Ex-Scientologist Story #422, Tiziano Lugli is free of the RTC.

 

Most of the stories in this blog concern people who have completely and utterly given up Scientology for good.  Yet there are some stories worth the telling of those who still yearn to follow Hubbard but cannot abide the current management of Scientology. This is one of those stories.

Tiziano Lugli is an Italian singer who was recruited to do voice overs of various Scientology training videos and related tasks.  He journeyed to Int. Base in California where he learned a lesson that others have previously learned much to their dismay.  That lesson is simply that the closer one gets to the center of power in Scientology the less and less Hubbard’s words count for anything.  Tiziano soon learned that there is only one opinion in Scientology that means anything; that one opinion is located between the ears of David Miscavige, the dictator of this group.

Tiziano was not a member of the Sea Org or even staff so he was spared the worst that Scientology management, such as it is, was forced to endure.  But he saw enough to shake his faith in how Scientology was being run.  Work at all hours of the day are as common in Scientology as 16 hour days are.  Things are always being done in a frantic rush; why this should be I don’t know, it’s not like the anyone is sitting on the edge of their chair waiting for the drivel that they pump out.  Yet stories of grossly abusive hours being worked are common enough.  And if the exalted leader should wend his way towards workers then these sleepy drones are flogged to even greater efforts.

Tiziano says, I recall one time during the night, it must have been around 3 am, where panic arose around the building and the I/C and others were running around trying to make sure everything looked perfect and getting everybody to look extra busy. I was just taking a break after my 5th lecture in a row that day (which was more production than any of the other Voice Over Talents) and I did not agree to go back and sit down and act like I was reading something. I heard Birdie (a really nice girl that was staff there at the time) saying to another staff “It’s code Red.” That chaos turned out to be self-explanatory when I saw COB walking with Shelly and Lou outside, towards the CMO building right below Audio (the famous SP Hall). Still I was amazed at the frantic reaction and the environment that was created just by having DM and his crew walk nearby.

In his litany of woes Lugli is very critical of Miscavige for changing the tech of L. Ron Hubbard.  He considers Flag Land Base in Clearwater, FL to be “The Mecca of Technical Perversion.”  This is a very serious thing to say in the world of Scientology where the purity of Hubbard’s teachings is supposed to be of great importance.

But perhaps the most damning thing that this man has to say is that it is no longer “fun” to be a Scientologist.

I remember when Scientology was fun…when Scientologists were actually UP TONE! When staff members were eager to get on their post and produce the VFPs of their Hats, not to be turned into 24/7 All Hands Regging Particles.

I remember when CC Int used to be fun. When there were not cliques of celebs and big donors, not A-B-C-D listers. Where you would have a friendly environment where people were actual friends. When Tom Davis was an upstat, uptone, funny and energetic guy, when he used to hang out with us, and even go to the movies… with all of the new upcoming talents, small and big celebs alike, and I remember when Kirstie used to be skinny too, back when we were friends.

 remember when you knew that when you’d get off your O/Ws in sessions in an FPRD they wouldn’t use it against you in case you’d leave in the future.

I remember when going to the Freewinds and Flag was a peaceful, relaxing and pure theta experience.


I remember when the Fort Harrison was NOT a 5-star Hotel with alleged 5-star service, but was FULL all the time, instead of empty as it is now.

I remember when you could talk freely about the tech with friends, questions you had, share your wins and rely on your friends for advice without getting into “ethics trouble.” 


I remember when it was all about OT phenomena and Theta wins and not just mere lousy MEST and money wins.

I remember waking up and wanting nothing else but to go on course, having the excitement to KNOW the next part on the checksheet, where pure understanding and application was the only goal of our Supervisors, not just a machine to shove you through a course in record time to show how DM’s new line-up is 10-times faster.

 I remember when Scientology would actually raise your IQ and make you more able at challenging knowledge. When it made Lions out of people, not scared and wounded sheep.


I remember when you used to finish a drill and be really happy about it knowing that you REALLY got it, instead of already feeling invalidated because you would have to re-do it 5 more times by the Golden Age of Tech new checksheet. . .

The Church of Scientology we once knew is DEAD.

To read the rest of this interesting story follow this link.  http://www.scientology-cult.com/tiziano-lugli.html

Ex-Scientologist Story #421, Jason Barclay Quits the Sea Org.

Hubbard’s bathtub navy the Sea Borg.

Jason Barclay was a second generation who was recruited into the Sea Org at a young age.  His mother was initially against him joining until she was threatened with being declared a suppressive Person.  Only then did she relent.  Like many who sign up for a billion years in the remnants of Hubbard’s bathtub navy the day would come when he would have done just about anything to escape.

The Sea Org is notorious for overwork, miserable working conditions, punishments and constant browbeating.  They are encouraged to spy on each other, undergo extensive security checks. having their meagre belongs searched at any hour of the day or night for contraband items and having as little contact with the outside world as possible.  Savage minor org thugs constantly abuse their underlings with threats, yelling and even beatings.  Medical care is almost non-existent and living conditions are crowded.  Such is the wonderful world of L. Ron Hubbard.

Tony Ortega in his Underground Bunker series showed an interview with Jason in story published on April 19, 2013.  It should be noted that such stories do not come in a vacuum; there are many other such accounts on YouTube and in this blog.

To read Tony’s story go here: http://tonyortega.org/2013/04/19/jason-barclays-sea-org-adventure-a-fresh-escapee-details-abuse/

Otherwise you can see these vids here:

And here is something else interesting:

Ex-Scientologist Story #420, Bill Straass on the Slaveship, “Freewinds.”

In this blog we have mentioned the Scientology ship, “Freewinds,’ a number of times.  RPF members have been kept on it for years on end making it a slave ship.  It is also a death ship due to the blue asbestos that was only removed only in the past few years.  Exposure to asbestos, especially the blue asbestos, is the main cause of mesothelioma.  This will come back to haunt former crew members at some point if it has not done so already.  Was a competent and through job done in removing the deadly asbestos?  I wouldn’t bet on it when it comes to Scientology and the Sea Org.

This ship is very important to Scientology as it is where the delivery of certain parts of the OT series takes place.  In theory those who take the upper level courses have no fear of cancer; they are “at cause” over such trivial matters.  In practice though OTs die all the time, sometimes young, from cancer.

Disease is part of this story for engineer Bill Straass was unfortunate enough to contract AIDS from a blood transfusion and as the symptoms became obvious he began to suffer.  His wife was also on the ship with him.  One would suppose that he would have been rushed to the nearest hospital for treatment.  After all, he was in the Sea Org for over 20 years and was a competent hand in the engine room.  If you think that well, you don’t know Scientology.  Nope, they made this couple’s life a misery until they ran off.  Then they came and got money from him!!!  Bill says this:

I was in the SO for 23 years, first at FSO and then as the Mechanics Chief Freewinds. I received a bad blood transfusion in 1989 when the ship was in Curacao. This was not spotted until 13 years later in 2002, as the fatigue got worse and worse. By that point, I was more than half dead and was finally diagnosed with AIDS.

Although they knew what was happening, ship personnel did not inform me of the situation nor the reason behind my rapidly declining health. I was simply called up to the  Medical Liaison office with the Captain and Chief Officer there, and told that I was going for further testing to see Dr Denk in LA. To make matters worse, Captain Napier told me not to tell my wife that I was going because “You know how women can be about things like this.” I thought WTF? I’m going to go to my cabin now and pack in front of her and then disappear in the morning without telling her? I objected and the Captain said “OK, tell her.”

So, in May, 2002 I arrived in LA to see Dr Gene Denk, “for further testing.” When I walked into his office he took one look at me and a shadow passed by his face. “They didn’t tell you, did they?” he asked.

“Tell me what?” was my reply.

Dr Denk told me I needed to go to the AIDS clinic in LA. However, the Freewinds sent me instead to a chiropractor in Sacramento who was not even a licensed medical doctor. The is the equivalent of being sentenced to death.This chiropractor advised me not to take the standard medical treatment as it was “worse than HIV.”

For the next 6 months, even while I was dying, my wife was held prisoner on the ship.  She was told by Captain Mike Napier that I “would be dead soon” so she should just end cycle on me. She petitioned ED INT for a 1 year LOA to handle my  situation, my thoughts being that we would both return when I was better. The petition was approved (She sent me a copy with ED INT’s signature on it.) The reply of the Chief Engineer to her was “I DON’T CARE IF YOU HAVE AN APPROVED PETITION FROM COB, THE CAPTAIN WILL NEVER LET YOU GO. I thought WTF? THe ship won’t take an order in writing from COB?

Thanks to their brutal opinion of staff members who had dedicated their lives to helping others, that statement became a self-fulfilling prophecy. She finally got off the ship when it was almost too late.

(Speaking of attitude, it was just part of the same suppressive attitude dramatized by the CO CMO Ship who ordered a shipmate of mine to “Get some thugs together and beat up staff members.”  We always thought that was completely off the rails. But now it seems pretty clear where such ideas were coming from — directly from the top, as in David Miscavige.

Some readers may wonder why I didn’t follow Dr. Denk’s recommendations in the first place. The reason is simple, Sea Org members do not choose their own medical treatment. They have a billion-year contract so death is expected anyway and after 21 years Leave of Absence the idea is to return to duty. . .

The worst thing about it was not what happened to me. I was willing to die to clear the planet, as is everyone who signs a billion year contract. I lied to protect the church from it’s crimes. My wife called me daily, begging me to do something to get her out of there as she was taking abuse because she would not just let me die as ordered. I went to LA and talked to IJC several times and wrote reports. I even asked the Port Captain Ludwig Alpers if the plan was to hold her there until I was dead. He did not give me an answer but said that he would get back to me. I never heard back from him. . .

As an aside, I often did Quartermaster duty at the gangway as well as my own post. For several months around 1998 I was surprised to see that the QM desk had been turned around so the QM, instead of facing outward to observe external threats to the ship, now faced inward. Obviously, the real threats were now considered to be people on the ship who wanted to leave at any cost, not the anyone who wanted to sneak on board. It had been re-designed obviously to keep people from escaping from the ship.

Eventually the chief engineer got some solid medical treatment and returned to health, no thanks to his erstwhile shipmates.  This story, as well as any that I have come across, shows what life is like when you live on board a ship full of raving fanatics.  To read the full story go here: http://www.scientology-cult.com/freewinds-off-purpose-off-course.html

For more information about life on this slave ship read this: https://androvillans.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/ex-scientologist-story-381-valeska-guider-paris-12-years-before-the-mast-as-a-slave/

A naval architect warned that this ship was full of asbestos but his advice was ignored.  Read this if you want to know how decisions are reached in Hubbard’s bathtub navy.  https://androvillans.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/ex-scientologist-story-139-asbestos-death-ship-ots-not-to-worry/

Forced Disconnection; Ex-Scientologist story #419

Susan Talbot and her friends picket the cult.

Tommy Davis, who was until recently the liar in chief of Scientology’s PR office, claimed time and again that there is no such thing as “disconnection” in Scientology.  But of course that fooled no one as that is one charge against the cult that has been very well documented over the years.  Anyone who quits the cult becomes a non-person in the eyes of all Scientologists including, especially including, family members.  The fear of never speaking again to loved ones acts as a strong deterrent to quitting Scientology.  Still, strong-minded people DO quit and damn the consequences.  Here is the story of one such person, Linda McCarthy, who quit after 32 years in the Sea Org.  It took a lot to drive her out of Scientology but David Miscavige and his minions were once again equal to the task.  After years of seeing and experiencing outrages within the cult Linda found her way to the blog of Marty Rathbun and after studying that  made up her mind, she states:

In studying all the information to be had, all I could do is conjure thoughts and pictures of “what can be done?” and “what can I do?”  But that was kind of a moot point, because I have a family. I have a son that I love with every fiber of my being. I love his wife and my two new grandsons. They are  Scientologists. Both ex-SO, but know anything outside the C of M is black, and anything inside, is white.  Knowing the op basis of the C of M, the disconnection enforcement, the veiled if not verbalized threats of “no-eternity-for-you”, and how the whole subject of “you’re either with us or against us” is tied up and enforced…. well, I knew what I was facing. So I put it off. . .

 

. . . Then I talked to my son more, with him telling me that he was going to have to disconnect, but I probably have a few hours; to let him know I could come stay with him – he’d put me up; I could get the real truth, and and and.

So the hours elapsed and that’s the end of it. No return phone calls. Nice Mother’s Day. The next day, my in-box if full of “friends” who wanted to check with me if it’s true that I’d resigned from the church,and/ or joined an SP group. No one knew anything about this cycle except me, my son, my daughter-in-law and OSA. I’m assuming my daughter-in-law hit my facebook profile and sent a bulk announcement. Then it went viral with all manner of facebook police jumping aboard.

In a 48 hour period my “friends” on Facebook went from 214 to 130.
Here’s a smattering of them:
“I was told there is something on you at AOLA”
“Is it true you resigned from the Church?”
“Brief me. I just got some news, not so good news on you crossing over the fence. I don’t have any other data except a rumor – what’s the deal? Are you okay? Still with the team, or what? Brief me.”
“I just received a comm from someone on Facebook telling me you resigned from the church and are hooked up with an SP group”.
“I was informed by someone that you have resigned from the church. And that you have connections to known SP groups. Is this truly the case?”

These are the ways the mighty “Church of Scientology” has been reduced in order to keep their members in the fold.  Yet the group is in decline and there is little upside to the shrinking band of Hubbard adherents.   Despite all the pain that Scientology causes people it is destined for the dunghill of history as a marginal note on how mean and crazy people can be when they have a bad cause to follow.

To read the entire story go here:  http://www.scientology-cult.com/disconnect-a-rama.html