Responsibility is an important topic in the world of scientology. The concept has enormous impact on the thinking of scientologists, and it is the foundation upon which much subsequent scientology belief and practice is based. Especially the very important elements of scientology that dictate YOU are responsible for anything bad that happens to you. You "pulled it in." When something goes astray in scientology, it is NEVER the fault of the organization. That is a blameless entity that can never be questioned as an extension of Hubbard himself. He was beyond fault. If the end result of your … [Read more...]
Episode 47: The Life and Lies of L. Ron Hubbard Part 2
We continue with our deep dive into the life and lies of Hubbard with Jon Atack. Once again, we have quite a lot of documents to include -- but always at the top of the list are Jon's Let's Sell These People A Piece of Blue Sky and Barefaced Messiah by Russell Miller. I should also note that though we didnt mention it, for those of you interested in what Hubbard did or didnt do in the war, Chris Owen's excellent and thoroughly researched Ron The War Hero: The True Story of L Ron Hubbard's Calamitous Military Career is essential reading. Hubbard told so many lies about his naval … [Read more...]
Episode 46: The Life and Lies of L. Ron Hubbard Part 1
Tonight we begin a new series of episodes we are calling "Deep Dives," where we take a detailed look at specific areas of scientology. It seemed only appropriate to begin with L. Ron Hubbard -- the "Source" of scientology and "Founder" from which everything flows. There is no way to cover his entire life in a single episode. Or even 5 episodes. We broke this into 2 parts, the first focused on his life and claims up to Dianetics. Even in two episodes we can only touch upon some of the highlights (lowlights?) as there is a great deal to know. If you have not already done so, I … [Read more...]
Some Funnies
A few promotional items sent in over the last week. Of course, it was Mother's Day, which seemed oddly inappropriate to fall on the same day as Dianetics was published, because Dianetics reflects Hubbard's dystopian view of women -- a great deal of the book is devoted to the idea that women routinely seek to self-abort their pregnancies. Somehow, everyone supposedly has these "engrams" from their time in the womb... But it is also a reflection of the decline of scientology that "Dianetics Day" -- once one of the "big" international events where the newest Dianetics sponsored race car would … [Read more...]
John Oliver — Where’s Shelly?
John Oliver consistently focuses his unique brand of comedy/satire/social commentary on David Miscavige and scientology. Last week he threw another barb, which you can watch below at the 2 minute mark of his opening segment. All of last season he included "Where's Shelly" (in Spanish) in the opening montage of the show, and included numerous references to all things scientology. In season 5, he did a piece in his final episode that wrapped up his year long secret "advertising campaign" for scientology that he demanded they pay him $650,000... and then ultimately $700,000 … [Read more...]
Episode 33: Media and Political Journalist Yashar Ali
We are joined this week by media and politics reporter Yashar Ali. Yashar has done over a dozen stories related to scientology and more are coming. He has been a long-term voice against scientology abuses who has never been scared off by their Fair Game tactics. Yashar was recently named one of Time magazine's 25 most influential people on the internet: You can follow Yashar on Twitter: @Yashar, Instagram: yasharali and Facebook: Yashar Ali With his background in politics and the media we had a lot to talk about: Scientology celebrities and how the media fails to … [Read more...]
Episode 21: Listener Questions Part 3
Today's episode is Leah and I responding to questions from listeners. We cover a lot of things in more detail than we had time to do on The Aftermath, and in many cases even more details than I can find the time to write about on the blog. A few documents we mentioned would be made available here and at fairgamepodcast.com. Scientology's COVID response: Tony Ortega has extensively covered scientology's response to the pandemic. Here is the Miscavige's briefing document where he calls COVID 19 a "planetary bullbait." Here are … [Read more...]
Clearing The Planet
It's a catchphrase in scientology. "We are clearing the planet." "We are making planetary clearing a reality." There are a dozen different variations. It's a time-honored hot button that is used to get people to hand over money and "progress up the Bridge." One of our readers sent this new promo piece to me recently, with some comments that made me think we should address this topic again. In part, this is what the contributor said: When I looked at this promo piece, it reminded me of the jarring, shocking and unpleasant experience of finally, after clawing my way up into the … [Read more...]
You Were Clear Once
OK, so how does this work? You were Clear until the time you decided you should invent a reactive mind for yourself. Apparently something you created because you were bored? Then you forgot you created it. Trilli9ons of years later, L. Ron Hubbard "discovered" this and told everyone that addressing it (with an accompanying payment) with Dianetics would get rid of it. And that this would solve all your ills. And then after you paid for enough auditing to "go Clear" you would come to the realization that you were just "mocking it up" and that it was an illusion all along. So, if the object is … [Read more...]
Scientology Deaths and Suicides
People are asking for our thoughts regarding recent tragic events. We can only offer facts about scientology teachings and our opinions on them -- we don’t have firsthand information concerning the details of Kelly Preston or Benjamin Keough’s deaths, though, when it comes to scientology and scientologists, there are other factors that come into play - factors that are contained in the “scripture” of scientology that give a particularly dark tint to these terribly sad events. The heartbreakingly unfortunate truth is people commit suicide every single day, and people die of breast cancer … [Read more...]