Critical Q&A #128

The weekly show where I answer questions from viewers left in the comments section of my Q&A videos or sent to me by email at AskChrisShelton@gmail.com. This week, the questions I answer are:

(1) My friend and I have been watching Leah Remini’s show on A&E. My friend happens to have a niece attending the Delphi School in Oregon. My friend got concerned after watching the show and finding out that kids have to sign a billion year contract. She was sure that it didn’t apply to her niece. She called the school and has found out that her niece has already signed!!! What we don’t understand is that her niece has been going to Delphi AND has been on anti-phychotic drugs for many years. We started doing research and it looks like you have to “qualify” to sign the contract. The strongest of these qualifications is that you have not taken any pharmaceutical drugs. My friend’s niece dropped a bombshell by telling my friend that she had stopped taking all of her drugs 6 months ago. We are wondering if it had something to do with signing the contract. We are kinda of worried because she is talking about becoming emancipated and joining the Sea Org (she is 15). Do you think she is eligible to sign the contract? Thanks for any info you could send our way!

(2) Watching you grow emotionally and deal with hard truths is really humbling and inspiring. Hard enough to do in general, but to do so publicly is really admirable. I am all for ending Scientology, but my fear is that DM will get away with plenty of money and parishioners will be left bereft and without psychological care. Do you think it would better to have a quick end or would a more gradual phasing out be better overall for the people still involved?

(3) Obviously Scientology searches for those who challenge it and expose it and do what they can to try to censor people who oppose it. Do all of those people who are at the Office of Special Affairs or whoever else deals with trying to counteract / shut down opposition actually know all the details of the OT levels, Xenu, and everything else that is not generally known amongst most Scientologists? If they are going to try to “debunk” / sue / criticise or gag opposition, then surely they must be aware of the content of the higher levels and equally the content written or leaked by opposition? Do these people receieve this material for free (presumably they are Sea Org) at an accelerated rate, just so they can deal with identifying / attempting to censor it – as presumably there is no point sending an army of people to attack opposition, if they have no clue what the opposition are saying and why? It would seem to be a bit like invading the UK, but having no clue what the capital is, what ports we have and the basic nature of what armed forces / defences we have.

(4) After the last few months of research I’ve been doing, I’ve found out that various celebrities whose work I respected are involved with High Demand Groups, for example, David Lynch and recently Elizabeth Moss. I find that it’s hard to enjoy David Lynch’s work now (as I once did) because of his involvement in TM. The same for the recent Handmaid’s Tale, which I throughly enjoyed but now think I don’t want to support by watching. It wasn’t hard to not watch ‘the Mummy’ of course, but other things that have real artistic merit now seem tainted. How do you deal with this issue? Would you advocate boycotting of the work?

(5) You and many other ex-Scientologists refer to “they” or to “Scientology” when referring to the promoters of all the craziness inflicted to org or lower-level Scientologists. Therefore it sounds like everyone is a victim of “someone above” but how can that be possible when we talk about very high ranking people? For example Mike Rinder: he seems like such a genuine and reasonable person, but he was the #2 of the organization! He had been for decades the closest person to Miscavige! How is it possible that Rinder “opened his eyes” on Scientology after so many years spent on the top of the top? Wasn’t he the master of puppets? Wasn’t HE Scientology more than anyone else (but one)? Don’t you believe that the leaders of a money making scam organization, ruining people lives, cannot be nothing but very mean and dishonest people?

(6) I am concerned about the people who leave the church and still believe that thetans have infested us and we need to be saved from their alien presence. What will they do to achieve this? Will they become loose canons?

(7) Did LRH ever write about divine feminism?

(8) I don’t know if you have been asked this before; knowing all the things the Church of Scientology does to its harshest and loudest critics, why are you not constantly looking over your shoulder?

(9) What happened to DM & SCN new TV channel?