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...]
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...]
Disconnection
While a great deal of attention and interest has been focused on Alex Gibney's scientology documentary, let's not forget the rave reviews for Allen Barton's Disconnection. Every person I know who has attended absolutely raves about it. I was very bummed to discover that there was no performance on any of the nights I was in LA last week. I am hoping it is such a success that it gets a much deserved wider release. Here is a sampling of press reaction: Barton is a clever enough writer to keep his audience fiercely attentive… And he’s fortunate in having a director, Joel Polis, … [Read more...]
Kirk Radandt
It is with a very heavy heart that I report the passing of our dear friend Kirk Radandt yesterday afternoon. To say this was untimely, unexpected and horribly premature would be to understate the sadness of it by a country mile. I have met few people on this earth who were as happy, friendly and just fun to spend time with as Kirk. His sense of humor was sharp and displayed itself often. His love of children made him a favorite of our sons and the 3 adorable daughters of his beloved Gayle's son Aaron (Tony Ortega covered Gayle and Aaron's story on his blog). I have long held a measuring … [Read more...]
Disconnection Redux — Who Qualifies To Be Declared
Another in the ongoing Sunday "Redux Series" reissuing earlier postings that still seem relevant. This one from 1 June 2013. The descent into madness has continued unabated since... It's crazier today than it was 18 months ago, and there are more and more people speaking out as a result. This is the second in a series of postings examining the subject of Scientology disconnection practices. See Disconnection -- Scientology's Nasty Secret. Who qualifies for disconnection? The simple answer is “anyone deemed an undesirable.” It used to be true that one disconnected from … [Read more...]
Disconnection — The Play
2015 is kicking off in grand style. Allen Barton's new play opens on 24 January, the evening before the premiere of Alex Gibney's documentary at Sundance. Anyone who does not know Allen, he is a highly acclaimed playwright (I include at the end of this posting some of the many kudos for his last play). You may recognize his name from this story on Tony Ortega's blog about Mario Fenninger. Allen has translated his experience into a new play which promises to be a tour de force. This is what Allen has to say about it: DISCONNECTION was inspired directly by my experience w … [Read more...]
Why Isn’t Anyone Doing What We Tell Them?
This was just mailed to me. It is a little dated, but one thing you can be certain of -- things have not gotten better since this was issued. It might be difficult to read as this is a scan of what appears to be a photocopy of a fax of a "goldenrod." But I am laying out the important things here anyway, which are the figures on the first page which explain why this interrogatory is being issued. For those not familiar with an "interrogatory" it is something issued by the Ethics Department intended to help them get to the bottom of a bad situation by interrogating people about what they … [Read more...]
Disconnection and Desegregation
Because I have other things planned this weekend, I am cheating a bit and reprinting an earlier blog posting. I feel it is important, perhaps there will be some who have not read it before, and in my estimation the message bears repeating. I may make this a regular feature as I look back and there have been a lot of material published over the last few years.... It also seems specially appropriate on this weekend of IAS celebrations where the sheeple have been regaled with tall stories of the magnificent human rights work of the IAS in "guaranteeing freedom for all" and the church has … [Read more...]
More Disconnection Hypocrisy
A Special Correspondent alerted me to this, and I happened to have additional information that made it even more interesting. He originally set forth the proposition: Wanting to stay connected to one’s own parent, spouse or child can earn you an SP declare and expulsion from Scientology, but soliciting sex from a minor and going to prison will not, even if you’re a former Sea Org Member. Great premise, based on the facts our Special Correspondent had. But there is more to this story that makes it even more noteworthy. Everyone knows there is a double standard for disconnection in scie … [Read more...]
“One Family Torn Apart Is Too Many”
This is filed under the category unabashed hypocrisy. Also known as the the gospel of the church of scientology. Tony Ortega had this in his Sunday Funnies column, but it was sort of buried among all the other nuttiness that is rounded up each week. It didn't get much comment, but given the level of hypocrisy, I felt it deserved a little more attention. These people are, with a straight face, jumping on a campaign with a catchphrase "one family torn apart by war is too many." How about they get on board a campaign "one family torn apart by scientology is too many"? They could … [Read more...]