It was strongly suggested that things revealed in people’s auditing sessions were later used against them and in particular that this was done to Travolta.
Well yeah but when are you people going to start a thread about Mormons? And anyway, lots of other religions are much worse.
It is called a “dead agent” pack. You can see it being used currently by the “church” against the former members in the documentary. Watch it and keep in mind that this is what was included after a whole battalion of lawyers from HBO vetted the film and ensured that every claim would hold up in court. Remember that this entity threw so many lawsuits against the the IRS that they overwhelmed the us government.
The carrot AND the stick. In the book, Travolta tried to pull away at a couple of points, but was dragged back in, possibly by the contents of his folder.
I didn’t see the parts about Travolta, only the end with Cruise. Has Tome Cruise ever attempted to leave? Because what I saw showed him reaping lavish benefits with no apparent down side, for his sake, that is. Other than publically being known as a Scientologist. 
I don’t think they ever really said that Travolta was being blackmailed. It could be an act he’s being forced into, but he does seem very enthusiastic about Scientology; there’s no denying that.
The part about the IRS caving in is puzzling to me. Can the US government really be SLAPPed[sup]*[/sup] into submission like that? Surely they can defend themselves against that kind of legal harassment. I’ve wondered if there wasn’t something else going on behind the scenes. Blackmail? Bribes?
[sup]*[/sup]Strategic lawsuit against public participation - Wikipedia
I probably won’t see this until Netflix gets it or it goes up on You Tube, but I wondered if Scientologists existed outside Hollywood until I happened to drive by a Scientology temple in a suburb of St. Louis (I used to live in that region). Yep, they do.
They have churches all over the world, although the documentary claims that they have a membership of only around 50,000.
Something on the order of 2500 lawsuits. And Scienos protesting daily at IRS buildings, ads in newspapers…
Still, the government has a strong interest in not allowing itself to be bullied like that, whatever the short term costs and hassles of standing up to it.
This isn’t like constituents clamoring for something. This is a very narrow interest group. Giving in to that kind of harassment sets an awful precedent and encourages similar behavior from other parties.
And I don’t see why they should give a shit about ads in newspapers. Hell, I’ll buy a full page ad in the NY Times if it’d get me exempted from federal income tax for the rest of my life.
They also had private investigators follow individual IRS officials and dig up anything that might be used for blackmail or that would at least look bad to the public. The thousands of lawsuits were filed by scientology itself AND by individual scientologists, and were filed against the IRS AND individual IRS employees. The lawsuits could never have been consolidated. It was a mess, but every single lawsuit, every single one, was dropped/withdrawn as soon as the IRS caved.
I’ve been following the Scientologists for years, and reading the stuff about their antics. I didn’t expect to hear anything new, but some of the stuff at the end was stuff I hadn’t heard before.
The fact that this could be made and broadcast at all tells me that their power is wilting. If anyone – HIBO included – had tried this 20 years ago, they would’ve been slapped with multiple lawsuits so fast it’d make your head spin. I bought the book The Bare-Faced Messiah, Russell Miller’s bio of Hubbard, as soon as I saw it in the bookstore, because I knew it would be litigated ouit of existence immediately. I was right:
That was just 25 years ago. There never was a US paberback publication of it (although there was in the UK)
I also lucked out and found a copy of Paulette Cooper’s 1960s book, The Scandal of Scientology, in a used book store. The Scientologistys hads worked that one over, too – as well as the author. They framed her for making bombing threats against the Church. She was only cleared of charges after an FBI raid proved that the Scientologists had set her up.
If you want, you can read both books online at Operation Clambake at http://www.xenu.net/ . The Scientologists tried multiple times to gget that site shut down, too. Fortunately, it’s based in Norway, and relativerly immune to US prosecution. By all means, visit that site for more than you ever wanted to know about Hubbard and the Scientologists. It’s a real eye-opener.
As for the US government “giving in” to the Scientologuists and recognizing them as a religion, I’m afraid it’s true. It’s possible that the IRS just got too tired and fed up with dealing with them (I can’t believe they didn’t know what the vScientologists were like), but it was an ill-chosen decision. I’ve long suspected they had some dirt on key people vto help this along.
That’s my suspicion. That they had dirt on key people.
It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, happens after this HBO broadcast. If the allegations about blackmail and beatings are true and can be substantiated I would think that there could be criminal charges. Obviously the former members that were on this documentary are willing to speak out.
They have done a truly amazing thing. They transform professional unbiased journalists into opponents. In the book “Going Clear” Wright bent over backwards to be fair and give them every chance to defend themselves, and I’m sure they’ve done their usual tricks to try to ruin his life.
I can hardly wait for Louis Theroux’s BBC documentary. As good as “Going Clear” was, he left out some equally astounding stuff.
I wasn’t aware of Theroux’s documentary. Any idea when it’s coming out and when it will be available in the US (if ever)?
Unimportant but, what’s with the purple building? Who made that design decision?
Great documentary. I read the book last year, it was really interesting. While I was reading, I was texting some friends some parts of the book, because there are some things that are just so crazy. The part that will always make me laugh is that so many countries were not wanting them there, that they took to the seas! With fake Navy outfits! It was funny reading about it, but even funnier seeing the pictures and videos.
Also, the rallies were fascinating to see. I think I’d feel a little out of place at a big event for any religion other than my own, but I just got a creepy vibe from the rallies shown in the movie. Maybe it has something to do with them saluting each other, and the big picture of Hubbard, and the pyrotechnics going off.
Those articles are great. And they’re correct, the bullying that might work in real life is just trolling online, and bad trolling at that. They’re not going to win over any sympathizers with their tweets.
They also don’t seem to understand the criticism against them. For example, from the second article:
They don’t understand that a policy of disconnection is wrong, and not really found in other non-cult religions.
I don’t know if Cruise has ever fully attempted to leave. It sounds like when he was with Kidman that they were kinda drifting away from Scientology. But then Miscavige freaked out and figured out how to rope him back in, including figuring out how to help distance him from Kidman.
It’s hard to know how to feel about Cruise. He hasn’t had the same abuse that the lower-level people have had. And he’s definitely benefited from the Church doing all they can to please him, including benefiting from the results of lower level people doing forced labor. But he’s possibly had more psychological and emotional manipulation than most. The Church could afford to lose some people, but they can’t afford to let him go. I’m not sure that Cruise could leave, or that it would even be possible for him to think that he could.
Yeah, I’m looking forward to see what the fallout will be. I don’t know if any criminal charges will come, but I would think more people will feel safe leaving. And it’s possible Miscavige or someone else at the church will try to do an interview or something to show the other side and it will just make it look even worse. Should be interesting to see what comes.
In the past, Scientology has vigorously fought such charges off. Look up the Lisa McPherson case for an atrocious example of Scientology bullying officials around. Ms. Mcpherson died, and the state’s witnessing pathologists supported the evidence against Scientology – until one of them abruptly changed her mind. No reason was given, but I suspect the Scientologists got something on her to force her change.
If anything comes of this documentary. it’ll prove that the Scientologists are losing their hold.