Booga-Booga

L. Ron Hubbard explains how illiterate societies are "stupid" because they depend entirely on current experience, having no written works on which to build their collective knowledge. In the Study Tapes, in a lecture entitled "Study: Evaluation of Information" given on 11 August 1964, he describes the ignorant, though happy, "natives", stuck in their degraded state without the benefit of abstract ideas and culture:

"The Scientology religion is based exclusively upon L. Ron Hubbard's research, writings and recorded lectures —
all of which constitute the Scriptures of the religion"

Now, you can pick up observation from the printed page; that's a secondhand observation but it nevertheless is the route on which almost all knowledge travels, since if you, individually, were called upon to re-evolve all the knowledge there was from the beginning of the world until now, all by your little ol' lonesome, you'd wind up stupid in this lifetime. I don't mean to be harsh, that's true. If you were called upon personally and individually to evolve all knowledge there was about anything, in one lifetime, you would get so little way upon that route — you understand, that's without having any other person relay anything to you, without having at your fingertips any works, texts, any reference books of any kind. That you were just going to have to do it all on your little ol' lonesome by thinking it up and evolving it, and so forth, and you were going to evolve all the knowledge and you weren't going to have any receipt of information from any other secondhand observation. In other words, you want to learn about volcanoes, well, you have to go and find a volcano. You would get so little done on this project that you would die stupid, I can assure you of that. Or you would be a ruddy fool and believe that you knew everything there was to know about the one room that you had been in that whole lifetime. Do you follow me?

So there is a value to secondhand knowledge. Now, firsthand knowledge, of course, is acquired by direct observation and experience. But even to achieve direct observation and experience, it is really much better to have the fruits of other observations and experience with which to profit and only in that way can you maintain and carry forward a culture of any magnitude.

Illiterate cultures do not survive and they are not very high. The natives of the tribe of the Bugga Bugga Booga Boogas down in Lower Bugga Wugga Booga Woog are mostly no longer with us or they are around waving red flags today and revolting against their central government. They're having a bad time. Well, the British Tommy that went down there with his Snider or his Lee-Enfield and brought them higher education in the first place — was only occasionally followed by anybody who taught them anything. And they didn't learn fast. Their literacy was not up to absorbing culture rapidly. So, of course, they can be victimized by anybody who comes along.

Once the line is open, if literacy doesn't follow and if secondhand observation is not available to a people, they stultify, they die, they go to pieces, they degrade. They are struck by this tremendous volume of exterior culture. They've been very happily down amongst the bong-bong trees, you know, dancing up and down amongst the bong-bong trees and the highest level of their interest, and so forth, was their own back yard. They could tell you all about bong-bong trees and they could tell you all about you mustn't step in bug-bug bushes, because you step on a thump-thump snake and this was their direct observation.

The second they're hit with things — particularly the abstract ideas of organization — the abstract ideas of political philosophy — the abstract ideas of, really, engineering — things of this material nature where knowledge is moving in close to the MEST, you see, where the significance is immediately, directly applicable to the manipulation of matter — when they move in on that, of course, their culture fails. They are not able to turn out Lee-Enfield rifles. They are not able to organize themselves into a proper democratic civilization, no matter how many lend-lease payments are thrust into the paws of their greedy politicians. They can be victimized, they can be turned into slaves and they can be degraded.

What's happened? Well, they've been overwhelmed and presented with this tremendous cultural image. Here's this great, shiny civilization, you see? It's full of Cadillac cars and jet planes and electric razors and all kinds of wild things; and they look at this material animated world; they see people have conquered their environment to the point where they can live at leisure and where they can do various things and where some girl can — with a few push buttons can control 125 horses as the most usual thing that she ever did in her life. You understand? In other words, she can drive a car.

All right, all of these miracles all of a sudden hit these illiterate fellows, see, all these things! They don't know the words, see? They see the tune, but they can't sing it. And they go into just overwhelm — boom! They just cave right in, see? They just back right up.