WEBVTT

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In writing a 365-page book targeting
the Church of Scientology,

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Lawrence Wright sought out a tiny
group of disgruntled ex-members

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led by this man:

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expelled from the Church for
financial misconduct, deception,

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ineptitude and violence.

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Nearly all of Wright's sources

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were dismissed from the Church
for similar offenses,

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including: embezzlement, financial
wrongdoing, sexual misconduct,

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physical abuse and severe violations
of Church doctrine.

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Yet these are the individuals
Lawrence Wright uses to impugn the

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character of the Church
and its leader,

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a man responsible
for a worldwide religion

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and its unprecedented expansion…

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…and under whose stewardship,

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the Church’s social betterment
programs have become

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the largest non-governmental
anti-drug and

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human rights campaigns on Earth.

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But in writing his "so called"
expose on Scientology,

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Lawrence Wright’s sources were
far from credible and Wright knew it.

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Their allegations so far-fetched that
a federal judge and an appeals court

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dismissed them as baseless.

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Lawrence Wright ignored that.

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And when the Church provided
thousands of pages of evidence

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documenting the falsehood
of those claims -–

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Lawrence Wright continued to present
the allegations as fact.

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When asked in a journalist forum,

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“Do you believe that journalism
can lead to truth?”,

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Wright had this to say:

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"Truth is one of those
subjective terms

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that are pointless
to get too tied up about."

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Wright's book was
released in January 2013

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but failed to generate reader interest.

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Still, it found itself immediately
steeped in controversy

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about the veracity of its claims.

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So much so that the book’s publisher
would not release it in Britain,

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Ireland, Canada or Australia because
of their libel laws.

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The chances of losing a lawsuit
were simply too great.

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Now, documentary filmmaker Alex
Gibney has taken Lawrence Wright’s

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book at its word
without question or examination:

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“I utterly trusted Larry. I wasn’t
looking for holes in his story.”

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Over the two years Gibney quietly
worked on his documentary,

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he never once contacted the Church,
visited a Church

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or spoke to any of its members.

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His documentary was in the can before
he even mentioned it to them.

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And to this day, Gibney refuses to
reveal his allegations to the Church.

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Let’s take a closer look at Wright
and Gibney's sources:

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Meet Mark Fisher, expelled from the Church
nearly 30 years ago

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for acts of sexual perversion and now
Facebook friend of Lawrence Wright.

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It was Wright who dug up Fisher
after all those years

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to try to corroborate long-disproven
allegations over three decades old.

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Living in Las Vegas, supporting himself
as a telemarketer,

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Mark Fisher is a frequent sex tourist
and writer of an online "how-to"

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for picking up prostitutes in what Fisher
refers to as “The Land of Smiles.”

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In his own words:

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“In Thailand...
you spend $60 to $75 dollars

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and are guaranteed action
at the end of the night!”

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“If you want to have some real fun, order the
girl an alcoholic drink or better yet,

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a shot of liquor,
which will really loosen them up.”

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“The main attraction is the girls
giving the men oral sex

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under their bar stools
out in the open!”

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“You can take any one of the girls home with
you to your hotel for a night of fun!

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They will NEVER SAY NO!”

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Fisher’s advice doesn’t end there.

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He also gives pointers on condom sizes…

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...experiences with transgenders…

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...and playing the field.

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And when stateside, Lawrence Wright's
“trusted source”, Mark Fisher,

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will likely be found here.

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Or here, where in his off hours,
Mark Fisher associates

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with members of the notorious criminal
cyber-terrorist group, Anonymous.

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This is the person Wright is using to malign
a worldwide religion and its leader.

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And providing a platform
for these false stories…

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Sheila Nevins, head of HBO Documentaries
and Family Programming.

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Nevins apparently shares Fisher’s taste.

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“Strippers and hookers,
that’s my specialty.”

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“We did Real Sex, we did Pornucopia.
We did G-string Divas.”

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So, Mark Fisher and Sheila Nevins
stand on common ground.

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One traveling to Thailand to chronicle his
"sex-cations" exploiting young prostitutes …

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…the other, using her
executive position at HBO

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to bring legitimacy to the sex trade,
to get ratings on cable TV.

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So whether it’s soft porn
or a video version of a book

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filled with fabrications
and falsehoods,

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for Sheila Nevins, it’s all about money.

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“I’m in a business and corporation
and I have to make money for them

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and I have to make people watch.”

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So here's what we have:

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Mark Fisher, expelled from the Church
nearly thirty years ago,

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corroborator of long-discredited events
he claimed happened in the 1980s.

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Presented as fact by Lawrence Wright,

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swallowed whole by Alex Gibney

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and greenlit on behalf
of HBO by Sheila Nevins.

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…who shares Lawrence Wright and
Alex Gibney’s attitudes about the truth.

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“Maybe if we all told the truth,
we’d all shoot each other.”

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In future segments,

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we’re going to show you more of
Lawrence Wright’s “sources"...

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Remember this guy – the ringleader of
that tiny group Lawrence Wright

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befriended and used to tell false
stories about his former religion?

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“Shut the fuck up. I’m tellin’ you
something right now…”

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He was dismissed and expelled from
the Church for criminal activities --

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that's criminal, as in felony.

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His résumé also includes episodes of
shoving, kicking,

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punching and extreme violence.

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And a honeymoon night spent in jail.

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But Lawrence Wright
doesn’t reveal any of that,

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or any other sordid
detail about this man.

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You’ll also meet those
this man calls his "posse":

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Such as the guy he nearly killed, who
he now calls his "best good buddy".

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This guy deserted his children and
ruthlessly attacked his estranged wife…

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…the thief who used to ride shotgun with
the ringleader on his punching sprees.

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Admitted accomplices
in a scheme to suborn perjury –

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getting others to lie under oath.

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And another Lawrence Wright source,
the "lady" expelled from the Church

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for having sexual relations with
someone she was ministering to,

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a violation of professional conduct
in any church. You'll meet her, too.

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…the paid tabloid source and his
wife, whose frivolous lawsuits

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were repeatedly thrown
out of Federal Court

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and the couple ordered
to pay the Church $40,000.

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... and the writer who took advantage
of his Scientology connections to

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take $5 million for writing scripts
he never completed.

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Lawrence Wright and Alex Gibney
could have shown you

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the truth about Scientology.

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For this is Scientology today:

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A rapidly expanding religion with new
churches opening, by the month,

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throughout the world...

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But instead of showing you this,

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Wright and Gibney have chosen
to give you this man...

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Shut the fuck up…

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And his tiny group of followers.

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That’s right – this guy is the leader of
all Lawrence Wright's "sources."

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They are interconnected,
each of them corroborating the other’s

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false stories and lies,
some for big bucks.

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All of them handpicked
to populate the story

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Lawrence Wright and
Alex Gibney want to sell.

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Lawrence Wright, Alex Gibney

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and executive producer Sheila Nevins
know full well who these people really are.

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But you won’t see that on HBO.

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Shut the fuck up…