Topic: 1st Amendment
Paulette Cooper and Scientology The chilling story of how Scientology attempted to silence one of their most vocal critics with smear campaigns and an elaborate frame up.by Gregg
(centrist)
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Be careful what you write about Scientology if you value your life, your livelihood, and your sanity. This was the lesson that the Church of Scientology attempted to teach the world when Paulette Cooper published her scathing expose on the Church back in 1970. As a result of a coordinated effort within the Church's Guardian's office, Cooper was framed, arrested, and driven to clinical depression. There was even a near assassination attempt, although this could never be satisfactorily linked back to Scientology.
"Next, my cousin who was also short and slim like me-- was in my apartment alone when a man arrived with a "flower delivery" for me. When she opened the door, the intruder pulled a gun out of the flowers and put it to her temple. Fortunately, the gun jammed, misfired or was empty. The man then began to choke her, and when she pulled away and screamed, he ran off. The police said afterward that they were mystified, because there appeared to be no motive for the attack."
-Paulette Cooper, The Scandal Behind the Scandal of Scientology[1]
Paulette Cooper is perhaps the most well-known victim of the Church of Scientology's Fair Game policy. The extent of their actions against her were so severe and so plotted out that they actually coined an operation for her, known as "Operation P.C. Freakout." This was uncovered in 1977 when the the FBI raided Scientology offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., seizing over 48,000 documents. They revealed the extent to which the Church of Scientology had committed "criminal campaigns of vilification, burglaries and thefts ... against private and public individuals and organizations," as the U.S. Government prosecutor put it.[2] The documents were later released to the public, enabling Cooper and the world at large to learn about the details of Operation Freakout.
Background
Paulette was born in the Auschwitz concentration camp to Belgian parents shortly before they were murdered there. After spending years in various orphanages in Belgium, she was adopted by the Cooper family at age 6 and came to America. At age 8, she became an American citizen. She began a freelance writing career in 1968, after completing a master's degree in psychology (which in and of itself would have made her a target for the Church of Scientology, given their loathing for the psychiatric industry as a whole). As a result of her earlier study of comparative religion at Harvard University, she became interested in religious cults and began studying Scientology/Dianetics. Finding Scientology and Dianetics to be questionable, Cooper wrote a critical article for the British magazine Queen (now Harper's Bazaar) in 1969.The Church promptly sued for libel, adding Queen to the dozens of British publications that it had already sued.
Cooper was undeterred, and expanded on her article, which would become a book called "The Scandal of Scientology - A chilling examination of the nature, beliefs and practices of the 'now religion.'". It was published by Tower Publications, Inc. in the summer of 1971. The Church responded by suing her in December 1971, demanding $300,000 for "untrue, libelous and defamatory statements about the Church."
Operation Freakout
After her condemning article and book, Paulette was seen as a threat by the Church of Scientology's Guardian Office (now known as the Office of Special Affairs or OSA) and they began to dig what whatever dirt that they could on her, with a specific interest in her sex life. In addition to finding any potential material to blackmail Cooper, members of the Guardian's office were told to "attack her in as many ways as possible". Attacking her included painting her name and phone number on street walls so that she would receive obscene phone calls, subscribing her to pornographic mailing lists, receiving anonymous death threats and her neighbors received letters claiming that she had a venereal disease. [3]
All of this sounds terrible on its own, right? At this point the Church of Scientology had gone out of its way to slander her, sue her, discredit her, and embarrass her. This should have been enough as any individual undergoing this level of harassment would surely crack. However, this was not enough for the Guardian's Office. Not even close. A document issued by the Guardians Office stated their goal was nothing less than "To get P.C. incarcerated in a mental institution or jail, or at least to hit her so hard that she drops her attacks. [t]o remove PC from her position of power so that she cannot attack the C[hurch] of S[cientology]." [2]
In December 1972, a woman ostensibly soliciting funds for United Farm Workers stole a quantity of stationery from Cooper's apartment. A few days later, the New York Church of Scientology "received" two anonymous bomb threats. The following May, Cooper was indicted for making the bomb threats and arraigned for a Federal grand jury. The threats had been written on her stationery, which was marked with her fingerprints.
The charges were eventually dropped in 1975 with the filing of a Nolle prosequi order by the local US Attorney's office. Meanwhile, The Church sought to bring a quick end to their other disputes with Cooper in 1976 when it proposed to settle with her, on condition that she was not to republish or comment on The Scandal of Scientology and agree to assign the book's copyright to the Church of Scientology of California. A year after this settlement was reached the FBI discovered that the bomb threats had been staged by the Guardian's Office. A contemporary memorandum sent between two Guardian's Office staff noted on a list of jobs successfully accomplished: "Conspired to entrap Mrs. Lovely into being arrested for a felony which she did not commit. She was arraigned for the crime." [3]
Throughout all of this, the Church of Scientology was well aware of the ferocity of their attacks, as well as the history of their target, at one point stating, "we don't want to be seen publically [sic] being brutal to such a pathetic victim from a concentration camp." [2]
sources: [1] paulettecooper.com: [link edited for length] [2] [link edited for length] [3] Marshall, John (January 25, 1980). "Files show spy reported woman's intimate words", The Globe and Mail.
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Ms. Cooper was a wonderful up and coming journalist. She was one of the first vocal critics in the media that got any attn. negative of Scientology.
It can be seen here in this video clip how a small local TV station got world wide attention (even from France) when they aired some information the CoS did not want aired.
(if the link does not appear search you tube for scientology secret vault part 3)
But since the end of the Lisa McPhearson Trial Scientology does not seem to sue the media. As they did TIME magazine (for hundreds of millions of dollars) Not even when the cartoon South Park that ended with a DARE for the CoS to sue them. (After the cartoon revealed their most secret story of OT III that can be confirmed with a recording of Hubbard on Gawker(dot) com)
But Ms. Cooper was terrorized similar to how a few (selected) anti Scn. critics are today. a quick search of video documented assults and break-ins of critics who are now reporting to the FBI can be easily found searching YouTube (the current day strongest weapon Scientology critics use against the group.) Before home video was at their fingertips with cell phone cameras and the like Scn. attorneys and the FBI seemed to have a "he said / she said" situation. 42,000+ 'You Tube' videos later (searching Scientology) things are starting to get world wide attention.
One of the arguments Scientologists will make is that all religions have their dark side, and that this is one of them and is in the past. The fact of the matter is, it is not just of the past, since fair game is alive to this day. During the March global protest, an Anonymous member by the name of Gareth Cales was terrorized when two masked individuals were holding a sign with his picture, real name, address, and phone number and following him around. They got Stu Wyatt in the U.K. arrested because he was protesting frequently on a regular basis, and because he was a threat to their stats. Gregg Housh of Boston was arrested for criminal harassment all because he wrote his name on the permit for that month. This "Church" hasn't changed, is a bully, and will continue to be a bully because being anything else is out-tech ... and any changes to the tech will be considered "squirreling", which is why this organization must be dismantled in its present form. It is organized crime that needs to be brought to light.
Lou isn't responding to this I've noticed. Either they are already in the RPF for failing to "handle" anonymous. Or they smartened up and are running for their lives from scientology right now.
Posted By: Jonathon Idda Kanat
Date: 2008-09-12 15:54:47
Sec checks, I'm sure. I remember a former member of Scientology remarking that Ms. Idda (aka Lou/Louanne) is required to undertake regular 'sec checks' to prevent her from being deprogrammed by the critics she attacks.
To those who don't know: a "sec check" or security check in Scientology is a grueling, 8-10 hour interrogation using an emeter as a lie-detector, used to check the loyalty of Scientologists to Scientology leaders. Real KGB style stuff.
Those who fail the sec check are often sent to the RPF, which is a forced labor/prison camp. A few people have died in the RPF, people have been chained up, even children don't escape this place. if you ever wonder why these folks act so relenltessly impervious to reason, it's because for them, the alternative is so horrifying.
Despite her harrowing encounter with Scientology, Paulette Cooper is in fact alive and well and living in New York City. Her info is at:
http://www.paulettecooper.com/
And the book the Hubbard organization tried so hard to stop is available as a free download for anyone. Shame on Scientology for illegally and immorally harrassing this woman and trying to cause her death or insanity. The group that exists today, the "church" whose apologists post here without a care for its own crimes, is the very same one that did this.
No one should be fooled by the minor set changes and rearrangements with which they try to distance themselves from any unethical activity at which they have actually been caught - the "disbanding" of the Guardian's Office and creation of the Office of Special Affairs, the merely nominal rescinding of the "Fair Game" policy, etc. Business as usual is going on at this very minute in this corporation that behaves more like organized crime than organized religion.
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