Scientology sees flood of former members speak out.

[bluestarultor]

http://www.tampabay.com/news/sciento...s-come/1023717

They are stepping forward — from Dallas and Denver, Portland, Las Vegas, Montana — talking about what happened, to them and their friends, during their years in the Church of Scientology.

Jackie Wolff wept as she recalled the chaotic night she was ordered to stand at a microphone in the mess hall and confess her "crimes" in front of 300 fellow workers, many jeering and heckling her.

Gary Morehead dredged up his recollection of Scientology leader David Miscavige punishing venerable church leaders by forcing them to live out of tents for days, wash with a garden hose and use an open latrine.

Steve Hall replayed his memory of a meeting when Miscavige grabbed the heads of two church executives and knocked them together. One came away with a bloody ear.

Mark Fisher remembered precisely what he told Miscavige after the punches stopped and Fisher touched his head, looked at his palm and saw blood.

These and other former Scientology staffers are talking now, inspired and emboldened by the raw revelations of four defectors from the church's executive ranks who broke years of silence in stories published recently by the St. Petersburg Times.

Those behind-the-scenes accounts from Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder, the highest officials ever to leave Scientology, were buttressed by detailed revelations of highly placed former managers Amy Scobee and Tom De Vocht.

Now their stories have prompted other former Scientology veterans to go public about physical and mental abuses they say they witnessed and endured.

Some want to support and defend the initial four, whom church representatives labeled as liars attempting a coup. Others say they feel more secure now that Rathbun, Rinder and the others are on the record with their unprecedented accounts of life on the inside.

But fear still prevents many defectors from talking. For every former church staffer willing to speak out, one or two more refused.

Those who talked confirm the earlier defectors' stories of erratic, dehumanizing treatment and provide a deeper view into the controlling environment in which members of the religious order known as the Sea Org live and work.

There's way more article than I can post here, but it has a lot of eye-openers.

[Ravashak]

I think this will turn out to be a far bigger blow to Scientology than what happened in France a coupe days back. As said, this should also provide a motivation for those formerly afraid to come out, and thus expose Scientology even more.

[Viridis]

Wow, that guy in charge (Miscavige) is a real psycho.

[Jagos]

I still find it ironic how a religion started because of a sci fi writer...

[krogothwolf]

Apparently it was started on a bet or some such thing.

[Magus]

Final Blackout was a better book than any of his more traditional space-travel sci-fi novels, ironically.

Someone should start a religion based on Kurt Vonnegut's writings, that would be way more wacky (and fun).

[Funka Genocide]

I find the tone of this article a bit grating, as all these people are being treated solely as victims of a single person, instead of self inflicted victims of stupidity.

The kind of mentality that makes a person stand there and get slapped around by some asshole is the kind of mentality that wants to be a victim. I really don't care much about their stories of abuse.

The whole industry of scientology needs to be torn down as the absolute bullshit that it is, not just one guy.

I find it very hard to feel sorry for a grown man who won't at least call the police after being assaulted. And that one guy that left his wife... wow. Sometimes you just have to be a totalitarian stereotype of a man, and in a situation where your wife is enthralled by a cult... well yeah that's one of those times.

[stefan]

Originally Posted by Funka Genocide

I find the tone of this article a bit grating, as all these people are being treated solely as victims of a single person, instead of self inflicted victims of stupidity.

The kind of mentality that makes a person stand there and get slapped around by some asshole is the kind of mentality that wants to be a victim. I really don't care much about their stories of abuse.

The whole industry of scientology needs to be torn down as the absolute bullshit that it is, not just one guy.

I find it very hard to feel sorry for a grown man who won't at least call the police after being assaulted. And that one guy that left his wife... wow. Sometimes you just have to be a totalitarian stereotype of a man, and in a situation where your wife is enthralled by a cult... well yeah that's one of those times.

oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.


can we delay the inevitable shitstorm for a bit while I go grab some popcorn?

[Premmy]

Originally Posted by Funka Genocide

I find the tone of this article a bit grating, as all these people are being treated solely as victims of a single person, instead of self inflicted victims of stupidity.

The kind of mentality that makes a person stand there and get slapped around by some asshole is the kind of mentality that wants to be a victim. I really don't care much about their stories of abuse.

The whole industry of scientology needs to be torn down as the absolute bullshit that it is, not just one guy.

I find it very hard to feel sorry for a grown man who won't at least call the police after being assaulted. And that one guy that left his wife... wow. Sometimes you just have to be a totalitarian stereotype of a man, and in a situation where your wife is enthralled by a cult... well yeah that's one of those times.

I love ya Funky, I really do, But DAMN son.

But just to clarify, are you thinking that this shit happened AFTER they expressed doubt and/to tried to leave?? Because I think what they're talking about is part and parcel of the normal religious practices of Scientology, that is, they were brainwashed into wanting to be treated as such, and somehow came to their senses and discovered the negative impact it had on their lives. Furthermore any doubts they might have had have alwayws been silenced by the swift and destructive legal,social, political, an monetary, even sometimes physical retaliation of the churches membership and leadership....

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Funka Genocide

I find the tone of this article a bit grating, as all these people are being treated solely as victims of a single person, instead of self inflicted victims of stupidity.

The kind of mentality that makes a person stand there and get slapped around by some asshole is the kind of mentality that wants to be a victim. I really don't care much about their stories of abuse.

The whole industry of scientology needs to be torn down as the absolute bullshit that it is, not just one guy.

I find it very hard to feel sorry for a grown man who won't at least call the police after being assaulted. And that one guy that left his wife... wow. Sometimes you just have to be a totalitarian stereotype of a man, and in a situation where your wife is enthralled by a cult... well yeah that's one of those times.

You're forgetting about all the mental conditioning along the way. An abused spouse doesn't leave out of fear. They get conditioned into obedience and submission. People in the article describe Scientology the same way.

That's not to say that the article should be all about the one guy, but it's got the focus on him because those stories are the most damaging.

Frankly, I feel a hell of a lot more sympathy for the people speaking out than I feel anything else concerning the article. Yeah, it's got its focus on the psycho in charge, but we're talking about extreme emotional abuse, here, on top of his extreme physical abuse. I'm sorry, but having to "confess your sins" in front of 300-400 people who heckle you? Shit, some Christian religions don't even have you confess to a single priest who keeps his cool even if you've killed someone.

These people were brainwashed, hypnotized, abused on scales one wouldn't think even humanly possible, and when they finally manage to break away, they have to leave their families and loved ones, and when they speak out they're told they're all liars as an additional slap in the face, and you don't feel any sympathy at all?

Tell you what. You go through an incredibly emotionally turbulent time and have someone come to you with a promise of pulling you out of it, and they do. Stick with them, because they're officially your new best friend, and you depend on them. Get involved in the stuff they do, go through a ton of indoctrination, much of it designed to de-humanize you slowly, but surely, and see if you don't continue to put up with more and more because "it's only a little bit worse." Have them isolate you from anyone who disagrees with you or could help get you out because they're "detrimental" to you. Do this for years and see how you end up, and then when something happens to make you absolutely snap and leave, have them take away everything that's important to you: your family, your loved ones, even your credibility. That's what these people went through.

Better yet, been in the armed services? Same process. They get you in, pummel your ego into submission, and train you to do stuff and put up with stuff you never would have before. But then when you leave the military, they strip you of your rank, burn your records, make sure you never see anyone you met there ever again, and when you try to tell anyone about your training or what war is like, they come out with videos showing soldiers getting pedicures and their guns shooting flowers and rainbows to "prove" that you're full of bullshit.




I mean, I'm sorry to tear into you like this, but you really don't seem to understand the process behind this. These people aren't all stupid. A lot of them are successful, intelligent people who got lured in and brainwashed over a matter of years by a system that's very hard and damaging to leave and is willing to break the law to shut people up. Some of them were born into it and don't know anything else, and I've read articles with interviews from people like that who have left and were thrown out without any of their family or friends behind them and nowhere to go. Scientology is structured like a cult, and I'd say it's probably the most dangerous one on Earth. Fighting them is incredibly difficult, because they will use every resource they have to destroy you.