Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism

by Amanda Montell

According to multiple ex-Scientologists, there’s a whole course on how to lie to wogs. It’s called TR-L, which stands for Training Routine Lie. Purportedly, in TR-L, Scientologists learn the skill of lying with unwavering confidence, even under extreme stress. In her affidavit, Margery Wakefield details an incident from her time in the OSA when she was forced to make false allegations of sexual misconduct against a judge. The judge was slated to preside over a case dealing with Scientology, but allegedly, the church didn’t like him and wanted him removed, so they assigned Margery to claim he’d sexually harassed her. Before testifying, Margery remembers asking one of her superiors about lying under oath and was answered with a quote from a Hubbard policy called “the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics.”* It meant that whatever it took to ensure Scientology’s survival must be done. It meant to call on her TR-L and obey. It meant the ends justified the means.