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Alexander Barnes-Ross Tries to Reframe His Failures as Success—And Fails at That, Too
Most people feel shame when they fail. Alex Barnes-Ross brags about it—and tries to make a brand out of losing.
On January 22, he boasted about being expelled from the Church of Scientology, recasting his removal from the Church as evidence of courage or rebellion.
But what he cannot escape—and repeatedly admits—is the truth: He didn’t leave. He was removed for cause. And it broke him.
“If I hadn’t been kicked out, I fully believe I would have very much still been in today.”
“I got kicked out,” Barnes-Ross has said. “This was the most heartbreaking, earth-shattering thing to have ever happened to me.... If I hadn’t been kicked out, I fully believe I would have very much still been in today.”
These are the words of a man seeking revenge for rejection, who lost the one thing in his life that gave him meaning, structure and identity—and has spent years trying to punish those who took it away.
Barnes-Ross has said openly that his time in Scientology was the best thing that ever happened to him, that it was the last time he felt “truly inspired” or experienced “meaningfulness” in his life. Yet he now brags about the very conduct that led to his expulsion.
He was not removed for speaking out.
He was not removed for “dissent.”
He was removed after stalking and harassing a young woman.
Since then, Barnes-Ross has devoted himself to a pattern of depraved and antisocial conduct—bragging about his associations with criminals, extolling the virtues of sex workers, and behaving in ways so toxic that even his own mother has sought to erase any public association with him.
The normal reaction to failure is shame—and then change.
But the Alex Barnes-Ross reaction—just as when he is caught stalking, conspiring with criminals, or being hauled off by police in handcuffs—is pride at doing something shameful.
No wonder he was removed from the Church.
And he’s still doing it today—wearing his misconduct as a badge of honour.
