Article about Philip Gale in Boston Herald 5/21/98
Xenubat (Sue M.)
Copyright 1998 by Boston Herald--All Rights Reserved
===============================================
Why did this brilliant MIT student jump to his death?
Thursday, May 21, 1998
By JOSEPH MALLIA
Alone in a 15th-floor classroom, MIT sophomore Philip C. Gale drew a
physics formula on a blackboard showing what happens when a body falls
from a great height.
Then he slammed a chair through the classroom window and jumped more
than 200 feet to his death, as horrified students watched from a plaza
below.
But the blackboard message - and a mysterious tape recording - gave no
clues to why the brilliant 19-year-old chose such a dramatic ending
two months ago to a life full of promise.
``Because of the public nature of Philip's act, this has been an acute
time of introspection,'' MIT Associate Dean Robert Randolph said.
As evidence emerged that Gale was suffering from depression, students
and staff wondered aloud about why the high-pressure school's
psychological safety net didn't save him.
And friends raised questions about whether his upbringing in a
controversial religion - the Church of Scientology - played a part in
his suicide.
Gale had quit the church. Even so, he chose to kill himself on March
13, the church's most important annual holiday marking the birthday of
the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Accepted at MIT at age 15, Gale excelled even on a campus that is a
magnet for the world's technological elite.
Fluent in 20 computer programming languages, he took a break from MIT,
and before his 17th birthday earned stock options worth perhaps $1
million - and a $70,000 annual salary - writing software at the Los
Angeles-based Internet company EarthLink Network Inc.
The 7:27 p.m. Friday suicide was a shock to students passing the busy
Green Building plaza or in the East Campus dorm, who saw the breaking
glass, the chair falling and Philip Gale plummeting to the concrete
below.
``A dozen or so people were there, some crying, some running to get
help, some running to attempt medical aid,'' said sophomore Matthew S.
Munsey, 19, who sang Bach in the MIT Choir with Gale.
The suicide provoked intense debate on campus, and on the Internet
newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, about whether it was linked to
Gale's Scientology upbringing. And Munsey soon created a Web page
titled ``Who is Philip Gale?'' raising questions about a link between
Scientology and the suicide.
According to Gale's friends, depression - or what he called
``boredom'' or a ``void'' - had long been masked by his irreverent
sense of humor.
The tall, skinny overachiever with close-cropped, bright red hair
began to see his computer and music classwork as ``inane.'' He spent
hours banging on a drum set and playing computer games.
Gale was still coming to terms with the sudden death of his father two
years ago - at age 47 - of a heart attack, said Lauren McLeod, 22, a
college friend who is now a reporter for the Concord Journal.
``He was having a really hard time dealing with it, and with how his
family reacted to it. He had drifted apart from his family since his
father's death,'' McLeod said.
And Gale had recently paid one visit to a therapist.
``He was talking about how he'd seen a psychologist that week, and
thought the guy was a complete dip - - - -,'' roommate Jason Politi
said at Gale's memorial service.
He rarely talked about quitting the Church of Scientology, where his
mother, Marie Gale, remained a prominent church official, the friends
said.
Scientology's critics, however, soon pointed a condemning finger at
the mother, a leader in the church's highly visible campaign against
psychiatry and the antidepressive drug Prozac.
``Within 12 hours of the memorial service, an elaborate conversation
had emerged on the Internet, raising questions about Marie Gale's work
against psychiatry,'' Dean Randolph said.
``In the Internet conversation the question came up, `Could a mother
who hated psychiatry help a son like Philip who needed help? And how
fit was she to be a mother?' '' the dean said.
Randolph said the criticism of Marie Gale was misguided.
A student newspaper, The Thistle, published an obituary describing the
distress Philip Gale may have been facing alone.
``He found himself caught between two worlds and terribly alone in the
center,'' the obituary said.
Gale was going through an ``existential depression,'' Brian Ladner, a
friend and former EarthLink co-worker, said in a telephone interview
from California.
``Leaving Scientology was a traumatic experience. He was brought up
thinking it was the only way,'' Ladner said.
While family and lifelong friends remained in the church, Gale set out
on his own.
``He saw through Scientology, or saw past it. And he didn't understand
why others didn't see past it,'' Ladner said.
``But even though he left Scientology, who knows whether it left
him?'' the friend asked.
Philip Gale spent his early childhood in Clearwater, Fla., the
church's Mecca.
At age 8 he went away to Scientology's top boarding school for
children, the Delphian Academy in Oregon, where he graduated at 14.
Marie Gale first brought Philip and his younger sister, Elizabeth,
into the public eye when she defended Scientology in a 1991 St.
Petersburg (Fla.) Times series of articles about the church.
The articles contained allegations that in the Church of Scientology,
children - considered ``adults in small bodies'' - are emotionally and
physically neglected, while families are destroyed when one member
leaves and church policy forces the others to ``disconnect'' from the
defector.
Church officials denied the accusations.
``Considering my parents and grandmother, my children are
fourth-generation Scientologists,'' Marie Gale told the Florida
newspaper.
``I attribute much of the success and happiness in my life'' to
Scientology, she said.
Neither of her children were forced into Scientology, but both studied
its methods deeply, she said.
By age 12 Philip was being trained with the church's E-meter - a
device like a lie detector that shows emotional reactions - to help
him in school, Marie Gale said.
The Gale family was highly regarded in the church, having donated at
least $100,000.
Marie Gale was also one of Scientology's top students, reaching the
highest level - ``Operating Thetan VIII'' - on its ``Bridge to Total
Freedom.''
Then in 1993 while working in Utah as a spokeswoman for Scientology's
anti-psychiatry group, Citizens' Commission for Human Rights, she had
a heated public exchange with psychiatrists in the pages of The Salt
Lake Tribune daily newspaper on the subject of anti-depressant drugs.
Marie Gale proposed ``a national war on anti-depressant medications,
particularly Prozac,'' Dr. Noel C. Gardner, president of the Utah
Psychiatric Association, wrote in an Oct. 10, 1993 opinion piece.
``Ms. Gale's letter belies a serious lack of understanding of the
nature of major depressive disorders,'' Dr. Gardner wrote.
``The lifetime risk of successfully completing suicide in individuals
with recurrent depression is 15 percent,'' the psychiatrist wrote.
Marie Gale declined Herald requests for an interview.
At an MIT chapel memorial service for Philip Gale on March 20, his
mother spoke to the mourners.
``I'm Mom,'' Marie Gale said, weeping.
``He had the ability to take something and just walk it out. I think
that's what he did . . . He outlogic-ed himself,'' she said.
After the memorial, Philip's mother borrowed an MIT Media Lab computer
to write an Internet message accusing the Boston Herald - along with
Scientology's Internet critics - of pushing her son toward suicide.
She said her son had been upset by a February interview with a Herald
reporter who was preparing a series of articles on Scientology. The
articles, published March 1-5, contained allegations that the church
enriched itself using fraud and deceit.
In a brief telephone interview with the Herald, Philip Gale made it
clear he was no longer a practicing church member and in fact disliked
Scientology.
Gale spoke in a breezy, offhand tone. Though he did not sound angry,
his comments were laced with profanities.
``My father is dead, but my mom is a Scientologist. Everyone thinks
it's a really quirky religion, but they're normal parents. They're
normal people,'' the youth said.
He summed up his view of Scientology: ``I think in general it's not
the best practice. It didn't help me at all.''
And he described himself as ``an atheist, or agnostic.''
He was asked specifically about two topics related to Scientology's
recruitment activities in Massachusetts: its learn-to-read techniques,
known as ``Study Technology''; and its detoxification method, called
the ``Purification Rundown,'' which requires exercise, long saunas and
huge doses of niacin.
``Study Tech? My personal opinion of Study Tech is that it's a
worthless formulation, a very mechanical thing,'' Philip Gale said.
And about the Purification Rundown, he said: ``In my opinion it's all
ridiculous. You run, you go in a sauna, it's all very
pseudoscientific.''
For months, Gale had been despondent, and recently had talked of
suicide, friends said.
``He mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. He had considered it and
dismissed it,'' his fraternity brother Eruc Hu told the Crimson
newspaper at Harvard University.
``He was just bored with life and I guess just depressed that he was
destined to be bored for the rest of his life,'' Hu said.
Scientologists are taught that if they abandon the church they will
soon kill themselves or have a serious illness or accident, said Flo
Conway, a New York-based researcher and author on the mental effects
of training and rituals in new religious groups.
``There is a tremendous amount of suggestion that if you leave
Scientology, you will commit suicide,'' said Conway, who considers
Scientology a destructive religious group.
Former Scientologists had the highest rates of persistent fear,
sleeplessness, suicidal and self-destructive tendencies, violent
outbursts, hallucinations and delusions, compared to ex-members of
other religious groups - including the Hare Krishna movement and the
Unification Church - Conway and her colleague Jim Siegelman found in a
University of Oregon study.
``Somebody raised from birth to age 14 in Scientology would be deeply
imprinted, deeply affected. Their technology throttles the brain and
the central nervous system,'' Conway said.
After a Cambridge police investigation and an autopsy, Gale's death
was ruled a suicide.
In his off-campus Central Square apartment, a friend said, he left a
brief note saying, in essence: ``Don't grieve.''
Nor did Gale leave clues to his state of mind on a cassette tape
recorder left running in the classroom he jumped from - a newly bought
digital recorder with a $1,000-plus price tag still attached, a police
source said.
``You can hear him walking around the room. You can hear the window
being smashed, but no voice,'' said the source.
The blackboard diagram Gale drew was pure mathematics, ``a
mass-velocity formulation explaining what happens when a mass goes out
a window,'' Dean Randolph said.
While Gale's suicide was unexpected, his method wasn't.
``It was typical Phil. It's so like him to have planned a show,'' said
an ex-girlfriend, Wellesley College student Christine Hrul, 22.
``He was so careful with things in his life, so methodical,'' she
said.
Gale wasn't even 17 when he left EarthLink with options to buy at
under $10 tens of thousands of shares. Those shares shot up to 53 5/8
by March 13, not long after the Internet company announced a
partnership with Sprint Corp.
``If he wasn't a millionaire then he was well into it,'' his former
co-worker Brian Ladner said.
But Gale, who often dressed in green khaki pants and a ``grungy''
shirt, didn't care about money except to buy computer equipment and
drums, the friend said.
Now, months later, an impromptu memorial still marks the spot where
Philip Gale fell. On a lightpost, friends arrayed an unopened packet
of Camel cigarettes, a stuffed animal, flowers, a candle, a wooden
hammer, and a eulogy: ``As misunderstood as he seemed in life, so he
remains in the afterlife.''
=======================================================
Sue (SP4)
--
http://www.primenet.com/~xenubat
LRonsScam
>
>``He had the ability to take something and just walk it out. I think
>
>
What kind of scientological thing is she trying to say here? I know she has to
be referring to something in scientology?
I think she is saying that because he left scientology it was an overt act and
he pulled it in................Impossible to tell.
.
.
__
LRonsScam
In Xenu We Trust
A does equal A, does equal A, does equal A. What was Hubbie trying to say?
" Life is a cartoon." Howard Stern while referring to Lisa Marie Presley's
involvement with Co$.
LilAlex742
>``Don't grieve.''
Oh, man. I'm sitting here crying.
LilAlex
13. Should the head of a government rule
a. single-handedly
b. as a member of a council
c. by the will of the people
A is correct. B is wrong. And C--classic democracy is, of course, "psychotic"
One Scio, about an org Leadership test
Tilman Hausherr
>and before his 17th birthday earned stock options worth perhaps $1
>million - and a $70,000 annual salary - writing software at the Los
>Angeles-based Internet company EarthLink Network Inc.
Wow! All this money will now go back to Marie Gale. Big win for
scientology!
>And Gale had recently paid one visit to a therapist.
>
>``He was talking about how he'd seen a psychologist that week, and
>thought the guy was a complete dip - - - -,'' roommate Jason Politi
>said at Gale's memorial service.
Either the psych was a "complete dipshit", or it is a result of
scientology.
>By age 12 Philip was being trained with the church's E-meter - a
>device like a lie detector that shows emotional reactions - to help
>him in school, Marie Gale said.
Yeah... of course the e-meter here is not scientology... it's study
technology!!
>Marie Gale proposed ``a national war on anti-depressant medications,
>particularly Prozac,'' Dr. Noel C. Gardner, president of the Utah
>Psychiatric Association, wrote in an Oct. 10, 1993 opinion piece.
>
>``Ms. Gale's letter belies a serious lack of understanding of the
>nature of major depressive disorders,'' Dr. Gardner wrote.
>
>``The lifetime risk of successfully completing suicide in individuals
>with recurrent depression is 15 percent,'' the psychiatrist wrote.
>
>Marie Gale declined Herald requests for an interview.
Communication skills at work.
>
>At an MIT chapel memorial service for Philip Gale on March 20, his
>mother spoke to the mourners.
>
>``I'm Mom,'' Marie Gale said, weeping.
>
>``He had the ability to take something and just walk it out. I think
>that's what he did . . . He outlogic-ed himself,'' she said.
huh? Is this scieno-speak or just a word I didn't know?
>Gale spoke in a breezy, offhand tone. Though he did not sound angry,
>his comments were laced with profanities.
Also a result of scientology :-)
>``My father is dead, but my mom is a Scientologist. Everyone thinks
>it's a really quirky religion, but they're normal parents. They're
>normal people,'' the youth said.
>
>He summed up his view of Scientology: ``I think in general it's not
>the best practice. It didn't help me at all.''
>
>And he described himself as ``an atheist, or agnostic.''
>
>He was asked specifically about two topics related to Scientology's
>recruitment activities in Massachusetts: its learn-to-read techniques,
>known as ``Study Technology''; and its detoxification method, called
>the ``Purification Rundown,'' which requires exercise, long saunas and
>huge doses of niacin.
>
>``Study Tech? My personal opinion of Study Tech is that it's a
>worthless formulation, a very mechanical thing,'' Philip Gale said.
Yes! It is indeed "mechanical". People do not "think" in study
technology. They just swallow.
It is surprising that The Herald didn't use this. Maybe they didn't want
to bring him in conflict with his family.
>The blackboard diagram Gale drew was pure mathematics, ``a
>mass-velocity formulation explaining what happens when a mass goes out
>a window,'' Dean Randolph said.
Seems he was indeed a funny guy. Too bad he's dead.
TH
LilAlex742
She is simply saying that he was briliant at logic, and at carrying that logic
to the nth degree. She is saying that he constructed an argument where life
was meaninglless, and, once inside the argument, could not see the forest for
the trees. That's my take.
>>``He had the ability to take something and just walk it out. I think
>>that's what he did . . . He outlogic-ed himself,'' she said. (Marie Gale)
>>
>>
>
>What kind of scientological thing is she trying to say here? I know she has
>to
>be referring to something in scientology?
>
>I think she is saying that because he left scientology it was an overt act
>and
>he pulled it in................Impossible to tell.
>
>
>.
>.
> __
>LRonsScam
>
>In Xenu We Trust
>A does equal A, does equal A, does equal A. What was Hubbie trying to say?
>" Life is a cartoon." Howard Stern while referring to Lisa Marie Presley's
>involvement with Co$.
>
></PRE></HTML>
Tashback
In article <35d11b29....@news.snafu.de>, til...@berlin.snafu.de
(Tilman Hausherr) wrote:
<snip>
> >``He was talking about how he'd seen a psychologist that week, and
> >thought the guy was a complete dip - - - -,'' roommate Jason Politi
> >said at Gale's memorial service.
>
> Either the psych was a "complete dipshit", or it is a result of
> scientology.
Not necessarily. Gale was a genius, remember. I imagine it would be
difficult for him to find a psychologist he couldn't outthink.
In addition, sometimes it takes a while to find a good match between
psychologist and patient. I wouldn't immediately write that comment off to
Scientology influence.
Tash
Starshadow
In article <3564e6d6...@news.primenet.com>, Xen...@primenet.com
says...
> Copyright 1998 by Boston Herald--All Rights Reserved
> ===============================================
(snipped for brevity)
>
> ``You can hear him walking around the room. You can hear the window
> being smashed, but no voice,'' said the source.
>
> The blackboard diagram Gale drew was pure mathematics, ``a
> mass-velocity formulation explaining what happens when a mass goes out
> a window,'' Dean Randolph said.
This seemed so poignant to me; that the closest thing to a note he
leaves is a *joke*...
There has been a lot about the speculation that few commit suicide from
"boredom", but "boredome" is another way of saying "depressed". It's one
variant. When there is no joy in life, and you don't think there ever
will, that is when suicide seems an option.
Deeper depression is more understood, the pain is something more people
can be empathetic with; but pain is pain, and ennui can be as painful as
deep depression.
It was such a waste, though.
--
Bright Blessings,
Starshadow SP4, Granny Dyke
Rebecca Hartong
Tashback wrote in message ...
>In article <35d11b29....@news.snafu.de>, til...@berlin.snafu.de
>(Tilman Hausherr) wrote:
>
><snip>
>
>> >``He was talking about how he'd seen a psychologist that week, and
>> >thought the guy was a complete dip - - - -,'' roommate Jason Politi
>> >said at Gale's memorial service.
>>
>> Either the psych was a "complete dipshit", or it is a result of
>> scientology.
>
>Not necessarily. Gale was a genius, remember. I imagine it would be
>difficult for him to find a psychologist he couldn't outthink.
>
>In addition, sometimes it takes a while to find a good match between
>psychologist and patient. I wouldn't immediately write that comment off to
>Scientology influence.
Neither would I. It's been my experience, too, that when very
logic-inclined intelligent people find themselves in a deep depression, they
tend to construct elaborate logical arguments for why suicide is the
rational choice. (Emotion is naturally untrustworthy to these folks anyway,
you see, so something as emotional as depression and suicide MUST be
justified logically.) I've seen this several times in the past and, based
on the very little I know about Gale and on his mother's statement, it seems
this may have been what he was up to.
---------------------------------
Rebecca Hartong
http://www.erols.com/hartong
Dean ODonnell
In article <MPG.fcfff431...@nntp.lightlink.com>,
Starshadow <stars...@mindless.com> wrote:
>In article <3564e6d6...@news.primenet.com>, Xen...@primenet.com
>says...
>> ===============================================
>
>
>>
>> ``You can hear him walking around the room. You can hear the window
>> being smashed, but no voice,'' said the source.
>>
>> The blackboard diagram Gale drew was pure mathematics, ``a
>> mass-velocity formulation explaining what happens when a mass goes out
>> a window,'' Dean Randolph said.
>
>leaves is a *joke*...
It's actually reminiscent to an urban legend that made the rounds while I
was a freshman physics student. The story goes that a freshman physics
student did badly on finals, was going to get kicked out of school, so he
jumped from (insert tallest building on campus here). As he fell, he
shouted, "I'm a vector!" For a moment, he was.
This led to exchanges like:
Student 1: "Hey, how'd you do on the Quantum Mechanics final?"
Student 2: "I'm a vector!"
I don't know if the story still makes the rounds, or ever did at MIT, it was
just the first thing I thought of when I read that.
Dean
William Barwell
In article <6k6bav$2...@enews1.newsguy.com>,
Rebecca Hartong <har...@erols.com> wrote:
>
>Tashback wrote in message ...
>>In article <35d11b29....@news.snafu.de>, til...@berlin.snafu.de
>>(Tilman Hausherr) wrote:
>>
>><snip>
>>
>>> >thought the guy was a complete dip - - - -,'' roommate Jason Politi
>>> >said at Gale's memorial service.
>>>
>>> scientology.
>>
>>Not necessarily. Gale was a genius, remember. I imagine it would be
>>difficult for him to find a psychologist he couldn't outthink.
>>
>>In addition, sometimes it takes a while to find a good match between
>>psychologist and patient. I wouldn't immediately write that comment off to
>>Scientology influence.
>
>
>Neither would I. It's been my experience, too, that when very
>logic-inclined intelligent people find themselves in a deep depression, they
>tend to construct elaborate logical arguments for why suicide is the
>rational choice. (Emotion is naturally untrustworthy to these folks anyway,
>you see, so something as emotional as depression and suicide MUST be
>justified logically.) I've seen this several times in the past and, based
>on the very little I know about Gale and on his mother's statement, it seems
>this may have been what he was up to.
>
data on this subject. Many people who suffer depression at some point
think of suicide but only a certain percentage do it.
It seems that there has been some work on this phenomenon and there has
been some real progress very recently. The emotional centers of the brain
have inhibiting circuits that prevent impulses from being acted out
without the involvement of the rational mind overriding such impulses.
Some people lack a fully functional rational override system.
This can be measured pyhsically, and correlates well with those who
have gone on to actually commit succesful suicides, especially
spectacular ones like Phillip Gail did.
Probably within a few years, one might expect that on the onset
of depression, simply brain monitoring tests might be used to
pinpoint those most likely to actually commit suicide based on
these new understandings of how depression works physically
in the minds of a subset of clinically depressed persons.
Most likely, Phillip Gale simply was one of those who impulses
overcame him because his mind was not physically constructed
to defeat such impulses. It is biology that is the most likely
culprit here. Not Scientology, psychs, boredom, or even the depression in
and of itself.
Hopefully this new understanding will lead to quick diagnostic
tests and effective treatment of vulnerable depression sufferers.
Pope Charles
SubGenius Pope Of Houston
Slack!
Dave Bird---St Hippo of Augustine
In article <6k6bav$2...@enews1.newsguy.com>, Rebecca Hartong writes:
>Neither would I. It's been my experience, too, that when very
>logic-inclined intelligent people find themselves in a deep depression, they
>tend to construct elaborate logical arguments for why suicide is the
>rational choice.
In short, people's emotions tell them what they want and then
their reason tells them how to get it; with some people, they then
just go on and rationalise why it must be "the reasonable thing" to
want what they want. Hmm.
--
<__"-$ <__" <__" <__"
:_ : : :_
''''''''._____'-_....'"...-------''''''_ <__'
'. $CIENTOLOGY: ..''--- :.
; _ . . . - '''
. . ' ': ': ':
: .' the bridge to .~~>~~>:~~>:
:.' total madness ~~> ~~>
'
Nico Garcia
In article <35d11b29....@news.snafu.de>,
Tilman Hausherr <til...@berlin.snafu.de> wrote:
>>and before his 17th birthday earned stock options worth perhaps $1
>>million - and a $70,000 annual salary - writing software at the Los
>>Angeles-based Internet company EarthLink Network Inc.
>
>scientology!
I was just thinking about that. We'll have to see what she does now.
Is it conceivable that she would "blow", and leave $cientology at this
point?
>>``He was talking about how he'd seen a psychologist that week, and>>thought the guy was a complete dip - - - -,'' roommate Jason Politi
>>said at Gale's memorial service.
>
>Either the psych was a "complete dipshit", or it is a result of
>scientology.
"Good Will Hunting" aside, most therapists are going to have one
hell of a time coping with a patient that brilliant. And university
medical services, even MIT's, are no guarantee of the best psychologists.
>>Gale spoke in a breezy, offhand tone. Though he did not sound angry,
>>his comments were laced with profanities.
>
>Also a result of scientology :-)
Is it? Or is it just a tense young man telling a reporter to stop
bothering him?
>It is surprising that The Herald didn't use this. Maybe they didn't want
>to bring him in conflict with his family.
Or it may have been "off the record". Mr. Mallia, the reporter, has been
very good about this with other interviews I'm aware of.
>>The blackboard diagram Gale drew was pure mathematics, ``a
>>mass-velocity formulation explaining what happens when a mass goes out
>>a window,'' Dean Randolph said.
>
>Seems he was indeed a funny guy. Too bad he's dead.
Please. Try to show more taste than the $cientologists....
--
Nico Garcia
ra...@tiac.net
<PGP is obviously a good idea: look at who objects to it.>
Ron Newman
In article <6k9e0i$a...@news-central.tiac.net>, ra...@shell1.tiac.net (Nico
Garcia) wrote:
> >>``He was talking about how he'd seen a psychologist that week,
and>>thought the guy was a complete dip - - - -,'' roommate Jason Politi
> >>said at Gale's memorial service.
> >
> >Either the psych was a "complete dipshit", or it is a result of
> >scientology.
>
> "Good Will Hunting" aside, most therapists are going to have one
> hell of a time coping with a patient that brilliant. And university
> medical services, even MIT's, are no guarantee of the best psychologists.
I'll concur. When I attended MIT (1975-79), I visited an MIT
psychologist or psychiatrist (can't remember which) once when I was
feeling a bit depressed and overwhelmed. We didn't hit it off very
well, and I never went back. I don't blame him or MIT -- I simply
needed to see someone different, and didn't have enough motivation
to give the system a second try. Very likely Philip had a
similar experience.
> >>Gale spoke in a breezy, offhand tone. Though he did not sound angry,
> >>his comments were laced with profanities.
> >
> >Also a result of scientology :-)
>
> Is it? Or is it just a tense young man telling a reporter to stop
> bothering him?
From my own conversation with Joe Mallia, I don't have any indication
that Philip expressed any unwillingness to be interviewed. I think
Joe Mallia is honest enough to tell me the truth about such things.
> >It is surprising that The Herald didn't use this. Maybe they didn't want
> >to bring him in conflict with his family.
>
> Or it may have been "off the record". Mr. Mallia, the reporter, has been
> very good about this with other interviews I'm aware of.
Or it just didn't fit well into the story that Joe Mallia was trying
to publish in early March. Joe wanted to interview "ordinary Scientologists"
in the Boston area; Philip Gale turned out not to be a Scientologist
at all.
--
Ron Newman rne...@thecia.net
http://www2.thecia.net/users/rnewman/
Ron Newman
> Copyright 1998 by Boston Herald--All Rights Reserved
> ===============================================
>
> Why did this brilliant MIT student jump to his death?
>
> Thursday, May 21, 1998
>
> By JOSEPH MALLIA
[snip]
> Then in 1993 while working in Utah as a spokeswoman for Scientology's
> anti-psychiatry group, Citizens' Commission for Human Rights, she had
> a heated public exchange with psychiatrists in the pages of The Salt
> Lake Tribune daily newspaper on the subject of anti-depressant drugs.
>
> Marie Gale proposed ``a national war on anti-depressant medications,
> particularly Prozac,'' Dr. Noel C. Gardner, president of the Utah
> Psychiatric Association, wrote in an Oct. 10, 1993 opinion piece.
>
> ``Ms. Gale's letter belies a serious lack of understanding of the
> nature of major depressive disorders,'' Dr. Gardner wrote.
>
> ``The lifetime risk of successfully completing suicide in individuals
> with recurrent depression is 15 percent,'' the psychiatrist wrote.
Here's the full text of both Marie Gale's letter and Noel Gardner's reply
in the Salt Lake Tribune of September and October, 1993:
Salt Lake Tribune, 09/01/93
Category: Editorial-Commentary
Page: A7
Keywords: Public Forum letter
REDIRECT DRUG WAR
Dennis Kostecki (Forum, July 29) brings up
a good point regarding dangerous but legal
drugs.
Many of the current illegal drugs were
originally introduced by the existing
pharmaceutical companies. Heroin,
methadone and LSD were originally
produced and marketed by Eli Lilly, the
producers of Prozac.
Heroin, methadone and LSD have long
been recognized as dangerous and are
now illegal. Prozac, Eli Lilly's latest in a
long line of dangerous drugs, is illegal in
some countries, including Sweden and
Norway.
It is of great concern that the FDA, which
has been entrusted with the protection of
Americans from dangerous drugs, is
allowing drugs such as Prozac to stay on
the market (while at the same time
spending their time and effort attempting to
crack down on vitamin producers).
In late 1991 the FDA held a hearing into the
effects of Prozac and other psychiatric
antidepressants at which it claimed to be
unable to find any damning evidence
against antidepressants. However,
subsequent investigation of the panel
revealed that five out of the 10 panel
members had active financial interests with
the manufacturers of antidepressants
totaling more than $1 million at the time
they claimed to be blind to the evidence
against Prozac. In fact, two of the 10 had
received grants from Eli Lilly during the
Prozac clinical trials.
As individuals, and as a nation, we must
ensure that the ``war on drugs'' includes
not only illegal drugs but any mind-altering,
psychotropic drugs approved by an agency
that currently serves the interests of
profit-driven drug companies.
MARIE GALE
Commission on Human Rights
Utah Chapter
Salt Lake City
-------------------------
Salt Lake Tribune, 10/10/93
Category: Editorial-Commentary
Page: A22
Keywords: Common Carrier
WAR ON ANTI-DEPRESSANTS WOULD
CAUSE GRIEF FOR PATIENTS
Byline: By Dr. Noel C. Gardner
I am writing in response to the Sept. 1 Forum
letter from Marie Gale proposing a
national war on anti-depressant medications,
particularly Prozac. I do so at the request of
several concerned patients and because of my
own personal sense of responsibility as a
physician, clinical researcher and citizen.
Ms. Gale's letter belies a serious lack of
understanding of the nature of major depressive
disorders. Depressive disorders are very
common medical illnesses afflicting
approximately one out of every five persons at
some time in their life. Major depression is a
serious, debilitating and life-threatening illness.
The lifetime risk of successfully committing
suicide in individuals with recurrent depression
is 15 percent, and 70 percent of patients who
commit suicide have a diagnosable depressive
disorder.
Unfortunately, through ignorance, stigma or
other factors, large numbers of depressed
patients receive little or ineffective treatment.
Estimates from multisite epidemiologic studies
done in the 1980s suggest that 80 percent of
persons meeting criteria for major depression
are not treated or are treated by individuals who
do not have specific training to optimally
diagnose and treat depression.
Prior to the advent of effective medication for
severe depression, the natural course of an
episode of disabling depression was six months
to two years, with some cases lasting much
longer. Patients were often totally immobilized,
and inpatient hospital stays lasting months to
years were not uncommon. Largely as a result of
effective medication (successful resolution of
symptoms in 75 percent of cases usually within
a few weeks), hospital stays have been
radically shortened (average length of inpatient
stays is now about 10 days), individuals have
been restored to happy and productive lives,
and our country has been saved billions of
dollars in hospital and treatment costs. Rather
than declaring war on these very helpful
treatments, we must do a better job of
identifying and treating this devastating illness.
Ms. Gale would like to frighten people from
gaining appropriate treatment by making sinister
associations between Prozac (and perhaps other
accepted anti-depressants) and illegal street
drugs. She is suggesting that the Food and Drug
Administration's continued assertions of the
effectiveness and safety of anti-depressants are
somehow disqualified by tainted allegations of
financial influence and impropriety. This sort of
``hanging by innuendo'' is the kind of
skulduggery that a careful review of the
evidence (through unbiased, basic, and clinical
research and through reporting in a free and
open scientific and public press) will expose
and overthrow. Such distortions will simply not
stand the test of time and investigation.
Finally, Ms. Gale hides behind the
euphemistic title of ``Commission on Human
Rights.'' This name, too, is misleading. Rather
than an organization broadly devoted to
personal liberties and constitutional rights (such
as Amnesty International), it is an organization
sponsored by the Church of Scientology, which
exists to undermine and oppose the work of the
medical profession that is dedicated to the
treatment of mental and nervous disorders.
While specifically targeting Prozac and Ritalin,
the commission exists to oppose most
psychiatric treatment of the mentally ill. These
positions are ideologic and not scientific.
While our current treatments of depression are
not perfect and while no one medication is right
for everyone, the general effectiveness and
safety of anti-depressant medications, including
Prozac, when taken as prescribed under the care
of a knowledgeable physician, have been
established beyond dispute. To withhold such
effective treatment for individuals suffering
from this horribly disabling and potentially
lethal illness would be both tragic and
unethical.
Today's Common Carrier author is Dr. Noel C.
Gardner, who is associated with the Mental
Wellness Center, 127 S. 500 East, Suite 260,
Salt Lake City, Utah 84102. He is president of
the Utah Psychiatric Association and assistant
clinical professor of psychiatry at the University
of Utah.
Ron Newman
[quoting last Thursday's Boston Herald article]
> Then in 1993 while working in Utah as a spokeswoman for Scientology's
> anti-psychiatry group, Citizens' Commission for Human Rights, she had
> a heated public exchange with psychiatrists in the pages of The Salt
> Lake Tribune daily newspaper on the subject of anti-depressant drugs.
I've already posted the exchange described above, but here are
some other appearances that Marie Gale made in the Salt Lake Tribune
during 1993:
------------------
Salt Lake Tribune, 04/08/93
Category: Editorial-Commentary
Page: A11
Keywords: Public Forum letter
SHOCK TREATMENT'S NEGATIVE EFFECTS
Citizens Commission on Human Rights,
formed by the Church of Scientology in
1969 to investigate and expose psychiatric
violations of human rights, has been
documenting the dangerous and abusive
use of shock treatment for many years.
The Salt Lake Tribune article (March 15)
about this very controversial and unproven
procedure presented a clearly one-sided
view.
Drs. Noel Gardner and Lowry Bushnell tout
the ``effectiveness'' of shock treatment.
However, in 1989, English psychiatrist
Graham Sheppard and his colleague Saad
Ahmed carefully reviewed all existing
studies concerning the use of electric shock
for ``depression'' against the criteria for a
controlled study. They found that in the 51
years shock was in use, every study which
claimed to be ``controlled'' was in fact
flawed and invalid.
Sheppard and Ahmed stated in their
findings, ``There was no longer sufficient
scientific evidence to support medical
opinion that electric-convulsive therapy, or
ECT, eases depression.''
As far as shock treatment being ``benign,''
neurologist John Friedberg stated, ``All
ECT (electric shock) does is produce brain
damage . . . If you want brain damage, it's
your prerogative . . . there's no more
effective way than ECT. It's more effective
than a car wreck or getting hit with a blunt
instrument.''
As for shock treatment being successful,
Peter Sterling, associate professor of
neurobiology at the University of
Pennsylvania, in testimony presented to the
New York State Assembly Standing
Committee on Mental Health, stated,
``Studies spanning a 28-year period show
that ECT alters brain physiology from
normal to abnormal.'' He also explained
that the extremely high blood pressure
during the shock-induced seizure frequently
ruptures blood vessels in the brain.
Most states have informed consent laws
which require a person to be warned about
the dangers and real effects of electric
shock before a psychiatrist can give it to
the person. Citizens Commission on Human
Rights has found that when people are told
about what really will happen to them and
what alternatives there are to such torture
and damage, they don't take shock.
MARIE GALE
Director
Utah Chapter
Commission on Human Rights
Sandy
-------------------------------------
Salt Lake Tribune, 05/02/93
Category: Local
Page: B6
Keywords: **EXTRA**, Sex Abuse, Mental Health
GROUP WANTS TOUGHER LAWS
AGAINST SEX WITH MENTAL-HEALTH
PATIENTS
BY: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OGDEN -- A private group that claims an
increasing number of mental-health
professionals are involved in unethical
sexual relationships with clients has begun
a campaign to make such acts illegal in
Utah.
Three months ago, Marie Gale of
Sandy and other volunteers started the
Utah chapter of the Citizens Commission on
Human Rights, a privately funded Los
Angeles-based organization.
``We would recommend that a specific
crime be named in statute and that the
crime be defined as a sexual act between
a psychiatrist, psychologist or
psychotherapist and a patient,'' said
Gale. ``We would want it to be classified
as felony rape and that it carry the same
penalty as any other rape.''
The group cites a national survey printed in
the September 1986 issue of the American
Journal of Psychiatry in which 7.1 percent
of male psychiatrists and 3.1 percent of
female psychiatrists who responded
admitted to having had sexual contact with
patients.
Stephen Golding, director of the clinical
training program for the University of Utah's
Department of Psychology, said the
American Psychological Association has
updated its ethics codes to prohibit
psychologists from becoming sexually
involved with present and former patients
for at least two years after termination of
services.
Violation of the code is grounds for
psychologists to lose their licenses, he
said.
CCHR officials said they had no statistics
on the number of mental-health patients
sexually victimized in Utah.
But Dr. Gerald M. Lazar, president of the
Utah Psychiatric Association, said that
group has had ``very few complaints.''
Lazar said his organization's ethics board is
reviewing one such case. He said it is
difficult to estimate how often such cases
occur because many probably go
unreported.
Gale, who operates her CCHR chapter
with about seven other volunteers, said
existing criminal codes are sufficient to deal
with physical assaults on patients. They
also cover incidents where children
allegedly have been molested, such as the
filing in December of criminal sodomy and
forcible sexual abuse charges against a
Salt Lake therapist accused of molesting a
14-year-old male patient.
The problem with Utah's statutes and those
of most other states, she said, is that if a
mental-health patient consents to have
intercourse with a therapist or psychiatrist,
it is not considered a crime.
``There are cases where patients have
been told they can be cured by having sex
with the doctor. Is that coercion? Is that
rape? Not under the existing law, but that's
not acceptable,'' she said.
Thirteen states have laws that make sexual
contact between mental-health
professionals and clients either
misdemeanor crimes or felonies.
``It's not wrong to say we need a criminal
option. . . . I've got no problem with it,''
Golding said of the proposed legislation.
But he believes it is unrealistic to expect
two people attracted to each other to wait
two years to consummate a relationship.
``The criminalization period ought to be six
months and then it ought to be a civil
matter,'' Golding said.
Lazar said most mental-health
professionals would agree that intercourse
with a client is wrong, but the waiting
period before physical relationships has
been debated for years.
Lazar suggested a task force of private
citizens and mental-health professionals be
formed to come up with a proposal for a
law to present to Utah legislators.
---------------------------------------
Salt Lake Tribune, 10/03/93
Category: Editorial-Commentary
Page: A18
Keywords: Common Carrier
UTAH SHOULD LEGALLY PROHIBIT
THERAPISTS FROM SEXUALLY
ABUSING PATIENTS
Byline: By Marie Gale
Over the past several years, more and more
information has come to light showing that
psychiatrists, psychologists and mental health
workers are sexually molesting or abusing their
patients, much to the patients' detriment. In one
study based on a survey of 5,574 psychiatrists
(1,423 responded), 7.1 percent of the male and
3.1 percent of the female psychiatrists admitted
to having had sexual contact with their patients.
The relationship between a psychiatrist and
patient is unique. A psychiatrist has an
inordinate amount of power and influence over
the patient. In a sexual context, the imbalance of
power between therapist and patient can be
likened to the advantage an older man has over
an underage girl. In the case of sexual contact
with an underage child, even if the child
consents, the adult should know better. In the
case of therapist and patient, even if the patient
consents, the therapist should know better.
As with statutory rape, child molestation and
incest, these incidents of sexual contact between
therapist and patient are known to be harmful to
the patient. In fact, one researcher said that
sexually abused patients ``look very much like
incest survivors.'' Several studies have shown
that 90 percent of the patients who are sexually
molested by their therapist suffered ill effects,
11 percent were hospitalized as a result, 14
percent attempted suicide, and 1 percent
successfully committed suicide.
While the ethical codes of both psychiatrists
and psychologists specifically and clearly state
that any sexual contact between therapist and
patient is unethical, the existing policing and
monitoring efforts are failing to protect the
public. Sixty-five percent of therapists said they
had treated patients who had been sexually
involved with previous therapists, but only 8
percent reported the incidents to authorities.
Many patients don't realize that sexual contact
by the therapist is unethical, which may be a
contributing factor in the fact that complaints are
only filed in approximately 4 percent of such
cases. Other factors may include threats or
coercion on the part of the therapist to keep his
or her unethical behavior hidden.
The Ethics Committee of the American
Psychological Association said, in July 1988,
``The scope of the problem is extensive, the
efforts of the Ethics Committee (as well as the
licensing boards and civil courts) to deal with it
on a post hoc, case-by-case basis are of a minor
effectiveness at best.''
In Utah, cases of reported sexual abuse by a
therapist can take as long as two years or more
to get resolved. In one case, in an investigation
which took nearly 24 months, the doctor was
found to have had sexual contact with a female
patient during therapy (one wonders if he
charged her insurance for it) and only had his
license restricted.
It is apparent that effective legislation is needed
to control this problem. Thirteen states have so
far acknowledged this need and passed
legislation making sexual contact between
therapist and patient illegal. Utah must join
those ranks and curb the problem of sexual
abuse by therapists.
Today's Common Carrier author is Marie
Gale, director of the Utah Chapter of Citizens
Commission on Human Rights, P.O. Box 1746,
Sandy, Utah 84070. CCHR was established by
the Church of Scientology in 1969 to investigate
and expose psychiatric abuses of human rights.
JimDBB
>>Subject: Re: Article about Philip Gale in Boston Herald 5/21/98
>From: rne...@thecia.net (Ron Newman)
>Date: Mon, May 25, 1998 14:47 ED
Thanks to Ron Newman for posting these letters. The despicable actions of
Marie Gale as a Director for Scientology's front group, the CCHR, make the
death her son, Philip, even more tragic. With his mother so programmed with
psychiatry as an enemy to be destroyed, who would he turn to for help?
Scientology? Does anybody know if Philip, before he left scientology, had
taken scientology's very expensive and secret OT courses? On these courses he
would have learned that he was possessed with clusters of thousands of spirits
of murdered space aliens (called Body Thetans or BTs) and that he would have to
contact them telepathically and run L. Ron Hubbard's secret processes on
them. We have seen many instances of how scientology programming from these
these insane courses have caused , mental illness and/ or physical sickness
and sometimes suicidal actions.
JimDBB
Ron Newman
In article <199805260224...@ladder03.news.aol.com>,
jim...@aol.com (JimDBB) wrote:
> Does anybody know if Philip, before he left scientology, had
> taken scientology's very expensive and secret OT courses?
Given that he was about 16 at the time that he apparently left
Scientology, I seriously doubt this. How old do you have to be
to take the OT courses?
JimDBB
>>Subject: Re: Article about Philip Gale in Boston Herald 5/21/98
>From: rne...@thecia.net (Ron Newman)
>jim...@aol.com (JimDBB) wrote:
>
>> Does anybody know if Philip, before he left scientology, had
>> taken scientology's very expensive and secret OT courses?
>Given that he was about 16 at the time that he apparently left
>Scientology, I seriously doubt this. How old do you have to be
>to take the OT courses?
>
>--
>Ron Newman rne...@thecia.net
There are no age restrictions on taking scientology courses. The main
consideration is, if you have the money. As scientology was using Philip as
a poster kid and his mother was hustling the CCHR anti-psychiatry stuff, it's
likely that he got his courses and auditing (scientology counseling) free.
Perhaps someone could ask Marie if, in fact, Philip had been exposed to
scientology's secret courses.
When a scientologist has reached the secret OT courses, he or she is already
deeply programmed into L. Ron Hubbard's madness, but now it gets even heavier.
It is hard from outside scientology to realize how deep and how deadly this
programming is. The scientologist is now programmed over and over with
Hubbard's dictums that scientology is the only hope there is and if a person
leaves scientology, dire misfortune will befall that individual and that
suicide will almost inevitably follow. Now combine this with Scientology's
secret- Xenu-Body Thetan- scenario and you have a formula for mental illness
or instability.
How old was Philip when he died? It's difficult to know the family situation
but as a former scientologist I can say that there would be great pressure to
get Philip back into the cult and there was probably a lot of pressure on his
mother, though she will probably deny this. She would find herself in an
ethics condition as being PTS or connected to a 'Potential Trouble Source'. At
some point Philip would be 'Declared' a Suppressive Person (SP) and his mother
would have to write a Letter of Disconnection. All of this had to contribute
to Philip Gale's state of mind.
There is also the factor of the his father's suddent death. Scientologists are
programmed to believe that for someone to die suddenly or to get seriously
sick, is to invalidate L Ron Hubbard's 'Golden Tech'. A big no-no. Movie
actor, Stephan Boyd, was scientology's first 'celebrity' Clear. Boyd was on
a promotion tour for the cult and died suddenly on a golf course of a heart
attack. This was a tremendous invalidation of L. Ron Hubbard and a serious
embarrassment for Scientology. His name was never, ever mentioned again within
scientology.
Philip Gale had a lot of things working against him and much of it came from
his families involvement with the scientology cult.
JimDBB
Ron Newman
In article <199805261608...@ladder01.news.aol.com>, jim...@aol.com
says...
> How old was Philip when he died?
19
------------------
Spam free Usenet news http://extra.newsguy.com
Ron Newman
In article <rnewman-ya0240800...@enews.newsguy.com>,
rne...@thecia.net says...
>
>In article <3564e6d6...@news.primenet.com>, Xen...@primenet.com wrote:
>
>[quoting last Thursday's Boston Herald article]
>
>> Then in 1993 while working in Utah as a spokeswoman for Scientology's
>> anti-psychiatry group, Citizens' Commission for Human Rights, she had
>> a heated public exchange with psychiatrists in the pages of The Salt
>> Lake Tribune daily newspaper on the subject of anti-depressant drugs.
>
>I've already posted the exchange described above, but here are
>some other appearances that Marie Gale made in the Salt Lake Tribune
>during 1993:
And here's yet another Salt Lake Tribune letter from Marie Gale,
this one from 1992:
Salt Lake Tribune
Published: 12/27/92
Category: Editorial-Commentary
Page: A18
Keywords: Public Forum letter
DRUG CASE
Michael J. Wall (Forum, Dec. 5) said,
``American physicians prescribe
hundreds of medications every day that
can have neurologic or psychiatric side
effects.'' He seems to feel that those
same prescribing physicians should not
be held accountable for the devastating
effect these drugs can have on an
individuals's life.
I applaud the jury's finding in the
recently decided ``Halcion Case'' (The
Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 13, ``Jury
Awards $2 Million to Killer's Kin in
Halcion Case''). Anyone, physician or
otherwise, who has and uses the power to
mess with another person's mind --
especially through the use of
mind-altering drugs -- must be willing
to accept the responsibility that goes
with that power.
Maybe the Halcion case decision will
cause doctors to think twice before
resorting to mind-altering drugs and to
get other documentation on what effects
these drugs can have on their patients.
The Citizens Commission on Human
Rights, established by the Church of
Scientology in 1969, has been
investigating and exposing psychiatric
violations of human rights more than 22
years. Reams of documentation exist
showing the effects of psychiatric drugs
such as Halcion, Ritalin, Prozac and
others, along with the vested interests of
those who promote and prescribe them.
MARIE GALE
Sandy
rgonnet
JimDBB wrote:
>
> >>Subject: Re: Article about Philip Gale in Boston Herald 5/21/98
> >From: rne...@thecia.net (Ron Newman)
> >Date: Tue, May 26, 1998 07:26 EDT
>
> but as a former scientologist I can say that there would be great pressure to
> get Philip back into the cult and there was probably a lot of pressure on his
> mother, though she will probably deny this.
Certaily so, especially as she was so proud having such a
successful boy .
She would find herself in an
> ethics condition as being PTS or connected to a 'Potential Trouble Source'. At
> some point Philip would be 'Declared' a Suppressive Person (SP) and his mother
> would have to write a Letter of Disconnection. All of this had to contribute
> to Philip Gale's state of mind.
Yes, that's the way it was perhaps already done, because
such a high level member as Marie Gale could not do
otherwise; perhaps she considered even doing so before any
"ethics officer" asked her to do so.
>
> There is also the factor of the his father's suddent death. Scientologists are
> programmed to believe that for someone to die suddenly or to get seriously
> sick, is to invalidate L Ron Hubbard's 'Golden Tech'.
Hubbard, in a tape from level 2 auditing course, said
something like "those people who attacked us died, not that
we wished them to die or did whatever in order they die, but
they were simply dying, such as - i believe that there, he
gave the exemple of Phoenix, where his rich associate died).
Roger