Last week, we remarked on what a superb job San Francisco Chronicle reporter Nanette Asimov had done on her lengthy profile of Jamie DeWolf (right), the L. Ron Hubbard great-grandson and Scientology critic we’ve been keeping an eye on for several years.
Jamie is a super-talented storyteller and performance artist who hasn’t exploited his connection to Hubbard as much as he might. He has a solid career that has nothing to do with criticizing Scientology, but he knows that he’s in demand because he has such colorful things to say about his grandfather — L. Ron Hubbard Jr., also known as Ron DeWolf — and his famous great-grandfather.
Nanette picked up on that, and revealed some startling material about Jamie that he only now decided to make public. In all, it was a great piece of writing and gave us an even deeper appreciation for both Nanette and Jamie.
Then, last Wednesday, Jamie posted a message on Facebook, saying that Scientology had written “an epic three-page response to the SF Chronicle attacking me with all the subtlety of a flame-thrower.”
Since he posted that, we set out to get our hands on that letter Scientology sent the newspaper. We managed to obtain it, and now we can share it with you.
The first thing you’ll notice is that Scientology leader David Miscavige, under the name of his long-suffering spokeswoman, Karin Pouw, had marked this letter “Not for publication.”
We don’t know why Miscavige didn’t want the public to see this, it’s one of his most artistic whines of all time.
Scientology 2014 letter to the SF Chronicle re: Jamie DeWolf story
A few observations:
Nanette Asimov has taken another opportunity to go outside her mandate as an “education reporter” to make false and disparaging comments about Scientology and its Founder, L. Ron Hubbard.
You have to love this kind of trolling. Asimov has a “mandate” — since when are reporters elected officials? It’s true that Nanette covers education issues for the newspaper, but back in 2004 she did a dynamite multi-part series about how Scientology’s drug rehab racket, Narconon, had infiltrated California’s schools with its medical quackery. After her series, California state officials decided to take another look at Narconon and recommended that its schools stay far away. So yeah, a decade later, Nanette Asimov clearly still has plenty of expertise about Scientology, and she showed it off in this piece about Jamie DeWolf. As a news editor, we can confirm that that’s all the mandate a reporter needs — a dedication to digging up evidence and then turning it into a readable and fair story. Nanette Asimov sure as heck fulfilled her mandate in this story.
Ms. Asimov refers to the religion as being founded by “a storyteller, just another name on dime-store pulp mags paid only a penny a page.” That is as insulting as saying that Christianity was “founded by a carpenter.”
Actually, Nanette didn’t write that, she was quoting Jamie from his routine. (And he’s tired of us telling him it was a penny a word, not a penny a page. He knows, people, but he can’t go back and change that three-year-old video, all right?)
How, we wonder, is it insulting to say that Scientology was founded by a pulp writer who made so little? Stop bellyaching, Scientology. Even if you fall for the stuff about Hubbard discovering the true nature of the universe, his background as a pulp fiction writer only makes that more romantic. Or implausible, depending on your point of view, of course.
And considering that neither Ms. Asimov nor DeWolf can claim even a fraction of what L. Ron Hubbard accomplished in his life by the time he was their ages, let alone during his entire lifetime, she ought to be ashamed of writing such a hackneyed disparagement about a man who is the founder of a religion.
We love Jamie’s response to this lame attack, which he posted on Facebook: “You’re right Scientology, I probably will never be as ‘important’ as my great-grandfather. Maybe I’ll die as a ‘host of erotic film fests,’ a loud mouth in red pants. I’d rather make art than make slaves.”
DeWolf’s other statements about his great-grandfather, which Ms. Asimov dutifully reports, are born of ignorance and prejudice, including attributing to L. Ron Hubbard a statement about starting a religion that he did not make…
Sorry, Miscavige, but you can’t wish this one away. Here’s our story about the multiple times that L. Ron Hubbard did say, before publishing Dianetics in 1950, that the real money was in starting a religion. You can deny it all you like, but the man said it numerous ways and to numerous people in 1948/49.
Our efforts in the name of drug prevention, drug rehabilitation, literacy, criminal reform, morality, human rights and interfaith cooperation are, factually, legendary. Per capita, Scientologists engage in more community betterment than can be said of any other religion. That’s not to knock other religions. It’s to state that we’re a new and minority religion and, as can be expected, members of Scientology have quite a level of dedication.
Oh, brother. Your vaunted drug rehab network is going up in flames, and you dare to say that Scientologists do more good works, “per capita,” than any other religion? We only wish the other churches in town gave enough of a hoot about you to make you pay for that little lie.
Anyway, we expect that our sharp readers are going to have a field day with all of the other nutty elements in the letter by Dave/Karin. Have at it!
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Karen de la Carriere and the BBC
Karen’s still on a roll with the media, and she found herself being interviewed by BBC Radio!
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 8, 2014 at 07:00
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BLOGGING DIANETICS (We read Scientology’s founding text) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
UP THE BRIDGE (Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN (Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING (Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49
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