Free to shine
Shiny & Free
ANOTHER BEDTIME STORY
(Little Dickie Series #12)
(Little Dickie Series #12)
(See earlier disclaimers)...
You look a bit upset son. What's going on?
Dad, I just read the articles published by St. Pete Times on June 21, 22 and 23 regarding the physical abuses within the Church of Scientology. In the article, top level defectors blew the whistle on brutal physical beatings that they had witnessed, received and personally dished out. They talked about sick games, mental torture, gross human right violations, etc. The sadistic nature of Little Dickie was revealed and it was clear that when Little Dickie wasn't personally doing these actions, he was pulling the strings to get others to do it.
I understand. Hearing about such atrocities can be pretty upsetting.
Dad, that's not even what bothered me the most. I can think with the fact that there are sociopaths and sadistic people in this world. What I really can't understand is why those executives took it. Why those victims deny the incidents occurred. Maybe you can explain this to me. You worked in the Sea Org for almost 30 years. You worked at the international headquarters in Hemet California in its early days. You personally know everyone named in the articles with the exception of Tommy Ding-Dong, the spokes person. How is this possible?
I have to admit that I've been wrestling with the same question. As I read these articles over the last 3 days, the first thing that caught my attention was that despite people like Tommy and Norman being trained and extensively drilled in the subject of public relations and talking to the media, they were TERRIBLE. They created their own worst PR, every time they opened their mouths. Tommy said it was Rathbun as 2nd in command -- not Little Dickie -- who had dished out repeated beatings to the staff, creating a rein of terror. Tommy knew he was supposed to get the finger pointed away from Little Dickie and yet the significance of the brutality within his "church", that he was confirming, seemed to elude him.
As a spokes person for a "church" Tommy spoke like a psychotic thug, yelling and cursing, never realizing that his words and demeanor were highly inappropriate. Norman, who is one of the longest-term veterans and most senior executives of the church, described the act of punishing staff members by throwing them over the side of the ship with such courseness, even Blackbeard would cringe.
When the church was asked to respond to allegations that its leader beat and mentality tortured his staff, Little Dickie wrote the St. Pete Times saying that given more time, he could "annihilate" the reputations of those who blew the whistle.
Tommy Ding-Dong and Little Dickie's personal lawyer, Monkey Ying-yang, actually brought the reporters binders of personal information, including detailed, intimate sexual accounts culled from the "religious" folders of the whistle blowers and somehow thought this was a normal and correct response.
A sadistic game of musical chairs in which the losers would be separated from their spouses and children forever was confirmed and justified. The church spokes person claimed the "church" group were "tough sons of bitches" and those that couldn't take it should get out. He cursed the whistle blowers (each of whom were in the group for over 25 years) and said they were just bitter because they weren't tough enough to be running with the big dogs in the tall grass...
And as a grand finale to weeks of reporter interviews with the church, its top executives walked into the interview room at the church, blocked the exit, denied ever getting beaten and yelled at the reporters, invalidating them and trying to intimidate them.
As I read the articles I asked myself "what the heck could these guys be thinking?" If the definition of insanity is the inability to determine right from wrong, then those people have become undeniably insane. I thought - wow, government officials reading these articles are going to come to the same conclusion and realize they have a responsibility to step in to protect its citizens.
I laid in bed asking myself questions like, "Why do these guys take beatings quietly and not defend themselves?" "Why didn't they defect when brought to Clearwater to intimidate the reporters?" "Why didn't they blow the whistle on being made to divorce their wives, being imprisoned in a barred and guarded trailer known as the "hole", being beaten and mentally tortured?" "Why are these guys going to the churches ship in the Caribbean to literally live in the bilges except to be let out to be cleaned, dressed, given a speech to deliver at a public event so as to help Little Dickie create the illusion that all is well?" "How can these guys be such cowards?????"
It finally hit me. There is an important part of brainwashing that occurs within the highest levels of this "church" that has been working its way down the organization more and more over the years. There is a mind set created and a moral code that is agreed upon that makes the above "executives" believe they are doing the honorable thing, the brave thing, the right thing. They believe that doing things for their own survival and that of their families is a sign of despised weakness. The brain washing is built around two major datums. The group and its survival is EVERYTHING. The individual is NOTHING. I could write a book describing the details of how this brain washing is accomplished starting with the introductory tapes all new Sea Org members are required to listen to.
Hang around the staff members who run the church and you will hear them literally brag about the self denial that they've endured. Some new guy will say that they worked 2 days with no sleep. Two veterans will look at the guy like he is a green fool and tell about how they went 5 days with no sleep while doing construction on the desert in the summer. If that doesn't impress the new guy enough then they add the fact that the same year they only averaged 3 to 4 hours sleep a night. Woowwwww!!!!! Someone else mentions that they haven't taken a day off in 6 months. Someone else will pipe up that they haven't taken a day off in 5 years. Woooowww!!!!!! A relatively new staff member will mention that they haven't been home to see their family in 3 years! The girl standing next to them will look down her nose and brag that its been 16 years since she went home to see her family. Wooowww!!!!!! If you lose a loved one, there is no sympathy. Maybe you'll get a bit of counseling to address the loss and you're told to get over it and get back to work. If you continue to show emotion, you are looked down upon by the group. In other words, work like a mindless, emotionless, robotic slave and be willing to plow under anyone with a different mindset.
Of course those responsible for bringing in public and taking their money must be able to convincingly act like they care and love individuals - that is, until their money runs out.
That's why the church spoke person, Tommy Ding-Dong, can make statements to the reporters such as how Little Dickie was distracted off of "more important matters" to handle the death of Lisa McPherson. To Tommy and similarly minded staff, the death was a "distraction".
I was a staff member in Clearwater at the time and we were briefed not to let the incident be a distraction to production. Little Dickie and a few staff were going to handle the legal and PR fall-out and what was needed from the rest of us was increased production and money. Of course. It was announced that if anyone really had a problem with it, they could stay behind to get a session to handle their negative emotion. The group calmly went back to work without looking back to see if any weak-minded fools stayed behind.
Wow. Dad, was this the PR storm some people were anticipating?
I have reason to believe that although the information in these articles was shocking, it is just the beginning. If the data was not released on a gradient, what's coming would be too incredible to believed -- even for those veterans with thick skin who think they've heard it all.
And St Pete Times has people listening. Their Sunday paper normally receives about 2,000 hits on the computer while the Sunday issue THE TRUTH RUNDOWN received over 250,000 hits and the total amount of computer viewing minutes was 725 thousand times the norm!
Daddy, I can't wait to see what's next on the horizon.
I hear ya, son. It's coming soon. Good night.
