Re: Harlan Ellison on $cientology

henry (anon2c9e@nyx10.cs.du.edu) wrote: > originally transcribed by an133674@anon.penet.fi (Roger Waters)
>
> The following excerpt was taken from a magazine called
> _Saturday Evening Wings_, which was printed for awhile in
> the 1970s. _Wings_ described itself as "Wings -- The New
> Age Satire Magazine". The issue this excerpt was taken from
> was the Nov.-Dec. '78 issue. It is of great interest, because
> Harlan Ellison, a rather famous science fiction writer, claims
> to have been present the night L. Ron Hubbard decided to write
> _Dianetics_.
>
> Wings Interview: The Real Harlan Ellison (page 32).
> [biograph. data snipped]
> Ellison: Scientology is bullshit! Man, I was there the
> night L. Ron Hubbard invented it, for Christ Sakes! [snip]
Let's see. Ellison was born on 5/27/1934. Hubbard came up with Scientology in late 1948. So Ellison was 14 at the time. Not impossible, of course, but sufficiently unusual to require independent confirmation, something that I haven't seen so far.

> And then he conned John Campbell, who was crazy as a thousand
> battlefields. I mean, he believed any goddamned thing.
Rereading Campbell's editorials/letters and Ellison's numerous articles/speeches - like this one - tends to reinforce my impression that it wasn't Campbell who was crazy.

> He really believed blacks were inferior. I mean he really believed
> that. He was also very nervous when I was in his office because I
> was a Jew. You know, he was afraid maybe I would spring
> horns or something.
Most curious. Asimov - who, unlike Ellison, was one of the "Campbell authors" - had a very different impression. Generally speaking, accusing dead folks of racism without providing any facts is not nice.

> Wings: Dianometry was the first article, I believe.
>
> Ellison: Right. [snip]
Wrong. _Dianetics_ was the first article in May 1950. _Dianometry_ was published half a year later.

> And science fiction fans will go for any
> goddamm thing. They'll believe anything, man, they will
> believe in the abominable snowman and the Bermuda Triangle,
> in Pyramid Power, in EST, in Scientology, in the Second
> Coming, they'll believe in any goddamm thing, they don't
> give a shit. They go to see _Star Wars_; they think it is
> for real! [snip]
Vintage Ellison [shrug] Whether the description above has anything to do with "science fiction fans" in the real world is up to the reader to decide. If you are not sure, go see in rec.arts.sf.fandom for yourself.

> Now, they've gotten so big that they own property all over
> the country, and it is impossible to stop it. They
> infiltrated the FBI, they infiltrated the tax department,
The FBI? I assume Ellison was joking, but who knows...

> ... the funny thing is, Ron Hubbard and I still
> occasionally communicate with each other. Every once in a
> while, a couple or three times a year, we exchange letters.
> And I write to him, you know, and I say, "Hey Ron, when is
> this bullshit going to cease? These cuckoos are really
> driving me crazy! They come around the house with
> pamphlets!" And he writes me back, and he says, "It's the
> good work, it's the good work." [snip]
Personal letters from Hubbard were fairly rare in the 70's. It would be most interesting if Ellison could produce a few. However, considering that it has been reported that Ellison has himself admitted that he is a liar (see _Last Deadloss Visions_ appendices), I am not holding my breath.

P.S. All of the above has nothing to do with whether Scientology/Dianetics is a Good Idea, of course.

-- Ahasuerus <a href="http://www.clark.net/pub/ahasuer/,">http://www.clark.net/pub/ahasuer/,</a>including: FAQs: rec.arts.sf.written, alt.fan.heinlein, alt.pulp, the Liaden Universe Biblios: how to write SF, the Wandering Jew, miscellaneous SF Please consider posting (as opposed to e-mailing) ID requests