November 1966. February 1995. December 2021.
Those are the three epochal turning points in a remarkable life that is the subject of this week’s podcast.
Last week, we were in Los Angeles to cover a couple of hearings in Leah Remini’s lawsuit. After the first one, we got a message from a surprising source. It was someone, a legend really, whom we had admired and written about for many years.
It was Dennis Erlich, inviting us to lunch.
This was the “OG” we mentioned in the Group Therapy podcast over the weekend, that we were so excited to meet, finally.
For the newcomers: In 1995, a spectacular battle occurred between Scientology and the Internet as the church and David Miscavige attempted to strangle an information revolution as it was just beginning.
The first and most shocking battle in that war broke out on February 13, 1995 when Scientology agents, accompanied by police, raided Dennis Erlich’s Glendale, California home and seized his computers because he had been quoting Scientology policies in online debates. More people were raided later that year in the US and Europe as Scientology tried to kill the discussion of its secretive policies on the early Internet.
Scientology lost that war, and we all owe Dennis a debt of gratitude that he went through years of legal battles so that the rest of us, nearly 30 years later, can write freely about Scientology’s controversies and abuses on the web.
But as you’ll learn in today’s podcast, Dennis has influenced our culture in other ways as well, which we talk about as we discuss the three epochal eras of a fascinating life.
November 1966. February 1995. December 2021.
We hope you are as enlightened and moved as we were to discuss this with such an important figure.
As usual, you can listen to the podcast, above, or watch the video version at our YouTube channel, below.
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Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain
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PODCAST: The three lives of Dennis Erlich, Scientology’s original Internet nemesis