S02.E04: The Bridge to Total Freedom

[ketose]

18 hours ago, RedheadZombie said:

Marty Rathbun continued auditing people after he left CO$, because he believed in the process.  It's my understanding that many who left the "church" believed Miscavige was perverting CO$, but still found Scientology helpful.  The irony is, some of the worst parts of CO$, "fair game" for example, came right from LRH's writings.

The "cans" they hold during the auditing process function as a rudimentary lie detector.  Your auditor sees what topics spike the e-meter, and they continue to grill you on the subject until you no longer react.  So it's actually, IMO, talk therapy combined with desensitizing a person from a traumatic experience.  I also think there may be some pure psychological benefit of being told you no longer react, similar to how one may feel after confession with a priest.  If the auditor shown tonight is typical, the soothing, calm approach alone can make you feel better.  I used to take my cousin to weekly counseling sessions, then touch base with the therapist at the end.  I had maybe 3-5 minutes with the counselor, and I would walk out feeling so much lighter.  Where CO$ auditing goes bad, for me, is the manipulation and what may even be planting of thoughts - such as the very calculated manner in which Nicole Kidman's oldest two were taught to hate and fear her.

Apparently, people with traumatic experience are sometimes treated by reliving their experience then listening to their account over and over to stop the person from repressing it.

It's funny that LRH could just invent a new OT level if someone got to the last one. Miscavage apparently can't get away with forging some new Hubbard BS. So, he just says that semicolons made you interprets the scribblings of a scifi writer incorrectly.

[Maelstrom]

Regarding the "new" OTIX+ levels, my understanding is that Hubbard stopped at OTVIII, period. After he died, his chosen successors, the Broekers, and Miscavige got in a power struggle. The Broekers tried to hold on to their position by claiming they (and they alone) had new, unreleased writings from Hubbard that would comprise OTIX through OTV. When Miscavige got control of the CO$, the "new" levels (which never existed in the first place) were quietly mothballed and mentioned as little as possible.

This is from Going Clear the book, and hopefully I've remembered it correctly.

[peaceknit]

Just an observation, but I find CO$'s symbol, an x-ed out cross rather interesting. It appears to be saying that they are NOT Christian in the least. Is there an explanation for it?

Also, how could anyone have taken LRH seriously? He was a fucking sci fi author, and a mediocre one at that.  "Space planes?" That Xenu crap was pure sci fi! 

[millahnna]

On 9/5/2017 at 9:02 PM, rhys said:

I didn't quite understand Ronit & her husband's desire to remain in scio. Baffling

If you think about it, it's not really any different than the whole idea of how denominations of Christianity (or the existence of various Abrahamic religions in general) happened.  So first there was Judaism, and then some folks were like "hey but this Jesus guy".  And then some other folks said "but Mohammed, yo".  And there's the Bahai with their own whole thing that I don't explain well at all .  And Christianity split into multiple denominations because of divorce and fighting over which Ecumenical Councils were legit.  And then there's gay Catholics who try to start their own version of Catholicism.  And so on and so forth.  On a long enough timeline, if Scientology sticks around and has some kind of reformation period like most of the world's older religions have, they'll probably break up into a bunch of denominations, too.

[smorbie]

THANK YOU ONE THOUSAND TIMES!  There is no way I would follow a group that claimed a ladder was a bridge. For a group that makes people look up every word in a dictionary every dang time it's used, they certainly don't seem to understand the difference, do they?

Also, I THINK the crap on the left indicates the levels and the materials and crap like that, while the right shows the actions and auditing needed to attain them.  It all looks like it was designed by a mad man.  These are also reasons I couldn't follow this group.  How would you ever know where you were going?  Then they just drop in new steps and rules all along the way.  

Poppycock

[Uncle JUICE]

Just watched this last night, and couldn't help myself asking the question over and over, "Why isn't the government prosecuting the pants off this place? it's fleecing hard working people all over the place," except I know the sad answer already. 

[ramble]

Now whenever I hear them mention the bridge on this show I'm going to have to scream "Word!" at my tv. Where's little Tommy's dictionary minion when you need him? And wouldn't you love to hear someone explain to Tommy and Davey what a ladder is? 

The idea that to be truly helped in this "religion" you have to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars is just ridiculous. IMO, true faith based groups will help if you have no money. Sure they need money to operate, and they will ask for it, but their purpose is to help people, and lack of means is not a reason not to. LRH was, and now DM is, nothing but a power mad money grubbing control freak. 

Let me add my voice to the chorus of appreciation for the silver fox. I really enjoy the way he and Leah work together. It's a good dynamic. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, smorbie said:

There is no way I would follow a group that claimed a ladder was a bridge. For a group that makes people look up every word in a dictionary every dang time it's used, they certainly don't seem to understand the difference, do they?

Excellent point!

[LilWharveyGal]

2 hours ago, smorbie said:

THANK YOU ONE THOUSAND TIMES!  There is no way I would follow a group that claimed a ladder was a bridge. For a group that makes people look up every word in a dictionary every dang time it's used, they certainly don't seem to understand the difference, do they?

Also, I THINK the crap on the left indicates the levels and the materials and crap like that, while the right shows the actions and auditing needed to attain them.  It all looks like it was designed by a mad man.  These are also reasons I couldn't follow this group.  How would you ever know where you were going?  Then they just drop in new steps and rules all along the way.  

Poppycock

LRH must have been channeling his inner Littlefinger when he cooked all this up - "Chaos is a ladder."

[msrachelj]

On 9/5/2017 at 11:19 PM, Maelstrom said:

This might be one of the best episodes yet. The round table discussions are always so interesting, because not only is there a dialogue between Mike/Leah and the guest, you also get to hear discussions between the guests themselves. And I gotta say, even though I've read of what the auditing sessions are like, hearing Bruce Hines ask the same questions over and over - in the exact same tone of voice! - I could feel my brain start to atrophy. Luckily my reactive mind kicked in and saved me by starting to swear. ;)

I also liked that they poked fun at themselves quite a bit (I laughed at Mike raising his hand when Leah confessed to yelling at people). It was welcome to have a bit of a lighter episode after the intensity of the last few. If you can call learning about the ridiculous BS that is The Bridge lighthearted. That video clip (from Tampa's Truth Rundown series, I think?) of the registrars being trained on how to squeeze people for every single dime they could was seriously chilling.

It was really interesting to hear from Leah's mom as well. I think I understanding why and how people can get snared by CO$ is something all of us WOGs have a hard time with, so hearing Leah's mom talk about wanting to help people was quite powerful.

Anyone else wish this ep had been two hours long?

much better than the previous episodes. this is the way they should keep doing it. i thought the previous one person centered episodes were too much, too long and too hollywood. and i love leah's mother. i wish her "reality" show was still on. 

[smorbie]

1 hour ago, LilWharveyGal said:

LRH must have been channeling his inner Littlefinger when he cooked all this up - "Chaos is a ladder."

I'm giving you a like just for your name and avi.  I LOVE that move.

[LilWharveyGal]

Aww, thanks @smorbie.  You're bona fide!

In other news, $cientology has already begun their lame attempts to smear the participants in this week's episode, and Mike has a summary.

[smorbie]

12 hours ago, ketose said:

Apparently, people with traumatic experience are sometimes treated by reliving their experience then listening to their account over and over to stop the person from repressing it.

It's funny that LRH could just invent a new OT level if someone got to the last one. Miscavage apparently can't get away with forging some new Hubbard BS. So, he just says that semicolons made you interprets the scribblings of a scifi writer incorrectly.

Here's the thing.  That works.  It is a well-practiced tenant in counseling that a person processes an event by recounting it again and again.  It's why some people have to tell you about their hospital stays.  It's a therapeutic step in healing.  So, lrhuckster took something that is well known, copped it, and made it part of his crock.

The semicolon thing makes me sad.  First of all, for people who claim to be so smart to not understand the semicolon is just ridiculous.  Second, I've not read LRhuckster's work and won't do so.  But, I kind of get the feeling from what I've heard that, although he had a good imagination, his writing could be a bit difficult to read.  That might explain an overuse of semicolons.  

But of course, the real reason is get little davey more toys.

[2727]

On 9/5/2017 at 11:19 PM, Maelstrom said:

It was really interesting to hear from Leah's mom as well. I think I understand why and how people can get snared by CO$ is something all of us WOGs have a hard time with, so hearing Leah's mom talk about wanting to help people was quite powerful.

I'm personally skeptical of the claims that people got into Scientology because they wanted to help people. The initial personality test is intended to find each person's "ruin," which they are then told that Scientology will fix. People stay in Scientology in order to ensure their own eternity (just like many other religions). Scientologists certainly squawk about clearing the planet but what they really care about, and why they spend all that money, is their own journey up the ladderbridge and the promised rewards to them.

There is zero planetary help being delivered. If that was these folks' actual, sincere desire upon joining, you'd think it wouldn't take them 20-30 years to figure out that Scientology hasn't done shit to get rid of war, disease, poverty, crime, drug use, etc.  Maybe time to join the Salvation Army or something, folks. That organization is pretend military, too.

I wonder if some viewers watching the auditing examples given on the show didn't realize that's all it is. Like, the auditors never provide any feedback or guidance like a licensed therapist would ... they just keep going through the standard list of questions over and over and over.

Edited September 8, 2017 by 2727

[iMonrey]

Quote

You mean like comparing Leah to Klan leader David Duke??    

Is she saying this show does not vet their sources? Or fact-check their stories? These are people who are relating experiences that happened to them personally. They are their own sources. Unless it turns out they were never in Scientology to begin with, then I'm going to assume they're not just making shit up. I mean, we can verify the relatives who committed suicide and so forth are in fact dead, so . . . I'm not sure what the rebuttal is here. 

It's kind of like that disclaimer at the beginning of every episode, which says the Co$ disputes what Leah is saying and she "tried desperately" to remain a Scientologist because she knew she was going to be evicted from the church for her egregious transgressions. What exactly were those transgressions? And what kind of "church" banishes members without explaining why? If they really want to discredit Leah they have to say "she did such-and-such," not just offer up vague and unspecified reasons. Either they have something on her, or they don't. Surely they don't expect us to just take their word for it at this point.

[smorbie]

This new "doesn't vet their sources" attack is the exact opposite of last year's "people are rehearsed" one.  It's not even worth evaluating.

As for her "crimes", Leah's pretty much been an open book.  Her stance is "yeah, so, why is the church hurting people, disconnecting families, tolerating slavery, child abuse, and molestation?"  In other words, what I have done doesn't answer the questions about you.  Or as Bill O'Reilly says, you don't justify bad behavior by pointing at other bad behavior.  It still doesn't answer the questions about you.

So, Leah may be "mean", but how do you justify charging people outrageous sums of money to do the same things over and over and over.  Rindah may have been an adulterer (I don't know), but how do you explain covering up a suicide and sending a young, grief-stricken woman back to her desk when her husband dies?

[RichiesOlderBro]

15 hours ago, peaceknit said:

Also, how could anyone have taken LRH seriously? He was a fucking sci fi author, and a mediocre one at that.  "Space planes?" That Xenu crap was pure sci fi! 

Reminds me of the underwater submarines in the Book of Mormon.  

[smorbie]

1 hour ago, RichiesOlderBro said:

Reminds me of the underwater submarines in the Book of Mormon.  

Well, the DC 10's were exact replicas of the space planes, so that's totally true.

I was watching a video on tonyortega.org today.  The man was talking about the the Xenu incident, but then he began describing what's known as Incident One which supposedly took place a quadrillion years ago.  He showed the notes in lrhuckster's own hand and beside one line he (lrh) had written (very space opera ish), totally confirming he was dreaming it up.  Suckers.

Edited September 7, 2017 by smorbie

[PrincessSteel]

Investigative reporter: "How do you respond to accusations that your organization abuses parishioners and clergy?"

CoS Rep: "Here's a building!"

[wendyg]

milahnna: But there is no "normal religion" (IYSWIM) that doesn't tell inquirers what it believes before extracting large sums of money from them. You can go into any Catholic church, Hindu temple, or Jewish synagogue and ask, "What do you believe?" and people will tell you. The secrecy surrounding Hubbard's writings is one of the things that differentiates Scientology. I've seen former Scientologists call it "bait and switch" on the basis that no one would pay all that money for the story of Xenu.

It may not be obvious, but in many ways this is the bravest episode they've done. Scientology not only sued people but had them raided in the 1990s when disaffected former Scientologists began publishing the "secret scriptures" on the Net. I read the newsgroup mentioned in the last episode, alt.religion.scientology in the early 1990s because I knew enough about the internet and about Scientology to know that the intersection of the two was going to be highly volatile and there would be a major story there at some point. This was the story I eventually wrote for Wired - UK in 1994, US in 1995. Scientology worked very hard to keep this stuff secret; exposing it on TV is really sticking two fingers up Scientology's nose.

[smorbie]

Most Christian churches ask only for a tithe of 10% of your income. If you can't do that or if you never give them anything, you will still be welcomed and ministered to.  And they freely tell everyone who shows any interest the path of salvation.

If there is a mission they're supporting or a building fund, they may ask for donations, but they don't tell people God won't save them if they don't pony up money.  If you are a Christian attending or watching by television a church that demands more of you, I would suggest you think about finding another church.  Salvation is free to all.  Jesus bought it for us.

The crock of scientology gives away nothing.  It doesn't care about souls or people or anything but putting money in davey's pocket.  And before him it existed to put money in lrhuckster's pocket.

Edited September 9, 2017 by smorbie

[iMonrey]

Quote

It may not be obvious, but in many ways this is the bravest episode they've done.

Except they already covered most of this in Season 1. They already looked at the chart and enumerated on the money you have to spend, etc. Most of this felt like repetitious filler.

[ketose]

7 hours ago, smorbie said:

This new "doesn't vet their sources" attack is the exact opposite of last year's "people are rehearsed" one.  It's not even worth evaluating.

As for her "crimes", Leah's pretty much been an open book.  Her stance is "yeah, so, why is the church hurting people, disconnecting families, tolerating slavery, child abuse, and molestation?"  In other words, what I have done doesn't answer the questions about you.  Or as Bill O'Reilly says, you don't justify bad behavior by pointing at other bad behavior.  It still doesn't answer the questions about you.

The buzzword I hear lately is "whataboutism." It's the tendency of people to respond to criticism by saying "What about x? He does the same thing."

The video from the Scientology YouTube commercial is from The Hollywood Reporter. Leah's point is that some of the incidents happen when only Scientologists are around, so you can vet the results by not always every word leading up to it.

[millahnna]

Good points Wendyg.  The only conventional religion (and yes I totally see what you mean) that I can think of that's even remotely comparable is LDS; apparently the church leadership about lost their minds back when Big Love revealed what the inner temple ceremony was like.  And even then, they don't have even remotely the same level of secrecy as CO$.

[smorbie]

On 9/7/2017 at 0:02 AM, Maelstrom said:

Regarding the "new" OTIX+ levels, my understanding is that Hubbard stopped at OTVIII, period. After he died, his chosen successors, the Broekers, and Miscavige got in a power struggle. The Broekers tried to hold on to their position by claiming they (and they alone) had new, unreleased writings from Hubbard that would comprise OTIX through OTV. When Miscavige got control of the CO$, the "new" levels (which never existed in the first place) were quietly mothballed and mentioned as little as possible.

This is from Going Clear the book, and hopefully I've remembered it correctly.

That's how I remember it as well.  But last year Tom Devogt (I'm butchering his name; I'm sorry) said that he and davey would drink together every night and davey told him that he (davey) had the notes and was having to build the levels from them.  And I know I've seen stuff about them being revealed elsewhere, so who knows.  

[Ruprecht]

15 hours ago, wendyg said:

I read the newsgroup mentioned in the last episode, alt.religion.scientology in the early 1990s because I knew enough about the internet and about Scientology to know that the intersection of the two was going to be highly volatile and there would be a major story there at some point.

I remember reading that newsgroup and the story of Xenu. I could not believe that was the big secret. I thought someone made that up to make Scientology look ridiculous.

I absolutely loved last night's episode. It was refreshing to see people dissect the Bridge and explain how it impacted their lives both mentally and financially. That semi-colon video was unbelievable. Most of all, I really appreciated intelligent discussion of something so very ridiculous. I didn't necessarily learn anything new about the bridge but I enjoyed Leah's mother's perspective - especially about Xenu and how disappointed she was when she reach level 8. 

I know I shouldn't be but I'm still amazed that this organization is so very tone deaf and duplicitous in it's attack material. 

[Rlb8031]

On 9/6/2017 at 7:17 PM, Lugal said:

Awesome episode it really lays out what the "Bridge" is.  It's a clever way to bring people in, but I thought I heard somewhere that 80% of the people who take the initial courses drop out within two years.  It seems like it's only second and third generation now (although the previous shows over the past few weeks would indicate that the third generation is leaving.) 

They do. When LRH was alive he referred to those people as "fresh meat". The idea was that they came in, you took a couple hundred from them for the introductory courses and they cycled out. The jackpot was anyone that wanted to move on and become a practicing member. There was an interview on the Surviving Scientology podcast where they interviewed the guy who came up with the marketing campaign for Dianetics in the 70's. He's the person responsible for those commercials with the exploding Volcanoes. He talked about some deal they had with a big bookstore and how it was one of the top-selling books one year. Every copy had a postcard in the back that you could send in if you wanted more information and that was one of the key recruiting methods during that time. 

When DM took over, he basically got rid of all of the marketing of Dianetics to the general public and focused solely on wringing every dollar out of current members. 

[Rlb8031]

On 9/6/2017 at 10:27 PM, Becky3348 said:

I have read a lot about scientology and watched several docs and all episodes of this show.  Even after all that, when I see that clusterfuck of a chart that is "the bridge" I still don't know what the hell I am looking at. Can anyone explain? What is the left side vs the right side? Do you have to do all those "Class" levels on the left before doing your training on the right? Or is this happening concurrently?  Only an insane person would make a chart this busy and confusing. 

Also - maybe I am overanalyzing, but a bridge goes ACROSS, not UP.  Would anyone ever say, "to go from level 1 to level 10, climb up this bridge". No. That would be a ladder, or a staircase.  If he wanted to call it a bridge he could've made the chart horizontal....

I'll take a shot at this. My understanding is that one side is the set of courses you take if you are simply a member practicing the religion. The other side is the set of courses if you are auditing people/seeking to be an auditor. I'm not clear if everyone in the Sea Org is on the auditing side or not. I do know that in practice its more like "Chutes and Ladders" than a bridge. Once DM took over it went from being a straight 20+ year march up the bridge to something where you can get busted back down a level or more for your transgressions. You can also be demoted from one side of the bridge to the other and if you are "Clear" as a public, and then you seek to become an auditor, you can be sent back down to lower levels to take the beginner courses. The easiest way to think of it is that every step on the bridge is $s for CO$ so they now seek to make you do and re-do as many steps as they possibly can.

[LadyArcadia]

It cracked me up to see Rinder's old news interview where he denied Xenu.  I didn't even recognize it was him at first! He seemed pretty believable in that interview too, so it's funny to see him make fun of his own lies.

[ketose]

1 hour ago, LadyArcadia said:

It cracked me up to see Rinder's old news interview where he denied Xenu.  I didn't even recognize it was him at first! He seemed pretty believable in that interview too, so it's funny to see him make fun of his own lies.

There's a video of Leah on Howard Stern's show mocking Stern when he talked about Xenu. I'm guessing she was OTIII by then.

[CaughtOnTape]

I keep asking myself why Travolta stays.  I mean, even if they're blackmailing him with the gay thing...who cares?  It's not like being gay is a career destroyer anymore.

And then it dawned on me.  His religion tells him that being gay is wrong.  I wouldn't doubt that his handlers constantly remind him that he's gay and it's his fault and that's gross and he'd be chastised so I guess I understand.  Someone once said his wife is his handler now so I can't watch her in anything without seeing her with wide crazy eyes telling him "You're a bad boy, Johnny."

[PrincessSteel]

This is overly simplistic and reductive (and not original but I can't recall where I first read it):

A church is difficult to join (various rites, rituals & learnings to be fully accepted) and easy to leave (you might be asked why you have stopped attending but no one is going to stalk you or punish you for doing so).

A cult is easy to join and difficult to leave. 

If CoS is so stinking insistent on being thought of as a church, see above. 

I hope that Rinder is healing through the process of interacting with the people that he has harmed. He and Leah both appear to own their former CoS related assholishness. I like him. 

Edited September 8, 2017 by PrincessSteel

[smorbie]

On 9/8/2017 at 0:02 PM, LadyArcadia said:

It cracked me up to see Rinder's old news interview where he denied Xenu.  I didn't even recognize it was him at first! He seemed pretty believable in that interview too, so it's funny to see him make fun of his own lies.

He was so cute, like a little child, when his eyes got SO WIDE while he was denying it.  It was funny to watch.

On 9/8/2017 at 1:23 PM, CaughtOnTape said:

I keep asking myself why Travolta stays.  I mean, even if they're blackmailing him with the gay thing...who cares?  It's not like being gay is a career destroyer anymore.

And then it dawned on me.  His religion tells him that being gay is wrong.  I wouldn't doubt that his handlers constantly remind him that he's gay and it's his fault and that's gross and he'd be chastised so I guess I understand.  Someone once said his wife is his handler now so I can't watch her in anything without seeing her with wide crazy eyes telling him "You're a bad boy, Johnny."

And she has his CHILDREN.  He will lose them if walks away.  I can't imagine knowing that I was making a choice, even the correct one, that would mean losing my children and having them hate me. I would grin and bear it as long as I could, too.

Edited September 10, 2017 by smorbie

[wendyg]

There is an absolute prohibition on speaking about Xenu outside Scientology. In the 1990s, when the CoS began flooding alt.religion.scientology with postings to drown out the critics, people put "Xenu:" in the subject so they could use it as a filter to see just the postings they were interested in (that is, the critical ones). The prohibition meant the CoS posters never copied it.

[Jesse]

On 9/5/2017 at 10:06 PM, lor said:

i thought tonights episode would be about miscavige. i guess it was scheduled for next tuesday.

 

On 9/6/2017 at 0:29 PM, iMonrey said:

Am I crazy or did the previews for this episode show someone being interviewed about David Miscavige? In fact a repeat of last week's episode aired right before this one and the preview for the next one showed David Miscavige. Was the episode pulled or is it still scheduled to air later? I started to wonder if maybe they pulled it because they were afraid they were going to be sued or something.

 

I agree that this episode was great, but it's GOT to have been a last-minute replacement for the Miscavige one, right? I'm hoping that means they are working with lawyers to figure out how far they can go, rather than keeping on the safe side. I'm especially dying for them to get into WHERE'S SHELLY?

[MaryPatShelby]

Regarding the ladder vs bride discussion, if you watch The Path on Hulu, their cult religion has an actual true ladder! They talk about reaching/achieving rungs on the ladder as they climb up to fullfilment, or something.  It actually made a lot more sense that this bridge nonsense in CO$.

[smorbie]

4 hours ago, MaryPatShelby said:

Regarding the ladder vs bride discussion, if you watch The Path on Hulu, their cult religion has an actual true ladder! They talk about reaching/achieving rungs on the ladder as they climb up to fullfilment, or something.  It actually made a lot more sense that this bridge nonsense in CO$.

I know.  When I watched it, I was relieved they were actually acknowledging that it's a LADDER.  You climb a ladder; you cross a bridge.  Even if one side of the bridge is higher, you are still just crossing, not climbing.

[WInterfalls]

I finally got to watch the episode after spending the week down with a migraine and being that I'm a lowly SP there was no one around to preform an assist on me.

My coworker told me that I would love this episode because Leah gets to cuss in it. She was right! This episode was so good! Informative and entertaining all around. 

I love it when Mike gets cheeky with Leah! That little hand raise when Leah said she yelled at people today killed me.

 I'm pretty sure this was switched out for the Miscavige one because of the holiday weekend (Mike said on his blog this was a special episode). I'm betting that one will air next week. 

Also if you're wondering if some still in Scientolgists are watching the show 

[smorbie]

8 hours ago, WInterfalls said:

I finally got to watch the episode after spending the week down with a migraine and being that I'm a lowly SP there was no one around to preform an assist on me.

My coworker told me that I would love this episode because Leah gets to cuss in it. She was right! This episode was so good! Informative and entertaining all around. 

I love it when Mike gets cheeky with Leah! That little hand raise when Leah said she yelled at people today killed me.

 I'm pretty sure this was switched out for the Miscavige one because of the holiday weekend (Mike said on his blog this was a special episode). I'm betting that one will air next week. 

Also if you're wondering if some still in Scientolgists are watching the show 

I wonder if he's seeing the woman who disconnected from his dog (yes, he's confirmed the church made her do that) watch the show.  If so, GOOD.  The more they watch, the more they'll learn.  Good for her.

That rumble you hear in the background is the beginning of a tidal wave.  Get your scuba gear on, Davey, it's going to get deep!

[3girlsforus]

8 hours ago, WInterfalls said:

I finally got to watch the episode after spending the week down with a migraine and being that I'm a lowly SP there was no one around to preform an assist on me.

My coworker told me that I would love this episode because Leah gets to cuss in it. She was right! This episode was so good! Informative and entertaining all around. 

I love it when Mike gets cheeky with Leah! That little hand raise when Leah said she yelled at people today killed me.

 I'm pretty sure this was switched out for the Miscavige one because of the holiday weekend (Mike said on his blog this was a special episode). I'm betting that one will air next week. 

Also if you're wondering if some still in Scientolgists are watching the show 

 

I am also wondering if they chose to do this show before Miscavige to drive home the point that Scientology is screwed up with or without Miscavige. I've read that many inside thought COS was ok until Miscaviage took over. This made it clear, that just isn't true. The whole core of COS as designed by LRH is not only nuts, but purposely a scam. Miscaviage is horrible, but you can't just get rid of him. He isn't a psychopath who perverted a nice group of people who want to help others. He's a psychopath who saw a scam and took advantage. 

[AZChristian]

42 minutes ago, smorbie said:

That rumble you hear in the background is the beginning of a tidal wave.  Get your scuba gear on, Davey, it's going to get deep!

In my dream world, Miscavage would invite Cruise to Clearwater to walk on the water during Irma.  No one else would be injured, but all of the Co$ buildings would be leveled, and M&C's bodies would be found sometime next week on the shores of Cancun.

[smorbie]

EVERYBODY READ THIS!@!!!!!!

/tonyortega.org

When people become desperate, they act in a desperate manner.  I assume this site is safe, but I can't know that.  Let's all be careful.  

I have nothing to lose.  I'm retired, don't visit social media sites, and really don't care what they say about me.  But many of you are working, and they are targeting JOBS now.  So, just be aware.

[smorbie]

2 hours ago, 3girlsforus said:

 

I am also wondering if they chose to do this show before Miscavige to drive home the point that Scientology is screwed up with or without Miscavige. I've read that many inside thought COS was ok until Miscaviage took over. This made it clear, that just isn't true. The whole core of COS as designed by LRH is not only nuts, but purposely a scam. Miscaviage is horrible, but you can't just get rid of him. He isn't a psychopath who perverted a nice group of people who want to help others. He's a psychopath who saw a scam and took advantage. 

EXACTLY!  Huckster wasn't just some geeky fuddy duddy who was having visions or something.  He was a mentally-ill man who had gone boom and bust several times in his career as a sci fi writer and who had said he wanted to create a religion because that would be a way of getting rich and staying rich.  He wasn't misled by some demon posing as an angel.  He purposefully set up a scam and set it up in a way that would keep people from being able to find out what it was without paying huge sums of money because they can't talk to each other about it, make all its failings their fault (for which they have to pay more money), and to keep people in because they lose their families if they leave.  These are not the actions of a benevolent person.

Davey's done what psychopaths always do.  He found a way to hurt a lot of people and benefit himself at the same time.  It's a perfect storm of evil.

[Maelstrom]

Sorry to hear about the migraine, Winterfalls, they're awful. I hope you're feeling better now. :)

i agree this was probably switched out for the other ep because of the holiday. Anytime we get to see Mike and Leah riff on each other is fun, they have such a natural rapport. I never could've imagined liking Mike Rinder this much. Good on him for the work he's done since he left.

[Jillybean]

My guide is showing the Miscavige episode airing next week!

[TVbitch]

This was a good foundational episode for understanding exactly what the practice (con) of the "religion" is all about. I was thinking it should have aired last season, but I do recall last season that Leah was very reluctant to talk about Xenu. I wonder if that was because she still had conditioning about not talking about Xenu, which she has obviously gotten over. This is a clearly a healing/deprogramming process for her as well. 

[WInterfalls]

14 hours ago, smorbie said:

I wonder if he's seeing the woman who disconnected from his dog (yes, he's confirmed the church made her do that) watch the show.  If so, GOOD.  The more they watch, the more they'll learn.  Good for her.

No he said on twitter it wasn't her. I guess it was another Scientology neighbor. Apparently he's surrounded by them.

11 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

Sorry to hear about the migraine, Winterfalls, they're awful. I hope you're feeling better now. :)

i agree this was probably switched out for the other ep because of the holiday. Anytime we get to see Mike and Leah riff on each other is fun, they have such a natural rapport. I never could've imagined liking Mike Rinder this much. Good on him for the work he's done since he left.

Much better thank you. I just couldn't figure out who was PTS to me and causing it. I agree I have been surprised by how much I like Rinder, and actually I find myself kind of protective of him if anyone says anything negative about him. 

[PrincessSteel]

27 minutes ago, WInterfalls said:

 I have been surprised by how much I like Rinder, and actually I find myself kind of protective of him if anyone says anything negative about him. 

Same! And let us not forget the cojones that it must take to sit beside someone to whom you have lied while watching archival video of you lying to that person. 

[Maelstrom]

30 minutes ago, WInterfalls said:

Much better thank you. I just couldn't figure out who was PTS to me and causing it.

Glad you're feeling better. :)

As far as discovering the PTS who caused it, clearly you need to buy several intensive of auditing to help you clear your body thetans. *eyeroll*

I can't imagine how hard it must be for Mike to watch old footage of himself from when he was still drinking the Kool-aid.

[film noire]

1 hour ago, Maelstrom said:

As far as discovering the PTS who caused it, clearly you need to buy several intensive of auditing to help you clear your body thetans. 

Praise jesus! And get thee behind me, thetan!

The archival footage was creepy. L Ron has such a weird, decadent affect when he speaks. His facial gestures are a little too big, his mouth a little too mobile, his attitude beyond condescending.  All that studied affability trying to hide the hardcore corruption underneath.  He feels like the TV host for a 60s kid's show (Captain Magic and his l'il buddy Xenu) who is later revealed to be a kid killer, with dozens of molested bodies buried on his Nevada ranch.  Everything about him makes my lizard brain light up.

Edited September 10, 2017 by film noire