#people are losing aid people are losing so much documents and websites are being purged from government sites

[fidenciocryptidcreechur]

.

[famehunting]

I haven't seen Going Clear yet, but I watched the series Leah Remini recently did on Scientology and oh my God. I knew it was a cult but had no idea how awful it was.

So you sent this anon six days ago and like yesterday’s WTF report I’ve been sitting on this (sorry!) until I got a chance to sit down and drop a proper report.

This comes up, for those just tuning in, on the reports that Tom’s long-time stylist Urbinati is a practicing Scientologist. Important note: Nowhere is there any indication that Tom himself has fallen in with the cult. So we’ll cling tight to that.

Scientology is, let’s underline, a dangerous cult still formally accepted by the IRS as a ‘legitimate’ religion despite numerous dodges, crimes, and other nations such as Germany denying them outright. 

L. Ron Hubbard started the cult in the 1950′s after previously writing ‘if a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.’ Scientology itself is an iteration of a self-improvement technique he ‘designed’ (bullshitted) called Dianetics. And on the surface a lot of it doesn’t seem too much more hamfisted than any other fringe religion.

The serious problems crept in as Hubbard grew older, more paranoid, and more influenced by other leadership figures in the organization, specifically a man named David Miscavige.

The beginnings of the paranoia preceded that figure, however. The first major headline scandal of the cult became known in the 1970′s, called Operation Snow White. It was an attempt to infiltrate a number of government offices in order to purge and reclaim the narrative about Scientology itself. They were ultimately caught in this, almost a dozen operatives including L. Ron’s wife Mary Sue prosecuted and imprisoned.

L. Ron Hubbard himself went into hiding, his paranoia increasing and his advancing age allowing Miscavige to formally take power in 1987, after having known the Hubbards for a decade at this point. Under Miscavige, the cultivation of celebrities to grant the organization a veneer of glitz and glamor and legitimacy reached a fever pitch. This allowed them to hide a number of other unsavory things, such as the way more ordinary members are treated - fleeced of thousands of dollars, pressed into the Sea Org where even their souls are intended to be in hock to this sham religion for thousands of years, or even die.

Members who begin to falter or fall too sick to serve have two fates - either they get away and are deemed Suppressive Persons and are harassed continuously (’fair game’ doctrine), all contact lost with loved ones still trapped within the cult, or they end up isolated and sometimes dead.

One of the most infamous cases of this is Lisa McPherson. Involved in a minor accident, she was released from the hospital into the care of her church. Because Scientology does not believe in mental health assistance, and because they have idiotic ‘spiritual’ practices in place of certain forms of medical help, Lisa spent a little over two weeks in an increasing physical hell, dying of an embolism after extreme dehydration and abuse.

Other fates can include being incarcerated at The Hole, a site at ‘Gold Base’ that is functionally a prison camp. There are rumors that Miscavige’s own wife, who has not been seen since 2007, may be held here or at another such isolated site like their ‘Church of Spiritual Technology.’

The antics of Scientology have been lampshaded in pop culture repeatedly, the most famous example being the THIS IS WHAT THEY REALLY BELIEVE episode of South Park (it is).

And yet the cult clings on. Reports indicate it is finally beginning to struggle somewhat under increasing public awareness and pressure, escapees feeling more open to discuss the madness despite the cult’s attack doctrines, such as the work of Leah Remini and Paul Haggis to expose the cult. Meanwhile, Miscavige still grooms celebrities - feeding on insecurity and the desire to feel special - to present that glittery facade. Tom Cruise remains the most active, visible, and alluring member of the cult, and is especially close to Miscavige, who was best man at his wedding to Katie Holmes. It is unknown how well he knows what’s truly going on. Travolta has, according to Going Clear, seen some hints, but yet remains.

I would like to see this cult, a tax cheat, a dangerous medical lie (Narcanon is their version of AA and a fucking fraud) and a destroyer of families, a seller of illusion, die in a fucking fire. It hasn’t happened yet.

I stress that while many of its public members are not aware of the darkness inside, they are still aiding and supporting a diseased structure. Cults feed off that sense of ‘us v. them,’ creating an insulated and compelling world for its members. It is worth remembering that cult members are victims, although I often find myself losing respect for celebrities that have willingly joined in - and I’ve realized I’ve done the same for Urbanati. This is a little unfair. It is an odd but frequent truism that intelligent people often fall under sway of cults, the seduction and charm of these organizations specifically designed to feed a victim’s sense intelligence despite their sense and also dig hooks into certain emotional and psychology needs.

Again, Tom is, by all accounts, not a member.

I genuinely hope and pray that remains true.

Sources for further study, because this is a very scant synopsis:

Going Clear: 

The HBO documentary is available via their streaming service.

The book by Lawrence Wright is essential supplemental reading and covers a broader swath of detail the docu couldn’t include due to legal necessities against the intensely litigious church.

Xenu.net is Operation Clambake, one of the oldest anti-Scientology websites on the internet and where the original OT documents were leaked.

The Tampa Bay Times ran a series of in depth articles exposing and attacking the cult beginning in 2009, particularly on the fleecing and the difficulty found in leaving the cult. The link above is their archive.

The LA Times has a similar archive, worth trawling.

Paul Haggis, a central figure in Going Clear, talked to the New Yorker in 2011, with the man who later wrote that book. I highly recommend this one.

The Wikipedia articles on Scientology are relatively strong, although I highly recommend following the footnotes and being circumspect. As it is a public archive, it is monitored by active members to ensure ‘neutrality,’ allowing the controversies and their treatment overseas to be downplayed just enough to make it seem more palatable.

And here is a recent AskHistorians thread on Reddit discussing some of the legal action behind Operation Snow White.

I leave you with one more note:

For FUCK’S SAKE, do not EVER watch Battlefield Earth, it will give you the brain rot and you will never recover.