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Psychiatry and Scientology

As I was reading yesterday I came across a site called Psychsearch.net which was very critical of the TeenScreen program in the USA. I won't put a link in because I don't want to support the site. I don't want to support it because it is connected to the so called "church" of Scientology. It took me a while to catch on, but as I read the site I started feeling a little suspicious. The site is written in the same style as I have seen other Scientology information or mis-information. I became very familiar with Scientology when I lived in Clearwater Beach, Florida and had an office in downtown Clearwater.

Because I started to feel suspicious, I did some searches on "psycsearch.net, scientology" and "teenscreen, scientology" and my suspicions were quickly confirmed.

Here is one bit of evidence:

PsychSearch.net is a public service informational project of Data Search Worldwide, Inc., a public records retrieval company founded by Ken Kramer in 1998 and located in Clearwater, Florida.

Kramer, a member of the Church of Scientology, which opposes psychiatry...

http://www.psychsearch.net/aboutus.html

I had heard about the "Citizens Commission on Human Rights", run by the Scientologists, while I lived in Clearwater. (cchr.com) I remember they were slinging mud at the psychiatry business. Now I don't like psychiatrists, but I think I like the Scientologists less. By the way if you do visit cchr.com notice the "donate" link. As if they Scientologists need more money. They are very smart, very powerful and very dangerous.

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Here is a site showing photos of a near deserted downtown Clearwater. The site seems to be written by an ex-Scientologist because it uses a lot of the special words. One of the ones I recognize is "wogs". That means non-Scientologists. This page also has a lot of good pictures of the kinds of uniforms they wear.

http://buttersquash.net/archives/ybor6.htm


Front Groups

Here is something I found on one of the pages I suspect is from a Scientology member or from the "church". It is written in the same style as other Scientology pages. It talks about how corporations use "front groups" to mask their identity and to manipulate public opinion. This is exactly what the Scientologists themselves do so it is hard to know what to believe and what not to believe. They are quite good at what they do and seem to be getting better.

Scientific Studies Made to Order

Quietly financed by the industry giants whose products are being evaluated, these "independent" research agencies will now churn out "scientific" studies and press releases which will help to create any public image the handlers want. Such front groups are given important-sounding names like:

PATH - Positive Action for Teen Health

AFSP – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

The names of corporate front groups are usually carefully chosen to mask the real interests behind them but they can usually be identified by their funding sources, membership and who controls them.

Press Releases Masquerading as News

The industry's front-groups promote their agenda in part by an endless stream of "press releases" announcing "breakthrough research" to every newspaper, radio and TV station in the country. Words in press releases are very carefully chosen for their emotional impact. Many of these press releases read like news, and indeed are purposely molded in the news format. This saves journalists the trouble of researching the subjects on their own, especially for topics about which they know very little. Entire sections of the press releases can be just lifted intact, without any editing, given the byline of the reporter or newspaper or TV station - and voila! Instant news, written by corporate PR firms.

These types of stories are mixed right in with legitimately researched news stories. Unless you have done the research yourself, you won't be able to tell the difference.

We hope this page will help you to start reading newspaper and magazine articles a little differently, and perhaps start watching TV news with a slightly different attitude. Always ask yourself, what are they selling here, and who is selling it? Real knowledge takes a little more effort, a little digging down at least one level below what "everybody knows."

from http://www.teenscreentruth.com/teenscreen_PR_firms.html

 

Sometimes, though, they will admit they are funding other projects. For example they have a site called "Freedommag.org". On the site they say it is "Investigative Reporting in the Public Interest", but you can be sure it is in the Scientologists' interest. On this site they openly state that the information, or mis-information, is published by the "Church of Scientolgy International."

Note how they like to talk about freedom when in fact what they want is absolute control over their members and anyone else if possible.

Here is something else I happened to find:

Flag Land Base, Clearwater, Florida

Today, the worldwide spiritual headquarters of the Church of Scientology is located in the city of Clearwater, Florida. Flag Land Base is an international headquarters founded in the late 1970s when an anonymous Scientology-founded group called "Southern Land Development and Leasing Corp" purchased the Fort Harrison Hotel for $2.3 million. Because the reported tenant was the "United Churches of Florida," another anonymous front group for the Church of Scientology, the citizens and City Council of Clearwater did not realize that the building's owners were actually the Church of Scientology until after the building's purchase.[2] Clearwater citizens' groups, headed by Mayor Gabriel Cazares, rallied strongly against Scientology establishing a base in the city (repeatedly referring to the organization as a cult), but Flag Base was established nonetheless.

From http://www.directopedia.org/directory/Society-Religion_Spirituality/Scientology-Church_of_Scientology.shtml

 

Psychsearch.net, by the way, has this on its page in small faded print:

Copyright © 2002-2005 Data Search Worldwide, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Data Search Worldwide, PsychSearch.net and the PsychSearch.net logo are owned by Data Search Worldwide, Inc.

And their logo says "Governmental Reports"

So could we say this is an example of misleading information and of a "front group" for the Scientologists?.