Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Cheering the Founder

This post is in response to the poll results of November 28, 2024. Be sure to get your votes in for today’s poll.

Looking back at this bizarre ritual, it’s hard to even wrap my mind around the fact that it occurred. But yes, this was a thing when I was in Scientology. At the start of each course day, we would call roll. Then the students would turn and face the photo of LRH. They would cheer Hip, Hip, Hooray! Hip, Hip, Hooray! Hip, Hip, Hooray! Then they would sit down and study.

This didn’t occur until I got to LA. It wasn’t done in Salt Lake. But it was done in LA. And it was every day. Hundreds of students would cheer. Hands raised. It was quite bracing actually, a way to start the day on a high. Cheer the guy who created this and then start studying.

There were other times, like some musters and other meetings where we did this. It was just something that we did. And it didn’t strike me as culty. Or out of the ordinary.

It’s things like this, ordinary day-to-day things a group does that suck someone in. They create a sense of camaraderie and companionship with other members of the group. A common thread. All the while, we were cheering a man who invented a way to imprison us. It’s a small wonder he got away with so much fraud. We aided and abetted it!