Last year, Tammy Synovec started off 2024 for us with a wonderful story about how she had found herself on a flight sitting next to a Scientologist and had the opportunity to tell him what had driven her away from it after so many years as a member.
Don't know if non-Scientologists are going to really get the bitterly harsh tone of this letter, couched as it is in a barrage of Scientologese.
Basically she is saying that her needs come first, that it was selfish to have children when it could affect the almighty mission, hit the road jack and doncha come back no more. Like the proverbial "Dear John" letter.
She uses every tool in the Scientology toolbox to cut this guy down for wanting to have an actual life.
Disconnection, abuse and the freeloader debt.
If my employer threatened to charge me for on-the-job training and job-related services I would just let him know that my lawyers would be speaking to his lawyers soon. Not so in the Scientology world. Some I have heard of were still paying this asinine "debt" years after they had completely left Scientology. It is not legal or real but Scientologists take it seriously. When I was leaving I actually asked the security guards what my debt would be. When they told me to figure it up for myself, I got wise to it.
At one point the freeloader payments to the Gold Base were more than they made for sales of products. One of the main functions of the Director of Income was to make sure the cash came in from former members.
One thing you can say about Scientologists, they really know about reactive buttons and how to push them hard. It is probably the longest part of the Communications Course, called "bull-bait", added into every one of the drills. You drill ignoring it as a student, then you drill delivering it as the coach. Back and forth through the whole course. It is almost as though Hubbard thought abuse was an important part of life...
I am a never-in, but I understood most of it - it's the morning and my foggy brain can't recall what H,E&R stands for - and good grief that was hard-core.
The semi-subtle implying he might have been leaving with others than Tammy was not unexpected but still disgusting to see.
I wonder if she's helped all those missions and Narconons all over the world because she really is a great leader - as far as CoS expects - or because she wears out her welcome everywhere they go.
HE&R is a classic. Stands for Human Emotion and Reaction.
As a true Scientologist you are not supposed to be human with human emotions that react to situations. As Dave likes to say, you are supposed to be cold chromium steel. None of that mushy human stuff.
Homo Novus. Another example of BF Skinner's crazy idea, "Beyond Freedom and Dignity". Skinner was an early proponent of behavioral modification, following Pavlov's Soviet-era experiments with dogs.
Sorry Scientologists, should have listened to J. R. R. Tolkien. "He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom". (Sorry CERN) By attempting to improve humankind, they horrifically broke people like this poor woman.
Right. Because clearly the best way to improve your communication, your interpersonal relationships, career, etc. is using HE&R. I am sure countless relationships could have been saved if just one person had approached the other's heartfelt pleas, reachouts, or wishes with zero emotions and reactions.
I have been trying to avoid sarcasm here lately, but this is too much. No wonder so many Scientologists choose to work for other Scientologists. Their boss won't be confused if their subordinate sits in a meeting dead-eyed and blank faced.
Selling the Hubbard quackery sets up every Scientology outfit. All the fanatics can do is blame everyone but Hubbard and their quackery that doesn’t sell.
I’d today go Xenu on all Scientologists trying to blame everyone else. It’s Hubbard’s fault in the end. Xenu on them.
Oh, I got it loud and clear techie, even though I didn't know what all the abbreviations were--didn't matter. I'd love to see this letter posted everywhere to prevent people from joining or those with kids to get the hell out!
For anyone who has never been in Scientology, that letter is so dense with jargon as to be almost unreadable. Reading it from the outside looking in, two paragraphs struck me as singularly appalling. They are also indicative of how a true Scientologist is brainwashed to believe.
First:
“Neither you nor Tammy checked with anybody here when you decided to have children. Both of you were contracted staff members at the time. I consider this a situation in itself as both of you now motivate on the group for not being more understanding about the scene with your kids. Have you ever considered the hardship you have added to the mission with the addition of 2 kids? You probably haven't looked at that.”
Their employer is berating him for the harm he caused to the employer by having children? Wait….what?… But seriously, anyone reading that letter can see a perfect example of how a Scientologist is always at fault when something goes wrong. Always blame someone else.
Second:
“I want to comment on one more thing that you brought up in your comm and that is regarding Tammy and her illness. You never one time that I know of used Scientology to handle her. I never knew you to give her or the kids assists, or to open an LRH book to find some answers. Tylenol and wog doctors and their evaluations became the solution. And the mission was targeted as the source of their illness. I ask you to look at what your actions and inactions did to create this scene.”
And there, boys and girls, you have it in writing. A Scientologist getting berated for not using Scientology to fix a physical illness. This should be included in Whitney Mills court case.
Great idea about including the letter in Whitney Mill's court case. The letter should be sent to the prosecuting attorney. I think it would be powerful ammunition for the prosecution.
In this day and age, a letter like this would not exist in the church, if only to protect themselves legally.
In 1998, I can see it. I think I received a few of my own although not about these issues.
Cathy Steiner has always had a big name in the SCN community. Getting a letter like that from her guaranteed everyone took it as truth and all these actions she mentioned, comm ev, etc would be a wash. No one was going to stick up for this hard-working dad with the impossible schedule and missing wife. He was going to be labeled, probably even with some goldenrod issued (paperwork posted around saying what a terrible person he was, a distraction).
The org was going to go after the money mentioned (for his auditing). Cathy had on the GI lineup (money the org will make in the coming week).
It would be strongly implied he was antisocial, a suppressive and no one had called him on it yet.
Don't forget all his contacts, people he had worked with for years, friends, and possibly even babysitters ( where they find 70 hours of child care for 250.00) were going to turn on him because they did not want to be the next target.
If this caused some type of permanent fissure between him and his wife, she was probably better off anyway because he might be (whisper) an SP.
Let's not even imagine the kids with their 250.00 babysitter. Sick mostly. In a dirty playroom all day long getting assists when they got a fever rather than regular medical care.
This was justice, Wild West, SCN style. Cathy was calling them the way she saw them and she was an OT. She must have known what she was talking about. She had heightened perceptions due to her OTness so no one is going to say anything against her.
I could write a 3-act play about this one letter. It was so common then that everyone accepted it.
I am sorry the husband went through this. We didn't have many staff back in the day and he was probably a pretty good one. A letter like the above was why we were so short-staffed (Plus no pay, terrible hours, no benefits, and definitely no family time, darn those pesky children people insisted on having).
So we ran around like zombies in our mismatched Walmart outfits, wearing 10 hats (job functions) each and doing the irreducible minimum on each one.
I guess that is my rant for this morning. Don't get me started on non-enturbulation orders which was a sheet printed with all the things people didn't like about you, each point exaggerated, all typed up, and put on the wall.
We were constantly stressed out about time and money. He had looked at anti SCN stuff in the early 90’s which dogged him the entire rest of his time. By the time he went clear, it was me that was the problem because I talked to SP’s and told him and my daughter about what I learned (the hole, etc). He was sent home from Flag in 2015 to handle me before they would allow him to attest. He was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer 2 months later.
I am sorry you and your husband went through that. The stories from that time period are horrific and I can only be glad we have people like Tony in our corner.
I was disgusted but not surprised with what I read in Cathy's letter. During my time in Scientology back in the 80s, I dealt with people just like her at my local org. I've never seen so many dumb and ignorant people under the same roof as I have at my local Scientology org. Good for you for turning your back on this despicable cult that masquerades as a 'church' and 'religion'. Happy New Year.
I think you can add entitled (although deluded) OTs. I am not saying anyone who is/was an OT is bad but some carried this label around like it were an actual super power while not producing super power results.
I will say I did appreciate the line about clearing the MEST from his desk. As someone who enjoys some Sci-Fi it made me picture a desk with like a portable space-time portal on it. How does a desk have the full MEST acronym on it???
Because mest is composed of mest; you can't have something that has substance and persists unless it has these 4 aspects, your Apple watch, a piece of toast, all MEST. I may not be explaining it well but things are mest ( matter, energy, space, and time) and have to have the elements of mest to persist in their current form.
The simplicity of this. Mix a computer program with a human who agrees to be fully endoctrinated and you get a “Sciebot” or if more dedicated a “Seaborg”. The mix of Robot with human is stressful and to relieve the stress the human allows the robot to take over.
"Neither you nor Tammy checked with anybody here when you decided to have children." Since when does anyone have to get your permission to have children? The whole tone of the letter is accusatory and if I had read that in front of Cathy Steiner, I might have gone postal.
Steiner was the quintessential $cieno manager. It is always the minion's fault if anything isn't right. The line 'cure it with $cientology' really angered me. $cientology was the problem, not the solution.
He should have been giving his KIDS assists... should have been HANDLING his kids...
Yes, you should handle your kids. You should handle them with care and unconditional love. They should feel safe and protected. They should see good role models in you as you display love and support for your spouse and family, for having self-respect, for trying to get out of toxic situations.
I know it's blasphemy, but I don't care what LRH said about kids are just thetans in young bodies. Kids are kids and deserve a chance to be just that, kids.
I will never get over the sheer hypocrisy of what Scientology espouses versus how they actually work and treat people.
Astonishing that they put stuff like this in writing without ever worrying about it coming back to bite them in the ass. (I doubt this would ever have gone out like this now!)
I didn't understand all the alphabet soup nonsense, but I understood enough of it and feel horrified that Derrick and Tammy didn't think what kids would do to them and/or more importantly, the mission. Seriously??? Just awful. That letter is like getting whipped without a belt.
The idea that any human being would donate themselves in this way is beyond my ability to comprehend. To be subjected to such a degrading, humiliating, shameful, mortifying, ignominious, undignified, inglorious way makes me puke.
Don't know if non-Scientologists are going to really get the bitterly harsh tone of this letter, couched as it is in a barrage of Scientologese.
Basically she is saying that her needs come first, that it was selfish to have children when it could affect the almighty mission, hit the road jack and doncha come back no more. Like the proverbial "Dear John" letter.
She uses every tool in the Scientology toolbox to cut this guy down for wanting to have an actual life.
Disconnection, abuse and the freeloader debt.
If my employer threatened to charge me for on-the-job training and job-related services I would just let him know that my lawyers would be speaking to his lawyers soon. Not so in the Scientology world. Some I have heard of were still paying this asinine "debt" years after they had completely left Scientology. It is not legal or real but Scientologists take it seriously. When I was leaving I actually asked the security guards what my debt would be. When they told me to figure it up for myself, I got wise to it.
At one point the freeloader payments to the Gold Base were more than they made for sales of products. One of the main functions of the Director of Income was to make sure the cash came in from former members.
One thing you can say about Scientologists, they really know about reactive buttons and how to push them hard. It is probably the longest part of the Communications Course, called "bull-bait", added into every one of the drills. You drill ignoring it as a student, then you drill delivering it as the coach. Back and forth through the whole course. It is almost as though Hubbard thought abuse was an important part of life...
I am a never-in, but I understood most of it - it's the morning and my foggy brain can't recall what H,E&R stands for - and good grief that was hard-core.
The semi-subtle implying he might have been leaving with others than Tammy was not unexpected but still disgusting to see.
I wonder if she's helped all those missions and Narconons all over the world because she really is a great leader - as far as CoS expects - or because she wears out her welcome everywhere they go.
HE&R is a classic. Stands for Human Emotion and Reaction.
As a true Scientologist you are not supposed to be human with human emotions that react to situations. As Dave likes to say, you are supposed to be cold chromium steel. None of that mushy human stuff.
Homo Novus. Another example of BF Skinner's crazy idea, "Beyond Freedom and Dignity". Skinner was an early proponent of behavioral modification, following Pavlov's Soviet-era experiments with dogs.
Sorry Scientologists, should have listened to J. R. R. Tolkien. "He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom". (Sorry CERN) By attempting to improve humankind, they horrifically broke people like this poor woman.
If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Right. Because clearly the best way to improve your communication, your interpersonal relationships, career, etc. is using HE&R. I am sure countless relationships could have been saved if just one person had approached the other's heartfelt pleas, reachouts, or wishes with zero emotions and reactions.
I have been trying to avoid sarcasm here lately, but this is too much. No wonder so many Scientologists choose to work for other Scientologists. Their boss won't be confused if their subordinate sits in a meeting dead-eyed and blank faced.
Xenu’s body-thetan exorcism is an impossible sell.
Selling the Hubbard quackery sets up every Scientology outfit. All the fanatics can do is blame everyone but Hubbard and their quackery that doesn’t sell.
I’d today go Xenu on all Scientologists trying to blame everyone else. It’s Hubbard’s fault in the end. Xenu on them.
Oh, I got it loud and clear techie, even though I didn't know what all the abbreviations were--didn't matter. I'd love to see this letter posted everywhere to prevent people from joining or those with kids to get the hell out!
For anyone who has never been in Scientology, that letter is so dense with jargon as to be almost unreadable. Reading it from the outside looking in, two paragraphs struck me as singularly appalling. They are also indicative of how a true Scientologist is brainwashed to believe.
First:
“Neither you nor Tammy checked with anybody here when you decided to have children. Both of you were contracted staff members at the time. I consider this a situation in itself as both of you now motivate on the group for not being more understanding about the scene with your kids. Have you ever considered the hardship you have added to the mission with the addition of 2 kids? You probably haven't looked at that.”
Their employer is berating him for the harm he caused to the employer by having children? Wait….what?… But seriously, anyone reading that letter can see a perfect example of how a Scientologist is always at fault when something goes wrong. Always blame someone else.
Second:
“I want to comment on one more thing that you brought up in your comm and that is regarding Tammy and her illness. You never one time that I know of used Scientology to handle her. I never knew you to give her or the kids assists, or to open an LRH book to find some answers. Tylenol and wog doctors and their evaluations became the solution. And the mission was targeted as the source of their illness. I ask you to look at what your actions and inactions did to create this scene.”
And there, boys and girls, you have it in writing. A Scientologist getting berated for not using Scientology to fix a physical illness. This should be included in Whitney Mills court case.
Great idea about including the letter in Whitney Mill's court case. The letter should be sent to the prosecuting attorney. I think it would be powerful ammunition for the prosecution.
And Steiner was probably thinking that these quitters were traitorous for not getting up to the Xenu body-thetan exorcism levels of Scientology too!
The world needs OTs like Steiner…Not!
“please don't write a bunch of H,E&R in your comm”
Years later reinvented by social media commentators as “fuck your feelings.”
How very, very, radicalised.
Best definition of HE&R I've ever heard.
In this day and age, a letter like this would not exist in the church, if only to protect themselves legally.
In 1998, I can see it. I think I received a few of my own although not about these issues.
Cathy Steiner has always had a big name in the SCN community. Getting a letter like that from her guaranteed everyone took it as truth and all these actions she mentioned, comm ev, etc would be a wash. No one was going to stick up for this hard-working dad with the impossible schedule and missing wife. He was going to be labeled, probably even with some goldenrod issued (paperwork posted around saying what a terrible person he was, a distraction).
The org was going to go after the money mentioned (for his auditing). Cathy had on the GI lineup (money the org will make in the coming week).
It would be strongly implied he was antisocial, a suppressive and no one had called him on it yet.
Don't forget all his contacts, people he had worked with for years, friends, and possibly even babysitters ( where they find 70 hours of child care for 250.00) were going to turn on him because they did not want to be the next target.
If this caused some type of permanent fissure between him and his wife, she was probably better off anyway because he might be (whisper) an SP.
Let's not even imagine the kids with their 250.00 babysitter. Sick mostly. In a dirty playroom all day long getting assists when they got a fever rather than regular medical care.
This was justice, Wild West, SCN style. Cathy was calling them the way she saw them and she was an OT. She must have known what she was talking about. She had heightened perceptions due to her OTness so no one is going to say anything against her.
I could write a 3-act play about this one letter. It was so common then that everyone accepted it.
I am sorry the husband went through this. We didn't have many staff back in the day and he was probably a pretty good one. A letter like the above was why we were so short-staffed (Plus no pay, terrible hours, no benefits, and definitely no family time, darn those pesky children people insisted on having).
So we ran around like zombies in our mismatched Walmart outfits, wearing 10 hats (job functions) each and doing the irreducible minimum on each one.
I guess that is my rant for this morning. Don't get me started on non-enturbulation orders which was a sheet printed with all the things people didn't like about you, each point exaggerated, all typed up, and put on the wall.
Happy 2025.
We were constantly stressed out about time and money. He had looked at anti SCN stuff in the early 90’s which dogged him the entire rest of his time. By the time he went clear, it was me that was the problem because I talked to SP’s and told him and my daughter about what I learned (the hole, etc). He was sent home from Flag in 2015 to handle me before they would allow him to attest. He was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer 2 months later.
I am sorry you and your husband went through that. The stories from that time period are horrific and I can only be glad we have people like Tony in our corner.
I was disgusted but not surprised with what I read in Cathy's letter. During my time in Scientology back in the 80s, I dealt with people just like her at my local org. I've never seen so many dumb and ignorant people under the same roof as I have at my local Scientology org. Good for you for turning your back on this despicable cult that masquerades as a 'church' and 'religion'. Happy New Year.
I think you can add entitled (although deluded) OTs. I am not saying anyone who is/was an OT is bad but some carried this label around like it were an actual super power while not producing super power results.
I will say I did appreciate the line about clearing the MEST from his desk. As someone who enjoys some Sci-Fi it made me picture a desk with like a portable space-time portal on it. How does a desk have the full MEST acronym on it???
Because mest is composed of mest; you can't have something that has substance and persists unless it has these 4 aspects, your Apple watch, a piece of toast, all MEST. I may not be explaining it well but things are mest ( matter, energy, space, and time) and have to have the elements of mest to persist in their current form.
Let’s not overlook the dig at the admin too “our admin is slower than the physical universe” – damn, what sick burn! Sheesh talk about exaggerated. 🙄
Haha
The simplicity of this. Mix a computer program with a human who agrees to be fully endoctrinated and you get a “Sciebot” or if more dedicated a “Seaborg”. The mix of Robot with human is stressful and to relieve the stress the human allows the robot to take over.
Xenu-bot!
Yes, for added mind control Xenu-bot
An overt to have two kids in a row? Oh my sad heart for everyone who is still in that crazy organization.
Nothing terrified Hubbard quite as much as HE & R did. Miscavige just follows in his master’s footsteps.
"Neither you nor Tammy checked with anybody here when you decided to have children." Since when does anyone have to get your permission to have children? The whole tone of the letter is accusatory and if I had read that in front of Cathy Steiner, I might have gone postal.
Steiner was the quintessential $cieno manager. It is always the minion's fault if anything isn't right. The line 'cure it with $cientology' really angered me. $cientology was the problem, not the solution.
He should have been giving his KIDS assists... should have been HANDLING his kids...
Yes, you should handle your kids. You should handle them with care and unconditional love. They should feel safe and protected. They should see good role models in you as you display love and support for your spouse and family, for having self-respect, for trying to get out of toxic situations.
I know it's blasphemy, but I don't care what LRH said about kids are just thetans in young bodies. Kids are kids and deserve a chance to be just that, kids.
I will never get over the sheer hypocrisy of what Scientology espouses versus how they actually work and treat people.
Astonishing that they put stuff like this in writing without ever worrying about it coming back to bite them in the ass. (I doubt this would ever have gone out like this now!)
I didn't understand all the alphabet soup nonsense, but I understood enough of it and feel horrified that Derrick and Tammy didn't think what kids would do to them and/or more importantly, the mission. Seriously??? Just awful. That letter is like getting whipped without a belt.
"Neither you nor Tammy checked with anybody here when you decided to have children."
I am so unable to can right now.
The idea that any human being would donate themselves in this way is beyond my ability to comprehend. To be subjected to such a degrading, humiliating, shameful, mortifying, ignominious, undignified, inglorious way makes me puke.
Man Cathy Steiner goes hard! What a horrible boss. geeze lady!