I am very grateful to Arnaldo for his courage in getting that website up in the early days of the Internet, keeping it up, and enduring the legal actions and fair game that the Church of Scientology’s Office of Special Affairs.
Author Archive | Alanzo
Does Anyone Know Anything About Ron Miscavige?
David Miscavige’s brother Ron Miscavige was part of International Management for the Church of Scientology – until he disappeared. No one has even asked about him since. Where is Ron Miscavige?
Cult is the “N Word” for Minority Religions
Mainstream society can’t possibly claim to have all the answers for everybody – can they? If they claim to be a free society, why do they delegitimize and dehumanize the people who join their subcultures?
Pushing “All or Nothing” Thinking on Exes By Never-ins
Angry Gay Pope tells an Ex-Scientologist what to think about their time in Scientology. This time with a major cognitive distortion.
AntiCult Brainwashing Ideology as Totalism by Dick Anthony
“If I am correct about brainwashing ideology being a form of totalitarian influence, it would presumably serve the function of ministering to a polarized self-sense and curing identity confusion by enabling converts to it to shift responsibility for undesirable aspects of their personalities and former behaviour onto a scapegoated contrast category, in this case the […]
Clearwater Police & David Miscavige’s Sister Denise Miscavige Lie Under Oath About the Death of Kyle Brennan
Church of Scientology head David Miscavige and his twin sister Denise Miscavige know more about Kyle Brennan’s death than his Mother Victoria Brennan. David and Denise need to come clean about the night Kyle Brennan died.
Militant Anti-Scientologist John McGhee Assaults Female Scientologist in Dublin, Ireland
Militant Irish AntiScientologist John McGhee becomes enraged and physically assaults female Scientologist on the street in Dublin, Ireland.
Getting Out of a Cult is Not Something You Recover From, It’s Something You’re Strengthened By
Worldviews are fragile things. Don’t look at them too closely – they may collapse on you. Ex-Cult members know this better than you do.
Mike Rinder on Why Scientology is a Religion
At one of the most prestigious universities in the English language for debate – The University Philosophical Society of Trinity College Dublin – Former head of the Office of Special Affairs for the Church of Scientology Mike Rinder lays out why Scientology is a religion. This speech was given 4 years after Rinder left the […]
Can Mike Rinder Blame the ‘Brainwashing’ For What He Did as the Head of OSA?
There is a great Facebook Group called Scientology Deprogramming which is made up of lots of Exes and long time critics of Scientology who think for themselves. I have not been able to find one tribal ninnie in it. Here are some important postings from it.
Brainwashing and the Cults: The Rise and Fall of a Theory
In the United States at the end of the 1970s, brainwashing emerged as a popular theoretical construct around which to understand what appeared to be a sudden rise of new and unfamiliar religious movements during the previous decade, especially those associated with the hippie street-people phenomenon. Most of the new groups were of Asian origin […]
Chris Shelton Read One Book By Social Scientists And Now He Knows All About It
This is the level of thought that is acceptable by those who believe in the AntiCult Movement’s ideology about minority religions. This is not critical thinking – it’s the sociological equivalent of an AntiVaxer rant.
Can Chris Shelton The Critical Thinker At Large Distinguish Between a ‘Cult Recovery Paradigm’ and Therapy?
Is Chris Shelton The Critical Thinker at Large the Stuart Smalley of Celebrity Anti-Scientology?
Ex Scientologist Janette Allen’s Personal Experience With The Aftermath Foundation
A link to an Important expose on Scientology and the Aftermath’s Aftermath Foundation. Should the damage they do to Exes be corrected?
Victoria Britton Has Been Working for 10 Years to Get Answers – Where’s Scientology and the Aftermath?
So far the series has stayed away from the most important Scientology stories, such as Mike Rinder’s OSA involvement in the cover-up of the Danny Masterson rape cases. So when will Scientology and the Aftermath have an episode on the Death of Kyle Brennan?
How The Anti Cult Movement’s Ideology Harms Ex-Members
Adopting the beliefs of the anti-cult movement dramatically changes the views and attitudes of those who experience a loss of faith. Those changes have a profound effect on how Exes make sense of their own past. So we must ask: How helpful is the ideology of the anti cult movement in making sense of your […]
Debunking Zablocki: Dick Anthony’s Searing Take-Down of Cult Brainwashing Theory
This is an excerpt from Benjamin Zablocki’s book “Misunderstanding Cults” which is one of the best representations of the 90’s era debate on Cults and Brainwashing. What’s funny is that all the players, such as Dick Anthony and others, who thoroughly debunked the ideas of “cult brainwashing” just rode off into the sunset – leaving […]
The Scientology Brainwashing Defense
The anti-cult movement provides the principle ideology almost all Ex-cult members are given to adopt after they leave their minority religions. The foundation of that anti-cult ideology is the belief in “brainwashing”. But does “brainwashing” really exist? Or is it just an excuse?
The Unquestioning Arrogance of Anti-Cult Movement Ideologues
An ideologue is so certain of the ideology he has adopted, and the rightness of how he sees the world, that he can sneer at people, knowing how superior he is. It is a lazy way to go through life, intellectually, but if you surround yourself with people who also never question their assumptions, either, […]
Was Karen De La Carriere a Prostitute? We Need to Talk About This, Too.
Karen De La Carriere a prostitute? I’ve been waiting for her to file a defamation of character/libel lawsuit on the Church of Scientology for over a year now. It appears here: http://www.leahreminiaftermath.com/articles/karen-de-la-carriere-white-paper.html This is the most shocking thing I think I’ve ever seen about someone high up in the Church of Scientology – A Class […]
My Anti-Scientology Apostasy
The 19th century German philosopher Max Scheler said that an apostate was ‘engaged in a continuous chain of acts of revenge against his own spiritual past’. American sociologist Lewis Coser defined an apostate as not just a person who experienced a dramatic change in conviction but “a man who, even in his new state of […]
Is Chris Shelton Waking Up From His Anti-Scientology Fever Dream?
There’s a point in your evolution as an Ex which is exactly like when you woke up from all the untrue things in Scientology: As an Ex, it’s that point when you wake up from all the untrue things in Anti-Scientology, as well.
Scientific Studies That DeBunk The Brainwashing Myth
The following is a compilation of scientific studies which have thoroughly debunked the idea of ‘brainwashing’. This settled science has been completely ignored by members of the anti-cult movement who, for their own various self-interests, keep the superstition of “brainwashing” alive – no matter how many ex-members of minority religions it has harmed. The below […]
Steven Hassan Makes Bizarre Claim for Why Moonie Brainwashing Didn’t Work Whenever Scientists Were in the Room
Social scientists like Eileen Barker traveled to Moonie recruitment seminars where brainwashing & mind control was claimed to be in use. They found that more than 90% of the people in those “brainwashing” seminars did not sign up to be a Moonie, and all were gone from the Moonies within 2 years.
Pounding the Intellectual Honesty Out of Aaron Smith-Levin
I recorded my thoughts on the treatment I observed Aaron Smith-Levin getting from his Anti-Scientologist friends. From the ideologue Chris Shelton, to Tony Ortega’s demagoguery, to Leah Remini’s need to create a moral panic around Scientology – can Aaron’s intellectual honesty survive?
Skeptics and Pseudo-Skeptics of Scientology
The key characteristic of a pseudo-skeptic of Scientology is the furious and dedicated certainty of their position, and their squinting suspicion that anyone who would question them must be an OSA agent.
Andy Nolch: “I Cannot Get a Psychological Evaluation. It’s Impossible. Because I’ve Broken Free From the Matrix”
Independent Scientologist Andy Nolch explains the psych evaluation he had as part of a court case relating to a memorial for Eurydice Dixon in Melbourne, Oz
Two AntiCult Movement Evangelists Defend Their 40 Year Careers Trying to Scare People About ‘Cults’
Jon Atack and Steven Hassan have been the Jimmy Swaggart and Billy Graham of the Anti-Cult Movement for well neigh 40 years now, and I hear they’re just about ready to get some science to back up what they’ve been preaching to vulnerable Exes – real soon now! So it’s no wonder Jon and Steve […]
Critical Thinking on Scientology and Anti-Scientology
I used to think that as long as I was not in the cult of Scientology any more, I would never fall into the unquestioning, partisan mindset that I had adopted when I was a Scientologist.
The Social Construction of the Anti-Scientology/Anti-Cult Narrative
The more power that you assign to subversive techniques such as “mind control” the easier it is for Ex-members to explain their membership and participation in minority religious groups after they’ve re-entered the mainstream.
The Moral Equivalence of Scientology vs. Anti-Scientology Fair Game
Is Fair Game better when it’s applied to Scientology? Can there be an immoral equivalence when what Scientology does is then done back at them? Either you are against hypocrisy, cruelty and abuse, or you are not – no matter who does it.
Cult Expert, London School of Economics Social Science Professor Eileen Barker Submits Herself to the Gearty Grilling
Why do anti-cultists reject science so much? When they call a social scientist a “shill” or a “quack”, where is their quantitative data that disputes the work of that social scientist? I have never once seen them offer any scientific data to dispute the results of any of the scientists they wish to discredit with […]
Embrace Your Inner Scientologist
To dismiss that part of your life, to wall it off under labels of “delusional Scientologist” or “weak” or “crazy loon” is to remain in a dissociative state – to continue living a fractured life with some of the best parts of you buried underneath a wall of self-hatred and shame.
Post Ex-Scientology
A Post-Ex has integrated the arguments, and “truths”, he made as a Scientologist with the arguments, and “truths”, he made as an Ex/Anti-Scientologist. He has seen the disconnects and the contradictions there, and repaired them. He no longer walks around with an opposite self inside him, with which he is at war.
Adjusting to Mainstream Society After Scientology is Not “Recovery”
The cult recovery paradigm of Ex-Scientology sets up a whole bunch of things you think you need to “recover” from because you were in Scientology. This is a dysfunctional view. Paradigms are insidious things. They can hide all the assumptions and viewpoints and framing you are using to “understand” something. It’s always a good critical […]
Does Anti-Scientology Deserve Any Criticism?
During all 3 Seasons of Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath, Leah and Mike have sought to make anyone who criticizes their show out to be a Scientologist. Because who could possibly criticize the holy work that they are doing but a Scientologist?
Trying to Warn Mike Rinder About Threats of Violence From Fans of Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath
Trying to get a sociopath like Mike Rinder to care about the violent consequences of his rhetoric is a futile exercise, as I learned, once again, the hard way.
Scientology & Hindsight Bias: An Ex-Scientologist’s Deadliest Disease
The human mind has certain biases which routinely, and falsely, color the perceptions of people called cognitive biases. One of the most important for a former cult member to know about is called the “hindsight bias”, or the “I knew it all along” effect.
How L Ron Hubbard Tricked You: Re-Defining “Individuation” Like That’s A Bad Thing
What if being a Scientologist was never a really a disease in the first place that you needed to “recover from”? What if it was just one part of your own much longer spiritual journey that taught you many important lessons, and from which you emerged stronger and wiser than ever? How would you know?
The Capture Stories, Escape Stories, and Atrocity Stories of Anti-Scientologists
Sociologists who study the issues surrounding minority religions have identified 3 types of stories that form a socially-constructed narrative of a leave-taker’s experience inside their former group. These types of stories are not unique to Ex-Scientology. They have been found to occur as common coins passed around by those who leave, assuming a role which […]
Is Scientology a Religion? Leah Remini Now Says It’s Not
When you look at the cosmology of Scientology from the viewpoint of social science – its rituals such as auditing, training, dissemination, and its clearly religious teachings on the thetan, the mind, and even Xenu – it is inescapable that Scientology is a religion.
Tony Ortega Confirms That Leah Remini Got that Out-of-Context “Scientologists Are Pedophiles” Quote From Him
If Leah Remini and Mike Rinder can help get one criminal conviction on the Church of Scientology through their “Scientology and The Aftermath” reality series, or help one lawsuit succeed against them for real injustices, no one will be happier than I. But when I see another Ex-Scientologist flip into nightmare mode on who they […]
How L Ron Hubbard Tricked You: Scientology Logic vs. Logic
The key to understanding the true value of Scientology’s logic system called the Data Series lies in understanding the idea that there are many different types of logic. Each logic was built for a purpose, and each logic performs a particular function. For instance, binary computer logic was created to turn off and on electricity […]
Why Legal vs Illegal is Way More Important than Moral vs Immoral in Dealing with Scientology
Anti-Scientologists who want to “end the cult” are not thinking things through. Unless Scientology is doing something illegal, no one has the power to “end” them. You actually do not want to live in a society where the government, or even you, have the power to take away someone else’s religion. This is why the […]
You Still Have Control
An interesting article written about victims of abuse from Slate.com on February 8th 2014 by Samantha Gelmer, the woman who was sexually abused as a 13 year old by the film director Roman Polanski. Her message, while written within the context of sexual abuse, applies just as strongly to anyone who has experienced religious and […]
Enthralling Interview: Leah Remini Tells Her Powerful Story of Leaving Scientology
Leah tells her powerful story about what happened to her in the Church which led to her leave Scientology – the only religion she knew for 34 years.
How L. Ron Hubbard Tricked You: The Scientology OT Levels
Consider that this is a trick that L Ron Hubbard pulled on Scientologists. Think about the terror a Scientologist experiences, and the ways their inner thoughts and environment are controlled by this trick. It’s a very vicious and uncaring one. It was a trick Hubbard used without regard to a Scientologists interests at all – […]
Why Leah Remini Will Never Get Her Federal Investigation
Social scientists who study minority religions have observed that the main activity of the anti-cult movement is to create a moral panic around a targeted minority religion strong enough to make governments react. Members of the anti-cult movement accomplished this in Waco in the 1990’s, and the resulting catastrophe woke up people in government to their responsibility […]
Michael Shermer’s “The Believing Brain” & “Why People Believe Weird Things”
Michael Shermer has written two books, “The Believing Brain” and “Why People Believe Weird Things”, which have been life-changing reads for me. There are several key points made in these books which can help a person understand Scientology, and Scientology-like experiences, in brand new ways. For me, a key point came early in “The Believing […]
Has Anti-Scientology Completely Shot Its Wad?
There’s nothing like finally getting what you’ve wished for. The last few years have been an Anti-Scientology spooge dream: A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist writes a best-selling expose’ on Scientology, which turns into an Emmy-winning, Oscar nominated movie, followed by a Louis Theroux smarmy send-up, followed by 2 Seasons of an Emmy-winning TV reality show […]
Scientologists vs Anti-Scientologists: Equally Unable to Tell the Truth About Scientology.
Consider this: Just as Scientology is not as good as a Scientologist tells you it is, Scientology is also not as bad as an Anti-Scientologist tells you it is.
A Study List for Life After Scientology
Your assumptions can be quite insidious. You must study the actual subjects that Hubbard “spun” for you – from sources completely independent from L Ron Hubbard – so as to challenge your own assumptions, separate out Hubbard’s installed ones, and inspect them for their weaknesses.
Binded and Blinded By the Tribal Mind
Once I’d spotted that my thinking was tribal, I was no longer consumed by my tribe’s survival. I resented that the tribe had taken over my thinking. I could finally see the eclipsed and thoughtless cruelty of my former tribe.
Guest Post: Gerry Armstrong Doesn’t Need an Apology – He Wants the Truth From Mike Rinder
Gerry Armstrong & Mike Rinder have a long history. Gerry thinks it’s time for Mike Rinder to come clean about all the OSA Fair Game Operations he ran against him and all the other critics of Scientology when Mike Rinder ran the dirty tricks arm of the Church of Scientology.
