Wednesday, August 16, 2006

All the little devils must be wearin' ice skates

Because I actually sort of feel for Tom Cruise.

The man is a waste of carbon, no doubt. But judging by this, he can't even help a stranded motorist on the highway without getting made fun of, and pretty mercilessly so.

I guess I shouldn't feel bad for a guy who is essentially recruiting people into a cult, but IMHO the article sucks for the utter nastiness of its tone.

There's snark and then there's just plain bitchiness.

CC

4 comments:

Jamie Goodwin said...

hmm.. I am just not sold on the Scientologists = Cult connection.

No doubt, to me and most people I know, their beliefs are a little out there. I just don't see the damadge they are causing though, and destructive behavior is pretty much a rule of thumb for me to consider a faith system a cult.

They just don't seem any more out there than a lot of what we consider "mainstream" religions.

ehh.. I am sure someone will prove me wrong.

indrax said...

Belief-wise, they're not any more out there.

Off the top of my head, the cult alarm bells are:

Aggresive recruitment: They sell very hard. In my own experience I would rate them just a little less agressive than the most agressive christian evangelists.

Money: Scientology is a bottomless pit for cash. They will drain you dry if you let them.

Medicine: Scintology teaches that drugs are toxic. This can definitely count as destructive.

Chalicechick said...

I don't know much about Scientology, but I have heard that there is:

A. a very large focus on giving the church lots and lots of your money.

B. Strong encouragement to alienate all your friends who are not Scientologists and only hang around with other Scientologists.

That's enough for me to call it a "cult," though I'm open to seeing evidence that one or both are not true.

CC

LaReinaCobre said...

Aren't they illegal in Germany?

Oh, and they reportedly have this creepy naval program that sounds like Indentured Servitude Star Trek on the Sea.