So far my favorite episode from Leah Remini’s “Troublemaker.” She writes about the millions of dollars she was conned into donating to “the church.” The asks for money, Remini writes, were “relentless.” Remini was punished or criticized when she asked what happened to the money.
At one point she puts her foot down about community outreach. This is what happens:
““We came up with this,” one self-satisfied Scientologist told me. “We’re handing out turkeys with a Way to Happiness book.”
“First of all, the idea that you think anyone needs your fucking turkey is condescending. But on top of that, you have the balls to stuff it with The Way to Happiness?”
The entire room went quiet. I knew they were shocked not only by how I was talking to them but also because I thought their idea was terrible. In turn, I was angry not only because their idea was shitty but also because they didn’t know it was a shitty idea. As I had felt many times before, I wished these Scientologists had better human technology.
“I’m out,” I said. In the aftermath of that meeting, the group working on the new org begged me to go to the opening. David Miscavige personally requested that I be there, and there would be hell to pay for everyone if I didn’t show up. But they wouldn’t back down on their turkey-and-booklet plan, so I compromised. I agreed to attend the opening but said I would only sit there.
“I’m not speaking, because I don’t want to be part of this org.” (They picked me up at my house, probably just to make sure I actually went.)”
The book is out today. I bought it on Kindle-Amazon. And it’s just about as satisfying a report on Scientology and all the things we’ve heard about it over the years as you could find. Bravo, Leah.
