Let me first make a bold claim that I don't know if I've heard made before. Those still left in the Church are slaves to it. Not accolytes, not followers, not Kool-Aid drinkers. But slaves.

Jim Meskimen, a very talented comedian, actor and impressionist who is still "inside", just made a video with his daughter briefly discussing the cesspool which is Hollywood. Among other things, they question whether the shaming of Hollywood sexual reprobates is productive. Believing Meskimen to be a pretty honorable fellow, I was stunned. How could he possibly imagine that shunning them was "unproductive"? Of course, many of those accused will drop below the radar for a while and later will pop up again to continue to wield influence (and victimize more people) in Hollywood. But that's not the point. And whether the statute of limitations has run out isn't the point, either. Most of these people have admitted their guilt. "Shunning" is more or less a known ethics gradient. (The ethics gradient doesn't say, "shunned". It talks about disseminating the crimes of the individual to a wide audience, which is more or less the core of shunning.)

It's also worth noting that Meskimen, as a long term member of Hollywood, likely knew of much of the corruption now being flushed into the open today. What has been revealed so far to the public is known to be an "open secret" in Hollywood. And so far, I know of no incident where he has spoken out about or done anything about this tragedy. This makes him, to one degree or another, complicit. Ever heard the old saying that you "cop" to the condition you fail to declare? It's an old saw in Ethics.

Of course, the argument will be made that we must balance all they are accused of against all the wonderful "art" they've created. Perhaps, but let's bear in mind that what they have done, particularly if it is pedophilia, is among our most serious crimes. If you don't think so, consider what happens to pedophiles in prison. Murderers don't even get the harsh treatment that pedophiles do. And many of these people have committed these crimes not once, but continuously down through the years. And it's also worth noting that many of those victimized will still not come forward to proclaim they were victims. So the victim count will likely be higher than what the perpetrator admits to.

This got me wondering what could be wrong with Jim to give him this "slack" attitude toward these criminals. Of course, there is the usual closing of ranks when someone of your "tribe" is attacked, and Hollywood is definitely his tribe. I commented on Jim's post that he and his daughter needed to increase their confront of evil. (He cheerfully "acked" my comment.)

It also occurred to me that Meskimen, being a full on member of the Church still, is ignoring a lot of what he would call "entheta" about the Church. Like all those still left inside, he has chosen not to look in the direction of the "entheta" he knows is there. "That way lies Entheta. Look not into the face of it, lest ye be affected by it." Except that you can't simply ignore it forever. Sooner or later, you'd better check out what's there. But no. For reasons known only to Jim (but guessable by the rest of us), he has chosen to remain a "slave" to the Church.

And as I was having this thought, it had never occurred to me to classify those still left inside the Church as "slaves". And yet, in a very real sense, they are.

And then I started wondering what makes a slave. Ron's probably covered this somewhere, but I've not read or heard it. So I'll take a crack at defining what makes a "slave". It's axiomatic that the only thing which can aberrate a thetan is that which he has forgotten about or of which he is not aware. If the fellow knew what incident(s) lay at the bottom of his fear of clouds, he would no longer have a fear of clouds. And as long as he fails to recall this incident, or refuses to look, he remains aberrated. And in a very real sense, this makes him a slave to the aberration. "Forgettingness" is an act of failing to take responsibility for what is there. It gives us the Between Lives Area, and the lack of memory of former lifetimes. And again, it makes us slaves to those things we fail to take responsibility for.

Looking at the literal mechanism of becoming an actual slave, it requires that enslaving conditions exist, about which you do nothing. Thus, the slavery continues to exist, and you may one day become that which you tried to avoid. It requires your tacit or implicit agreement. You can only become a slave when you agree to become one. Considering the nature of a thetan, this is obvious.

So at a minimum, where bad conditions exist about which you do nothing (for whatever reason) you become a slave. The rise of all totalitarian regimes are marked by this kind of event occurring on a broad scale. The current population of North Korea serves as a prime example of this type of situation. Having no way (they believe) of fighting back against a tyrannical government, they subsequently become slaves to it.

Has the management of the Church become "tyrannical"? I think that's a fair assessment, no matter how you look at it. Which makes all those left inside, who remain there for any number of reasons, slaves. So long as they remain and the regime stands, they are slaves to it. We can also proclaim them to be victims of it. But they are also slaves.

And one of the chief things keeping them there is their individual unwillingness to confront the evil which is there, and do anything about it, including separate from it.

Lastly, there is such a thing as a "slave" state of mind. This would be where the unwillingness to confront or act upon the evil present becomes generalized. Ignoring the evil here eventually causes one to duplicate this feat elsewhere. This becomes the permanent state of mind of the slave.

This is the problem of the Whole Track. So long as we do not rise above its ability to enslave us, we are slaves to it.

And thus we see why Jim Meskimen and his daughter cannot see why shunning the horrific crimes of Hollywood are shun-worthy.