Allen ‘Alanzo’ Stanfield spent 16 years in Scientology, quit, became a critic, then a critic of both Scientology and the critics of Scientology. Those who wish to see more can visit Alanzosblog.com. Contact him at alanzosblog@gmail.com
By Allen ‘Alanzo’ Stanfield
Sea Org
Leaving the Sea Org and breaking your billion year contract usually does result in a freeloader bill.
The “punishment’ that goes with that bill is that you become ineligible to receive any Scientology services, such as auditing and training to be an auditor, until the freeloader bill is paid in full.
Leaving the Sea Org can result in a “freeloader’s bill,” a retroactive billing for any auditing received or any Scientology training received while in the Sea Org. The “freeloader debt” is not legally binding. Photo: ScientologyCult.com.
I was Excommunicated as a Suppressive Person
Excommunication is done through what is called “Declare”, as in formally declaring the ex-member as a Suppressive Person, and then “Expulsion” from the Church. That’s when everyone the Church has power over is told to disconnect from you. This disconnection decree sometimes works for them, and sometimes doesn’t.
When I was “declared,” I was not allowed to see my formal SP [Suppressive Person] declare because they knew if I got my hands on that yellow piece of paper, listing all my “crimes” and high crimes”, I would post it on the internet.
I described the place above my fireplace where I would frame it, light it, take a picture of it as a badge of honor, and prominently place it on my blog, too.
So they had friends and family of mine come in to the org individually to be secretly shown my SP declare Each was told to disconnect from me. My ex-wife laughed in their face. My sister and brother-in-law told them to go to hell. Nobody in my family, and most of my friends, never disconnected from me.
They were then told that if they remained connected to me that they themselves would be declared suppressive people, too. No one cared and they didn’t move forward with that threat because my ex-wife was a big donor and they needed her money and my sister and brother-in-law were needed as paying customers.
They’ve all since left Scientology and we laugh about it, and them, to this day.
As an ex-Sea Org member, you don’t automatically get declared excommunicated unless you do what I did – get on the Internet and start exposing them with all you’ve got. Then you get declared. But they know that if you do that, they really have no power over you. They have to try any way.
It’s L. Ron Hubbard’s policy.
A Similarity Between Scientology and NXIVM
For me, the clearest connection between Scientology and NXIVM was the use of EMs [explorations of meaning] on Danielle, who had been Keith’s undocumented slave and who’d hacked Clare Bronfman’s father, Edgar Bronfman’s email and distributed them to the NXIVM team for years.
Once she’d found a boy she wanted to be in love with, and told Keith, she was – all of a sudden – “aberrated” in Scientology terms. She needed to be “handled”.
And so, with all that she knew about the inner workings of NXIVM, and the danger her knowledge and possible disloyalty posed, she was sequestered in her room and made to work out her ‘aberrations’, with occasional EMs to view her progress.
This is totally Scientology. Scientology auditing, which I presently understand to be similar to EMs, can be used to help people, or to enslave them. And when I learned about Daniela, I saw Keith’s clear understanding of Scientology and the dual purpose of “therapy” as it is used in the abuse of power.
People DO have “aberrations” and trauma that can hold them back personally. And there ARE therapeutic techniques that can help people overcome that. But when ‘aberration’ is assigned to knowledge and disloyalty to the group or ideology, then the use of therapy becomes a totalitarian nightmare.
Like the Church of Scientology is under David Miscavige. And how NXIVM was for the inner circle around Keith Raniere.
Neither Scientology nor NXIVM had to be used this way. But this is the arc of descent for many human beings who have tasted the power of the position of cult leader.
On Mike Rinder
You have to realize that while Mike Rinder is making Scientology look bad, making Scientology look bad will never actually change anything, and it won’t get justice for the murder of Kyle Brennan – for just one instance.
Making Scientology look bad fools anticultists into believing something is being done while nothing is being done at all. It channels their bloodlust into completely impotent activity that keeps David Miscavige in power, in control of billions, doing whatever he wants to Scientologists.
David Miscavige doesn’t want new Scientologists. They are a liability to his tax-free real estate empire.
As long as no criminal indictments are filed, along with their penetrative powers where money can’t make it all go away, then Miscavige and Rinder et al are safe and the real estate is intact.
Avoiding criminal indictments is the whole strategy.
That’s Mike Rinder’s job. And he’s doing it right in front of everyone’s eyes, and they all think he’s a hero.
Meanwhile, Kyle Brennan, David Miscavige’s mother-in-law Flo Barnett, Shawn Lonsdale, Ken Ogger and others are murders made to look like suicides – which as Mike Rinder said on a recent podcast – is Hubbard’s official OSA [Office of Special Affairs] policy.
Despite running the most criminal part of Scientology for 22 years, Mike Rinder has never revealed a crime. And he has also done his best to silence and discredit anyone who has.
In Public Relations/Media Crisis Management terms, Mike Rinder is running what is called a “limited hangout”.
I want to see criminal prosecutions for the criminal acts committed, and justice for the families of Kyle Brennan and others. Mike Rinder and David Miscavige do not.
Rinder Does Not Expose Crimes Only Morally Repugnant Behavior
Mike Rinder never exposes anything new, and especially never exposes anything that would put David Miscavige into criminal jeopardy.
Yet Mike Rinder ran the most criminal part of Scientology, the Office of Special Affairs, for Miscavige for 22 years – reporting daily directly to Miscavige.
Rinder distracts and obfuscates, or discredits anyone who talks about things that would put David Miscavige, or any other office of the Church of Scientology, into criminal jeopardy. He has a network of people doing that for him.
I’ve watched him do this for 13 years. And documented much of this scam on my blog.
There is a reason David Miscavige has never been criminally prosecuted, or even charged.
Yes, Frank. Look into this further.
Truth About Kyle Brennan
There is a blog run by Kyle Brennan’s mother, Victoria Britton, who’s son was found dead in his father’s Clearwater, FL apartment, having been shot in the head with a 357 magnum handgun. Fourteen pieces of evidence were wiped clean of blood and fingerprints at the crime scene. The bullet that killed Kyles was never found. Multiple detectives lied to the family about the investigation.
Kyle’s father worked for David Miscavige’s twin sister as her personal assistant, Denise Miscavige. Both Kyle’s father and Denise Miscavige changed their stories multiple times. The death was ruled a “suicide” even though no gun powder reside was found on Kyle’s hands. Denise, Kyle’s father, and Denise’s husband were all at the apartment that night. They were not tested for gun residue.
Victoria Britton will be releasing a book by a major publisher in the coming year.
This is going to change everything.
Please support Victoria and her fight for justice for her son, Kyle Brennan.
There are people like Debbie Cook who oversaw the security check (confession) on Kyle Brennan’s father. She got off with millions and a gag order. She and others aren’t talking but should.
Gerry Armstrong and Leah Remini
Gerry Armstrong has sustained now 40 years of “fair game: by the Church of Scientology, and who Mike Rinder last year called “a clown car loser”:
Rinder runs an information control and character assassination network which attempts to keep these and other stories from getting out, and to discredit and silence anyone they can’t control.
Unfortunately, sadly, crestfallenly, disappointingly, I don’t hold Leah Remini in very high regard, either. She’s like the character of “Martha” in the TV series “The Americans”. She is a dupe of Mike Rinder.
Did Not Know About Xenu
Even though I was a dedicated Scientologist for 16 years, 7.5 of those spent on staff, I never knew Scientology believed in Xenu. Only a small fraction of wealthy Scientologists ever get up high enough on “the Bridge to Total Freedom” to be told this story. Most people quit before then.
What I experienced in Scientology there in the cornfields in my early 20’s greatly improved my life. My whole family started getting auditing and taking classes. We stopped undermining each other and started supporting each other. I cleaned myself up and got to work. I’m 60 now, and as I look back on this part of my life, it is clear to me that it was not a mistake for me to get involved when I did. I just shouldn’t have gotten involved as deeply, or for so long.
Oh well.
Investigate twinflames1111 and landmark
[…] Anonymous July 1, 2021 at 7:12 am […]
I suppose in those 16 years the good Alanzo never saw a Scientology crime or abuse committed. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to come clean? Lots of maybes, but just like his theories about Rinder, Armstrong, and Remini, it’s all bunk. Rinder has no secrets to tell that would convict anyone – but Alanzo (and to some extent Armstrong) would love to believe Mike could bring the whole house of cards down with a word to law enforcement. Sorry, that’s not reality. The FBI acted on reports of human trafficking, but could not find a single person within the Scientology compound raided to complain. Only those who have left – and left for some years – seem to be able to get past Hubbard’s extensive years of programming to speak out about church abuses. Members are taught that they are not to cooperate with LE in any way, and taught to lie as much as necessary “for the greater good”, meaning the good of Scientology, and today, the good of Miscavige.
I have to laugh at Gerry Armstrong. He once received $800,000 as his part of a class action court settlement for wrongs done to him and others by the Church of Scientology. At that time, it was enough money to retire on in small comfort if invested even halfway wisely. Gerry, for his own reasons, chose to not take advantage of his good fortune. Few people during that era were able to wrestle a dime from the church no matter how badly they were treated, yet Gerry received a substantial sum. He continued to pick at the church, even foolishly violating the terms of the settlement because his lawyer said those term were unenforceable. Today, he still lives over the border in Canada, where he fled to when another court fined him tens of thousands and issued warrants for violating the exact terms his lawyer said were unenforceable. Whoops. Today he still demands that certain individuals owe him apologies, despite the 800 grand the court had him paid by way of apology for harm done to him. I used to be an Armstrong supporter, until I came to realize that he will never be satisfied by anything anyone does concerning his experiences in or out of Scientology.
I am not surprised the good Alanzo took a swipe at Debbie Cook. She did something he never had the courage to do, and that was communicate openly to the widest possible church membership about abuses within the church *while she was still a member in good standing*. Needless to say, she was not “in good standing” with boss man Miscavige for long after that. She received some sort of settlement, but the good Alanzo is just guessing at an amount. That has not been released by the court nor revealed by any party. Debbie knew something Gerry Armstrong failed to recognize – that when an apology comes through a court case, the only amends is the coin of the realm, dollars in this case. In accepting such a monetary “apology”, the terms usually have a gag order of some sort. If the recipient of the monetary award complies with the terms agreed upon by all parties, life goes on, with only the restrictions specified in the terms.
if the recipient fails to comply, as Armstrong failed to comply, the recipient is liable for the consequences specified in the agreement. As for Debbie Cook, she received monetary amends from Scientology, and has complied with the (probable) gag order in the settlement agreement.
Cook should have given up that money so, what, so Alanzo and a few others could point to her as a shining example of a Don Quixote tilting at windmills? Don’t be silly. Don’t be stupid. The oddity is that Scientology sued her, then when it realized the dirt that would come out by the testimony under oath by the very believable Debbie Cook, the church then paid her off to allow them to back out of the civil suit the church itself had filed. It was one of the most backwards retreats in civil suit history.
The silliest thing Alanzo contends is that Mike Rinder is somehow still working for, not against, David Miscavige. Apparently Alanzo is so taken up with his own conspiracy theories that he can’t see evidence presented day in and day out that he, Alanzo, is wrong on so many counts. Maybe he’s upset because he wwasted 16 years in a cult-like setting, a tool used and used up, unable to see it was all a money scam by Hubbard since before the day Alanzo was born. Apparently with his thinking about all the good he got out of Scientology he is yet to reach the point of acceptance that he was scammed by a guy smarter (about scams, at least) than him.
My good Alanzo, you were scammed out of a huge chunk of the only life you will ever have for sure. No amount of carping about what you may think others are doing wrong, or should have done in the distant past (Rinder left Scientology way back in 2007) will change that. Accept it and get on with life, instead of being that strangest of animals, a guy who criticizes critics of Scientology, while himself wearing two or three faces – a critic of Scientology’s critics, a lukewarm critic of Scientology, and a guy who claims Scientology was good for him.
BTW, no matter what you think your blog efforts are accomplishing, at best you are a laughing stock within the genuine run of people fighting against the abuses of the church of Scientology. Yep, there goes the good Alanzo again, spouting his warmed-over nonsense, ho hum, how’s the weather today?
I learned a great deal from this article! Thanks a lot.
All those who leave and expose things do good. They almost make it easier not less easier that legal action might be taken so I don’t agree with the stance taken here. Mike Rinder does do good. Even f it just makes one person leave scientology or helps move towards a reconsideration of US tax free status that is a good thing.
Do you have children, Jane?
What would you say to Victoria Britton then? Kyle Brennan’s mother?
Should we just look away from this probable Scientology murder made to look like a suicide, and all the others, because Mike Rinder is only exposing things that earlier critics before him already exposed?
Could you look Victoria Britton in the eye and tell her what you just told me?.
Also Jane, regarding your point about tax exemption:
Mike Rinder was one of the chief architects of the Scientology tax exemption. The deal with the IRS is a sealed secret deal – that’s right, the terms of Scientology’s IRS tax exemption are SECRET – and Mike Rinder has revealed nothing new about the deal – only what others have revealed before, such as the Wall Street Journal.
The episode on Scn’s tax exemption on Scientology and the Aftermath was the weakest episode possible. And that was it’s purpose – to make you think that something is being done about it when nothing is being done about it at all.
There are only three people in the US government who can do anything about the IRS tax exemption. Complain to, and about, them, not about Rinder, who was as fully brainwashed as a person can be, and from childhood no less. He simply carried out Hubbard’s written orders, and Miscavige’s verbal ones, and that made a weak IRS leader give in, when in their arsenal the IRS had the power to bankrupt the church, confiscate property, freeze bank accounts, announce crippling penalties, all backed by years of unpaid taxes, and backed by a US Supreme Court decision that the Scientology courses more resembled fee-for-services than charitable donations to a church.
Because Rinder left Scientology, his own mother – who got him into the church slash cult – disconnected from him. He was unable to say his farewells as she lay dying. His daughter and ex-wife and ex-employer constantly tell lies about him, lies that they would have to retract if Mike had the tens of millions to successfully sue some backed by a three billion dollar slush fund.
Rather than continue to be critical about people who actively seek ways to expose and eliminate the abuses of the church, what do you, my good Alanzo, think you could do that might actually help turn Scientology away from its abuses?
Poor Mike Rinder.
Mike Rinder was brainwashed into running the Office of Special Affairs for 22 years!
Mike Rinder was only following Dave’s orders!
Mike Rinder’s parents were Scientologists!
1.) There is no such thing as brainwashing. It has been debunked by dozens of scientific studies since the 1940’s. There are no techniques that a cult leader can apply to you to get you to believe something against your will. Not even one of the subjects that Robert J Lifton studied ever became communists, and they were supposedly brainwashed in a North Korean POW Camp.
2.) If Mike Rinder was “only following orders” why hasn’t he, in 14 years of being ‘out’ running a blog every day, 3 seasons of a TV show and 2 years worth of a podcast, ever revealed any of Dave’s orders he supposedly followed? Until Mike Rinder coughs up a crime, which he never has, which has kept Miscavige free of criminal jeopardy, why do you believe he is doing good?
3.) Second generation Scientologists chose to become Scientologists. To prove this, just look at the incredibly low numbers of children who followed their parents into Scientology vs those who said “no thanks” and never joined. 2nd gen scientologists very rarely become scientologists themselves. Let alone stay in Scientology into their adulthood, let alone join staff or the Sea Org, let alone work at International Scientology for 30 years, let alone run the most criminal part of Scientology for 22 years under David Miscavige.
Poor poor Mike Rinder!
What about Kyle Brennan and his mother Victoria Britton? Rinder and Remini interviewed her for their show then SPIKED her interview, after making her sign their draconian NDA.
What about Flo Barnett, David Miscavige’s mother in law?
What about Scientology critic Shawn Lonsdale or Indie Scientologist Ken Ogger?
Has Mike Rinder even mentioned any of these people’s names?
No.
Why do you think that is, Anonymous Rinder Apologist?
This ‘poor Mike Rinder’ bit leaves every victim of Scientology without justice.
Why would you ever argue it?
Alanzo
I think you have some really good questions and points, Alanzo! Wish we could get an explanation that makes sense.
Some good in Scientology?
Yeah, it’s genius…
L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics:
‘Scientific American said that Hubbard’s book contained “more promises and less evidence per page than any publication since the invention of printing”, while The New Republic called it a “bold and immodest mixture of complete nonsense and perfectly reasonable common sense, taken from long acknowledged findings and disguised and distorted by a crazy, newly invented terminology”. Some of Hubbard’s fellow science fiction writers also criticized it; Isaac Asimov considered it “gibberish” while Jack Williamson called it “a lunatic revision of Freudian psychology”.’
-Wikipedia
This guy bills himself as “a critic of the critics” of Scientology? I think that makes me then “a critic of the critics of the critics.” Because I’m unequivocally grateful for ALL the whistleblowers in Scientology.
The truth of anything is BOTH the good and the bad of it.
Scientologists can only say what’s good.
Anti scientologists can only say what’s bad.
Therefore both scientologists and antiscientologists are equally unable to tell the truth about scientology.
I’ve been both a scientologist and an antiscientologist.
I now try to tell the truth about scientology.
Alanzo
Alanzo, your logic is pure Hubbard. You continue to exhibit the lessons learned during your TRs. I’ll bet you have a killer stare, too, just like all well-indoctrinated Scientologists who have not really left the teachings of the master scam artist Hubbard.
Alanzo-
Scientology is bullshit. You are promoting Scientology by saying it did good…
Scientology was started by a failed
Science Fiction writer.
Xenu…..
“For me, the clearest connection between Scientology and NXIVM was the use of EMs [explorations of meaning] on Danielle, who had been Keith’s undocumented slave … “
Alanzo, if you want to make parallels between Scientology and NXIVM and have any credibility whatsoever, you might start with getting literally anything in this sentence correct.
You’re not doing yourself any favors pontificating about a case you are clearly not that familiar with.
One of the things I’ve learned in the short time I’ve been learning about NXIVM is how opaque minority religions and sub-cultures are to outsiders. You can read about and discuss something like NXIVM or Scientology on the Internet for months and even years, and still not know wtf you’re talking about. Happens all the time with anti-Scientologists.
So don’t just be an asshole, Anonymous Asshole. Teach me what I got wrong in that sentence.
Or does that have nothing to do with your comment?
You’ve been out of Scientology for quite some time and you have your own blog, so you’ve demonstrated you understand how Internet research works. 15 minutes of reading on this site would net some basic data points: (1) her name is Daniela, not Danielle, (2) she was not a slave of Raniere (you may be confusing her with her sister Camila), (3) insofar as Daniela getting EMs, that would be true of anyone in ESP. You’ve already once formed conclusions based on information provided by the DOSsier Project without fact-checking that turned out to be erroneous. My observation is if you’re going to form conclusions on NXIVM and author blog posts on the topic, it would be reasonable and appropriate to have the basic facts of the NXIVM case straight.
Thank you for this detailed reply.
(1) Yes, I meant the sister of Marianna and Camila. Sorry for the misspelling.
(2) By “slave” I meant this term in the actual non-NXIVM English sense. She was an undocumented worker here in the US illegally, and used by Raniere in the same way many undocumented workers are used – paid slave wages and threatened with deportation if they don’t obey. It’s a form of indentured servitude.
(3) My specific reference to getting EMs in this case was their use for coercive purposes, and not for therapy. I called this coercive use of therapy a “totalitarian nightmare.” Scientology uses this dual use therapy sometimes, too. For me, as an ex staff member who has had this kind of coercive therapy used on me, when I read about how Daniela was a threat because of what she knew, it resonated with me.
So this is why I made this comparison between NXIVM and Scientology. I’ve seen that done before. It was done to me, too.
I agree that I need to get my facts straight, and that I’m new to the study of NXIVM, and likely to get things wrong now and then. So I appreciate your corrections.
And it would be great if you could read what I write correctly, try to give me the benefit of the doubt, and not be such an asshole about it.
Alanzo
Do you really have to keep rehashing this study forever and ever?
When will it be enough?
We’ve heard it ALL before.
Well said, this advice holds true for many things. It’s important to learn from and find value in all things, but once you’ve learned your lessons or it becomes abusive, it’s time to move on:
“What I experienced in Scientology there in the cornfields in my early 20’s greatly improved my life. My whole family started getting auditing and taking classes. We stopped undermining each other and started supporting each other. I cleaned myself up and got to work. I’m 60 now, and as I look back on this part of my life, it is clear to me that it was not a mistake for me to get involved when I did. I just shouldn’t have gotten involved as deeply, or for so long.”