johnAnchovie
Still raging
This is to Marty Rathburn and the many ex cult people that have found refuge within organisation that has formed around him over the past couple of years. It is written with respect, and I hope it is received in the same spirit in which it has been written.
Because I feel very strongly about the many abuses I have witnessed while in (and possibly more so, since I left) the cult of Scientology that were meted out on all three categories of adherents, Public, org/mission staff and Sea Org, in which I include those children suffering in that subsection of the operation disingenuously characterised as 'The Cadet Org', I remain disturbed by the idea that one would consider that the only thing wrong with Scientology is the efforts by Miscavaige to recreate it in his own image. I have no pity for the man, he is a psychopath, but I think that he is more of a product of both his damaged upbringing and his Scientology experience.
That said, I am of the mind that if the various techniques employed to help an individual are extracted from the corruption inherent in the IRS recognised organisation and are used in a genuine spirit of caring and humanity then I have no reason to argue with that.
These statements are made apropos the many public denouncements you and Mike Rinder have been making to shine a harsh light on the goings on behind the razor wire fences in Hemet and the walls of silence and fear in the other Sea Org bases and 'Churches' around the world. Both of you have made and are making a very important contribution to what we all hope for, a full investigation, by the FBI or otherwise, of the crimes being carried out daily, clearly directed by Miscavaige, upon staff and parishioners of the cult. I think it important that you are recognised for the crucial work you have done, both in the media field, but also (I admit I have my concerns, which I will express later in this letter) by creating a safe space for those people who remain devoted to the core concepts of Scientology, yet cannot in all conscience continue to support the corrupted corporation bearing that name. I feel, well, at least I hope, that your 'Marty's Place' provides them a sense of security and a haven.
I think it fair to say that the vast majority of Scientologists in the cult have cut themselves off from an honest and proactive engagement with the real world going outside of those very real - and also those imagined – walls. Walls erected to corral the Scientologist into dedicated service that borders on abnegation, a ceaseless tormented sacrifice at the alter of COB's cult.
Historically, and -maybe a sociologist would enlighten me- sociologically it seems that people need a leader around which they can rally, in whom they can invest all of their own self determination, one to whom they can sacrifice their own sense of self. Maybe it is only people that have issues with low esteem, however, history seems to tell us otherwise.
Cutting to the chase, my observations of the language I have seen engendered by some individuals on your web site, 'Marty's Place' points to the inherent risks in any kind of social movement, a strong figure head elects himself or is elected to voice the fears, angers and frustrations of a populace, is granted complete power and that power devours whatever altruistic aims the said movement was founded upon. A case in point being Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre around whom the French First Republic rallied, he moved from being an enlightenment philosopher and orator to a monster in a very short few years. The American revolution somehow avoided that mistake, maybe because the nascent state that evolved from the revolution was guided by a number of men of equal power and intellectual capacity.
Miscavaige seemed to have, from youth, all the hallmarks of a corrupt dictator, he was not stopped, he was placed by all of us, when we were members of his cult, on pedestal, we allowed him to become what he has become, thus the state of the cult is certainly in part our doing. Yes we were dis-empowered, yes our krs were stuffed away in basements and yes, eventually com-evs became kangaroo courts and, to use a term I hate, 'Group Bank Agreement' allowed our fellow staff and public to accept our declares and disconnection, but was there a point when we could have stopped the abuse before it became what it is today?
There is a lovely line in Shakespeare's 'Julius Ceasar', where we find him entering Rome in triumph, behind him he has a praetorian guard, tapping him with a rod, repeating the words “Remember Ceasar, thou art mortal”.
So, to all my former friends be they public, SO and Staff who have gravitated from the cult of Miscavaige and rallied around Marty, I hope you have all learned an important lesson from the antics of COB. He didn't get there by accident.
Marty is a tough guy, he has got balls and I am supportive of the work that he has been doing on the media and in speaking with representatives of the FBI and other authorities, but greater men have been corrupted by the power vested in them by their people, so, for Christ'8s sake, watch it, eh?
My name is John Duignan, a relatively insignificant SO tool, but I was there for 22 years and I saw a few things.
Because I feel very strongly about the many abuses I have witnessed while in (and possibly more so, since I left) the cult of Scientology that were meted out on all three categories of adherents, Public, org/mission staff and Sea Org, in which I include those children suffering in that subsection of the operation disingenuously characterised as 'The Cadet Org', I remain disturbed by the idea that one would consider that the only thing wrong with Scientology is the efforts by Miscavaige to recreate it in his own image. I have no pity for the man, he is a psychopath, but I think that he is more of a product of both his damaged upbringing and his Scientology experience.
That said, I am of the mind that if the various techniques employed to help an individual are extracted from the corruption inherent in the IRS recognised organisation and are used in a genuine spirit of caring and humanity then I have no reason to argue with that.
These statements are made apropos the many public denouncements you and Mike Rinder have been making to shine a harsh light on the goings on behind the razor wire fences in Hemet and the walls of silence and fear in the other Sea Org bases and 'Churches' around the world. Both of you have made and are making a very important contribution to what we all hope for, a full investigation, by the FBI or otherwise, of the crimes being carried out daily, clearly directed by Miscavaige, upon staff and parishioners of the cult. I think it important that you are recognised for the crucial work you have done, both in the media field, but also (I admit I have my concerns, which I will express later in this letter) by creating a safe space for those people who remain devoted to the core concepts of Scientology, yet cannot in all conscience continue to support the corrupted corporation bearing that name. I feel, well, at least I hope, that your 'Marty's Place' provides them a sense of security and a haven.
I think it fair to say that the vast majority of Scientologists in the cult have cut themselves off from an honest and proactive engagement with the real world going outside of those very real - and also those imagined – walls. Walls erected to corral the Scientologist into dedicated service that borders on abnegation, a ceaseless tormented sacrifice at the alter of COB's cult.
Historically, and -maybe a sociologist would enlighten me- sociologically it seems that people need a leader around which they can rally, in whom they can invest all of their own self determination, one to whom they can sacrifice their own sense of self. Maybe it is only people that have issues with low esteem, however, history seems to tell us otherwise.
Cutting to the chase, my observations of the language I have seen engendered by some individuals on your web site, 'Marty's Place' points to the inherent risks in any kind of social movement, a strong figure head elects himself or is elected to voice the fears, angers and frustrations of a populace, is granted complete power and that power devours whatever altruistic aims the said movement was founded upon. A case in point being Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre around whom the French First Republic rallied, he moved from being an enlightenment philosopher and orator to a monster in a very short few years. The American revolution somehow avoided that mistake, maybe because the nascent state that evolved from the revolution was guided by a number of men of equal power and intellectual capacity.
Miscavaige seemed to have, from youth, all the hallmarks of a corrupt dictator, he was not stopped, he was placed by all of us, when we were members of his cult, on pedestal, we allowed him to become what he has become, thus the state of the cult is certainly in part our doing. Yes we were dis-empowered, yes our krs were stuffed away in basements and yes, eventually com-evs became kangaroo courts and, to use a term I hate, 'Group Bank Agreement' allowed our fellow staff and public to accept our declares and disconnection, but was there a point when we could have stopped the abuse before it became what it is today?
There is a lovely line in Shakespeare's 'Julius Ceasar', where we find him entering Rome in triumph, behind him he has a praetorian guard, tapping him with a rod, repeating the words “Remember Ceasar, thou art mortal”.
So, to all my former friends be they public, SO and Staff who have gravitated from the cult of Miscavaige and rallied around Marty, I hope you have all learned an important lesson from the antics of COB. He didn't get there by accident.
Marty is a tough guy, he has got balls and I am supportive of the work that he has been doing on the media and in speaking with representatives of the FBI and other authorities, but greater men have been corrupted by the power vested in them by their people, so, for Christ'8s sake, watch it, eh?
My name is John Duignan, a relatively insignificant SO tool, but I was there for 22 years and I saw a few things.
He's not going to have his energy forever. Just don't see him as all that ambitious. I could be wrong.
