Who is David Miscavige – Part I

The Foundation

Who is David Miscavige?

One would be hard pressed to answer that question as he doesn’t let anyone get close enough to find out.

Those under his control most certainly have their opinions about him. But who is the man behind the cruelty and violence?

What brought him to this state?

Some will undoubtedly shrug and ask “who cares?” and they would be justified.

The anger and disgust directed at the man known as COB is well and truly earned after all.

Curiosity is also understandable however.

Throughout history there have been terrible people who committed heinous acts leaving people to wonder what kind of man or woman would do such horrible, nightmarish things.

What would motivate someone to make evil and malicious choices? To hate or rage so completely?

How could anyone operate so far removed from conscience or compassion?

Put simply, what makes him or her tick?

Right thinking people have a need to understand what drives someone into such incredible darkness.

Serial killer Ted Bundy shocked everyone around him when he was finally caught. How could such a smart, friendly, good looking man turn out to be a savage murderer?

Like Ted Bundy, David Miscavige is capable of wearing the guise of charm and charisma. He shows the public a calm, reasonable demeanor in hopes of hiding the truth.

Bundy had strong motivation for keeping his mask in place, Miscavige has nothing to fear or control him. He shelters behind First Amendment protections which work so much better than keeping up a pretense to be someone he’s not.

That the cult of Scientology has been granted religious status has been freeing for it’s dictator.

April 30th, 1960 David was one of a pair of twins born to Ron and Loretta Miscavige. According to Ron’s book, Ruthless, theirs was a marriage fraught with anger and violence both verbal and physical.

Any child growing up in such a home will be affected emotionally. Children from homes that are in constant upheaval and filled with tension are much more likely to develop issues themselves.

Ron notes that early on David seemed to have difficulties in school with his peers, coming home most days complaining about the other students and griping about things they’d done.

It was a first small glimpse of his critical nature towards others. Was this seed planted as the child listened to his mother criticize his father? As she disagreed with him and voiced her discontent until both parents were shouting at one another?

Children have an amazing propensity for taking ownership of guilt that doesn’t belong to them. Of internalizing lessons never intended to be taught.

As young David watched, listened and learned, his mother hurled disgust and disappointment at her husband who always seemed to fall short in her eyes. Did this constant criticism embed itself in the boy’s psyche teaching him that those who failed deserved scorn and ridicule? After discovering Scientology, Ron’s usual response to this constant criticism was to leave her to it. His son watched this constant power struggle and it informed him.

One was either in control or being controlled.

Loretta shouted long and loud enough and Ron walked away.

Beat your bully and he’ll leave you alone.

Anger was power.

Ron admits that the problems in their marriage were created by both spouses, he owned his part in the volatility and this article is not intended to lay blame or accuse. What’s done is done and there are many people who grew up in dysfunctional, abusive homes that refuse to allow their past to shape them.

Some use the past as a crutch others lay that crutch down, rise up and walk.

David Miscavige makes his own choices.

He is an adult and there is enough evidence on record to cast doubt on the idea that he is just a fanatical, brainwashed cult member. Choices and decisions have been made that point strongly to the fact that David Miscavige is less a victim of Scientology and more a cunning, conniving bully drunk on power. He may have begun his life in an unstable, angry home, but it has been his choice to continue to embrace and expand upon the lessons taught there. To create weapons from them that he uses to fight the world around him in order to get his own way.

Each generation has the power to break such chains. Just because one was abused as a child does not mean it is inevitable that he will continue that abuse on his own children. The cycle can be stopped.

Each person that chooses to escape from Scientology makes this choice for themselves. To stop the madness, get help and find a better way.

Make no mistake, David Miscavige chooses what he does because it works for him. He has willingly and knowingly sacrificed whatever kindness, joy and compassion he may have once had at the Altar of Power. Burning the better parts of his humanity in the crucible of rage until all that is left are the bitter dregs. He has built himself a life of power, luxury and celebrity with all those around him subservient and agreeable.

No one will ever shout at him.

No one will ever dare find fault.

It all comes with a cost, though, whether or not he recognizes it.

People may bow to him, they may agree with him and kowtow to him.

But no one respects him and no one certainly wants him around.

He is the bully everyone hates.

David’s asthma is key in his journey towards the top of Scientology. Ron notes that it was his son’s miraculous “cure” that started him on his path.

It must be pointed out that in the 1960s and ‘70s little was known about what is now understood to be General Anxiety Disorder.

While this is a condition not wished upon anyone it would be the height of irony if Miscavige was actually afflicted with it.

Of course this is only supposition. Speculation based on the little actually known about the man.

While the case for him having a mental illness is only circumstantial it is an interesting, legitimate theory and worth considering. This post is in no way meant to garner sympathy for COB Miscavige nor is it an attempt to try and make him in any way less the vicious bully that he is. This is just a theory based upon context clues revealed by those who have fallen victim to his tantrums and rages.

There is no need to attempt to humanize him. Humans are the only species capable of making choices for good or for evil.

David Miscavige is another sad and frightening example of the harm Man can inflict upon his fellows.

Could it be even a remote possibility that the tyrannical leader of a cult dedicated to wiping out psychiatry and mental health help all over the planet may actually be suffering from a mental illness?

Ron Miscavige states in Ruthless that he thought the asthma symptoms his son experienced might be psychosomatic and treatment like a workout session in the garage would stop the attack.

Symptoms of anxiety can include shortness of breath and muscle constriction which makes the chest tighter and breathing more difficult. When one is experiencing an anxiety or panic attack, the fight or flight response is triggered and there is rush of adrenaline released into the body. By engaging in a physical activity like lifting weights that adrenaline level is reduced and the attack stops.

Asthma does not just go away. There is a genetic factor to the disease and while there can be the appearance of a cessation it is in truth only a period of remission.

Asthma can flare up again at any time and smoking is definitely a trigger.

Simple mental exercises do not and can not cure asthma.

There is no cure for asthma.

Not through conventional psychiatric therapies and certainly not through Scientology tech.

Ron recalls that David would wake up at night unable to breath. Anxiety/panic attacks can come during sleep and result in paralysis and feelings of suffocation. Those who suffer these attacks can experience apnea, they awake in a panic unable to breathe, their heart racing and pounding in their chest.

Further, there is an emerging link between anger and anxiety.

A study conducted by Concordia University and published in the journal Cognitive Behavior Therapy looked at the link between anxiety and anger in 380 subjects. The participants of the study were screened for GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) symptoms along with how they to responded to anger-inducing scenarios.

The study group was surveyed on statements such as, “I strike out at whatever infuriates me” and “I boil inside, but I don’t show it.”

According to the study it was “found that in the 131 participants who exhibited GAD symptoms, higher levels of anger and its various dimensions were associated with worry and anxiety.

Furthermore, hostility and internalized anger contributed to the severity of their GAD symptoms.

Experts believe this suggests that anger and anxiety go hand in hand, and that heightened levels of anger are uniquely related to GAD status. Even more, internalized anger expression — boiling inside without showing it — is a stronger predictor of GAD than other forms of anger.”

To assume that a child living in a broken, dysfunctional and toxic environment would not have internalized, suppressed anger simmering inside him would be irresponsible idealism.

Miscavige Senior states in his book that after one session of counseling with Scientology methods David’s asthma was cured.

Ron wrote that he finally took David to a Scientologist and asked him if he could address the asthma. The man agreed that he could and led David into a room and closed the door.

“I sat down in the cafeteria and let my thoughts wander. Forty-five minutes later, David walked out and he looked like a totally different person. ‘My asthma’s gone!’ he declared. ‘It’s gone!’ He was radiant. He looked confident. He was cheerful. I actually saw all those things at that moment. Something of significance had taken place in the space of 45 minutes. That was the end of David’s asthma. Throughout the rest of his childhood, he never again had a serious attack—some minor ones, yes, but never where he was gasping and couldn’t breathe.”

First, how could David know his asthma was gone just like that? Secondly, Ron wrote in Ruthless that he continued to still have symptoms throughout his life.

Either the man has asthma or he has GAD. Neither of these can be cured with pretend tech invented by a science fiction writer.

There is a saying that “a burden shared is a burden halved”. Is it possible that what actually happened is that for the first time David was able to share his insecurities and fears with an impartial party and in that very act of expressing himself he was able to release some of the anxiety inducing emotions he carried for so long? Certainly he was not freed from those feelings or the anxiety, but the immediate relief must have been enormous at the time.

This is not to dismiss the condition as being asthma, it very well could be the lung condition.

However there is a conundrum for David here if it is.

If he does have asthma then it must be medically treated.

Going to the doctor for the necessary medications would be proof even he cannot deny that Scientology did not in fact cure his condition. This revelation would surely cause his followers a crisis of faith.

Ignoring his disease and going untreated for years, on top of allegedly being a heavy smoker, is risking ever worsening damage to his lungs as well as running the risk of death from respiratory failure. Leaving asthma untreated can lead to lung scarring and COPD and those symptoms are incredibly difficult to hide.

Does he use an inhaler secretly? Then he knows full well the Tech is bogus.

It seems equally plausible that given his upbringing in an unstable home along with stressful issues with his classmates at school David could have been experiencing Panic and anxiety disorders.

With parents constantly unhappy, tense and angry there is always a fear of divorce for the children. One cannot feel safe and secure if there is a very real threat of the family breaking apart looming overhead. A known coping mechanism for some is to simply detach, to not allow oneself to get too close in order to protect oneself from the pain of betrayal. Going further there can even develop the “get them before they get you” attitude. Better to hurt others so they never get the chance to hurt you. Keep them at arm’s length and be the one in control at all times.

Self protection out of fear of abandonment is a very strong motivator. If David grew up hearing his parents fighting, living under the cloud of unrelenting tension, fearing that at any time something would break, it is not outside the realm of possibility that he would learn to disassociate himself from relationships. After all, the relationship that was modeled for him from his beginning was one of anger. Certainly David learned from his parents that marriage equaled pain, frustration and disappointment.

What is very clear is that from an early age Miscavige worked to separate himself from those around him.

Adding to the instability were the various moves the family made back and forth between the United States and England. Ron and Loretta uprooted the family several times in order to participate in the Scientology courses and training at St. Hill in East Grinstead, England. The moving back and forth from country to country, disrupting the only bit of constancy the children had in the form of school and their friends can certainly result in a child who feels he has no control of his life. David was already revealing his anger issues through fighting at school. Children who are bullied, even if they are happy at home, can develop severe anger. In David’s case, the stress must have felt unrelenting at times.

It seems that in every aspect of David’s childhood there was a frightening sense of instability and lack of control. It is not surprising then that David, driven by repressed anger and fear, would develop a deep seated need to control not only his life, but the lives of those around him as well.

Ron writes that David was bullied at school during this time, something he dealt with by fighting.

Rather than making friends, he kept himself separate from his classmates.

Ruthless describes this “During this second stay (in England) David was a good student in school and got along with others as long as they left him alone. Because he was small he sometimes got bullied. He wouldn’t take it and punched out any kid who picked on him.”

A harbinger of things to come.