A Celebrity's Experience in Scientology
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[ REVIEWS A Celebrity’s Experience in Scientology WENDY M. GROSSMAN he actress Leah Remini, known Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology. By for playing outspoken, ballsy Leah Remini. Ballantine Books, New York, 2015. ISBN 978-1- Tcharacters—most famously in 101-88696-0. 234 pp. Hardcover, $27. the long-running sitcom The King of Queens—always seemed miscast as a Scientologist. Not that actors have to be like the characters they play, but it seemed a pity. As it turns out, like many other Scientologists her age, Remini was brought into the Church by a parent, in her case at seven when her divorced and John Sweeney’s The Church of Fear tone of their answers. She similarly dis- mother’s new boyfriend was a member. (see my review of all three in the May/ cusses what it feels like to go through The boyfriend didn’t last, but Remini June 2013 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, on- auditing and security-checking, and liked that he listened seriously to her line at http://www.csicop.org/si/show/ how the Church’s manipulation works and her sister. When they began taking clear_and_fear_scientology_under_re- when you’re the person on the receiving introductory courses and doing drills, view) all had new revelations to make end. You are, she writes, encouraged she found this approach permeated about the worst abuses the Church of to report the misdeeds of others—but the Church. She liked feeling equal to Scientology has heaped on its most de- doing so is likely to open you to extra grown-ups, and she believed that Sci- voted members. These books revealed auditing as well. She also writes about entology was a way of helping people the existence of the Rehabilitation Proj- the extensive financial burden Scientol- and doing good for the world, which ect Force (RPF), Scientology’s equiva- ogy places on ordinary families, “help- Remini says is common to many mem- lent to prison, the autocratic behavior ing” them raise their credit limits to bers. When her mother proposed mov- of Church leader David Miscavige, and donate the maximum to the Church. ing to Florida to become part of the the lengths to which the Church will go In one section, Remini recalls her Church full time, Remini and her sister to keep its best-known adherent, Tom interview with John Sweeney for his went willingly. Cruise, happy. Remini’s book does not 2007 BBC documentary, Scientology In her new book, Troublemaker, contain new information on this level. and Me. “The guy is crazy,” Church written with Rebecca Paley, Remini Instead, it paints an intimate picture of spokesman Tommy Davis warned her. interweaves stories of her personal and the lives of dedicated Scientologists, Sweeney then startled her by asking, professional life with her history in and those who are close adherents but not “Does David Miscavige hit people?” As growing doubts about Scientology. deep insiders. Remini was not, after all, she tells it now, she was deeply upset by Paley deserves a lot of credit for help- a celebrity for half her time in Scien- the way Davis and his fellow Church ing keep Remini’s voice. Remini also tology. PR person, Mike Rinder, treated Swee- seems content to discuss her own flaws As a result, many practices are out- ney, pushing him to the limit until he and mistakes. lined in a new kind of detail. L. Ron exploded (an incident the Church re- The tranche of books about Scien- Hubbard’s “tone scale” has been de- corded and placed on YouTube). She tology that began in 2011 with Janet scribed from Hubbard’s writing by, for regretted that he apologized for that Reitman’s Inside Scientology (reviewed example, Reitman and Wright. Remini explosion. “The BBC,” she writes, in SI, January/February 2012) and talks about what it was like learning to “had no idea of what this man had to continued in 2013 with Lawrence use it by being required to stop com- endure.” By 2010, Rinder had left the Wright’s Going Clear (now a movie), plete strangers on Hollywood Boule- Church and was telling Sweeney the Jenna Miscavige-Hill’s Beyond Belief, vard, ask them questions, and assess the truth on his follow-up documentary, 60 Volume 40 Issue 2 | Skeptical Inquirer NEW AND NOTABLE] Listing does not preclude future review. The Secrets of Scientology. CLIMATE CHANGE: What Everyone Needs to Know. Joseph Romm. One of the United Kingdom’s most influential communicators on “I don’t go on the Internet,” she told climate science and solutions provides a compact primer on what Sweeney in 2007 in an interview that didn’t everyone should know. He starts with a chapter on climate science air (but that both recount in their books). basics, then describes the causal links to more extreme weather, In late 2012, inspired by an email sent by explores the projected impacts of climate change and how to former Scientology member Debbie Cook avoid the worst impacts, explores climate politics and policies, and examines the role of clean energy. A final chapter, “Climate outlining the abuse that actually happened Change and You,” explores some of the more personal questions within the Church, she finally did. that climate change raises for individuals and families. Oxford Remini left in 2013. In contemporane- University Press, 2016, 302 pp., $16.95. ous interviews, the reason seemed to boil down to her years-long inability to get an MEMORY AND MOVIES: What Films Can Teach Us about Memory. John Seamon. Memory is of course key to many experiences answer to a single question: What had hap- examined within the realm of skepticism, from false memories pened to Church leader David Miscavige’s of sexual abuse and alien abduction to mistaken recollections of wife, Shelly, who had vanished from public paranormal experiences. Films tell stories about the human condi- view? Troublemaker makes it plain that this tion, and psychology professor John Seamon shows how memory particular question was one Remini kept as depicted in popular movies can shed light on how human memory works. Seamon uses examples from movies to offer an picking at. But she had other doubts, raised accessible description of what science knows about memory by what she saw of Cruise’s behavior and function and dysfunction, including describing the process of the Church’s slavish efforts to keep him long-term memory with examples from such films as Castaway and Groundhog Day; the happy (which included forcing Remini to effect of emotion on autobiographical memory in The Kite Runner, Titanic, and so on. The write myriad reports and apologies for tiny MIT Press, 2015, 272 pp., $29.95. infractions at his wedding). NEWTON’S APPLE AND OTHER MYTHS about SCIENCE. Ronald L. As far as Remini could see, the latter vi- Numbers and Kostas Kampourakis, editors. Twenty-eight schol- olated L. Ron Hubbard’s own policies, and ars, many of them historians or philosophers of science, examine besides, what kind of role model Scientolo- and refute a number of popular myths about science, brushing gist was a three-time divorcee? Meanwhile, way misconceptions to allow a clearer picture of great scientific breakthroughs from ancient times to the present. Among the her mother had reached the high-level sta- myths refuted is that no science was done in the Dark Ages, that tus of OT VIII and class VI auditor and fear of public reactions alone led Darwin to delay publishing his found “she couldn’t move objects with her theory of evolution, that Gregor Mendel was far ahead of his time mind or cure cancer by the force of her as a pioneer of genetics, and that a clear line separates science will. She was still just herself.” In a situ- and pseudoscience. Myths about particle physics and Einstein’s relativity are also exposed. A unifying theme is that rather than deriving from lonely acts of genius, sci- ation where many families choose to stay ence is a cooperative activity of dedicated, fallible human beings. Harvard University with Scientology when one member leaves, Press, 2015, 287 pp., $27.95. Remini was lucky: most of her family left with her, as you can see in her reality series, SUICIDE AS A DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE. David Lester and Steven It’s All Relative. Stack, editors. Each suicide is as unique as the individuals involved, but dramatic aspects of the death often provide import- Now, two years later, Remini sums it ant clues for understanding the mental state of suicidal individu- up: “Despite its claims to the contrary, the als. This book provides insight into the psychological, social, and practice doesn’t help you better the world or cultural aspects of suicide as dramatic performance. Some people even yourself; it only helps you be a better kill themselves in hopes of spurring social change, leaving mani- Scientologist.” n festos; others do it to air personal grievances, and so on. Some choose to perform their act live on television or post it on social media, knowing that the story—and thus potentially their mes- sage—will be seen by millions. David Lester and Steven Stack investigate what happens Wendy M. Grossman is the founder and former before a suicide when the suicidal individual must make decisions and formulate the editor (twice) of The Skeptic (U.K.) and a Com- script for his or her suicidal act. The book offers insights into suicide as staged drama, mittee for Skeptical Inquiry fellow. In her 1995 including chapters on the intended audience, the suicide note, the location and method article in Wired, “alt.scientology.war,” a former chosen, and cultural scripts including suicide-by-cop, and duels.