From: shiftkick@anti-social.com To: fun@thingy.apana.org.au Subject: Adelaide CoS
hi. i have been fascinated with the subject of scientology lately, ever since i read some works by william s. burroughs which mention the "reactive mind" and the possible merits of some scientology methods. following a visit to my local org (i live in adelaide) to take the test (i actually opted for the IQ test and did quite well - i think the staffer was disappointed that i resisted his pitch for the dianetics book), i started doing some research on the net. which led me to your site.
i found the short item concerning the propaganda outside annesley college interesting, because it reminded me of the Goodwood railway station. it is on the train line i take to get to and from town.
a while back, murals started to appear on the shelters at this station. as they were completed i saw that they were pretty standard anti-drugs messages in a cartoon style - happy kids saying no to drugs, unhappy kids slumped against a wall with drug paraphernalia scattered around them.
when they were finally complete, i was shocked to read the small print: at the bottom corner of each mural it read "SPONSORED BY THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY", along with a contact number. then i bothered to read the quote painted in large letters on one mural. i cannot remember exactly what it said, but i know that it was attributed to none other than LRH.
at first i found this very funny, but now it disturbs me a little. i can see how this happened, though - the CoS stuck up their hands to beautify a train station, and TransAdelaide (the local public transport authority) were more than happy. after all, who could argue with their anti-drugs message? who indeed ...
if i get the chance, i'll take some happy-snaps of the station and get them scanned for you. same goes for the stuff outside annesley - that's not far from me.
in the meantime, take care!
- shiftkick (an anonymous skeptic)
hey, feel free to post it as is, and include my email address. it's all completely anonymous, and the fact that i'm living in adelaide doesn't exactly identify me. i have nothing to lose anyway, since i have no involvement with the cult beyond that IQ test i did. i'm considering going in for a "personality" test though. i can deal with their weak attempts to flog "the book". one idea i had was to bone up on the test and the "correct" answers as available at operation clambake, and then go in and scare the hell out of them with a decent result ... what do you think?
- shiftkick