Happy New Year!
We thought we’d kick off 2023 with something that seems to confound many of the people we run into: How, after all of the things that have been exposed about it, is Scientology still in business?
Sure, we understand why people are confused. After all, the horrible press Scientology regularly gets, the terrible reputation it has with the public, and the weak sauce Scientology has on offer (staring exercises, really?) should make it very difficult for this odd organization to pull in new people today.
And for the most part, we think that is the case. Scientology has hit on hard times, and it struggles to bring folks in.
But we thought it would be a good idea to start out the new year by reminding you that Scientology never, ever gives up. It doesn’t care about its public image, it doesn’t care about bad press. All it cares about is total, utter control of the few people who still think it has all the answers.
And so we thought we’d show you what that looks like in 2023, specifically. A reader let us know that the Scientology oversharer is at it again, and this time she’s let us in on the mentality of a church member and how they convince themselves to give so, so much money.
You remember our oversharer. She’s a young woman enthusiastically going up the “Bridge to Total Freedom” and sharing the experience with her social media followers. She’s posted some pretty remarkable videos gushing about the accomplishments of going through the “grades” and also “going Clear.”
Most recently, we checked in with her as she shared her travels in Dubai, her new relationship with a man who is as dedicated to Scientology as she is, and to her involvement with Scientology’s sneaky business consulting fronts.
This time, she let her followers know that she’s engaged to be married (and congratulations!) and she has now become a Scientology “Patron.”
What that means is that she’s given at least $50,000 to the International Association of Scientologists, which is Scientology’s membership organization. This is above and beyond the money she’s spent for Scientology courses, auditing, and other donation initiatives.
And yes, that seems like a lot of money for someone like our oversharer. How can she justify it? Well, glad you asked. Because she explains herself, and we found her statement really interesting…
Another huge win and accomplishment this year!!
This is something I've been persistently working toward in any way I can (and doing everything I can, despite anything) for many years and it's my Christmas present to humankind.
One thing [fiancé] and I both did that made all the difference was to become monthly supporters toward our humanitarian campaigns.
That way we're able to make small contributions of our choice and ability regularly and thus have a direct impact on making a better world and helping humankind.
It's so simple and so doable and yet makes all the difference and has a huge impact overall.
I think it's a responsibility we all share. And it's a small way to make a massive difference.
If you think about it, you don't even question making contributions toward yourself and your family to survive, but your dynamics don't stop there: the group and humankind are also part of your life.
If you are interested in finding out how you can help in this way too, PM me and I'll be happy to help!
We’d love to hear some thoughts from some of our former Scientologists about the oversharer’s concepts: That donating money for Scientology leader David Miscavige to use for new Ideal Orgs, and for litigation, and for hiring private investigators to spy on and destroy people, is “making a better world and helping humankind.”
We know the oversharer doesn’t believe that’s where her money’s going. But what does she think Scientology does to make the world a better place? Let us know what you think.
And let’s all remember, as bad as things seem to be for Scientology these days, it still has a powerful hold on people like our oversharer, and will continue to do all it can to maintain that grip.
A commotion at Gold Base
A reader asked us yesterday about a law enforcement response at Scientology's Gold Base this weekend.
We get this request every once in a while, and so we have an email already filled out to send to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office in such cases. Several times, they have responded, and it's usually nothing much so we usually don’t say anything about it.
This time, it was a strange one. A 34-year-old Hesperia man named Robert Scott Sigmund pointed a rifle out of his car at an employee at Scientology's base.
Police were called, and then pursued Sigmund when he fled.
The car chase led to Hemet, where Hemet PD picked up the chase.
Sigmund then got into an accident, and he was taken into custody, and the rifle was found in the car. No injuries were reported.
Sigmund was booked just after midnight on December 31 on assault with a deadly weapon and held in custody, with bail set at $25,000.
Why Sigmund would point a rifle at an employee of the base was not explained by the Sheriff's Office. But we imagine that Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw is being kept busy by church leader David Miscavige coming up with a way to blame Leah Remini for it!
A special treat for our subscribers
Last night at midnight our subscribers received the first episode of our new podcast series, “Group Therapy.”
We had assembled a crew of great Underground Bunker regulars — Andrea “i-Betty” Garner, Lynette “Observer” Waggoner, Phil Jones, and “Panopea Abrupta” — and we discussed the Scientology news of the week with them.
We had a great time! And we hope our subscribers did too. We wanted to give you something for helping to support the work we do here at the Underground Bunker.
We can hardly wait to record the second episode!
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
Here’s the link for today’s post at tonyortega.org
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Oversharer lives in a lovely cult box full of delusional certainties and mind-deadening "tech". She "flows
power" to Tiny Thetan's numbered accounts, knowing "the buck" stops(and starts and stops...) with
The Protector of The Only Dreck that can continuously drain brains and bank accounts continuously for 7 decades on Teegeeack, with tax exemptions and no significant, lasting legal penalties.
No questions need to be asked, nor do any doubts need to be considered, as "theta is senior to MEST" and Pompadoured Bitch-slapper is the best; hip hip hooray!
There’s thinking and there’s “thinking.” To me the oversharer is successfully not thinking. She’s just happy that this group pets her and strokes her. As long as the donations flow. (She should hide any pre-teen children, I have to add.)
I hope she doesn’t find that when the means to donate dry up, or real trouble occurs like it did for Whitney Mills, that the criminal organisation known as the “church” of $cientology dumps her like a hot potato and she is left trying to get in touch with lowly officials who probably never quite manage to return her calls except to get her to donate more. (See also “regraded being.”)