It’s been said that a criminal is someone who has given up on himself.
In the quotes from Marty Rathbun below, one can see a person who gave up on his own ability to learn, to apply, to produce, and ultimately, to even be honest. We see someone who decided that his last and only resort was pretense, and a thoroughly dishonest and dishonorable campaign of protecting his own image and position while only pretending to produce products, all to the detriment of the group he was relied upon to serve.
In Marty Rathbun’s own words, we see a person who felt helplessly compelled to be destructive and suppressive, and who knew that “the more he tried, the more harm he did.” Rathbun has known for a long time that he is incapable of “producing a single product,” and to this day relies only on public relations spin and pretense to convince others of his “worth,” all the while dedicating himself to tearing the hearts out of any decent people he can reach.
This is the pitiful outline of a decaying soul as he chronicles the damage he perpetrated on Scientology and those decent staff members who were, unlike Rathbun, honestly working to help others.
It is clear that Marty Rathbun is incapable of operating as a true group member. He can only pretend to do so as long as he is part of a “group” that is dedicated to destructive purposes. In fact, any group that he pretends to be a part of tolerates him at their own peril. Rathbun is an individual so beset by his own demons, and so caught up in the downward spiral caused by his incessant, daily anti-social actions that there is no realistic hope for him. It’s easy to see why he gave up on himself.
Ultimately, it is only Rathbun’s own willingness to take responsibility – in truth he cannot blame anyone or anything else for his state – that might allow him to pry himself out from under the rock he has dumped on himself.
We may have to wait a very long time before that happens, the way he’s going.