Mike Rinder

I was surprised how interesting this book became. Ostensibly, it's just another confession by a cult member who has escaped the cult but I found it hard to put down and it is a surprisingly good read. Mike Rinder.....for somebody who never went further than high school in terms of formal education.....writes really well and has a good story to tell. I found it fascinating on a few counts. The first is that Rinder is an Australian and hails from Adelaide where I had my first brush with Scientologists. I was walking the streets one night whilst doing some sort of work in Adelaide and was approached by a couple of pleasant young people who offered to do a free personality test on me. It was also my first brush with the notorious "E Meter" supposedly designed by Ron L Hubbard. As far as I understand it is just a conductivity meter and is responsive to the moisture and salt content of your skin.....more sweat than higher conductivity etc. (and you tend to sweat more when under pressure or agitated). Anyway, after a few questions from me they quickly decided that they did not have the answers so I should come along with them and meet their "boss". I declined he offer but the son of a friend of mine had an identical experience some years later when stopping for a few days in Adelaide ....except that he's been with the Scientologists ever since. I found myself wondering if Rinder might have been one of these people on the street corner ...or even the "boss" that I declined to visit.
But he tells a scary story about the organisation; the exploitation, the tactics of harassment, overwork, charging for courses, the internal politics, the unquestioning position required by adherents, the punishments meted out, and the crazy belief. As with all autobiographies, I guess there is a large measure of self-serving and excuses for behaviour but in general I found it to at least sound like a reasonably honest attempt to tell things the way they were. He treated his two children appallingly....."I’d rarely had time for family visits—maybe thirty minutes twice a year". But, as he explains, this is what you were required to do as a good scientologist. As he says: "Much of the control factor in scientology is based on peer pressure. The power of this method has been proven in studies where people go along with everyone else in making clearly erroneous decisions".
There is a scientology centre next to our regular shopping centre and we used to see, very regularly, a rather old unmarked bus heading to the centre about 8am in the morning bringing adherents in from their dormitories somewhere in Parramatta. Always neatly dressed in black and white outfits but always looking absolutely exhausted. No light conversation on this bus!! And I could see that this was a tactic...straight out of the cult-makers handbook.....sleep deprivation.
And at some stage I watched a documentary about the Scientologists......I think it must have featured Rinder....because it certainly had one of the really high-up executives who had jumped ship explaining how the organisation worked and how you were indoctrinated to accept the most bizarre beliefs and do horrific things (such as the "fair game" strategy....."In Hubbard’s words, those designated as enemies of scientology, or Fair Game, “may be tricked, sued, or lied to or destroyed.”) and leaving your families. Actually, I've read a few books on cults and they all seem to employ the same sort of tactics; a charismatic leader, separation from family and friends, sleep deprivation, constant group re-inforcement, punishment for questioning, isolation etc etc. But the book also exposes the current leader David Miscarvige to some ferocious criticism. And it is interesting that when Hubbard had an accident on his Harley Davidson, his pain—and the embarrassment of an accident when he proclaimed himself to be “cause over matter, energy, space, time and thought”—was taken out on those around him" Likewise when he died, "despite his self-proclaimed wisdom and knowledge of all things, to expire from a stroke in a motor home parked in a barn was hardly a noble end. Worse still....there was no succession plan.....Hubbard was expected to live forever. And Miscavige just grabbed the reins of power and destroyed any that could be in a position to oppose him.
It will be interesting to see if Miscavige has a succession plan himself. He's now 63.
Reading this book makes me wonder about the rights of children to an unbiased education. If you are born into a cult like this then you have no chance of getting a "normal" education.....and there is a very high likelihood that you will never escape the organisation or its beliefs. So is this fair? Yet we have parents everywhere demanding their right to educate (or indoctrinate) their children (as though they are some sort of private property not individuals in their own right) ...as they see fit. Of course developing an "unbiased” education is problematic.But surely when we are constantly harping on about human rights and parental rights that children too should have some rights.
There is a lot to think about arising from this book. Pretty clearly, the scientologists are not playing by normal rules and have some very toxic impacts on a lot of people and might be considered a dangerous organisation. For my money I would like to see all religious organisations pay tax like most other other organisations. This would do a lot to curb their influence.
As for the book. I give it five stars. It certainly held my interest.… (mehr)

An expose book written by a former Scientology upper level operative who finally broke the chain. Mike Rinder grew up in the religion/cult as his parents were members in Australia. Heading right into Sea Org the elite training ground for future leaders in the organization.

Despite the level he reached he related how it was never secure as the system they operate under is to tear you down again and again in the most demeaning ways. Ultimately there seems to be only one in power and that is David Miscavige. He of course assumed the reins on the passing of the founder and Head Guru, L. Ron Hubbard.

The story itself is both astonishing at times and at times boring. It is just a rinse and repeat of the last episode of degradation and evil deeds of the first. Again and again I asked myself why would someone submit to this. But then again if you have been indoctrinated into a belief your whole life that is all you really know and breaking away is much more difficult than it looks. Indeed Rinder even after his escape held to the belief that Hubbard was the all knowing and seeing Mesiah he claimed to be.

The hallmark of all these cult-type organizations, as supreme leader and stringent rules and controls the keep everyone in line. Add to that a steady and abundant source of revenue and tax exemption in this case and you have the boilerplate to go on and on forever as this organization has. Even the government has stayed its distant as the alleged atrocities play out.

So yet another book on the evil doings of Scientology and it seems they are indeed evil from the depictions. Yet those inside see us as the evils. And time marches on and so do they and the really is the story here, business as usual.… (mehr)

Mike Rinder's autobiography details his life in the church of scientology. Mike was a child when his parents became scientologists which made him one too. He rose to the highest levels in the church before escaping from its grasp.

I thought the book was well written. It begins with a description of the author's childhood in Australia before entering scientology and it seemed idyllic compared to what came next. Once his parents became interested in founder L. Ron Hubbard's writings, the family traveled alot internationally so that the parents could get to courses that would take them up the scientology bridge. However, when Rinder was 17 he signed a billion year contract to work with the Sea Org and was busy 20 some hours a day, every day. I didn't understand why no one refused to work these hours. With no prior knowledge of working in the Sea Org entailed, it was a surprise to all of the Sea Org members. Why did they put up with it? I would have quit. Rinder learned many years later that if he had tried to leave, the church would have prevented it. Herein lies the truth that scientology is a cult. Cult leaders do not let their followers leave. What follows next in the book is incident after incident of abuse that Rinder endured, mainly at the hands of the successor to L. Ron Hubbard: David Miscavige. He began to gradually see that he was not advancing scientology but rather Miscavige's personal wishes. I am glad that Rinder was able to escape the church and start a normal life.

This is an eye-opening read about the dangers of scientology. It has been in the news alot lately because of the Danny Masterson rape trial in California. Masterson is a scientologist who is accused of raping 3 women who are former scientologists. The church's requirement that no member give up another to the civil authorities has played into the trial.… (mehr)