Great blog entry over on Marty’s site that shows the extent Scientologists will go to to “make it go right”. Rocio Finds the Right Item tells the story of yet another person disillusioned with the Church. I particularly like the bits where she describes the steps they took to try to get results from her auditing:
“The new auditor had me try different cans, wrist straps, the solo cans, a heater directed at my feet, a small fan directed at my face, a folded-up blanket to rest my hand on, a very comfortable chair that he brought in, a special soap to wash my hands with, etc., etc., etc….
“The wrist straps caused high TA so the auditor had someone turn off the air conditioning to our room. This caused me to sweat profusely and a skin rash, so the sessions had to be stopped every 2 to 5 minutes, to wipe off the sweat…
“I told the sup[ervisor] that I would not use the wrist straps anymore… She said I could not hold the cans with my left hand so the only way was to hold the cans with my right hand (I am right-handed) and write the worksheets with the left hand…”
Ms. Garcia was getting fed up with Scientology. According to her story, she had repeatedly stopped moving up the bridge, but kept going back when Scientology’s sales staff harangued her. And then:
“On November of 2010, I visited Mr. Marty Rathbun at Casablanca. I spent five fabulous days receiving auditing I really needed… I did not have a heater on my feet, or a fan on my face, or the wrist-straps. Gone were the special soap and blankets and even the magic chair!”
Two points to make here. First, note that it never occurred to anyone that the reason her auditing wasn’t getting results was that Scientology simply doesn’t work. Ms. Garcia very nearly came to that conclusion herself, except that the Church kept badgering her (LRH’s “sales tech”) and she caved.
And that brings us to point #2. Sick as she was of the Church, she might have been close to getting out. But she didn’t, because good ol’ Marty had set up shop for disillusioned Scientologists just like her.
I’ve read opinions that independent practitioners like Marty are a stepping stone for people to get out of Scientology. I see them as a road block – and this is an example of why.
Getting out of the Church of Scientology is a painful process. It involves the realization that you invested countless hours, dollars and energy into (as Jason Beghe so eloquently put it) “something that is empty.” It requires realizing you were wrong – something Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard attempted to steel his followers against.
So it’s no wonder that people would rather cling to the illusion that there’s someone to blame other than themselves and LRH. Blaming David Miscavige for screwing up the Church is an easy target – and when we point out the verifiable fact that DM is simply following Hubbard’s policies, they ignore us.
Reading Ms. Garcia’s story, I feel saddened that we have lost yet another person to Scientology, even if it’s just for a little while. Had we done our job – had Ms. Garcia realized that Marty’s brand of Scientology is just the same old shit coming from a different asshole – perhaps she would have come to the inevitable realization (that Scientology is a crock) a little bit sooner.
I have no doubt that just as she became disillusioned with the Church of Scientology, Ms. Garcia (and others like her) will eventually become disillusioned with independent Scientology as well. We as protesters know that LRH’s tech is largely sci-fi bullshit, and it works because people want it to work. There will always the Jim Logans of the world – customers for life who will swallow the crap as fast as you can shovel it down their throat and then tell you how tasty it is. You can show up at the airport and stop their spouse from leaving the Church with you; you can say their beloved homosexual brother was “a sexual pervert” and “extremely dangerous to society”; and they will just keep coming back for more with open arms and open wallets. But for the Rocio Garcias of the world, I’d rather see them have a clear path out.
Does it matter if Ms. Garcia remains a Scientologist for a while longer? I think so. If you read her story, you’ll see that she dragged her kids with her to Flag. One wonders how many doctors appointments those kids have missed, how many of their illnesses have gone untreated, and whether she and her OTVIII husband sent them to Scientology schools rather than giving them a proper education – something that’s sure to hobble their chances in life. And God forbid one of them has a legitimate psychiatric problem, even one as common as clinical depression. How much longer will those kids have to suffer because their parents are Keeping Scientology Working?
Next time you see or hear a Marty apologist saying that Independent Scientology is a better alternative to the Church of Scientology, or that Independent Scientology is somehow less harmful, ask them how. Ask them why. Ask them what the real evil in Scientology is – a guy who hits his staff or a philosophy that sucks away people’s souls and wallets.
And remember Rocio Garcia, who thinks she is out, but is still very much in.
ML,
Caliwog
Caliwog's Blog 
Good observations Caliwog,
The debate whether Marty is good or bad for the protest movement has raged endlessly on WWP but I think that the majority agree that he is a lying ass, furthering his own agenda and taking advantage of the gullible.
Really enjoyed the Jim Logan reference too. This is the guy that stands out to me as well. The threatening remarks toward you shows you what you are dealing with. I love the fact that he has a LRH reference for every situation and tells everyone how important an event OT III is and how much it changed him. I take some delight that he has wasted his life with this bullshit.
Rock on Caliwog…
For once I am speechless. A very well written blog, right on target.
This gave me chills.
Right you are Cali, right you are. Marty has figured out that the misguided and unhappy $cientologists just want their goddamned “WINS” .so what does Marty do?…he just gives them their “wins” . “Here you go. look at that floating needle” and “now don’t you feel so much better, that you have left corporate scientology?” He is just giving them the same mumbo jumbo they where getting all along but with none of the high-pressure sales and “regging”. then he takes “what ever they feel its worth”
Pretty good scam Marty’s running, he’s is no better then DM or LRH, in fact after re-reading Cali’s last two paragraphs above I believe he might be more dangerous to these people.
Great blog entry cali.
I daresay that if the little dwarf offered Marty a million dollars, he would turn on his followers like a mad dog. It’s all about the money. Just saying.
The break you took from posting on your blog has served you well, Caliwog.
Excellent point and post, and very articulately expressed, indeed! I know that
it’s hard for us humans to face having been “wrong” and to admit being
deceived. I, through what I can only call a bit of divine inspiration and help,
and with the help of several “adverse” circumstances at the time I had my
epiphanies about Scientology, went from being a die-hard Scientologist
of over 25 years to a total Non-Scientologist, in less than 2 weeks, a few
years ago. I consider myself very fortunate, as I processed my wrongness
and my deceit, without needing an “Independent Scientology” cushion, to
“lessen the blow.”
It took a LOT, and the “aftershocks” lasted a couple of years, but with the
help of some real friends, and my own efforts (following true spiritual paths,
of prayer, meditation and application of the writings of independent and
genuine spiritual masters, surrounding myself with honest and positive
people, learning to laugh at myself, and learning the infinity of ways to
smell the roses and to have others do so too) I made it through that dark
tunnel of deppression and low self-steem and came out higher, and more
grounded that I had ever been.
Though life has and will always have its ups and downs, the trick is to
learn to ride them and even enjoy and be okay with the uncertainty and
constant change of life, in my opinion. So life’s journey is fun for me now,
and I don’t remember a time when I was happiest. It’s been no walk
in the park, yet the “serenity of the park”, so to speak, is always there, so
long as we find a true way (not a pseudo or false way) to reach it, feel it,
and use it on our every day lives, for our own benefit, and that of those
around us. A huge amount of real inner peace and gratitude is what
awaits one at the end of this process of REALLY getting out of Scientology,
and truly moving into a REAL life, both a practical and a spiritual one.
I wish you and yours, and all here, the very best. Thank you for this blog.
Okay, Mister Caliwog, I will kill this in one blow and prove beyond doubt that you are wrong about Marty being a road block.
And then you must take the HQS course from the batshit kool-aid drunken Jim Logan as punishment for doubting my inerrant word.
((DRUM ROLL))
James Randi.
Randi makes a clear and verified claim that people who believe in faith healers just go to another one when their favorite faith healer is proven a fraud.
When he proved that Popoff was a fraud and used radio messages from his wife to exhibit “Hidden Knowledge” about his fleeced flock, he got countless comments and mail saying the following:
“Thank you Mr. Randi, for showing that Popoff is a fraud, that why I follow ((INSERT FAITH HEALER)) now.”
You can’t stop it.
Marty gives them a safe place to fall and delivers on their religious drug of choice. His rallying cry is getting people out who would have never left before. The freezone has been around for years and they have NEVER got people out like Marty does. He is the first to have a complete network of informants within the CoS to bring it down.
And once someone starts REALLY looking on the internet, they typically become a lot more free in their thinking.
Remember, the “Indie 500” aint even too-fitty yet. People are NOT hanging around except for the kool-aiders and frankly, I trust them with Marty more than I do with DM. Marty’s “outpoints” are obvious and will most likely wake people up over time. Ten minutes at ESMB will clear that up.
At Geir Isene’s forum, I started a “Censored by Marty” section and referenced your blog’s similar thread.
NOTE: If they get close to three fitty in the Indie 500, we better watch out. The Lochness Monster is always after Chef’s three fitty.
Now go get your brain washed by Mr. Logan STAT! Off to Floriday with you! But first …
Tell me. . .
“Do fish swim Caliwog?”
MWA-HA-HAAAAAA!
[Edited by Caliwog per Bunkai’s request]
The Indie 500 list is a bit misleading. It’s comprised of anyone who has publicly spoken out on Scientology and consented to be added – that doesn’t mean everyone whose name is on it is actively involved with the Independent movement.
Caliwog, I can see where you’re coming from with your post but I don’t agree, at least for now, that Marty is a road block. Yes I do think it might delay the process of leaving Scientology in some ways, but then too the alternative that he offers may actually be getting people to leave the Church faster than they might have otherwise done.
So maybe speed bump is more accurate.
>“Do fish swim Caliwog?”
That’s a nice sweater you have on.
ML,
Caliwog
Although I think Marty is opportunistic and full of it (Hubbard nonsense), I’ve read too many testimonies of why people get out, to think he doesn’t provide a needed and unique route out of the cult for some, especially those who have been in for a long time and are really struggling.
Before reading your post, while reading Rocio’s story, I thought to myself that it was possible she wouldn’t have left, had it not been for Marty’s blog.
For a lot of these people who have been in for decades especially, it is taking too big a step to give up the whole load of baloney. It is too shocking and too much of an ego-blow to fathom that all the things they thought they “knew” they didn’t know.
Even though Martyology is more placebo, being released from the judgment (pulling it in) and released from the pressure of the cult is significant, like being let out of a cage for these people. They need someone to hold their hand (or make them grab the cans) because they are afraid, and disillusioned.
How about all the people who go away into the RPF, sometimes for years, because they think being punished and corrected will help?
Just the other day I read a post by someone on ESMB that said they went from Marty to ESMB, to waking up.
At times, the thing I can’t fathom, is the amount of crap people are put through, and put themselves through, and pay for(!) before they finally get out. Especially now, with the web. If you can’t talk about the wrist bands you’re wearing, and the heaters etc., the levels you’re made to repeat, the place to go to see if anyone else is going through that, or at least unload your grief, is the web.
Marty is also an alternative to separating from a spouse for some people now. The person who has a spouse who is having “wins” or is elated and excited about something to do with the cult, has a greater likelihood to ditch someone who starts questioning Hubbard.
These people in Martyology, don’t have to fret at the SPs and PTSs around them. They’ve got the big SP to blame for everything they suffered, everything that went wrong with their kids joining the Sea Org etc: DM.
I think that might be healthy for some. It’s a crutch, but a crutch some need before they can walk away from it all.
I think the Internet has interrupted the Randy situation, where people just leave Scientology and dive into another cult. They get burnt by Scientology, they want some form or group that won’t at least burn them too badly. Marty is better than joining a new cult, because he doesn’t have the control mechanisms in place to trap people.
One options people haven’t put out there yet. And this may shock people when they read it.
Marty might be an Oskar Schindler.
He might ACTUALLY be delivering Scientology in full knowledge of its falsehoods to save people as Astrid and I are suggesting. Schindler pretended to be a Nazi while saving Jews. Perhaps Rathbun is pretending to be a Scientologist to give people the crutch they need to escape.
Yes. You may laugh. Go ahead.
BUT … if it is true … if he is REALLY is pulling off an Oskar Schindler …
My respect for that man is FATHOMLESS and his performance is FLAWLESS.