You can now watch two-time Emmy Award winning Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath for free on Tubi. You do not need to be a subscriber. All episodes are available. It can be found in the "Docuseries" category. If you missed this when it first came out, or when it was on Netflix, give it a watch on Tubi. I am very proud of what we accomplished on this show. We gave a voice to so many people who had nowhere to tell their stories and it brought about changes in scientology (dismantling The Hole and the RPF, an end to coerced abortions in the Sea and other things) as well as a … [Read more...]
NEW Exposing Scientology Podcast: Former Sea Org Executive Karen Pressley
A new episode is now available with Karen Pressley, a former Sea Org member who worked directly with David Miscavige at the international scientology base, and was in charge of the Celebrity Centre. She shares how she got into scientology, stories about her experiences in the Sea Org, how she purged scientology from her mind and what she has been up to since leaving. Listen to the episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2267616/15219902 She wrote an excellent book: Escaping Scientology: An Insider's True Story In the course of our discussion she … [Read more...]
Not a Single Act of Violence
Scientology's hyperbolic claims about itself have hit a new high (low?) Gathering at the Advanced Org (why there are not Joburg org?) -- a "diverse and eclectic team" mobilized on election day to hand out Way to Happiness booklets. As a result of the "more than 400" who joined in passing out the booklets (the photo shows about 50 and you can bet it's a staged shot to include as many people as they could) the "predicted riots" were "everted." Not since the claims that OT VIII's brought down the Berlin Wall have we heard such unadulterated poppycock. The delusion is breathtaking. Surely … [Read more...]
My Afternoon in Scientology — Washington D.C. Edition
Another report from someone who ventured into a scientology org -- this time in Washington, D.C. I am not sure how long ago the person had this experience, but it was before they moved into the new "ideal org" building, when the org was operating out of the old Frasier Mansion (which is now the "National Affairs Office"). Of course, the great (?) thing about scientology is that nothing ever changes. It could have been yesterday or a decade ago or in the 1980's and the same things would have happened. You can read the full article here. As a note for those unfamiliar with the term like … [Read more...]
Religious Apologists: Scientology Safepointing in Rome
Scientology in Rome hosted a conference in its building. They got some puff PR out of it -- this article from one of their "safepointed" allies reports on the conference. There is a cottage industry of "cult apologists" who accept money and trips from organizations like scientology to pronounce they are "not cults" and deserve equal treatment to mainstream religions. Leah and I did a podcast about this with Chris Shelton this link is to the accompanying blog post where you can find both the podcast and a list or articles Chris has written on thgis subject. A couple of things of … [Read more...]
Why the Expensive Scientology Buildings?
I have explained this before but the question continues to be raised -- why is David Miscavige so obsessed with purchasing real estate? I am answering here as succinctly as possible. This strategy is not just the "ideal org" program, it also includes buying former homes and offices of L. Ron Hubbard, purchasing a redundant TV studio (KCET), and superfluous audio recording studio (Mad Hatter), buying properties to house printing presses and a "dissemination center" and other properties for Narconon, Applied Scholastics and the Way to Happiness Fdn. This real estate strategy serves several … [Read more...]
Thursday Funnies
Always a head-scratcher The Hubbard "message to black people" is like My Philosophy. Total bunkum written to make himself sound altruistic. You don't need to look far to find the REAL truth. His REAL message to anyone of color can be found here: Ron The Racist. Decidedly NOT funny. Scrooge McDuck? Did you forget you are PAYING for this stuff? Incredible what people say -- went exterior and had wins comparable to auditing from reading the "basic" books and AP&A taught him how to audit.... Just like Mother's Day -- a total … [Read more...]
STAND League Clown Feeble Effort to Dead-Agent Alex Barnes-Ross
Scientology super-OT Michael Lewis, masquerading as STAND writer Martin Landon -- as Tony Ortega revealed on his Substack -- now has Alex Barnes-Ross in the cross hairs of his poison pen. In the world outside the scientology bubble, this is a badge of honor. It signifies that what Alex is doing to expose scientology's abuses is important enough for them to devote time and effort to "dead-agenting" him. There is no need to read the drivel they put out, it a smorgasbord of lies, half-truths, innuendo and idiocy. I've read the stuff they write about me and it's ludicrous. The same for Leah. … [Read more...]
NEW Exposing Scientology Podcast — Former BBC Producer Sarah Mole
Sarah Mole was the BBC Panorama producer I came to know through her work on their two scientology episodes. In the first, I was a spokesman for the cult, in the second, a whistleblower. We discuss what impressions the organization and I made on her and the strange journey we have traveled from antagonists to friends. You can listen to the episode at my Buzzsprout site or wherever you get your podcasts. You can watch the episodes here. Scientology and Me, 2007: The Secrets of Scientology, 2010: … [Read more...]
Monday Morning Funnies: Vancouver Org Slaying the Yelp Reviews
I included an item in the last Thursday Funnies about a Vancouver scientologist trying to solicit positive reviews for the org -- lamenting there were only 7 reviews and by adding his 5 star review he had bumped the average up to 4.1 from 4.0. Uh oh, look what happened.... Val Ross alerted me to the fact that his post is now the FIRST image on the Yelp site for Vancouver org! Begging people to give good reviews. And the average Yelp rating has gone down to 3.9 with a massive 10 reviews now... Scientology and social media are oil and water. … [Read more...]
Scientology Front Groups Get New Propaganda Site
Another scientology press release, this time repackaging their propaganda videos onto a new website announcing it as a major accomplishment. It's the same shit they show in the lobbies of the "ideal" orgs and the same videos that are repeated endlessly on the failed scientology"TV." But it’s now “new” and worthy of their PR hype — indicative they have no actual accomplishments to promote but are selling stories of rearranging their deck chairs instead. Here is their hype: LOS ANGELES, Calif., May 28, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — The Church of Scientology is proud to … [Read more...]
Narcissistic Personalities
An article in Psychology Today highlights the traits of a narcissist -- they are not dissimilar to the sociopath (See my earlier series of posts about the traits of the sociopath). I am not entirety certain whether cults attract narcissists who rise to the top of the hierarchy, or whether narcissists create cults -- but the need for praise and approval and the shifting of blame to others is a hallmark of the narcissistic personality. And this is a hallmark of a cult leader. I think it is helpful to understand the characteristics of these personality types because they are … [Read more...]
AI Predicts the Future for Scientology
One of our readers asked Chat GPT (or perhaps another AI tool) for a prediction on the future of scientology and he forwarded it to me. This is a pretty good indicator of the status of scientology in the world -- a far different picture than is presented in their press releases and events touting "unprecedented expansion" and other hype that is not backed up by anything outside their words and staged propaganda videos. Predicting the future of the Church of Scientology involves examining various factors, including its historical membership trends, current dynamics, and … [Read more...]
Thursday Funnies
The Top? Wonder what the Freewinds thinks about that? They're pretty much forgotten in the scientology world. You gotta love the “brilliant” describing the run-around-a-pole rundown... It is quite brilliant I guess making people pay to have you tell them to run in circles. They just found number 8? It's definitely "coveted" -- they sold them for $500 back when they were released. Wonder if they'll get $15 for it now? Fold Arms. Stare. We will give you dinner if you come... What is being "Beyond Victorious"? Perhaps this is OT IX? … [Read more...]
Those Who Came Before Us
Following my recent blogpost on Kristi Wachter's excellent site, this is another fantastic piece of work found at the Why We Protest Scientology Wiki site providing a list of Former Scientologists Who Have Spoken Out This list has taken a tremendous amount of work to compile -- it not only includes the names of the people but a vast majority have links to where their public statements were made. Incredible. This list totals 3276 names -- a huge number when you consider there are less than this number of OT VIII's in scientology today, and probably around this many Sea Org … [Read more...]