Scumbucket Scientologists Imprisoned a Woman on a Ship for 12 Years...

[joeybee12]

For most people, an extended stay aboard a luxury cruise liner sounds like a dream vacation.

But Valeska Paris says she was held against her will aboard the Scientology cruise ship "Freewinds" for more than a decade. During her stay on the vessel, she alleges, she was forced into hard labor and never allowed to leave the ship without an escort.

In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC News) Lateline program, Paris claims that Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige sent her to the ship when she was 18 in order to prevent her family from pulling her out of the organization.

"I was basically hauled in and told that my mum had attacked the church and that I needed to disconnect from her because she was suppressive," she said. "He decided the ship, and I found out two hours before my plane left, I was woken up in the morning and I was sent to the ship for 'two weeks.' "

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/woman-imprisoned-scientology-cruise-ship-12-years-145114448.html

The "Scumbucket" is my editorializing, although using Scumbucket with Scientolgy seems redundant.

[get the red out]

1. It's not holding someone hostage

so long as it can be claimed as a part of "religion".

I heard an interview with a man who talked about escaping from a Scientology compound and that he was chased and wouldn't have made it if it hadn't have been for encountering a cop that didn't hand him over to his pursuers. He had been brought into the religion as a child by his mother, so he hadn't gone in as an adult of his own free will.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. in doing god's will, there are no earthly limits.

r i g h t .

[WinkyDink]

16. Scientology has a "god"? IDTSo.

[WinkyDink]

17. And where do you get this idea?

[get the red out]

23. Only from almost total lack of prosecution of cults

This country just seems to give cults/religions free reign. If it's religion everything is assumed consensual. Someone raised to give up their freedoms as part of a cult is generally assumed to have had some choice in the matter and no one seems to give a damn about them.

[polichick]

2. The St. Pete Times has been doing a series of articles on these "scumbuckets"...

Here's an eye-opening one:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/article1201166.ece

[get the red out]

3. I'm amazed they get by with it

It seems Scientology will go after anyone who dares utter a word against any of their practices.

[polichick]

5. I think they're being outed in a big way now, and that's a good thing...

Members are brainwashed and it really makes you wonder about Tom Cruise and John Travolta - have they been taken in too, or are they part of the con?

[LiberalEsto]

14. Maybe they are too dumb

to know the difference. Cruise, Travolta, etc.

[get the red out]

24. Auditing

Also, who knows what kind of blackmail-ready information they got on the celebs from all that "auditing"? The cult may have their careers and personal lives by the short-hairs.

[woo me with science]

12. Fascinating article, thanks.

"His premise was that every prospective customer wears a "brick overcoat" and each brick represents a fear or concern that must be addressed before he buys..."

That part reminded me of the Scientologists who worked my college campus decades ago. They gave free personality tests to anyone walking by (I am sure they still do this). After you took the test, you were taken into a room alone with a "counselor" to discuss the results.

I am sure they were able to rope in a lot of young people who appreciated the individual attention to their "psychological concerns" and who may have been struggling with loneliness or homesickness or identity issues related to being away from home for the first time. It was a slick operation, and they obviously did a brisk business during the entire four years I was there, judging by the number of people you invariably saw going in and out of that building.

[polichick]

13. The whole series has been great. Didn't know scientologists worked college campuses...

...but I've encountered them on Hollywood Blvd., near a corner where homeless kids congregate. It's really sick the way they - and other "churches" - target the vulnerable ones. Just like all predators!

[canetoad]

6. Free PDF ebook for download

Bare Faced Messiah by Russell Miller. http://www.holysmoke.org/cos/books/bare-faced-messiah.pdf

Out of print now, I read it years ago. Very enlightening.

[polichick]

7. Do you think Hubbard would be proud of today's "church" of scientology?

[saras]

9. Yep. It's not any worse than he did personally, and in fact may be mellowing.

[polichick]

10. I was thinking of the way they scam people for money, but since posting...

...came across something that said Hubbard was all about money, so I guess you're right.

But it's not mellowing - that's why the St. Pete Times is doing the series.

[WinkyDink]

18. Are you kidding?! He STARTED it DELIBERATELY as a CON GAME.

[polichick]

20. Yes, I've been reading since that post. People are easily conned it seems.

[Poll_Blind]

8. Randian Objectivism + Multi Level Marketing = Scientology. nt

PB

[polichick]

11. Thanks - I'll keep that in mind. Short and to the point.

[piratefish08]

29. Bronze Age legends + Multi Level Marketing = Christianity.........

the formula can be pretty much applied to ALL religions........

[mike_c]

15. calling BS....

From reading the article, she claims to not have known how to "escape" despite having regular access to ports of call. There is no evidence anywhere that she ever asked anyone for help. Not once, over 12 years? Never went into a police station and requested sanctuary? Never reported that she was detained against her will even though she had plenty of opportunity? She could have walked into any hotel, any business, and requested assistance.

It sounds to me like the truth is somewhere in the middle-- she was raised by scientologist parents and likely viewed her participation as simply normal life, until she grew out of it and decided to leave, but then she had to justify her actions to herself.

[AverageJoe90]

19. She may have been suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

It happens, you know.

[joeybee12]

21. Read the part about how these were foreign ports and they took her passport...nt

[mike_c]

22. one does not need a passport to seek protection from kidnappers....

Yes, I read the article. Public safety officers in tourist ports of call do not demand a passport as a condition of providing protection from an on-going crime. At worst, they'd deport her to the U.S. after separating her from the ship. More likely they'd have the U.S. consulate on the phone real quick. But again, there isn't any evidence that she ever even attempted to "escape" until she did, in fact, simply leave.

on edit-- I'm no friend of scientology (although I probably receive several hundred dollars worth of unsolicited mass mail from them every year-- what's up with THAT?)-- I just hate to see DUers jumping to conclusions with both feet before they consider what we do and don't know about a news story.

[eShirl]

25. Fear is a great tool of control.

[pipi_k]

26. I'm sure there are loads of reasons...

one of them being that maybe they had threatened to harm her family if she tried to escape.

Or maybe they held some kind of psychological control over her like abusive men do to their wives, etc. A skillful formula of just enough kindness and browbeating to keep the person in the trap.

:shrug:

[LanternWaste]

27. I imagine we see what we want to see...

I imagine we see what we want to see, and then justify and rationalize those interpretations.

[Orsino]

28. Didn't we fight the British over impressment? n/t