Scientology mega-donor ABCMouse family is more complicated than we realized

A commenter alerted us to a pretty interesting situation that we thought deserved its own post. You know that for years we’ve kept an eye on Doug Dohring and his education software empire, which runs the hugely profitable subscription service for toddlers, ABCMouse.

Dohring developed ABCMouse after his prior success with NeoPets, and we know that he’s been making a lot of money because in 2017 Doug reached the vaunted status of “Patron Excalibur” for donating $20 million to Scientology’s membership organization, the IAS.

Neopets had no Scientology in it, and neither does ABCMouse. But there’s simply no question that the legions of American families paying Dohring’s company Age of Learning for their monthly ABCMouse subscriptions enable the wealthy Scientologist to be one of the organization’s biggest single donors.

Meanwhile, Doug’s son Jason Dohring is a well known actor, having achieved fame as “Logan Echolls” on the series Veronica Mars. And Jason has two sets of identical twins for younger siblings. Kelsey and Kirsten Dohring, 32, were child actors and split time as little Chrissy Seaver on the show Growing Pains in the late 1980s. And their younger brothers are Jon and Rob Dohring, 27, who were gymnasts and divers in college.

While mom and dad give the church millions, the kids are active Scientologists with lots of completion records, according to Kristi Wachter’s meticulous website: Jason did the Cause Resurgence Rundown (running around a pole for so many hours straight that you start to hallucinate) in 2016. Kelsey did OT Preps in 2015. Kirsten did L12 in 2007. Jon did the London Congress on the Freewinds in 2006, and Rob ran around the pole in 2016.

And on Wednesday, Rob put up an interesting post at his Instagram account. It was a photo of a Black Lives Matter protest, and it included a heartfelt message…

I’ve always been a pretty private person and tend to keep my thoughts to myself, but with the events that have happened the past few day/months/weeks/years in the black community, it’s my and everyone’s duty to show their support in solidarity. Racial injustice has gone on far too long in this country, and everyone should stand up and show their support for change. Growing up as a gay man in a somewhat homophobic community helped me gain some personal insight into injustice and intolerance, but what I deal with is only a small fraction of what the black community deals with every day where they literally LOSE THEIR LIVES without cause and without justice. And to any of my friends who disagree or continue to use the phrase “All Lives Matter,” as if “all lives” are at the same risk of injustice and mistreatment, please remove me now or just comment below and I’ll be happy to do it myself. Much love and support to the black community. I stand with you in protest this week. #blacklivesmatter #love #istandwithyou

 
We’re going to go out on a limb and assume that the “somewhat homophobic community” Rob is referring to is the Church of Scientology that he’s been a part of his entire life and that counts his father as a major financing pillar.

We’ve written many times about what a homophobic organization Scientology is, and how gay people in the church have to find a way to deal with L. Ron Hubbard’s gay cure which is foisted on them in the form of auditing.

We reached out to Rob to see if he’s interested in talking about his experiences as a gay man in Scientology. We truly hopes he responds.

We are sympathetic to the thoughts he expressed about racial injustice. But we wonder if he’s thought about the way that his father responded to the pandemic by making ABCMouse subscriptions temporarily free, knowing that millions of American parents suddenly found themselves to be homeschoolers and needed something to keep the kids on task.

The pandemic is likely to be a boom time for Age of Learning, which means a lot more money for Doug Dohring, which means he’ll have another opportunity for a big donation to the Church of Scientology, one of the whitest organizations around, and one that places pressure on gays to raise their Tone Level and go straight.

Come on, Rob, message us back. We have a lot to talk about.

 
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Jon Atack on fervor and Scientology

“Yuval Laor joins Jon once again to talk about why Scientology fascinated him — and how it’s helping him change how his colleagues talk about fervor.”

 
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Source Code

“If you don’t administer a good, tough Security Check, and if you don’t keep that Security Check good and keep it whole, you’re just setting it up for PCs not only to not be cleared but actually to start feeling miserable. Oddly enough, feeling miserable, they’re better off than they were being irresponsible. You got the idea? And they’ll tell you so, too. But you just peg them. You peg their processing gain. It isn’t that you do something overt that forces their case down; you peg their processing gain. And it’ll peg right up to the point where they become responsible for some overt act in the past. And there the case will hang. And that’s it. They’ve had it from there on. And you won’t get any further advance out of that case. So one of your rules is, is when a person ceases to advance rapidly, you just pick up Mr. Joburg and start in at the beginning and run through to the end. And you all of a sudden will find out why.” — L. Ron Hubbard, June 6, 1961

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“There is the idiotic consideration that auditing alone will set you free, an easy and lazy way to see life. So I’ll just pay some schmuck to audit me and I will become an OT. Or I will do LXX and fix all my problems. As if life was this easy. Co-audit should be the only way to go. You train and you co-audit. No ‘come to Flag and leave home OT in 6 months’ BS. It’s the effort you put in that counts, not the money. Our religion has become more of a business than a spiritual path over the years. I co-audit and plan to do so for all of my Bridge, with the odd session with a highly-trained auditor for repairs and fancy RDs.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Scientologists, like vaLLarrr for example, have told me that it doesn’t matter if LRH was nuts or a criminal, and they love to use Issac Newton as an example of someone who was supposedly psychotic and believed in alchemy, but his law of universal gravitation ‘tech’ is observed to be true.”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Jay Spina: Sentencing was set for April 3 in White Plains
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members: Trial set for October 7 in Los Angeles

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Waiting for an appellate decision from the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Hearing on motion for reconsideration set for August 11
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: July 8 (plaintiff attorneys pro hac vice), August 31-Sept 1 (CSI/RTC demurrer against Riales, Masterson demurrer), Oct 7-19 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach bankruptcy appeal: Oral arguments were heard on March 11 in Jacksonville
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Amended complaint filed.

 
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society!

Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] ‘Scientology is Security for South Africa’: How L. Ron Hubbard sought to prop up apartheid
[TWO years ago] EXCLUSIVE: The rise and fall of the ‘Pope of Scientology’ — in his own words
[THREE years ago] Designer Rebecca Minkoff’s involvement in a Scientology front is pretty perfectly bad timing
[FOUR years ago] Chick Corea’s glib revelation to the New York Times about Scientology’s ‘Maiden Voyage’
[FIVE years ago] Jon Atack: The ‘Getting Clear’ conference and L. Ron Hubbard’s lies about his life
[SIX years ago] Where is Scientology keeping Samantha Sterne?
[SEVEN years ago] Dianetics Has No Patience for ESP or Telepathy — That’s Pseudoscience!
[NINE years ago] Scientology: Christmas Comes Early with TWO New Books on Hubbard’s Wacky Cabal

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 6, 2020 at 06:00

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The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2019 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2019), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | 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 | Shelly Miscavige, 14 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 | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

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Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele