Author Geir Isene

On the control of information

Geir Isene 28 Comments

Jeff’s latest blog post serves as a landmark. A quote from that post is relevant as an opening to mine: “Information control isn’t a sign of strength, it’s a confession of weakness“. It’s profound. It reaches well beyond the small world of Scientology. It captures all venues of human interrelations, politics, Wikileaks. It is also relevant to The Scientology Forum – the forum I erected a year ago and since some months has been run by Claire.

Lighthouse

One of the premises when I put up the forum was to make it a place where Scientologist could feel safe when discussing Scientology – safe from exposure to Scientology’s confidential upper level material. Although there is plenty of evidence that exposure to such material is not dangerous, the belief that it may harm you could serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy, a reverse placebo. In any case, the forum was set up so that posts be moderated before they appeared. Very, very few posts have been deleted, but some have been modified to keep within the Rules of Conduct.

At times the forum has been an interesting place for real debates and where new ideas have emerged, giving birth even to a whole now branch of philosophy, the KHTK. But the control of information by what Hubbard calls “inspection before the fact”, i.e. screening has strangled the flow of information to a mere trickle. The moderation introduces a lag in the communication and that in itself is detrimental to lively exchange of ideas.

I asked the forum if it is time to reconsider the moderation policy.

Although I would want to see a civilized forum for discussion of Scientology (I see no reason to change the ROCs), the moderation takes the life out of a forum like that – and there are other examples that points to the same.

The current affairs with WikiLeaks has highlighted the need for openness even better. Because WikiLeaks is good – for transparency, for democracy. Just like Wikipedia is good and the Internet itself is good. Sure, both the Internet and Wikipedia had gotten its share of criticisms, but hell anything that is disruptive of the establishment, of the status quo will earn criticism. Because Man’s deepest fear is of the unknown – and because one thing that any change is bound to bring is a dose of the unknown.

I believe in open communication and the free flow of ideas. That is why I support the Internet, Wikipedia, free software, free culture, Transparency International, Amnesty International, the EFF and WikiLeaks. And this is why I oppose patents and Copyrights as control mechanisms.

Instead of shielding people from ideas and communication, one should seek to help people handle ideas and communication better. Ideas and communication are inherently difficult to control, and all to often abuse follow in the wake of such attempts.

“Information control isn’t a sign of strength, it’s a confession of weakness“. Intentions to strengthen oneself on behalf of others underlies such weakness. In a truly free society, there is no space for government secrecy, information manipulation or hiding of truths.

“Light itself is a great corrective. A thousand wrongs and abuses that are grown in darkness disappear, like owls and bats, before the light of day“. —James A. Garfield.

The war is over!

Geir Isene 33 Comments

When I first encountered free software in 1999, I was amazed by it’s creative power. The power of collaboration coupled with the power of a truly free marked seemed the future to me.

Back then when Linux was a geek’s OS and rarely taken seriously except as web servers, and Wikipedia was nowhere, “proprietary” seemed to trump “free” in most any arena. The push for marked dominance by secrecy, copyrights and patents was mounting with companies like Microsoft and Oracle carrying the torch of Mammon. Gordon Gekko’s legendary words, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works.” carried the American dream powered by egoism forward. But could something work even better? Free Software sparked a belief in me that collaboration, sharing and caring could indeed turn the tables.

My sentiment is well captured by Dan Pink in his TED talk. The endless possibilities of the Ant Hill Innovation captured my heart, my motivation. I decided to pitch in.

I got into the Free Software business in 2000. In 2004, my wife and I started FreeCode Norway (English link) and FreeCode International to help in the fight for freedom and the fight against vendor lock-ins. Being an idealist, I wanted to help make the dent in history by forwarding the ideals of freedom, creativity and human potential through collaboration.

For ten years I have been at the forefront of a battle for freedom. I went from a protector of “intellectual property” to a “copyright abolitionist“. I even rebelled against my own religion. The Church of Scientology had long since positioned itself as the main copyright terrorist on the Internet with it’s harassment tactics against anyone daring to challenge its monopoly on freedom.

I followed my heart, did countless of talks, speeches, seminars and media appearances in an effort to forward the ideology of a culture based on sharing. We helped African countries to see the light and set up FreeCode in Tanzania and Kenya, had meetings with governmental officials and got the media’s attention in Africa as well as in Russia, Ukraine and Norway.

The ideological war was fought in the area of software and it’s success gave birth to phenomenas like Wikipedia and Wikileaks. The marks of freedom was left on many parts of our society. Hell, even Microsoft started to embrace free software. Free software conquered the Internet infrastructure, started moving up the stack and is now practically everywhere.

New vistas

The conflict loving media used to cherish the David against Goliath battle of Geeks against the Establishment. But as David won out, not by vanquishing the proprietary but by its ideology slowly being absorbed by the enemy, the media interest kept sliding.

To the point where I now feel that The War Is Over.

It’s kind of sad really, as I love to have something to truly fight for. Freedom, justice and the common good. I’m not motivated by the next buck. I am motivated by making a dent in history for the common good. Oh, well. Got to find another Hill to conquer.

While the war I engaged in a decade ago may be over, there is always another Hill, and FreeCode, me and the ideology of sharing and caring will morph into a new identity to make a jab at Mammon from another angle. Because there is no rest until… Well, forget “until” – as any goal toward a common good will do – as the pleasure lies not in attaining the goal but in the journey itself. One only needs to remember to enjoy the game. Immensely.

On enjoying the game. Immensely.

Geir Isene 74 Comments

Most religions teach salvation. From sin, from pain, from entrapment, from the game called “life”. Christianity has Heaven, Buddhism has Nirvana. Scientology has “Total Freedom”.

There seem to be a longing after escaping. Life.

In Scientology, we are taught that we are living on a “prison planet”. In Eastern religions one seeks to end the seemingly endless cycle of life and death. The mantra most religions “sell” is this “escape”.

And much of the focus is on “sin”, “transgressions”, “overts” and the rules of conduct to purify oneself.

What happened to the all too simple “enjoying life”?

Rather than the focus on “escape”, I would like to see the selling of “embrace” – of enjoying life to the fullest, enjoying the game. Immensely.

Maybe one can only reach Nirvana by fully embracing and love what is. But to do that, one must truly see what is. And maybe one can most easily reach happiness by being happy. What do you think?

Beauty

PS: If you wonder what I’ve been occupied with the last couple of weeks, I’ve been hanging out here 🙂

Hypocrisy

Geir Isene 85 Comments

hy·poc·ri·sy
noun \hi-ˈpä-krə-sē also hī-\
plural hy·poc·ri·sies

Definition of HYPOCRISY
1: a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion
2: an act or instance of hypocrisy

Origin of HYPOCRISY
Middle English ypocrisie, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin hypocrisis, from Greek hypokrisis act of playing a part on the stage, hypocrisy, from hypokrinesthai to answer, act on the stage, from hypo- + krinein to decide
First Known Use: 13th century

The above is from the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The below is from my heart.

From my experience with public scientologists and especially with fellow OTs of various OT Committees in a handful of Orgs, I have seen an almost exclusive focus on PR and the immediate statistics.

A public scientologist and especially an OT is demanded to get his or her “stats up”. OTs are run on statistics. Their production is measured. Their value is measured by how many books they sell to “raw public”, how many people they disseminate Scientology to, how much PR they generate for Scientology and above all how much money they can fund-raise for a new building. The focus is on these immediate statistics.

Whenever an OT disseminates Scientology to a prominent person, he is demanded to take pictures. Good pictures of high resolution as it will be used during the international events (see #22). The OT delivers picture in return for praise, approval and status boosts. If she is maximally lucky and popular, she will be put on the list of prospects for the Freedom Medal.

As a scientologist this is all natural, it’s all utmost productive and it is the only thing saving the world.

What hypocrisy.

Because it completely misses the point. Addressing the problems of the world does not revolve around generating PR for Scientology, it is not about handing out “The Way to Happiness” , it is not addressed by fighting psychiatry. And it is certainly not achieved by donating money to big, empty buildings. For crying out load.

Now, how about supplying fresh water to sick children in Africa. How about bringing about peace to war zones or stopping the spreading of AIDS. What about really tackling human rights abuses or just saving the planet? What about getting some basic Scientology actually delivered? What about helping your fellow neighbor only because it helps him and not because you can cash in on the action?

How about shooting hypocrisy like ducks in a pond?

Exiled and looking for friends

Geir Isene 53 Comments

Facebook can be seen as the third biggest nation on earth. With 7.5% of the earth’s population as active users comes bigger responsibilities.

Most nations have mechanisms for handling justice and injustice. A nation is expected to treat its citizens according to well established traditions and agreed upon laws. A company like Facebook does not have by far the same requirements. But when a company builds a virtual nation like Facebook, should there not be requirements beyond the usual mom and pop shop?

Facebook is building not just a virtual nation. It is well on its way in establishing a communication monopoly. As a user you have extremely limited power. Not even powers to appeal an arbitrary decision seem to be granted to some struck by injustice. It lends credence to Wild West forums such like WhyWeProtest.org where lightning may strike from above but not from a blue sky.

Here’s my time line:

A month ago I sent friends requests to some old acquaintances still in the Church of Scientology. Apparently among them were people who felt offended by a renegade like me trying to hook up on Facebook. I received a complaint from the Facebook administration. Lesson learned: Do not communicate to anyone hitting the Kool Aid. I stopped sending out friends requests altogether. I still received a good deal of friends requests and proposals from my friends that I accepted.

A few days ago one of my FB acquaintances (let’s call him Jack) sent out a message to some 20 people complaining about a person (we’ll use the name Paul) allegedly impersonating him on Facebook. I was on the list of people he sent this complaining to. He kept on ranting about how bad this other person was until one of the 20 recipients (let’s call him Rusty) dared to query him about the incident. Jack all of a sudden jumped on Rusty and claimed he was ganging up with Paul in attacking him. In between calling Rusty a liar, a unionist, an idiot etc, he threatened legal actions. Jack went completely ape shit. I asked them to take this off the list and handle this only between the two of them. Jack was offended by this. Others on the list asked the same as this was spamming their message area. Jack started generalizing his attack and ended up sending complaints on perhaps everyone on the list to the Facebook administration. One innocent bystander asked Jack to stop it as she had received a Facebook warning.

The next day my own account was disabled. Apparently Jack managed to also hit me with an FB warning and it seems one is exiled after a second warning. I asked why my account was disabled. Here’s the answer I got from Facebook support:

“Your account was disabled because it was in violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Nudity, sexually explicit, and other graphic content is not permitted on Facebook, nor is any content that contains self harm, depicts violence, or attacks an individual or group. In addition, harassing others through unsolicited friend requests or messages is prohibited.

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to reactivate your account or respond to your email directly. This decision is final and cannot be appealed.”

It cannot be appealed. Wow. No explanation. No appeal. No recourse for the injustice. Now there’s a recipe for debarring someone you don’t like on Facebook. Cook up some reason for complaint and they’ll get hit by lightning from a blue sky. Amazing.

If you wonder if the crazy story about Flippin’ Jack is also Scientology related… yes indeed it is. Around the Church of Scientology is a mine field.

This little story exemplifies why a serious debate is needed about the responsibilities of social networks. For me it’s certainly not the end of the world. I got onto FB less than a year ago and had only some 1200 friends. But for those who have invested much more time and effort into this social network such arbitrary injustice may inflict real damage. A debate on consumer’s rights, freedom of speech, recourse for injustice and democratizing social network seems timely.

Maybe it’s time for a democratic, Open Source, SETI-at-Home type of Facebook alternative?

Now I may well be barred again for trying to bounce back, but such arbitrary injustice without possibilities for appeal should not stand unopposed.

So I have created a new Facebook account. I refuse to be shut up. I love to have many friends. I cherish the many different viewpoints. I am enriched by people having very different views than myself. Communication is dear to me. And so I will accept anyone asking to be my friend on Facebook or elsewhere.

Want a new friend? Use this link to hook up on Facebook:

Geir Isene (if that link doesn’t work, try this link)

The action junkie

Geir Isene 6 Comments

Tim was tired of the virtual worlds. Sitting in front of a PC playing WoW or Call of Duty night after night just didn’t give the full kick anymore.

Neither did Live Role-Playing with Vampires the Masquerade where he would dress up as a vampire and fight and infiltrate other players in the game. No, he needed something more. Something real. Being a wiz-kid and very computer savvy, he tried hacking some accounts here and there. Although real, it didn’t give the real rush either. Being a James Bond or a Jason Bourne in real life would surely be the best of all. But with neither the muscles to show or the guts to dare, he knew he couldn’t do anything that wild. He had to settle for something a bit less dramatic.

A friend of his had tried to get him into protesting some church. But he wasn’t much interested. Until the friend told him about a cat-and-mouse game of some secret service or something this church had. They actually had some intelligence agency inside the church that would harass critics of the religion. Now that sounded like fun. Some real action drama.

Tim trotted along for a protest. They were only 6 of them standing there in front of the church building. They were hiding their faces so that the church spies and agents wouldn’t learn of their real world identity. Tim got a slight Batman-rush going for a minute or so. He joined in and tried his best to keep up with the mocking of the church and their religion. Not that he cared much, but there was supposed to be some super-secret, mystery, agentry thingy, so he got in on the action. It was great when some PIs or spies or something got out a camera and took pictures of the protesters. That was at least some action. And then there was all the tales about this agency going after some of the fellow protesters, and he felt part of something dramatic. He felt alive. And then there was caek. Delicious with chocolate cream on top. The social bonding also became important. He felt he belonged to a group. Individualistic, anarchistic but like-minded.

And the church’s Office of Secret Action didn’t let him down. They were busy creating enemies of the church like himself. And they were actually spying on him! He felt thrilled and wondered if he should call himself “Jason Bourne” on their Internet forum.

A few months went by and Tim…

Oh, the story stopped. What happened to Tim? I don’t know. You tell me. Leave a comment and help co-writing the rest of the story.

A substitute dice for role-playing games

Geir Isene 7 Comments

You’re on a comping trip with some friends and decides to throw a role-playing game session. But alas, you have no dice 😦

No worries; Here’s how to throw the dice anyway, using the “Human Dice”:

One person (the Games Master) thinks of a number from 1-6. This number represents a dice throw of “6”, the “Actual 6”. The other person calls out a number from 1-6, the “Dice Throw”. This number is compared to the Actual 6 like this: If the Dice Throw is equal to the Actual 6, then the throw is a 6. If it is 1 below, it is a 5 etc. It goes in a circle so that if the Games Master thinks of a 2 as the Actual 6, and the player calls out a 5, then this is actually a 3 (2 is a 6, 1 is a 5, 6 is a 4 and 5 is a 3). Simple.

If there is doubt about the sincerity of the Games Master, or if he wants to remove all such doubt, he writes down the Actual 6 before the player calls out the dice throw.

Now you can play Amar anywhere, without any accessories, like with your kids when they go to bed – a bed time story on steroids 🙂

Wanted: Inconsistencies in Scientology

Geir Isene 330 Comments

Here’s a challenge for you: Please name actual inconsistencies in Scientology (ethics, tech or policy) with proper referencing.

Not looking for stuff you don’t believe in or think is off. I want to see proper internal illogic in form of inconsistencies.

Anyone?

Clarification: I am not looking for inconsistencies in the practice of Scientology. I am looking for inconsistencies in the actual philosophy of Scientology.

The current scene of Scientology: What works and what doesn’t

Geir Isene 158 Comments

Looking back at my two years of research into the current scene of Scientology (2007-2009), I’d like to summarize what was useful and what wasn’t. Everything is clearer in hindsight 🙂

Firstly, there are two scenes – the internal scene, the daily situation of the scientologists in the church – and the external scene, the public view of Scientology.

The life of a dedicated scientologist is well documented around the net. It summarizes to increasing pressure as one goes up the Bridge (spiritual levels in Scientology) – pressure to donate ever more time and money. Non-compliance is met with various forms of sanctions and punishments, with the ultimate threat for disobedience being declared a suppressive person. Scientologists learn to adopt a certain attitude of dedication.

The PR machinery of the church is massaging it’s parishioners, rolling out the spectacular international events 6 times per year. Mesmerizing, if long drawn, speeches by the Pope of Scientology, David Miscavige flanked by state-of-the art 3D animations summarizing the latest in real estate acquisitions. Steadily increasing statistics are shown signaling an unprecedented growth of the religion, all while the factual scene shows signs of deflation.

Many scientologists know something is wrong. They suspect or know the statistics are fake. They silently object to the sometimes insane pressure. They pity the slave labor staff and they realize that the goal of a salvaged planet is not within reach for at least another millennium. But they hang in there. Mostly because they don’t want to jeopardize their own spiritual progress. Others because they push on in a very honest effort to help their fellow man despite being bullied by misguided staff wanting to squeeze even more hours and dollars out of their most dedicated.

Dedicated scientologist don’t see much of the external scene. They are trained to not look at any opposing or critical views. They bluntly dismiss such as “entheta” (opposite of good).

The external scene is run by the media. The reason is not that the media is inherently evil like many scientologists are trained to believe. It is because the media is populated with pumped-up, frantic truth seekers looking to push another sensational story out before a deadline. It’s business and an the Church of Scientology is skillfully paining a bullseye on it’s chest. Church spokesman Tommy Davis is lying with just enough straight face to fool the cool-aid drinking scientologists. But not the rest of the world.

The public at large despises Scientology. And the current church management has done much to achieve that. Because the Church tries it’s best to equate Scientology with the Church of Scientology, the public image of Scientology as a subject is at par with the dreadful image of the church. Lack of differentiation means very few will ever get to experience the very helpful parts of the Scientology philosophy.

Despite the church touting it’s contributions to society through it’s PR-powered social betterment programs, it’s influence is negligible. Scientology is a fringe subject.

People’s attitude toward Scientology ranges from the die-hard fanatic scientologists to the seemingly dedicated staff to struggling Scientology public to the indifferent general public (by far the largest group), those with a vague negative impression, the critics, Anonymous and the fanatical critics.

Most, except for the fanatical scientologists, would agree that any and all abuses should be stopped – such as forced disconnection breaking up families, coerced abortions, extortion and slave labor. Some wants the demise of Scientology all together. A few wants to act as thought police, to burn the books and outlaw it’s practice. As insane as the latter sounds, they do in fact exist. And some want to practice Scientology in peace outside the iron grip of the church – these are known as FreeZoners or Independents.

Most would agree that free speech is important and welcome an open debate on Scientology, and that transparency is valuable. Discussions abound on how to wake up the kool-aid drinkers inside the church in order to stop the human rights abuses.

Having been a dedicated church scientologist (albeit somewhat of a rebel), I can at least offer a view on what worked in making me finally walk out the door. It could serve as an indication of what works in helping scientologists on the inside see the actual scene.

In this motley landscape, I will rate the efficiency of several elements that helped me (or not) make my decision – on a scale from -5 to +5. A score of -5 indicates it was contra-productive to my decision. A score of zero means it didn’t have any effect, while a +5 indicate it was very helpful. Here goes:

+6 Meeting David Miscavige
+5 Realizing that the ant hill innovation model should encompass Scientology
+5 Reading friendsoflrh.org
+5 St. Petersburg Times’ “Truth Rundown”
+4 Increasing pressure in the CoS to “toe the party line”
+4 Terril Park’s postings; “Wins from Scientology outside CoS”
+4 Getting to know about alternatives in the FreeZone
+4 Jeff Hawkin’s story
+4 Seeing fewer executives at international events
+4 Seeing that the statistics presented in the CoS is a lie
+4 Seeing forced disconnections in the CoS
+4 Reading about David Miscavige beating his staff
+4 Postings by Marc Headley (BFG)
+3 Seeing Tommy Davis refute forced disconnection
+3 Marty Rathbun’s blog
+3 Declarations of independence on the net
+3 Hearing about coerced abortions in the CoS
+3 The increased pressure for more time in the CoS
+3 The increased pressure for more money in the CoS
+3 Postings by ex-scientologists offering real information about the old days
+2 Reading that Dan Koon was out
+2 Reading that Marty Rathbun was out
+2 Reading that Mike Rinder was out
+2 Ex-Scientologist Message Board (ESMB)
+1 The original Anonymous announcement
+1 The first three Anonymous world-wide protests /Feb-April 2008)
0 The Golden Age of Tech (new releases in the practice of Scientology)
0 The Golden Age of Knowledge (new releases of Scientology material)
0 Anonymous after April 2008
0 Operation Clambake
-2 Operation Clambake Message Board (OCMB)
-3 WWP – the Anonymous forum
-4 Postings by die-hard critics like Zinjifar and Alanzo
-5 Uncertainty about doing Scientology outside of the church
-5 Wondering if the abuses can be handled most effectively from the inside
-5 Seeing that I help people with my seminars and personal coaching and wondering if I could do the same outside the church

One of many conclusions can be drawn; To make a scientologist in the CoS see the factual scene, one has to reach their reality level. Critics and Anonymous are seriously misguided in this area. They often make more damage than good with their cultish black-and-white judgmental attitude.

Please ask any questions about this by adding comments to this blog post. I have certainly forgotten important and less important elements, and I may extend the list as I get reminded of them.