In February, Danny Masterson hilariously stuck his neck out for Scientology, which was all
fired up about the Going Clear documentary. Danny was trying to defend his twisted religion because no one else will do it. Tom Cruise no longer speaks of Xenu’s spawn in public because the CO$ needs him to make nice with the public (so he can keep selling action movie tickets and fund the cult). John Travolta still talks, but he’s so nicey-nice about the CO$ that most people just laugh. John is a mess.
In contrast, Danny (along with his rude wife, Bijou Phillips) was not nice at all and came out with E-meters locked and loaded. He tried to recruit people by telling “ret*rded critics” to “go f*** themselves.” Danny and his three siblings are never leaving the cult. Now his father, Joe Reaichie (a former Australian rugby star) speaks to the Daily Mail about how his children haven’t talked to him in a decade. Joe was declared a suppressive person after he tried to get help for one of his kids’ anxiety issues. The CO$ doesn’t like psychiatry, so they expelled Joe. He lost his family and his entire social network. Some interview excerpts:
Falling for the cult in 1983: “Basically the upper levels of spiritual training were designed for you to be fully operational without a body in the sense that you could control kinetics through thought. That sounds f***ing crazy saying it in 2015 but at that time it seemed almost too unreal for it to be unreal. You wouldn’t think that anyone behind this organization would be deceiving you. There was no Internet, no blogging, no cell phones. If someone told you something there was no way to verify it or look it up. I was fairly gullible at the time but I had enough faith to want to give it a shot.”
Joining the Sea Org in 1984: “It was a big decision only because we were going to be trained as Class 12 auditors which was the highest pinnacle of counselor training to correspond with the highest level of spiritual attainment. There’s the class side and then there’s the PCs or ‘pre-clears’ who are labeled OT 1 up to 7. Now there’s an OT 8 but there wasn’t back then.”
The billion-year contract: “You’re basically signing your soul away,’ he said. ‘And it goes from bad to worse at that point.” Instead, he insisted, Sea Org was tantamount to ‘slave labor’ as he and Carole worked 60 or 70 hour weeks for $30 a week.”
Being cut off from his kids: “I’m sure my kids were encouraged to feel there is hope for their dad but his only hope to be salvaged is to follow the procedures of the church. That’s the brainwashing technique. Basically I was never going to do what they wanted me to do which was to do basic training all over again which would be an $80,0000 ordeal to brainwash me all over again until I comply. You have to understand. I love my children but it’s done. It’s over. I’m not going to violate my personal honor and integrity. They’re good kids but they’re ill informed and they’re brainwashed.”
The future of the CO$: “And the worst thing is Scientology won’t go away until it loses its charity status or its tax-exempt status. Until then what it does to families is absolute evil that’s allowed to persist.”
[From Daily Mail]
Joe covers the details of his expulsion in the full article. He also describes how auditing and the “members snitching on members” practice basically outlaws individual thought. Joe says he lost the ability to think critically, and the past decade has been very rough for him. Learning how to live in the real world and find a job after being a CO$ slave must be terrible. Not to mention losing your wife and four kids to a cult. Scientology tears apart families. It should be outlawed, or at the very least, lose its tax-exempt status.
Photos courtesy of WENN
How anyone could be so stupid as to get involved in this evil cult is beyond me. It’s so clearly insane. And it’s revolting that it has tax exempt status when it’s just a scam to separate people from their money.
That’s my thing. It makes me shake my head but also really sad that people could get sucked into this. And the worst despite the slavery and all the rest, it is still as the tax exempt status and is not being investigated at all. I just don’t get it
I think much of their success lies in the fact that they hid the crazy stuff until you were in pretty deep. People go into CO$ basically believing it’s about self-help. Add to that the auditing functions similarly to talk therapy, and I think people get something out of the early stages. If they led with the crazy, they’d only recruit sci-fi oddballs.
This ^^^. It sounds as if they wage a carefully calibrated, expensive war of attrition on your psyche, whilst gradually escalating the crazy over time. What also strikes me when reading one of these sad accounts is that they seem to make it all about you in the beginning of the indoctrination process… later switching the narrative & the practices to be all about the well-being of the organism as a whole, with strict allegiance taking precedence over you, any person or personal aspect in your life.
They preach empowerment and offer means of self-actualization with tin cans before they begin the blatant process of destroying your ability to function without them.
I think that everything they have is wrapped up in the establishment.
Consider how financially entrenched someone like Tom Cruise is at this point. He’s probably sunk literally every penny into it and is basically being “kept” by the church. We know the people who do services for him like security, landscaping and maids are all provided by the church. He fired his old publicist for telling him to tone down his Scientology rants so I’m assuming that his new one is either a member or a willing supporter. He may have even signed over his homes to them for all we know.
So leaving means admitting that he was crazy-town delusional for a long time, may have lost his marriage and lead his children and close friends into similar tragic circumstances. It means that he would need to give up everything financially and practically beg people he knows (and probably slighted and insulted and maybe even threatened indirectly with a scientologist’s flare) for help while trying to re-establish himself. He would also need to create relationships with people outside of the cult that would help further his career while he also hears the ominous doom clock of aging thundering in his ear nightly.
These people who’ve been in Scientology this long are stuck. A possible solution would be for a group of very very successful (and incredibly brave) Hollywood elite to create a public group that makes the statement loudly that there is a place to go to escape. If that existed, I think we’d see more high profile people running away.
@Mytbean. I read up on Cruise’s former publicist, Pat Kingsley. Wow, the power of a fantastic publicist is all I can say. What the hell was he thinking firing her. She was an investment well worth it.
You are so right, Mayamae. I’ve said on here before how a pair of them tried to butter up my younger sister and me at a bus stop one Summer’s evening. They sure did sweet-talk us. Thankfully, we come from a family of die-hard cynics, which is probably what saved us. At no stage did they mention the word “Scientology”, but a few weeks later, one of our current affairs programmes showed a bit of an exposé on their MO, as they’d had lots of reports about members accosting people on the streets of Sydney while trying to really get a foothold in Australia.
Recently, Justin Bieber was in Sydney with a Baldwin girl, attending, and being heavily and very publicly feted by, Hillsong Church. The more I read about that mob, the more they sound like a slicker version of CO$. I think the founders learnt a lot from the mistakes of CO$.
I think the word stupid should be replaced with ‘vulnerable’. People who are at low points in their lives, lonely, desperate, or fragile in some area, including ego, are often targets by all kinds of predators and cons. Add in isolation, over time, and you have captives who feel dependent. Not much of the inside abuses were published, as they are today, because CoS wielded an enormous amount of power in Hollywood and further through threats of suits, via harassment and even infiltration into government. Brave journalists, at the risk of harm or harassment, reported on deaths and abuses, and over time, the internet helped to turn the corner on popping open the lid.
ETA: People who are born into it, second generation, are really not that different from any other adherents to other religions who have been indoctrinated by their parents, toward a particular brand of faith. And faith allows for the suspension of reasoning. In fact, faith says ‘believe, even in the face of no evidence’. That may help some people and it may harm some people.
Kiddo, comment perfection.
Also, the 2nd generation kids might find it easier to drop their parents cause they were never really parented by them anyway. If the father was at sea org, chances are he saw the kids a few times a year, maybe not even that. You need to ask for permission to see your kids, and you work all day everyday, LITERALLY every day 365 days/week. Their “parent” is the church. And it does whatever it can to break any other bond this kids might have.
There’s an amazing interview with Astra Woodcraft on youtube, she was a 2nd gen. kid who went form the UK to the US cause her mother became a SC fanatic and told her entire family it was only for a year… it took her like 10 years to get out. I highly recommend it, she give lots and lots of interesting details about what life really looks like once you’re deep in this cult.
+1000 if you are in a vulnerable place where you need to find meaning to your existence or whatever, a lot of things that you once may have thought crazy might seem worth trying. Very smart people have belonged in cults. Cults are designed to attract the vulnerable or those searching for answers and they don’t necessarily reveal their abuses till they sucked you in.
If anyone knows, I’d really appreciate any info: For those who are born into it, do they, at any stage, have to go through any or all auditing processes, as newbies do? I guess when they’re young they might not have to, or if so, thei parents would pay. What happens when they’re earning their own money? Do they get preferential treatment, or must they also do their time as serfs?
Kiddo, I think that’s exactly what happened in this case. Masterson’s stepdad was part of one of NSW’s elite sports stars, playing in one of our top teams. He had an injury, which ended his career. It was at this time that he was approached. It fits, because he was a “name” in those days, and CO$ pushing hard to sign up “known” people. From what he told them about his injury etc., I think they gave him very special treatment – and for an extended period of time – and that’s how they sucked him in. He went to the AUS, where he met the mum, and I suspect she helped to solidify his commitment to CO$. Not that I’m “blaming” her; she was perhaps just supporting him in his mental journey, but she might also have known how special and carefully he was still being treated by CO$. In his story, he said he was in trouble with them long before he became a SP, because he started “asking questions” that they didn’t like. I’d really like to hear more about what happened.
Sorry, I didn’t proofread before posting:
He went to the U.S.
Bedhead, the dad played Rugby League (for Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs Roosters), not Rugby. The sports have similarities but are different.
People arent stupid for falling into a cult, they are just more in search of salvation. Any religion, Christianity too, was once a cult. Cult is just a word for a new religion. What scientology is falls under the category of a dangerous f*king group of nutjobs who coerce, lie, steal and abuse until they break people. Once you are in, its pretty hard to get out without feeling like suicide is the only option. The same can be said about some sects of Judaism and Christianity…its a mess. Just wow. Stupidity is not a prerequisite, its hard for the average, content, person to understand why anyone would get roped into something like this…but yeah…f*k…*SMH*
I try to have some sympathy for people who are second generation co$ but this jerk was responsible for his kids being brainwashed. So, no sympathy for him.
I sincerely doubt that when he first entered CO$, his thought was that it would brainwash his kids. I don’t believe that was his intention at all.
But now that he knows better, of course he regrets it and hopes that his kids get out of it.
I felt there was a tone of resentment or perhaps exasperation there regarding his kids. Like, enough is enough. It made me feel the same way – with him. His kids being out of touch with reality is his fault too, for joining in the first place – and then staying too long.
He even sounded proud of the level he reached – as if that charade matters now!
How sad that people would let a made up cult dictate their relationships.
Danny needs to find his inner Hyde. Hyde would never be hoodwinked into letting some individual or organization control his thoughts, feelings and interactions.
It’s sad that his father fell for this, and he has the onus of that for what followed in his family. He should apologize for that. Coming out with his story is interesting for the masses, but I think it only serves as a further wedge between him and his son. There is always doubling down from CoS after these confessionals.
That’s the part that really breaks my heart. I was in love with Steven Hyde for a minute there, and it’s so disappointing that the man who plays him is so un-Hyde-y. Hyde would have ripped a few pages out of Diantetics and rolled a joint with them, and as he smoked it he would have gone on an epic rant about how Scientology wants us to be mindless so that they can feed us to the government, man (when it was his turn in the circle, of course)
Oh no, he played such a normal, anti any kind of religion guy in that 70’s show and in real life he believes in aliens and all other bs creatures.
I truly beleived that scientologist needs psychiatric help, for real.
To be honest, I don’t think any “religion” should be tax exempt! They should pay taxes just like everyone else!!!!!
This. I read a stat somewhere (I’ll look it up if anyone is curious) that if churches paid taxes–ALL churches–we could wipe out some serious national debt. Not saying that’s what the number would go towards irl but just numbers.
Except there are a lot of religions that actually would qualify for nonprofit exemptions under the 501(c)(3) rules anyway, given that a lot of them do actual nonprofit work. So your point isn’t exactly working.
Especially when they are trying to wield political influence.
Especially when they stay in business thanks to child labour….
Right. Any legit charitable work would still be covered by a 501c(3) designation, just like any other charity. Yes, the point “works”, as charitable organizations are beholden/subject to checks and balances including mandatory, regular federal and state audits.
Yes, couldn’t some freedom of speech/separation of church and state objections & issues be solved if the religious org. in question had to itemize and separate its charitable vs. religious activities and expenses?
It might be a pain, but forcing them to draw clearer lines within their own budgets and activities would garner tax revenue from the church/org. end whilst leaving more money for the charitable/non-profit services side of things. If the church/org. claimed the two sides were indistinguishable, then surely some equation of percentage could be applied and enforced? (They already make individuals do a similar thing for work-at-home deductions and expenses within normal living expenses…)
Reintergrating is so hard for these people. I took in a friend and he had no idea how to use a computer, any new music, asked permission for the smallest things like using salt. It was unreal. He’s 29 now, has a job as a bagger because anything requiring him to make decisions on his own is too much; it sends him into a panic attack. He’s not used to it.
This cult is f*cking evil. It hurts people. It takes away their identity until they’re a shell. And a religion *solely* based on money (because let’s be real about the pastors with mansions and planes) should not be tax exempt.
Good on you, MonicaQ – no matter how heartbreaking it must have been to witness your friend struggling. Just one irony being that what you alone were doing was the most sacred and charitable aspect of your friend’s experience with the CO$ ‘religion.’
Scientology is illegal in France. Just straight up illegal.
Germany, too!
It ought to be illegal in Scandinavia. Instead, they buy the most prominent spots in the self-help isles. With, of course, no mention at first of religion, just suggestions for classes you can take for your personal improvement. It really is entrapment!
Taxing religious groups would require a constitutional amendment. That would open up the Pandora’s Box of the federal government having a say in religious decisions; exactly what we don’t want in this country. I’m afraid that if you want the feds to keep their hands off your spiritual life, you’ll have to accept the flip side: the federal government keeps its hands off a religious group’s monies.
Now, having said that, I think the feds could do a better job of proving that Co$ is NOT a religion and merely a tax-evading business masquerading as a religion.
Since there is separation of church and state, any religious organization that attempts to impose dogma into law should no longer have religion status. At that point, they are funded lobbyists and should be taxed accordingly.
In other countries, people can practice religion any way they like but tax breaks are only for actual nonprofit activities that serve the community, such as soup kitchens. Seems plenty fair to me.
“Give what is Caesar’s to Caesar, and give what is God’s to God.” Jesus wanted Peter and his other disciples to pay taxes, why should churces be exempt?
You have to read the full article. It is fascinating. I read it a few days ago.
COS is disgusting the way they brainwash the children when someone leaves the cult. He tried to do everything to stay in their good graces after he left so he could have a relationship with their children, but they destroyed that. It really me realize about several years of half custody of her children how insidious the cult was and how they turned the kids against her as they got older. She is quiet about it so she can have a tiny bit of a relationship with them or keeping the door open hoping they will come back one day. But it’s obvious she was deemed a suppressive person and the kids were turned against her.
Also, the part about when he was in Sea Org was fascinating.
Yes it gives great insight into what happened with Nicole Kidman.
I forgot to say Nicole Kidman was who I was talking about. At least you understood. LOL
Tax exemption is a religious exemption (I actually have a problem with that but that’s another story) churches in the U.S. have a common deity. God based. Xenu isn’t a deity.
Why the IRS hasn’t yanked the religious based exemption is beyond me. I know the story of the “church” threatening/filing lawsuits against the IRS back in the day but this isn’t L. Ron’s IRS these days & this cult’s cat is out of the bag.
Does religion = deity, though?
Tax exemption has nothing to do with a common deity. That implies on Christian/Jewish churches should receive exemption. Not all churches in the US have a common deity. Hinduism and Buddhism are examples of churches in the US without a common deity.
The problem with CO$ isn’t it’s lack of a common deity, it’s that it’s a cult that violates human rights.
Danny – you’re in a cult. So….now what?
That convo is REAL deep. On a more gossipy note…there was a blind about a girl who slept with two brothers and they knew, they shared her and one of them married her. Thought to be bijou and masterson bros…
Now we’re talking. Good, clean dirt that we can sink our teeth into. Thanks for refocusing this! (total sarcasm but appreciative sarcasm 🙂