Has anyone ever met or tried Scientology like those first few cleansing classes? I just started watching the documentary and it's fascinating how something like this can still exist in the US when there is such a free flow of information, until you realize the Church controls every single aspect of people's lives. The whole psychology of shaming/disconnecting/destroying people's lives who attack Scientology seems oddly familiar to cancel culture too.

Overall, I like Leah and I'm glad she got out of it, but sometimes she does this thing where she's passive aggressive "trying to be funny" denigrating but then being flirty with the bearded sidekick guy on the show. Just seems a little out of place and jarring.

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by Anonymous

reply 23

November 11, 2020 11:09 AM

it's ok , john. leave and come out.

by Anonymous

reply 1

July 23, 2020 4:18 AM

Great show, utterly fascinating. Never missed an episode. A cult that has been horrifically abusing thousands for decades. Children separated from their parents, held hostage, child labor, molestation, brainwashing, mental and physical torture. Insanity. Escape attempts. Cover ups. Lives ruined. People following your every move. Phones tapped, constant surveillance, hidden video cameras, and local police that are also Scientologists. A fucking nightmare. Watch it. You'll never look at Cruise and Travolta the same way again.

by Anonymous

reply 2

July 23, 2020 5:47 AM

Mike Rindah, such a hot daddy!

by Anonymous

reply 3

July 23, 2020 5:56 AM

My best friend’s ex was in it for a year. He left when they wanted to start cleaning him of his homosexuality. Clearing? Whatever it is. He actually liked it up until then. If i remember right a year is the casual amount of time before you really need to commit or things get deeper into everything. That’s what he said. It’s been awhile Anyway, he didn’t regret it but is gay as a goose.

by Anonymous

reply 4

July 23, 2020 6:02 AM

It’s terrifying that the organization got away with infiltrating government offices. Operation snow white or whatever it was called. Totally fucked up.

by Anonymous

reply 5

July 23, 2020 6:20 AM

"bearded sidekick" is Mike Rinder and he is FUCKING HOT!!!

by Anonymous

reply 6

July 23, 2020 6:23 AM

Leah needs her hairline lowered a good 2 inches, she is going bald right before our eyes

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by Anonymous

reply 7

July 23, 2020 6:38 AM

R4 he did it for a year? Did he spend thousands of dollars?

by Anonymous

reply 8

July 23, 2020 2:11 PM

"...passive aggressive "trying to be funny" denigrating"

I noticed that too, as if she's still blaming Rinder for having been a part of the church, has some left over anger at him and tries to guilt him.

I can't imagine what it would be like (as it must be for Rinder) to know most of your life was taken from you and you didn't get it back until middle age. So tragic.

by Anonymous

reply 9

July 23, 2020 2:19 PM

She's correct to still blame Rinder. He did unspeakable evil acts as a leader of the cult and will have to live with that guilt for the rest of his life.

by Anonymous

reply 10

July 23, 2020 2:56 PM

R8 i don’t know what he spent. I just remember he was in it & then the gay thing & he was out.

by Anonymous

reply 11

July 23, 2020 6:45 PM

A friend of mine, like the person mentioned at R4, was in it for about a year. Their gateway was a Cocaine Anonymous group which was funded by the church. For the first 6 months they were really enthusiastic, but then they started asking for more and more money.

He realized they used the same tactic as his old dealers did, start off with freebies, get them hooked, then jack up the price.

He stuck with it though and really thought Scientology was integral to his recovery. They started telling him his homosexuality was "probably" a result of bad engrams. If he was truly "gay" he wouldn't be so promiscuous (he hadn't been in a relationship since going sober and claimed he had only hooked up 1 or 2 times since). His auditor then proposed a program which cost about 30k that would either "cure" him or make him a "functional homosexual" who wasn't promiscuous. He told them he would think about it and left, changed his phone number, found a new place to live, and deleted all traces of himself he could find online (this was about 2007 so it wasn't that hard).

To this day he gets random contacts from organizations with connections to the church. He's still clean and says he stays clean to spite them, because they told him he would go back to being a junkie if he left.

by Anonymous

reply 12

July 23, 2020 6:51 PM

I just don't understand how David Miscavige continues to get away with this stuff. I mean I understand all the legal statutes that get thrown around, but there seems to be tons of information pointing to abuse at this point. And authorities can do nothing? There was a raid in the 1960's that found tons of criminal shit. Were Catholic priests not held accountable for their abuses?

by Anonymous

reply 13

July 26, 2020 5:27 PM

And what the fuck has happened to his wife, Shelley Miscavige? Not seen in public, for what, decades? That's a frightening mystery.

by Anonymous

reply 14

July 26, 2020 6:45 PM

She hasn't been seen since 2006! And the Church can just put out a statement with her signature (as if that is proof of anything or can't be forged) and the police and FBI are just like, "oh ok, that's enough for us."

She hasn't been seen for 14 years!

by Anonymous

reply 15

July 26, 2020 6:51 PM

One of the best episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt which is all about Scientology, Tom and Shelly.

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by Anonymous

reply 16

July 26, 2020 6:57 PM

What I wouldn't give to have a tiny remote drone camera to see what the fuck is actually going on behind locked doors in all the many top secret Scientology command locations. There's a ton of shit that's being covered up.

by Anonymous

reply 17

July 26, 2020 7:01 PM

Funny you say that R17 because ex-scientologists on season 3 of the show actually mention that the FBI brought them in a few years ago and had them watch as an aerial drone went over one of the compounds. They specified to the FBI exactly which buildings would hold critical or criminal documents and information, but nothing ever came from it.

by Anonymous

reply 18

July 26, 2020 7:06 PM

But did they have drones fly around INSIDE the buildings, like a fly on the wall. That's what I want to see.

by Anonymous

reply 19

July 26, 2020 7:14 PM

R9 a friend who was watching it with me told me that's how Italian women from Brooklyn and NYC are, but I've seen some women who don't fit those characteristics be the same way. They just like to put others down because it them seem dominant and the boss.

To be fair, she doesn't do it a lot, but enough to notice.

by Anonymous

reply 20

July 26, 2020 8:38 PM

Been watching season three on Netflix, not sure if I saw the earlier two. Never realized that Clearwater, Florida must be where the whole “Clear” level must come from. So Leah’s stepfather stayed behind to sell the rest of their belongs, but never comes to Clearwater in the end. So did he just travel around and recruit families to go to Clearwater?

by Anonymous

reply 21

November 11, 2020 10:15 AM

I enjoyed the show the first season. But now it seems like it's just another entertainment series and the primary people are just there for the paychecks.

by Anonymous

reply 22

November 11, 2020 11:01 AM

Scientology is nasty if you leave. Their whole philosophy of fair game means that they will try to destroy you if you say anything negative about the organization. Look what they did to Jason beghe? But he got the last laugh because he's starting his 9th season on a hit show.

by Anonymous

reply 23

November 11, 2020 11:09 AM