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[Lorelei]

Last week I was a "Fly in the Ointment" and now I am a "Joker and a Degrader."

LOL, cute.

Can you share the whole list and explain the inspirations behind the titles? So far, I understand them all, but there may be more to come that I don't.

[The Entity]

Here they are:

On the path to knowledge 0-24
Met Xenu 25-49
Fly in the Ointment 50-99
Joker and Degrader 100-149
Merchant of Chaos    150-199
Potential Trouble Source 200-249
Actual Trouble Source 250-349
Supressive Person    350-499
Hill 10 Situation    500-999
High Value Target 1000-4999
SCAMIZDAT 5000-9999
The Who >10000

[Lorelei]

Now we need to explain what all those mean.

[ethercat]

I'm quite sure there will be an explanation forthcoming, when the TP staff gets time to write them up.

[Lorelei]

Hey, now I am a Merchant of Chaos.

I feel like a superhero.

Or maybe I just talk too much on this forum.

[ethercat]

Hey, now I am a Merchant of Chaos.

I feel like a superhero.

Or maybe I just talk too much on this forum.

Talk too much on this forum?  No such thing, as long as you're saying something that educates, interests, or provokes thought - with content.  I'd like to see some of the quieter members talk more. 

[Lorelei]

Ooh, me, too!

I feel SO RONERY.

[wynot]

The one I don't get  is 'The Who` for 10000+...?

'til there is an answer;
wynot

[alias]

The posting levels are intended to in some way be a reference to scientology, in particular, scientology criticism.  The first three levels are simple in their meaning, but from the 4th level on, there is more history behind them, so they will be covered in more detail, in individual followups in this thread.

"On the path to knowledge" (0-24 posts) means just that: finding out, investigating.

"Met Xenu" (25-49 posts) implies someone who has done enough research into scientology to have run across the Xenu story, something which will happen at an early time in the research, thanks to the internet, journalists, and comedians, and despite scientology's best efforts to keep it secret.

"Fly in the ointment" (50-99 posts) is an idiom about 5 centuries old, which is thought to have originated from the King James Bible:

Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour --Ecclesiastes 10:1

but in current usage, means "a drawback, especially one that was not at first apparent."  On this forum, it is being used to indicate someone who is beginning to be a problem for scientology in one way or another.

[alias]

With "Joker and Degrader" (100-149 posts), we begin to get to the terms which either have their origin in L. Ron Hubbard's writings, are humorous alterations of Hubbard's terms, or have some meaning in the internet critical movement.

Joker and Degrader is based on Hubbard's Jokers and Degraders Policy, which is the primary cause of something most critics notice pretty quickly - scientologists have no sense of humor.

HCOB and HCOPL 5 February, 1977

A recent investigation however into the background and case condition of
a small handful of people who were joking about their posts and those
around them showed a somewhat more sinister scene.

Each of these persons fell into one or more of the following categories:

1. Were Rockslammers. (Some List 1.) [A rockslam is a meter read indicating hidden evil  intentions. List 1 is a list of items connected with Scientology, so a list 1 rockslammer is presumed to have secret intentions to harm Scientology.]

2. Were institutional type cases.

3. Were 'NCG'.  [No Case Gain, the only cause of which is continuous present time overts]

4. Were severely PTS [Potential Trouble Source] (connected to Rock-slammers). [This is actually 2 categories, since by Scn dogma all institutional cases are PTS, and 1 and 3 would both be considered SPs.]

It might be supposed that misunderstood word phenomena could also be part of this. The rebellious student in universities is usually handled by clearing up his misunderstoods or curing his hopelessness for his future. However, the investigation did not find that any of these jokers or degraders were acting that way solely because of misunderstood words, but
the possibility could not be ruled out.

Therefore all executives, HCO personnel and Case Supervisors as well as Qual personnel and Staff Section Officers have a valuable indicator. Where they have a joker or degrader on their hands they also have one or more of the above four conditions in that person."

Gerry Armstrong made a post to ARS which covered the history in a little more detail:

From: Gerry Armstrong <gerry@gerryarmstrong.org>
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Re: Find the Little Fakir® #3
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 01:47:35 +0200
Message-ID: <3jdsmv8a7as1jtd5144j7rh2fpc98bvm5e@4ax.com>

On 19 Sep 2003 14:51:54 -0700, ksw@techie.com (john carson) wrote:

>Dear Gerry,
>
>Funny guy :.)
>When Hubbard wrote the "Jokers and Degraders" policy in Feb. 1977,
>were you there? I just read it recently and it says he based his
>"investigation" on a handful of staff making jokes. I'm curiouse who
>were the original jokers in Feb 1977, maybe they are on ARS now.
>What was the joke that pissed off Hubbard so much that he had to ban
>jokes?
>
>Thanks, JC

Funnily enough, when Hubbard wrote this bulletin, I was on the RPF in
Clearwater, Florida, and he was at La Quinta, California. I had been
ordered to the RPF by him personally, which was no joke.

Hubbard wrote this bulletin during his biggest -- and utterly
psychotic -- List-1 R/S period, where literally hundreds of people
were being routed summarily to the RPF for R/Sing on a List-1 item. It
was nonsensical to request a Comm Ev because there was no "recourse."
How could a person possibly contest a sec checker's noted R/S in the
worksheets?

Ordering people to the cult's prison for a needle movement on a
"religious artifact" is a lot like sending people to prison because
the entrails of a duck were the wrong hue of green. But I'll save that
subject for another day for another essay on Hubbardian and
Scientological "religious" persecution and insanity.

L-1 -- also called "The Scientology List" -- which Hubbard invented
(and didn't discover) in 1962, contained, of course, the cult's terms,
plus Hubbard, Mary Sue, Founder, etc. See HCOB 24 November 1962
"Routine 2-12 List One - Issue One The Scientology List." An R/S on
L-1 meant -- so Hubbard said -- that the R/Ser had an evil intention
toward one of the subjects on the list.

There were other periods when the paranoid Hubbard targetted R/Sers,
all the way back to his invention (not discovery) of the list. When he
created (and didn't discover) the RPF in January 1974, he made "R/Ser"
the first reason or criterion for assignment. His 1976-78 L-1 R/S
witch hunt, as those of us who were there well know, completely
dwarfed his other periods of R/S paranoia.

It was during this period, of course, when Hubbard invented (and
didn't discover) the "Jokers and Degraders" bulletin. And in the
bulletin, the first item or criterion he invented for his categorizing
of J&Ders is "rock slammers."

Some time after I got out of the RPF, I heard that the original
"joker" who, as you say, pissed Hubbard off, was John Ausley.

I had known John on the "Apollo" in the early 1970's, when he was, I
believe, pretty well the whole time, in the Tech Div. I think he was a
Class 8, OT 7, and for some time the Tech Sec. And he was a funny guy.

His sister was Liz Ausley, now Liz Gablehouse, who was for some time a
Hubbard Personal PRO on board. The Ausleys, I believe, came from a
prominent family in Tallahassee involved in Florida State politics.

John escaped from the cult a couple of years before I did. I met him
once or twice I think in southern California when both of us were out
in the early 1980's. Free from Scientological suppression, he was
funnier than ever, and we shared some laughs over the history and
horror.

He confirmed that he was indeed the J&Der who had tripped Hubbard's
wire. I recall him saying something about the "small handful of people
who were joking about their posts" referred to in the bulletin being
Hubbard's BS attempt to obscure the fact that John was the sole joker
who was "investigated."

I think that after leaving the Sea Org John got down to some real
joking and degrading, and produced some cartoons and a bunch of
written material that poked great fun at Hubbard the Gasbag and his
ever-so-serious cult. John's J&D works would be very collectible now,
worth much more than a Hubbard/SO#1 letter from that period.

Here's John's Ex-Scientologist Correction List that was posted to
a.r.s. some years back:
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=boydroidD3sA4J.Lpy%40netcom.com&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain

Here's John on Hubbard the redneck:
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=JIKv6.1725%24JM2.155575%40dfiatx1-snr1.gtei.net&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain

And here's a post on his sudden death in 1995:
http://www.google.com/groups?selm=boydroidD3sB5D.MFL%40netcom.com&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain

One of the ironies for J&D aficionados is that John's wife Paulette
Ausley, originally Paulette Fisher, a Flag Class XII and auditor of
Hubbard himself, was the person the Fat Fraud sent on mission to find
all those R/Ss and route all those R/Sers to the RPF. See, e.g.,
http://warrior.offlines.org/1997-0702.html

After the number of staff in some orgs or units being assigned to the
RPF for R/Sing reached 70 percent or so, someone cognited that there
might be something wrong. So the RPFs were emptied out and Paulette
was busted and blamed for Hubbard's big paranoid screwup. Think about
it. If one Class XII is totally wrong over hundreds of sessions,
isn't it likely that the rest of the Class XIIs are at least half
wrong in at least half their sessions?

And speaking of logic, how about this from the frightfully forgetful
Hubbard six years before he invented (and didn't discover) his Joker
and Degrader bulletin:

A sense of humor is in part an ability to spot outpoints that
should be rejected from a body of data. In fact a sense of humor is
based on both rejection and absurd outpoints of all types.
--HCOPL 23 June 1970 "Data Series 10 The Missing Scene"

Continuing on, in 1973 Hubbard wrote:

Laughter is rejection, actually.

And humor you will find usually deals with one or another
outpoint put in such a way that the reader or audience can reject it.
--HCOPL 30 September 1973 "Data Series 30 Situation Finding"

Hubbard writes in his Joker and Degrader bulletin:

It is an old principle that people who do not understand
something occasionally make fun of it.

A recent investigation, however, into the backgrounds and case
condition of small handful of people who were joking about their posts
and those around them showed a somewhat more sinister scene.

Each of these persons fell into one or more of the following
categories:

1. Were rock slammers (some List 1).

2. Were institutional-type cases.

3. Were "NCG" (meaning no case gain) (the only cause of which
is continuous present time overts).

4. Were severely PTS (potential trouble source) (connected to
rock slammers).

.....

In some cultural areas, wit and humor are looked upon as a
healthy release. However, in the case of orgs, this was not found to
be the case. Intentional destruction of the org or fellow staff
members was the direct purpose.

Therefore, all executives, HCO personnel and Case Supervisors
as well as Qual personnel and Staff Section Officers have a valuable
indicator. Where they have a joker and degrader on their hands, they
also have one or more of the above four conditions.
--HCOB 5 February 1977 "C/S Series 100 Jokers and Degraders"

As Hubbard makes clear here, in Scientology paranoia trumps logic. The
truth is that he couldn't tolerate his philosphy, his "technology,"
his policies, his actions, his words or his organization being
examined for outpoints. Anyone with half a brain who applied actual
logic to Scientology and the Scientology cult would laugh his ass off.

And that is exactly what is needed and therapeutic for the cult and
for the Scientologists practising the cult's "tech" and way of life.
Yet Hubbard was so paranoid that he prevented Scientologists -- on
penalty of being labeled "J&Ders," or "R/Sers," or "NCGs," or "SPs,"
or "instutional cases," and being RPFed or off-loaded -- from
exercising their God-given ability to spot the outpoints that should
be rejected from the body of data in which they were involved, and in
which they had placed their trust for their futures.

Indeed, Hubbard wrote about the paranoia out of which he invented his
vilification of the logical folks who would joke about his tech and
cult in the same Data Series PLs in which he credited humor.

The fear of being illogical is a secret fear of being crazy or
insane.... Or at the least being thought a fool or dullard or at the
very, very least unworldly and uneducated.

.....

A person who feels queasy about his sanity really doesn't dare
look at outpoints or confront or use illogic. Yet it ~is~ the way to
full sanity itself.

For those who can still think, it should be obvious that Hubbard is
giving us here a whack of contrary facts. So let's have a great laugh
and reject his absurd outpoints from our data. The guy who is so
queasy about his sanity that he couldn't bear to have the people
around him look at outpoints, lest they laugh, and couldn't bear to
have people laugh, lest they were looking at his outpoints, is the guy
who most needs to be laughed at. The guy who is so terrified of
rejection of his outpoints that he is locking up jokers is the guy
whose outpoints most need rejecting.

For those who can still think, and aren't terrified at being thought a
fool but want full sanity, this would include the rejection of the
Jokers and Degraders outpoint, the R/Sers outpoint, and the whole
suppressive person-PTS doctrine. And if in rejecting these absurd
outpoints or absurd and pernicious doctrines all of Scientology must
be rejected, then have a huge laugh about that. Remember, if it isn't
funny it isn't true.

Applying Hubbard's Jokers and Degraders bulletin to the man himself,
it can be logically concluded that there is no wit and humor in his
$cientology "scriptures," since he would never act on the direct
purpose of intentionally destroying his organization or his staff
(would he?). Therefore we can know that when he orders R 2-45 be run
on people he's not joking. He really means to assassinate them. When
he says that he's the "Prince of Darkness," he's deadly serious.

He's either not joking, or he's intentionally seeking to destroy the
org and staff members. Any other possibility would be an outpoint, and
must be rejected. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

In 1978, a year after he invented the J&D label, I was myself the
victim of Hubbard's paranoid application of his own paranoid policy.
He got the idea that I and five other crew members were making fun of
his movie-making and he assigned us all to the RPF at the La Quinta
base for joking and degrading. Here are the Findings & Recommendations
from a Comm Ev convened after the assignment:
http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/cult/findings-recs-1978-10-04.html
http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/cult/1978-co288-1-f-r-comm-ev-ga.pdf
In truth, I wasn't joking at all, so I spent eight months on the RPF
because of Hubbard's silly paranoia and had to live with his wrong
indication.

Scientology's labelling someone wrongly an R/Ser, or an SP, or a Joker
and Degrader, causes that wrongly labelled person to be that evil
thing in the minds of all Scientologists. In reality, all such labels
by Scientology are wrong, because these identities are all wrong.
There are no such things as R/Sers, SPs or J&Ders as Scientology
teaches and as Scientologists believe there are. All these evil beings
are the inventions (not discoveries) of the paranoid mind of L. Ron
Hubbard.

It is no laughing matter to be identified and labeled an R/Ser, SP or
J&Der because along with the label comes fair game. And fair game, of
course, is justified by the label. But what can anyone do who is so
hated by fifty thousand Scientologists that they would welcome, and
indeed seek, his death? What can anyone do who is the target of fifty
thousand fanatics who are not permitted to see the outpoints in their
hatred and evil purposes? What can be done about fifty thousand
Scientologists who are so afraid of being crazy or insane and so
queasy about their sanity that they really don't dare look at
outpoints or confront illogic?

Well pity them, of course. Forgive them, of course. Be willing to be
there and communicate logically and sanely, of course. Stand up to
them, of course. And joke about their absurd outpoints. Of course.

So, how many Scientologists does it take to change a light bulb
anyway?

Well Scientology says there are eight million Scientologists, all of
whom believe that the whole agonized future of this planet, every man,
woman and child on it, and their own destiny for the next endless
trillions of years depend on what they do here and now with and in
changing the light bulb. Unless that light bulb is NCG, in which case
it must be disposed of quietly and without sorrow.

© Gerry Armstrong
http://www.gerryarmstrong.org

[alias]

"Merchant of Chaos" (150-199 posts) is a derogatory label given by Hubbard and scientologists to journalists and others, shown in the Scientology Handbook at http://www.scientologyhandbook.org/SH12_2.HTM .

There are those who could be called “merchants of chaos.” These are people who want an environment to look very, very disturbing. These are people who gain some sort of advantage, they feel, if the environment is made to look more threatening.

An obvious example can be seen in newspapers. There are no good news stories. Newspapermen shove the environment in people’s faces and say, “Look! It’s dangerous. Look! It’s overwhelming. Look! It’s threatening.” They not only report the most threatening bits of news, but also sensationalize it, making it worse than it is. What more do you want as a proof of their intention? This is the merchant of chaos. He is paid to the degree that he can make the environment threatening. To yearn for good news is foolhardy in a society where the merchants of chaos reign.

The chaos merchant has lots of troops among people with vested interests.

And do not think it an accident that the current justice system will take a dangerous criminal, throw him into prison, make him more antisocial and more dangerous and then release him upon the society. The more crime, the more police are needed.

Ideas of this kind are found in the society to a marked degree. It isn’t just the newspaper reporter or the politician; individuals here and there also engage upon this.

A lot of people spend their whole lives as professional chaos merchants; they worry those around them to death. The percentage who do this may be as high as one out of four. For example, a housewife, operating as a merchant of chaos in her sphere of influence, thinks of her husband, “If I can just keep Henry worried enough, he will do what I tell him.” She operates on the idea that it is necessary to spread confusion and upset. But along with this goes a concern, “I wonder why Henry doesn’t get ahead?” Naturally, she is making him sick.

The truth of the matter, however, is this: the environment is not as dangerous, ever, as it is made to appear. Instead, tremendous numbers of people and vast amounts of money are manufacturing a dangerous environment. In fact, in the 1960s a huge proportion of the national budget of the United States was dedicated to atomic war. But if they hadn’t developed the threat, there would not have been one. The money that financed the horror was busy supporting the horror.

It is not to the advantage of those who get their income, appropriations or public interest from the amount of disturbance to make a peaceful environment.

Obviously, to those familiar with scientology, this description of the "Merchants of Chaos" starts to look a lot like what scientology is itself, considering the way the non-scientology world is presented in scientology advertising, and the attitudes of scientologists - that the world is a dark and ominous place, for which only scientology has the answers for improvement. 

Further searching will, no doubt, bring up a lot of interesting examples of the use of the term "Merchants of Chaos" by scientology.

[alias]

In order to define a Potential Trouble Source (PTS, 200-249 posts), it is somewhat necessary to briefly define Suppressive Person (SP) first, because Hubbard said that people who are PTS are connected to SPs and influenced by them.

The Scientology Glossary defines SP as follows:

suppressive person: a person who possesses a distinct set of characteristics and mental attitudes that cause him to suppress other people in his vicinity. This is the person whose behavior is calculated to be disastrous. Also called antisocial personality.

Coincidentally, all people who criticize scientology for any length of time are considered SPs by scientology.

PTS is defined in the Scientology Glossary this way:

potential trouble source: a person who is in some way connected to and being adversely affected by a suppressive person. Such a person is called a potential trouble source because he can be a lot of trouble to himself and to others.

On this forum, we consider a "Potential Trouble Source" to be a member who has the potential to be a great source of trouble to scientology, one who has surpassed the "Merchant of Chaos" level of telling other people how dangerous scientology is, and has progressed to the more active state of researching and proving just how threatening and disturbing scientology is to society and individuals.

"Actual Trouble Source" (250-349 posts) is not an actual defined scientology term, but an invented play on words of the PTS label, created for fun.  We mocked it up.     It describes someone who has not just the potential, but the ability and desire to cause a lot of problems for scientology. 

[alias]

The "Suppressive Person" (350-499 posts) is described by scientology to be made up of those "who possess characteristics and mental attitudes that cause them to violently oppose any betterment activity or group" and "supports only destructive groups."  There are a number of other qualities which describe an SP, and there are special rules in scientology as to how an SP can and must be treated and dealt with.  Suppressive acts are defined in the Scientology Glossary at the scientology PR oriented website as:

"the overt or covert actions or omissions knowingly and willfully undertaken to suppress, reduce, prevent or destroy case gains, and/or the influence of Scn on activities, and/or the continued Scn success and actions on the part of organizations actions and Scientologists."

But in the Dianetics and Scientology Dictionary which is used by scientologists, it is defined this way:

"SUPPRESSIVE PERSON:

    1. he's solving a present time problem which hasn't in actual fact existed for the last many trillenia in mose cases, and yet he is taking the actions in present time which solve that problem. The guy's totally stuck in present time. That is the whole anatomy of psychosis. (SH Spec 61, 6505C18

    2. a person who rewards only down statistics and never rewards an up statistic. He goofs up or vilifies any effort to help anybody and particularly knifes with violence anything calculated to make human beings more powerful or intelligent. A suppressive automatically and immediately will curve any betterment activitity into something evil and bad. (SH Spec 73, 6608C02)

    3. a person who doesn't get case gain because of continuing overts. (SH Spec 67, 6509C21)

    4. the person is in a mad, howling situation of some yesteryear and is "handling it" by committing overt acts today. I say conditin of yesteryear but this case thinks its today. (HCO PL5 Apr 65)

    5. an SP is a no confront case because, not being in his own valence he has no viewpoint from which to erase anything. That is all an SP is. (HCO PL 20 Oct 67)

    6. those who are destructively antisocial. (HCO PL 20 Oct 67)

    7. a person with certain behavior characteristics and who suppresses other people in his vicinity and those other people when he suppresses them become PTS or potential trouble sources. (SH Spec 78, 6608C25)

    8. is one that actively seeks to suppress or damage Scientology or a Scientologist by suppressive acts. (ISE, p. 48)"

There are a lot of unpleasant Hubbard (and Miscavige) quotes regarding SPs, here are a few:

"ENEMY SP Order. Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed." - L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, 18 October 1967

"The practice of declaring people FAIR GAME will cease. FAIR GAME may not appear on any Ethics Order. It causes bad public relations. This P/L does not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an SP." - L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, 21 October 1968, "Cancellation of Fair Game"

The homes, property, places and abodes of persons who have been active in attempting to suppress Scientology or Scientologists are all beyond any protection of Scientology Ethics, unless absolved by later Ethics or an amnesty.
...
"A truly Suppressive Person or group has no rights of any kind and actions taken against them are not punishable." - L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, 1 March 1965, HCO (Division 1) "Ethics, Suppressive Acts, Suppression of Scientology and Scientologists"

"2001 saw us shooting down SPs like ducks in a pond." - David Miscavige International Scientology News

Robert Vaughn Young wrote an article called Hubbard's SPs/Hitler's Jews that discusses scientology's use of the SP label.

We consider a forum member at "Suppressive Person" level to be one who has, in scientology's own words, "knowingly and willfully undertaken to suppress, reduce, prevent or destroy" scientology itself, its influence, and that of its front groups as well.

[alias]

"Hill 10 Situation" (500-999 posts) is a term used by scientology to describe a serious situation or problem for Scientology requiring immediate attention.  This term is not in the public Scientology Glossary, being considered, I suppose, to be insider language or jargon which would have no meaning for people not members (or critics) of scientology. 

Forum members at this level have undoubtedly gotten the attention of scientology's dirty tricks division, the Office of Special Affairs (OSA), formerly referred to as the Guardians Office, and still referred to by insiders and knowledgeable ex-members as "Department 20." 

This attention is not something to worry about as much as in the past, but something to be considered more as a badge of honor. 

(Interestingly, my search for "Hill 10 Situation" on google puts this very thread at the #10 spot.) 

Some things which have been considered to be Hill 10 Situations for scientology are listed by Tory Christman (Magoo) on this page: http://www.torymagoo.org/hill10.htm , and she reaches some interesting conclusions about the reason there are so many "Hill 10 Situations" in scientology.  It is well worth the time to read it.

[alias]

"High Value Target" (1000-4999 posts) is actually not a scientology term, but a US Military term, meaning "a target (a person or resource) that an enemy commander requires for completion of a mission." 

Since scientology (and some critics, too) see the public education and scientology erradication efforts as a "war," we (RFTTP forum staff) consider that this is a good term for someone who scientology would very much like to take out of the picture in any way they can. 

They will attempt to discredit this person, distract this person with something other than scientology, harass this person into giving up their efforts against scientology, 3rd party this person into losing any leadership s/he may have with peers, or any other method that might work to stop them.  Onlookers should not be fooled by these attempts, if and when they see them occuring, but should recognize them for what they are.

This will also be a highly valued forum member for us, not as a target, but as a comrade and an ally, and in most cases, as a friend.

[programmer_guy]

The one I don't get  is 'The Who` for 10000+...?

'til there is an answer;
wynot

Just guessing:
"The Who" = "Won't Get Fooled Again"

Edit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUbGLVvfB7Y

BTW, here is Eddie playing that tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x122AkW4CyI&feature=related

[Lorelei]

I want to be The Who, so I can scream in the background when David Caruso takes his sunglasses on and off.
 
Actually, I just really like The Who, and have since I was in elementary school (where I preferred the Who's original "Pinball Wizard" to Elton John's version). Growing up loving "Tommy" (among other things) has partially contributed to the irritating knowitall music-obsessed persona I now flaunt with pride, and to my sideline career as a DJ.


I suspect that "The Who" in this case refers to a problem with a specific person that a Scientologist is supposed to uncover (through introspection, peer pressure, and mild zaps from a voltometer), identify as undesirable, and "audit out" / Disconnect from as a Potential Trouble Source preventing them from progressing further up the Bridge To Total Insolvency.


There are probably "The What"s as well, where the roadblock the Scientologist gets to blame (rather than the supposedly all-mighty infallible tech) is a thing and not a being.


Those are my guesses. I'm sure the exes on here will set me straight if I am wrong.


"Scamizdat a portmanteau of the words scam and samizdat, was the name coined by Grady Wardto a series of articles containing the writings of the Church of Scientology, both confidential and non-confidential, that were anonymously posted to the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology in 1995. Scamizdat was a major feature of the Scientology versus the Internet controversy, and the true identity of the person or persons responsible is still unknown. The Scamizdat articles were wholesale copies of articles, books, and confidential briefings to which the Church of Scientology claimed copyright.  As the articles were posted via anonymous remailer, it was not possible to determine the true identity of the poster or posters. In 1996 the Religious Technology Center, the arm of the Church of Scientology responsible for policing its intellectual property, sued a critic named Grady Ward, alleging that he was responsible for Scamizdat. Grady Ward had been particularly vocal in taunting the Church online for its inability to stop Scamizdat, and had publicly requested that people send him confidential writings of the Church of Scientology on several occasions, although he denied any intention to use the material in a way that infringed copyright. The lawsuit was eventually settled with stipulated judgment being entered in favor of RTC, but no admission of liability by Grady Ward." --Wikipedia
"Samizdat (Russian: самиздат; Russian pronunciation: [səmɨˈzdat]) was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet-bloc; individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader, thus building a foundation for the successful resistance of the 1980s. This grassroots practice to evade officially imposed censorship was fraught with danger as harsh punishments were meted out to people caught possessing or copying censoredmaterials. Vladimir Bukovskydefined it as follows: "I myself create it, edit it, censor it, publish it, distribute it, and get imprisoned for it." -- Wikipedia

I love the "shout-out" to ARS, who were fighting the good fight before some Anonymous were out of training pants. I'm just sayin'.


Found:


"If you're receiving straight processing you may be asked, at almost any level, a general question such as: "Who might want to harm *blank*?" blank being an object, place, or person. And then you would be asked a list of a hundred items, each of which would match with something or someone who might want to harm that object, place, or person. The object which might be harmed is located, and then the "Who" of the question is located.All of these drills and processes bring you closer to handling L. Ron Hubbard's predetermined concepts of what does or does not exist, with facility. *Power processing*, which is Grade V-VA, is based on mental manipulation of simple questions, as for example in the first part of Grade V, where one might be asked "What is no-source?" " -- http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/malko/6.htm

Sorry for the horizontal rules, but otherwise the forum piles everything into one long, unbroken paragraph.

[programmer_guy]

ethercat,

Inquiring minds want to know what inspired "The Who" posting level.
Would one of your buddies please tell us? 

[ethercat]

Lorelei has the correct answer.  Scientology, because they cannot accept responsibility for the consequences of what they do, always has to look outward for the responsible party - The Who - and will seek out the person most likely to be responsible. 

So we put "The Who" as the top person on the posting levels.

I also like your idea of "Won't Get Fooled Again," though, as well as "Iiii'm FREE! and freedom tastes of reality."