Praxis wrote:

> From
> http://www.thebulletin.com/archives/2005/july/bullpen0722.htm
>
> Scientology & the Madness of Mr. Cruise
>
> For a quarter century, diminutive, beetle-browed Tom Cruise has been
> one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. In his blockbuster movies he
> usually plays confident, even cocksure, all-American hero types, but in
> real life his shiny armor is starting to show chinks.
>
> Not long ago the toothy actor went on Oprah Winfrey's show to declare
> his undying love for young actress Katie Holmes by jumping all over the
> furniture like a howler monkey pumped full of ginseng. His rather
> plastic and unconvincing "Look at me! I'm a heterosexual!" act
> was followed shortly thereafter by an announcement of the couple's
> engagement.
>
> Then after pressing criminal charges against a fan that sprayed him
> with a water pistol at a movie premiere, the humorless Mr. Cruise
> turned an interview with Matt Lauer into a harangue, dismissing Lauer
> as "glib," insisting actress Brooke Shields' postpartum depression
> was only psychosomatic, and attacking psychiatry as a dangerous
> pseudo-science about which he possessed an expert level of knowledge.
>
> (Few things are as embarrassing to witness as an uneducated person
> arguing passionately about something he knows absolutely nothing
> about.)
>
> Like all too many celebrities, Cruise is a member of the so-called
> Church of Scientology (CoS), a dangerous, little-understood mind
> control cult that promises self-fulfillment, mental peace and clarity,
> financial success, cures of everything from blindness to homosexuality,
> and even the restoration of long-dormant godlike powers. It's no
> wonder that the cult has been so powerfully embraced by members of the
> entertainment industry, seeing as celebs tend to live in a fantasy
> world, trying to balance colossal egos with fragile senses of
> self-esteem.
>
> The CoS was founded in the 1950's by L. Ron Hubbard, a modestly
> successful science fiction writer and small-time grifter with a history
> of mental illness, bigamy, and spousal abuse. After getting involved in
> Satanism and the occult, he famously declared to a fellow writer,
> "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to
> make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own
> religion."
>
> You initially get involved in Scientology by taking a free personality
> test, which naturally reveals you have some issues that can be resolved
> by paying some fees and taking some classes. The more you pay and the
> more classes you take, the closer you get to enlightenment and freedom
> from your hang-ups. The highest level classes can cost between $300,000
> and $500,000. Needless to say, Scientology becomes an all-consuming
> thing as you sacrifice family, friends, time, savings, and income to
> the Church.
>
> When the American Psychiatric Association refused to recognize
> Hubbard's treatment program, called "Dianetics," as valid
> therapy, he declared psychiatry a junk science and put its
> practitioners at the top of his enemies list, calling them aliens from
> a "fifth galactic invader force" that is currently trying to destroy
> the planet.
> The details of Scientological doctrine are only revealed in stages,
> because Hubbard claimed they were so shocking they would kill a person
> unprepared for such information. In fact Hubbard's laughable
> cosmology sounds like a bad plot from a third-rate pulp novel.
>
> According to Hubbard, 75 million years ago, an evil alien emperor named
> Xenu controlled a chain of over-populated planets. With the help of
> insect-like psychiatrists, Xenu had millions of his subjects paralyzed
> with chemicals and shipped to Earth, where their bodies were stacked up
> around huge volcanoes. Nuclear bombs were detonated in the volcanoes,
> killing all the people. (That's where the volcanoes in the
> "Dianetics" commercials come from.)
>
> The souls of all these dead people were then shown movies that depicted
> God, Christ, and Satan, and a variety of confusing, contradictory
> images and information. The souls of these dead people abide in humans
> to this day, and the "implanting," as Hubbard called it, of false
> information can only be removed by Dianetic therapy.
>
> In addition to practicing mind control and bilking people out of
> hundreds of millions of dollars, the CoS is aggressive in its
> recruiting efforts, sending "ministers" to counsel the wounded and
> grief-stricken at the World Trade Center and tsunami-affected parts of
> Southeast Asia, in an attempt to stymie the efforts of legitimate
> counselors, psychiatrists, and psychologists.
>
> The CoS also has a private intelligence force, the "Guardian's
> Office" (GO), which is designed to discipline members and attack
> critics and defectors. Harassment, smear tactics, spying, blackmail,
> physical and mental torture, break-ins, and even murder have been used
> against the enemies of the Church.
>
> Scientology is more than a mere scam: it's a highly dangerous
> organization with cruel, insidious goals. It needs to be stopped before
> it makes any more inroads into our culture. Of course, we may not
> actually have to do anything. Tom Cruise has been making himself such a
> laughing stock these last few weeks that if he keeps it up the whole
> world may soon know that the Church of Scientology is nothing but a
> ship of fools with an evil and deadly agenda...
>
> send your comments to
> editor@thebulletin.com
>
My response to the editor:

Your article on Scientology/Tom Cruise was devastatingly spot on! All this is very well documented information, and your reporter assembled it very stylishly. You'll undoubtedly get reams of "Scientology helped me, Scientology saved my life" pap from indoctrinated True Believers who can't see the truth due to the wool pulled over their eyes.

Still, in light of the two bombing incidents in London, I would have liked to have seen the "Scientology Volunteer Minister" scam addressed as well. This yellow clad menace swarms in wherever tragedy strikes, grinning their insane Hubbard grins and poking people with magical "touch assists," as well as selling little booklets of homilies by their dead conman god, L. Ron Hubbard.

A week after the first round of bombs went off in the London subways, an official looking van was spotted at one of the sites. The legend on the side of the vehicle said "Scientology Volunteer Ministers Emergency Van," or similar wording. This is the most egregious and disgusting aspect of Scientology. The "Volunteer Ministers" pay for a two week course, in which they're taught the Scientology version of laying on of hands, where they will poke you relentlessly until you say you feel better to make them quit. This validates their belief that they are "helping," and it's a noxious, cynical way to get good PR and recruit vulnerable victims.

This branch off the Scientology tree has been forcibly ejected from many disasters, yet they keep coming. They think that scuttling into a disaster site and handing out water or supplies collected by others demonstrates their good intentions. Meanwhile, they're trying to flog their books in London for 3 pounds apiece.

A recent account of a London reporter writing for the Daily Mirror on 21 July,, who actually went into the Scientology facility there, was sent out into the streets with a pack of VMs with the following instructions, "We are encouraged to offer people assists. Once we get them listening, our aim is to take a name, address and phone number.

We are given booklets to offer for a "suggested donation" of £3. We are not to say they are for sale. We provide assists to about 10 people and hand out several hundred leaflets."

By this and other accounts, they are clearly present to sell Hubbard material and prey on the troubled and vulnerable. I think this is the most repulsive aspect of Scientology, worthy of the same contempt we feel for ambulance chasing lawyers. The VMs have been forcibly removed from quite a few disaster areas, including New York City, Jerusalem and Beslan. This despicable behavior needs to be exposed and reviled for the revolting, cynical act that it is. They offer nothing but Hubbard dreck. Handing out free air would be less disgusting and possibly less damaging to victims of disaster.

-- --barb Chaplain,ARSCC

"Imagine a 'church' so dangerous, you must sign a release form before you can receive its 'spiritual assistance.' This assistance might involve holding you against your will for an indefinite period, isolating you from friends and family, and denying you access to appropriate medical care. You will of course be billed for this treatment - assuming you survive it. If not, the release form absolves your caretakers of all responsibility for your suffering and death. Welcome to the 'Church' of Scientology." -- Dr. Dave Touretzky and Peter Alexander

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