“A Little Bird Told Me” is a weekly op-ed column that will appear every Monday on Breaking Tweets. It is part of an effort to add more opinions to BT, with the addition of an international roundtable discussion also in the plans.
On Tuesday, Oct. 27, a French court ruled that certain practices by the Church of Scientology were classified as fraud under French law, imposing a number of heavy fines and threatening jail time to a few church members.
The ruling did not restrict the practice of Scientology within France, but warned church officials that they should be aware of and operate under French law.
Of course, bloggers from all corners of the internet celebrated upon hearing the news in their traditional way of mass tweeting and, honestly, I’m with them, but let’s hold on one second and go over why France’s condemnation of Scientology’s practices is a good thing.
Note: Whether Scientology’s teachings are legitimate will not be debated within this article. I’m not a theologian and, so, frankly it’s none of my business or expertise to root through one group’s faith trying to show how they’re wrong. Instead this is a look at why Scientology’s loss in France was an important, and ultimately good, blow to the church’s current operating structure.
So, sorry there will be no Xenu, South Park or Tom Cruise references here–no mater how hilarious they may or may not be.
Anyway…
So, trying to use twitterers to take a look at the French ruling on Scientology is actually quite difficult. Some time ago, for whatever reason, it seems the entire mass of voices that comprise the internet decided to take up arms against the Church of Scientology.
Which is actually pretty cool–usually no one can agree on anything–but it’s a real pain if you want someone to say something more than “The Church of Scientology is convicted of organized fraud in France. YAY!” as detentiondnb did along with many others following the news from France.
However, good for me there was at least one twitterer who took the time and spent the money–bless her–to buy a Dianetics DVD and then tweeted about her experience with it–thanks WrongEyedEar!
After viewing of the first DVD installment of Dianetics, WrongEyedEar made two conclusions.
First, that the church was making blatantly false statements about psychology and misleading vulnerable viewers–again I’m not going to go into that–and second, that the DVD seemed to be a marketing/money making tool.
AH! There it is!
For every line WrongEyedEar tweeted about false statements and misleading facts there was invariably also a tweet about product placement and production value.
WrongEyedEar’s concluding statement about the DVD I think perfectly captures the underlying issue here, “conclusion: Scientology is a pyramid scheme.”
She also added, “..also I’m disappointed there was nothing about Xenu–okay one Xenu reference–on the DVDs. How much I gotta pay to get some Xenu–maybe two–action?”
So, what does this mean?
WrongEyedEar’s observations about the introductory Scientology DVDs shows that the French ruling is probably not the “modern inquisition” Scientology officials are painting it out to be.
Instead it’s a rational conclusion about an organization that is structured to make a profit marketing their “monopoly” on the answer to happiness.
Scientologists have to pay to be tested in order to find out what’s troubling them, they have to pay for an introduction to the answer to their troubles, they have to pay to move up in the church and–as WrongEyedEar explains–they have to pay to learn all the aspects of that oh-so-important answer.
This is actually not that unusually of a scheme. Many of the world’s major religions developed similar structures at one point in time, but forced reform changed them from money making scams into a legitimate religious organization, focused on solving man’s problem of finding answers to the major lessons of life.
Anyway, getting back to Scientology, one twitterer advocating for the end of the Church of Scientology I think has the absolute right idea.
As they state in their first tweet, the IFreezoneAssoc–the official Twitter account of the International Freezone Association–promotes the Scientology Standard tech as an alternative to the out tech church–meaning, primarily, that they are promoting a free Scientology church.
The account simply tweets news about the organization’s activities as well as deemed important lessons from Scientology, including passages from Dianetics and quotes from Scientology’s founder L. Ron Hubbard.
It’s an interesting account that puts one of the first Scientology splinters groups on display, a major crack in Scientology’s total legitimacy.
What, then, I hope comes from the French decision is a fundamental change.
Whether that means a group like the IFA taking over as the legitmate Church of Scientology or the death of Scientology altogether is unimportant to me, the point is no organization should ever operate under the guise of “the answer” and simultaneously drip vulnerable people dry so that they can make a profit.
Earn that tax exempt status Church of Scientology; libraries can dole out answers for free why can’t you?
Tweets Referenced in Column
IFreezoneAssoc Welcome to the International Freezone Twitter page. We promote Scientology Standard tech. An alternative to the out tech church. detentiondnb The Church of Scientology is convicted of organized fraud in France. YAY! WrongEyedEar http://twitpic.com/nwmam – Ah, Sunday evening…time to curl up with my Dianetics DVD! WrongEyedEar 3 minutes in, they say memories/experiences from before you were born can have an adverse effect on you now – LIE, physically impossible. WrongEyedEar 8 minutes in…branding spotted so far: Apple, Blackberry, Sony… WrongEyedEar conclusion: Scientology is a pyramid scheme crock of shit wrapped in easy-to-understand concepts stolen from legit psychology… WrongEyedEar …also I’m disappointed there was nothing about Xenu on the DVDs. How much I gotta pay to get some Xenu action?
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