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...]
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...]
UK “Expansion”
A recent hypemail from "Ron's Home" caught my attention. Of course, Ron's Home is where they no longer deliver the St Hill Special Briefing Course and St Hill Fdn no longer exists. Hey, there are all sorts of indicators of "milestones" and "straight up and vertical" in scientology. Just as long as you proclaim the contraction is actually expansion, the sheeple buy it. War is peace. But what really made me this stand out to me was the LRH quote. This is the quote that "10,000 on or through Solo NOTs" is based on. Somehow the sheeple have come to accept that if there were that number … [Read more...]
Scientology Lies and Going Clear
Scientology has launched their usual ad hominem attacks on Alex Gibney and Going Clear. Every person interviewed or associated with the film is subject to the scientology smear campaign. Even now including attempting to "dead agent" Alex Gibney by claiming his deceased father was some sort of "CIA Propagandist" and thus "the apple didn't fall far from the tree." This sort of insanity makes them the object of universal derision. A couple of days ago they fired what they thought was another in the apparently unending stream of shots across HBO's bow. Like those that have pr … [Read more...]
Scientology Plays The Religious Persecution Card
In the face of the enormous interest and critical acclaim for Alex Gibney's Going Clear documentary, Scientology is in panic mode. So, they do what they have always done in times of disaster: fall back on trying to gain sympathy by claiming to be the object of bigotry and religious persecution. In typical arrogant Miscavige style, he refused to cooperate in making the film, not agreeing to an interview and making sure nobody else under his spell did either. It was a strategy he has used plenty of times in the past. And once the reporting is done, the whining begins: "they only looked at … [Read more...]
Panic In The Bubble
It seems Paul Clark is not the only one "spreading the flap" on the Razzline (see recent post "Don't Freak Out"). These guys just don't seem able to restrain themselves. By the time this program airs there won't be anyone in the bubble that is not aware of it. And believe me, a lot of people will watch it out of curiosity even though they are warned not to do so. It has really been built up BIG TIME inside the church. Normally it is pretty easy for the run of the mill Kool Aid drinker to ignore anything that is in the media as merely being the rabid utterances of the "merchants of … [Read more...]
“Don’t Freak Out”
The Razzline is doing an effective job of "spreading the flap" -- letting everyone know about the HBO "hatchet job" that is coming... Working in league with the church, they are demonstrating remarkable prowess in making this the most well promoted documentary ever to appear on HBO, perhaps on television. From: Paul Clark [mailto:clack45@yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, January 30, 2015 6:58 AM To: TheRazzLine Email Service Subject: Opinion. Re "Hatchet Jobs" on the church and the most recent movie. Don't freak out and don't be effect every time some self-important jerk does a … [Read more...]
Cardone on Compassion, Wiki on Going Clear
The real question here is how "GC" applies his philosophy to himself. Does he fear the church? Is this why he and his beautiful bride hand over so much cash to keep the church happy? In that case, does he classify himself as the weak that listen to them? This guy is a caricature of everything that is bad about scientologists. Money and status obsessed. Arrogant. No empathy. And absolutely certain he has the answers to everything. Except perhaps how he can be such a dupe... Wikipedia on Going Clear Someone has done an excellent job with the new Wikipedia entry … [Read more...]
Going Clear Prison of Belief II
This is a cheat, partly because I am traveling today, but more because I think Tony Ortega has literally said almosgt everything I wanted to say about the second showing of the film at his blog. He recounts my thoughts after last night as we sat together and I felt able to watch it more objectively than the first time. The art of this film is how it is woven together into a cohesive picture. The problem with this film from scientology's perspective is that they will NOT be able to convince people that everyone in it is just lying (audiences will make their own value judgments about the … [Read more...]