One of the reasons this website exists is to support our project, started four years ago, to learn everything we could about the incredible adventures of Paulette Cooper, one of the first journalists who exposed the abuses of the Church of Scientology and who nearly paid for it with her life. For decades, Scientology’s shadowy spy corps, which referred to Paulette by the code name “Miss Lovely,” tried to destroy her career, her family, and her sanity with multiple elaborate operations, and by making her the target of 19 separate lawsuits. She survived it all.
Although Paulette’s name was already well known to anyone who paid even a casual interest to Scientology, we learned a lot of startling and edifying things about Paulette’s life that had never been told before, resulting in our 2015 book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, which was published by Humfrey Hunter and Silvertail Books in London.
And now, Audible.com today has released the audiobook version of Miss Lovely, and we hope, for those of you who enjoy listening to a book on a long drive or during your daily commute, that you’ll give it a listen. [USA edition] [UK edition]
To mark the occasion, Paulette has cancelled a previous engagement so she can join us at Reddit for an “Ask Me Anything” session that will last from noon to 2 pm, eastern. Please join us, and ask us about Paulette’s amazing life as Holocaust survivor, Manhattan magazine writer, Scientology investigator, and target of L. Ron Hubbard’s Guardian’s Office. Or ask us about this website, the state of the Church of Scientology, or, heck, about anything. We’ll do our best to answer as many questions as we can.
See you there at noon!
——————–
The Larisa Smith story: Chris Shelton examines the culture of Scientology
We’ll let Chris introduce his new series…
I’ve made a lot of videos and written a lot about Scientology but in all that work, have only barely touched on what may be one of the most important aspects of it. My recent foray into breaking down Scientology apologetics by sociologists, religious scholars and psychologists has given me more insight into certain sociological perspectives about this group. That may sound kind of highbrow but it’s really not, it’s just another way of looking at this destructive cult and how it operates. This got me thinking about the culture of Scientology and how it’s not just a bunch of books or lectures by one man, but an entire little world in and of itself. It’s a mystery for many people why it is that survivors of Scientology have such a hard time getting out of the Scientology mindset, but it’s really no mystery at all when you look at Scientology as a kind of culture rather than just a collection of oddball beliefs and pseudoscientific ideas about the mind and spirit.
An opportunity to show how this culture works landed in my lap a few months ago when Larisa Smith contacted me about getting her story out. Her non-biological parents are Tim and Sylvia DeWall, who anyone familiar with my channel and the Bunker know from their own escape story in 2015. Larisa’s own experiences with Scientology started before she was even a year old. While growing up in it, she went to a private Scientology school, was sent to the Mojave Desert School, got heavily involved in the LA scene, joined the Sea Org and a lot more. We walk through her entire story in detail and it becomes clear as this unfolds that Scientology is a lot more than some books and lectures, and that it is far more destructive in a wider sphere than most people actually realize.
There is this line I’ve seen floating around right now that Scientology is only really abusive at the level of the Sea Org and that the run-of-the-mill Scientologist doesn’t experience anything like the abuse that Sea Org members endure. While there is certainly nothing comparable to the RPF or The Hole for Scientology public, that does not mean that regular Scientologists don’t endure hellish behavior at the hands of registrars, auditors, course supervisors and Sea Org members. And as you’ll see in this series, those abuses extend to Scientology’s family and friends. It’s never been my point that Scientologists don’t get some degree of benefit from their Scientology experiences; it’s that those benefits are far outweighed by the costs. I think this is easily demonstrated in answering this question: if the benefits of Scientology were so wonderful, then why don’t you go back to it? Of course, no one ever does because Scientology is a destructive cult and it is abusive.
I think for even the long-term Scientology watcher or critic, there is something to be learned in this 3-part video series. Let me know in comments on my YT channel as well as on the Bunker what you think.
——————–
Fun times at the LRH Theater in Hollywood
Scientology celebrity Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, recently loaned her voice talents to a live reading of a 1941 L. Ron Hubbard short story, “The Crossroads,” at the LRH Theater in Los Angeles. A week later, the story was brought to life again, this time with actress and Scientologist Noelle North. Looks like fun!
——————–
Posted by Tony Ortega on September 29, 2016 at 07:00
E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts
Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield
