Title: Open Letter to Mike
Rinder from Robert Vaughn Young
Author: writer@eskimo.com (Robert Vaughn Young)
Date: 23 Feb 2000 00:30:12 GMT
An Open Letter to Mike Rinder Sunday, February 20, 2000 Dear Mike: It's a very early Sunday morning in Cincinnati. I finished three posts yesterday that I will put onto ARS and this will wrap it up for me. I'm making this an "open letter" not for the benefit of people on ARS. Except for Stacy and Jesse, they haven't got a clue as to who you are and what really goes on. No, I'm doing this "open" so it can be found more easily by your staff, especially those who know me and the topics I'll mention. Otherwise, it would just be excerpted, sent to DM and that would be the end of that. You and I go back a long way, Mike. And until a moment in Tampa during my testimony, I always considered us to be basically friends. You don't understand my side, but I understand yours because I've been there. That's why I know that while I might have you asked how things or the family were, you had to "keep your hat on." In that regard, I've never held the harassment against you personally. Besides, I figured that there is some of it you actually don't know about because you never ordered it and the PIs don't report it to you. Besides, it's your job. You're supposed to make life miserable for us "suppressives," right? So to the degree that I've been there, I never held it personally against you. But there was a moment in my testimony when it changed. It was the closing hour of the last day. Weinberg was doing is "re-cross" and I was sick and in pain and having trouble following the questions and asked for a break. Weinberg pushed it saying he had only a little bit more and I said I really have to break and you shook your head (one of those I-can-t-believe-it-shakes) and laughed and I called you on it. It should be on the record. And then we finally took the break. That was when it changed, when you decided to mock my condition. That's when I realized that you really are gone. Then afterwards, we passed each other in that drug store downstairs. I would have normally said hello but not this time, so we just passed each other. As we did, I was tempted to turn around and tell you privately what I've said here, that you had crossed a line and I'm sorry for you, but I decided no, it's no use and he'd probably just file a declaration that I had made threatening remarks and go to the judge for a hearing. At the very least, you'd make a report and I wanted it to just be between us, but that was impossible. But I was left with wanting to tell you and so I was left with having to write this letter. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't that what you said made me feel worse about my condition. It merely made me feel worse about yours. I've come to grips with my situation. You have yet to realize yours. It's one thing when a couple of professionals go at it. They understand the turf. It's not personal. That's why I've understood your side of it. But it is another when you cross the professional line. I may have made a lot of comments about your professional conduct, but I've never slighted you personally. I guess I always wanted to pretend that it was possible that we could sit down some time over coffee and chat, if nothing else about how kids grow up and life moves on. I knew you couldn't and wouldn't. It all has to be reported and you can't afford to relax around some "SP," can you? But that was okay with me. I wanted you to know that it was possible, that even though you couldn't be that way, I could. Well, I was wrong. You really were one of those people who high-fived when you heard about the cancer and you really are glad that I'm dying. I'm sorry about that, Mike. I'm sorry that I was really wrong about you, that I thought that underneath it all, we were really friends. It also teaches me that none of this will get through to you. It might some day, but not now. It reminds me of a woman I was speaking to on the phone a few years ago. I don't recall who she was or how she found me but she called me to talk to me about her daughter (I think it was) who was in Scientology and she (the mother) was concerned. Well, I answered her questions as well as I could (always tempered with the caution that I have another plant being run in on me) until there was one question she asked. No one had ever asked me this one and it really rocked me back on my heels. "When you were in there," she said, "was there anything anyone could have said to you that would have changed your mind?" The question really rocked me. I went silent and thought about it for a few seconds and then the answer hit me even more. "No," I answered. "I'm sorry to say this but there is nothing anyone could have told me or said to me that would have changed my mind. There might be something that someone can say to your daughter, but for me then, no." That was a stunning realization. I wasn't able to explain to her why. I just left it there. It was true. After all, being in Dept 20 PR and having to deal with all the criticism, I had read everything starting with the Australian inquiry back in the 60s which was probably the first real serious "organized" assault. I read the books by Paulette Cooper and the rest. Like you, I read every newspaper article and the accounts of defectors. Even after the FBI raid of 1977, I managed to read the seized Intell files. Those were the worst. What I read there made me sick. I had no idea how far over the edge B1 had gone. Attacking the "enemy" was one thing but what they were doing was another. It was like being a soldier in a war and finding that some of your fellows have taken to killing women and children. Even in war, it crosses the line. That's how I felt when I read those files finally one day. We (collectively) had really crossed the line. Yet even then, I didn't change my mind. I haven't thought about it that much, as to why I didn't. Maybe I thought they didn't represent us. Maybe I explained it away as being overly zealous. After all, I believed in what I was doing. These guys just went over the edge and now we were all paying the price so let's get thing back on the rails and get on with it. So I did. I parked it and got on with it and continued for another 11 or so years and in the process, I continued to look the other way. That's how one moves up the ranks, isn't it? It's not how well you apply policy, but how well you can look the other way. I don't know, Mike. Maybe I would have gotten to the point that I would have laughed at some "SP's" cancer. It turns my stomach to think I would have, but maybe I might have. I really don't know. I just know I never did get to that point when I really made it personal, when I really took on a former "friend" and really tried to degrade that "friend" personally. The closest I came was Gerry Armstrong, when I was called to testify against him. They really wanted me to come after him but I wouldn't. I tried to couch my testimony as they wanted it, that Gerry hadn't done certain research, but I wasn't able to use the language that they wanted because, as little as I knew him, I liked him and it didn't matter what he was doing or saying, that didn't change my personal feelings about him. But it did for you and I have to call you on it, even though I know it won't reach you. And something that just occurred today, Sunday. The girl that Dept 20 sent in on Stacy at the car wash. One of her lines was how Stacy was killing me, a clear reference to the cancer and a clear attempt to hit some button on her. You really have no scruples at all, do you Mike. I'm sure you gave DM a woodie on that one but all you prove is how low into the slime you really can go. Little things like that show it is worse in there now than it ever was under Mary Sue, when it comes to the equivalent of wartime atrocities. B1 went over the edge because of the pressure and there has been more pressure these past years than there ever was back then. You've got DM breathing down your neck, not to mention Marty. He's a hatchet man from way back but he broke once and he might break again. In fact, I think there is a better chance of Marty coming to his senses and taking off than you. There's another thing that's different now. You've got the threat of the Internet, and I don't mean ARS. (By the way, I have to compliment you professionally on how you guys finally figured out what to do about ARS with people like Enzo and various goons and shills and double agents. Not bad at all. The problem is that ARS is still there and still works. You've reduced its effectiveness but you haven't stopped it.) What I mean by a threat is that any staff member or even a public can go onto the Net and get things that you can't control. Back in the "old days" we could control what the members and staff knew. When there was an entheta article in Philadelphia or East Grinstead, it could be contained. Now the damned things get thrown on the Net, not to mention court rulings and videos! It used to be that Dept. 20 was the only ones who knew about the entheta stories or adverse court rulings. Now they are right there for anyone to find, thanks to the Net. And nearly every public library has a connection to the World Wide Web so one of your staff or a public can walk in and log on and do a search and bingo, there it is. (And for the record, a good record of ARS is kept at <http://www.deja.com>, just to make your work even more enjoyable. - smile) So you've got a chronic worry. It won't go away. Even this message and all of mine are preserved and my middle name is unique enough to allow an easy search. So you can't control any more what your staff and public comes to know. You can put secret little programs into their computers, but even that takes a chance. Some may not like being told what they can't read. I have told Jesse time and again - and this last trip I said it several times - I am SOOOO glad that I am not a PR in there now. Lawdy, what a headache! And to have DM screaming the way he can scream. I can only imagine what he is like now that he has been named as a defendant in the McPherson case. We know that your ass is on the line and what your orders are. That's what it was like when LRH was being named and why B1 went over the edge and why you and your "B1" have done the same. So the only question remaining is, who will be your Michael Meisner? Who will finally say, I've had enough of this shit, and talk to the authorities? Hey, it might not even be in the US! You're already in deep kaw-kaw in Belgium and France, not to mention Germany. And from what I hear, you ain't exactly winning friends in Russia. Oh, and don't forget Greece and Spain. And meanwhile, what's DM's #1 priority? Why, DM, of course! If he is served, all hell will break loose. And THAT is why I don't envy you at all! I know what working with him is like. If anyone brings you to your senses, it will be David Miscavige. Frankly, I don't think I'll be alive when that happens. I'd like to be. I'd like to see it happen. I just know that there is nothing I can say to you that will reach you. The only one who can change your mind is you and the only one who can prompt that is DM. He is personally responsible for more top staff leaving than anyone or anything else. Make a list in your head some time. You'll even know of some that none of us know about. It's just a matter of time before it is you. I hope it is sooner, rather than later. In the meantime, I really am closing this out. I know you won't believe me and there is no reason for you to believe me, given the world of suspicion that you have to live in. But I'm retiring, as I said in the "hello & goodbye" post. And I really am looking forward to my new effort. I know what it is that I'm going to do. I just declined to spell it out in the post because I need to work out some details and they might change. No, it doesn't mean it is some "secret" (laugh) although you'll think that and be working diligently to find out. That's fine. Work away. What you might find out now is what you'll hear about later, hopefully, if I do this right. It's all in the direction of cancer education and has nothing to do with you guys. If you want to spend more IAS money there, go for it. And yeah, there are various ways that you can work to drag me back in, if you want to. But you're going to be chasing another dead end. (No pun intended. - laugh) I have better things to do now, things that I find more inspiring than playing stink finger with RTC. And as I said, you'll see or hear about my efforts in my new enterprise, or at least I hope so. There's a lot to be done in the field of educating men about prostate cancer and I just happen to have the skills, the initiative and the qualifications for what I want to do. (No, I haven't written any "scholarly" articles or have any degrees nor have I had a "peer review. - ROFL) You see, the only credential one needs to have to speak about living with cancer is cancer. It helps to have some writing skills and PR skills to know what to do with the experience and I have a little there. (smile) That's why my new enterprise excites me so much. I merely decided to use what I have - including the cancer - to make a contribution that I can be proud of. So if you ever change your mind and want someone to talk to, you can call me. You'll know where I am. Just check the last surveillance report. (laugh) My only function will be to lend a sympathetic ear. But you'll have to apologize to me for the personal shit. That's for your benefit, Mike, not mine. Otherwise, I'm out of the loop now. I'm off to fight a cancer for which there is no known cure. I do hope that when you hear about what I'm doing that you think it is valuable. It will mean that you have some shred of true decency, compassion and humanity left in you. Take care, Robert Vaughn Young 2/20/99
Title: Open Letter #2 to Mike
Rinder re Cancer from Robert Vaughn Young
Author: writer@eskimo.com (Robert Vaughn Young)
Date: 23 Feb 2000 00:38:06 GMT
Monday, February 21, 2000 OPEN LETTER #2 TO RINDER - re CANCER Since remarking in that other open letter to you about the behavior of your volunteer in throwing those remarks at Stacy that she is killing me (an obvious reference to my cancer and blaming her), I decided that you need to be told something else. If I ever hear of that being done again, if I ever learn that your drones have thrown that into her face (or mine), I will use every resource I can muster to tell the world how you (collectively Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard) feel about and treat cancer patients and those close to them. I will ensure that every cancer support group - from newsgroups to mailing lists to web sites - which I can find, gets that message with the details of what occurred. Time, place, form and event along with this last incidence and the other times - such as your behavior in Tampa. I will make sure that it is in the subject line, key words and written in a way so that if a person reads only the opening paragraph (let alone the subject line) they will get the truth of how you people feel about cancer patients and those who support them. Now let me tell you why I am doing this. I know your first reaction will be that it bothers me or her and I'm taking this personally. No, Rinder. It doesn't and you can quote me on that. I said I am moving off into a new enterprise to help people with cancer (specifically prostate cancer that kills 40-50K men a year) and I am not going to stand by while someone treats people with the disease with the disdain you are ordering to be done. (If that volunteer had know what her insult meant, would she have said it?) To insult Stacy or me on the subject is to insult every person with the disease. Coming from anyone else, I could say it was done in jest (bad taste), momentary anger or ignorance and would remark more politely on it. Coming from your people, it is none of these. It is a deliberate attack of the condition and it shows exactly what the organization and Hubbard teaches and I will tell everyone who is fighting cancer exactly that. Then if you want to follow with your despicable "dead agent" tactics to those same groups and sites and lists, go for it and be sure to include this message. If you don't, I will. I don't want you to think that just because I am "retiring" from speaking out about abuses of your organization to devote myself to cancer education that I am going to ignore you if you decide to intrude into that subject. If you do, I will speak out but it will be from a different perspective. I will be speaking as a cancer patient, not as a former Scientology staff member. And believe me, bubba, in the world of cancer, we have a whole different criterion as to who is an "expert" about cancer. And think twice before you conjure up someone who "is suffering from cancer" to come after me. You'll be stepping into a territory so foreign that it will look more ridiculous than Kobrin's attempt to close ARS by telling ISPs to "rm" the group, having no idea what "rm" even means or does. It is my intention to step away from this particular battle, but if you want to follow me by dragging in my condition as an attack on Stacy or me, I will be more than happy to respond. Secondly - yeah, there's more - if your drones continue to throw our marriage (meaning Stacy and me) into our faces in righteous indignation as you have done in the past, I will treat it in the same way and choose my method of response. It is quite clear exactly what it is that you are doing. You can issue every denial or Weinberg can challenge it with "what evidence do you have" but you known damned well that I know exactly what you are doing. I was trained in the same tech so nothing more need be said. I could care less about the rest of your rantings and posturings. You've taken every shot you can in the last 6-7 years or however long this has been going on, from picketing our home to anonymous leaflets to direct threats but you never had the good sense to recognize that nothing worked. So I don't expect you to stop. (Dept 20/RTC is in desperate need of Grades 0-IV.) But you've got a chance on these topics. I'm being a lot more magnanimous than you. I'm giving you a warning because I want the world to know that I did. I want the world to know that despite your lack of compassion and direct attack on me and my friends about my condition, I gave you a chance to change. Another group that has gone through this is people with AIDS or are HIV positive. They underwent that sort of assault. (And we know how Hubbard feels about homosexuality.) It wasn't until those afflicted decided to stand up in defense not of themselves but of the condition that the bigots began to back off. It hasn't stopped, but progress has been made. The fact that you would now open a similar assault on cancer patients and their supporters puts you and your organization into the same category and I will be more than delighted to tell the world in every way that I can. And there is a MUCH bigger world out there interested in cancer than Scientology or even cults. It is huge. And I will use them all to bring support to any cancer patient or their supporters who face the kind of disgusting behavior you have decided to launch on Stacy and me. So get that message, Rinder. Attack a cancer patient for having cancer or their supporters for supporting them or blame anyone for that condition and you will hear from me on behalf of a very large and growing population. As to me and Scientology, have a ball. I could care less. That is no longer my arena or domain of interest. I have another struggle that requires my time. But you'll hear from me if you reach across into that domain in any way. That is a promise. Over to you. Robert Vaughn Young 2/21/00 ---
pointer to a digusting reply from a scientologist operative that illustrates how depraved this criminal brainwashing syndicate is it is included here as supplimentary evidence of what a mind is capable of on $cientology.