A Collection of Online Remembrances for Doug Scott Kramer (1973-2023)

Doug Scott Kramer and his YouTube Channel, Dazed But Not Confuzed, was/is very popular with thousands of people who follow the goings-on of Scientology, Anti-Scientology, Cults and AntiCults.

When Doug didn’t show up for a scheduled Live of his weekly “Ask Me Anything” show on 4 December 2023, people began to worry. And that worry only grew as every day passed with no word from Doug.

I’d seen Doug miss a Live before. I’d called him and got no answer. The very next day, he was in his chat, apologizing to everyone for forgetting and falling asleep. I laughed.

We all laughed.

This time though, something was different.

(7 days of back-channel activity not described here)

By the end of the week, on Monday 10 December 2023, the LAPD had entered his apartment and found his body lying in his bed. By the very next day, the LA County Medical Examiner had filed its report:

 

Manner of Death: Natural

Cause of Death: Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease

 

My Duder died of a heart attack.

I’m in the middle of writing a series of posts on my relationship with Doug Scott Kramer because I believe his life is incredibly instructive for those who are interested in Scientology vs Anti-Scientology & Cults vs AntiCults, and for those who are struggling to “recover” from minority religions like Scientology.

I’ve come to realize that the only way to give Doug Kramer the immense respect he deserves, is to write the whole thing, and not just the parts I personally find interesting.

So I’m going to be taking my time with it.

In the meantime, there have been many incredibly sincere outpourings of honor and remembrance for Doug. I’ll be posting them here. I’ll put the ones I’m currently aware of in this post.

If there are any I’ve missed, let me know in the comments with the link, and I’ll add them.

I want this to be memorialized, for Doug, for a very, very long time.

Andrew Gold

First up is, what I find to be, an incredibly sincere and heartfelt testament by British Journo Andrew Gold on his “On the Edge” Youtube Channel:

But it’s gone.

Andrew apparently succumbed to online pressure, and he took his video private.

Here’s his explanation for taking his video private.

I’m sorry, Andrew’s video was real, it was not fake. It was something that I believe Doug would have valued. If Andrew Gold felt bad about his speculation that Doug might have taken his own life – we all speculated!

Andrew could have made a second video correcting his speculation.

I believe Andrew should put his video back up – warts and all.

It’s realness, and its sincerity, is an honor to Doug Kramer.

Okay….. moving on.

Zero Dark Tony

Zero Dark Tony’s memorial for Doug was a surprise to me.

I was working very closely with Doug when we withstood a huge back-channel backlash designed to make Doug cave once he publicly announced he would be interviewing Zero Dark Tony.

Doug got dozens of texts and emails all trying to make him cancel, and to not “platform” an uncontrolled voice who had upset so many people in the Ex-Scientology community with words.

It was all the same social pressure I’d seen in this “community” for over a decade, with people trying to ban and de-platform me and others for speaking our minds. It made Doug very angry that people were trying to tell him what he could do with his own YouTube Channel.

Over the days leading up to the interview, Doug would succumb to the pressure multiple times and want to cancel. Every time he succumbed, I reminded him of his courage, and of the necessity to fight back against the people, and their flying monkeys, who are trying to control the narrative we see in Celebrity Anti-Scientology, and on SPtv now, and on the entire Internet, on Scientology.

We strategized every single possibility that may come up during the interview. I even wrote Doug statements he could have on pieces of paper on his desk in front of him, like talismans against the demons of conformity, that he could use to keep the interview going.

It was hilarious, and we laughed about it often.

At the same time, it was very grim.

But Doug got that fucker aired.

And Doug’s channel, and his reputation as a person who speaks his open mind, and allows others to speak their open minds, was solidified.

All the tribal ninnies got the message: you will NOT control Doug Scott Kramer.

It was a very rare free-speech triumph in this Ex-Scientology community which, I’m very sad and disappointed to report, has succumbed to sheep-like behavior and cowardly, unthinking conformity WAY too often.

I’ll never forget this experience with Doug. It lasted for four or five weeks, sometimes from 6am to midnight, planning and re-planning, negotiating and re-negotiating this interview and many others. I told Doug I felt like Rip Torn’s producer character on the Gary Shandling Show, but the talent pool of interviewees came, not from Hollywood, but from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

I’m not trashing anyone here. The work behind the scenes, to put on a show like Doug’s, is a lot of work. A lot of exhausting work.

If you want to make a difference.

If you want to go with the flow, and say what you’re told – it’s a breeze.

Let Doug Scott Kramer’s Dazed But Not Confuzed YouTube Channel be a lesson for all creators in this space:

Have social courage against the demons of conformity. Do not allow anyone – your ‘friends’ or your ‘enemies’ – control what you think or feel or say on your channel. Your bravery, and your unique and individual insight, is gold for us all.

Since airing his interview, Zero Dark Tony’s cruelty and his lying-ass, baseless accusations on Doug, and on me and on so many others, have only escalated.

Oh well.

The Vituperative Stooge Still Sits On His Toilet.

Yet, despite all this, when it came time for ZDT to step up and to be a man – to be a human being – Zero Dark Tony delivered.

Apparently, some things are more important than YouTube hate-clicks and shit-talk.

Even to Zero Dark Tony.

Cricket – Chow Yun Smut & Marilyn Honig

I’ve only been able to get less than 10 minutes into this before breaking down in tears. Chow was Doug’s moderator who made many lives on her own channel during the time everyone was beside themselves with worry about Doug, and the one closest to him running his channel for the last few months.

I was very glad to see Steven Mango, as soon as he learned what happened, contact Chow and let her know the news. Her brave public face in her follow-up livestream, just after her call with Steven where he told her Doug had died, and while she could not tell anyone the news yet out of respect for Doug’s family, is something I’ll never forget.

Philosphie

Philosophie was one of the prominent members of Doug Kramer’s youtube community. She was always a very well educated voice in that community who made very good points in her comments, designed to get you to think.

Tommy Scoville of The LifeBoat

Tommy Scoville of the LifeBoat YouTube Channel is a member of the SPtv community. He hosted a very sincere and heartfelt tribute to Doug.

Aaron Smith Levin

Even the emmy-winning Celebrity Anti-Scientologist who had Leah Remini’s back up in trashing a woman he hooked up with for three nights in LA, and who ended up with gashes in her head, found a few minutes to mention Doug Kramer’s name on his Celebrity Scientology YouTube Channel:

Denver Steveo

Esoteric Atlanta

HG Tudor

Catherine Edwards

Thomas MuAnderson The NeoUsul

Marilyn Honig- Coffee, Cults and Crafts

Chris Shelton and Tony Ortega – Straight Up and Vertical!

Over on the Anti-Scientology Geeky Beta Male channel – Straight Up and Vertical! – Chris Shelton and Tony Ortega keep it in their pants long enough to say good things about Doug Scott Kramer, which I think is nice.