While Scientology struggled, David Miscavige upped his game in 2017 - 2017-12-30

While Scientology struggled, David Miscavige upped his game in 2017 December 30, 2017, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker

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We're continuing to look back at 2017's most significant stories here at the Underground Bunker and today it's a flashback to October in our annual Scientology year-in-review.

On October 4, we asked a question that caused a stir: Is Scientology's "RPF" a thing of the past? Punishing Sea Org members with the "Rehabilitation Project Force" is legendary, and we've talked to people who were stuck for years on the prison-like detail. But recent defectors tell us that over the past several years, Scientology leader David Miscavige systematically disbanded the RPF in places around the world, complaining that it carried too many Hubbard-era rules and regulations. Sea Org members are still being punished, we're told, but no longer with trappings of the RPF — and we credited activists like Mike Rinder for exposing the RPF's legacy of mistreatment.

The next day we provided another excerpt from a 1989 home video made aboard the Freewinds. This time we featured the remarkable OT 8 graduation speech of a woman named Margie Zacks. This is a Scientologist reaching the pinnacle of achievement after years of studying L. Ron Hubbard's "technology." But for many of us, seeing her talk about how she got there was simply sad.

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | author = Tony Ortega | title = While Scientology struggled, David Miscavige upped his game in 2017 | url = https://tonyortega.org/2017/12/30/while-scientology-struggled-david-miscavige-upped-his-game-in-2017/ | work = Underground Bunker | date = December 30, 2017 | accessdate = December 30, 2017 }}