Marty vs. Mayo

I wanted to talk more about David Mayo vs. Marty Rathbun. Now, I’m not writing this to glorify the Independent movement; as far as I’m concerned, Scientology in all its forms is a fraud. But I wanted to put paid to Marty Rathbun’s attempts to downplay the accomplishments of Mayo’s Advanced Ability Center (AAC) and the Free Zone movement that followed it and paint himself as the “source” of the Independent Scientology movement.

A reminder of what Marty said:

[Mayo’s] stint as a Scientology practioner [sic] outside the church lasted a far sight shorter than the existence of the modern Independent movement, which has only just begun…

“[I have been] contemplating a post to distinguish us from the likes of Mayo. I have noticed over the past year several old AACers coming out of retirement and hanging up their shingles. While nattering about Independents being ‘johnny come lately’ out of one side of their mouths, they are back in business only because of the exodus we have unleashed.”

It is true that the original AAC did not last very long – but they also did a lot more to attract the Church’s ire. Within a short time, David Mayo had a full staff and was training multiple clients. He had at least two AAC chapters in Europe. He was trying to create a unified world-wide Independent Scientology movement, remnants of which still exist to this day.

But the original Independents didn’t just sell Scientology services. They, like Anonymous, were activists. They picketed Saint Hill at a time when the Church was at its most powerful.

Today the Church is under siege from several directions, and what does Marty do? He has a barbeque in the back woods of Texas.

Almost makes you wonder who was really trying to reform Scientology and who is just “hanging up his shingle” and trying to make some money.

Marty continues:

“Sure, David Mayo took a beating. You think we haven’t?”

Well, compared to what David Mayo endured, Marty’s kind of a lightweight. Getting your name smeared in Scientology’s own magazines and having some dorks with cameras show up on your doorstep is child’s play compared to the lawsuits, harassment and vilification that Mayo went through.

Truth is, if you look at how far Mayo’s Advanced Ability Center got, not to mention the fact that Mayo was LRH’s right-hand man until the ol’ fraud turned his back on him, Marty really hasn’t accomplished anything worth bragging about. No wonder Marty is so eager to talk shit about Mayo – compared to the AAC, Casablanca is a fart in the wind.

I’ll be honest: I never had much of a problem with the Independent/Free Zone movement until Marty came along. I’ve always thought the teachings of Scientology are a mix of repackaged psychology and sci-fi bullshit. It wasn’t until I realized that Marty was lying to his followers and attempting to censor the truth that I realized just how dangerous Independent Scientology could be. Fact is, if Marty wasn’t trying to Miscavige-ize the Independent movement, this blog probably wouldn’t exist.

Why is Marty so eager to tone down the accomplishments of David Mayo? Well, there are a few possible reasons. One is that he’s an egomaniac and a narcissist, just like LRH and DM. Think about it: Saying that he’s picking up where Mayo left off would give him a tremendous rallying point and a huge potential client base. But it would also mean sharing the glory (not to mention the auditing sales), and we can all see how Marty likes to keep people like Mike Rinder in his shadow, even if they have a lot to contribute. But perhaps Marty thinks the AACers would laugh at him for not having enough experience in Scientology tech. After all, Mayo was chief Case Supervisor; Marty was chief thug.

Maybe it has to do with Marty’s devotion to LRH. Remember, Mayo wasn’t just given his Suppressive Person declare and told to leave. He was thoroughly demonized by L. Ron Hubbard, the man with whom David worked side by side and to whose teachings he had dedicated his life. (Read The Story of a Squirrel: David Mayo.) Marty’s desire for revenge against Miscavige is one thing, but can you imagine the betrayal Mayo must have felt?

Another possible explanation is that David Mayo has turned his back on Scientology. And when you’re trying to pay your bills by selling Scientology services – just as Marty Rathbun, David Miscavige, and LRH before them both – that’s simply not good for business.

To me, though, the most likely reason that Marty Rathbun thinks David Mayo is bad that LRH said David Mayo was bad. And Marty Rathbun, like any proper Scientologist, always does what LRH said.

As far as I can tell, that’s the real difference between David Mayo and Marty Rathbun: Marty takes LRH at face value. David actually used his mind and thought about what was going on – a path that led him away from LRH, away from the Church, and, finally, away from Scientology.

I find the fact that David Mayo no longer considers himself to be a Scientologist very, very encouraging. If LRH’s co-pilot, a man who believed so earnestly that he helped co-author much of the religion, can turn away, that gives me hope that other Scientologists can do the same.

Most Scientologists leave because they eventually see through the lies. And we’ve seen first-hand how even Marty’s loyal flock saw through his attempt to re-write the history of the Independent movement. With that in mind, I’ll close with a quote from one of David Mayo’s lectures:

“I feel that we should make a particular point of maintaining our own integrity and truthfulness, because that is a very valuable thing that we have. And although others may go into a lot of mud-slinging and name-calling and so on, if we maintain our integrity, then we maintain our freedom and our independence.”

Marty would do well to heed David’s advice.

ML,
Caliwog

News from English Independents… or is it?

I wanted to share an excerpt from a speech given by an Independent Scientologist to other Indies about goings-on in East Grinstead, UK, where Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard had his home and headquarters at Saint Hill Manor:

“In the East Grinstead area, I would venture a guess that better than half of the Scientologists in that area are disaffected and staying away from the org, and at least a third are actually Independent right now. Many of the very biggest opinion leaders have done so… one doctor in particular, who has serviced the Scientology field for the last 8 or 10 years, resigned about a month ago and he sent his letter of resignation to his whole CF [Central Files, his client list], about 2,000 Scientologists. And that had an impact.

“This morning in East Grinstead there was a protest demo[nstraton] against practices such as disconnection… 60 Scientologists marched through the streets of East Grinstead. The press were informed beforehand and they were there taking their photographs. And then the whole delegation went to Saint Hill and submitted a presentation of Demand for Reform, and the media were right there, too….

“The Church organized a radio program for today, a live radio program, call-in, where they wanted to get certain messages out, particularly that would be anti-Independent. And they lined up their own people to phone in. This was a live program. Somehow, we happened to find out about this program, and we got on the lines, and 65% of the phone callers-in were Independents! And the questions they got hit with, they weren’t prepared for. So that went real well.”

Know when this was recorded?

1984.

Twenty-seven years ago.

Don’t take my word for it — you can download the original MP3 here. It’s the preamble to a speech given by David Mayo, then head of the Advanced Ability Center, about the dirty tricks being played against him by the organized Church, back when LRH was still alive. David and the AAC are the folks who were Independent before Independent was cool.

The point I wish to make is that the true history of Independent Scientology goes farther back than certain people would like you to realize. The movement of Scientologists away from the Church is nothing new. So why would Marty try to infer that it is? The answer may well lie (no pun intended) in a 1979 LRH policy called DIANETICS AND SCIENTOLOGY ARE NEW:

“People who have been in Dianetics and Scientology for years see it as a way of life… They do not realize that Dianetics and Scientology are new news to the bulk of the world’s population. They do not realize that the oldest Dianetics or Scientology books are brand new books to the bulk of humanity! … So write and act like you have NEW news.” — LRH

What LRH missed is that saying something is new doesn’t make it new. It’s easy to see that Dianetics auditing is just repackaged psychotherapy, which is why Hubbard went to such extreme lengths to keep out people who understood that and keep those “in” from realizing it.

Likewise, it’s in Marty’s best interest to have the world believe his Independent movement is something new. I’ll be honest – even I was fooled, but the more I learn about David Mayo, the more I understand why Marty is so eager to vilify him and minimize his importance. More on that in my next blog entry.

ML,
Caliwog

The true purpose of the SP Declare

First of all, congrats to Marty Rathbun for posting *real* dox – I’m talking about Michael Fairman’s SP declare, presented as a scanned JPG. Granted, anything can be re-typed and scanned, but this looks like SP declares we’ve seen before. And it’s far more believable than briefing sessions typed out from supposed recordings or re-typed “programs” the source of which cannot be verified. You’re learning a thing or two about credibility, Marty!

Anyway… in the accompanying blog entry, Marty writes:

“There should be no mistaking that the intent of the Suppressive Person declare in modern corporate Scientology is the the public killing of the recipient. Sort of like the crucifixion of old Roman times, don’t just kill them, hang em’ up so others will get the message.”

For once, I am almost in agreement with Marty. Like Marty, I understand that the purpose of an SP declare is not so much to kick people out as it is to keep people in. Unlike Marty, I won’t pretend it hasn’t always been that way in Scientology.

Founder L. Ron Hubbard knew that if someone had doubts about Scientology, they weren’t going to add to the bottom line, and worse yet they might even poison the well by spreading doubt among the faithful. As Emma of ESMB put it, once you know Scientology does not work, you can’t unknow it. LRH knew it was best to get these people out before they reach that point, and before they do any damage.

But why not use those forced departures as an opportunity? Put their head on a pike, and use them to enforce a standard of behavior that will keep the faithful in line.

Let’s look at some of the “suppressive acts” for which someone could be declared as outlined by L. Ron Hubbard in HCO PL 23 December 1965, ETHICS – SUPPRESSIVE ACTS – SUPPRESSION OF SCIENTOLOGY AND SCIENTOLOGISTS – THE FAIR GAME LAW:

• Public disavowal of Scientology
• Public statements against Scientology or Scientologists
• Proposing, advising or voting for legislation or ordinances, rules or laws directed toward the Suppression of Scientology
• Testifying hostilely before state or public inquiries into Scientology
• Demanding the return of any or all fees paid for standard training or processing
• Giving anti-Scientology or anti-Scientologist evidence to the press
• Failure to handle or disavow and disconnect from a person demonstrably guilty of Suppressive Acts

The lists goes on and on and on – you can read the full policy here – but I think you get the idea: Step out of line and you too will be declared the worst of the worst, and give up your only chance for eternal freedom to boot. No soup for you! Now all Hubbard had to was start declaring people to prove that he meant it.

I’m glad that Marty sees it this way, but to blame the head-on-a-pike mentality on “modern corporate Scientology” is ludicrous. The above policy didn’t come from David Miscavige; it came from L. Ron Hubbard.

In 1965.

When David Miscavige was five years old.

“Never be afraid to issue orders that label somebody an SP if you have the real evidence.” — LRH, HCO PL 2 June 1965, HCO DIV 1 ETHICS SECTION WRITING OF AN ETHICS ORDER

Problem is, Marty believes 100% in LRH technology. We can see that the practice of declaring people suppressive and sticking their head on a pike comes from LRH, not from DM as Marty alleges.

Marty already tries to keep his followers from reading dissenting opinion, just like the Church. He’s defended disconnection, just like the Church. He’s tried to vilify his competition, just like the Church.

How long before the Church of Rathbunology declares its first suppressive person, just like the Church?

And when Marty does write his first SP declare, can I be the subject?

ML,
Caliwog

The truth about “Look, don’t listen”

A while back, in an Independent declaration called “A Letter from Garcia”* (PDF from Marty’s site), Luis Garcia quoted the L. Ron Hubbard phrase “Look, don’t listen,” as coming from Keeping Scientology Working, the policy that is at the core of Scientology beliefs. “Look, don’t listen” has become a rallying cry among Independents on Marty Rathbun’s blog.

Too bad Luis Garcia got it completely wrong.

The phrase “Look, don’t listen” does not actually appear in KSW, and while that may sound like nitpicking, it’s actually a very important point. Scientologists are all about “duplicating” (knowing/ memorizing) LRH’s tech, and there is a ban on “verbal tech” – it is against the rules to tell someone about a policy; instead, one must physically show them the written LRH reference. So it surprised me that such a pro-LRH group would repeatedly cite “Look, don’t listen” as coming from KSW.

Ever the optimist, I tried pointing this out on Marty’s blog. Naturally, Marty censored my comment and ignored my email.

So I figured I may as well set the record straight, because the true meaning of “Look, don’t listen” is actually pretty telling about the Scientology mindset. Put on your tin foil hats and let’s get started!

LOOK DON’T LISTEN is actually the name of a Scientology policy (HCO PL 16 March 1972 Issue I), which is part of the Establishment Officer series. The job of the Establishment Officer (“Esto”) is to establish the organization. He or she makes sure an organization and its staff have everything needed to produce products – training, supplies, a desk, a working phone, etc. – and that those products get produced.

Basically, an Esto is a cross between a troubleshooter and an ass-kicker. If there’s some problem keeping you from pulling your weight – whether it’s that you’re out of paper clips or that you’re a lazy, incompetent twit – it’s the Esto’s job to find the cause and solve it. Back in my Admin Tech days, I regarded Estos as a force for good – but I was in the business world, not the looking-glass world of a religious Scientology org.

Anyway, here’s some of what Hubbard has to say in LOOK DON’T LISTEN:

“An Establishment Officer who stands around or sits around just talking to people or seniors [people of higher rank] is dev-t [developed traffic, a waste of time and resources].

“If these people knew what was wrong the stats would be in Power. So if they aren’t, why gab?

“A GOOD ESTO LOOKS…. THE SCENE IS RIGHT BEFORE ONE’S EYES. [Statistic] graphs are rising or they are level or falling… Products are appearing or they are not… None of these things are verbal.

“You start listening and you get PR [Public Relations], problems, distractions, 3rd partying, etc., etc. An Esto gets into a cycle of: Outpoint [problem], handle, outpoint, handle, outpoint, handle. He hasn’t looked and he hasn’t found a why. So the scene will get worse.

“You can’t know what’s happening in a kitchen by talking to a cook. Because he’s not cooking just then. You can’t know how good the food is without tasting it.

“To adjust a scene you have to LOOK AT IT.” — LRH

So what LOOK DON’T LISTEN really says is that if a person isn’t getting his job done, don’t ask why and don’t listen to what he has to say. Just look at the stats, look at the production, look at what’s going on, and you will find your answers.

One could see this as a little Draconian (“Why have you written so few letters this week?” “Well, my wife of 38 years just died in a freak sewing accident, and I’m a little depressed.” “GET OVER IT AND START WRITING! WE HAVE A PLANET TO SALVAGE!”). But the policy does make sense, especially if you’re not overly concerned with the feelings and morale of your employees: If the job isn’t getting done, then it isn’t getting done, and that’s that.

Ronald Reagan espoused a more compassionate version of this policy, but while LRH stretched it out to three pages, Reagan said it in three words: “Trust, but verify.”

So that’s the origin of “Look, Don’t Listen” — not exactly the fodder for a battle cry, although I do see the point. Indies will say that if you listen to the Church of $cientology, you will hear them say that Scientology is stronger than ever. But if you look, you’ll see empty Churches, low completions (when they are even published), and more negative press than the Church has ever known.

That said, even Independent Scientologists are only willing to look so far. Marty often talks about the crimes of David Miscavige. One need only LOOK at the actual Scientology policies written by L. Ron Hubabrd to see that Dave learned his evil ways from L. Ron Hubbard. How quick they are to forget the horrors carried out under LRH’s iron rule! Sadly, most Scientologists are satisfied merely to LISTEN to what their leaders have to say and ignore the uncomfortable truths. Why move out of their comfort zone?

The fact is that Scientologists are trained to LOOK – but only inwards, never outwards.

ML,
Caliwog

* The title “Letter to Garcia” is inspired by the short book “Message to Garcia” by Elbert Hubbard (no relation), which is popular among Scientologists. You can read the text here. The gist is that a man named Capt. Rowan was told to take a letter from President McKinley to Garcia, leader of the Cuban rebels. Rowan didn’t ask for a plan; he simply took the letter, snuck into Cuba, made his way past hostile troops to cross the island, and delivered his message in four days. This devotion to duty fits in with Scientology’s “Make it go right” philosophy: Don’t ask questions, don’t wonder how, just find a way to get the damn thing done, no matter what it takes.

Hesitation

A funny thing happened to me as I went to post my latest blog entry: I hesitated.

The blog entry in question – the one I’ve been talking about for a week now, which frankly isn’t anything even approaching a big deal – is called The Truth About “Look, Don’t Listen,” and it’s about the true origin of that phrase, its common misattribution, and why it is so odd that the Independent movement should adopt it as a rallying cry.

The blog entry talks quite a bit about Marty Rathbun and the Independent Scientology movement, and that’s what has given me a moment of pause. This whole Squirrel Squad episode has garnered sympathy from a lot of people – including, it seems, me.

I’m not prone to sympathy for former Church leaders who still practice Scientology. Marty was responsible for harassment just like this, and I suppose it serves him right to be on the receiving end. And if he is to be believed, it’s not the first time the Church has sent someone to his doorstep.

Still, it’s clear from the tone of Marty’s voice in his own video that he was shaken. Angry, to be sure, but also startled. That’s what makes this really disturbing. Marty’s a true Rondroid — a tone-40, TRs-in, hyper-focused, LRH-lovin’, on-policy son-of-a-bitch — and yet when four guys in silly T-shirts show up on his doorstep, it clearly rattles his cage. I don’t know why that bothers me so much, but it does.

Another issue is that I don’t want to be seen as piling on Marty along with the Church. I’ve had Indies accuse me of being part of OSA, and to this day I can’t be sure if Marty really believes that (I hope he’s not that dumb) or if he’s just trying to “dead-agent” me (which means he thinks his followers are that dumb). That sort of accusation doesn’t bother me, because anyone who can think logically – my target audience, in other words – can see that I oppose Scientology in all its forms. Regardless, the idea that someone grounded in reality might even perceive me of doing anything that forwards the Church’s agenda makes my skin crawl.

That said, it’s hard to sit here and watch Marty bask in the sympathy, especially when he makes it sound as if he’s winning friends in the media.

Of course, what Marty says is a media victory isn’t necessarily one. Take today’s Marty story, Human Rights Tolerance Award Winner Tom Cruise, which is actually about Tom Cruise’s daughter allegedly moving in with Mom to get away from all the Scientology stuff. Marty sez:

“The Daily, a new internet news medium, just reported that perhaps Tom’s daughter has split with him and the ‘church’ of Scientology.”

That’s not entirely true. The Daily article (which you can read here) doesn’t differentiate the Church from the practice of Scientology; it sounds as if Isabella is trying to get away not just from the Church, as Marty alleges, but from Scientology in general (which, if the story is true, is probably the case – otherwise why go to her non-believing mom?).

In fact, to read Marty and Mike’s quotes, you’d think they were former Scientologists who have left all that bullshit behind. Aside from making Marty and Mike out to be reliable sources, the article is actually a “win” for the anti-Scientology movement; Marty and Mike have succeeded in conveying just how creepy Scientology is.

Marty, of course, is trying to spin this on his own site:

“I have dealt with so many mothers and fathers (Scientologists and non-Scientologists) whose Scientologist kids were turned against them…”

I have to interrupt – this is true, and it’s all down to LRH’s “PTS/SP tech. If someone, anyone, criticizes your Scientology beliefs, “handle or disconnect” – so sayeth Marty’s guru, L. Ron Hubbard!

“…including the wonderful woman whom I am now auditing – that this topic is literally smack-dab in the center of my plate.

“I think it is significant, and ironic in a sense, that Miscavige’s best friend and closest confidant may be experiencing the backfire of this venomous “seize their children’s minds” technique perfected by Miscavige himself.”

Nice try, Marty, but the damage has been done – and I thank you for it.

There is one thing Marty said that really bothers me:

“Fact of the matter is the tactics Miscavige has employed to turn children and teen agers into unthinking and ruthless automatons are chilling. A series on that score will follow as time permits.”

I’m looking forward to hearing exactly what tactics Miscavige has employed, because I’ll bet you dollars to donuts they can be explained by LRH policy. I’ll bet you Marty won’t tell us that. I’ll bet he censors any comments that do. And you can bet that I will use this blog to show you the LRH policies that David Miscavige is following.

You know, I feel a lot better now that I’ve gotten all that off my chest. The Squrrel Squad incident doesn’t change the fact that Marty is still trying to lure people off the path away from Scientology. And it doesn’t change my mission to help ensure that people know better.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to give Look, Don’t Listen a final edit.

ML,
Caliwog

Anatomy of a Footbullet

(Update: Some of the Squrrel Squad’s video has been posted here (action starts at 0:56, and the microphone grab looks better in Marty’s video.)

Sooo, the latest buzz on Marty’s site is that David Miscavige sent the Squirrel Squad to Marty’s house in retaliation for his “King of Squirrels” posts. Mike proposed the theory in a comment:

mrinder | April 18, 2011 at 10:31 pm | Reply

Based on experience, I dont think there is that much thought in this.

I think Dave went on a vein-popper: “Did you see what that c***sucker Rathbun is saying now? Doesnt anyone care about defending me? You all just sit around and spectate while I do ALL the work. […SNIP…] I remember when VA was here and she at least DID something to deal with Mayo. They used to have Squirrel Busters that went up and harassed him. You assholes are all less competent than that SP VA. Or that piece of shit MSH. You can’t originate anything, so as usual, I have to think up what to do.” From there, Jenny Linson issued orders to Lnda Hamel who then called the DSA Stevens Creek who went and got this moron and had him and his 3 Stooges fly to Corpus Christi.

And into the mix, someone pulled out another transcript of one of Dave’s rants where he said “Someone should go do a tech inspection at Rathbun’s — how can he accuse ME of being a squirrel. I BET he is worse than me.” And in the literal world of Miscavigeland, Francois or Tori (some of his typist/compliance getters) demanded “compliance” to that order [“No, COB was NOT joking when he said that. He would not have said it if he didnt mean it to be done.”] So, Warren McShane or Linda Hamel then added that into the “Mission Orders” for the Ghostbusters and off they went.

martyrathbun09 | April 18, 2011 at 10:33 pm | Reply

Mike ain’t kidding. This is about as accurate a scenario as imaginable, knowing the players.

Marty followed up with a blog entry titled Macho Super Ponzi that talks about “Miscavige coming unglued and sending OTAs to their slaughter in Corpus Christi.” (Slaughter? Really?) It also includes more half-decade-old unverifiable docs and the phrase “Ponzi scheme,” which Marty seems determined never to look up in a dictionary.

Anyway… I don’t think Mike and Marty’s theory about this holds water. One of the sites I read regularly is martyrathbunblog.com, a pro-Church, anti-Marty site (and an attempt by the Church to cyber-sit on any URLs that Marty might use). For months, they’ve been waging a campaign against Marty, attempting to discredit him in the eyes of other Scientologists. Their primary argument, besides the saying that Marty is a bad dude who hates LRH and Scientology – y’know, the same stuff Marty says about David Miscavige – is that Marty cannot deliver Scientology because he lacks the proper tools and processes. Without enough staff and proper equipment, they say, he can’t possibly deliver Scientology. The whole Squirrel Squad stunt – the shirts, the logos, and the request to “inspect” Marty’s delivery facilities – fits right in with what they’ve been writing about all this time.

So no, I don’t think this was a knee-jerk reaction by David Miscavige. I think it was a carefully planned operation by the Church and part of a larger project to shoot a video that “investigates” and “exposes” Marty Rathbun. After all, from a Scientology perspective, what Marty is doing is very dangerous – he is delivering sub-standard Scientology and endangering people’s eternal freedom. (Which is the same thing that Marty… oh, you know.)

Never mind that what the Church has actually done is to help re-build the base of support that Marty lost with his David Mayo series. They might be too stupid to see that – and frankly I'm not 100% sure that Marty or Mike see it either – but more likely they have target dates to achieve certain goals. Telling your boss "I think we should wait a couple of weeks to get a better reaction" seems perfectly reasonable. In fact, it is reasonable – and in Scientology, “reasonable” means “coming up with reasons that something can’t be done.” It’s a bad thing. So, better to go ahead and do it and write “Done!” on your battle plan. (Again, crap like this is why Scientology rarely accomplishes anything significant.)

So, that’s my take – but what do I know? I’m just a pathetic one-lifer wog who takes all things into consideration. If I had the laser-like focus of a Scientologist, I might see things differently.

ML,
Caliwog

And the hits just keep on coming!

(Update: Right after I posted this, I realized I should have titled it “OSA Goes Nuts on Marty.” Oh well.)

Okay, I swear that either Marty or the Church or both have got a top-secret program to derail this blog – and I’ll darned if it isn’t working.

Yesterday I said I would get back to talking about LRH and Scientology technology unless Marty did something irresistibly bone-headed. And look what’s happened! Technically, it was the Church, not Marty, who did something bone-headed, but Marty did post the video. I’m sure by now you know what I’m talking about:

Four Scientologists in “Squirrel Busters” uniforms, complete with hat-mounted video cameras (who wants to bet they’ll be called Squirrel Cams?), showed up on Marty’s doorstep, saying they were “investigating” and wanted to interview him.

Now, I must take a moment to say that there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FUNNY about people showing up on Marty’s doorstep to harass him. This is the sort of crap that Scientology has been pulling for years, and it’s just plain wrong.

But for something that’s not funny, I must admit that it’s hard not to laugh. I mean, come on – did you see those T-shirts?

Besides, the Church has been doing this sort of thing for years – including the time when Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder were part of upper Church management. They’ve participated in similar activities, and many that were a lot worse, which is why I find laugher easier than sympathy.

In case you’re wondering what the Squirrel Squad is going on about, the Church is trying to discredit Marty’s brand of auditing by saying that he does not keep proper folders, he does not have a proper system of “case supervision” in place, and he does not have certified E-Meters (another Scientology scam – after you pay thousands of dollars for an E-Meter, you have to send it back to the Church for periodic “recertification”). They’re trying to prove that Marty is incapable of delivering proper Scientology services, the object being to a) keep people in the fold and b) prevent Church members from listening to those who have defected to Marty’s camp, or at least keep them from taking him seriously.

Now, it’s tempting to think that Marty set this whole thing up in order to garner sympathy, but I think this is just fortuitous timing. Note that one of the anti-Marty, pro-Church sites has already posted an article about it, which can’t be a coincidence. (Oh, and they did use the term Squirrel Cam. Darn.) Hard as it is to believe, the Church really does things this idiotic, and they really are dumb enough not to realize that they are generating sympathy for Marty at a time when he needs it most. (If I was Marty, I wouldn’t file charges, I’d send them flowers.)

Shocked as Marty and his followers may seem to be, as I said before, this is nothing new. Compare the Squirrel Busters to this 1999 video of Scientologists picketing Mark Bunker’s house. Aside from the reaction of the victims – Mark kept his sense of humor while Marty lost his cool, which is probably what the Church wanted – I don’t see a lot of difference. You could write both off as childish pranks, were it not for the ominous message that if you speak up against the Church, they will find out where you live.

As expected, Marty cites this as yet more proof that David Miscavige is an evil squirrel bent on destroying Scientology. But if he would just read the “technology” he claims to uphold, he’d see that David Miscavige is acting according to L. Ron Hubbard’s instructions:

“When we need somebody haunted we investigate. When we investigate we do so noisily always. And usually mere investigation damps out the trouble even when we discover no really pertinent facts. Remember that – by investigation alone we can curb pushes and crush wildcat people and unethical ‘Dianetics and Scientology’ organizations….We don’t care if they know you’re investigating them for us. In fact, the louder the better.” – LRH, Manual of Justice

“All you have to do in lots of cases is just say you are going to rattle their door knob and they collapse. I can count several heavy attacks which folded up by our noisily beginning an investigation of the attacker.” — LRH, HCO PL 18 February 1966, ATTACKS ON SCIENTOLOGY (Continued)

To be fair, Miscavige isn’t following exactly in Hubbard’s footsteps. After all, these folks showed up to his doorstep with cameras. Back in LRH’s day, they showed up on Paulette Cooper‘s doorstep with a gun.

Perhaps Marty should be glad Miscavige is squirreling the tech.

Read Marty’s take on events here.

ML,
Caliwog

(Another update: I’ve been going through the 500+ comments on Marty’s post, and it looks like that little uncomfortableness over David Mayo has been entirely forgotten! OSA, Marty owes you one.)

My OT powers at work

Just a quick post to validate my Operating Thetan powers! In my last post, I predicted that Marty would leave the Mayo thing behind and get back to his “greatest hits”: Talking about how David Miscavige is screwing up the Church. Sure enough, that’s exactly what his latest post, Doomsday Dave – KoS pt 2 is – complete with unverifiable hand-typed “dox”.

Stand in awe of my ability to predict the future! Or, better yet, stand in awe of L. Ron Hubbard’s “condition formulas,” which dictate exactly what a Scientologist must do in any situation. In this case, Marty’s readership is slowly starting to trend back up, showing an apparent recovery from the Mayo fiasco. If Marty is watching stats daily, he’s in the condition of Normal, and he’s following Hubbard’s instructions:

“Don’t change anything… If a statistic betters, look it over carefully and find out what bettered it and then do that without abandoning what you were doing before.”

Marty went back to trashing David Miscavige and his stats went up, so he’ll do more of that. And he can turn to his friends and say once again how LRH’s technology, when properly applied, always works.

One wonders how “wog” businesses manage to survive without Hubbard’s tech. I mean, the concept that if a new product or service fails, you should get rid of it and go back to what sells, and if something improves your bottom line, you do more of it – this is earth-shattering Teeegeeak-shattering stuff! It’s amazing the wheels of commerce didn’t grind to a halt before Ron came along.

Sigh.

I’ll get back to talking tech and policy tomorrow, I promise. Unless Marty does something irresistibly bone-headed, that is!

Incidentally, Gerry Armstrong wrote an interesting essay on this whole Mayo fiasco. I disagree with his religious views, but I always respect the opinion of Hubbard and Scientology from those who were neck-deep and got completely out.

ML,
Caliwog

Reverse! Reverse! Full throttle! Reverse!

I have a blog entry on “Look Don’t Listen” almost ready to go, but I can’t resist posting a commentary on Marty’s latest, The King of the Squirrels.

This is what is known in Scientology as an attempt to repair an ARC break. For those unfamiliar, the “ARC Triangle” is Affinity, Reality, and Communication. In Scientologese, affinity means regard or liking; reality means a common point of agreement; and communication means the same thing it does in English. According to LRH, these three things go hand-in-hand, and raising one factor will raise the other two. (This isn’t entirely true, something I talked about in this blog entry.)

What Marty did was go out-reality with his public, thereby causing an ARC break. Translation: Marty said something people disagreed with (David Mayo is a bad guy) and pissed people off. So how does Marty fix this? He has to get reality (agreement) back in by posting something his readers will agree with: David Miscavige is a ruthless little twat who is ruining Scientology. Can’t go wrong with that!

As part of his damage control, Marty tries to downplay the controversy:

“The earlier beginning to my having even gotten into this terrain, was a controversial comment of mine to the effect that folk promoting their skype auditing, and long-distance internet NOTs supervision was, in my view, squirrel.”

That’s a rather creative way of looking at things, especially when you consider what Marty actually said:

“I have noticed over the past year several old AACers coming out of retirement and hanging up their shingles… Well, over the past couple months I have had some bedraggled souls wind up on my doorstep who have been mauled by old-timer squirrels… Squirrels leave the church seeking freedom to do whatever hair-brained scheme their banks feed them.”

No matter; the way I see it, the real reason this whole thing started (and forgive me if I’m repeating myself) was that Marty posted what amounted to an advertisement for his auditing services, saying that he has legitimate OT-level materials (because the OT5-OT7 materials published on the Internet by Mayo are legit) and he’s best qualified to deliver them (because other Free Zone auditors are – and I quote his original post – “hucksters, clowns and pick-pockets”).

No matter what spin he puts on it, the bottom line is that Marty pissed off the faithful, so now he’s doing what any good performer does: Give ’em what they want. If a comic tries some new material and it bombs, what does he do? Go back to the old stuff that always gets a laugh. In this case, there’s nothing like some anti-DM rhetoric and a Tale from the Ol’ Days to rally the troops.

Of course, if one reads between the lines, one can see that Marty’s foot is still firmly in his mouth. After all, he just labeled David Mayo and his ilk as squirrels, and now he’s calling David Miscavige the King of All Squirrels. So basically, he’s lumping Mayo in with Miscavige. (Marty was less subtle in his previous post, where he came right out and classed them together as “iconoclasts.”)

So will this latest post alienate his followers even further?

Of course not!

See, Scientologists have a knack for ignoring uncomfortable truths – all you have to do is give them some little shred they can agree on and they’ll rally around it. (I shouldn’t single out Scientologists; this is a common trait among the blindly faithful.) All it takes is a shiny object to distract them, and an anti-Miscavige story is the perfect gem.

And the proof that this works is in the comment section: Karen De La Carriere has returned with this comment about how evil David Miscavige is. I bet Marty breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that! And unlike her defense of David Mayo, after which Marty wisely kept his trap shut, this time he was Johnny on the spot with a reply – six minutes after she posted her comment, he replied with “Nice sum up Karen. Your conclusion is absolutely spot on.” Way to go, Marty – the customer is always right!

Judging from the comments posted – or at least the ones Marty didn’t censor – the shitstorm isn’t entirely over, but the worst has passed. If Marty is smart, his next few posts will get back to basics: More trashing of DM and stories of Scientologists leaving the Church, and fewer advertisements and swipes at Free Zone auditors.

Personally, I’m hoping Marty isn’t that smart, because this has been a very entertaining week!

ML,
Caliwog

Related: The BS of ARC

The rift is open

Whoops! Looks like Marty’s Mayo Myth post has opened a rift in the independent Scientology movement. Marty has posted two follow-ups to try to calm things down, but his efforts may have backfired. Could this be the beginning of a Scientology civil war? Grab some popcorn and let’s take a closer look at what’s going on.

Marty’s first response was Before You Knight Mayo…. In it, he says, “I didn’t anticipate as much worship for David Mayo as appeared in the thread on the last post… Of course, quite a bit of it was from the very squirrels I was trying to warn people about.”

I’m still wading through the comments on the Mayo Myth post (over 500 as I write this and still growing, and who knows how many were censored?) but I’m seeing very little “worship” – simply a few people presenting very reasonable discussion points about a period of Scientology history to which there were precious few eyewitnesses. Of course, that doesn’t stop Marty and his goon squad from jumping all over those who defend Mayo – even regular contributors! Check out this comment exchange, or this one or this one. (The entire comment section is well worth reading just for sheer entertainment value.)

But wait – here’s where it gets interesting.

Karen De La Carriere, Heber Jentschz’s ex-wife, posted this comment defending David Mayo as having done a lot for LRH and Scientology technology. Scroll down to see Marty’s reply. Oh wait – you can’t, because there isn’t one. Neither Marty nor Mike has replied to her – or any of the people who swept in to express their agreement with her post.

Why doesn’t Karen get the smackdown? Could it be that she has shitloads of money and a willingness to donate it to Scientology? Could it be that Marty doesn’t want to piss off his benefactor? (He may be too late – Karen so far has not commented on Marty’s follow-up posts. Uh-oh.)

Anyway, back to Before You Knight David Mayo…. Marty starts off by trying to back off the rhetoric:

“I did not set out to discredit David Mayo. I steered clear of that route pretty carefully… I never intended to bury Mayo.”

…which is funny, because in the original post, Marty says:

“With no admission fee, no pre-requisites, no qualifications, no screening – you also get your share of hucksters, clowns and pick-pockets… when the crime rate starts to escalate it doesn’t hurt to warn people about certain dark alleys.”

Marty doesn’t come right out and name David Mayo, but it would appear that he’s talking about the entire Free Zone – you know, the Scientologists who were independent before Marty started using the phrase Independent. In Before You Knight David Mayo…, he takes an even more obvious swipe at other Freezoners:

“I have noticed over the past year several old AACers [Advanced Ability Center, Mayo’s own Independent organization] coming out of retirement and hanging up their shingles. While nattering about Independents being ‘johnny come lately’ out of one side of their mouths, they are back in business only because of the exodus we have unleashed. Well, over the past couple months I have had some bedraggled souls wind up on my doorstep who have been mauled by old-timer squirrels. I repaired them, and will continue to do so as needed. But, it is apparent to me that a line needs to be drawn. Squirrels leave the church seeking freedom to do whatever hair-brained scheme their banks feed them. Independents leave the church seeking freedom to practice standard tech.”

L. Ron Hubbard was fond of talking about Hitler in his policies – specifically that Hitler’s evil intentions led him to “pull in” the eventual defeat of the Third Reich. One of Hitler’s biggest mistakes was fighting a two-front war – picking a fight with Russia to the East while fighting Britain and the allies to the West. It would appear that Marty has pulled in his own two-front war.

The irony is that the what Marty is saying about other Independent/Free Zone auditors is almost exactly what the organized Church says about Marty! I guess the apple never falls far from the tree.

Anyway, a detailed perusal of the comments section shows that this didn’t make things any better, although some of Marty’s nearest-and-dearest did make an admirable attempt to blame the whole issue on David Miscavige.

Marty’s third (and, if he’s got any sense, final) post on the subject, L Ron Hubbard In Perspective, seems to be an attempt to make peace and remind everyone that they’re all followers of LRH. He quotes at length from a book by William Bolitho, which should give the Church bloggers plenty of ammunition to accuse Marty of forsaking LRH and using any ol’ “tech” he pleases. Whoops again!

To be fair, I’m on Marty’s side in all this. After all, the poor guy was just trying to post an advertisement for his auditing services. Let’s be honest — trashing David Mayo and his ilk as “old-time squirrels” who “maul” their clients is no worse than Pepsi saying they beat Coca-Cola in a recent taste test. Furthermore, according to Jesse Prince, the vendetta against David Mayo was L. Ron Hubbard’s idea — and Marty is, after all, just trying to uphold Hubbard’s legacy.

And yet he wound up starting this huge shit-storm and alienating countless potential clients.

Too soon, Marty. Too soon.

ML,
Caliwog