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Memoirizing lines

Nancy Many (NM) posted on Ex-Scientologist Message Board:

NM: Hello ESMB and especially Gerry and Arnie,

Hello. I don’t do ESMB now.

NM: I am jumping in here after a three year absence from watching these boards and ‘keeping up’. I have been completing my Master’s degree and my clinical training as a multi-faith chaplain. Please forgive me if I speak of things that are well known or that I “should” have known if I had been keeping up.

I have written my memoir, as have many others. I encourage EVERYONE to do so, as I do believe that each person’s story is unique and gives a thread of what will then enable the “whole” to be better seen. I took many costly wrong turns in the process of getting my own book out, I have attempted to assist others in avoiding those pitfalls and am available to anyone who is endeavoring to publish their story. The publishing world is completely different now than it was 5-6 years ago, and we now have the numbers of ‘other memoirs’ out there to help get more out.

The individuals who write memoirs are digging deep and sharing personal feelings and issues that are sometimes extremely difficult to view in one’s own mind and heart, let alone to share these intimate thoughts and experiences with the outside world. I am humbled by those who have or are doing this work.

To write a memoir, the author has to ‘return’ to those times, to that pain, confusion and sometimes happiness and joy. With the subject of Scientology, this is never an easy or simple job. Sometimes for the writer, it is only through the process of writing that personal clarity is achieved.

Individuals who dig deep in writing a memoir dig deep. But memoir writers can also dig shallowly, or not dig at all. Some memoir writers share intimate experiences, and some dish up pabulumish generalities, or even packs of lies. Memoirs can be written for the most antisocial of purposes. Hitler’s Mein Kampf is an extremely well read memoir. There should be nothing automatically humbling about memoir writers.

Percipient witness statements must be memoirs too, of course, because of the requirement that the witness have personal knowledge of the facts in his statements. Witnesses can lie on their sworn statements, just as they can in their memoirs, as Marty Rathbun, for example, demonstrates. Despite the way, however, that the concept of sworn statements can be abused, or laughed at as the Scientologists do, such statements are indispensable for obtaining justice for the Scientologists’ victims. The memoirs that have been published have not served that function. I am seeking percipient witnesses’ statements for justice.

NM: For clarity, I am sharing a couple of good definitions of “Memoir”.

MEMOIR:

Definition:
A form of creative nonfiction in which an author recounts experiences from his or her life.
“A memoir,” says Gore Vidal, “is how one remembers one’s own life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked. In a memoir it isn’t the end of the world if your memory tricks you and your dates are off by a week or a month as long as you honestly try to tell the truth” (Palimpsest: A Memoir, 1995).

Ann Casano
Ann has taught university level Film classes and has a Master’s Degree in Cinema Studies.
It takes a lot of courage to write a memoir, to reveal personal aspects about one’s private life. In this lesson, we will take a look at what makes a story a memoir and examine a few of the most popular memoirs of the 20th century.
Memoirs Versus Autobiographies
Memoirs are typically classified as a sub-genre of the autobiography. The main difference being that a memoir is more focused. An autobiography typically spans a person’s entire life and contains intricate details like the writer’s family history and childhood. A memoir, on the other hand, is much more centralized. It’s a story about a time in someone’s life or a major event that occurred or maybe it focuses on a special place that the writer liked to visit during the summer.
Lou Willet Stanek, describes the difference between writing a memoir and an autobiography in her book, ‘Writing Your Life.’
If you were to write an autobiography, you would have to spend a lot of time at the courthouse, looking up the date your great-grandfather was born, what year your father bought the house on Elm Street. The research for a memoir can be done in an easy chair. Close your eyes and try to recapture the moment you bought your first car, learned you were pregnant, met the President or wobble down the street on a two-wheeler.
Stories To Tell
Memoirs have been around for a long time. People were always interested in revealing snapshots of their life from their own perspective. We can even trace the memoir back to ancient times. Julius Caesar wrote his first known memoir, Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, around 50 BCE. It depicted his firsthand experiences of the epic battles he fought during the Gallic Wars.

So that is what a memoir is.

First to Gerry, I was fascinated with your note to Jesse (posted by Caroline here on ESMB) You have put forth a LOT of information that I (and I am sure others) had not known. It truly makes me want to read YOUR book, and to be able to see the “war” Scientology waged on you in it’s fullness and what happened, and I’m certain is still happening.

For the sake of the fullness of the war, or really the fullness of the cause of peace, I asked Jesse to debrief to me about his part in the war. He made some statements in his November 7 article that were quite general but indicated that he possessed additional related details that could be helpful if he was debriefed and his facts put in a form usable in legal contexts.

This is not the first time I have asked Jesse to help me with a declaration detailing facts he knew about fair game actions against me, but he had always refused, and never offered an explanation. In 2011, when he started his blog, I commented about an erroneous and harmful opinion he held, and I sought to clarify some points with him concerning certain facts he had stated, and he treated me quite contemptuously. Funny, he used the same response then that essentially you are using now: “Write your own book.”

In this newest article, Jesse both mentioned knowledge about me that I had not previously been aware of, and he implied that he had finally cast off his long time enmity toward me. But he also repeated the Scientologists’ black PR lines about me as if they were true. Again, so far he has refused to address the untruths that I have demonstrated to him, and again he is treating me inimically.

In light of his participation for years in the criminal conspiracy against me in an executive position inside Scientology, what he is doing is unfathomably cruel. I cannot believe that he would now treat all of the apparently large number of victims whose getting rid of he oversaw in a similar manner.

NM: You first bring up the following:

“Dear Jesse:
In my November 9 communication, I mentioned that I would deal later with fact errors about me in your article, and I’m doing so now. I excerpted the section of the article that concerns me, and commented where I thought correction or clarification was needed.

I began to recall being on the other side of the fence when Gerry Armstrong had to defend himself against Scientology style black ops for years.

What I had to defend against was war. It is understandable that the Scientologists waged Scientology style war; but because it is solely Scientologists, and their mercenaries, of course, who are waging it, and all in the cause of Scientology and in application of Scientology scriptural directives, it is proper to call what I had to defend against “war,” the Scientologists’ war on me.”

Jesse is writing a memoir. It is HIS memoir. Jesse was not subjected to a “War” as you were. He was subjected to “Black Ops” like you were (as you clarify were only a part of the overall, orchestrated War against you).

Yes, Jesse is writing a memoir, and it is his memoir. And yes he had his experiences and I had mine, and we have words to describe them. I was not communicating about the content of Jesse’s memoir that he is writing, however, but some of the content in his already-published blog article. Jesse announces in his article that he is writing a book about the last four years of L. Ron Hubbard’s life, so the article reasonably would not be understood to be that book.

In that Jesse’s book will be about the last four years of Hubbard’s life, it cannot really be an autobiography, which would be Jesse’s account of four years of Jesse’s life. This takes care of the memoirs v. autobiographies issue in what you quoted from Ann Casano.

A “memoir” can be memories of anything, not necessarily one’s own life. So, although it is a subcategory of autobiography, it could also be a subcategory of biography, which, presumably, a book about L. Ron Hubbard’s last four years would be.

These days, of course, writers of any genre look up courthouse dates and docs in a chair at their desk, whether it’s easy or not. The key is that a memoir is a memoir, as Vidal says above, “as long as you honestly try to tell the truth.” Memoirs do not provide memoirists with a justification to not try to tell the truth in the nonfiction they are writing. And I would think that legitimate memoirists, historians, researchers, biographers or English teachers would not go along with using the genre for such a purpose.

In any event, what is important is that in biography, autobiography or memoir, truth applies equally. They are not works of fiction. “The assertions made in the work are understood to be factual.” The same standard for defamation applies whether the author calls his work biography, autobiography or memoir.

NM: Jesse in his memoir is recounting that being on the receiving end of Scientology’s “Black Ops” gave him more understanding of what a person on the receiving end of “black Ops” feels like. He used you as an example. The black ops against you came to his mind. He could have used an example of any number of people that received Scientology Black ops.

He still can but he didn’t. His article is not his memoir. He could have used me as an example without telling untruths about me. Something cannot be from memory if it did not happen; it is a fiction.

But seriously, were there really any number of victims Jesse could choose from — on whom he was receiving daily fair game ops intel reports; whose legal troubles Jesse was present for and informed about as they happened; whose getting rid of was the subject of weekly ASI board room meetings that Jesse attended; and who had bankers boxes of hate filled vitriolic orders from Hubbard about him? And of all of that huge number of victims, who has an ongoing war with the Scientologists and is in a situation where Jesse’s testimony could make a difference in the direction of justice for so many people?

NM: As he is writing a memoir, this is HIS story, HIS experiences from HIS point of view.

[…]

Nancy Many

Actually, going with Jesse’s statement about his book’s subject, this is L. Ron Hubbard’s story, Hubbard’s experiences, from Jesse’s point of view. This is perfectly fine for a memoir. Jesse has stated what he says his standard is for this work, and I would imagine in other communications in his life.

JP on ESMB: I have nothing but a truth to share with people that want to know. There is no reason to us to be confused about the facts of what happened during the end of L Ron’s days. The truth is so much more palatable than conjecture or modern consensus. When I talk about Scientology and the Sea Org, unless I have personal experience I don’t pretend to know what the truth is, in the monkey business of Scientology.

If Jesse actually seeks to share nothing but truth, he cannot and should not rely on his memory. He does not have to travel to court houses, but can get what he needs to confirm or change his memories at home in the comfort of his easy chair. It would be a disservice to everyone but the Scientologists if Jesse didn’t check his remembered facts where they easily can be checked. I tried to help him with that, and there is no doubt that debriefing on his actions to a knowledgeable person who can frame decent questions would also help where he needs it.

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Case Clearing for Jesse Prince

Dear Jesse:

In my November 9 communication1, I mentioned that I would deal later with fact errors about me in your article,2 and I’m doing so now. I excerpted the section of the article that concerns me, and commented where I thought correction or clarification was needed.

JP: I began to recall being on the other side of the fence when Gerry Armstrong had to defend himself against Scientology style black ops for years.

What I had to defend against was war. It is understandable that the Scientologists waged Scientology style war; but because it is solely Scientologists, and their mercenaries, of course, who are waging it, and all in the cause of Scientology and in application of Scientology scriptural directives, it is proper to call what I had to defend against “war,” the Scientologists’ war on me.

Black ops are an essential option and channel in the Scientologists’ war machine. Again, because the Scientologists are the entities running the black ops, they’re properly Scientology black ops, rather than Scientology style black ops. If the Catholic Church has a war machine, and its black ops department got a writer’s finger prints on a sheet of paper and sent a threat letter to the Pope to get her falsely charged criminally, that would be a Scientology style black op. Or if the Catholic Church’s black ops department, with the Pope’s blessing and guidance, trained and drilled a priest to get close to some guy by pretending to be friendly, truthful and loving but really being an enemy, lying to the guy, covertly hostile to him and working for his destruction; then the priest and the Pope’s other agents covertly and unlawfully videotape their victim and pay a crooked cop for a license to do so; then the Pope and the whole Catholic Church hierarchy lie about their priest’s and their victim’s actions and words and even bear false witness against him in legal proceedings around the world; then the whole Catholic Church hierarchy conspires to frame the guy and have him criminally prosecuted; and then the whole Catholic Church hierarchy get their parishioners to join in the hate, the lies and the framing; that would be a Scientology style black op.

I am still the victim of the Scientologists’ black ops, which comprise an aspect of the war they wage on different fronts and channels. Certain aspects are very visible, so are not really black ops, even though the visible parts are targets on programs that contain black ops department targets as well. The Scientologists’ legal operations in their war on me are largely visible, even if their black and invisible ops might determine judicial outcomes; e.g., judge-, witness-, jury-, attorney-tampering. Much of what I had to defend against, and spent my time defending against during the years you were part of the Scientologists’ war effort, was their lawfare machine. Despite being in the throes of litigation, of course, someone doesn’t have to lose the awareness that Scientologists comprise an intelligence cult and always have black ops targeting people, certainly their adversaries in the legal arena.

In any case, you were in the Scientology hierarchy during some of the years when I defended against the actions of the Scientologists and their collaborators in their war on me. This would be the 1980’s into the early 1990’s.

JP: Scientology sued Jerry for absconding with 22 banker boxes of personal documents and artifacts of L Ron Hubbard.

No. I did not abscond as you describe it. I did abscond, in that I blew, I deserted –from post, from serving Hubbard, from the Sea Org, and from Scientology. To abscond is to depart in a sudden and secret manner, which I did. I absconded because, if I had not absconded but let my seniors know I was planning to leave, the Scientologists would have locked me up, and would have Lisa McPhersoned me. Although I absconded, I did not, however, abscond with 22 banker boxes of Hubbard materials. I did not abscond with any Hubbard materials, certainly not the materials that became central to the Scientologists’ initial lawsuit against me.

I absconded on December 12, 1981 with my wife Jocelyn. I obtained the documents that were the subject of the first Scientology v. Armstrong suit in late spring, early summer 1982. I obtained them from Omar Garrison, legally and with his permission, for the purpose of sending them to my attorneys for safety and for my defense in the war I knew the Scientologists were bringing to me. The Scientologists filed their suit on August 2, 1982.

The Scientologists did not sue me for absconding with 22 banker boxes of Hubbard materials. They sued me for the actions I took while on post in Hubbard’s Personal PR Bureau as his Archivist/Researcher and as the “research assistant” identified in the contract between AOSH Pubs DK and Omar Garrison for Garrison to write Hubbard’s biography. I provided materials from Hubbard’s personal archive and from other sources to Garrison in 1980 and 1981 pursuant to this contract, which had been negotiated and written by Hubbard’s personal attorney Alan Wertheimer. The Scientologists sued me for “conversion,” claiming that while working with Hubbard’s materials inside the cult, I converted them to my own use. The Scientologists even claimed that I converted to my own use the “xerographic and photographic paper and chemicals,” which I had purchased and consumed making copies of biographical materials for Garrison.

The Scientologists, using CSC as the plaintiff, also falsely claimed in their complaint that the documents in Hubbard’s archive were CSC’s personal property, not that they were Hubbard’s. On that false basis, the Scientologists could claim that CSC never gave me permission to provide anything to Garrison. I was able to show by Garrison’s contract, by my communications back and forth with Hubbard, and by other evidence, that I had the necessary permissions to provide Garrison Hubbard’s materials. And I was able to show that I had Garrison’s permission to provide some of these materials to my attorneys.

The Scientologists know all this, and know what the judge at my trial in LA Superior Court in 1984 specifically ruled about the chain of possession of the subject documents and my permissions to do with them what I did.

Judge Breckenridge: The court has found the facts essentially as set forth in defendant’s trial brief, which as modified, is attached as an appendix to this memorandum. In addition the court finds that while working for L.R. Hubbard (hereinafter referred to as LRH), the defendant also had an informal employer-employee relationship with plaintiff Church, but had permission and authority from plaintiffs and LRH to provide Omar Garrison with every document or object that was made available to Mr. Garrison, and further, had permission from Omar Garrison to take and deliver to his attorneys the documents and materials which were subsequently delivered to them and thenceforth into the custody of the County Clerk.3

That judgment was affirmed on appeal in 1991.4 The Scientologists and their collaborators continue to lie about my lawful possession of Hubbard’s materials, and get others to lie for them. Marty Rathbun, who, under cult head David Miscavige, ran the Scientology v. Armstrong litigation, and who knows the judgment in the case very well, continued this lie in his 2013 book Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior.

MR: Armstrong became increasingly paranoid under pressure and finally got spooked enough to go to Flynn for help. Armstrong also brought with him several boxes of biography archives he had lifted from the church; documents that demonstrated to him that Hubbard’s personal biography, promoted by the church, was full of holes. Memoirs (p. 193)

To “lift” as Rathbun is using the term here means to steal, or pilfer. If there had been 22 bankers boxes, or even one banker’s box, they all would have required lifting as in raising them to a higher position, even if I had lifted them from a shelf above my head. Lord knows, I have lifted many bankers boxes, including bankers boxes of what could be called “biography archives.” Rathbun knows, bemoaningly perhaps, but without a doubt, that I did not lift Hubbard’s documents as the Scientologists claimed. Rathbun also knows that the LA Superior Court adjudged that I did not lift, as in steal or pilfer, the subject documents. Rathbun knowingly serves Miscavige’s purposes by forwarding this lie he knows is a lie. You are serving Miscavige’s purposes by forwarding this lie; probably, I would hope, without knowing it is a lie.

Lawrence Wright did the same thing in his 2011 article in The New Yorker, stating as fact that while in the cult working on the Hubbard biography I had copied the subject documents “without permission” and that the Miller, Atack and Corydon books “all rely on stolen materials,” referring to the materials that had come out through my litigation. In The New Yorker, Wright repeated the Scientologists’ relentless black PR line despite my providing him and the fact checking crew the facts well before publication. I requested that the magazine correct these false statements, which are defamation per se, and I showed by showers of facts and docs that Wright was wrong. I had an enormously wondrous exchange with The New Yorker’s general counsel, and came away with one heck of a story, but the magazine, despite knowing they were wrong, and with no evidence, just kept on proclaiming they were right. It had to be I’d run into an agenda item.

You don’t have to go the way of The New Yorker, however. It is weird when you consider that this is such an important point in people’s psyches that some with no clue write about it, and so do writers who do have a clue. I correct the record when it’s possible, but the Scientologists and their knowing and unknowing collaborators just keep the black PR coming.

JP: I’m not trying to retell the story of Jerry Armstrong here but ultimately, Scientology paid Jerry a settlement of $800.000 in exchange for his promise not to copy or discloses the content of the banker boxes he’d taken.

But you are retelling my story here, and again, I had not taken banker boxes. As far as I am concerned, the Scientologists paid me to dismiss my legal claims, my causes of action, against them before trial of these claims, then set in March 1987. My causes of action were for fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, libel, breach of contract, and tortious interference with contract. These arose from my 12 ½ years as a Scientologist victim of Hubbard and his cultists inside his Scientology cult, and from my 5 years as their wog victim of their fair game policy and actions after I left their cult. My dismissal of my claims was lawful for the Scientologists to settle with me.

The Scientologists and their collaborators claim in their attacks that what they paid me for was my agreement, on penalty of $50,000 per utterance, to maintain total silence about my experiences or knowledge relating to Scientology, Hubbard, orgs, groups, related entities, directors, officers, employees, volunteers, attorneys, etc., etc. Because Scientology is both a religion and a criminal conspiracy against rights, this is, clearly, to anyone with a clue, unlawful. It lawfully impermissibly violates the US Constitution, US laws, and international human rights charters. Therefore, these conditions cannot be what the Scientologists paid for.

The Scientologists could, probably lawfully, pay me whatever they wanted for any reason. The reason, however, could be unlawful, or unlawful in part. A litigation party could lawfully pay an opposing party to dismiss his legal claims; but that party could not, for example, pay another party, lawfully, to assassinate someone, a third party, as a condition of settlement. If such a contractual arrangement is lawful, the party who failed to execute the assassination contract could be punished for breach of contract. A very similar fact and legal situation exists in the Scientology v. Armstrong case.

JP: What the hell was in those boxes? It’s a fascinating, well documented cock up of what happened when author Omar Garrison and his research assistant  Gerry Armstrong verified L Ron’s actual education and military record history among other  subjects. In a nutshell, too much of the information they were able to factually verify of L Ron’s past was contemptuously contrary to the yarn L Ron spun for his devout adherents and any other ear that could hear. Gerry Armstrong went on to violate his agreement with Scientology hundreds of times and is still perused by Scientology’s attach dog legal machine.

Yes, I have violated the Scientologists’ condition that compels that I be completely silent about my now 45+ years of Scientology-related experiences and knowledge. I have violated that condition hundreds of thousands of times. I have even disclosed the content of the documents that were the subject of the Scientology v. Armstrong case, and I have copied documents that had once been in the case. But the key terms in the condition that I constantly violate are my experiences and knowledge, which cannot be but religious. And yes, I am still pursued and attacked by the Scientologists and their collaborators.

JP: I know something about this because I was present and informed about Jerry’s legal troubles with Scientology as they was happening.  I recall being present when the conditions of the settlement agreement between Gerry Armstrong and Scientology (Which in effect included whatever was best for Author Services Inc, ASI) was negotiated.

As I wrote earlier, I was not present when the conditions of the Scientologists’ contract were negotiated. The existence and nature of negotiation is a factor in establishing a contract’s unconscionability. Mike Flynn presented the contract to me as a done deal. There was then no further negotiation regarding the conditions that I objected to and knew were impossible to comply with because Flynn stated that those conditions were “unenforceable,” “not worth the paper they’re printed on.” This was reasonable, and I am only more certain after all these years and throughout the Scientologists’ efforts to enforce their conditions that it is true.

JP: From 1983 until the settlement in 1986, I would receive on a daily basis, usually sometime between 6-8 pm, intelligence reports  generated by staff of Special Project Operations (ASI), OSA and RTC concerning secret and illegal operations by Scientology against Jerry, his lawyer Michael Flynn, and other plaintiffs represented by Michael Flynn’s firm.

This is what I would like to interview you about.

In whatever communications I’ve had with you since you left the cult, this is the first time you’ve mentioned your involvement to that degree in the war on me. I’m surprised by that.

JP: The operations against Jerry’s lawyer included having knowledge of someone putting water in the gas tank of an airplane piloted by Michael Flynn with his son on board.

This became the subject of a case the Scientologists brought against Flynn in US District Court in LA. I believe it was dismissed as part of the December 1986 “global settlement.” I don’t recall Rathbun mentioning the airplane case in his Memoirs. Your knowledge could be helpful.

JP: There was instant access into the lives of people who were deemed enemy’s Scientology through well paid and placed private investigators.  These professionals sold their services to their Scientology paymasters because they had the latest modern bugging technology that was confirmed US CIA grade technology. Scientology was able to buy the services of ex-police, ex-FBI and other agency. Phone records were a fruitful source of information. Through illegally obtaining phone records Scientology always seemed to be a step ahead of their perceived enemies.  ASI lead attorney was Earle Cooley. A big part of his job as legal council was to made sure we rode a fine line to separate church principles from the illegal activities sanctioned by the same principles.

There were years of board room meeting at ASI to figure out how to get rid of Jerry Armstrong, L Ron junior, David Mayo and a few other people who had devoted their lives in servitude to L Ron and his grand ideas.

These ASI board room meetings are important, because the universal crime in Scientology is the conspiracy against rights. ASI, Hubbard’s personal for-profit company, was directing Scientology Church employees to get rid of people.

ASI board room meetings were, of course, after the “disbanding” of the Guardian’s Office. The Scientologists blamed all of their myriad public policy violations on the GO, in all sorts of legal filings, but most importantly in the submission to the IRS on which their 1993 tax exemption is based. You were doing at ASI exactly what the GO did in their war room meetings – figure out how to get rid of knowledgeable people who told the truth about Hubbard, Scientology and Scientologists.

JP: All of these devoted people turned out to be Suppressive Persons all along according to the instructions from L Ron via his publishing organization ASI. It was new management’s job to hunt them down and get them put in jail. Some may recall during the early to mid 1980’s L Ron got a bug up his ass and thought he had the power to have people criminally prosecuted for disobeying or being out of step with what he wanted. This is way past just having a stick up your ass, he really wanted this done and some people did get set up and went to jail.  It was required protocol to hate and contribute to the destruction of men and women that I had never met or laid eyes on. We would be sitting in the board room at L Ron’s Author Services organization reading advice’s from L Ron calling for the heads of staff he felt offended him somehow. Listening to Miscavige and other staff figuring out ever clever ways to get rid of the people who were aggravating poor L Ron. As we sat there making up plans to attach the very same people who were at L Ron’s side doing everything in their power to do his will. L Ron never wavered when it came to annihilating the oldest and closest devote adherents he had. There is no retirement in the business of Scientology. Ron taught his prodigy to quickly and quietly get rid of the most loyal staff members without remorse.

There were banker boxes full of “advises” from L Ron spewing hate filled vitriol about Jerry. The information that Jerry provided to Russell Miller and Jon Attack about L Ron’s actual history did in fact exposed his underbelly and pulled back the curtains on his imaginary life he expected others to believe.

Now is a great time to make those bankers boxes known about, in as much detail as you can recall. There’s another volume: Ron the Vitriologist.

JP: During the negotiations to settle with Jerry Armstrong the settlement was intentionally construed to make it too easy for anyone to claim Jerry had violated his agreement with Scientology. Those who were present knew this settlement, that still plagues Jerry today was not done in good faith. The actual intent of the settlement was to cause Jerry to be incarcerated for violation of his settlement agreement and that is exactly what has happened. The other factor is this; Jerry didn’t want to take any of Scientology’s money and he didn’t want to settle. He was in effect forced to settle by his own lawyer Michael Flynn. Michael Flynn and his whole family had been hounded by Scientology hired thugs and they were tired of it. Flynn was also the attorney of record for other ex-Scientologist in a civil class action lawsuit….you get the idea.

That’s not really true. I was willing to settle with the Scientologists. I have no problem with taking their money. The Scientologists did not know what I would be receiving to dismiss my claims. They paid a lump sum to Flynn and he distributed it to his clients as agreed between him and us. I had no compulsion to not settle and instead to force a trial of my claims. I had already exposed Hubbard and the Scientologists. The amount that the Scientologists paid me to avoid a trial was reasonable, and I have never complained about that sum. I was not, however, willing to never discuss my experiences or knowledge, nor to be the Scientologists’ punching bag with no right to defend myself. I knew the Scientologists’ contract was unconscionably one-sided, and I considered it another act of fair game, not a sincere effort to end the conflict between us. I would urge you to listen to my discussion of the settlement in Berlin in 2011:

JP: We had them right where we wanted. Each person received a settlement but Jerry was the only hold out. We even knew about the deteriorating relationship between Jerry Armstrong and lawyer Michael Flynn because we were the ones causing the confusion. In the end Jerry was forced to settle or be attached by his own attorney who wanted out and had been working on contingency anyway. There are standard legal agreements a plaintiff makes with a lawyer who takes on a case on contingency. The rule and agreement that comes into play is the plaintiff will agree to settle the case if there a reasonable offer on the table. Jerry was obligated to accept the settlement.

No, this isn’t the way it was. You Scientologists didn’t really have me where you wanted me. You didn’t know which way I’d go. I was not bound by any rule of contingency fee agreements that obligated me to settle, and nothing relating to this concept came up in my discussions with Mike Flynn or anyone else at the time of the settlement. As I said, the reasonable monetary offer to settle the case I had known and accepted. The impossible, unconscionable, unconstitutional and unlawful, but severable, conditions that the Scientologists have been judicially enforcing against me I had not known about. There was no deteriorating relationship between Flynn and me that I was even slightly aware of. What you were doing, and knew others were doing, to cause what you believe was a deteriorating relationship between Flynn and me is very relevant in a number of contexts. The remaining Scientologists and their collaborators still do not have me right where they want. They all need to stop wanting to have me where I won’t be.

JP: Someone can say that better than me but you get the idea, Jerry was forced to settle, then he was set up to violate the settlement whereby Scientology would recover its money times three and if possible get him arrested and put in jail.

I was under mind-altering duress to sign the Scientologists’ settlement agreement, but not from the contingency nature of Flynn’s and my attorney-client relationship. Again, the video I think best explains the situation and the pressures at the time of the settlement.

JP: After years of acting like I hated people I’d never met or seen with my eyes like Jerry Armstrong took some getting use to. Getting Jerry had been en grained in my mind. Even after being out of the cult for some years. I remember the first time I talked with Jerry years after I had left the cult. On a physical level I felt uncomfortable being around him or even engaging in personal or meaningful conversation. On a certain level I was afraid of Jerry and this made no sense. None of that changed the facts of how all of this made me feel emotionally. In L Ron’s alternative reality, it was considered a flaw to openly show or express emotion or empathy. We were all just ever replaceable characters in L Ron’s movie. Suffice to say I didn’t foster or encourage a speaking relationship with Jerry because I didn’t want to. The problem is this is how Scientology technology is designed to protect itself in the minds of its own.

Long before I testified in a court of law as an expert witness, Jerry had already been there doing that, the same as I would do later. The real truth is when I met Jerry I had not entirely overcome the misconceptions and false information I’d learned about him through the years. I was dismissive of Jerry and didn’t fully appreciate, let alone realize the personal sacrifice and contribution he made when he exposed L Ron for being the lying ass clown he was.

That was the 1980’s. Now I’m dealing with what the Scientologists have done and are doing in retaliation for what I did then. This is where you can help.

JP: It was only after reading the Russell Miller book with fresh eyes that I finally better understanding and more fully appreciated the work Jerry did.

The work I’m doing now is what is important. The war did not end when Hubbard was exposed as a liar, and it is in the war, in which you participated, that your testimony of times, places, forms and events is wanted.

JP: Since I’ve read the books again with fresh eyes so much has changed. I know I was Jerry when I woke up from the spell and stopped lying for and protecting Scientology. That meant it was my turn to be persecuted by juvenile intelligence tactics, endlessly financed on behalf of dead L Ron. These days both Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder are Jerry too! No one owes or is obligated to me for anything and ultimately it may not matter what I think but I will say this. I don’t monitor Scientology activities anymore like I use to. That being said, It sure does make me smile when someone sends me something about Mike Rinder speaking out. He’s even been known to refer to Scientology as a cult. This is the guy who was the public face of Scientology for years!  My heart goes out to him and his new family. These days Mike doesn’t mince words when tells people about Scientology, what a turnaround bless him. Marty Rathbun is probably the most knowledgeable person in existence when it comes to how Scientology plays ball in a law suit. From what I can tell he and his wife are progressing excellently with their lawsuit against Scientology, you have my blessing for that.

Rathbun and Rinder still support the Miscavige Scientologists in their war on me, and people connected to me. Rathbun and Rinder need to shift their misplaced allegiance from that most unjust cause to their victims.

Please correct the fact errors about me I’ve pointed out in your article. And I look forward to debriefing you about your Scientology v. Armstrong war stories, experiences and knowledge.

Thank you.

Notes

by

Request to Jesse Prince

Dear Jesse:

Great to read you’re feeling good.

There are a few fact errors in what you’ve written about the Scientology v. Armstrong litigation and war,1which I will deal with later.

Just now, I am writing to ask from you essentially what I have been asking from Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder for the past few years:

  1. Communicate to me;
  2. Debrief to me and my legal representatives;
  3. Execute declarations that contain facts elicited in the debrief;
  4. Make themselves available to testify in any legal proceedings to correct the injustices or situations they helped make.

You will recall telling me about Miscavige and Rathbun claiming that they possessed the materials stolen from the trunk of my car by their agents in 1984. There was a briefcase and about 300 pages of original writing and artwork.

I asked you a number of times for a declaration with the facts you knew concerning these materials and you always ignored my requests, and after some point more than a decade ago had treated me quite inimically.

I wrote to Rathbun about these stolen materials, and he too has ignored my communications. See, e.g., http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/archives/3304

You now write that you were present and informed about my legal troubles with Scientology as they were happening. I would like to obtain from you the details you recall from that period.

You write that you were present when the conditions of the Scientology v. Armstrong “settlement agreement” were negotiated. I was not present during that negotiation, and your information could be helpful in correcting the crime this “settlement agreement” and similar ones perpetuate.

To understand what happened prior to and during the “settlement” from my perspective, and its effect since 1986, please see the video of my discussion in Berlin in 2011:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6XCXPx9yoQ

You write that from 1983 through 1986, you would receive on a daily basis intelligence reports generated by ASI staff, OSA and RTC concerning secret and illegal operations by Scientology against me, my lawyer Michael Flynn, and other plaintiffs he represented.

This material is very relevant right now in the issue of the Scientologists’ tax exemption, and in US and international court proceedings. You perhaps were not aware that Rathbun and Rinder continue the frame-ups of Flynn and me in Rathbun’s 2013 book, which Rinder edited, and they continue their black propaganda against their fair game victims, and SPs generally. In that way, they are very much not me, as you say.

Your details about these daily intel reports about ops against Flynn and me, and related knowledge you have about the Scientologists’ war on us could be legally and historically helpful

You write:

The operations against Jerry’s lawyer included having knowledge of someone putting water in the gas tank of an airplane piloted by Michael Flynn with his son on board.

It is not clear exactly what you are saying about the Flynn plane incident being an operation. To my knowledge you have not testified regarding your knowledge of ops or fair game against Flynn or me, and this could be helpful.

I’d have thought I had been clear by now, but I go by Gerry. It’s Gerald, legally, but I’ve gone by Gerry-with-a-G since elementary school.

You write that you attended years of board room meetings at ASI to figure out how to get rid of me, and a few others. You mention that Hubbard sent communications (“advices”) ordering people such as me, and presumably including me, attacked, set up, jailed, annihilated, etc. Your details concerning both Hubbard and Miscavige’s participation in such fair game activities could be helpful.

You write that there were banker boxes full of Hubbard advices “spewing hate filled vitriol about” me. I have known that this must be the case, because I know how Hubbard worked and how his Scientologists still work. This is the first time, however, that someone who actually viewed some of the mass of material about me has described it, even in very general terms. I would like to get from you the details necessary to identify these materials for legal purposes.

Please let me know if you are willing to debrief to me about your experiences and knowledge relating to Mike Flynn and me that you acquired while inside the Scientology cult.

Thanks.

Gerry Armstrong
604-703-1373

Notes