Critical Q&A #261

This week it’s answers about faith, David Miscavige and his power in Scientology, London org staff on YouTube and a lot more. Enjoy!

(1) In your last Q&A show, you mentioned faith as the main ingredient to religions. That makes me wonder, could faith be a misunderstood ingredient in critical thinking? Because there are many things which, like souls or spirits, we cannot see, smell, hear, taste etc, but which we absolutely count on and have faith in such as magnetic lines of flux, such as gravity, such as love. You could name many things you can’t touch which influence our lives and I think faith is just one of many. What say you?

(2) I have several questions about the infamous “Hole”. Most of the major documentaries tell us the story of how David Miscavige ordered all of his rivals to power into a make shift prison in two double wide trailers inside the no longer secret “Gold Base”….But on Youtube we can see a drone video showing us the empty space where the double wides USED to be. Can we assume Miscavige got rid of those trailers in case the Base got raided he can say ” See… there is no hole”? Do we know if the prisoners in the Hole are freed or are kept somewhere else? And have I got the names right? Hebert Jentszch, who used to be the “nominal President of the Church of Scientology” Is (was?) Hebert Jentszch kept in the Hole? If so, how could a then young inexperienced David Miscavige convince the President of the Church to be his Prisoner? Sure, I understand how the leaders of Scientology can manipulate members into harsh conditions, but how could some kid boss around the PRESIDENT of the group? If someone walked into Barack Obama’s office (back when he was President) and announced “I used to work for W so I am declaring that I’m now running this show and Im ordering you into a makeshift prison until I feel like ever letting you out!” would Obama follow these orders? Or would he have his secret service agents drag the kook away? What power, (emotional, psychological or physical) could Miscavige have over the bosses of Scientology (at the beginning)? I watched your interview with Jessie Prince where in he said that Miscavige threatened him (Prince) with his (Miscaviges) knowledge of some of the allegedly shady things Hubbard made him do over the years.. So Miscavige used that to make Prince go away…. but what could Miscavige have to convince his former bosses they should go into a freezing trailer for decades?

(3) London organization staff members are, for the past two weeks, now creating long form discussion and lecture videos and posting them to YouTube. To date, they have posted about 10 of them (see the link below). This seems contrary to my understanding of how social media is used and permitted within the church. Why is it that we don’t see more of this type of thing? Any commentary on what they are posting?

(4) I want to start this off by stating that I believe (based on what you’ve said in your own work) that your opinion on gun ownership has evolved over time and that you’re not as tacitly supportive of anti-gun legislation/positions as you once were. I think we both approach this topic from a place of good faith, wanting to balance the rights of the individual with the safety of the society around them. That being said, I think we may disagree on what best contributes to that balance and that is what I’d like to discuss if you’re willing. Recently, I saw a video wherein Alyssa Milano asked Americans to stop buying guns during this pandemic. Let’s leave aside the #MeToo hypocrisy elephant-in-the-room and focus on the audacity of the message in that video. In a time where there is increased potential for lawlessness and societal breakdown, people are seeking out effective means of defending themselves from a potential threat, so why is this being spoken about as though it’s odd or illogical? I find it peculiar (kindest word I could use) that the people who publicly and vociferously claim to champion the safety of the individual are often exuberantly supportive of empowering the State (the primary medium for abusing the individual throughout all of human history). I also find it peculiar that these same individuals (who can both afford to and often do have armed security around them practically 24/7) talk a great deal about imbalances of power. My question at this point to anyone who fancies themselves “anti-gun” (a position I find rather humorous seeing as people who hold said position are clearly fine with the State owning firearms, making them not so much against gun ownership but pro gun ownership monopoly in the hands of the State, an oddly authoritarian stance for self-proclaimed people’s champions) is where are the reasonable voices amongst you? Who amongst you has a suggestion that would be effective at reducing gun violence that simultaneously respects the rights of millions of your law-abiding neighbors? I’m hoping you, as a critic of a powerful organization that would happily weaponize anything they could to move against you,can see how potentially abusable something like “red flag” laws are. They would essentially grant individuals the power to write KRs on one another and I would assume that’s not something you’d be remotely okay with. I hope you and your wife are weathering this storm alright, stay healthy and I look forward to more of your work 🙂

(5) I just watched a video of yours where you said that the majority of Sea Org members are pre-clear. This totally shocked me – I don’t know why, but I assumed Scientologists would have to be clear in order to become part of the Sea Org. So now I’m wondering, how does a Scientologist get invited to the Sea Org? What determines their eligibility, if it isn’t their status on the Bridge? Is it more about their level of dedication to the church and potential usefulness to the Sea Org? Also, I’m guessing there’s a certain demographic that’s targeted for recruitment, like younger people who don’t have an established family or career – am I right about that? So many questions!