Philip Gale
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| Philip Gale | |
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 Philip Gale
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| Born | 1978 Los Angeles, California |
| Died | March 13, 1998 Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Occupation | Computer programmer |
| Parents | David Gale, Marie Gale, director CCHR |
Philip Chandler Gale (1978, Los Angeles, California – March 13, 1998, Cambridge, Massachusetts) was a pioneering internet software developer and computer prodigy, an avid musician, born and raised a Scientologist but rejecting that upbringing and turning to drugs and the Church of the SubGenius. Gale earned roughly a million dollars worth of stock options for his innovative internet service provider (ISP) programs at EarthLink.
Gale chose Friday, the thirteenth of March (L. Ron Hubbard's birthday) as the day he wanted to commit suicide, falling to his death from a classroom window on the fifteenth floor of a building on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus.[1] Several years earlier, he had left Scientology after deciding it was not for him, becoming enamored of the postmodern parody religion Church of the SubGenius, that mockingly warns, "the more alert and intelligent you are, the quicker you'll likely be driven to suicide."[2][3]
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[edit] Family, early life and education
Gale was raised from birth to age fourteen in Scientology, a fourth generation Scientologist. He had a sister, Elizabeth Gale, and was the son of Scientologists David Gale, a software programmer who died from a heart attack in 1995, and Marie Gale, director of the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) in the Carolinas and chief national spokeswoman for CCHR.[4]
In 1986, his family moved to the sect's international spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, Florida, but around the same time he was sent to attend a Scientology school in Oregon. He was educated at the private Delphian School in Sheridan, Oregon, which was founded by L. Ron Hubbard's followers and dedicated to the sect's philosophies.
The Gale family is well known in Scientology circles for their commitment to the Church, and is noted for having made contributions of over $100,000 to the International Association of Scientologists (IAS).
Gale was admitted to MIT at the age of fifteen. At MIT, he joined the Phi Sigma Kappa[4] fraternity as a freshman in the fall of 1994, and he had just begun a music degree at the time of his suicide.
[edit] Software programming
Gale was a gangly, six foot, two inch red head. He took a break from MIT at the age of sixteen, accepting a position at EarthLink Network Inc. for a year, as director of research and development, with a $70,000 annual salary, after writing a key software program called Total Access while at MIT.[2] The software allowed EarthLink's internet servers to connect far more customers to the Internet, giving the firm a competitive advantage and enabling its ascent to the top ranks among ISPs.[2]
Gale abandoned his Scientology beliefs while he was at EarthLink, and became involved with the satirically named Church of the SubGenius, which specializes in debunking cults and has developed its own cult following.
Before his seventeenth birthday, Gale earned stock options, worth perhaps a million dollars, for writing software programs at the Los Angeles based company, that was run according to Hubbard's 'Management by Statistics' principles. Largely because of Gale's breakthrough, EarthLink now has more than one million customers and a market worth of $2 billion[2]. Earthlink was founded by fellow Delphian alum, Sky Dayton, and heavily bankrolled by Scientologists, including Reed Slatkin, a disgraced ponzi scheme perpetrator who is currently serving a prison sentence for his crimes.
[edit] Church of the SubGenius
At the time of his death Gale was no longer a Scientologist, and had not been one for years, having, according to Brian Ladner, his best friend at Earthlink, become interested in the Church of the SubGenius. Ladner claims to have introduced Gale to Subgenius while they worked together at Earthlink and reports that Gale hung a poster of J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, SubGenius fictional spiritual leader, on his office door.[2]
The Church of the SubGenius teaches that efforts to improve conditions are in vain, a sharp contrast to the Church of Scientology, which holds as a fundamental principle that one "can improve conditions in his life."[5] The Church of the Subgenius teaches that "the world as we know it won't last too damn much longer" and "it's too late. There isn't a god-damned thing you as an individual can do about eco-disaster, nuclear death, overpopulation and so on." In the face of this nihilism, the Rev. Ivan Stang, founder of the Church of the Subgenius states:
| “ | But remember - the End of the World may be much worse and take much longer than you thought. The mere act of sitting at home watching everything fall apart on your TV may be too much for even the stoutest brains to take. In fact, the more alert and intelligent you are, the quicker you'll likely be driven to suicide by the sheer hideousness of what you'll be seing.[3] | ” |
(Subgenius) Rev. Philip Gale's death was reported as "Scientologist-SubGenius Kills Self" by Rev. J.C. "Steve" Bevilacqua, Business Manager for the Church of the Subgenius. [6]
[edit] Death
After an investigation and an autopsy by Cambridge police, Gale's death at the age of nineteen, late on the evening of March 13, 1998, was ruled a suicide.[1] For weeks, Gale had been asking classmates how to access the roof of MIT's tallest structure, the Green Building.[7]
On the blackboard of the MIT classroom in the Green Building, he wrote out Isaac Newton's equation for how an object accelerates as it falls, along with a sketch of a stick figure of someone tossing a chair. He signed the message, "Phil was here," picked up a chair, hurled it and then himself through a window on the fifteenth floor of the Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences building, more commonly known as Building 54 or the Green Building. "It was typical Phil. It's so like him to have planned a show," said an ex-girlfriend, Wellesley College student Christine Hrul, "He was so careful with things in his life, so methodical."[7]
The last disc played on Gale's CD player that night was Steel Pole Bathtub's Scars from Falling Down.
In part, Gale's suicide note explained his motives:[2]
| “ | Presumably I have jumped from a tall building. . . I am not crazy, albeit driven to suicide. It is not about any single event, or person. It is about stubborn sadness, and a detached view of the world. I see my life -- so much dreary, mundane, wasted time wishing upon unattainable goals -- and I feel little attachment to the future. But it is not so bad, relatively. I exxagggerate. In the end, it is that I am unwilling (sick of living) to live in mediocrity. And this is what I have chosen to do about it. . . take care world, Philip | ” |
Gale closed his handwritten suicide note, found at his apartment, with a smiley face and the words "And stay happy!"
[edit] External links
- HollywoodInterrupted.com - 'Death of a 'Nethead', Mark Ebner - originally published April 29, 1999 in the New Times Los Angeles
- Why did this brilliant MIT student jump to his death?, By Joseph Mallia, Boston Herald (May 21, 1998)
- Gale's Death Prompts Questions on Scientology, Jennifer Chung, The Tech (newspaper), vol 118, no 16, p 1 (April 3, 1998)
[edit] References
- ^ a b Bulletin: Male Sophomore Falls to Death, The Tech (newspaper), last updated March 14, 1998.
- ^ a b c d e f HollywoodInterrupted.com; 'Death of a 'Nethead', Mark Ebner; originally published April 29, 1999 in the New Times Los Angeles
- ^ a b WHAT THE HELL Application Form; Rev. Ivan Stang; accessed 2007-03-01
- ^ a b Gale's Death Prompts Questions on Scientology, Jennifer Chung, The Tech (newspaper), vol 118, no 16, p 1 April 3, 1998.
- ^ Scientology Web site, "How Does Scientology Work?", p. 6 of 50., 2006.
- ^ Scientologist-SubGenius Kills Self, Rev. J.C. "Steve" Bevilacqua, Business Manager http://www.subgenius.com
- ^ a b Why did this brilliant MIT student jump to his death?, Joseph Mallia, Boston Herald, May 21, 1998.
