Scientology - The Real World Technocrats

Wednesday was Open house day at the Scientology building on the loop. Anarky and I were having our usual Wednesday lunch and gossip when we noticed the sign and decided to go in together (figuring they'd have to be really well coordinated to hit us both over the head). It has a Ziggurat - how could I possibly not. We went in. We gave false names (wouldn't you?) and we expressed an interest in the building. Brad, the poor soul allocated to show us around, looked doubtful.

It used to be an old Masonic lodge, I happen to know that the masons now live by the Wellston Metrolink. The building was spectacular, but they had done quite a lot of destructive office building inside. Most of the corners had been rounded, the colour scheme was nondescript. There is no way they showed us the whole building. Maybe the front 1/3, tops. Brad claimed that the third floor was not refurbished and unsafe to view.

The ground floor was bog-standard offices really. Some of the rooms were set up like classrooms, some had books and pictures on the wall. It seemed quite confrontational in the setu: chairs opposite one another at the desks. There was another room where analogue machines looking a little like ammeters, were on partitioned desks against the wall. These I recognised as the 'stress meters' I had seen them use when they were doing their evangelising on the loop. One of the pictures on the wall was labelled with the title 'auditor'.

The second floor was creepy. No other way to describe it. We glanced into a room that Brad described as an 'auditorium' but which looked more like an activities room. There were 6 people in the room. They all wore black and white, not a bit of colour to be seen. On the table closest to the door was a model-making area. There were clay representations on people in circles on it. We walked down the corridor into a room with sofas in it. A door to an office was open to one side. It had a plaque with a list hanging from the inside. It was this list which made me go Argh! Technocrat!

The list had 10 points, and it is here I wish I had a perfect memory. What I do recall is that it started with points running like this: 'Ensure the correct technology is used.' 'Ensure the correct technology is used properly.' 'Ensure the dissemination of the correct technology.' 'Know that the correct technology is right.' Went on to say things like: 'Do not use incorrect technology', 'Ensure that incorrect technology cannot be disseminated'...need I continue?

What with that, the vibe, the fact that the building was far from open house and Brad's reluctance (in fact inability, it would seem), to give us answers which were non-contradictory, we left.

Shudder.