Alex Barnes-Ross campaigns for awareness of Scientology among British politicians

We are delighted to hear that Scientology critic John Sweeney is standing for the UK parliament in the July 2024 elections. John is famous for his 'exploding tomato' response to the taunts of a Scientology agent while filming for BBC Panorama. He subsequently wrote a book about group and has made criticism of Scientology central to his campaign for election as a Liberal Democrat (a UK centre party).
Alex also tells about his communication with former Labour shadow minister Dianne Abbott who is determined to launch a government investigation into Scientology abuses.
Jon's paper, "Never believe a hypnotist."
jonatack.co.uk...
Steven Hassan's TEDx Talk: "how to tell if you're brainwashed?"
jonatack.co.uk...
John Sweeney's site:
johnsweeney.co.uk
Not sure how to find your government rep to write to them?
US: www.house.gov/...
UK: members.parlia...

[@evelynesimon5758]

Very fruitful discussion, thanks.

[@jonatack7693]

Good to hear, thank you! 🙂

[@heavymestworker]

When CoS labelled Alex a “Potential Trouble Source” they had no idea how much of an understatement that was.

[@jonatack7693]

He long since graduated to 'actual trouble source' ...🙂

[@lauraann1684]

Great as usual!

[@educocult]

I did wonder if this would ever happen! Wonderful! Watching now!

[@jonatack7693]

Glad to have fulfilled your dreams 🙂

[@mattbeavis9105]

No way...I watch both of all the time

[@jonatack7693]

Some way and this way (and the way out is the way out)🙂

[@MichaelYoder1961]

Great discussion. Thanks, Alex and Jon.

[@jonatack7693]

Thank you, yet again, Michael🙂

[@moxieme65]

Thanks for this discussion guys.

[@jonatack7693]

A pleasure. Thanks for joining us 🙂

[@hillside21]

From the US, the last I heard was Dianne Abbott had the whip taken away by Labour. I'm glad she will be standing again as a Labour candidate. And should John Sweeney win his seat, he'll be a double threat, against Scientology _and_ Putin.

[@jonatack7693]

We live in interesting times...

[@brightonwomble]

Hi Jon. Diane Abbott, as you can infer from the post further up, won't be in any incoming Labour govt. Not a chance.

[@acex222]

I like Alex, but feel massive second-hand embarrassment every time he starts to talk too much - for an ex-Scientologist, his understanding of and knowledge of Scientology is incredibly shallow. He hasn't read the Anderson report? Or the Foster report? How can you protest without understanding the history you're protesting for?

[@jonatack7693]

There is so much to study. It seemed necessary to me to investigate every facet of Scientology - Hubbard's biography ('honesty is sanity') - leading to my work with Russell Miller on Bare-Faced Messiah, the history of the group (Blue Sky was the basis for Bare-Faced Messiah), the psychology (Opening Our Minds) - how did Hubbard manage to bend minds more effectively than either the Chinese Communists or the CIA? And how to undo that influence. Many ormer members don't even read my distillations of the vast amount of material out there. Most don't realize that they continue to run on software installed by Hubbard. Or how very easy it is to disable that malware.

[@toph8298]

Yep, that’s why I shut up and listen anytime I’ve been around those who know their stuff and were long-time members!