Tommy Davis: Portrait of a Liar
Tommy Davis is a liar.
He’s smooth. Polished. Convincing. But a liar nonetheless.
Consider this gem, from a 2008 CNN interview with John Roberts. Roberts asked him about disconnection, asking if it was true that “if you are a member of the Church of Scientology and someone in your family, a friend or spouse is skeptical or critical of the Church of Scientology, you’re supposed to disconnect from that person.”
Davis answers, “There’s no such thing as disconnection as you’ve characterized it…Scientology actually mandates – it’s really part of the code of being a Scientologist – to respect the religious beliefs of others, so certainly a Scientologist is going to respect their family members’ beliefs…We consider the family to be a building block of any society, so anything that is characterized as disconnection or this kind of thing is just not true. There isn’t any such policy in the Church dictating who you can and cannot be in communication with, it just doesn’t happen.”
Now, any Scientologist knows that this is a lie. Disconnection is in Policy. It is in the Ethics book. It is practiced every day. And particularly these days, Scientologists are being hauled in to Ethics and told to disconnect from family and friends, parents and children, or else. Scientologists are being constantly told who they can and cannot be in communication with.
There is only one honest answer to the question, “does Disconnection exist?” and that is “yes.” If you feel Disconnection is right, you could add a justification for it. If you feel it is wrong, you could announce its cancellation and then actually cancel it.
Davis wants the best of both worlds. He knows it’s wrong and doesn’t want to admit the Church does it, but knows he can’t cancel it – so he just lies.
Who is Tommy Davis anyway – and what qualifies him to speak for the Church of Scientology?
The son of film actress and Scientologist Anne Archer, Davis is independently wealthy. He once told Rolling Stone: “I have enough money to never work a day in my life.” Davis has been doing his best to live up to that prediction. As the son of Hollywood royalty, he was given a cushy job at Celebrity Centre, assisting the President CC in schmoozing celebrities. While other Sea Org Members were working around the clock for pennies, he was attending parties and hobnobbing with the glitterati.
He’s never held another post. He has never run a mission or an org, never held a management post, never held a technical post, never sweated it out in the trenches. His training level is unknown. His Bridge level is unknown.
But, qualifications aside, his boyish good looks and slick manner made him popular. Tom Cruise liked him. So did David Miscavige. He was an ideal spokesperson for the New Scientology – inexperienced, untrained, fanatically devoted, but with a handsome, polished façade.
His first brush with big-time PR was a disaster – he ended up in an unseemly shouting match with BBC reporter John Sweeney. With his dark glasses and over-the-top screaming, Davis looked more like Mr. Smith from The Matrix than a Church spokesperson. He ended up “on the decks,” doing physical labor at Flag.
But when Mike Rinder blew, Davis was tapped to be the number one spokesperson.
In the recent Nightline show, Davis seems to be comfortable lying for Miscavige. Polished and cold-eyed, he simply denies any and all wrongdoing. Was Miscavige ever violent? No, no, not in his nature, never happened. What about the RPF? Oh, that’s a “voluntary” program. And so on.
All in all, Davis is the perfect representative for Miscavige’s Brave New Scientology – all chrome, no chassis.
Addendum: I just watched the second part of the Nightline show and witnessed the most incompetent handling of OT III questions that I have ever seen. Listen, whether we like it or not those materials are out there – in LRH’s handwriting. Denial does not work. Throwing hissy fits does not work. Storming out definitely does not work. It just feeds the controversy. Can’t anyone in the Church see this? There are many, many ways to smoothly handle such questions. Heber could have handled it. Mike Rinder could have handled it. Davis bungled it – I suspect because he himself is not OT III. What business does the Church have fielding a rookie spokesperson who is not OT III and is not comfortable with deftly handling such questions? Tommy Davis has no business representing Scientology on national TV. He is a walking disaster.
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Leaving Scientology 
Dude!!
ROTFLMFAO!!!
Perfect!
Thank you so much for this post.
Alanzo
What you don’t get is that Tommy Davis IS telling the truth. He ALWAYS tells the truth. You just don’t get the definition of the word “truth”. Way back when during the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, the Bolsheviks had a definition of truth … that story that forwarded the cause of the Communist Party. And I’m sure that if you were to look into DM’s personal dictionary, you would find a similar definition.
Therefore, Tommy Davis ALWAYS tells the truth, the Scientological truth. To do anything less would be out ethics. It’s all those evil espees that are lying, trying to bring down the COB, the true savior of Scientology who keeps the tech pure. Oatee 8’s have said so.
Pete
Brilliant report on Tommy boy. You have pretty much got him nailed. Except his first PR blunder was to get photographed in Italy kissing Kirstie Alley. Yep. And he didn’t go to the RPF over that one. No he just had to tell everyone at CC in Crew Dining during staff meeting and apologize to his wife in front of everyone. Thing was I don’t think she even knew it had happened until then.
Then when he out and out lied about RPFers getting to see their family once a week. I almost reached through the screen and strangled him. To think about my years on the RPF and begging to see my mom for 5 minutes on Christmas morning at 6:45 in the morning so she could drop off my presents and give me a hug and remembering the look on her face and the tears in her eyes made me so enraged.
RPFers RARELY if ever get to see their family and that is really only when they cause a flap or they aren’t Scientologists and they are dying. Then exceptions are made. But even then you have to bring an “Escort” with you, which is someone from the RPF, another RPFer who is there to make sure you don’t let your family know how miserable you are in your slave labor camp.
Sea Org members are discouraged and prevented from seeing their family under pretty much the same circumstances. But I guess since Tommy’s mom is Anne Archer and all she has to do is walk in to the Presidents office and see her son he would have no idea what that is like. He hasn’t ever been denied anything ever. So of course it must be that way for everyone.
What a piece of work. But I did relish the moment that Martin Bashir brought up the RPF Tommy clenched his jaw and his eyes widened ready for what was to come. I think he was taken aback that the question was so lite. I wish I could have talked to this Martin Bashir before hand I would have given him some juicy ones to ask.
You nailed it again Rebel. “All Chrome and no chassis” has exactly what the “Brave New Scientology” has become!
From “Ideal Morgues” which would do Uncle Adi proud for their vast emptiness and lack of humanity to Lying Tommy, Slappy’s* best shill.
* special thanks to Mark Bunker for the fitting moniker 🙂
But seriously… we also have to try to see what dreadful positions staff are in. I think Davis does the best he can, but under Miscavige it can be pretty hard. I actually feel sorry for Davis and a lot of other staff. Thery’re stuck in between the truth and DM, and something in the middle evolves. Most of the staff etc must be aware of this, but what’s their choice? To have the dictator throw them out, RPF?
DM has set the tone for the CoS, and that is to not intellectually argue for your sake and listen to others, but to forcefully make your point, no matter if it’s true or not.
So with a leader such as DM, everybody else tends to follow that EFFORT-path (pretty far down on the knowledge-mystery scale).
Regarding the OT-materials, I think the best answer would be: “We do not confirm nor deny anything about the OT-levels.”
Unfortunately, the spokesman for the Church of Scientology doesn’t really know Scientology. He’s a good guy, but he can’t answer people’s questions. He doesn’t know how or why the meter works. He doesn’t understand the Upper Levels. He can’t handle a reporter.
I’d say that each of DM’s ‘whys’ from the past few decades, haven’t resulted in ‘trained students and thoroughly audited pc’s’, the actual product of the organization. Tommy is what is called in the vernacular an ‘overt product’. He’s DM’s product.
The meter works on the fundamentals of Ohm’s law, a current flow encounters varying resistence. The body itself runs on electromagnetic principles. The meter registers shifts in the electromagnetics. That is emminently susceptible to ‘objective testing’ and has been.
Unless one understands the Axioms, for real and including the definitions and facts of ‘time and space’, one cannot expect to grasp and accomplish the Upper Levels. My religious convictions are not subject to having to ‘prove’ them to anyone, except myself. NEXT QUESTION.
Reporters, like Mr. Bashir, who make a living by controversy, set out to throw one off their game. Tommy has no ‘game’, can’t play, is an amateur, is a piece of chum thrown to a shark.
Response to Mr. Bashir on the questions concerning confidential, esoteric materials. “I’ve given my sacred word of honor to not discuss these materials out of context. Surely you can respect that, Martin. Surely you wouldn’t presume to tell me what is ‘truth’ about the origins of life, the spirit, the universe. Surely you’ll respect the Constitution’s grant of freedom of religion. Are you an American? Well, then let’s celebrate our rights and NEXT QUESTION.”
76 million years ago… Xenu… Oh, that’s confidential and will cost you a ton of money for proper indoctrination to really get it. And, you might die of pnumonia if you find out about it too early. That’s what Hubbard said. Ohm’s law will proove that to be true… But, as you can see, Scientologists don’t wish to dicuss this out in the open, even if they trully believe this data to be true. People in the real world just won’t understand it or get it because they are not at the upper states of existence to fully grasp these whole track factual events that haunt us and take control of us today. It takes a being at these trully higher states of existence above mere “wog” states to really grasp these truths. Thus, no matter what kind of Scientologist you claim to be, you will always resort to the “shore story” or “no comment” because only the indoctrinated Scientologist will SEE the truth. Not we the people in the real world. This is not meant to bash people’s beliefs, but to point out how open discussion of these beliefs will be avoided and the data kept hidden, secret and confidential until formal indocrination and payment is made. Someone’s wallet will always get fat in the end.
What?
Actually its 75 Mill and you are also completely wrong on this point, because in relation the ACs are cheaper than the lower level auditing required to reach those levels, so this sorta blows your assertion that the reason they are confidential is to milk ’em for the big bucks when they get there.
The facts are actually covered in the HCOPL Security of Data as follows:
(Begin fair use quote)
You must realize that we suffer, all of us, from the misuse of knowledge concerning
the mind at a very early period. To place this data near such people as psychiatrists or
even states places them in a position to enslave people or repeat the original action and
cave people in. A very small minority, receiving incorrect data, did promptly use it
harmfully on others after April 1964.
Until we ourselves have climbed well out of the hole, we must safeguard the
materials. Our case gains depend on it. And others could make our salvage of people
impossible.
We do not safeguard these materials from any commercial consideration. Our
futures, those of each of us and those of all Scientologists, depend on our keeping this
material under lock and safeguarded from abuse until we are well away as a group and
can handle things better as individuals as well as a group.
(end fair use quote)
Whether you agree or disagree with the above, frankly I don’t give a damn, because I do!
As far as I understand this is still a blog for people who still consider themselves Scientologists even though they have left the Church and you sir or madame have demonstrated *your* belief that to *you* Scientology is nothing but a scam or a con!
My suggestion is that you should go back to your friends at OCMB and just leave us alone.
Tommy Davis was moslikely also drilled on Hubbard’s Intelligence Speciallist Training Routine, “TR-L, TELL ME A LIE” aka, TR LIE. This is a TR drill only meant for OSA personnel, originally for Guardians Office personnel:
Purpose: To train the student to give a false statement with good TR-1. To train the student to outflow false data effectively.
Position: Same as TR-1.
Commands: Part l “Tell me a lie”. Command given by coach. Part 2 interview type 2 WC by coach.
Training Stress: In Part 1 coach gives command, student originates a falsehood. Coach flunks for out TR 1 or TR O. In Part 2 coach asks questions of the student on his background or a subject. Student gives untrue data of a plausible sort that the student
backs up with further explanatory data upon the coach further questions. The coach flunks for out TR O and TR 1, and for student fumbling on question answers. The student
should be coached on a gradient until he/she can lie facily.
Short example:
Coach: Where do you come from?
Student: I come from the Housewives Committee on Drug Abuse.
Coach: But you said earlier that you were single.
Student: Well, actually I was married but am divorced. I have 2 kids in the suburbs where I am a housewife, in fact I’m a member of the P.T.A.
Coach: What town is it that you live in?
Student: West Brighton.
Coach: But there is no public school in West Brighton.
Student: I know. I send my children to school in Brighton, and that’s where I’m a P.T.A. member.
Coach: Oh, and who is the Chairman there?
etc.
Huh?
Funny what perversions of the tech you find on critical websites.
As you can see by the fact that there is no IA and that it obviously lacks Ron’s signature at the bottom that it can’t possibly considered valid Scientology “scripture”.
I mean you could have actually written it yourself in an effort to troll this board.
It’s possible to handle such questions without being either condescending or affronted. Had I been in that position (and thank god I’m not) I would have simply said this: “It is often difficult to describe spiritual phenomena in words. That is why every religion adopts symbols, mythology and metaphor in an attempt to explain the unexplainable. It’s an easy shot to take that symbolism out of its spiritual context and make it look ridiculous. I could do that with Christian writings, or Hindu, or Buddhist. I don’t because, first, I respect their right to believe what they want to believe, and second, I do not know the full spiritual context of their symbology and what it really means to them. Scientologists only ask for that same respect and tolerance.” I can guarantee that would work. I can also guarantee that anyone proposing that to David Miscavige as a handling would be promptly RPFed. They are so locked-in that they are incapable of constructing a simple argument. They also act as if this material is still secret. Personally. I think trying to maintain confidentiality at this point is a joke – nowadays anyone can directly access the source materials. So the task of a PR in 2009 is not to DENY it, but to attempt to put it in some sort of context.
There’s another valid, workable answer. Your point of them being locked in and unable to formulate a simple, cogent response, is a fact.
Here could of also just simply applied TR4 to the situation by handling his origination and moving on, instead of storming out in a hissy fit!
Personally I whereas I enjoyed the first show and I thought the second one was bigoted attack against the First Amendment particularly when the reporter said something like don’t you think think these beliefs to be a bit bizarre.
Yeah right like some guy creating the heavens and the earth in just seven count ’em seven days, isn’t a bizarre belief! Or the belief that we are the only sentient life in the galaxy isn’t a bizarre belief. Or that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction capable of being directed against the United States isn’t a bizarre belief. Or that the news is objective isn’t a bizarre belief!
I’d just like to send ABC a well deserved commendation on the first program and a well deserved condemnation on the second, because to me in the second they came out looking like a bunch of sanctimonious hypocritical moralizing morons!
These quotes from Orwell’s 1984 are so prophetic. They describe what is happening in the Church of Scientology, at the hand of it’s tyrant leader David Miscavige, to a T. DM’s Valuable Final Product:
“We are not content with negative obedience, nor even with the most abject submission. When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will. We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us; so long as he resists us we never destroy him. We convert him, we capture his inner mind, we reshape him. We burn all evil and all illusion out of him; we bring him over to our side, not in appearance, but genuinely, heart and soul. We make him one of ourselves before we kill him. It is intolerable to us that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be. Even in the instance of death we cannot permit any deviation . . . we make the brain perfect before we blow it out.”
“Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside you. Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity. You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty and then we shall fill you with ourselves.”
“WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”
“There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy.”
Tommy Davis is not just a liar. He’s a PROFESSIONAL liar.
First, I’d like to say thanks to everyone in this discussion. There is an underlying respect and structure to this conversation (and on this blog in general) that is lacking in many conversations involving Scientology on the web. Now, to my thoughts…. To an outsider of the church, like myself, the outburst of Mr. Davis it makes one wonder how good the tech can be, if a PR flack cannot keep his composure answering a question. Even if the question is a bit insulting, there is no reason for the hysterics. Several posters have come up with completely reasonable responses that would have sufficed (rebel008). This brings me to my next point, in response to a point made by RJ regarding 2nd part of the interview being against the first amendment . Criticism of Scientology does not equate to violation of first amendment rights. Yes, every person has a right to believe what they wish, including Scientology, Hinduism, Christianity, or whatever. Just as you have a right to believe it, any other person has the right to disbelieve it, criticize it, say it’s silly, or even ask insulting questions about it. While it may be hypocritical of him to think that the Scientology text is silly while not believing the same of Christian or other popular religious texts, he is in no way hindering your practice or belief of your chosen religion. Please, condemn ABC for being hypocritical douches, but do not say that they are obstructing first amendment rights. As for me, I’d like to escape the hypocrisy tag by admitting that I have not come across a religious text that I don’t find silly…
😛
You are absolutely right Flanders I did go a bit overboard by accusing ABC of directly violating our First Amendment rights.
Thanks for pointing this out and welcome to the discussion 🙂
Well said Mr. Flanders !
Can we please have a similar rule that Gere Isene has on his website? NO MENTION OF UPPER LEVEL MATERIALS DATA. This has to stop. It’s always coming from the same crowd, I am sick of it.