Thoughts from a spectator at Friday's hearing

Scientology is real to me now. I had been following the debacle on usenet since the first newspaper article appeared in February, following it with more emotion than I'd applied before to a mere newsgroup, but like every one of you I appended a kind of truth-percentage to every word written, that percentage having an unreached asymptote of 100. Because I was sitting at my desk, after all, and a million things to do remained undone, as I hit the space bar again and again in widening horror. Then Friday it came to me. It was real.

It came when I looked into Helena Kobrin's concentration- camp-director's stare. It came when the defense lawyer first said the word 'Scientology' (and I noted the prosecution said the word as little as possible while the defense used it is much as possible without being obvious about it). It came when Cooley jumped up with his objection, as I knew he would before too many more secrets of Xenu were revealed, and I thought, it's true, it's true, and if *this* is true then *all*the* rest*of*it*...

But you guys already know that. Please welcome a latecomer to the off-kilter world of Scientology, who had been behind a desk, who had comfortably thought the Nazis as the last great example of Narcissistic self-deception, and who experienced an awakening that day.

And thanks.

Rob

-- . (.signature at 50 meters)