didn't tom cruise have an experience growing up with an abusive step-parent or something? b/c if so that's obv. very sad plus one could see how it would leave him vulnerable to being at high-risk for being drawn in by a cult (among other factors, such as experiencing great fame and success at a young age)
― dell, Sunday, 20 January 2008 20:41 (sixteen years ago) link
I've been reading the OT III mythos (on Wikipedia) today, and I gotta say that I have a certain respect for L. Ron Hubbard for pulling off this massive science fiction tale as literal truth to one person, let alone however many Scientologists there are. Birth of a religion, eh?
― libcrypt, Sunday, 20 January 2008 21:02 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah, there's def. a certain pathos there, but lately it's been overwhelmed by the sense that this man is potentially doing a lot of harm.
i'm not sure all this is an more unsettling than a lot of evangelical xtianity, but well, that's a familiar part of the american landscape, where as this is batshit looniness in all its fulsome newness.
― amateurist, Sunday, 20 January 2008 21:31 (sixteen years ago) link
just read the x3nu article on wikipedia. kind of mind-blowing. especially the detail about the origin of modern cinema design. you kind of have to read it yourself.
― s1ocki, Sunday, 20 January 2008 22:57 (sixteen years ago) link
amateurist since Cruise's antics are pretty much universally met with ridicule I think he's probably not causing any harm.
This is hilarious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rundown_%28Scientology%29
The Super Power Rundown is described in the Dianetics and Scientology Technical Dictionary as "a super fantastic, but confidential series of rundowns that can be done on anybody whether Dn Clear or not that puts the person into fantastic shape unleashing Super Power of a thetan. This means that puts Scientologists into a new realm of ability enabling them to create a new world."[7] The Super Power Building is currently under construction in Clearwater, Florida for the specific purpose of administering this rundown.
― 31g, Sunday, 20 January 2008 23:51 (sixteen years ago) link
super fantastic, but confidential
― 31g, Sunday, 20 January 2008 23:52 (sixteen years ago) link
just watched the orientation video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XJtUDcm3bBw
the end of the video has some amazing quotes
"you are at the threshold of your next trillion years. you will live it in shivering agonized darkness or you will live it in the triumphant light..."
"if you leave this room and never mention scientology again, you are perfectly free to do so. it would be stupid, but you can do it. you could also dive off a bridge or blow your brains out. that is your choice" !!!!
also lmao@ testimonials by isaac hayes and kirstie alley ("without scientology i would be dead!")
― am0n, Monday, 21 January 2008 04:05 (sixteen years ago) link
they're just as much a corporation as they are a religion. all the books and courses they make you pay for. they say they admit everyone but obv. poor people aren't wanted. there's a part in this vid where they say that occasionally if someone doesn't have money, they sometimes are able to assign a student auditor to work with them.
had no idea will smith had joined their ranks lol
― am0n, Monday, 21 January 2008 04:08 (sixteen years ago) link
Whoa, really? Man, that's damn depressing...but then again I remember reading somewhere that he and Cruise were buds. Oh well!
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 21 January 2008 04:09 (sixteen years ago) link
For a long time, Smith has denied joining the Church of Scientology with his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, explaining that it would go against the beliefs of his late grandmother. But for some time, insiders in Hollywood have insisted the Smiths were, indeed, brought in by Cruise.Smith concedes that his kids are being home-schooled, just as are those of Cruise, Travolta and other Scientologists.
In the article, Smith refers to “Thetans,” who are space aliens in the vernacular of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
“… in all of the experiences I’ve had with Tom and Scientology, like 98 percent of the principles are identical to the principles of the Bible,” Smith tells Men’s Vogue writer Hudson Morgan.
― am0n, Monday, 21 January 2008 04:23 (sixteen years ago) link
That orientation video is funny, but not as funny as bug-eyed, fanatical Tom Cruise. He seems, in real life, like he does in the movies: Nothing is subtle, reflective or self-aware; everything is hyper-confident, hyper-macho, and over-the-top; and he doesn't speak -- he emotes ("Acting!"). But this is no act.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 21 January 2008 04:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh for the love of ghod dont let Will Smith be involved in this shit. what would his gramma say.
― Trayce, Monday, 21 January 2008 04:44 (sixteen years ago) link
She would probably make him move out to California to live with his rich relatives, getting him away from this bad crowd.
― The Yellow Kid, Monday, 21 January 2008 07:00 (sixteen years ago) link
epic win
― DG, Thursday, 24 January 2008 21:23 (sixteen years ago) link
ahaha
― s1ocki, Thursday, 24 January 2008 21:29 (sixteen years ago) link
lololololol
― DG, Thursday, 24 January 2008 21:32 (sixteen years ago) link
lol early christianity! these guys have done their homework
― gff, Thursday, 24 January 2008 21:35 (sixteen years ago) link
epic win indeed
Jerry O'Connell is Tom Cruise: Scientologist!
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 24 January 2008 23:22 (sixteen years ago) link
scientology.org is down again
― DG, Thursday, 24 January 2008 23:24 (sixteen years ago) link
This YouTube video explains a lot about what Tom Cruise was saying in that video clip.
― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 25 January 2008 04:57 (sixteen years ago) link
What do Scientologists believe? I'm talking not the periphery of their views -- like they can help people get off drugs, become spiritually aware, and so forth -- but their core religious beliefs. Do they, for instance, believe in a single G-d similar to Christians or Jews? Do they, as I've heard, believe in aliens populating the Earth?
You'd figure that a quick internet search would reveal this, but I haven't found anything that squarely and fully answers these questions.
And so I ask you, ILX'ors. A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 25 January 2008 05:14 (sixteen years ago) link
a nation shakes its head and hopes that it raised its children well.
― elan, Friday, 25 January 2008 06:17 (sixteen years ago) link
So, are 4chan hackers idiots going up against all this, or heroes? I think idiot, but what do I know rly.
― Trayce, Friday, 25 January 2008 06:33 (sixteen years ago) link
also, chick corea WTF ;_;
He's been a Scientologist for, like, over 30 years. Some of the Return to Forever LPs from the seventies have dedications to L. Ron Hubbard. And Stanley Clarke is/was a Scientologist too, the liner notes of his School Days from 1976 give "special thanks" to Hubbard as well.
― Tuomas, Friday, 25 January 2008 08:36 (sixteen years ago) link
I LOL'd
― DG, Friday, 25 January 2008 09:53 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCbKv9yiLiQ
Serious business!
― Pashmina, Friday, 25 January 2008 11:46 (sixteen years ago) link
And Stanley Clarke is/was a Scientologist too
so wrong. he went to a couple classes and decided it was bullshit. he has even spoken out against it.
― chakles, Friday, 25 January 2008 12:11 (sixteen years ago) link
Why did he thank Hubbard on his album then? The liner notes in School Days say "special thanks to L. Ron Hubbard for being an inspiration to me". I'm glad he realized Scientology is humbug, but it doesn't sound like he just took a couple classes and decided it was bullshit.
― Tuomas, Friday, 25 January 2008 13:12 (sixteen years ago) link
these guys took down The Sun as well apparently, because "They enraged /i/ when the forum censored truth that the parents of Madeleine McCann murdered her."
― DG, Friday, 25 January 2008 13:51 (sixteen years ago) link
4chan dudes are goobs, but hey, if they get the job done they get the job done.
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 25 January 2008 14:06 (sixteen years ago) link
Maybe he just liked the dodgy sci-fi.
― onimo, Friday, 25 January 2008 14:07 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiqmvWZg-qs
Even seriouser business! Scarier, with a deeper and more menacing voice!
― Pashmina, Friday, 25 January 2008 14:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Chick Corea's famously on a live album with the Incredible String Band, Mike Garson & Woody Woodmansey all celebrating LRH's 9 millionth birthday or something. As an Incredible String Band fan I can assure that hours of fun can be had deciphering their albums (and solo albums) for Sc'ology references - they're crammed full of 'em - hell, LRH, even sneaked on to the cover of one of their albums if you look closely enough.
― Tom D., Friday, 25 January 2008 14:24 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOkOEltl678
― am0n, Friday, 25 January 2008 17:14 (sixteen years ago) link
I just got this GINORMOUS box of books from Bridge Publications! There are at least 20 different books on Scientology in there. They are seriously wasting Will Smith and Tom Cruise's money by sending all of these books to libraries that are in all likelihood just going to pitch them.
― Nicole, Friday, 25 January 2008 18:18 (sixteen years ago) link
S.O.P. with outfits like that -- they figure any publicity = good publicity. But Jack Chick probably gets better results with less expenditure.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 25 January 2008 18:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Well, he at least knows the length of a religious craziness tome to keep people's attention all the way through. (24 tiny pages w/pictures vs 1000+ pages of lord knows what)
― Abbott, Friday, 25 January 2008 18:44 (sixteen years ago) link
haha
"HOLY DICK /i/ IS DOWN! IT'S ON MOTHERFUCKERS! BRING BACK /i/ HALP HALP!"
retaliation?
― DG, Friday, 25 January 2008 18:45 (sixteen years ago) link
http://donkeyscientology.ytmnd.com/
― latebloomer, Monday, 28 January 2008 01:40 (sixteen years ago) link
Bart gives http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23136785-5001026,00.html1m to Scientology (and gets an award in return)
― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 31 January 2008 10:14 (sixteen years ago) link
Oops...try this instead...
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23136785-5001026,00.html
― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 31 January 2008 10:16 (sixteen years ago) link
More info here... http://www.hollywood.com/news/Nancy_Bart_Simpson_Cartwright_Gives_10_Million_to_Scientology/5057516
Including the news thatr Kirstie Alley gave them $5m. She still got some money in the bank then?
― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 31 January 2008 10:19 (sixteen years ago) link
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/02/protesters-asse.html
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/images/2008/02/10/img_0098.jpg
― chaki, Monday, 11 February 2008 08:02 (sixteen years ago) link
Melbourne protest was pretty well attended.
― Trayce, Monday, 11 February 2008 08:19 (sixteen years ago) link
why are they all in disguise?
― Ste, Monday, 11 February 2008 09:53 (sixteen years ago) link
Co$ is not kind to those who criticize it
― latebloomer, Monday, 11 February 2008 09:55 (sixteen years ago) link
what exactly could the church do to them?
― Ste, Monday, 11 February 2008 10:01 (sixteen years ago) link
"If there will be a long-term threat, you are to immediately evaluate and originate a black PR campaign to destroy the person's repute and to discredit them so thoroughly that they will be ostracized." — L. Ron Hubbard, 30 May 1974, "Confidential - PR Series 24 - Handling Hostile Contacts/Dead Agenting"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_(Scientology)
― chaki, Monday, 11 February 2008 10:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah stalking, harrasment, all kinds of crazy shit. I have friends who've had it happen.
― Trayce, Monday, 11 February 2008 10:06 (sixteen years ago) link