The Tragedy of Jett Travolta and the Cult of Scientology

On Friday, January 2, sixteen year-old Jett Travolta died as a result of a seizure. This was a tragedy. It is terrible that such a life might be cut so short and it is horrible that any parent should suffer such a loss. But it was also a tragedy when Lisa McPherson died after being locked up and denied proper medical care. It was also a tragedy when Heribert Pfaff died of an epileptic attack. It was a tragedy when Margaret Winkleman drowned herself. It was a tragedy when Jeremy Perkins stabbed his mother to death and was sent to spend the rest of his life in a mental institution.

However, the mainstream media failed to connect these or any similar tragedies to Jett's death, leaving the impression that this was an isolated incident of the kind that happen every now and then. After all, everyone must die and sometimes money isn't enough to put it off as long as is preferable. It is my sad duty to inform you that this was not such a death. Jett Travolta died because he, like all the other tragic figures I mentioned, was denied proper medical and psychiatric treatment due to the teachings of the Church of Scientology.

According to his parents, Jett's seizure was caused by Kawasaki syndrome. This is entirely possible. In rare cases, KS has been reported in people over the age of eight. Jett was sixteen. In rare cases, KS (a temporary disease) has been reported to strike the same victim more than once. According to his parents, Jett has had the disease since the age of two. In rare cases, KS results in death. Therefore, it is entirely possible for the boy to have died of Kawasaki syndrome--just as it is entirely possible for someone to win the lottery ten years in a row.

But there is another explanation. Many believe, and have believed for a very long time, that Jett Travolta had autism. In videos, the boy often gives off the appearance of being mentally disabled. John Travolta has been seen helping his son walk around as if he was hardly capable of it on his own. Additionally, autism, especially in teenagers, has been know to cause seizures which tend also to be much more severe than those brought on by KS.

However, a person who suffers from anything within the autistic spectrum has two fundamental problems if they are to enter the Church of Scientology. The first is that the "church" holds that autism does not exist. The second is that even if it did, the church views psychiatry as a nazi psuedo-science and rejects all psychiatric treatments. Instead of being properly medicated, Jett would have been prescribed vitamins, exercise, and "auditing", a form of psychiatric counseling which has limited success in dealing with mental and emotional troubles and psychosomatic problems. This practice may also be used as a form of brainwashing and even interrogation.

This was hardly a choice in Jett's case. If his form of autism was high-functioning enough for him to understand his situation and possibly even want t leave the cult, he would either have been brainwashed, which could have been done completely legally due to his status as a minor, or disconnected. The latter condition would leave him completely and utterly cut off from his family and quite possibly everyone he knew since his social life was probably very limited. Disconnection is used all the time by the cult to break up families and friendships. Jett would have been labeled a suppressive person, someone who has a psychological need to oppose any betterment of the world or humanity, and his family would have been classified as PTS (potential trouble source) and been required to attend a brainwashing program called "ethics" until they disconnected with the boy.

Those who are not born into Scientology are required to sign a contract that says that they do not view Scientology methods as being medical treatments (in order to avoid malpractice suits regarding such practices as auditing) but also states that, in the even of a psychiatric breakdown, they do not wish to be admitted to proper medical care but rather to be placed under the care of their "church".

In 1991, Time published a front-page article attacking Scientology. The resulting lawsuits were overwhelming and hit every target imaginable. L. Ron Hubbard (the founder of Scientology) once told his followers that the purpose of the lawsuit was not to win but rather to harass and the church followed this advice to the letter. So intimidating was this assault that it drove the entire mass media a state of fear and it is this fear that leads the media to completely ignore the bigger picture in this case.

The truth of the matter is that this is anything but an isolated incident. In fact, deaths like his are actually common in the cult and most of them go unreported even by the church itself when it addresses its followers.

The one blessing that may arise from this is that this tragedy, which is completely contrary to Scientology's doctrine in every way, may prevent more similar deaths. It is possible that the death of Jett Travolta may save countless others as they ask the questions for which the only answers are the ones the CoS fears above all.