She didn’t start out as a “star”, she was just another teenager who signed a billion year contract in the Sea Org. She became a celebrity and credited Scientology for her success, and they started stroking her because of that. I also read her book, and believe her when she says that it was the disappearance of Shelly Miscavage that made her start investigating how the rest of the world say Scientology.
I read her book, but would put it very low on any Scientology critic’s reading list. If you want a book by an average person in Scientology getting out, I would suggest Marc Headly’s Blown For Good.
Are anyone’s motivations entirely pure? One of the things about Scientology, and how they treat critics, is that they have the most astonishing ability to convert fair-minded journalists into dedicated critics. Tony Ortega, Paulette Cooper, Jon Atack and virtually anyone who starts out writing a balanced, objective article or book on Scientology is attacked, smeared or “handled” to the point of enragement - witness BBC reporter John Sweeney being goaded into losing it on camera.
Honestly, I can’t imagine anyone looking at this organization and not deciding that they had to do whatever they could to stop them.
Of course revenge is part of it. What is revenge but our desire to provide consequences to people who have wronged us? And what is justice but our desire to provide consequences to those who wrong ourselves and others, in order to prevent evil from happening again?
This is why discreditors use “revenge.” They know it’s at least partly true. Seeking justice for wrongs committed against yourself will always require some motivation of revenge.
I believe it’s more a bit of wishful thinking for people who like Tom Cruise and are incredulous that he could be so into it. It also fits well with the gay rumors–that he’s only a Scientologist because he wants to remain closeted, and spreads the message of how Scientology will use private information against you.
Also, a lot of the people she talks to, by entering the Sea Org as teens, were basically denied an education. And she herself says she spent “millions” to reach the level she did - both of which I think most people would consider reasonable justifications for revenge.
And splitting families apart? Married couples being “posted” on opposite ends of the world? People being thrown in the “Hole” for years? Forced abortions?
Take your pick - the history of Scientology has something to enrage anyone of any political party or religion.
Leah wasn’t even a teenager. She was 6 when she started getting involved because her mother had joined. She was 12 when she joined the Sea Org and signed the billion-year contract. Leah was in the cult for 37 years and jealousy of Tom Cruise had nothing to do with her leaving (there aren’t enough eye-rolls for that one). Her being unnecessarily and nastily told by former cult spokesperson Tommy Davis (Anne Archer’s son) that she didn’t “have the fucking rank” to innocently ask where Miscaviage’s wife and Leah’s friend Shelley was, noticeably absent from the Cruise/Holmes wedding, that planted the seeds of doubt in Leah’s mind. Everything Leah’s doing now is all thanks to Tommy’s bad mood that day. It still took years and several hundreds of thousands of dollars in brutal Sec Checks before Leah finally said, enough!
Revenge has nothing to do with Leah’s book (Troublemaker, which I read “too”) or her TV show. Her book was interesting, entertaining and informative. Her show is an effort to be informative and helpful (a brief beginners overview to those who don’t know much about the cult, to give other former cult members the courage to speak out and add their stories to the growing list, to give people in the cult the courage and support to leave, perhaps to get someone in law enforcement to pay attention).
Everyone who leaves them and is critical gets “dead agented”, and the only way to fight that is to beat them to it, like Mark Ebner did in the first two paragraphs of his article for *Spy *back in 1996:
*I am an ex-drug addict who has solicited prostitutes in my day. I’ve also masturbated and inhaled at the same time, and I have been arrested more than once in my life. I dropped out of high school, and I’ve been under psychiatric care. Oh yeah, and I owe the IRS roughly six thousand dollars that they are well aware of.
In the language of Scientologists, the above information reflects what they include in their “Dead Agent Packs”-dossiers of all the dirt they dig up on people critical of their “religion.” Often they disseminate damaging information like this to the friends, family, landlords, and employers of anyone who dares speak of–or worse, publish anything derogatory about the “church.” So what I’m doing here is Dead Agenting myself before we begin, beating them to the punch.*
This is what they gathered from a writer researching them for a few weeks for a story. Multiply that by years spent in the cult by most members, and the vastly more aggressive interrogations known as “Sec Checks” - all of which is paid for my the person being interrogated! It’s right out of Brazil.
“I understand this concern on behalf of the taxpayers. People want value for money. That’s why we always insist on the principal of Information Retrieval charges. It’s absolutely right and fair that those found guilty should pay for their periods of detention and the Information Retrieval procedures used in their interrogations.”
They also took over the Cult Awareness Network, which was founded to expose the Moonies and also organizations like the People’s Temple, when they started saying disparaging things about Scientology.
I found Leah Remini’s self “dead-agenting” from the start of her book:
Let me start with this: I am an apostate. I have lied. I have cheated. I have done things in my life that I am not proud of, including but not limited to:
[ul]
[li]falling in love with a married man nineteen years ago[/li][li]being selfish and self- centered[/li][li]fighting with virtually everyone I have ever known (via hateful emails, texts, and spoken words)[/li][li]physically threatening people (from parking ticket meter maids to parents who hit their kids in public)[/li][li]not showing up at funerals of people I loved (because I don’t deal well with death)[/li][li]being, on occasion, a horrible daughter, mother, sister, aunt, stepmother, wife (this list goes on and on).[/li][/ul]
Why am I revealing all this?
Because after the Church of Scientology gets hold of this book, it may well spend an obscene amount of money running ads, creating websites, and trotting out celebrities to make public statements that their religious beliefs are being attacked— all in an attempt to discredit me by disparaging my reputation and that of anyone close to me.
So let me save them some money. There is no shortage of people who would be willing to say “Leah can be an asshole”— my own mother can attest to that.
And if I am all these things the church may claim, then isn’t it also accurate to say that in the end, thirty- plus years of dedication, millions of dollars spent, and countless hours of study and training didn’t really “fix” me?
It’s hilarious how the cult’s dead agenting of all these former members, many of whom were in the cult for decades, many who were top executives (hell, Mike Rinder was the head of the OSA-Office of Special Affairs, their dirty tricks division, as well as their chief spokesman for many years), many who worked closely with David Miscavige, some who even worked closely with L. Ron Hubbard himself, and yet no one ever noticed that there were SPs-Suppressive Persons/People, in their midst. With their attacks, Scientology seems to be saying that the “church” is a perfect breeding/training ground for criminals, liars, cheats, thieves, etc. It’s true, but it’s funny that the cult admits it.
The list of slimy, nasty, infuriating things Scientology has done is shockingly long, but that above has to rank high up there, just under trying to frame Paulette Cooper of terrorism and trying to drive her crazy and kill herself (Operation Freakout), and infiltrating the government (Operation Snow White). Fuckers. God I hate this cult and can’t wait for it to collapse and die a painful death. It will happen, the sooner the better.
I wish someone would make movies from Marc Headley’s Blown For Good and Tony Ortega’s book about Paulette Cooper, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.
8 regular episodes, but they’ve already added and aired one special episode, about Paulette Cooper, so there could be more. There are so many stories to tell it could go on for years.
Considering that one of their (stated) goals is to “clear the planet,” and it’s taken the better part of 60+ years to do that, with no end in sight, I’d say it doesn’t work.
By the way, here’s what “Clearing the planet” means for those don’t already know:
I’ve been following Scientology for years and was happy to see Leah doing this show. Whereas Going Clear was more about the mechanics how the church operates, I appreciate the more human focus of this series. It’s hard to put into words how much damage this organization has done to scores of people.
One thing that has bugged me, at least so far, is that while the series rightly lays a lot of the blame at the feet of Miscavige, it has basically glossed over Hubbard’s role in the church’s culture. Miscavige is no-doubt a total psychopath, but Hubbard was the one who founded the cult, set up its structure, promulgated the Fair Game strategy, oversaw the Guardian’s office, and so on. But the series has really only talked about him as the long-dead founder of the church. Mike Rinder on several occasions has mentioned how “everything changed” when Miscavige took over, as if he seems to want to absolve Hubbard. I find that odd.
That’s one of the paradoxes I find somewhat troubling about the ex-members. They say that at its core, Scientology is good and helpful. I’ve not found specifics on that claim, and if anyone can enlighten me, all the better.
The church rightfully gets criticized for its actions, but apparently none of the members think Xenu deserves any criticism (or thought). And of course, as mentioned above, LRH is left virtually blameless. But I guess in an argument, it’s best to focus on one point at a time, and the ex-members are focusing on what they themselves experienced. And since LRH died 30 years ago, I suppose they don’t think he’s relevant (in the current conversation).
I don’t understand why they let Miscavige just take control without being answerable to anybody.
Especially since they’ve lost so many members. The senior members should have fired Miscavige a long time ago and made reforms.
That’s not uncommon in other religions. Garner Ted Armstrong (he took over after his father, Herbert W. Armstrong died) was fired from the Worldwide Church of God in the early 80’s. The church reorganized under new leadership. I know several people that attend that church.
That’s one of many problems. Miscavige answers to no one. There is no council, no board, no checks and balances. Hubbard basically set it up that way, and Miscavige bullied his way in, and has stayed at the top through violence and intimidation.
You mention other religions. What makes Scientology a “religion,” other than its tax-exempt status? The fact that they say they’re a religion, that’s what.
It’s a money-making scam that hurts (and sometimes kills) people. It always has been, and always will be. It’s a fraud, and while it may not be outlawed under the First Amendment (speech), it certainly doesn’t deserve to be tax-exempt (religion).
Her parents were Sea Org members, and she was basically raised by COS child minders until she was 6, sent away to live at (and help refurb) the COS ranch. Signed her billion-year contract and joined the Sea Org at 7. Was pretty much raised to believe that because she was a “spiritual being”, her parents really weren’t anything more than other “spiritual beings”, and not to be too attached to them.