YouSaid · the spoken record

Aaron Smith-Levin

lines on the record: 177
first: 2023-02-25
most recent: 2023-02-25
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“There's about 175 to 200 Scientology organizations in the world. Anybody who's ever worked at these organizations know there's not more than 35 to 50 staff members per org. There's not more than 1 to 200 public Scientologists per org. I broke down the number of CORG members who'd be working at every continental management unit, middle management, international management. I broke down the mission network and I was generous. I mean, my numbers were like, if Lron Hubbard came back and they were doing an event. Yeah. Lron Hubbard was coming back and announcing OT 9 and 10. How many Scientologists could we scrape together in every city to come to this event? It wasn't more than 35,000. Now contrast that to what Scientology says. Millions, ten million people.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I did a video about this. It's actually quite easy to get to the number, it's not more than 35,000 in the entire world. And that's being very generous and charitable. I was intentionally generous. I broke it all down in a spreadsheet and everything.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah. And this sort of goes back to. Conversation we're having about like well, does Miscavige really believe? And I said, I could make an argument for the fact that he doesn't, right? Because I go, it wouldn't be that hard to change the way Scientology treats people just a little bit. And you'd probably stop losing anyone because Scientologists already believe to such a strong degree. Have to be pretty freaking horrible to people to make them leave. And that's where you go well, does Miscavige even want Scientology to expand? Because if he was really being clever about it, it seems like he could at least stop the bleeding. And yet he doesn't. So that's where you make the argument. Well, if he doesn't, then you must not want to.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Know it's usually like, no, I really believed, and they treated me so horribly. I almost had no choice but to leave. And then the stories get pretty crazy.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I personally, because when I was in those shoes, I say there's nothing anybody could have said to me to get me to change how I felt and thought about Scientology. It's almost foolproof. The more evidence you try to present, that there's something wrong with what Scientology is doing, the more you're just working for the psyches. It's very, very difficult. I mean, most people who leave Scientology leave because they have had some personal experience that was just such a grave injustice that it just pushed them beyond. The point of what they were willing to experience. I'm not sure I've really ever heard a story of someone going, yeah. I just woke up, I scratched you realized it was all BS and drifted away.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You asked a question why would all these people hold on to their stories, they would never want to leak. Anyone who would want to leak would not even want to be a Scientologist anymore. Like if you truly believe in Scientology and you got your shoulder to the wheel and you're a C-orc member, you think Scientology is literally the only thing that can save every being on this planet from a fate of eternal amnesia and slavery. So you've got everyone once you're unplugged from the matrix and you realize, yeah, you could get plugged back in and live your nice life, but you're a slave. That's how Scientologists see this planet. They actually, they refer to Earth as a prison planet.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The IRS now, the IRS is so low on the totem pole. As far as the international bankers, he would say, runs everything. But use that these bankers also use Big Pharma and Big Psych to control the population. And Scientology is famously against pharma and psych. And so this is sort of how Lron Hubbard characterizes like this big war between Scientology that's trying to set everyone free. Big pharma and big psych that's trying to enslave everyone on the planet.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's actually sort of a multifaceted conspiracy, in that, on the one hand, L. Ron Hubbard points his fingers at like the international bankers. Which has shades of anti Semitism”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, they wouldn't want a leak. They're true believers. They see there's sort of a conspiracy theory that runs right through all of Scientology, which is that Scientology represents like an existential threat to the powers that really control this planet.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah. So I believe the information that I have that I verified, I'm putting out, I'm the one representing it's true without revealing my sources. Shelly was still actively in touch, regularly with family members outside of the C organization since until about 2014. So, I mean, regularly. So there's no question about her safety during that period. And then someone else who knew Shelly very well did see her and actually have a conversation with her in a public place in 2019 or 2020. Now somebody could still come along and be like, how do we know she's okay? It's been three years. Yeah, okay. You could say that about anybody. The nature of working in the highest levels of Scientology management at the super secretive bases, it's a very weird and unique situation. Has isolation baked in.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Organization certain people who cover Scientology. Have published stories. Shelley's Miscavige's family member told a story to another family member who told the story to a friend, who told the story to a former Scientologist, who told the story to a journalist, who published the story. Created the impression that some of Shelley Miscavige's family members are actually talking to the press, when in fact that has never occurred. And so the very people who are publishing about Shelly Miscavige missing have contributed to the fact that Shelley Miscavige does no longer speak to those family members. Because she thinks they're talking to the press when they never have. It's pretty messed up.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, well, you realize the same people who report that Shelly's mission are also the same people who will tell you exactly where she is. She works at this secretive CST, Church of Spiritual Technology based out in Twin Peaks, California. I have personal confirmation that she was seen and spoken with by someone who knew her well in, I'll say 2019. Shelly Miscavige is missing in the sense that She hasn't been seen with David But because she's no longer his assistant, You would never see her with him”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The only thing that matters. So let's say if Shelly was married to Dave, but she worked in a different organization. She would never be seen with him, ever, publicly ever. Wouldn't travel with him, wouldn't go to events with him, nothing. Sometime around 2006, 2007. And I'm very oversimplifying this. Shelly basically pissed off Dave to the point where he's like, okay, I'm done with you. I'm going to take you off of your post. At that point, she was reassigned to another confidential Scientology base up in Twin Peaks, California. The reason I'm providing this type of detail is because we hear that Shelley's missing.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So Shelly Miscavige for many years held the job of her post in this reorganization was David Miscavige's assistant. That was her post. It's important to truly understand that and what that means because the fact that she was Miscavige's wife is meaningless. And this is something that's hard to for regular people in the regular world to truly grasp how meaningless it is in Scientology for Sea Org members who are spouses. It means nothing.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“After the 1993 IRS exemption that Scientology won back, and this information comes from Mike Rinder, that's when David Miscavige, as soon as the checks on his power were removed, miscavige's behavior changed markedly.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think in his own way, he does. I don't think he wakes up thinking he's screwing Scientologists. I think he sees everyone else as screwing him. I think he sees that it is his job to expand Scientology throughout the world and accomplish the aims of Scientology. And he sees that it's not happening. And he thinks if everyone else would just stop his way and stop creating problems for him, it would happen. I do think he sees himself as someone who is doing good. I think that's fair to say the evidence shows that.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah. The conversation about David Miscavige gets really interesting because I could give you a if I wanted to make the argument that he didn't believe I could give you a dozen examples to make that argument. I just happen. To think that he believes in a different way. Whereas your average Scientologist believes that Alvaron Hubbard was practically infallible, that he thought of everything in advance. He took care of everything before he left. And Miscavige still believes in like the main structure of this thing, but he's like, oh, shit. It's falling to me to figure out how to actually make this thing happen. I think Miscavige sees himself as someone who has to a certain degree had to go back and fix all Run Hubbard's mistakes.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The best of my ability to know that I believe it to be true. I'll give you small, even stupid examples. Like Mike Rinders told a story where at the international base, Miscavige actually had copper contraption built into the ground, like grounded into the ground to come out where you could hold it. And here something he sort of came up with to your, it could ground your BTs, could get your BTs that if you were feeling overstimulated or something, I'm probably slightly bastardizing this story. He came up with this as a great idea, something to help someone destimulate if their BTs were getting a little too overactive use. So that's a stupid story that's sort of like Well, it shows you he believes in the concept of BTs, of his creating little rods to get rid of them, to ground them into the earth.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He knows they don't exist. Meaning, when I say exist, oh, I don't mean do advanced levels of spiritual awareness exist. When I said, I mean, did Lron Hubbard write down what anyone is supposed to do? That's called OT9. That doesn't exist”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes. In fact, the whole story of how that became known Is part of how David Miscavige was able to get rid of Pat Broker and take over power because it was believed that Pat Broker was in possession of the upper unreleased OT levels. And when Miscavige determined that he was not, and there weren't in fact any levels, that was a bad day to be David Miscavige because he now knew he had something on his hands he could not get himself out of. He's like, oh.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And he goes now that you've discovered this, now you know who you are not and you are ready to find out who you really are. Well, now you're supposed to find out who you really are on OT 9 and 10. Those don't exist.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, this is from L Ron Hubbard. And then after you finish OT5, you get rid of all the BT clusters. OT6 is just a training course to teach you how to auto OT7. Well, OT7 is now more BTs, except it's in the environment and stuff. You're trying to locate BTs. You can find them on your body, but it's just more BTs. Okay. And then OT8 is, remember, we talked about in all these auditing sessions throughout the entire Scientology bridge. You have people who've run hundreds or thousands of past life whole track incidents. These memories have become part of their self-identity of who they even think they are. OT8, you go through all these past life recalls and essentially I'm oversimplifying this a little bit. He goes, psych, all those past life memories weren't yours. They were your BTs.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And you're thinking, man, I hope we got to the good stuff soon. And then you get to OT5, and he's like, Psyche, you got more BTs. You couldn't find these BTs because they were all bunched up together in clusters. And first, you have to break up the clusters, and then you can get rid of the BTs. And you're like, okay, got to do that.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, because also part of Scientology, remember it works 100% of the time when used 100% correctly. And if it doesn't, Could be because something's not being done right, but it also could be because you're doing bad things that you're not telling people about. Like if you're committing present time over its crimes, sins, Scientologists would be like, that's part of the reason auditing isn't working on you is because you're committing criminal behavior that you're not being honest about. So every Scientologist is sort of incentivized to make auditing work on them. Now, Lex, this work gets a little crazy. On OT3, you learn about the body than for the first time. When you finish OT3, you attest to having achieved this state of having no more body thetans. And then you start OT4. And he's like, psych, you got more. You got more BTs, except those other BTs, they had drug problems and that's why you couldn't find them the first time. So we're going to do something a little different here, do something a little different there. Got to get rid of these BTs that were addicted to drugs. Okay. Then you finish out.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Can you read it? By most accounts, Scientologists struggle when they read this for the first time because this is not consistent with what Scientologists are hoping for is on the OT levels. They're hoping for some real life-changing magic. The way these things are described and sold, they're... Remember, they're hoping that these OT levels are going to make them give them the ability to go completely independent of their body at will. Deer ice from your body, go back into your body. I have some real. Spirit powers”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, at Scientology's upper levels, if you get sick or you have cancer, or there's something wrong with you, Scientology will say, that's one of your body things. You need to get some auditing to fix the body things.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Alran Hubbard didn't like the IRS. So, of course, the story has to do with tax audits. Okay, called them all in for tax audits, said, Psych bitches, froze them in glycol, loaded them up on spaceplanes, flew them to Earth. Remember the story has to be Earth because the story is what's wrong with us. Flew them to Earth, dropped them in volcanoes, blew them up with hydrogen bombs, and then captured them with like spirit magnets. I'm making upwards because, okay. And these disembodied spirits of these people that got blown up have just been blown in the wind here on earth and they attach themselves to things and they can be in the environment and they stick to bodies and everything. And they all have reactive minds.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Very often does You combine that with the fact that Scientology is against any forms of mental health or health outside of Scientology and you have a recipe for disaster. Now, you might go, where did all these spirits come from that are stuck to your body? This is where Zenu comes into play. So Hubbard says that 75 million years ago, Zenu was basically a dictator at the Galactic Confederation is like 70 something or 80-something planets somewhere in the Milky Way. And Zenu was like a dictator, an overlord for either one of these planets or the whole system. And they had a population problem. And Zenu was like, we need to get rid of like half the people. So we called them all in for tax audits.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Use the emeter, just like we spoke about, except now you've got a divider that separates the can so they don't short circuit and you hold both cans in one hand. And you have the emitter in front of you. So now you're auditing yourself. Your telepathically talking to the thetans that are stuck to you. You are thinking the commands instead of saying them out loud, and you sort of do drills where you practice looking for e-meter reads at the instant you have a thought. You're telepathically auditing spirits that El Ron Hubbard says are stuck to your body. Does this sound like a recipe for a mental breakdown?”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We spoke earlier about how at the lower nonconfidential levels of Scientology's Bridge, Hubbard is saying that what's wrong with you is your reactive mind. In Scientology, once you've gotten rid of your reactive mind, that is what's called the state of clear. Okay, so after you finish state of clear, the next thing on the bridge is the OT levels. Well, if you've already gotten rid of your active mind, what the heck are you supposed to do now? Well, now L. Ron Hubbard says, okay, first, what was wrong with you was just your reactive mind. But now the next thing you have to resolve, the next thing that's wrong with you is you actually have tens of thousands of thetans stuck to your body and they all have their own reactive minds. You have to audit the thetans.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm going to answer this question by first connecting some dots. We spoke earlier in the interview about achieving your native godlike. That in Scientology is called native state. Okay, native state and full operating thetan mean the exact same thing. Because at native state, you are a fully operating thetan, you know, operating meaning operating in your full capacity. So OT means operating thetan. So the upper confidential half of Scientology's bridge are called the OT levels, the operating thetan levels. And these, and remember, they're confidential. So most Scientologists have not done these levels. They don't know what's on them. It is on these levels that you learn about the Zenu and the body Thetan story.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That the fundamental promise that Scientology is saying, they will be able to deliver to mankind Is a lie. Now it's going to sound like I'm contradicting myself because it sounds like I'm saying, well, he knows it's bullshit. I think he believes that El Ron Hubbard just failed to Finish his work And he's kind of hoping Alvon Hubber's going to come back to finish the job because L. Ron Hubbard did tell the people at the International Management Base, at least a core of them, that he was coming back. Now, we know that David Miscavige believed this because right around the 21 year mark, he was supposed to come back like 21 years after he died. Right around the 21-year mark, David Miscavige was getting busy putting some things in place that had to get done in case L. Ron Hubbard came back. So we know he at least believed to that level.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Just sitting in the vault waiting to be released. This is part of the Scientology belief system because remember I said growing up Scientology's Bridget Total Freedom is how you're supposed to get back to your native godlike state. While all the Scientologists in the world who've already done OT8 know that they haven't gotten there, but they still believe in Scientology because they're told there is more. But wait, there's more. Miscavige knows there is no more. So Miscavige knows the fundamental promise of being able to achieve full operating Thetan is a lie. He knows L. Run Hubbard didn't accomplish that, so therefore no one else is going to accomplish it as well. If El Ron Hubbard had accomplished it, Miscavige knows, well, he didn't write it up. He didn't leave instructions for how anyone else would accomplish it. So no matter what Miscavige knows,”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Definitely believes in that. I think he believes in Scientology but in a different way than all of other Scientologists because he's aware of a lot more information. Damaging information about Lron Hubbard and the true story of Scientology than most people. So his version of belief is different. I'll give you one example here. So Scientology's bridge to Total Freedom goes up to what they call OT8, operating theta in level 8. Scientologists have all been told that L. Ron Hubbard before he passed, finished, completed, putting together OT nine ten, eleven twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“She died a handful of years ago. She stayed a loyal Sea Org member until the very end. But literally, Miscavige put her on menial tasks. Like she had no authority whatsoever. She was just put on menial tasks, washing dishes, but not really groundskeeper. Just stupid low-level assistant paper pusher stuff. She never operated with any actual authority, even though she was supposed to be the one to take over her and Pat.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right. So, whereas Pat and Annie are off with LRH, all of Scientology's attorneys and accountants and lobbyists and whatever, they all know Dave. Dave's the one they deal with. So, you know, LRH passes away, patent Annie make this appearance. Nobody knows Pat and Annie. Everybody knows Dave. And so he ended up getting rid of Patton Anne. This is a very short, perhaps slightly bastardized version of it, of miscavige, basically. They had been ushering just suitcases of cash to Lron Hubbard during this time. And so you have Miscavige handing boatloads of cash to Pat Broker. Pat would do crazy things like hide the money in the walls of houses and dig pits and everything miscavage basically threatened to turn Pat Broker over to the IRS for tax evasion. Pat Broker is still alive.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes. In fact, Pat and Annie Broker were the two people that were supposed to take over. But because Pat and Annie were with Hubbard in seclusion, Miscavige. Basically, had the complete run of the operation without any oversight from Hubbard. The only way any information would get from Scientology World to Hubbard is Miscavige and Pat Broker would meet at a confidential location and Miscavige would give Broker any information he wanted to go to LRH. So if Miscavige wanted to get rid of somebody, all he had to do was feed LRH false information that this person had been caught doing something treasonous. And then he would get in response some order from Lron Hubbard to get rid of this person. Are there so many similarities between various communist regimes and fascist regimes?”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Mini Mike. And so he just became known as a doer, like a guy who'll get it done. No excuses, no stops, you know, get it done. So he had made a name for himself in the CMO. Around the time by the time hubbing off into seclusion. Now when he went off into seclusion, he took two other CMO, or I'm going to call him messengers, right? Kamaros messengers. He took two other messengers with him, patent any broker. Now, it has been said by people, Mike, Mike Rinder has told me. He goes, the reason Pat and Annie went off with LRH isn't necessarily because he desperately wanted them to, but partly because we could afford to let them go. We didn't necessarily need them. Okay, and between the two of them, Annie was the one who was like a really compassionate person, intelligent person, caring person.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think the quote sometimes gets attributed to David Miscavige. Power is not given, it is assumed. Something like that. The last six years of Alvaron Hubbard's life, he was often a seclusion, essentially hiding from lawsuits. Now, by the time Hubbard went off into seclusion, Miscavige had sort of already risen up through the ranks of the sea organization. Now, Miscavige was like a teenager either at like 11, 12, 13, something like that. Miscavige was not born in his scientific, but he was a young boy when his father got into Scientology. So Miscavige did start working as a sea-org member. So there's one organization that existed to essentially serve Hubbard directly and to represent his interests. And that was called the Commodore. He was the Commodore of the C organization. The Commodore's Messengers organization, we're going to call it the CMO. Miscavige started working for the CMO pretty early on in his CORG career. By the way, as did Mike Rinder.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Current leader of Scientology. He was actually not selected by L. Ron Hubbard to take over, but ended up usurping power and taking over.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The other reason to be prolific on the internet, right? The reason Joe Rogan can't get canceled. Because anyone can watch thousands of hours of the authentic Joe Rogan. You can't misrepresent him because he spent thousands of hours representing himself genuinely.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, but let me show you. So, here's what's happening here. We just hired some day laborers off of what, like Craigslist or something. So, what Scientology did was they had a private investigator stake out the houseflip project. They were clearly running license plates of anyone who visited the property, because otherwise, how would they find out the laborer's names do background checks on them to find out they had criminal records? And they published this as if it's going to reflect negatively on me. Oh, we hired someone to do work who had a criminal record? Who gives a shit? Do you know one of the biggest problems people with records have is finding employment? There's nothing bad about hiring someone who's got a criminal record. It doesn't reflect negatively on me, but it shows you what they think about those people. It shows you what they think about people who are trying to put their lives back together and maybe, you know, actually work for a living. And it also shows that they're surveilling us. They don't realize that putting this up, they're publishing information that they could only have if they're surveilling me and Mike.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, go to the free shop.com and get yourself a mic rind or bobblehead. Now, look, now that my profile is getting a little higher, this head was made to bobble. This smooth, shiny head needs its own bobble head now. It does.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Gift, good. Scientology created a GIF of Mike Rinder as a bobblehead. It was an insult like, oh, all he does is sit next to Leah Remedy and go, yes, Leah, yes, Leah. And so they made a gif of him with a bobblehead. So we were like, we're going to make Mike Rinder bobbleheads and we're going to sell them on the SP shop.com to raise money for the Aftermath Foundation Yeah. And now that I'm”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Reason we did that the bobblehead is because on Mike Rinders hate Scientology created a gIF or a GIF. How do you set it? What's the right way to say it?”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“2021 Scientology International All Rights Reserved. Here's an example of just Scientology's complete lack of self awareness. So me and Mike Render, we went Havzy's on like a house flip project, right?”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It up. It says right on the bottom copyright, 2000, whatever, Church of Scientology International. Like they didn't even try to hide”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, and I'm like. Get a lawyer to get it back for me, but I'm like, why I want everyone to see what a nasty, petty, disgusting organization that this is. And nobody believes anything Scientology says anyway.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's completely ineffective. They're so over the top. And well, I'll tell you how the website even came into being. So I was on the first season of Leah Remini Scientology in the aftermath. Every single person who participated in that show got a website. Just that everyone else's website is like, who is markedly.com? Who is mikerender.com? Well, I bought who is Aaron SmithLevin.com, but I was too stupid to buy Aaron. I didn't buy Aaron Smith1vin.com. So I'm actually the only one who has a website in their name.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Aaron's abusive father and a horrible husband and the worst staff member we've ever had. And I openly talk about it because I think the fact that Scientology even does things like that is fucking hilarious. And anything they try to do to me, the way I think about it is you know you're just giving me an opportunity to turn the mirror back on you and show everyone how horrible you are.”
2023-02-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #361 – Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source