Totally photoshopped from the original by Herbert Rose Barraud, Oxford Street, London.
Grand Poobah is a satirical term derived from the name of the haughty character Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado (1885).[1] In this comic opera, Pooh-Bah holds numerous exalted offices, including “First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral … Archbishop … Lord Mayor” and “Lord High Everything Else”. The name has come to be used as a mocking title for someone self-important or locally high-ranking and who either exhibits an inflated self-regard or who has limited authority while taking impressive titles.
Fred Flintstone Syndrome?
In popular culture, the term “Grand Poobah” was used recurringly on the television show The Flintstones as the name of a high-ranking elected position in a secret society, the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes. The main characters, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, were members of the lodge. The lodge is a spoof of secret societies and men’s clubs like the Freemasons, the Shriners, the Elks Club and the Moose Lodge.
Let’s back up to what Joe Friday would ask in the Dragnet series…
WHO IS DAVID MISCAVIGE
David Miscavige is the leader of the Church of Scientology. His official title within the organization is Chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology Center (RTC), a corporation that controls the trademarks and copyrights of Dianetics and Scientology. He is also referred to within the Scientology organization as “Captain of the Sea Org”.
Miscavige was a deputy to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard as a teenager. He joined the Sea Org, a management group for the Scientology organization, then later joined the Commodore’s Messenger Organization, a group within the Sea Org that carried Hubbard’s orders to subordinates. He rose to a leadership position by the early 1980s and was named “Chairman of the Board” of RTC in 1987, the year after Hubbard’s death. Official Church of Scientology biographies describe Miscavige as “the ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion”.
How about those words, “What” “Why” & “When?”
The Guardian (UK) has followed Scientology and David Miscavige for a long time, second only to the Tampa Bay Times, with their earliest report back in 2009. For a complete list of stories on this subject, just follow this link. Following is a selected timeline of their coverage of Mr. Miscavige:
2009: Scientology leader David Miscavige ‘physically attacked staff’
2011: What happens when you try to leave the Church of Scientology?
2012: David Miscavige: A cult figure in the fame game
2013: Inside Scientology’s super power building: welcome to the smell wall
2015: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief review – horribly compelling study of a creepy organization
2016: My Scientology Movie: Louis Theroux’s exposé is the most damning yet
2023: They saved cinema – so why weren’t Tom Cruise and James Cameron at the Oscars?
The Tampa Bay Times has put the name, David Miscavige on the map over 2,000 times (as early as 2002) … owing to the fact that the Scientology “Mecca” is just across the Bridge (to Total Freedom, of course) in Clearwater, Florida. In keeping with the subject of this post, a recent Times post reads … Scientology leader David Miscavige concealed whereabouts, federal judge says.
A U.S. magistrate judge has ruled that Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige was “actively concealing his whereabouts or evading service” in a federal trafficking lawsuit and declared him officially served in the case.
QUICK UPDATE ON THAT BRIDGE TO TOTAL FREEDOM
This is the only known filmed lecture on Dianetics “Bridge to Total Freedom” given by L. Ron Hubbard. Unknown location, September 1965.
SO WHERE DOES THE “WEE LAD”, DAVID MISCAVIGE HANG OUT?
You mean like when he’s not receiving medals from UNAUTHORIZED foreign law enforcement officials?
O.K., SO I TOTALLY PHOTOSHOPPED THAT ONE. SUE ME.
The “official” Scientology page highlighting the biography of David Miscavige still has the bogus “Columbian National Police” medal presentation featured at the top of the page … apparently David hasn’t had much in the way of foreign recognition since 2018.
BUT I DIGRESS
Actually, the David Miscavige “News” page presents a revealing hidden message about the activities of the elusive leader of “the fastest growing religion in the world today”…
A timeline of “news” shows a significant drop in activity involving the church “leader.”
2012 – 11 posts
2013 – 7 posts
2014 – 9 posts
2015 – 12 posts
2016 – 12 posts
2017 – 12 posts
2018 – 11 posts
2019 – 7 posts
2020 – 1 post
2022 – 1 post
2023 – ZERO POSTS
Click for Galactic Overlord Xenu‘s reaction to these miserable “Downstat” numbers for Dear Leader. As Mike Rinder reminds us: “In Scientology, the very worth of the individual is measured by his production—and by extension, his stats.”
THE QUESTION REMAINS, “WHERE IS DAVID MISCAVIGE?”
Let’s Google that…
In January of this year, our friend Mike Rinder provided a couple of clues…
Of course, he is at Flag. Right where the plaintiff’s lawyers said he is in their filing in the Baxter/Guider damages case.
Yet Miscavige’s attorneys filed papers filled with the usual bluster and feigned incredulity that anyone could be so stupid as to believe David Miscavige is in Florida. This after they used the same line in California when he was trying to avoid service there.
Because of the security arrangements, he believes it’s “safer” at Flag while he can still keep his finger on the pulse of the biggest source of revenue for scientology (the Freewinds, though safer, is too remote and being tied to the dock in Aruba is a pretty dismal life).
BUT YOU KNOW THE OLD SAYING, “IF THERE ARE NO PHOTOS, IT DIDN’T HAPPEN.”
Three years ago, Tony Ortega was asking the same question. “Where in the world is Scientology leader, David Miscavige?”
Sadly, our Google search doesn’t have the answer, nor does Bing.com, Yahoo.com … oh wait, how about these folks?
It says right there … “Finds everything.” Didn’t happen.
Final thought: I could have saved a couple of hours if I had just started with this graphic…
