The Hype Handbook: 12 Indispensable Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Propagandists, Self-Promoters, Cult Leaders, Mischief Makers, and Boundary Breakers

HYPE STRATEGY #11

SET DOWN A ROCK FOR YOUR FOLLOWERS TO CLING TO

And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.

—JESUS OF NAZARETH

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was in a bad place. He had entered the Navy at the peak of the Second World War, expecting an experience that mirrored the heroic deeds he wrote about for a penny a word at the pulp magazines from which he made his living. But his over-the-top personality did not make the desired impression on his senior officers. Instead of commanding a fleet tasked with liberating Europe from the Nazi menace, the junior lieutenant found himself in charge of a PC-815 craft with the unglamorous mission of patrolling the coast of Southern California.

Although the first ...