How does Scientology manage to get followers

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Castin
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It's more expensive than healthcare and has the worst reputation. This has always been a mystery to me. 
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How does Scientology manage to get followers
There are people stupid enough to follow almost anything.
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@Castin
such are people who said of Harvey Weinstein: "He told me to take my clothes off, so I did." And the woke blame Weinstein. Seems to me, the girl was what woke is all about.
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@Castin
Celebrity advertising plus tv slot advertising. Some channels will just show Scientology stuff.

As for the horrors of the church of Scientology, Leah Remini hosted a good show about it a few years ago. I’m sure you can find episodes.
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@Castin
Several sources suggest a significant decline in active members, with some estimates putting the worldwide figure at around 20,000-30,000. This contrasts sharply with the church's claims of millions of followers.
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@Mharman
Celebrity advertising plus tv slot advertising. Some channels will just show Scientology stuff.

As for the horrors of the church of Scientology, Leah Remini hosted a good show about it a few years ago. I’m sure you can find episodes.
Watched when it first came out, quite good. Remini is one I understand. She was raised in Scientology. Once a child is conditioned it can be hard to uncondition them. But adult converts are a mystery to me.
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@fauxlaw
such are people who said of Harvey Weinstein: "He told me to take my clothes off, so I did." And the woke blame Weinstein. Seems to me, the girl was what woke is all about.
I'd classify the MeToo movement as woke.
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@Castin
They have been struggling lately but the way any other cult works. It starts with you being offered a personality test and then they offer you self help courses which actually work and then you slowly go down this self help rabbit hole that turns into a cult . The recrutiment really is them just offering you value in the form of self help
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@Castin
They try to keep a very sanitized public image and probably spend a lot of money/volunteer hours on outreach to yuppies who don't know a lot about the group. Said yuppies, lured into their building by promises of spiritual awakening or whatever the pitch is, get offered a free "auditing" session.

They speak to an unlicensed, phoney shrink and spill their guts about their personal issues, not unlike Catholic confession. The shrink keeps a record of whatever compromising things were said, and then viola, the church has dirt on that individual. From there, some people are just gullible or emotionally vulnerable enough to willingly pay for the courses that they think will clear their souls of the billion year old volcano demons haunting them and making them feel sad. Others might be blackmailed into doing so, or at minimum they'll be threatened to keep quiet upon leaving so that the next batch of new arrivals isn't scared off.
The Church of Scientology doesn't ascribe to conventional morality about turning the other cheek, and considers any critic of the church to be "fair game" for a prolonged and brutal retaliation campaign.

A big part of their advertising, of course, entails big name celebrity endorsements. Tom Cruise not only joined the group but was treated exceptionally well and enjoyed all manner of privileges to buy his loyalty. It should also be said that people like him, with deep pockets, are likely their primary customer base as well.

Finally, we shouldn't rule out second generation church members, who've been indoctrinated from childhood and are probably made to hand over the bulk of their time, money, and energy to the group.
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@Swagnarok
The membership is shrinking but you are perhaps underestimating the appeal .

You take a walk say on a beach and you pass some fun things with a girlfriend you are on a date with. You are just looking for fun. You pass a psychic and decide you don't believe in all that phooey maybe a goodlooking couple approaches you and asks if you want to take a personality test. 

You say "sure that sounds fun"

Maybe the personality test reveals something about you. You struggle with indecision, but you also are a brave spirit. They give you a card with a link to a video on how to fix indecision and you leave. Later out of curiosity you decide to watch the video. These people seem odd but it's a ten minute video and it won't harm you to try it. 

The video tells you to cure indecision by shrinking your frame of the world and focusing on one thing. You focus on only your hair. My hair is a bit greasy, so I will get good shampoo and conditioner and wash it daily.

Your hygiene improves.

You figure out that if you eat right you hare improves and what do you know you are losing weight also. Fuck you work at McDonald's and that fryer oil sticks to your hair so you bust your ass to learn a skill and get an office job to get away from the grease harming your hair 

Before you know it, scientology has changed your life. But they have other free courses and then when you take all those and see the improvements they have what's called the bridge and you can learn so much more about yourself . You don't get to thetans until level 4 of 6 by the time you get to level 4 you have made a bunch of friends, your life is improved, you have invested a lot of money in the courses and the teachings of the group. 

Fuck they mention aliens in 4 after you spent 5 years with the group but you were wrong about how to live your life before, maybe just maybe you are wrong about alien thetans being inside of you and needing to be cleared. 

It's a very natural, very slow progression. 
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@WyIted
Did you ever have the Xenu narrative told to you in any of the courses?
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@WyIted
Really though, I've never heard this kind of testimonial before. It's almost as if they had the potential to be a genuinely good and wholesome group if the top brass wasn't a bunch of greedy cult leaders. Perhaps the world could use more of what you initially experienced, but played straight and without the bullcrap mind games. For some reason that doesn't seem to really exist.
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@Swagnarok
I never was in scientology but I have a special interest in cults and studies their recruiting techniques for years. One thing that's really common in cults is that a lot of their shit actually works. It looks crazy because you are seeing the end of a long line of subtle shifts. It's important to emphasize this to show that normal and intelligent people can be taken in, if you downplay this than people might be less guarded and taken in so when you see Allison Mack in NXVIM, yes their stuff actually worked many people elacheived extraordinary results with it. 

That's not to say they couldn't get the same thing from Tony Robbins seminars or a good therapist but this stuff works early on.  This is why many cults run drug rehabs, self help boot camps etc. They are providing value on the front end. 
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I have taken scientology courses, I have tracked down NXVIM courses and taken those as well as watched dozens of interviews looking at their techniques. I have applied some of it and disregarded some. 

I have never been in either group. I have also done deep dives on the "nature boy" and "children of God" cult. It's a fascinating subject 
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To answer your question, no. They don't talk about Xenu until very late in the whole process otherwise they know people would run away but you can actually still find lectures by LRON Hubbard about the story online.
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@LucyStarfire
There are people stupid enough to follow almost anything.

Those are the wisest words you've issued in a long time BK.


Look at the numbers of present day cult followers of the bastard son of a Judean flusey and her daft boyfriend.


LucyStarfire
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Those are the wisest words you've issued in a long time BK.
I dont think so, really.

Look at the numbers of present day cult followers of the bastard son of a Judean flusey and her daft boyfriend.
I belong to Meowbahh cult.