This was sent to me by a dear friend and fellow survivor of the trenches of scientology. It seems awfully appropriate to post this morning, a day when it seems somewhat pointless to say much other than: enjoy Going Clear. I do realize there are other places in the world who cannot see it today, but it is dominating the scientology narrative today nevertheless. It has been a long time coming. It has already changed the world of scientology and the ripples from this landing in the middle of their pond will continue for many years to come. The media is emboldened. Individuals are stepping … [Read more...]
Going Clear: Where Is Scientology?
In the face of the most intense media coverage in its history, scientology is strangely incapable of stepping up and saying anything. There is no spokesperson who even TRIES to answer questions or present the church's "good works" to the media. Instead, they send creepy letters from their lawyers and Misavige's nom de plume Karin Pouw, put together "attack videos" and threatening emails and tweets. And all of this outpouring ONLY consists exclusively of ad hominem attacks on the film makers, interviewees and now reporters who are covering the documentary. Everyone is a liar. Everyone is a b … [Read more...]
Lying As A Way Of Life
Scientology actually sent out an email that includes this: "When we go door to door with booklets, crime takes a holiday. When we run out of booklets and can't get any out, there is a rise in crime and murder." And immediately following is the "ask" -- of course. You need to give us money. But wow, IF this were really true, would the IAS, or the church or someone just print up the booklets and get them out tout de suite? Set aside the actual value of doing this for society. Just think about the goodwill. And the PR. And boy, could they use some goodwill and PR right about … [Read more...]
Thursday Funnies
Hahaha No corroborating evidence? Except what scientology churns out every day to try and discredit the movie.... Terrific promotion for the film though. BTW, an interview Alex and I did will be airing on NPR All Things Considered today at 16:40 / 18:40 / 20:40 EDT (17:40 / 19:40 PDT). New promotion for leaving scientology... THE best way to overcome financial stress. Flag OTC buying their own bs Puerto Rico and Orlando are "on the runway." Obviously they have no idea the state of these two failing field groups. But even better "Ma … [Read more...]
JLo, Disconnection and Going Clear
Alex Gibney's film, Going Clear, documents the horror of disconnection and how it is used as a control mechanism in scientology. It is most dramatically demonstrated in his film with the story of Sara Goldberg. Her son Nick had a friend who was friends with me. Nick would not disconnect from his friend, so his mother was told to disconnect from her son. She was given an impossible choice -- if she didn't disconnect from him, she would be declared an SP and her daughter would be forced to disconnect from her. This is not a "personal choice" (as the church so often proclaims). Sara has the d … [Read more...]
Going Clear With Paul Haggis
I had another posting for this morning, but then I read the article on Tony Ortega's blog this morning and consider it so important that I urge everyone to read it. I want it to be available on this blog for anyone who happens to come along here, so I am republishing it in its entirety. As is usual for Paul Haggis, he articulates a great deal in a few well chosen words. Though he doesn't promote himself and there is no shoot crew following him around to make self-congratulatory videos, he is a true humanitarian. His work in Haiti is legendary, and it continues to this day, long after the … [Read more...]
David Braverman — A Too Familiar Story
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is David Braverman and I live in East Falls, which is a suburb of Philadelphia, with 2 cats and an amazing Steinway baby grand built in 1914. I have 3 kids, although their mother Andrea and I are divorced. I own a wholesale bakery which delivers fresh European-style bread every day throughout Philadelphia, and frozen bread all over the country. It’s really quite a big business, even though I didn’t plan it that way. Oh, and I’m an SP, and I didn’t plan that either. In fact, I never would have believed it when all this started, which was in N … [Read more...]
Thursday Funnies
Do It For Ron The Birthday Event hype is in full swing. Here is a favorite. "The best gift we can give him is the gift of expansion" so.... Give us £104 for "SMP". Makes total sense. And you will get a "special" "104" commendation to file in the round file of useless pieces of paper -- you only have "ethics protection" based on your NEXT "donation." Dear Mabel, This week we celebrate the 104th Birthday of our Founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The best gift we can give him is the gift of expansion. And the best answer to that is Scientology Media Productions, the most important project in S … [Read more...]
Scientology Portland – Truthful Numbers
By a Special Correspondent This image was posted by a sharp-eyed commenter over on Tony Ortega's blog. It shows a full listing of Scientology Portlands statistics for a series of weeks leading up to March 13th. Scientology goes to incredible extremes to hide the actual numbers associated with its various organizations and always publishes "graphs" that are just meaningless squiggles devoid of any dates or numbers. These two boards show Scientology Portland, Daytime Organization and their race for improved numbers to celebrate L Ron Hubbard's birthday. And well done to them indeed, you … [Read more...]
Mike Rinder: “Lady Killer”
While the "church" of scientology has kindly nicknamed me "Lady Killer," the strange reason for this deserves some context. This post also serves to demonstrate the twisted and false nature of the statements, videos, tweets, ads and emails that scientology is sending out to try and "dead agent" everyone involved in the Going Clear film. I am no special case -- all participants are getting the same treatment. I happen to have details and specifics concerning the things they say about me. You can be certain the statements about the others are no less false. It is of course interesting that … [Read more...]