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
Caliwog's Blog 