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[*** NOTE: THIS CHALLENGE HAS EXPIRED!!! THE OFFER IS REVOKED! ***]
Rob Clark's message quoted below [ommited] seemed so insightful into the Dorian mindset that I got to thinking the ARS literati might want to prove they are more accomplished writers than Dorian rather than harping about his style constantly. So I thought up a challenge, sort of a put up or shut up type challenge. A challenge that allows the ARS players in the Scientology play a chance to get on stage and demonstrate their superiority to Dorian.
And the best part of the challenge is you won't have to write for a penny a word--it will be $1.00 per word for a 10,000 word essay. Now surely this challenge will be easier than starting a religion for the ARS literati, don't you think?
Well, here's all you have to do to play:
write a 10,000 --- 15,000 word essay that meets the following requirements:
1) It must full of surprising, insightful, and thought provoking ideas.
2) It must be not only relevant to Scientology, it must reveal its hidden workings and show Scientology up for what it is.
3) It must not lecture to Scientologists, but instead speak indirectly to them, explaining some of the hows and the whys of what they have experienced.
4) It must be original.
5) It must open up what L. Ron Hubbard Jr. (Nibs) referred to as the part of his father's mind that no one could get into, the part that was locked up tight, not revealed to anyone.
6) It must take steps towards revealing Hubbard's true intent and it must do it in a manner that is compelling and convincing to Scientologists.
7) And on top of everything else, it must say some significant and useful things about life in general.
8) It must be submitted in English
When finished, post it to ARS with a suject line that read as follows: Subject: ARS Literati $10,000 Challenge---(insert entrants name) and then send a copy by email to me at bob@minton.org.
After the challenge closes, we can have a straw poll on ARS for fun but I will be the one who decides who wins the challenge. If you win, I pay you $10,000.
I know the ARS literati has it in them to show Dorian for the bumbling, stumbling writer you say he is. Well, now's your chance to put up or shut up. Crank up your word processors ARS literati! And, for the ARS "intellectual couch potatoes" who don't bother to read Dorian anyway and don't feel like participating, there a reward for you as well. Just lie back, relax and enjoy the fun on ARS for the next month. It should be a blast as Mr. Henson might say :-)
Bob Minton