Tuesday 26 May 2015

Seeing into the future


On the news this morning, there was talk of stripping citizenship from bastard Islamists as well as  talk of tightening citizenship requirements... I saw nicely into the future when I wrote the fourth and final book of the Shuki Series.
 

One of the relevant quotes. 
This part of the book was written in 2013, before the rise of Daesh or  ISIS. 

  
On Australia Day, January, 2015, the women and girls of Shuki's family became Australian citizens. Laleh was already an Australian citizen as she'd been born in Australia. Separately, and unknown to Shuki and his family, Meriam also became an Australian citizen.   


For Meriam it had not been as easy as it had been for the others. Her past connections to a radical Islamic group, some of them Jihadists, counted against her. She'd had to show that she no longer had contact with them, and she'd been closely examined as to her current loyalties. Dual citizenship was no longer allowed. Like other countries, Australia had been experiencing the consequences of conflicting loyalties. Nearly seventy people were refused citizenship that year, mostly because the requirement that an applicant had to be 'of good character' had been strengthened and was now being enforced. They were no longer allowing appeals, and Legal Aid was only available to citizens.

There were more changes pending. Not just in Australia, but almost all Western countries were toughening their requirements for citizenship. Radical Muslims no longer openly stated that Sharia Law had to be imposed on their host nations and any immigrant suspected of acting illegally, whether by importing contraband or by supporting terrorism, was far more likely to be deported. Refugees could still be granted provisional asylum in some countries, but were a lot less likely to be granted citizenship. Some called it xenophobia, while others pointed to the poor record of refugees from certain countries, and called it sense.


In other parts of the book, Shuki advocates removing religion from schools - all religions from all schools.  In the book, I had the process starting in around 2012 in Australia, earlier in other parts of the world. With the influence of the highly respected Shuki Bolkiah,  Daesh (or ISIS) did not happen. What a shame it is only fiction. 

On the other hand, a problem much more serious had to be faced - the pandemics, inevitable because of the much too high population and the ease of travel.


Where the first pandemic started

                                              Is this part seeing into the future?  I hope not. 


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Scientology - taking your money, pretending to be a religion.



For a time, the 'Church' of Scientology was illegal in various states of Australia. Unfortunately, it is now not only legal, but has the tax exempt status of other religions, both true religions and other pretend religions.

Its chief reason for being appears to take as much money as possible from credulous people.  I could never understand how anyone could be so foolish as to be drawn in. Below is one person's account, and it is no longer so hard to understand. It is a direct copy of a post from the informative blog of Rob Robinson, who has kindly given me permission to reproduce it. 

To read in its full original version (complete with relevant graph)  go to:


http://worldcultwatch.org/2015/05/25/the-making-of-a-cult-member/

The Making of a Cult Member


Posted on by RobRobinson

 It is really very simple.  And there are Universal laws that apply. Do you remember the old stories about Vampires and Demons?  You know whether your windows and doors are opened or closed, they can’t come in unless you give them permission. So you say, “Fine, I’ll never give them permission”.  The thing that you don’t know is that they don’t play fair.  If you even give them a moment to talk to you, you are doomed.

That is sort of the way it is in the Church of Scientology. Make no mistake,  once you have let them in, (which means walked into an Org, took the Personality Test, and bought your first service), they have you and they will suck you dry.  They will steal your life, your will, and if you let them, your soul.

Now I don’t know anyone who ever woke up in the morning and said, “Hey!  I think I will go out and join a cult today”.  But, they might say, “Hey!  I got this offer to take a free personalty test. It’s a $500.00 value!  I think I will do that today”.  If you were watching this on T.V.  You would be yelling at this guy, trying to tell him  about the Vampire, but like all movies on T.V. they can’t hear you. How do I know this?  For 7 years I was the Vampire that would sucker you into the cave with promises all of of your desire fulfilled and riches beyond your imagination (yeah I know, mea culpa). And if you did find out that I had not told you the truth, it was too late.  You have already joined the undead.

I was in charge of the division that is responsible for bringing new people into Scientology and getting them signed up on their first services.  Usually they were Life Improvement courses that sold for anywhere from $55.00 to $75.00 including course materials.  Here is the way it would go.

You walk into the Org. (short for Organization).  The receptionist meets you and you say that you are here to take the free personality test.  (Originally the American Personalty test, the name was later changed to the Oxford Capacity Analysis, to lend it some authenticity.  Not because it comes from Oxford). The receptionist leads you back to a quiet place and sits you down at a desk.  She gives you the test booklet and an answer sheet.  It has two hundred multiple choice questions.  You are done in about an hour, and then she takes your materials from you and leads you back out to the lobby to wait for your results.  The lobby is usually either part of the Book store, or right next to it so you can gaze at all of the pretty books by Hubbard.

I would come out shortly and escort you back to my office and sit you down in a chair across the desk from me.  I would then place the graph down in front of you and raise my eyes to heaven and say, “Oh my, this is not good at all”.

(graph not shown) 

You are sitting there thinking that it doesn’t look all that bad to you.  After all, almost half of it is above the line.  It is not like it was all on the bottom.  That is what you tell me.  And that is what I was waiting for.  I tell you those good points are part of the problem.  That I would rather have all of your points under the line.  And I go one to explain why.  By the time I am done you have a tear or two and you ask me what you can do about it.  I tell you that Scientology has just the right course for your problem.  I sign you up and take you and your money to someone who takes your money and prints up your receipt.  Then I take you to the course room and introduce you to your course supervisor.

These are very short courses, usually 3 to 5 nights, and they are designed to help you solve specific problems.  And surprisingly, the data in them makes sense.  At the end of the course, you actually see that not only do you have this problem but there are steps you can take to solve this problem.  You start to feel good about it, maybe for the first time in years.

You have finished the check sheet  and have been signed off by the supervisor.  Then you are asked if you would like to write up your success on this course.  You say sure and tell just a little about what you learned and how you feel.  The Supervisor then calls a halt to everyone and tells all that you have just finished your course.  Everyone applauds and congratulates you.  You then go down to qual and they ask you if you liked the course, you say yes.  Then they ask you if you would like others to feel the way you do right now.  Of course, you say.

Feeling pretty good about yourself now aren’t you?  Good.  Let’s go over and see the registrar. (Scientology sales person).  Their job is to take you down a peg and make you see that although you have solved this problem (temporarily), it is not a permanent fix.  To make it permanent you will really need to take this series of courses.  Yeah, they cost more, but you really do want to feel this way all the time, forever, don’t you.  Of course you do.  Good just sign here.  You go back out and pay for your course and then you go to the book store and buy your course materials.  Then you go to a real course room.  This supervisor is nice also but she/he gives you a list of rules that you are expected to follow.

You see how it goes.  Ruin you, build you up.  Ruin you, build you up again.  What you have not learned and hopefully will never learn is that we have all been trained and drilled on doing this, with only one thing in mind.  Getting you on to your next service.

The very first thing you see when you open your course pack is a policy letter written by L. Ron Hubbard. It is called Keeping Scientology Working, Series 1.  Every course pack you will ever open for the rest of your Scientology life will start with these words.  If you wish to read the whole thing, you can click here.  Basically what it is telling you is that you are now a Scientologist.  Here is the pertinent excerpt:

 
When somebody enrolls, consider he or she has joined up for the duration of
the universe-never permit an “open-minded” approach.  If they’re going to
quit let them quit fast.  If they enrolled, they’re aboard; and if they’re
aboard, they’re here on the same terms as the rest of us-win or die in the
attempt.  Never let them be half-minded about being Scientologists.  The finest
organizations in history have been tough, dedicated organizations.  Not one
namby-pamby bunch of pantywaist dilettantes have ever made anything.  It’s a
tough universe.  The social veneer makes it seem mild.  But only the tigers
survive-and even they have a hard time. We’ll survive because we are tough and
are dedicated.  When we do instruct somebody properly, he becomes more and more
a tiger.  When we instruct half-mindedly and are afraid to offend, scared to
enforce, we don’t make students into good Scientologists and that lets everybody
down.  When Mrs. Pattycake comes to us to be taught, turn that wandering doubt
in her eye into a fixed, dedicated glare and she’ll win and we’ll all win.  Humor
her and we all die a little.  The proper instruction attitude is, “You’re here so
you are a Scientologist.  Now we’re going to make you into an expert auditor no
matter what.  We’d rather have you dead than incapable.”


We’re not playing some minor game in Scientology.  It isn’t cute or something to
do for lack of something better.


The whole agonized future of this planet, every man, woman and child on it, and
your own destiny for the next trillions of years depend on what you do here and
now with and in Scientology.
This is a deadly serious activity.  And if we miss getting out of the trap now,
we may never again have another chance.



Pretty tough words huh?  You, like all Scientologists will come to live, and maybe die by these words. Yes, it has happened.

If you do not fully agree with this policy letter.  You did not understand it.  There is a word or words that you do not understand.  So you need to read this policy while being word cleared.  This is a process where in you read this policy out load to someone else while they watch you for indicators of the word you don’t fully understand.  It will not take too long before you get it that you will understand and agree with this or you will never get through your course.  Why do you want to get through the course?  First, you actually felt good after the last one, and second because you actually liked it when everyone applauded you.

All of this, and more.  The continual tearing down, building up, applauding, cheering at events, the “friends” that you will make, yelling “hip hip hooray” and clapping for Ron (long dead).  It is all designed to do only two things.  To take your mind farther into the cult and to take more and even more of your money.

Hey you!  Yes you.  Do you hear me yelling at my T.V.?  “Don’t go in there!”

Thank you so much for reading this.  If you have not yet read my previous post, Why I Left Scientology, please click here. If you like this please share it with your friends, and subscribe to this blog so you can be alerted when the next post comes out.  As always, I welcome your comments.  Thank you again.

 There are other posts on Robinson's blog, equally absorbing. I recommend it.

 
  
The 'Church' of Scientology




 


 





 
 

Sunday 24 May 2015

Stay at home mums.


 
It is such a precious time when your children are small. Each day is a new adventure. Each day you watch them learning something new. And each day, you learn something new yourself. Such a precious time.

And yet, it has become the norm for young mothers to resume work as soon as possible. Tiny babies are in childcare while the mother works.

When Women's Lib was becoming big in the 60s, we fought for the right to have a paid job as well as children. I don't think any of us imagined that we'd wind up almost being compelled to return to work just weeks after a baby was born.

But so many are compelled, and some only feel as if they are compelled.

Money. It almost always takes two wages to pay off a mortgage or simply to pay the rent. And even if there is a maternity allowance, it usually ends after six months. This is unfair. This is how it is.

Career. A  new mother learns so much in the years she stays home and looks after children - from time management to researching schools. And yet potential employers are reluctant to employ someone who's been out of the workforce for a period of years. It's as if they think they do nothing in those years, while they probably learn more than their colleagues who stayed at work. Taking several years out of developing a career almost always  limits that career. This is unfair. This is how it is.

Prestige. Stay at home mothers are looked down upon. Every now and then, there will be a condescending article about the value of their work, maybe how much the equivalent work would be worth in the market, but no-one quite believes it.  This, too, is unfair. This is how it is.

Boredom. Some new mothers swear they'd be bored out of their minds if they stayed home with their baby. I wonder if they would. Work is not the only stimulation available to a person, and a lot of jobs are not at all stimulating.  If a women truly wants to work, then, of course, she has the right. But sometimes, I think she might be only saying that, the same as people say they watch mainly documentaries on the ABC and not 'The Bold and the Beautiful'  on Channel 10.

 

So what is bad about returning to work when your child is still very small?

1. The mother. It is far too precious a time to waste. It is so fleeting, and all the rest of your life, you are likely to regret missing too much of these precious years.

2. The mother again. It is too much to expect every women to be 'superwoman.'  To work a full day and come home to do another few hours work, and then be kept up half the night by a crotchety baby - and then to get up, get the baby ready for childcare and go back to work... It makes me tired just typing it. It is not fair to expect a mother to work so hard. It is not fair on the mother and it is not fair on the child or children, who have the right to an unstressed mother.

3. The baby. Small babies in childcare tend to get sick far too often  - seven or eight colds a year, conjunctivitis, stomach upsets, in short, anything infectious. They are exposed to so much more sickness than a child who is home with their mother.

4. The child. Workers in childcare have little investment in trying to ensure a child learns reasonable behaviour. They also have fewer options to discipline - usually only whatever is the latest ineffective fad devised by some psychologist somewhere who once knew a child. But a parent will live with that child until he grows up. They have an investment in that child, and it is a lot easier to live with a reasonably behaved child. And you know what? A sharp smack to a child who bites is very effective. At childcare, they are not permitted to smack. A biter stays a biter, while other children get bitten.

 
What is good about childcare when your child is very small?
 



Full-time childcare?  Almost nothing.

Occasional childcare?  A mother needs a break now and then, a day every week maybe, or two half-days in a week. Just time to do something for herself. It is important, though if there's a willing grandmother around, that is probably a better option than formal childcare.

 









What is good about childcare when your child is beginning to grow up?

By the age of three or four, a child is looking for new experiences and will benefit from being with other children, and from the activities the carers provide. And yet, even then, a couple of days a week, and maybe not all day, is preferable.

 

No, I really do not want to go back a hundred years or so when women had a dozen children, worked very hard, and only rarely earned money outside the home.
But women should have a choice, and not one dictated by economic necessity.
And if you are thinking of returning to work merely in order to gain a few luxuries, think again.  You are missing too much, and so are your children. 

 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Saturday 23 May 2015

Becoming 'radicalised.'


Becoming  'radicalised'.

I am talking, of course, about the extremist Muslim organisations, especially ISIS, ISIL, IS, Daesh, or 'the death cult,' as our own Prime Minister refers to it.

I am annoyed every time I hear this expression, as if the poor little victim of the 'radicalisation process' has no say in the matter. Like a cabbage that gets cooked - the cabbage does not make that choice. But people are not cabbages. They choose to be what they are. These people who they say have 'become radicalised'  made a choice - to abandon civilised values and become part of an evil, evil movement, a movement that wants to take us back to a time of barbarity when slavery was normal, terrible cruelty was condoned, and women and children were chattels. A time when a girl child of nine can be married. Without the option, without any chance at an education, and with no avenue of defence if the husband chooses to be brutal.

It always surprises me that women sometimes turn to extreme Islam.  Surely they can see how utterly, utterly stupid they are being. Who voluntarily steps forward to become a slave?  For Allah, of course. But why would they think that an Allah, who is supposed to be so 'merciful,'  would think it fine for them to be slaves. No. Young women who decide to be brides of ISIS are just fools.

Young men who decide they want to be ISIS fighters are not only fools, but are showing the evil side of themselves. It appears that what they really want is to be allowed to torture other people, to be allowed to have up to four wives, including little girls if they want, to be allowed to have slaves, as many as they want. And for all of this to be condoned. So do they really, truly believe that Allah will reward them?  Or is it simply that they want to be the most wicked of criminals in a place where that is approved.

Whatever, they do not 'become radicalised.' They are not victims. They are the ones who want to make the rest of us victims.
 

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