilli Venzin, stated emphatically that Narconon's "treatment" is "...absolute rubbish and medically questionable."
David Rice
reply: It's hard to believe that the fine folks at Scientology.con would make exaggerated claims about anything. My faith in mankind has been shattered once again.
22 Sep 2000
Several times recently it seems you've made statements that scientologists
don't believe in evolution, that we are all planted here by aliens. That's
about half right. In one of his earliest books "The History of
Man" Hubbard claimed to have proven evolution. This 'proof' was
obtained the same way as all his other 'research' (when any was actually
done), by using their hypnotic regression techniques of auditing. So a
scientologist would say evolution is a fact, LRH proved it.
Not being a scientologist I might not be understanding this correctly, but his story is there are two parts to a person, the spirit or thetan, and the genetic entity. The genetic entity evolved here on earth, the thetans after billions of years of reincarnation in various alien civilizations were captured and imprisoned on this planet.
As for the model of 'evolution' given in the book, I understand it is one of the most laughable books claiming to be scientifically proven. According to the book the evolutionary branch leading to humans also included such things as clams and the Piltdown man. You can read a nice commentary on the book here:
Marc Berard
reply: The reference to aliens has to do with Xenu and some sort of hydrogen bomb attack on earth 75,000,000 years ago. But there is also a work of Hubbard's called "A Note on Excalibur" in which he denies evolution and Darwinian natural selection in favor of some sort of teleological vitalism.
The whole Xenu story is from OT III, which I have read, and even
have scans of. It wasn't an attack on earth, he just solved the Galactic
Confederations' overpopulation problems by having all 13 trillion people
captured (called them in for tax audits and captured them that way)
frozen, transported in space ships resembling DC 3s without the propeller.
Dumped on the volcanoes, nuked, their spirits captured by electric
ribbons, show confusing 3-D films for 36 days. (guess it was the first
MST3K marathon) These films implanted people with all kinds of delusions
and problems, including ALL of the worlds religions. And today our bodies
contain thousands of these abused spirits. All our problems and illnesses
are supposed to be caused by these 'body thetans', and OT III is supposed
to teach you how to telepathically contact them and make them let go.
Marc Berard
Mr. Carroll,
I just finished reading from your Skeptics dictionary on the WWW, specifically the section concerning dianetics. Yours was a view I had not heard about dianetics and scientology. After working for a scientologist who attempted to coerce me into a dianetic class, I have never picked up the book and therefore couldn't tell you about its scientific claims. I can, however, tell you that the scientologists I met while in this woman's employ did not think they were doing God's work. Quite the opposite. They were solely interested in recruiting more scientologists.
A representative from a "management" company would come to the office whenever the doctor's "engrams" kicked in (this was usually when she had difficulty with her father, who was vehemently opposed to her being a scientologist). This representative, who called himself a counselor, wanted me to allow him access to patient files so he could see which ones were likely candidates for scientology auditing. For each person the doctor convinced to sign up for classes, she received a discount on her own auditing. I know of at least two patients who did agree to taking a dianetics course on the doctors "recommendation." However, access to patient files are protected by federal law, and I wasn't about to be the one to open them to him.
The same management company wanted me to try to get blank "counter" checks from patients to keep in their files, just in case they forgot to bring their checkbook to the clinic. After double checking it with a local bank manager friend, I informed this "counselor" that such action was illegal.
Medicare patients were routinely lied to about their coverage, all under the authority and supervision of the "management" company. Also under this company, the doctor was hard pressed to get new patients. She was to turn in her "statistics" each week. These statistics consisted of me making a chart of how many patients she saw each week. No calculations of means or any other even basic statistical analysis, just a chart of the number of patients each week. They gave the doctor what the "mean" was supposed to be, and if she didn't reach it, then there was obviously a problem with the engrams and more counseling was needed. At one seminar, we were instructed on how to get patients to pay in advance for treatment, preferably in cash. While that is legal, the doctors were told they didn't need to put such cash in a trust fund for that patient, which is illegal.
We were also taught how not to let the patients say no to treatment. We were told that anyone who believed that patients had the right to free thought should never come in contact with the patients. We were instructed to "ruin" any argument the patient had concerning their treatment. This seminar cost the doctor approximately $1000. Naturally, this is only one account of the character of scientologists. But I don't think my opinion is solitary. Not only is dianetics not a science, but scientology is not a church. It's a mass-marketing scheme to make money. Hubbard's son wrote a book called "L. Ron Hubbard: Myth or Madman?" In it, L. Ron Hubbard is quoted as saying to a convention of science fiction writers, "If you want to make money, start a religion."
To me, that says it all.
Julie Richard
Mr. Carroll, Thank you for your reply. If you have not already done so, you may want to contact Time magazine for more information about scientologists tactics. A few years ago, they did a rather extensive cover story on scientology, and the author received numerous threats, both physical and legal in nature. So do not be surprised if you receive the same. Personally, I have no objection to your including my story to your dictionary, nor do I object to my name being used. Although I am fully aware of what scientologists can do to people who oppose them (ask the former mayor of Clearwater, Florida, who was framed and later exonerated on a hit-and-run murder charges), I have no intention of hiding behind anonymity.
Thank you for your time and effort in exposing the likes of scientologists.
Julie Richard
reply: I have only received a few notes from Scientologists, none of them threatening.
Mr. Carroll,
As far as prosecutions go, there were several high-ranking members of scientology who were arrested during a raid on scientology headquarters by the IRS. It was during this raid that the evidence was found that they had framed the mayor of Clearwater. There was also a reporter who was framed for arson. One of the scientologists arrested was Hubbard's wife. This was several years ago (I want to say late 70's, early 80's), but the article in Time had all the details. If you ever are in Clearwater, Florida you won't believe your eyes. It looks like a navy base, with all the low level scientologists walking around in their white and blue uniforms. These are the members of the "Sea-Org" and have to sign million year contracts. They're usually people who don't have professions that will bring in thousands of dollars to the "church," so they're essentially slave labor for the hotels and stores. There are several stories of the way they live, and none are pretty.
Julie Richard
23 Jul 1997
I just read your Skeptic's Dictionary entry on Dianetics with interest. I
think I can add a bit to the history of this "science" and "religion."
Dianetics came out before the book you cite; Hubbard introduced it in the May, 1950, issue of Astounding Science Fiction, the earlier version of the magazine now called Analog. He was a popular contributor to Astounding, and I was a fan of his writing.
At the time, I was friendly with the late Theodore Sturgeon, a distinguished science-fiction writer whose work I admired. Ted knew Hubbard fairly well, and told me that at a sci-fi convention the previous year Hubbard had told him and several other writers something like this: "You guys just wait. I've thought up a racket that's going to make me very rich. You'll hear about it in a few months."
Nevertheless, we were intrigued, and Ted and I tried "auditing" each other a few times. We dropped it partly because we didn't think it made much sense and, I have to admit, because Ted was much better at it than I was; he'd have made a good psychotherapist.
As to the Church of Scientology, I remember how that came about, though I'm a bit hazy on the details. The organization was then known as the Hubbard Dianetic Institute, and he had moved the headquarters several times, as it ran into tax and legal troubles of one kind or another. At some point in the 1950s, I believe it was, the Institute was headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, and having a lot of trouble with the state and Federal tax authorities. Then Hubbard had the bright idea of turning the institute into a church, which would be tax exempt! And he got away with it. So far as I know, only Germany refuses to recognize Scientology as a religion, and the "church" is fighting the German government with everything it has.
By the way, Hubbard didn't start by using the term "engram," which of course he borrowed from biochemistry. In the Astounding article that introduced Dianetics, he called them "Norns," after the witches of Norse mythology. When the book was published, his Norns had been transmogrified into engrams.
Thanks for the Skeptic's Dictionary. I love it. It's my belief that the current popularity of every kind of nonsense from acupuncture and astrology to reflexology, homeopathy, naturopathy, therapeutic touch and all the other "holistic" therapies is the result of a breakdown in our educational system some time after World War II. People who have been taught to think aren't susceptible to this kind of stuff.
Keep up the good work.
Al Berger
reply: I wish it were simply a matter of a broken educational system. We might be able to fix that. I think the tendency to magical thinking is rather basic and universal. Compulsory education for the masses has been somewhat successful in mitigating the spread of weird beliefs and irrational thinking. But it is nearly impossible to counteract the power of the mass media to glamorize and exaggerate; to distort and pervert; to prey upon irrational desires, fears and hopes; to mystify the mundane and validate the irrational as it entertains. Traditional religions used to satisfy the thirst for the magical, but they have been unable, for the most part, to modify themselves sufficiently to compete with forces which can make an Andrew Cunanan seem more significant and interesting than a Justice William Brennan who died on the same day as the mentally ill killer but who received much less publicity.
23 Oct 96
I'm someone who's been fascinated (even morbidly so) by
Scientology for many years now. The following comments may be a
bit of a quibble but after reading the text I can't just put them
aside.
In the third paragraph you mention that Scientology has no 'cosmological myths.' What, however, of the various stories of past star-spanning civilizations such as the Marcab Confederacy; the space-tyrant Xenu (or Xemu, take your choice); the 'loyal officers' who defeated and imprisoned him in the so-called 'Wall of Fire' (the notorious incident which happened 75 trillion years ago which involved detonation of h-bombs near well-known volcanoes which didn't even exist and is supposed to be the root cause of all humanity's current travail) and who are echoed today by the Scientology 'monastic' order, the Sea Organization? Would those not suffice as such myths, or do I misuse the definition?
reply: These stories sound like the stuff of fantasy and science fiction. Some might find such stories interesting, entertaining or even enlightening. The stories may even be myths. But they're not cosmological, i.e., they are not an attempt to answer fundamental ontological questions about the nature or origin of the cosmos (universe), such as "Why is there something rather than nothing?" Or "How did the cosmos originate?" "Is there a creator of the universe?" etc.
As I said, the above is really quibbling on my part, I'm sure. On the whole, the entry draws connections I've only speculated about with my limited (and largely self-) philosophical training. To put a point on it, I've always understood that LRH really only badly reinvented the wheel, just not exactly how. Now, however, I have a clue. Thanks.
And I cannot but agree that no matter how Scientology
positions itself in the lives of its followers, it is not a
religion at all.
Justin the Blue
23 Dec 1996
I just want to say that Scientology got me off drugs when I was a
teenager and has given me a purposeful direction in life.
I have a strong desire to actually DO something about some of the problems of our society rather than just talk about them. I know that Narconon (the drug rehab that uses L. Ron Hubbard's technology) is an effective solution to addiction since it saved my friend's life from alcoholism. While I worked there, it also saved the life of a man who had been addicted to injectable methadone for 14 years! I also know that Criminon (the criminal rehab that uses LRH technology) is effective, as is Applied Scholastics (LRH's education technology and teaching method) in combatting illiteracy. These are just a few of the solutions that LRH discovered and made available to anyone who wishes to use them. For more details, have a look at http://www.scientology.org.
By telling people about these solutions (incidentally, none of which have anything to do with religion or belief in anything), I know I can make the world a safer, saner and happier place for all.
John Wood
Read on for some more comments from Mr. Wood.
28 Jan 1997
According to the US government, courts in many countries around the world and academic experts, Scientology is a bona fide religion.
reply: According to our Constitution, the U.S. government is not supposed to make any laws respecting religion, which I take to mean that the government is not legally allowed to define what is or isn't a religion. I've never taken a vow of silence on the matter of defining religion. Neither did L. Ron Hubbard. As for the rest of the world, they can call Scientology anything they want. Finally, I have yet to see an academic expert who has published a book on world religions which even mentions Scientology, much less considers it to be a religion. When the historians of religion start calling Scientology a religion, I may change my mind.
Who says myths have anything to do with it?
reply: Scientology has fantasies, not myths. A religion without myths is a mythtery to me.
Our creed can be found at the back of the "What is Scientology" book. It redefines the word "ethics" and puts the subject to practical use for individuals and helps countless organisations around the world succeed in business.
reply: Secular humanists have a creed, too. That doesn't make secular humanism a religion. I have to admit, though, that if your new ethics is aimed at making money, then you are in harmony with many Christians who seem to think that God shows His love by making people rich.
There is nothing obscure in Scientology - it is all extremely precise and exact. There is no dogma in Scientology. Yes, LRH was a science fiction writer. So what? Jesus was a carpenter.
reply: There is nothing obscure in the kabbala, either. And I used to be a taxi driver.
I haven't had a chance to read the rest of this page but if it is as inaccurate as the first paragraph, I urge you to delete it immediately. The information I have provided is not difficult to find. It's available on our web site and is in the "What is Scientology" book which can be found in almost every library in the world! You are, therefore, simply spreading lies, knowingly, about my religion. You're not anything to do with the German government are you by any chance?
Regards,
John Wood
reply: Be careful, John. There are scientologists in Germany, too. Some of them may even be in the government. As for deleting this page, sure John. Why not? I'll delete it just for you.
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