This Halloween, Scientology is up to its old tricks again

While we’ve been very busy with the Danny Masterson trial here in Los Angeles, we have managed to keep up on a few other stories that are developing. And one has really hit a critical stage.

Some time ago, we were approached by a young person who is still in the Church of Scientology, but who told us that they were having grave doubts about it.

We have been very cautious about this situation, for obvious reasons. As a young second-generation Scientologist, they have been under heavy recruiting to join the Sea Org, and so their every step is being monitored by the church.

The person wants very much for us to tell our readers what is going on, but they know even a story avoiding details about them like this raises the risk that the Office of Special Affairs will figure out who they are.

Like we said, we have been proceeding cautiously for some weeks now, but then things ramped up in the last few days. You see, Scientology had reached out to this young person, asking them to show up at a Halloween event, and to essentially work a shift as a partygoer to help the church give the impression that its event was a successful one.

However, the person responded that they were unable to go, because they had a previous engagement.

What sort of engagement?

A date, actually.

With who?

With a member of the same sex.

Well, you can imagine how that went over. The young person was then called down to the ethics department, where they were shown L. Ron Hubbard’s words in Dianetics that homosexuality is a “perversion,” and other Scientology materials designed to scare them straight.

They sent us screenshots of the conversation they had with an ethics officer and said we could share them with our readers. But out of caution, we thought it would be better to describe the situation than to show you actual screenshots that might allow OSA to trace back who had sent the texts.

Our correspondent understands that even with those details removed, OSA might be able to track them down. But they wanted us to write this story in order to confirm a few things about what’s going on right now — this week — in Scientology:

1. Young people who have grown up in the church are still being targeted for intense and persistent recruiting to sign the Sea Org’s billion-year contract as young as 15.

2. Scientologists are being pressured to show up to events in order to give the impression that Scientology is more robust than it actually is.

3. Scientology is still as homophobic as ever, and comes down like a ton of bricks on a Scientologist who admits to being attracted to the same sex.

We want to thank this young person for risking so much to help us confirm something we have said over and over: Scientology really never changes.

For some proof of that, please see the stories we have written in the past about Scientology and its stance on homosexuality. A decade ago, at the Village Voice, we told the story of a man named Keith Relkin. A gay man, he had tried to make the public believe that Scientology was accepting, but had to admit to his friends before he died that it had actually treated him horribly. And we also told the story of Derek Bloch, who was not only kicked out of Scientology when he admitted that he was gay, but was also kicked out of his family, which has remained “disconnected” from him to this day. We also posted a video by Nora Crest, who explained maybe better than anyone how Scientology treats people who dare to admit that they are attracted to same-sex partners.

Scientology is still stuck in the 1950s because it considers L. Ron Hubbard, a midcentury reactionary, to be “Source,” and the “auditing” (counseling) he developed with Dianetics and Scientology is considered to be a kind of gay cure. Scientology will never change this attitude because Hubbard died in 1986 and his words are sacrosanct.

And so the result is, a young person in Scientology this very week was shown Hubbard’s words from 1950 condemning homosexuality as a “perversion,” and it will subject them to interrogations and auditing in order to correct their aberration.

Some trick, isn’t it.

 
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Technology Cocktail

“Here is an item which all of you might want to tuck into your notebooks: The absence of visio is the assignment of a tremendous amount of CAUSE to another individual. A dub-in is a picture of somebody telling a story, and that somebody is occluded. A dub-in case has been surrounded by persons who constantly evaluated situations FOR the individual. His next step after occlusion is pictures.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1952

 
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THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON

We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links as trial begins and Danny faces a potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison.

 
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THE PODCAST: How many have you heard?

— The Underground Bunker Podcast

[1] Marc Headley [2] Claire Headley [3] Jeffrey Augustine [4] Bruce Hines [5] Sunny Pereira [6] Pete Griffiths [7] Geoff Levin [8] Patty Moher [9] Marc Headley [10] Jefferson Hawkins [11] Michelle ‘Emma’ Ryan [12] Paulette Cooper [13] Jesse Prince [14] Mark Bunker [15] Jon Atack [16] Mirriam Francis [17] Bruce Hines on MSH

— SPECIAL: The best TV show on Scientology you never got to see

[1] Phil Jones [2] Derek Bloch [3] Carol Nyburg [4] Katrina Reyes [5] Jamie DeWolf

— SPECIAL: Your Proprietor’s updates on the Danny Masterson trial

[1] Sep 21 [2] Sep 28 [3] Oct 4 [4] Oct 10 [5] Oct 11: Day One [6] Oct 12: Day Two [7] Oct 13: Day Three [8] Oct 17: Day Four [9] Oct 18: Day Five [10] Oct 19: Day Six [11] Special interview with Chris Shelton, Oct 19 [12] Oct 20: Day Seven [13] Oct 21: Day Eight [14] First week in review, with Jeffrey Augustine [15] Oct 24: Day Nine [16] Oct 25: Day Ten [17] Oct 27: Day Eleven [18] Oct 28: Day Twelve [19] Second week in review, with Jeffrey Augustine

— The Underground Bunker Podcast on YouTube

[1] Marc Headley [2] Claire Headley [3] Jeffrey Augustine [4] Bruce Hines [5] Sunny Pereira [6] Pete Griffiths [7] Geoff Levin [8] Patty Moher [9] Marc Headley [10] Jefferson Hawkins [11] Michelle ‘Emma’ Ryan [12] Paulette Cooper [13] Jesse Prince [14] Mark Bunker

 
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Source Code

“You got a pc who isn’t ARC breaky and you now feel happy about the thing and you can go on auditing and find out what is wrong. This is to get him back into the realm of the living. So you see, that’s a valuable thing to know. If that fails you, well, you’ve always got suicide. You could propose that to the pc. That would solve his problems. ‘R2-45’ by its various . . various other techniques. So don’t think that you just have this one technique to fall back on. Now, that’s a valuable thing to know, that you can probably desensitize the situation . . that is to say, you can resensitize the meter by running the goal.” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 31, 1961

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“A person found on a post who is not fully hatted is liable to ethics action. Awareness of the scene does not seem to exist in the absence of hatting. Thus unhatted persons look sort of blind. Mystery on post equals mystery of environment. You see this as a sort of frightened no confidence. I think hatting even changes eyesight. We ought to test it out. We already know that unhatted people get hurt more than hatted people. We know overts stem from misunderstoods. And we know running overts changes eyesight. it then probably follows that unhatted people couldn’t see a tiger if it was biting them! So, how to be mystified by it all and afraid — remain unhatted. But leave that to the old Catholic Church. They wanted everyone ignorant. So they would be terrified and blind? It figures. So get hatted and see.” — The Commodore, October 31, 1971

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“Big Bangers say that a sort of moronic intelligence has somehow evolved to explain organic biology and the spirit of play (their latest theory is the God Comet). They have no explanation for why life forms bother to survive, and go through all that courtship, white wedding, reception, drunk speeches and a scuffle afterwards. Ron’s statement that ‘extroverting the attention (as in Scientology),’ may sound rather mundane, but we already know that some life forms are more extroverted than others, as in say a whale compared to a dolphin. It isn’t just a case of what jeans and chromosomes and complexity the life form is dressed in, what the fashion is. A whole wealth of interest arises from his statement, such as, what is being extroverted, why does it invariably feel better than introverted, and what is attention, anyway – a certain group of molecules facing the same way?”

 
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Past is Prologue

2001: Vibe magazine interviewed Johnny Depp in its December issue about why Hollywood is so involved in Scientology. “Awhile ago, I took over this little apartment on Hollywood Boulevard from a friend of mine. I was dead broke, scrounging. He’d go to Mexico all the time and leave all these pesos lying around. I’d change them at the corner check-cashing place so I could get a meal and some cigarettes. I did that until I found this Scientology place down the street. They’d give you $3 to take this weird fuckin’ test. I’d answer all the questions under different names. I survived that way for quite awhile.”

 
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Random Howdy

“As Claire pointed out, the whole ‘What is true for you is what you have observed yourself’ is a circular logic conundrum. It should be ‘If something isn’t true for you it’s because you have a M/U.’ I recall reading a paper by Touretzky or Kent that explained how the ‘misunderstood word’ is what everything else in Scientology revolves around. It is the key.”

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Trial began October 11 in Los Angeles.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Arraigned on August 29.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff scheduled to be sentenced on Oct 28.
— Rizza Islam, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for March 1 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial conference set for September 19.
— Yanti Mike Greene, Scientology private eye accused of contempt of court: Found guilty of criminal and civil contempt.

Civil litigation:
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Complaint filed April 28 in Tampa federal court, Scientology moving to compel arbitration. Plaintiffs filed amended complaint on August 2. Hearing scheduled November 17 to argue the arbitration motions.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Selection of arbitrators underway. Next court hearing: February 2, 2023.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Appellate court removes requirement of arbitration on January 19, case remanded back to Superior Court. Stay in place at least through December 13.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Case settled ahead of scheduled Dec 6 trial.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: New trial ordered after appeals court overturned prior ruling.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Lawsuit filed by the FTC and state of Georgia in August, now in discovery phase.

 
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SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.

LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH

An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.

SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z

Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

 
Other links: SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks. Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. 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 a weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Kirstie Alley, the Scientology Celebrity Centre, and that time we lost a teenager
[TWO years ago] The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology, No. 10: Political shills
[THREE years ago] How ‘The Kominsky Method’ nailed it: Writer Chuck Lorre’s secret Scientology past
[FOUR years ago] On sale today: Battlefield Scientology — the best of the Bunker, with Paulette Cooper!
[FIVE years ago] Garry Scarff, 1956-2017: A complex figure and dogged researcher
[SIX years ago] Leah Remini reveals that she’s been stalked during production of her new TV series
[SEVEN years ago] Jon Atack: The ‘Axioms’ — L. Ron Hubbard’s attempt to make Scientology sound ‘sciencey’
[EIGHT years ago] A reminder, this Halloween, that Scientology’s tricks tear families apart
[NINE years ago] Honesty in Scientology: Jefferson Hawkins Helps Us With Another Ethical Quandary
[TEN years ago] It’s Halloween, and Narconon is Very, Very Afraid
[ELEVEN years ago] Scientology Investigation of South Park the Last Straw for Katie Holmes: Aussie Magazine Report

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 31, 2022 at 09:00

E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post 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 new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2021 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2021), 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, 15 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

Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…

Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.

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

 

Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast