Believe what you want, or what you've been taught about Ron Hubbard. He was a smart and persuasive guy with pretensions to or delusions of grandeur. He blew or made that stuff up to puff up his credibility. (My daughter pretended to be the Little Mermaid for about 6 months, and I kind of indulged her at times, but she still had to put on normal clothes to go to school, you know. And she couldn't breathe underwater!)

Public records, eyewitness accounts, and those who knew Hubbard paint a very different picture of who he was. He was a liar, or delusional -- don't know if he believed his own stuff by the end, but it was originally a scheme. I don't like telling you this, honestly. I'm torn between letting you have what makes you happy if it's false, and telling you the truth so you'll be free. Compassion presents tough choices! The truth hurts, sometimes.

I'm the kind of gal who will tactfully but directly tell a girlfriend if I think her hair looks not-so-good, so let me offer the same thing to you.

Look, the world does not agree with you. It is upsetting to be in the minority. (For example, I've had to hear pundits trashing my best choice for president.) Ugh, it makes me mad. I'm free to disregard it, and I turn it off. However, I can't insist everyone agree with me and stop saying stuff that's unpleasant to me. That would be wrong.

They're expressions of opinion. Try to ignore them. You're free to believe what you want, really. You're just not free to stop others from commenting, or pummel them into submission. Sorry.