L. Ron Hubbard, founder of scientology and sole source of valid information on earth, declared the media to be "Merchants of Chaos" and proclaimed in his "Press Policies" directive: "The reporter who comes to you, all smiles and withholds, 'wanting a story,' has an AMA instigated release in his pocket. He is there to trick you into supporting his preconceived story. ... The only ways to handle him are to eject him or to give him a story he thinks is a story." And in another reference (PTS Sections, Personnel and Execs), he declared: "There are no good reporters. There are no good government or … [Read more...]
Fair Game Podcast — All Episodes
For some reason the links were broken to the Fair Game podcast episodes, so I have reloaded them so all episodes are available here … [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...]
Some Background on Scientology’s Efforts to Destroy Enemies
Over the last few weeks, Chris Owen (author of many insightful writings about Hubbard and scientology, including his excellent book, Ron The War Hero) has done a series of posts with Tony Ortega on Substack describing the history of the harassment campaigns carried out by scientology. As is always the case with Chris, he is a meticulous researcher and summarizes the information in a concise and accurate way. This is important information that should be as widely available as possible, so I am combining his 3 pieces into one longer article and reprinting it below. It's fascinating … [Read more...]
A Billion Years UK & Australia Editions Update
As many of you know, there have been some difficulties with Amazon concerning the non-US edition being published by Humfrey Hunter and Silvertail Books. Sadly, the problems with A Billion Years caused all of Silvertail's titles to be removed from Amazon, which hurt other authors they publish. Through a lot of hard work and persistence, Humfrey has now resolved the issue and all his books are back up. But titles that were previously noted as "bestsellers" have been reset to "zero." Any pre-orders of A Billion Years will likely have been lost (check your Amazon account) and you will … [Read more...]
Mike Rinder: “Lady Killer”
This is a republication of an earlier post. While the "church" of scientology has kindly nicknamed me "Lady Killer," the strange reason for this deserves some context. (This subject has also been extensively addressed by both Stefani Hutchinson and Jeffrey Augustine at their blogs. The original post and comments are here.) 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 … [Read more...]
A Billion Years: My Escape from a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology
I have finally written a book. It was announced in a press release today -- it will be available on 27 September. You can find it at the Simon and Schuster website where there are links to all major retailers to pre-order if you are so inclined. There is also a description of the book and some initial reviews from Leah, Alex Gibney, Lawrence Wright and John Sweeney. It's taken a long time to put together. I hope it doesn't disappoint any of you who have been asking me to write a book. I am about to begin recording the audiobook. The press … [Read more...]
Scientology Fair Game Podcast All Episodes
There is no new podcast this week due to the Labor Day holiday. I thought it worth listing all the diverse list of podcast guests and topics we have done so far. There are more to come. If there are any episodes you have missed, you can find them here with links and give them a listen. It's been quite a ride. It continues. We appreciate all the support of our faithful listeners and those who have sent in questions for the popular "Listener Question" episodes. You can also find all the episodes and the supporting documents for each at fairgamepodcast.com which also includes a … [Read more...]
Episode 34: Journalist and Author John Sweeney
Our friend and scientology nemesis, journalist, author and podcaster John Sweeney, joins us this week. John was for many years a correspondent for the original TV investigative magazine show, Panorama. He did a program about scientology for Panorama in 2007, where I was one of the "handlers" on behalf of scientology. It was a catalyst for me leaving -- I was in London defending scientology and Miscavige from the "chaos merchants" at the BBC. After I had left, I did a second Panorama show with John explaining some of the things that had happened in that first program. We had a lot to ta … [Read more...]
A Primer on Brainwashing
If you have watched either The Vow on HBO, or Seduced on Starz about NXIVM, or The Aftermath or Going Clear about scientology, this article will ring a lot of bells. Many of the specific control mechanisms Dr. Burkley cites about NXIVM have direct parallels in scientology. As she says, "the psychological tricks Raniere used are not particularly special. In face, his ability to ensnare so many victims is rooted in his reliance on several core psychological principles -- principles to which each of us is vulnerable." One of the great accomplishments of The Vow was how … [Read more...]