Eye-witness report on a Narconon facility

[ethercat]

From time to time, Fred Rice gets emails because of his http://crackpots.us website about narconon.  He posted the following from an email he recently received:

Subject: Eye-witness report Scientology NarCONon crimes
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:10:10 GMT

[Fredric Rice forward: The following has been edited a bit to remove
information which might be used by Scientology to identify and Fair Game
the individual in accordance with Scientology's Fair Game policy of
racketeering acts against whistleblowers et al.

I have asked the individual to file criminal charges with local and State
officials and to provide documentation to licencing authorities in formal
complaints.

Everything else other than formatting has not been altered in any way.

Some of the information was apparently transfered from written notes which
were made either while Scientology was committing these acts against this
person, or were written afterwards, when the person managed to acquire
unobserved time away from the Scientology crooks.

Almost everything being reported is common within the Scientology
"NarCONon" fraudulent "drug treatment" scam offices, crimes which
Scientology engages in daily against drug and alcohol addicts knowing that
State and Federal officials have abrogated all responsibility for shutting
these frauds down and putting these crooks in jail. However there may be
information here that is new and informative enough to possibly get some
of these crooks put in prison. -- April 2010]

-=- Begin eye-witness report -=-

I have been reading everything I can online about Narconon.
 
I will give you as much info that I have and maybe you can offer some
advice.
 
My name is MM and I was sent to Albion MI for an serious alcohol problem.
That was on XX-XX-09. I questioned everything including repeatedly asking
is this Scientology and why wasn't I told.

In order for me not to talk to the new people about my concerns, I was
shipped off to a shelter in Kalamazoo. XX-XX-10.
 
I spoke to a rep at Battle Creek (Nick Thiel) on XX-XX-09 about the place.
I was told I would get 4 one-on-counseling sessions, healthy diet,
exercise, sauna, supplements, etc.
 
I was told to quit my Rx head meds cold turkey. [XXXX and XXX -- the names
of the medication have been redacted -- flr] I wouldn't be needing them
anymore. Little did I know you can't even get aspirin. All is cured by the
sauna program.
 
Nick Thiel, on the phone XX-XX-09, couldn't describe the program to me
because it was all based on individual needs. Not true! Everyone goes
through the 8 intro books to Scientology and the Sauna.

Nick Thiel is now head of Ethics at Albion Narconon.  He is also a
Scientology. He is the main reason I was banished to a shelter. He knows
from history from selling this program to myself and my parents. My folks
are in there XXs and I was homeless. Meaning, I don't have any money to
help with legally going after them.
 
My comments and complains...

1. Bullbaiting - you can use any language you want to get a
   reaction from your "twin". That includes using race, religion, sexual
   ID, gender.

   I could not believe a person of color is allowed to be called nigger!!
   Fags are a source of laughter.

   Sat there while a woman was told her pussy smell. The list goes on.

   I reported the Narconon staff instrutor who did a sissy gay man for
   fun. All the kids just thought it was a riot. You have it just sit
   there and not react. This is suposed to stop you from drinking and
   drugging?!
 
2. Medical (nurse) was there from 9am until 9pm. For the most
   part. No one was medically training in the withdrawn unit. If you were
   detoxing you only had a just graduated student to deal with. No or
   little or late medical attention.

   Their head nurse just lost her nursing license because she was stealing
   Rx meds used for withdrawn patients.
 
3. Saved and dispensed old students Rx meds. I myself received
   a past students high blood pressure meds. It was the same Rx.
 
4. Meds sometimes given out by non medical staff.
 
5. Smoking is done by staff in offices. They allow smoking in
   the building in the women's lounge and rec room. Those rooms have small
   exhaust fans. It really does get the smoke out.

   Being a nonsmoker I had to beg for a nonsmoking women's lounge. Took 2
   1/2 weeks. I've never smoked and that would have been one of the many
   reasons not to go to Narconon.

   All common outside areas allowed smoking.
 
6. Extended amounts of time in the sauna. I assumed when they
   talked about the sauna, I would be spending about a 1/2 hour a day in
   there. I ended up in it for a month and a half.

   Up to 5 hours a day.

   My niacin dose went from 100mg to 2,000mg.

   Lucky for me I only had the painful full body flush once. Lucky I
   didn't have to go for the full 5,000mg.
 
7. Vans the silver mini vans is missing it's passager side
   headlight. The windshield is cracked in 3 placed. Been that ways since
   I arrived XX-XX-09 red van doesn't have any heat. The windows are left
   down to defrost the windshield.
 
8. Went thru a serious bout of depression. Told staff I just want
   to kill myself. I was threatened with a Ethics cycle (punishment)
   Begged and finially receive a nature anti-depression called 5-HTP.
   Never saw a Doc. of any kind.
 
9. Cleaning supplies where handed out on Sat. morning for "all
   hands cleaning". They were then put away.
 
10. Repeated requested for handsoap, towels, and toilet paper
   were ignored.
 
11. One security guard (just graduated student) for the whole
   building. That the time I left there was about 88 students.
 
12. Out of 3 washers/dryers we usually only had 1 set.
 
13. Once a dryer was smoking so bad it filled the hallway. The
   fire alarm never went off.
 
14. Fuck was often used by staff in the class room. I had
   to be there!!
 
15. No gloves or hairnets used by the kitchen staff in making
   or serving the food.
 
16. Once you signed the contract you were not given a copy
   even if you requested.
 
The reason I was told I was suspended was for complaining about Narconon,
Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. They only cared if I spoke to the new people.
The ones that would demand their money back.

I also found on the permises a book by L. Ron and was told it's religous
in nature. And the problem is they can't have anything like that on the
property.

Another student found a Scientology Ethic book. Both were found after
searching that student's room. I did mange to keep the cover of the book I
found. It's now with me at the shelter.
 
I did the best I could. Under a time limited here at the XXXX Library.
 
I did go to the [newspaper -- flr] and the Human Rights for Rehabs in MI.
They both will be getting back to me.
 
I want to inform others of their lies.  I believe Narconon is harmful.

I do know that 48 of about 60 male students decided to go over the heads
of Narconon Albion and write their complaints to Narconon International.
 
XX

-=- End eye-witness report -=-

[mefree]

Dangerous conditions and treatment all the way around, as described.

Let's see......where shall we begin?

The client or "student" alleges the following:

• one nurse without a license and one for 12 out of 24 hours
• megadoses of vitamins that are potentially damaging
• lengthy periods of time in a sauna
• sudden withdrawal of psychiatric and or antidepressant meds
• client/student becomes depressed and suicidal
• no examination by a physician - never saw one
• staff sharing clients regular medications with other clients

I'm afraid many of the complaints will end up in someone's circular file.

[Lorelei]

Well, any complaints about a Narconon subsidiary going uplines to Narconon Int'l is going to hit the circular file. IF it gets there.

MAYBE the complaint to the newspaper and HR for Rehabs might get some attention. Perhaps sending them info about how this young man is not the only "student" complaining about the same exact things, same issues, same problems, same lack of adequate care, same cult indoctrination, same dangerous quackery, etc.

[Ultrapoet]

Bullbaiting - you can use any language you want to get a
   reaction from your "twin". That includes using race, religion, sexual
   ID, gender.

   I could not believe a person of color is allowed to be called nigger!!
   Fags are a source of laughter.

   Sat there while a woman was told her pussy smell. The list goes on.

   I reported the Narconon staff instrutor who did a sissy gay man for
   fun. All the kids just thought it was a riot. You have it just sit
   there and not react.

Is is awful of me that my thought on reading this was "Huh.  Sounds a bit like /b/."

[Lorelei]

Not awful, but slightly inaccurate. (Slightly.)

From what I gather in my mode as Internet Lurk Queen (here, there and everywhere), /b/tards (and similar "anything goes" / rough and tumble groups online) use loaded, offensive words, in part, to defuse them of their power to shock and hurt. If everyone is an [insert epithet here], then it ceases to be a way to stigmatize a specific group.

Of course, not all /b/tards appear to be capable of grasping that concept, or scoff at the idea because it isn't being offensive just to be offensive (for the LULZ, always). Also, because it is likely that people outside of the group won't grasp it either, it is unwise to forget where one is and drop "chanslang" without taking the potential audience into account, and having some tact and sensitivity.

One thing being subjected to a constant flow of abuse that may or may not have any truth to it (for who can tell who is what, when everyone is named "Anonymous"?) is likely to do is to toughen people up, and to underscore that it's just the Internetz, they should really just relax. The downside is that people can also get desensitized to the potential those words have to wound.

The latter state is what the cult apparently seeks to achieve: drilling recruits with verbal abuse until they no longer flinch at anything they hear directed their way. Ideally, I suppose, an indoctrinated cultist will not only be able to ignore insults, but also ignore inconvenient information they may hear as being "insulting" to their so-called "religion." It shuts down the little trigger most people have when confronted with loaded words or illogic or uncomfortable information. it's probably good to make that button less easy to push and less accessible to just anyone, but it is a bad idea to remove the button altogether. Sometimes our reactions to what we are told are a warning sign that something is not OK, or not making sense, or simply not "right" in some way.

AFAICT, /b/ has no desire to recruit anyone, and, in fact, is not welcoming to n00bs who make the mistake of being OBVIOUSLY new. Also, if you are offended by /b/, /b/ does not, AFAIK, give a crap. All the better, to keep the easily offended out of the /b/tard clubhouses.

Personally, I find it useful when I find myself offended by something. It makes me ask myself why. It works not as a thought-STOPPING event, but as a thought-PROVOKING event.

/b/ is like Duchamp's urinal sculpture, if you could go back in time to when it was new. (Not too long ago, album covers, including a Rolling Stones cover and, IIRC, a Mamas and Papas cover, both got censored because they pictured a bathroom / toilet. Now you can see D-list celebrities sitting on the can to sell Candi's shoes and people may find it tasteless or tacky, but it doesn't get censored or, frankly, stir up much outrage or discussion.) The amount of self-awareness (and deliberate outrageousness to stir up discussion and action) from one /b/tard to the next is likely to vary widely, of course.

In short, one goal of the bullbaiting technique in Sci and its front groups is to teach recruits thought-STOPPING techniques and behaviors, and obedience. One goal of anarchistic collections of /b/tards and similar types of rowdy netizens is to be outrageous and fun, and outrage has always been a good way to provoke discussion and feelings and thoughts. Various groups of crazy artists and writers and musicians have figured that out, and competed to up the ante and challenge how "norms" or "mundanes" or "outsiders" viewed the arts, and the world itself.

When /b/tards start seeking to STOP their friends and foes from thinking and reacting and debating, then I will be concerned. Until then, I see their use of offensive terms and behaviors as being different from how the cult uses the same terms and behaviors. /b/ WANTS reactions and thinking, the cult tries to stifle reactions and thinking.

IMVHO, as always. And, as I am not a /b/tard, one may pop up to disagree utterly with my opinion, and that's fine by me, too. Also, one can get a decent peek into how the /b/ hivemind operates by skimming Encyclopaedia Dramatica, which ranges from hysterically funny and surprisingly intelligent social commentary, parody, homage and satire to puerile bathroom humour and grossness / pr0n / gore and idiocy (there's a reason ED editors are called EDiots).

[ethercat]

So I guess scientology's "TR0-Bullbait" could be shortened to "TR0 /b/" somewhat accurately?     Was Hubbard the original /b/tard?

These examples are not out of sync with other stories I have read about TR0-Bullbait. 

From Cyril Vosper's book, The Mind Benders, here, http://www.suburbia.net/~fun/scn/books/vosper/07.html, the instruction is this:

    "HUBBARD COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE BULLETIN OF APRIL 29, 1963.

    MODERNISED TRAINING DRILLS
    USING PERMISSIVE COACHING

    "NUMBER: T-R 0. Revised 1961 and 1963

    "NAME: Confronting Preclear.

    "COMMANDS: None.

    "POSITION: Student and coach sit facing each other a comfortable distance apart - about three feet. Student has an E-meter.

    "PURPOSE: to train student to confront a preclear with auditing only or with nothing. The whole idea is to get the student able to hold a position three feet in front of a preclear, to BE there and not do anything else but BE there.

    "TRAINING STRESS: Have student and coach sit facing each other, neither making any conversation or effort to be interesting. Have them sit and look at each other and say and do nothing for some hours. Student must not speak, fidget, giggle or be embarrassed or anaten. [Scientologese for Analytical-Attenuation.] It will be found the student tends to confront WITH a body part rather than just confront, to use a system of confronting rather than just BE there. The drill is misnamed if confront means to DO something to the pc. The whole action is to accustom an auditor to BEING THERE three feet in front of a preclear without apologising or moving or being startled or embarrassed or defending self. After a student has become able to just sit there for two hours, 'bull-baiting' can begin. Anything added to being there is queried by a coach with a 'What happened?' Twitches, blinks, sighs, fidgets, anything except just being there is promptly queried with the reason why, if necessary."

By way of explanation; the coach is instructed to "bullbait" as follows: "The coach may say anything or do anything except leave the chair. The student's buttons can be found and tromped [sic] on hard. Any words not coaching words may receive no response from the student. Instructors should have coaches let students have some wins (coach does not mention these) and then, by gradient stress, get the coaches to start in on the student to invite flunks. This is 'bull-baiting.' The student is queried each time he or she reacts, no matter how minutely, to being baited. The whole of T-R 0 should be taught rough-rough-rough and not left until the student can do it. Training is considered satisfactory at this level only if the student can BE three feet in front of a person without flinching, concentrating or confronting with, regardless of what the confronted person says or does."

Extraordinary these instructions may sound, yet T-R 0 is one of the set of T-R's which have been around for years and is regarded as absolutely essential if one is to be able to handle a preclear with the correct degree of attention combined with self-disciplined separateness that is the essence of the auditor's attitude.

    "HISTORY: Developed by L. Ron Hubbard in Washington in March 1957 to train students to confront preclears in the absence of social tricks or conversation and to overcome obsessive compulsions to be 'interesting'. Revised 1963 by Reg Sharpe."

Needless to say, this T-R more than any other is applicable to life at large and is not confined to the auditing room. Meet a Scientologist in everyday life and you will invariably find that he looks at you in a most disconcerting way. His level gaze and expressionless face will give a creepy feeling he is looking right into your innermost soul. He isn't but he looks as though he is. If he keeps saying "Thank you", "Good", "Fine", "Okay" and "Alright", often with no particular relevance to the train of conversation, he is giving you acknowledgements and you should feel grateful.

There are some stories (not all) about Bullbaiting as part of scientology training here:
http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/viewtopic.php?t=18826
http://www.exscientologykids.com/eskforums/viewtopic.php?t=283

The TRs are also used in Criminon and WISE.  I have to laugh a little (but not much) at the thought of businessmen and women provoking each other with sexual innuendo and schoolyard insults.

[SocialTransparency]

 Are these eyewitness reports available to the law enforcement through this site?

[mefree]

I did go to the [newspaper -- flr] and the Human Rights for Rehabs in MI.
They both will be getting back to me.

I would be curious as to the responses.

[ethercat]

Are these eyewitness reports available to the law enforcement through this site?

Sorry, ST, don't quite understand what you mean? 

I did go to the [newspaper -- flr] and the Human Rights for Rehabs in MI.
They both will be getting back to me.

Me too.  Who they will be getting back to is the writer of the email to Fred Rice, at least that is the way I understand it.


I would be curious as to the responses.