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Defending the Indefensible: Scientology TV

April 29, 2021 By Mike Rinder 47 Comments

Of all things, STAND is complaining about The Hollywood Reporter’s “biased” and “bigoted” coverage of the dismal flop that is ScientologyTV

They dredge up some old stuff they have used before about the founder of THR being a communist scare merchant in the days of McCarthyism to prove that the Reporter has a “history” of bias and bigotry and that somehow makes it so today…

An interesting standard that they might want to think through a little better, given their illustrious founder’s checkered history and the fact that 11 leaders (including his wife) went to Federal prison… I guess that proves scientology is composed of wife-abusing, cheating liars and criminals.

But put that inconvenience aside, the rehash of their earlier story about Billy Wilkerson (as I recall they pulled that one out when they were complaining that someone from THR had been favorably inclined towards The Aftermath to “prove” how they must have been wrong) really only serves as an introduction to the main point. The nasty meanies at the THR don’t like ScientologyTV.

Here is what they have to say:

If there is a Scientologist to interview, THR is absent. If, however, there’s an apostate or a person who makes a living spreading hate against Scientology, THR is there with Lights! Camera! Headlines!

There are dozens of studios in Hollywood. Scientology Media Productions appears to be the only one targeted and marginalized by The Hollywood Reporter.

In 2018, the Church of Scientology launched its own television network from Scientology Media Productions in Hollywood. THR’s subsequent review of the Scientology Network was a hatchet job, and a poor one at that (if one can rate the quality of hatchet jobs). The writer didn’t bother actually watching the programs—that much is obvious. No research was done, except possibly a scan through the thesaurus in search of synonyms for “bad.”

Possibly this, too, is following in Old Man Billy’s footsteps, who, in exchange for his rave notices for Howard Hughes’ Paramount Pictures, gracefully accepted free bucks from that billionaire when The Hollywood Reporter needed a financial hand. (One can only wonder if the present-day THR is likewise receiving under-the-table payoffs.)

What do you call “news” with a slant, but no facts? What do you call “reporting” that only interviews those who hate the subject matter being covered? What do you call a campaign composed entirely of smears and innuendo, which fluctuates from condescending superiority to indignant outrage? You call it propaganda, the very thing that titillated Billy Wilkerson back in the red-baiting days.

The Hollywood Reporter has become that which it once howled against: a cheap and pathetic propaganda tool, dispensing hate, bigotry and lies and an embarrassment to those in its employ—one whose only passing resemblance to a news source is that its writers can still spell.

Now, as anyone who has ever tried to watch ScientologyTV knows — it is a boring repetition of scientology propaganda over and over and over and over. Their “programming” is the same junk they had when they launched it in 2018. And it is just regurgitated endlessly as if they have an actual TV station.

The only reason ScientologyTV still exists is that it would be a massive embarrassment for Miscavige to shut it down. So, they continue to spend millions to keep it on DirecTV and continue to buy advertising to try to promote it. There are no audience figures made public for ScientologyTV — just as they don’t make their membership figures public or the amount of money they take in public or the number of disconnections ordered public. But you can be sure nobody is watching this thinly veiled foolishness. They do have a website, scientology.tv, where you can watch their “programming” and they try to direct people to go to it with their advertising. That website does have a measure of its popularity. Scientology.tv has a global Alexa ranking of 426,202. This blog has a global Alexa ranking of 85,471. That means there are 85,471 sites on the internet that get more traffic than my blog. And another 340,731 that are even less popular than mine before you get to ScientologyTV. They are truly on the fringes of the internet.

The public, as Hubbard would say, are staying away in droves.

On top of that, none of the shows have garnered any recognition, been nominated for any awards, let alone win them. I guess in the twisted minds of the STAAD League this means everyone is a biased bigot because they don’t like the propaganda scientology offers up as “TV.” And they also demonstrate their bias and bigotry if they have anything good to say about the award-winning Aftermath or Going Clear programs.

Even funnier is the purple prose these guys use to try to sound educated. Like this: a cheap and pathetic propaganda tool, dispensing hate, bigotry and lies and an embarrassment to those in its employ—one whose only passing resemblance to a news source is that its writers can still spell. Interesting, I would take that as a perfect description of their own Freedom magazine (which they appear unable to get out these days).

It is somewhat bizarre they don’t even seem to recognize how foolish they look. But that is understandable when you realize their real audience is INTERNAL. They produce propaganda to mollify any sheeple that may get restless or see something bad about scientology.

The STAND League embodies everything that is wrong with scientology.

 

UPDATE:

 

I guess they were aware the story published just now was coming as Karin Pouw is included with a weak sort of denial. Apparently they were getting in a pre-emptive strike on THR?

 

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Filed Under: scientology TV, STAND League Tagged With: Billy Wilkerson, David Miscavige, Hollywood Reporter, scientology TV, ScientologyTV, STAAD League, STAND League, THR, Will Seabrook

Comments

  1. V Vendetta says

    May 1, 2021 at 1:13 pm

    Rest assured, OSA lackeys thoroughly crawl the Interweb for any and all online references to Co$ 24/7/365, whether “Feature Article” or a comment to same, for whatever Fair Gaming opportunities they can turn over to their legal enforcement vermin…as amply demonstrated up close and personal to this never-in.
    The irony is rather than deterring my incipient loathing of all things Co$, their retribution fueled it to new heights …appreciating even more deeply the courageous ex-sci escapees here and elsewhere who speak out and stand firm in opposing this demonic cult…Heroes of the Heart, indeed!

    Reply
    • Real says

      May 2, 2021 at 4:23 pm

      they don’t have much teeth anymore. About a 15 years ago at night a few came to my house and climbed over my gate (because I wouldn’t answer the door bell) to try and “handle” me. In 5 minutes I had the police there and all 4 of them face down in the street in cuffs.

      Have never heard from the cult since.

      Reply
      • V Vendetta says

        May 3, 2021 at 11:53 am

        Beautiful!
        I was on high alert for any Co$ PI/Thuggee activity afterwards, asked neighbors to keep an eye out for strange vehicles, but no further harassment transpired. I was advised by local att’y friend familiar w/the cult to “keep quiet” regarding further outspokenness…so “moderated” my commenting, now that I’m “on the list,” as it were.

        Reply
        • Real says

          May 9, 2021 at 12:31 pm

          I still tell any scientologist I run into that the whole thing is a scam and Hubbard a criminal. I don’t stay quite. If any OSA goon harasses me I’ll send them to the hospital in a tall kitchen trash bag.

          Like Hubbard, they are cowards and crumble into blubbering crybabies when confronted with force.

          Reply
  2. Real says

    May 1, 2021 at 8:34 am

    OT: Scientology staff member lying to police in order to squash another’s 1st Amendment Rights. NY Org. I’ll set it up. Cameraman arrives at org and staff member comes out of org and asks why he’s there. Cameraman answers with a question about Shelly Miscavige. The guy goes back in and calls the police. Police arrive. That’s where I advance the video to so you can see Hubbard’s Fair Game policy in action. Start from beginning if you want to see initial interaction I describe.

    https://youtu.be/3a8H03Oc3ME?t=968

    Remember kids, if they aren’t lying they aren’t a real scientologist.

    Reply
  3. PartTimeSP says

    April 30, 2021 at 1:51 pm

    I actually watched an episode of something on Scientology TV once. It was ‘Meet a Scientologist’ featuring London camera store owner Gray Levett. The content was actually slightly interesting (if you are into photography) but the production values were VERY Scientology. Little of substance and lots of filler.

    Reply
  4. Loosing my Religion says

    April 30, 2021 at 12:24 am

    When scn TV started broadcasting I was contacted to watch it. Being in Italy I used the web. I didn’t find it immediately but I happened to end up on Mike’s Blog a couple of times.
    I was amazed that Mike himself had left.
    After different insistence on the part of this person and several attempts I finally found it. I looked at it for a few minutes (usual scn propaganda) and quickly went back to Mike’s Blog.
    I had to know more. And here we are.

    Reply
  5. Tsu Dho Nimh says

    April 29, 2021 at 8:51 pm

    The THR article includes a brief snippet that I think tells a much bigger story. This is from JR Biersmith, the indie filmmaker whose work was featured on Scientology TV.

    “He recounts being impressed by what he saw and the people he met — he was so taken aback by one young composer’s skill that he asked for his contact information for future projects, which was quickly shot down, he says.”

    How many talented artists and performers did Scientology rope in to the Sea Org, with promises of dazzle and dazzle, only for their work to be relegated to a little-watched channel on DirecTV? Imagine what that composer could be doing if he/she was not in the Sea Org(*)?

    This brings to mind the story of Alexandra Powers (now Alexandra Potter), an actress who rising star Scientology shot down. Google her name for the full story. But in short, she went from an actress with recurring roles on 21 Jump Street and LA Law, along with supporting roles in films alongside the likes of Robin Williams, Sean Connery, and Bruce Willis, to becoming an assistant on the Freewinds.

    (*) I presume that young composer is in the Sea Org given that he/she is working for Scientology TV. I’m aware of some media professionals in Scientology’s employ who are not SO — Mitch Brisker and Tim Boyle, for example – but those seem to be the exception and not the rule.

    Reply
    • Bruce Ploetz says

      April 29, 2021 at 9:32 pm

      It’s remotely possible that the composer in question was Adam Rueveni. I heard a rumor he ended up in the SuMP after years at the Int Base working with Peter Schless.

      Mitch Brisker used to spend months every year at the Int Base when they were shooting, reshooting and re-reshooting the Technical Training Films. Apparently that project is finally done, leaving the millions of dollars worth of equipment, studios, editing suites, the film manufacturing lab and so on utterly idle.

      Not just an incredible waste of human resources, the Int Base is a black hole for cash, dreams and aspirations of every kind. The SuMP stole all the thunder, but not much is being produced there either. Imagine how you could change the world if all that energy was directed to good?

      Reply
      • Tsu Dho Nimh says

        April 30, 2021 at 12:53 am

        Peter Schless is another person who could’ve gone far were it not for the Sea Org. He had a Grammy nomination and a career. Did him little good when he was, from many accounts, thrown in the Hole.

        I looked him up on IMDB and saw he has some recent credits for things. Either it’s a mistake (someone else with the same name?) or maybe this is stuff he did pre-SO?

        https://m.imdb.com/name/nm1285253

        Reply
        • Bruce Ploetz says

          April 30, 2021 at 1:09 pm

          Hard to tell but probably this is just people crediting his song “On the Wings of Love” when they do covers.

          Fun story – once we were in the UK doing the IAS Event and Dave awarded us a dinner at a swanky restaurant in London. Peter sat down at the piano and did the song for the diners. I don’t think anyone noticed but us.

          Peter was a complete powerhouse performer at the Int Base in the 90s. There were I think four composers doing the cheesy event music. Then the score would go to Peter and he would perform the whole piece on his synthesizers and the famous Synclavier sampler. Every part, even the guitar solos and the drum kit. Amazing to watch.

          Then it would go into the studio and they would replace some of the horn parts with live instruments, lay down the mix and off it would go. Instant elevator music.

          You could be forgiven for calling this a dubious achievement, given the generally poor quality of the final result, but the musicianship involved was phenomenal. Especially when you consider that almost all of it was done on no sleep for days on end.

          Peter is on the list of “those in the Hole” but he might be one of the many that were finally let out just to get some work done. They really can’t do live music without him.

          If we ever get an IAS event Charity Gala again, a Patron’s Ball, a Maiden Voyage Anniversary, a New Year’s Eve event, or even one of those LRH Birthday events with wall-to-wall live music over Danny Sherman, check in the shadows backstage or in the orchestra pit for Peter and his synthesizer rack.

          We used to say “Never have so few done so much with so little. Now we can do anything with nothing at all!” Really we should have said “Never have so many wasted so much for so little. Get out before you find you’ve given your all for nothing!”

          Reply
          • Mike Rinder says

            April 30, 2021 at 2:51 pm

            Bruce. Totally agree on Peter Schlessinger. Absolutely astonishing musical skill. He could listen to a piece of music and duplicate it exactly. You could ask him if he knew “______” (almost anything) and he would start playing it. Oh how he was abused and belittled by Miscavige. Literally days on end with no sleep trying to come up with music that would satisfy Miscavige’s whims… Sad to remember this and he was genuinely one of the nice people to deal with in the Sea Org (though what he did to Karen was disgusting, though indicative of the level of brainwashing).

            Reply
    • PartTimeSP says

      April 30, 2021 at 1:45 pm

      Rick Cruzen is another one. Treated like dirt by Miscavige, even forced at one point (allegedly) to wear shackles as he was “such a horrible criminal”. Sickening. Hope you didn’t get any gifts this year, Dave.

      Reply
  6. PeaceMaker says

    April 29, 2021 at 6:22 pm

    How do you “interview” people literally trained to lie as propaganda operatives? And rank and file members would never be allowed to speak without having been hand-picked and coached by those sorts of staff first, and are also prohibited by doctrine from actually discussing anything sustantive about scientology, being directed to talk just about “win” anecdotes and “fair roads, good weather” pleasantries.

    That to me is the problem that academics have, too. Some of them complain about the supposed unreliability of ex-members, but “apostates” are actually freer to speak about the reality of scientology than others inside such a high control organization. It’s truly comparable to dealing with North Korea, where defectors are the only source of information other than uninformative, even deceptive and dishonest official propaganda.

    Reply
  7. Skyler23 says

    April 29, 2021 at 5:53 pm

    Some of you may be interested in a news item that I just read. It is titled, “The Tragedy—and Urgent Warning—Behind Lucy, the Chimp Raised to Be Human”.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-tragedy-and-urgent-warning-behind-hbo-maxs-lucy-the-human-chimp

    It is the story of a female chimp (Lucy) who was born into a human world and raised for almost all of her life to be part of a human family. Then, near the end of her life, she was removed from that human family and dropped back into a jungle to live with the chimps.

    I suggest you may be interested because of the parallels between someone being born into a cult and then later in life, getting out of the cult and rejoining a chimp community.

    I will not spoil the story for you and if you want to know how it ends for Lucy, you’ll have to read about it for yourself. But I believe there may be some parallels between Lucy and someone born into a cult, who lives most of their life in a cult – only to be forcibly removed (either by their own choice or by the choice of the cult) and then dumped into a human community. It sounds like a very good case for the need for an organization like The Aftermath Foundation.

    They made a movie from her story and it will be shown on Sunday on some Pay TV movie. But you can read about it in today’s edition of The Daily Beast. How appropriate this story is covered by The Daily Beast!!

    I will tell you that when you consider people who were born into the cult and then left of their own choice – like Mike Rinder, Leah Remeni, Valerie Haney, The Headleys and so many others … those people all wound up living happy and fullfilling lives. But Lucy was a different case. Maybe because there is a big difference between chimps and humans.

    It’s important for me to tell you that I do not want to scare you by thinking that anyone who is born into a cult and leaves later on in life will have a tragedy. In fact, the opposite is almost always true – perhaps that is due to organizations like The Aftermath Foundation that helps them. Or maybe it’s because humans are just better equipped to leave a cult. Or maybe the real truth is that escaping The TWERP is such a powerful experience for the good, that it leaves humans feeling just fantastic – like they are Rulers of the World!!!

    Reply
  8. GL says

    April 29, 2021 at 5:43 pm

    Once again it’s time to troop out the same, now hoary and tiresome, old bullshit we expect from $camalotofmoneyology. Or to put it another way:

    “Mark…mark…mark…”
    SFX: Rattling and clinking sounds. Odd “Shlurping” sound.
    “Bark…bark…bark…”

    Reply
  9. Todd Cray says

    April 29, 2021 at 4:17 pm

    “If there is a Scientologist to interview, THR is absent. […] There are dozens of studios in Hollywood. Scientology Media Productions appears to be the only one targeted and marginalized by The Hollywood Reporter.”

    The most amazing lesson to learn here is how incredibly tone-deaf propagandists can be. Or how repetitive, for that matter.

    Pray tell, WHERE are the hordes of scientologists offering themselves up for THR interviews and yet being rebuffed? Did the Guardians Office of Special Affairs intercept them and lock them up in the cult gulag? Or as Monique Y would have it, the “workers’ paradise”–another term propagandists enjoy.

    And yes, there are dozens of studios in Hollywood. But until that fine day when another cult or group of extremists buys another studio and spews their kind of garbage, rest assured that this one will remain unique–even in Hollywood!

    Reply
  10. Angry Gay Pope says

    April 29, 2021 at 3:12 pm

    For me the launch of Sci TV had a huge impact. They used the spending on massive amounts of youtube and google ads to take down my videos from my AngryGayPope youtube channel that had been up for 10 years with no complaints. They also used the metoo movement which was popular at the time as an excuse. I was railroaded off the site due to corruption and had to make a new channel which was shadow banned for a year. Meanwhile on the same day the TV net launced my own website was ddos attacked for months.

    Reply
    • Skyler23 says

      April 29, 2021 at 6:03 pm

      I had never before heard of “Shadow Banning” and so I Googled it to find out and then I thought maybe other people would like to know what it means too. So, here is what I found:

      “Shadow banning”, also called stealth banning, ghost banning or comment ghosting, is the practice of blocking or partially blocking a user or their content from an online community so that it will not be readily apparent to the user that they have been banned.

      Wow! That sound so extremely devious.

      Reply
      • Angry Gay Pope says

        April 30, 2021 at 12:44 pm

        YT knows you can make a new account so (since they assumed I was kicked off for legit reasons) they won’t let your videos show up in searches or as “view next” options. Then, exactly 1 year after I rejoined, my views exploded. Jerks.

        Reply
      • Kyle says

        April 30, 2021 at 3:40 pm

        Facebook employs this also.

        Reply
    • Jp says

      April 30, 2021 at 2:56 pm

      That sucks AGP & the cult sucks too but so many peeps love your videos
      Keep doing your thing, please !
      Wishing you the best

      Reply
  11. PickAnotherID says

    April 29, 2021 at 3:07 pm

    Miscavige made a major mistake when he purchased the KCET property for $MP. He assumed the broadcast license came with the studio, and it didn’t. Then he failed to get a broadcast license of his own. So he ended up relegated to paying for access to DirectTV in a channel band most people ignore. But he will never admit he screwed up, so $CN-TV will keep being pushed as a “big win” as it flounders along.

    Reply
    • PeaceMaker says

      April 29, 2021 at 8:32 pm

      Pick, I don’t think Miscavige really wanted a broadcast license, regardless. Scientology would have been expected to put on something more like a real TV station with news or at least some sort of updated programming, and they’re obviously too highly controlling and ideologically constrained to “broadcast” anything other than heavily vetted, canned propaganda.

      And had they “broadcast” over the airwaves rather than using cable TV, lots of people in LA would have run across them while channel surfing, rather than their being where you practically have to go looking to find them, and their culty TV productions would have been even more the subject of ridicule than they are. I see it as sort of parallel to their largely having ceased to put their physical locations in highly trafficked city center locations increasingly subject to protests and spur of the moment “raids,” and then trying the increasingly poorly received tactic of engaging with the public through “body routing,” instead consigning themselves to being tucked away in the outskirts somewhere.

      I suspect that Miscavige might have originally though he could run a real TV station, before confronting the logistics of what trying to do so while maintining culty high control would really entail. However it went down, I think he happened because he had abandoned the idea of broadcast TV at some point.

      Reply
  12. Peggy L says

    April 29, 2021 at 2:32 pm

    The over the top use of the word bigotry that the cult insists on using has lost its impact. Sort of like the little boy who cried wolf.

    Reply
  13. nomnom says

    April 29, 2021 at 2:22 pm

    I love that they included Miscavige’s direct involvement in the “Battlefield Earth” movie, one of the worst movies of all time.

    Reply
  14. Zee Moo says

    April 29, 2021 at 1:02 pm

    Kirsten Chuba’s THR article was beautifully researched and written. I love the ‘word of warning’ tone that it ended with.

    The money drain on the CO$ is the only good thing about $cienoTV.

    As others have said, $cientology is about as popular as Ebola coated Kidde Porn.

    Reply
  15. Skyler23 says

    April 29, 2021 at 1:01 pm

    Oh My! The story in today’s THR shows a picture of the TWERP standing in some empty building. Well, where else would he be standing?

    He sure is looking old. Frankly, I’m surprised that he hasn’t died yet. Is anybody certain that he is still alive? I would have thought he would have died by now.

    I would have expected the laws of Karma would have recognized this pandemic as the perfect opportunity to jump on it and extinguish the creep.

    Oh well, all I can do is hope, I suppose.

    Reply
    • GL says

      April 29, 2021 at 5:36 pm

      It’s his hair, it’s alive and absorbs all the nutrients and minerals and water from the air (sort of like Spanish Moss) it needs. The one very bad side effect is the fact that it has a tumorous parasite attached to it that also feeds from it.

      Reply
    • Balletlady says

      April 29, 2021 at 7:43 pm

      HE has managed to “self embalm” due to the massive amounts of alcohol he consumes. His body is so pickled with alcohol he’ll be around for a long time.

      Don’t FART or light a match near him, you’ll go up in flames.

      Reply
  16. Skyler23 says

    April 29, 2021 at 12:54 pm

    Whoo Hoo! What a coincidence!

    Shortly after making a post about Off-Topic (“O/T”) posts in this blog, I saw a big story on the front page of the Drudge Report about this horrible cult/scam. Or as Yashir Ali would describe it as ….

    “a terrible criminal organization set up as a for-profit business masquerading as a religion.”

    There is a large picture of Tom Cruise on the front page and the headline reads …

    “Inside Look at Scientology’s Lavish Production Facilities and Actor Recruitment Strategy…”

    Here is a link to the Drudge Report: https://www.drudgereport.com

    ans here is a link to the actual story: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/scientology-tv-recruitment-leah-remini

    Reply
  17. Skyler23 says

    April 29, 2021 at 12:45 pm

    Well I just read the beginning of this article and I suppose I have to thank these people for writing about THR. I never had any idea that THR was such a good source of information. After all, if it describes the horrible crimes committed by this terrible cult … or perhaps I should say ….

    “this terrible criminal organization set up as a for-profit business masquerading as a religion.”

    The above quote was originally written by Yashar Ali who is a noted Internet expert.

    I shall make a point of reading THR from now on and I hope to find more good info about this despicable cult.

    Reply
  18. ISNOINews says

    April 29, 2021 at 11:55 am

    STAND is probably responding to, or was trying to preempt, today’s story in The Hollywood Reporter:

    “The Means of Getting Someone in the Door”: An Inside Look at Scientology’s Lavish Production Facilities and Actor Recruitment Strategy

    6:00 AM PDT 4/29/2021 by Kirsten Chuba

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/features/scientology-tv-recruitment-leah-remini

    /

    Reply
    • Mike Rinder says

      April 29, 2021 at 12:01 pm

      YEs, just added this to the post

      Reply
      • Skyler23 says

        April 29, 2021 at 12:57 pm

        Oops. Darn! I just now saw your post after I already posted about this story.

        Sorry.

        Reply
  19. Skyler23 says

    April 29, 2021 at 11:25 am

    Hello Mike. Pls do not publish this post. Lately, I’ve become concerned at the number of O/T (“Off Topic”) posts I’ve made, how you may feel about them and your opinion as to what degree they are OK.

    I can think of some different categories and I’d like to ask if you would state your opinion of them. Following are four sample categories and I’d like to ask your opinion of them:

    1) Posts that are totally O/T. The only connection these posts have to the cult is both poster and the person replying have had some previous contact with the cult.

    2) Posts that have little to do with the daily topic but do concern the cult. They may alert readers to videos or news items on the net about you or Leah or the cult in general. They may be relevant because they were posted by recent guests of your podcast or people you often discuss in your blog – like Tony Ortega, Lawrence Wright, the Headleys, etc.

    3) Posts that concern events about the cult that most people would find interesting – like what’s going on with Danny Masterson or any of the lawsuits against the cult. Or other current events concerning the cult or cult celebs.

    4) Posts that are personal in nature but concern the daily topic or current events.

    I’m certain you may know or can think of other categories that you would like to explain are either a little O/T or a lot O/T and maybe you would like to provide some guidelines so that we might know just which kind of posts are acceptable and which are not – based on just how O/T they may be or the way in which they are O/T. Alternatively, you may believe that everything is just fine the way they are and you are OK to continue with the way things have gone to date. In that case, I would understand if you just said nothing at all about any of this.

    Why am I writing this? PeaceMaker made a post in “Some Funnies” in which they seemed to disclose they live in Toronto and I felt tempted to tell them I also live there and make some relevant comments about the city. I would appreciate if you could give me some guidelines about revealing personal info like this. Would you advise me to just keep my personal info private? I was tempted to ask PM about COVID which is hitting Toronto extremely hard nowadays and invite them to share their opinions. But before I wrote any such post, I thought it could cause some problems for you. So I’d like to ask your opinion. Maybe it would be best for me to avoid making these kinds of posts entirely?

    I hope you are OK replying to this post – even if its just a brief reply stating your opinions about O/T posts in general. If you prefer to reply privately, you are most welcome to send me email: 23doosky@gmail.com
    Thank you.

    Reply
    • Mike Rinder says

      April 29, 2021 at 12:04 pm

      There’s no blanket answer for any of these questions. I generally allow most comments unless they are abusive, threatening or seem to me that they will divert the entire comments section into an argument about something irrelevant to the purpose of this blog. But it’s completely arbitrary and whimsical based on how much time I have to read and digest everything or which side of the bed I got out of this morning.

      Reply
      • Skyler23 says

        April 29, 2021 at 12:21 pm

        OK. Fair enough and I will be forewarned or forearmed – whichever is appropriate – I can never remember which it is.

        Thank you for your reply Mike.

        Reply
    • Kyle says

      April 29, 2021 at 12:44 pm

      If you had concerns about information security, you can be less troubled now.

      Your post was published, and confirms you live in Toronto.

      “When there is doubt, there is no doubt.”

      If you have a concern, never disclose any information, to any source. Type as if your worst enemy will be looking at your screen 30 seconds later.

      Reply
      • Skyler23 says

        April 29, 2021 at 2:14 pm

        Thank you Kyle. I appreciate your info and your concern. I will not say anything else that could be used to violate my security.

        Everyone makes mistakes and I’m sure the fact that Mike published my post was just a small oversight. I certainly do not blame him for anything. How could I?

        As far as I am concerned, Mike and Leah are two of the greatest heroes we have on this planet. Everything else is very much secondary.

        Reply
      • Dead Men Tell No Tales Bill Straass says

        April 29, 2021 at 5:55 pm

        Kyle says: Type as if your worst enemy will be looking at the screen 20 seconds later”.
        I am pretty much counting on the fact that OSA and RTC are reading this as I type it.
        A small or major part of my posting here is to show them that I am still alive 19 years after the only Right Arm Captain in the SO (DM is not a Right Arm Captain as he is not qualified to command a ship at sea) Captain Mike Napier told my then wife in his office that my death was imminent and that she should “End Cycle” on me and remain on her post.
        Had she continued to follow his advice I really would be dead as I would have never received treatment for full- blown AIDS after the ship sent me to a Scn chiro who had by his own statement never treated a patient with HIV AIDS.
        I have damage to my heart and only got out of the hospital yesterday. I know not how much longer this body will function (possibly for many years) but each comment I make on this blog shows that I am still alive and that Captain Napier’s statement that my death was imminent was false.
        Actually, it was not false. It was the truth. It was the truth because said Captain Napier was making it true by ensuring that I would not be treated by a medical doctor and by holding my wife against her will for 6 months while they waited for me to die.
        ( I am having some chest pain as I write this so I will end this comment to ensure that I can hit the send button before I die. But don’t worry. My demise has been predicted numerous times and I am still alive, so I figure that that will continue.

        And Mike, If there is something wrong with my comments or you do not want dead people posting on you blog. Just let me know. After all, I understand that the Freewinds did not want dead staff crewing their vessel.

        Reply
  20. Atlanta Guy says

    April 29, 2021 at 10:29 am

    Ever since I became a scn’st (gulp, I’m not one anymore) I have had the unfortunate experience of having to read the “counter attacks” to whatever attacks the choich felt needed a public answer. The prose was always and continues to be this combination of cutesy / clever / blood-dripping hatchet work, using their own terms.

    Replete with empty accusations, they are never a dull moment, all the while accusing others of lying while they pump out their hypnotized brainwashed viewpoints! Look at me! I can do it too!!

    Here is my point : I always hated that someone in the church would answer with this sort of tone. I always thought that it was using some unknown-to-me formula in order to handle the entater. I felt is was beneath “us” to talk this way. I didn’t think that it was a good idea, and not a very intelligent way to address the attackers. The reason I thought this was that “we” had the moral high ground. Why would “we” need to sink into the cesspool with the attackers. From the sidelines it must look like a shit show, why would “we” sink to that level??

    I came to find out the only one in the cesspool, really, was the choich. You don’t know how disappointed that I was to have found this out after almost thirty years. That I found out is the main thing, and I celebrate quite regularly that I did.

    I found out the truth.

    Atlanta org today has six cars in the parking lot. It’s a holy day there, Thursday before two. That’s the best that they can do.

    People wasting their lives is not a thing that I want to have happen to good people. There are good people sucked into this lie. Some people have added their own little evil twist. I hate to see those good people still in, contributing to the attacks and funding the fraud. The evil people, well, they are getting what they deserve without knowing it.

    Reply
    • Skyler23 says

      April 29, 2021 at 12:26 pm

      Hey there Atlanta Guy. I wish to congratulate you on the very best thing about your post – which is that you are no longer in the cult.

      I would assume you are much happier nowadays than you were when you were in the cult. If you wonder how I could possibly know that, well …. the answer is that I cannot know that for sure. But everyone who has ever discussed this has always been much happier once they left the cult than when they were still in the cult.

      So, Hooray for you!

      Reply
    • Gordon Weir says

      April 29, 2021 at 1:26 pm

      Yesterday afternoon 9 cars in the St Louis parking lot.

      Reply
    • Peridot says

      April 30, 2021 at 1:45 pm

      To Atlanta Guy — On your statements, “You don’t know how disappointed that I was to have found this out after almost thirty years. That I found out is the main thing, and I celebrate quite regularly that I did.” I say: “Preach.”

      Same on: “I hate to see those good people still in, contributing to the attacks and funding the fraud. The evil people, well, they are getting what they deserve without knowing it.” #SpeakingIt

      Part of this Tupperware seal on people still-in = disallowed from looking at ANYthing non-pro C of S, and if you disclose to a person inside the org you’ve had a brush with someone inquiring-in-a-critical-thinking-way about your involvement, ordered you are to sever ties.

      For those of us Now-Out, with you on the attainment of: “That I found out is the main thing, and I celebrate quite regularly that I did.”

      Reply
  21. otherles says

    April 29, 2021 at 9:35 am

    Before the Second World War the Wehrmact translated a work on their theory of armored warfare into the French language and distributed it to the garrison libraries. A year later the German military attache examined those works. Most of the books remained untouched, the few that had been had been checked out were read by lowly Lieutenants. The French believed they knew it all. France was conquered in 1940.

    The beginning of wisdom is the admission of ignorance.

    Reply
  22. MarcAnon says

    April 29, 2021 at 8:54 am

    I doubt even Scientologists are watching. It’s only available to those who have DirectTV, unless they are to watch it on the internet (where all that nasty entheta is.)

    Can any of you imagine sitting down at home and watching an hour or two of that? Quizzing your friends at the org about how many feet of cable were used to build SMP and how many MILLIONS of this or MILLIONS of that there are at the Scio facility of your choice? (big numbers are always impressive even if they don’t mean anything)

    No, even when you were still brainwashed even if you parroted the right lines to the right people, you wouldn’t have been entertained by the same infomercials played end to end for 3 years.

    Even if they won’t say, they know no one is watching. That’s what’s important. It’s waking a few people up who have access to that information and see what they are telling the other weepers doesn’t match up.

    Reply

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