The Church of Scientology stalked me when I was 18 years old. They showed up in a van at the cosmetology school I went to after filling out their "fun, free" personality test. The woman that drove the van stayed for hours. She requested me as a stylist. I am unsure if she knew I would be forced to serve her or be sent home for the day. She was waiting for me when class was over. I managed to avoid and she never came again. But they still called me daily, for months on end.
I didn't know what to do. It sounded like I was having a mental breakdown no matter how I worded it. Why the fuck would they do this to me? Why would they act so aggressively?
I decided to do what I always do with anything and everything: I researched. I spent all night, all the next day, and the next few years reading stories from people that were survivors of the Church of Scientology. I pieced together everything I could figure out about what would make them go after me so hard.
When I took the personality test, I told the truth about everything, literally only exaggerating my income. It was dumb. I was young, vulnerable, mentally unstable, and so, so, so confused about my purpose in life. I really didn't think it was any of their business, but I feel like they didn't give an option to opt out of the question.
All of those issues I had at the time made me the perfect target on paper. The personality profile they built with that test told them everything they needed to know about how I felt about my life. Even if I lied about my income, they would've gladly taken me with the promise of "fixing me" and helping me find my "purpose."
Contacting me in person was very simple: I kept all of my social media posts public. It wasn't quite geo-taggng era yet, but MySpace existed. AIM Status messages, Xanga pages, LiveJournal, and even dating sites were all public information that I had never thought I'd have to protect because I didn't think a goddamned cult would come after me using it. My phone had a (small) data plan. I blogged extensively and every day.
What probably saved me is the fact I had an evergrowing desire to see all organized religion burn. I generally am very respectful of faith, but I am vocal about the fact I have no desire for it and politely decline. Religion was part of the reason I was so broken, so lost, and so confused.
It took me years to understand what really happened to me because of this. I lock down my privacy settings on most things and control my posts, but I've been a little less careful in recent years.
I am posting this because I read that they did a Superbowl Ad. Please, if you are lost, confused, and broken: talk to me. I'm not a great conversationalist unless you get me into niche topics, but I am a kind ear and will bend over backwards to help you find out where you actually belong.
I just know that where you belong is not with the Church of Scientology. Look at what they did in an attempt to recruit me, what do you think they will do to their members?
They will psychologically mind fuck you using the psychological profile they build from you in their auditing sessions. It will be like an episode of Criminal Minds, only they are reading the results while telling you lies about "thetan" levels. They push you to spend more and more money to move up in the church, much like a Multi-Level Marketing Scheme. They may even ask you to sign up for the Sea Org, where you can literally slave away, denied medical attention, and kept in international waters.
These people literally had the largest infiltration of the US Government in what they called Operation Snow White, which was to erase their tax records and keep tabs on what the Government said about them.
I still worry about them sometimes, but I really can't let anyone I care about get hurt by them.
