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Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

October 17, 2020 By Mike Rinder 35 Comments

Scientology recently tweeted this attack on Tony Ortega. Not sure why, they didn’t write a new article. They just regurgitate the same old stuff. But they felt the need to “Dead Agent” him newly, probably because he has put out all the Black Ops videos…

What is interesting about this is that they claim Tony Ortega is not an expert on scientology and thus is unqualified to comment on the subject. A couple of points to note.

First, for supposed champions of “free speech,” this is very hypocritical. One can only speak if you are an “expert”? Then how does Ed Parkin comment on a journalist when he is not a journalist?

Second, I would pit Tony Ortega’s encyclopedic knowledge of scientology against Fast Eddie or whoever wrote this. Because Tony has not had any auditing does not mean he knows nothing. After all, it is Hubbard himself who says study of the “technology” is 50% of the “gains” of scientology. Ed Parkin has had virtually no auditing in his 30 years in the Sea Org, and has studied less of Hubbard than Ortega, so Ortega is ahead on expertise according to Hubbard. And one thing I am absolutely certain Tony Ortega would crush Ed Parkin on — the history of L. Ron Hubbard and scientology. Scientologists only have the sanitized version of history — on the true story they remain woefully ignorant.

Though scientology claims the only people who have the qualifications to offer an opinion about scientology are those who have “experienced” the tech, that is also not true. It’s just a convenient position when trying to discredit Ortega.

When it comes to someone like me — who grew up a scientologist, studied the entire OEC, reached the level of OT VII, read virtually everything Hubbard ever wrote and audited hundreds of hours — and thus I should, according to their criteria, be eminently qualified to speak — I am also “unqualified,” because I am a “bitter defrocked apostate” who was “never a real scientologist” and “experienced no gains”.

Nobody who doesn’t forward scientology’s party lines is “qualified” to speak on the subject according to the organization.  Everything else is “fake news.”

The contradictions in scientology are legion. The true believers are conditioned to ignore them.

 

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Filed Under: Public Relations, Scientology Tagged With: Ed Parkin, Mike Rinder, STAND League, Tony Ortega

Comments

  1. Dead Men Tell No Tales Bill Straass says

    October 18, 2020 at 2:12 pm

    Since you need training and experience to talk about a subject I will tell you about DEATH.
    But first I will give you my qualifications:
    I was declared soon to be dead by the only Right Arm Captain in the Sea Org, Captain Napier of the Freewinds when he told my wife 18 years ago that I was going to die and that nobody could help me and so she should forget about the approved petetion she had from ED INT.

    Reply
  2. Mary W. says

    October 18, 2020 at 9:26 am

    My feed reader shows only the title and picture until I click through. As an avid fan of The Aftermath, my first thought seeing the picture was, “jfc, whose garbage is scn stealing now?”

    Reply
  3. Kronomex says

    October 18, 2020 at 3:23 am

    “Marp, marp, marp. mar…oh damn, forgot to put them in again.”
    Schlurp…pop.
    “Bark, bark, bark…”

    Reply
  4. WhatAreYourCrimes says

    October 18, 2020 at 12:08 am

    The polished turd vs. the unvarnished truth.
    LRH the war hero/genius vs. LRH the conman who died in an RV, bitter about his legacy.

    I challenge all scientologists to face the truth and look into the founder’s true history. There is no question, LRH was a fascinating character, but the gleaming pillar of humanity presented by scientology is far from the truth.

    Reply
    • Jere Lull says

      October 18, 2020 at 3:12 pm

      WAYC, scns already KNOW LRH’s “history”; It’s part of what the whole scam rests upon. THEY would brand what we and Tony know as the worst sort of lies, purposely promulgated by the psychs and the Bilderbergs, Illuminati, and your other everyday SPs really running the world government.

      Reply
  5. Nancy Vasta says

    October 17, 2020 at 8:14 pm

    I have recently began to listen to several of Mr.Ortega’s podcasts and interviews.I find him to be highly informative on the topic of Scientology.It appears that whenever Scientologists feel they are being threatened as a group,they go on the attack.Former Scientologists get totally crucified by them,from what I have seen on Leah and Mike’s show.What a venal and petty organization they are.And if one does extensive research on a subject,they can afford to talk about it with a fair degree of certainty without being harassed.Now I try to listen to as many lectures as I can about Scientology so I can learn more about it.Although I must admit that when I read all the comments from former Scientologists regarding Mr.Rinder’s blogs,this “religion” sounds quite confusing,not to mention a bit screwy.No wonder my daughter is an atheist.

    Reply
    • otherles says

      October 18, 2020 at 12:35 am

      LRH and DM were clearly venal and petty men.

      Reply
    • Jere Lull says

      October 18, 2020 at 3:16 pm

      Nancy, it’s not just an apparency that scientologists rabidly attack anyone who would challenge their world view, but “scripture” straight from the Tubby one’s commodious backside; “Policy”, as it were.

      Reply
  6. Loosing my Religion says

    October 17, 2020 at 4:11 pm

    Recently I have listened a Tony Ortega interview on a podcast. He KNOWS what he says. As Mike said he has an encyclopedic knowledge about scn. No crap.
    Additionally he is a journalist that talks only about facts and evidences. Never on opinions.
    STAND is like an unmanned fort trying to confuse a huge running fast and pissed horde.
    An expert can say the truth and they don’t need that.
    Thank you Tony for your daily presence.

    Reply
  7. Belynda says

    October 17, 2020 at 3:49 pm

    I just heard the news from Netflix. The Aftermath series begins on Nov. 1 (all 3 seasons!)

    It’s been a while since it first aired, so it’ll be like watching it for the first time. Can’t wait!

    Best Wishes –

    🌹Belynnda

    Reply
    • Jere Lull says

      October 18, 2020 at 3:19 pm

      Belynnda:
      There’s hope for Netflix yet.

      Reply
  8. Gordon Weir says

    October 17, 2020 at 3:17 pm

    Todd Cray, outstanding post.

    Reply
    • Todd Cray says

      October 17, 2020 at 11:33 pm

      Thank you, Gordon

      Reply
  9. Todd Cray says

    October 17, 2020 at 3:02 pm

    The cult’s definition of an “expert” is most peculiar. This is typical bait and switch: You’re no expert because you haven’t studied it. No, that means having practiced it. No, that means being in agreement with all of it and not saying a negative word about it…

    So in order to serve as an addiction expert it’s not enough to be hooked on heroin; you also have to be all excited about and blindly committed to your addiction? Even narconon knows better than that!

    Forget about experts in history! After all, we can’t live back there in order to qualify in the present. And do we really want the history of Stalin’s gulags written exclusively by their apologists?

    Also, let’s do away with democracy. After all, only the politicians are qualified to vote for themselves.

    Reply
  10. Todd Cray says

    October 17, 2020 at 2:42 pm

    Seriously? “Let’s take out the garbage. Like Tony Ortega.” This coming from an ordained minister in a religion, complete with clerical collar, double cross and Zoom Sunday service? To my ear, this sounds like a line a low-level mobster would utter. A barely encoded call for violence!

    Not a good idea if you should find yourself in the position of speaking for a cult that has a long history of perpetrating evil against those who disagree, has to somehow defend its fair game policy and yet has to be acting suitably offended whenever criticized as criticism naturally and inevitably incites violence!

    That Tony will be sleeping with the fishes before Thursday at 2pm.

    Reply
    • otherles says

      October 18, 2020 at 12:41 am

      Religions survive by evolving. The evolution of their religion is forbidden by Scientology, so it will eventually become extinct.

      Reply
      • Jere Lull says

        October 18, 2020 at 3:22 pm

        otherles, My opinion is that it’s already extinct, but the clams just haven’t stopped clapping, not realizing that the show’s been OVER for a while, already.

        Reply
  11. Geoff Levin says

    October 17, 2020 at 2:22 pm

    I went to the Stand League twitter site and read what they said about Tony. I find it interesting that no one can comment and the most likes a Stand tweet has is 4.
    In support of Mikes article and to debunk the Stand Clowns, I was in Scientology 46 years. I did hundreds of hours NOTS auditing, did the KTL/LOC, the study program, method one co-audit, new PTS/SP course and all the basic courses. I joined the SO and was a founding member of Celebrity Centre, did my able body seaman course and worked on the Apollo with Hubbard. Worked with Jefferson Hawkins on the Dianetics campaign and performed for over 500 Scientology events. Whew!
    When I left the cult and started communicating with Tony, he knew more about the organization than me and he was learning more every day.
    Ed Parkin is a programmed Sciebot that cannot learn, as he can not think. He can only spew out the propaganda instilled in his memory banks. Pathetic!

    Reply
    • Jere Lull says

      October 18, 2020 at 3:26 pm

      Geoff, “Eddie”(I’m not sure he’s a real person.) only says what the Tiny Tyrant™ tells him to.

      Reply
      • Geoff Levin says

        October 18, 2020 at 11:41 pm

        Yes. That is part and parcel of being brainwashed. How ironic that when I was in I thought everyone else was brainwashed but me.

        Reply
  12. Todd Cray says

    October 17, 2020 at 2:15 pm

    Given the rigorous standards that scientology suggests in order to take someone’s word on a topic–certainly not a bad policy in itself–it is astounding why they would hold Hubbard in such great reverence.

    They credit Hubbard with being the planet’s leading expert on a plethora of subjects. Based on what? Hubbard never achieved any academic or professional credentials. He never attracted a professional peer group that found him particularly impressive. His predominant reputation outside of the cult, and increasingly inside the cult as well, is that of a fraud, and a crank. Certainly not what you want in an expert.

    The closest he came to professional success, let alone acclaim, was fiction writing. How does that qualify him as a religious founder, philosopher or anything else even remotely related to his “expertise?”

    Hubbard constantly moved the goal: He created a system that claimed to be a science–until it became a “religion.” This alternative to psychoanalysis would be much faster and cheaper–until it came to consume multiple lifetimes and one’s entire net worth. His discovery could be practiced by self-taught amateurs–after all, that’s what Hubbard was–until doing that made you a dangerous squirrel. So what exactly was it he was staking his expertise on?

    Since Hubbard lacks any objective expertise, can you trust his self-proclaimed expertise? The honors he bestowed upon himself? Hubbard claimed expertise in a dizzying array of topics and professions. To grab a couple at random: Have you ever tried to listen to his music or attempted to detect any even average talent in his photography? Which raises the question: If THIS is “expertise” how can you trust someone proclaiming themselves an expert on other things?

    In order to uphold the idea of Hubbard as an honest, highly proficient, humanitarian, unprecedentedly accomplished expert on, well, everything the cult can only allow scientologists highly censored and distorted insight into Hubbard’s life. What kind of “expert” is THAT?

    Reply
    • Briget says

      October 17, 2020 at 6:08 pm

      As far as I can tell (I’m a Never-In )what Hubbard did have was an unparalleled ability to bamboozle people. Talk about a snake oil salesman! The one thing he could have (legitimately) done would have been to teach a Master’s Class in Fraudulent Sales Technique.

      Reply
      • Jere Lull says

        October 18, 2020 at 3:28 pm

        Briget, He DID teach a Master’s class. It’s called the Registrar full Hat™.

        Reply
  13. ISNOINews says

    October 17, 2020 at 1:56 pm

    O/T. In season three of the Amazon TV series “The Boys,” the character The Deep is “gonna be like Leah Remini in fighting back against the cult.”

    IGN: The Boys Season 3 Will See The Deep Fight Back Against the Cult

    “He’s gonna be like Leah Remini…”

    https://www.ign.com/articles/the-boys-season-3-will-see-the-deep-fight-back-against-the-cult

    * * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

    Kripke likened The Deep to “the Forrest Gump of Hollywood trends” in that he always seems to be caught up in something newsworthy. “In Season 1, he was embroiled in a #MeToo moment. And in Season 2, we’re like, ‘All right — he should be like Allison Mack and go join a cult,'” said Kripke.

    “And then in season three he’s gonna be like Leah Remini in fighting back against the cult,” Kripke added, referencing Remini’s series depicting her fight against Scientology. “He’s just going to keep blowing through these different Hollywood points. The idea of him trying to self-realize when he’s just such an idiot was entertaining to us.”

    * * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *

    Reply
  14. Tropf Rosemarie says

    October 17, 2020 at 12:28 pm

    Yes…what they do with comment about “how can you speak about scn, you haven’t studied it?” That is a thought stopper. That’s all it is. They only want to suppress communication if its negative about them. So they use thought stoppers. Sigh. Tony Ortega has the best collection of scn history anywhere I think.

    Reply
    • otherles says

      October 18, 2020 at 12:52 am

      All religions have to be studied objectively. In an objective study of Scientology one would have to conclude that it was founded by a con artist and presently led by a psychopath.

      Reply
      • Jere Lull says

        October 18, 2020 at 3:34 pm

        otherles, NO religion, or belief, can properly be studied objectively. Unless & until you let it wash over you and subsume your beingness into the group experience, you’ll always lack what makes the religion so IMPORTANT to its adherents, an important piece of the puzzle.

        Lazarus Long said it well: One man’s religion is another’s belly laugh.

        Reply
  15. John McMaster says

    October 17, 2020 at 11:27 am

    So Mike, Leah and Tony are money motivated while Scientology itself is totally not money motivated at all. I hope Eddie wakes up someday.

    Reply
  16. PickAnotherID says

    October 17, 2020 at 10:49 am

    For a good laugh, check out the ‘Do Not Publish’ lawyer letter Tony O. received regarding Tommy Davis and episodes 2 & 4 of the ‘Black Ops’ series.
    https://tonyortega.org/2020/10/17/scientology-black-ops-tommy-davis-threatens-to-sue-aussie-network-over-axed-series/

    Reply
  17. Jere Lull says

    October 17, 2020 at 10:39 am

    I expect Eddie considers himself a “journalist” when he parrots what Dwarfenführer® tells him to spew forth. NOT that he does any investigation himself OR that he writes anything original.

    He’s just a conduit.

    Reply
    • Jere Lull says

      October 17, 2020 at 10:45 am

      As an editor for a small newsletter, I learned one lesson: see speech doesn’t mean publishing what you agree with, It means disagreeing strenuously with what you say, yet defending to the death your right to say it. That was FUN! especially while beating the bushes for another opinion, better argued.

      Reply
  18. George M. White says

    October 17, 2020 at 10:31 am

    When I was walking the streets of Clearwater a few days ago watching the homeless and near homeless, I could not help but reflect on the over fifty years of false hope I experienced in Scientology. In the end I do not blame experts or people with knowledge of Scientology. I was fair game for the 15% FSM commission especially on the OT levels. I estimate that a group of FSM’s made almost $20,000 from my progress up the bridge. If someone needed $2,000 or so, it is very easy to oversell Scientology and make it into the vital next step to eternity. After fifty years, Miscavige can now body route the homeless wandering the streets of Clearwater. Sounds like a great “Mission Impossible” plot for TC.

    Reply
  19. Scribe says

    October 17, 2020 at 10:29 am

    Parkin did get lots of auditing on the RPF, and those gains are now in evidence with his current post, whatever that is. Just wanted to be fair to fast Eddie.

    Reply
    • Jere Lull says

      October 18, 2020 at 3:42 pm

      Scribe, I suspect you mean Parkin got lots and lots of objectives or *running* — or BOTH. Either could grind a guy down to uncaring obedience.

      Reply
      • Scribe says

        October 18, 2020 at 5:03 pm

        Nope, lots of sec checks.

        Reply

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