Strange Attractors

[My thanks to Marina S Y Chong (marina@singnet.com.sg) for kindly providing me with a copy of this post; somehow it did not make it to my site - David Dennis, archive maintainer]

Uniquely illuminating is the outrage generated in Scientology circles now that a.r.s. gatecrashers have disrupted what was supposed to be the genteel, private mugging of Dennis Erlich.

I do not speak of the hissy fits of Wallace & Milne. They might as well end their posts with "OK now, everybody pile on!"

No, I speak of the Greek chorus in the killfiles -- Talbot and Woody in his many incarnations -- which are technologically ignored by the anti-CoS "players."

You see, those of you blessed with killfiles, may not have noticed a strange kind of self-analysis emerging from the dissonant, spam, doo-wop of Woody and his clones. Killfiles mask out the grotesque background music emanating from the Scientology choirloft-in-the-boilerroom -- you miss the constant, hypnotic susurrus in Marcabian pentameter that, siren-like, beguiles the unwary reader who attempts to tackle the newsgroup with less sophisticated software.

Even as I write this, I can hear the murmur from the CoS "atmosphere players" in my a.r.s. download: "Rhubarb, rhubarb, bigotry, rhubarb, hysteria, rhubarb, mob, rhubarb, rhubarb, persecution, rhubarb, oppression, rhubarb, rhubarb..."

It's hard to resist the programming. Some part of my mind wants to do a bottle drill --

"Authoritarian............................................Thank you. Oppressive.................................................Thank you. Rhubarb.....................................................Thank you. Crank.........................................................Thank you...."

Gives you a headache. Woody and his clones chant in a strange dialect which marks them for rapid promotion once a.r.s. deals Scientology its final BIG LOSS, and the Marcabians land unopposed. Remember the little guys you met on your way to the top, Woody! Think of it! "Rick Sherwood " may even become an eponym, a household word -- you know, like boycott, crapper and quisling.

Yet there are benefits that accrue from enduring the chaotic rhetras of Woody & Co. Without any effort or intention upon the part of the Scientology choir, there emerges a Mandelbrot self- perception among the choristers which is audible to the careful listener.

Which wasn't me until lately. In my last missive to a.r.s., I included the following aside:

> (It is eerie how the current administration of CoS reflects
>Hubbard's personality as reported by friends and family
>-- bullying, whiny, resentful, viewing every criticism as
>an attack, insecure, blustery, but strangely tender at times
>with those who are sufficiently servile. CoS even
>practices LRH's willingness to suck up to showbiz fame.
>Curious kind of immortality.)

Which caught the attention of David Dennis, publisher of David's Amazing Internet Services WWW Home Page [shameless plug] which includes a full rundown on a.r.s. [http://amazing.cinenet.net/. His commentary by e-mail led to this line of speculation.

Pretty weird, huh? It's like when he died, LRH became a group-entity, and all those little clams posting on a.r.s. and appearing on Donahue are his BT's. Then it hit me. And Woody & chorus are chanting LRH's engrams!

Think of it. They're supposed to be responding to anti-CoS posters, but *how* the Woody-bots respond reveals the process that is taking place. The various styles of the CoS critics runs the gamut -- henry flames, Diana is sweet reason with a stiletto, Sister Clara is more than we deserve, Tony is gleeful, Grady is triumphant, Homer is odd, Pope Charles can't type "the," but he can see a church by daylight, etcetera. There is no common thread, no common line of attack.

But the defense constantly answers with an inflexible mantra arising not from the character of the critic or the criticism, but from the subconscious of the group-entity LRH. It only reacts when its hot buttons are pushed. Call CoS an insane conspiracy of the Knights Templar, they won't even bother to respond. Ah, but call them "bullies," and the response comes back immediately, "No, you're the bullies." Say they harass people, and even HK her own self says, "I think he harassed me." Call them persecutors, a cult, cranks, authoritarian, bigots, oppressors, and the response is immediate and automatic.

AND THEY KNOW IT! This is too funny, too sad, too cruel. Woody & Co. are spilling the beans, leaking the subconscious knowledge of every CoS member assigned to post here. They can't help it. They are hopelessly mesmerized by the engrams of the CoS -- the group-entity LRH has evolved into. Woody and the other BTs of LRH are locked into a mutual orbit of perpetual fascination, and their interaction generates the background noise and spam on a.r.s.

For their own safety and sanity, the boilerroom boys and girls must project the engrams of CoS unto the critics, no matter how poor a fit some of them are. henry, for instance, is certainly persecutory, but authoritarian? I don't think so. Grady Ward may be arrogant, but he is hardly a bigot. Tony Sideway is fixated on CoS, but by no means fanatical. And so on.

This newsgroup is like watching a train wreck in slo-mo. CoS people assigned to post here attempt to deal with a wicked cognitive dissonance by placing blame for the dissonance on the critics, when it is their own double-bind that generates it. Must be very taxing. How long can they keep it up before they blow?

Well, the noise level generated by the CoS engram-BT orbit has certainly increased lately. High- pitched and whiny, too. Sounds like a bearing is burning out somewhere.

Painful to watch, huh? Hope the Marcabs come soon. Even a perpetual tax audit is better than being one of Hubbard's body thetans. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Those teeth!

Cerberus ______________________

"Could it be THETAN?!?"

When the Church Lady can't find her upper plate. ************************************************************************** **

************************* cut here *********************** -- #=======================#=======================================# # Marina S Y Chong # "Think of it as evolution in action." # # marina@singnet.com.sg # -- Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle # # # OATH OF FEALTY # #=======================#=======================================#