If there’s one sure-fire way Marty Rathbun can make my blood boil, it’s when he tries to blame the death of Lisa McPherson on anyone other than L. Ron Hubbard. So his latest headline, David Miscavige Killed Lisa McPherson, got me going right away.
But rather than simply write a blog entry denouncing Marty as a self-serving, profit-seeking, Hubbard-worshiping piece of shit, I decided to try to put my bias aside and hear what he and Mike Rinder had to say.
For those who are new, I talked about the Introspection Rundown in a post called Read for yourself: The LRH “technology” that killed Lisa McPherson. Make no mistake: The reason Lisa McPherson is dead is because a group of Scientologists attempted to treat a legitimate psychiatric problem with Hubbard’s bullshit quackery.
(By the way, I found it hardest to keep my temper when I read this tidbit from Rinder: “…she DID die of a pulmonary embolism – it happens all the time in hospitals with doctors on call – so it is not certain that medical attention would have saved her life…” If Mr. Look-Don’t-Listen could be bothered to look on the Internet, he’d know that one possible cause of a pulmonary embolism is being inactive or bedridden for a long period of time… like 17 days locked in a hotel room without sufficient food or water. Honestly, Mike, you’re such a fucking twit sometimes.)
Anyway… The basic point that Rinder and Rathbun make is that while the Introspection Rundown may have contributed to her death (May have??? Sorry, can’t help myself), the real problem is that David Miscavige got personally involved in Lisa McPherson’s “case” (her Scientology status), declaring her “Clear” (a level in Scientology) when she wasn’t. Hubbard did say that applying certain Scientology processes to someone who had not had the prerequisite brainwashing preparation could be dangerous. According to Marty and Mike, if her status had been accurately assigned, she would not have been eligile for the Introspection Rundown, and would not have died. (At least I agree with them on that last part!)
The reason they are applying blame to DM is because of the fear he instills: There were Scientologists who should have known that Lisa wasn’t actually a Clear, but went along with the whole thing only because DM said she was clear, and saying that DM is wrong can get you in all sorts of trouble. (And by the way, what does that say about the shitheel Scientologists who would have thought the Introspection Rundown was dangerous, but did it anyway to avoid putting their own asses on the line? Hey, wait, wasn’t Marty one of those shitheels?)
So, anyway, I can kind of see Marty’s point – the belief that Lisa died because she was submitted to the wrong process at the wrong time.
Of course, Hubbard also predicted that reading the Xenu story would cause death by pneumonia. Marty knows that; in fact, in a February 22nd radio interview (discussion of which is conspicuously absent from his blog), Marty basically says that the Xenu story, and the threat of pneumonia, should be taken figuratively, not literally. (I’ll talk more about that devastating interview in the near future.)
So let’s review: The Xenu/pneumonia thing should not be taken seriously (since we know it doesn’t happen), but giving an Introspection Rundown to a mis-declared Clear really is dangerous. Got that?
Marty goes on to say that the state of Clear is not ambiguous, “given it is accompanied by the UNMISTAKABLE meter phenomena” (he’s referring to a certain needle movement on the E-Meter). Marty kicks into fluent Scientologese, saying, “If one understands the St Hill Special Briefing Course (SHSBC) and one understands further L Ron Hubbard clarifications and developments with respect to the state of Clear after the SHSBC (Dianetic Clear Special Intensive – DCSI – and Clear Certainty Rundown – CCRD), there is no more simple cycle of action in the universe than sorting out whether an individual is Clear or not.”
The bit about “clarifications and developments” may be an end-run around those who have read about Hubbard’s first presentation of a Clear in 1950. Hubbard said Clears have perfect memories, and yet Hubbard’s own Clear, one Ms. Sonia Bianca, couldn’t remember the color of Hubbard’s tie when he turned around.
“Clear” is one of the few levels in Scientology that makes some firm promises, and as far as I know, no one has ever been able to demonstrate them. One of my favorite quotes from ex-Scientologist Jason Beghe:
“…theres a guy on the internet apparently who’s said he’ll give a million bucks if someone can demonstrate OT. I’ll give a million bucks if to anybody that can demonstrate Clear. There’s no fucking Clear. There’s no Clear. There’s no Clear. I mean, just looking at Dianetics, Clear is, what, are you kidding me? Clear… It’s too good to be true and that’s basically it.”
So, anyway, I think I see Marty’s point: Because David Miscavige personally mis-declared Lisa McPherson as having achieved the state of Clear – a condition that no one has ever been able to demonstrate – Lisa was then put on the Introspection Rundown. Since this process should not have been run on her, either because she wasn’t really a clear or because she had an un-handled Potential Trouble Source (PTS) condition (meaning someone she knew was trying to tell her Scientology is a scam, and she hadn’t disconnected from that person), the process was harmful to her health, so she died. (Except that, according to Dr. Mike Rinder, she might have been ready to pop off anyway.)
This is how a Scientologist justifies his or her belief that L. Ron Hubbard’s “technology” works. It’s easy – all you have to do is ignore the fact that this poor woman was locked in a hotel room for over two weeks by people who gave her the silent treatment and didn’t deal with the fact that she wasn’t eating or drinking. No, those things weren’t the cause of death – it was that evil David Miscavige.
This is blatent ignorance as spread by Lisa McPherson’s real killer, L. Ron Hubbard. And it’s proof that anyone thinks that Marty’s brand of Scientology is any safer than the Church of Scientology is deluding themselves. The “Indies” are just as brainwashed… and they are just as much at risk.
And when I think about it that way, I don’t get angry at Marty – I feel sorry for him.
For the record, I still think Marty is a self-serving, profit-seeking, Hubbard-worshiping piece of shit – but I acknowledge that he might not realize that yet.
ML,
Caliwog
Related:
In Memoriam: Lisa McPherson (one day late)
Read for yourself: The LRH “technology” that killed Lisa McPherson
Caliwog's Blog 
Thanks Cali. I read Marty’s blog before yours (sorry!) and the first thing that came to my mind when I was reading his is that it IS THE ‘TECH” that did this. Nevermind all the smoke and varying details. The fact is that scientologists using the ‘tech’ messed with her life and mind and continued to use the ‘tech’ until the dying end. It doesn’t matter that they were trying to help or that they were scared for their ‘lives’ or whatever. (I know that scientologists have been lead to truly believe that they are helping – even when it is plainly NOT helping. But, they’ve also been fed the fuel to grow their egos to the point where they just won’t look and really see.) It doesn’t matter (although certainly didn’t help) that it was DM. What matters is that this is a tech that professes to work miracles and move the able man to levels beyond. It doesn’t. And, it can and does f with your mind. In waaay to many cases, it results in death in varying forms. 😦
I think there is blame to go around on this one. Everyone who knew what was happening and failed to take appropriate action gets a share.
Some people (meaning Marty Rathbun et-al) are hell bent on defending Hubbard and his so-called “tech.” The sad facts are that Hubbard got into the field of Psychology because it’s not well defined like say the medical fields. Psychology (and Scientology could be called “amateur Psychology) is a study of behavior so it can’t be pounded into any one hole. People have such a wide range of behaviors that anything is liable to be therapeutic to someone. Hubbard was able to fling together an early self-help manual using a bunch of unscientific gobbledygook and since he was a Science Fiction writer, he was able to make it sound reasonable.
He also came up with his reading style (i.e.) “don’t go past a word you don’t understand etc.) In other words, the analysis of each word individuality.
This is not reading! It’s a kind of rote memorization and when I’ve tried to read that way I found myself “spacing out.” When I read for real I analyse entire paragraphs to discover what the author is trying to say. People who ‘read’ do not do it the way Hubbard commands them to What I’m suggesting is that Hubbard found a way to get people suggestible and uncritical of what they were reading and it works! It also works with his taped lectures, do you know why he pitches his voice so and uses the cadence and pauses like he does?
So yes, Hubbard’s “tech” is more about drawing people into a trap and then convincing people that they need to pay money to get out. It’s like those scare-ware applications one see’s on the Internet. The warnings that you have a virus are real enough, but paying the author of the virus will not fix your computer. Paying Scientology will never cure the made-up illnesses that they foist on you. They might be able to make you more confident, but the price will almost certainly be too high.
Do you know what the # 1, cause of brain atrophy in schizophrenics is? According to a long running study by Nancy Andreasen, being on antipsychotics, of any kind, is more highly correlated with brain shrinkage, up to five percent, than illicit drug use, alcohol abuse, noncompliance with treatment, or any other factor. And I’ve already read the comments of psychiatrists, trying to put a good spin on it, “It might shrink the bad parts of the brain!” I’ looking into Scientology, and you know why? Because it’s an alternative to the ensconced quakery of psychiatry. Only fifty years ago, scrambling the brain with an ice pick was considered a miracle cure. Right, the laughable part of this story of mcPherson, is that they say that after a minor accident she showed signs of mental illness…more like she bumped her head on the dashboard and had a minor concussion. ps, I’m only looking into scientology, and yes I do think that she was killed by the neglect of these scientologists
Tommy, I get the feeling you’ve already done a lot more than look into Scientology. Regardless, keep in mind that “only fifty years ago” we hadn’t landed on the moon, hard-wire rotary-dial telephones were state of the art, and a car that got 20 MPG was considered fuel-efficient.
Lisa’s psychological issues weren’t what killed her. She died because she was locked in a room and not given food and water because she wasn’t in a state of mind to ask for them. Scientologists killed her by following LRH’s instructions.
If you really are just looking into Scientology, I hope you get the full story and decide carefully. Remember, most of the supposedly “helpful” bits of the tech (specifically early auditing) can be experienced with any therapist. And no one will try to sell you on a UFO religion!!
True, plus the aftermath of world war two changed the way we look at human rights. I really am just looking into it, they were offering some of their courses free, and I downloaded the app for the iPad but I just feel so nervous about it. But I also feel like people are somewhat biased about it, you know I mean most religions and organizations, even the Nobel prize organizations, have their horror stories. I think thugh that my hesitation stems from the very same hesitation I have with Catholicism, and th’at is, in caolicism for instance, papal infallibility. I was reading about William s Burrough’s thoughts on Scientology and he was a member for a while…he thught that the organization had a lot to offer, but the problem he saw was authoritarianism. I would also like to comment, that in spite of the fact that therapy is shown to Be just as effective as somatic treatment + the brain shrinkage from meds, the people who are ‘in charge’ of me right now, do not accept just therapy as an option. According to the study, by andreasen, there is frequently cognitive decline, a poor outlook, associated with this brain shrinkage…and I have to live with this fact every day, live with the fact that no matter what a person is doing to their body,they probably have a better outlook for the future than I do. What I would like to see these researches do is follow up with a study on what activities are associated with a lack of atrophy. And finally I would like to mention that we are somewhat indebted to l Ron hubbard, in thwt he was supposedly the first person to expose the violations of mk ultra, which were later verified with the freedom of information act.
I think that your assumptions about the Introspection may be unwarranted and here’s why:
1) It’s been well-documented that the “Introspection Rundown” was never actually done on Lisa McPherson, and that its “pre-step” (step 0 on any Scn program is a “pre” step) was itself horribly botched. No one ever came in and did any part of that rundown – ever!
2) Here’s one that stumps Scn’s, Indies and “enemies” alike:
I, Scott Gordon, quite successfully used the steps of the Introspection Rundown – SOLO – to:
-DEPROGRAM myself from heavy indoctrination (allowing me to recover my sanity and get away from the toxic organization with my life)
-become a more sane, compassionate human being, having first-hand reality on what drives a person the other direction – all covered on the full steps of the rundown
EVIDENCE: I am now -truly- “Independent” – I follow no “leader” – not even LRH
(note that I stopped short of doing the full rundown once I achieved the desired results and freedom from the effects of heavy abuse)
More to the point, not being allowed to use the Introspection Rundown itself as an “auditor” of class 0, I still used its principles to successfully rescue a fellow staffmember from a psychiatric institution to recovery of full sanity and a successful life, away from the suppression he ran into at a Miscavige model Scn org.
I’m not here otherwise, to defend LRH or Marty, but I thought you might be interested. This is also not a mindless, “the tech works!” statement, but a carefully thought out and honest report of one bright spot, in what I consider a very problematic state of affairs. Even the church itself, slanders the Introspection Rundown by heavily implying it is for “persons in a psychotic break” (that is only one of many uses).
Please review the facts of the Introspection Rundown. The truth is it is probably the most workable tech-based “deprogramming” available. And it comes right out of the tech itself.