Talk:L. Ron Hubbard

L. Ron Hoyabembe

There is not any serious speculation that Hubbard was a black man named L. Ron Hoyabembe. The video cited here is a comedy sketch. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:642:C481:4640:8849:F24B:EA8:CFE0 (talk) 15:30, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

There actually was quite a bit of speculation. A painting he created in his later years depicted a man clearly of African-American ancestry. The comedy sketch brought more attention to the rumor. SadInAShed (talk) 21:39, 6 June 2021 (UTC)

Thank you for pointing this out, it's been removed. Feoffer (talk) 01:47, 7 June 2021 (UTC)

Pedophilia

There is no mention of how South park notes L. Ron Hubbard "lived on a boat with ONLY young boys and was busted by the feds numerous times." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.211.39.61 (talk) 19:39, 17 July 2021 (UTC)

South Park is not a reliable source of information for anything, any more than shows like The Simpsons or Family Guy. For the record, Hubbard's crews included persons of both sexes and I'm not aware of any work that claims he was "busted by the feds" for pedophilia-related acts. --Ismail (talk) 11:45, 18 July 2021 (UTC)

In fact the South Park episode doesn’t state that his federal indictments were for pedophilia, for what it is worth…SinoDevonian (talk) 17:03, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

Improperly formed sentence

“In February 1953, Hubbard acquired a doctorate from the unaccredited degree mill called Sequoia University.” Is not grammatically correct. I would make it, “In February 1953, Hubbard acquired a doctorate from an unaccredited degree mill called Sequoia University.” Or “In February 1953, Hubbard acquired a doctorate from the unaccredited degree mill, Sequoia University.” 2600:1700:1111:5940:1411:93F9:99D9:3DEB (talk) 01:25, 28 April 2022 (UTC)

Fixed. Winthrop23 (talk) 21:05, 5 June 2022 (UTC)

Relocation to Rhodesia

If Hubbard relocated to Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) because he believed he was the reincarnation of Cecil Rhodes, shouldn't that information be included in this article? 173.88.246.138 (talk) 02:38, 14 October 2022 (UTC)

It's not clear it was causal. He claimed to believe he was Rhodes while in Rhodesia, but we can't say it's something he believed before he got there . Feoffer (talk) 05:37, 14 October 2022 (UTC)

Best known for...?

From the lede:

"Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author, primarily of science fiction and fantasy stories, who is best known for having founded the Church of Scientology." I don't see any citation for this claim.

Is that really what he's best known for? I read Hubbard's scifi stories for years before I ever found out he was associated with Scientology. In the circles I moved in he was best known an an eccentric science fiction writer. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.95.43.253 (talk) 18:41, 20 October 2022 (UTC)

"held by Guinness World Records to be for the most..." - under Death and Legacy

Full sentence: "Hubbard is held by Guinness World Records to be for the most published author with 1,084 works, most translated book (70 languages for The Way to Happiness) and most audiobooks (185 as of April 2009)."

This appears to be out of date, if not simply false as even in 2009.

If considering works, Hubbard was unlikely to have had the most, even at his death. He definitely did not have the most translated book. Perhaps convert to say that Hubbard formerly held these world records (per the Guinness World Records), or additional context could be added, or the sentence struck completely.

For most published author:

Wikipedia itself notes Ryoki Inoue as being the most published author (also referencing the Guinness World Records), though it notes only 1075 works (regardless the conflict between the two seemingly needs to be corrected). Corín Tellado is noted as having over 4000 works published, with even the partial bibliography on Wikipedia extending over 1200 works. As it considers works rather than novels, Charles Hamilton is identified as having over 5000 short stories.

For most translated book:

Guinness World Records shows Le Petit Prince as the most translated single author, single book, and Wikipedia itself notes that The Little Prince and Adventures of Pinocchio as having the most translations and third most translations (with 300+ and 240-260 languages respectively).

These are single-author examples only, as there are multi-author works with even more translations (ex: the Bible (with 724 translations of the Protestant Canon) or the Quran (with 112 translations as of 2010)).

For most audiobooks:

It seems unlikely to be the most audiobooks as of today, but I can't find a more up to date reference for this, and the article notes the date. Spindrift Aura (talk) 04:48, 28 October 2022 (UTC)

"Discovery" of sabotage in quotations

The subtitle for his military history section implies that his discovery of attempted sabotage was falsified/planted himself due to being in quotes, but nothing in the body of the article suggests that 215.67.148.5 (talk) 13:09, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

White supremacist?

I just came across this passage:

In 1956, in an obvious reference to the 1954 Supreme Court decision to outlaw school segregation, [L. Ron Hubbard] attacked the "... Supreme Court Justice who does not recognize the rights of the majority, but who stresses the rights of the minority and who uses psychology textbooks written by Communists to enforce an unpopular opinion" (Wallis, 1977, p. 199). The Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, handed down on May 17, 1954 enraged white supremacists like Hubbard. The Court considered as evidence findings of research done by Kenneth Clark (1955), an African-American psychologist, which further enraged those supporting segregation. We know that later on, Hubbard supported the apartheid regime in South Africa.

I put it here in case anyone is interested in using this source. I don't have time to track it down further, or even figure out where it might go. Grorp (talk) 07:43, 21 February 2023 (UTC)

References