scientology & celebrities

xp

wait, i mean indentured servitude (unless they're working in retrun for false teeth)

jason lee apparently left the church? the wikipedia source for this is an interview where he says: "If [my wife] Ceren and I had an idea for a business, it certainly wouldn't happen at the cost of someone else's," Lee said. "And being that we don't practice Scientology, and that we aren't particularly interested in opening religious centers in general, we have no plans to open a Scientology center."

― a but (brimstead), Wednesday, November 30, 2016 10:14 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

What? That's awesome. I'm gonna go watch the 100% video in his honor.

where's the nicole kidman thing in the ama? i couldn't find it.

kudos to leah remini btw - courageous.

the thing i feel about scientology which i think she kind of gets at, is that it suits the religion for it to be like a "laughing stock" or "lol scientology" - and most people, even left-leaning people who'd see themselves as smart, seem to reach the crazy sci-fi part, lol, and leave it at that. the sinister abuses, the money, the subjugation, the harassment and destruction of families, all of that is often ignored in favour of pointing and laughing at the thetan crap.

tbf it is really funny

idk they could hand-wave it as allegorical within a generation and be not much sillier than waving your arms to part the seas, or gods with elephant heads

no, those are age-old traditions and stories predating most recorded history. scientology is closer to 70s self help manual.

that's why you need the aliens

otm

I was following someone on twitter for a while for complex work reasons who is a Scientologist and who also went full-on Never Hillary during the election and is a proper stan for sleazy Assange. Anyway, she is currently laying hard into Remini saying that she has left Scientology because she couldn't handle the regime or keep to the rules. It is genuinely mind-blowing to me that she can be so open to every Clinton conspiracy - she was even into that weird satanist pizza thing - but seemingly have absolutely no curiosity re: the weird dark and fucked-up shit of her own cult/religion.

As has been repeatedly demonstrated this year, a pathological lack of self-reflection is a necessary criterion in subscribing to an extremist ideology.

she was even into that weird satanist pizza thing

so she's pretty much exclusively into dark messed-up shit that has no independent evidence

"It is genuinely mind-blowing to me that she can be so open to every Clinton conspiracy - she was even into that weird satanist pizza thing - but seemingly have absolutely no curiosity re: the weird dark and fucked-up shit of her own cult/religion."

welcome to christianity.

come to think of it, they certainly ACT like a major religion. maybe we've been giving them a bum rap.

hiding gayness. using celebrities for their money. torture. brainwashing. abuse. it's just catholicism with aliens! might even be an improvement.

If I want Catholicism with aliens I'll watch God Told Me To.

its like religion + north korean governing principles

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/07/scientology-in-taiwan/493493/

interesting

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Monday, 1 August 2016 04:54 (four months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

steve cannane's book indicates numbers in australia are so dead they're having to recruit staff members from taiwan. now i'm a bit scared to mention it in front of my taiwanese friends in case that's why they're here.

Astonishing that there's something so dumb our fellow Australians WON'T fall for it

The Remini show is pretty good. And by good I mean horrifying. It's like watching Going Clear outtakes. Brava to her and everyone else involved.

Are y'all watching this thing? It's fucking killing me. This show's anecdotal focus on the ways in which Scientology methodically and intentionally rips people's lives and families apart is crucial. I really hope Remini keeps up this crusade and that more people break off from the church and join the fight.

Beyond all of that, though, lots of revelations I hadn't heard about before. Like the fact that many of the fancy Scientology centers they build wind up being pretty much unused, and that many of the people in the audience at their massive rallies are paid extras. Such a massive scam all the way down.

my husband is obsessed with this show and it's destroying me. so hard to watch.

i miss leah remini, though. i always get the urge to binge watch the season of saved by the bell she was on while he's watching it.

She was great as Carla's daughter in Cheers.

scientology is the north korea of religions and it blows my mind that anyone would subscribe to it

just heard that greta van susteren is off fox news. it kind of weirds me out when scientologists have opinions on anything beyond psychiatry being a conspiracy or w/e.

she starts on msnbc next week

Just as an aside, the Oh No, Ross & Carrie podcast finally got around to their scientology episode. There's eight parts and it's basically the Citizen Kane of cult investigation - it starts with them taking the personality tests and loops up into the crazy auditing, constant pressure to take classes, the big parties, fear, insanity, and Xemu. The series ends when scientology finally figures out who they are and throws them out - on direct orders from Miscavige himself.

It starts here: http://ohnopodcast.com/investigations/2016/2/1/ross-and-carrie-audit-scientology-part-1-going-preclear

watched the first 45 minutes of the Leah Remini thing, felt very light on interesting stuff and very heavy on segments where Leah states the importance of what they are doing. like, I'm already watching this show, you don't have to convince me. show, not tell. half the special was just promoting its own existence.

it's probably interesting for people really into the celebrity scientology thing but w only a casual interest in the subject i was super bored

Most interesting thing Will Smith has done in 25 years:

http://www.showbiz411.com/2017/01/17/exclusive-will-smith-and-jada-pinkett-150000-nation-of-islam-2015-donation-verified

xpost Bruh, I think you watched the wrap-up thing. There was a whole Remini series, not just a special.

Louis Theroux’s Scientology Movie is on BBC2 tonight.

So that dude from That 70s Show was a real wrong 'un, then.

needs more classes

Thetan trouble.

Louis' Scientology movie sucks. Not even worth watching.

Yeah, I was really disappointed by it, think it might be the worst thing he's ever done.

thirded, total trash

huge misfire.

it just regurgitates info that's already out there for anyone who's watched/read going clear or any of the other many articles/docs about what they do.

the only good bit was the weird paz de la huerta cameo.

I thought the Miscavige guy was a real find

The whole thing of them trying to cast people to recreate the information films is so pointless. It goes on for ages and doesn't illuminate anything.

i think they were hoping for a scientologist infiltrator but it didn't happen

well, louis got absolutely no access, so had to build the film from nothing.
and at times it really felt like it.
you knew things were desperate when he made such a big point over the fact that he could not stand on the road that the church folks insisted was theirs, and it wasn't (as per the last credit in the film).
i have seen more interesting stuff happen between neighbours in my little town.

The music in the "Going Clear" film is... not good. "I didn't realise it but I was severly depressed!" *sad theremin*

I've been watching the Leah Remini Scientology series (which is now on Netflix). Scientology is such a distillation of everything wrong with America. The overly-legalistic justifications for their behavior. The ludicrous billion-year contracts. The pyramid scheme bullshit going on at every level - buying and then being forced to hawk the stupid books and DVDs in order to progress. The easily-unverified grandiose claims. You get a reminder of those at every commercial break as they show the ridiculous legal disclaimers ("The Church Of Scientology disputes the credibility of those appearing on the program") that I assume Scientology forced them to display.

On Sunday we posted a document from a source who claimed it was proof that in recent years #Scientology ran a widespread scam to bury members in credit card debt, calling it the 'Chase Wave.' Now 2 recent defectors come forward, on the record, to confirm they were swept up in it.

— Tony Ortega (@TonyOrtega94) November 16, 2021

Who better to contribute to talk about the subject than a new king of sketchiness, mysteriously returned to Twitter after half a year away?

Here’s the intro to my piece about Scientology which comes out tomorrow.

If you want to read it first and support my work, click the link below to subscribe.https://t.co/BmSiwi9WTj pic.twitter.com/ZyzC62lUDm

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 27, 2022

So this is happening

https://www.insider.com/danny-mastersons-trial-in-one-of-biggest-in-scientology-history-2022-10

So weird

https://tonyortega.substack.com/p/shelly-miscavige-more-about-the-place