Hi -

I'm new here and I don't know if this is the right place to post this question, but here it is:

I've been watching anonymous, and in particular their attempts to discover and document L. Ron Hubbard's plagiarism.

Since a cult leader is often a con man who writes, and who is mentally incapable of any heavy lifting because he devotes so much of his time to running his cons, he plagiarizes. In Ron's case it appears that he lifted everything he used for "dianetics" from A.E. van Vogt.

Is revealing the sources that a cult leader plagiarized an effective way of stopping him (or her, to give the ladies credit)? Can it stop a con cold?

We know how scientology reacted whenever their great founder was exposed, and the fair gaming of all journalists and authors who stumbled onto Ron the Con. These authors exposes of the cult founder still did not bring the cult to an end.

Will documenting a con-man's plagiarism work any better?

One reason for my interest in this is that I've been working on a biography of the late Richard Kieninger, whose con still lives on today even though he has died, as did Ron's.

E.P. Grondine

PS - The death count from Richard's cult is 181 now, by my current count. I don't know if I'll find more bodies as this bio goes along... the wastage in human lives had been incredible, and I still don't have a good grasp on all of the techniques Richard used.

Hello. Yes, yes, yes ... I think that any expose is worthwhile. Please can you describe more van Vogt's work and ideas and the similarities to dianetics. Also I guess there might be some interest in Kieninger and his alleged cons. But beware of using your own name - Grondine - CO$ has an automatic response - like many cults - to making life miserable for anyone it deems is its enemy.

In my first message on this topic, I noted that when
your deal with a con man who writes, which generally
describes any cult founder, then inevitably you're
also dealing with a plagiarist. The question
at hand then is who did Hubbard plagiarize.

I tracked Hubbard's life to the
point of demonstrating to a fair degree of certainty
that Hubbard had likely plagiarized author A.E. van
Vogt, president of the Los Angeles Sceince Fantasy
Society which Hubbard participated in, and I pointed
out the van Vogt himself had likely been inspired by
the work of black science fiction writer and LASFS
member Volney Mathison.

Now, thanks to science fiction fan Darat at:
[forums]. randi.org/ showthread. php?t=107533,
we can show that Hubbard did indeed plagiarize
"dianetics" directly from van Vogt:

"From his height of greater understanding he assured
the younger individual that the affective incident
must be looked at from a different angle than that of
a frightened youth. Assured him that fear of pain and
fear of death were emotions that could be overcome,
and that in short the shock incident which had once
affected him so profoundly no longer had any meaning
for him. More than that, in future he would have
better understanding of such moments, and he would
never again be affected in an adverse fashion.

"It was one more Null-A training make-shift, as had
been all the others. But is was a system of
self-therapy that was scientifically sound, and which
would bring definite benefits.

"Relax," the voice soothed on. And because of what he
was doing, every word meant, "Relax the tensions of a
life time. Let all those past fears and doubts and
uncertainties be discharged from the nervous system."

"The effect did not depend on any belief that
something would happen, though conviction made it more
powerful. But it would take time. There were many
suppressed memories that would have to be skillfully
brought out in the open, before the therapy could be
used on them.

from The Players of Null-A, A. E. Van Vogt, 1948. The
publication year for that book again was 1948.
Published in 1948, and written by Hubbard's friend van
Vogt earlier.

Hubbard lifted van Vogt's work and concepts and ran
with them. As with most plagiarists, Hubbard then
filled in his "research" by going back to van Vogt's
sources. While Hubbard's ex-wife Sara's memories of
exactly what occurred must be viewed with some
caution, there is little doubt about the dates she
gives:

"Sara Hubbard told me: "In the late forties I remember
reading "Science and Sanity" by Korzybski, and I
became very excited. So I began reading aloud to Ron
and he became very excited too. He became a big
follower of Korzybski... ." "And much of Dianetics
relates back to the works of Count Alfred
Korzybski... ." Interview with Sara by Bent Corydon
from L.RON HUBBARD, Messiah of Madman?, Bent Corydon
and L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. (a.k.a. Ronald DeWolf)

Of course, Korzybski had been van Vogt's main
inspiration long before Betty ever met Hubbard.

van Vogt's research on hypnotisim from 1945, which
Hubbard also had full access to, was published much
later "Among other things, I wrote "The Hypnotism
Handbook", for a psychologist. That was in late 1949,
though it was not published until 1950" - from the
Charles Pliatt interview with A. E. van Vogt. Which is
strange, as we know from materials elsewhere that van
Vogt was working on this book in 1945.

We not only know from other accounts that van Vogt was
working on this book in 1945, but that Hubbard
practiced hypnosis with him. Undoubtedly a look
through the bibliography of van Vogt's book will
reveal other sources which Hubbard used to fill in his
plagiarism.

"In his book "The Mneme", published in 1923, Richard
Simon used the term "engram," which he considered to
be a "stimulus impression" that could be reactivated
by the recurrence of "the energetic conditions which
ruled at the generation of the engram. " In this
connection Sara Northrup, Hubbard's second wife,
married to him during the inception of Dianetics,
mentioned that prior to Dianetics he was familiar with
Simon's work." Interview with Sarah by Bent Corydon
from L.RON HUBBARD, Messiah of Madman?, Bent Corydon
and L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. (a.k.a. Ronald DeWolf)

So how essential was van Vogt's work to Hubbard?

"You see previously I had met Hubbard in 1945; I had
dinner with him and about a dozen other persons, and
it became apparent to me that he was very mystically
oriented. [in other words, Hubbard was practicing
Aleister Crowley's OTO "magick" with Jack Parsons.] So
when there was, later, not a line of that in the book
[Dianetics] I thought, by God, this has really got to
be a good system, because it has already knocked that
out of him!" Charles Pliatt interview with A.E. van
Vogt. Sadly, van Vogt never did seem to realize that
Hubbard had simply found a new con. But then Hubbard
was both a very good hypnotist as well as being a con
man.

How complete was Hubbard's con? van Vogt would later
complain that Hubbard's followers had harassed him,
but he never seemed to realize that it was Hubbard
himself who was guiding those followers. Perhaps it
was cognitive dissonance, perhaps it was hypnotic
suggestion, or perhaps Hubbard was just a really
really good liar.

Did van Vogt ever receive any justice?

"I think at this juncture, dead or alive, he [Hubbard]
fell into his own insanity, and that's quite
sufficient punishment. That is the most terrible jail
of all, to be trapped inside his own head. With him it
must be like being locked inside an exploding
fireworks factory with no way out." - Ron Hubbard Jnr,
Penthouse Magazine interview.

"And really, as far as crimes go, I think my father
has received the ultimate punishment, which is being
locked and trapped in his own insanity. There's no way
out for him." - Ron Hubbard Jnr., Penthouse Magazine
interview.

What drove Hubbard to lie and con throughout his life?
I suppose that is a question for professionals more
skilled in that sort of work than myself. More
knowledge about the minds of cult founders would
undoubtedly be of great benefit to many.

A pressing problem at hand is what help we will be
able to give the scientologists of today as their
belief system collapses, and the organization' s abuses
end.

Some people knew her as Betty,
E.P Grondine

____________ _________ _________ ________