I wasn't sure where to put this. Maybe we need a subforum for cults and cult news.
Noted Scientology Critic Arnie Lerma Shoots and Injures Wife then Kills Himself
His wife is recovering and will be OK. She's got a fundraiser going to help her pay medical bills: https://www.gofundme.com/ginger-sugerman
Arnie Lerma was a long time scientologist and spent many years in the cult's fake navy called the Sea Org. After leaving the cult, Arnie became one of the most vocal and active critics of scientology, and gained notoriety in the anti-cult movement when he created the Usenet news list alt.religion.scientology and used a misspelling of cult leader David Miscavige's name as the creator name. He posted the famous OT III story of Xenu exactly as written by L. Ron Hubbard, thereby launching a long and nasty war between scientology and critics over the internet.
Since then, he as been a major target of cult harassment and dirty tricks, and even endured a raid on his house instigated by cult lawyers. He's been on numerous TV and radio shows to tell his story and expose the destructive cult of scientology.
From my own observations since the Usenet days, I always saw Arnie as a sort of Ent in the world of scientology vs. the internet. Those were really crazy days. The usenet list was the target of years of relentless attacks by the cult. They had a new type of goon - in addition to the sleazy private investigators and scientology harassers and lawyers, they created a new "post" for cult employees and volunteers: internet trolls trained to attack news groups and anti-cult web sites. It was chaos for years, and Arnie Lerma was always in the thick of it.
I have followed Arnie's blog off and on since that time, and I thought he was becoming a kind of crazy conspiracy theorist. I've never known him personally or talked to him except maybe a reply on a usenet post here or there, so I wasn't friends with him or had any kind of relationship with him. For a long time, he was a powerful and intelligent voice for the anti-cult movement. But I started to pay less attention to him as over the years he began to act more like a rambling troll posting long, repetitive posts and links in whatever group or site allowed it. A couple of years ago, someone in the critic movement saw one of my Facebook posts about scientology and invited me to join a Facebook group for critics. Arnie was also a member. After about a week or two of participating in the group, Arnie began making cryptic comments on my posts and in reply to my comments on other posts, the same kinds of remarks he made to and about people he thought were scientology trolls. I couldn't figure out what his problem was, so I just ignored it. Maybe he confused me with someone else. Anyway, I see now that it likely had nothing to do with me at all.
Even after all of that, I am deeply shocked and saddened that Arnie's mind had deteriorated to the point where he'd shoot his wife and then himself. I'm sure the brainwashed culties are celebrating and taking this horrible event as confirmation of their inhumane, stunted belief system. All in all, I'm thankful for Arnie's efforts to expose destructive cults and his long fight with the insidious scientology machine in particular. I'm thankful his wife is alive and recovering, and I hope a lot of people help with her fundraiser.
Rest in peace, Arnie.
Noted Scientology Critic Arnie Lerma Shoots and Injures Wife then Kills Himself
His wife is recovering and will be OK. She's got a fundraiser going to help her pay medical bills: https://www.gofundme.com/ginger-sugerman
Arnie Lerma was a long time scientologist and spent many years in the cult's fake navy called the Sea Org. After leaving the cult, Arnie became one of the most vocal and active critics of scientology, and gained notoriety in the anti-cult movement when he created the Usenet news list alt.religion.scientology and used a misspelling of cult leader David Miscavige's name as the creator name. He posted the famous OT III story of Xenu exactly as written by L. Ron Hubbard, thereby launching a long and nasty war between scientology and critics over the internet.
Since then, he as been a major target of cult harassment and dirty tricks, and even endured a raid on his house instigated by cult lawyers. He's been on numerous TV and radio shows to tell his story and expose the destructive cult of scientology.
From my own observations since the Usenet days, I always saw Arnie as a sort of Ent in the world of scientology vs. the internet. Those were really crazy days. The usenet list was the target of years of relentless attacks by the cult. They had a new type of goon - in addition to the sleazy private investigators and scientology harassers and lawyers, they created a new "post" for cult employees and volunteers: internet trolls trained to attack news groups and anti-cult web sites. It was chaos for years, and Arnie Lerma was always in the thick of it.
I have followed Arnie's blog off and on since that time, and I thought he was becoming a kind of crazy conspiracy theorist. I've never known him personally or talked to him except maybe a reply on a usenet post here or there, so I wasn't friends with him or had any kind of relationship with him. For a long time, he was a powerful and intelligent voice for the anti-cult movement. But I started to pay less attention to him as over the years he began to act more like a rambling troll posting long, repetitive posts and links in whatever group or site allowed it. A couple of years ago, someone in the critic movement saw one of my Facebook posts about scientology and invited me to join a Facebook group for critics. Arnie was also a member. After about a week or two of participating in the group, Arnie began making cryptic comments on my posts and in reply to my comments on other posts, the same kinds of remarks he made to and about people he thought were scientology trolls. I couldn't figure out what his problem was, so I just ignored it. Maybe he confused me with someone else. Anyway, I see now that it likely had nothing to do with me at all.
Even after all of that, I am deeply shocked and saddened that Arnie's mind had deteriorated to the point where he'd shoot his wife and then himself. I'm sure the brainwashed culties are celebrating and taking this horrible event as confirmation of their inhumane, stunted belief system. All in all, I'm thankful for Arnie's efforts to expose destructive cults and his long fight with the insidious scientology machine in particular. I'm thankful his wife is alive and recovering, and I hope a lot of people help with her fundraiser.
Rest in peace, Arnie.
