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Post by Witchie on Feb 4, 2013 10:07:41 GMT -4
Lawrence Wright, author of Going Clear, was on Morning Joe this morning. He talked about how the book grew out of his interview with Paul Haggis. Joe grilled him, asking why someone like Tom Cruise would stay in the church. Wright was careful not to say too much, but he did say that Tom got more perks than regular church members, such as the hangar for his plane & his customized limo. He also said they had 5 fact checkers plus 2 independent fact checkers on the book.
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Deleted
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Oct 2, 2024 18:36:27 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2013 13:37:05 GMT -4
Asking why someone like Tom Cruise would stay in a cult is a pretty ignorant question. What is that supposed to mean? Cause he's rich and famous he can't have deep-seated issues that would cause him to be taken in and subsequently become emotionally dependent on a cult? If anything, "someone like Tom Cruise" is more likely to stay in a cult.
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Post by Witchie on Feb 4, 2013 14:10:34 GMT -4
Sorry. Should have added that Joe asked the question after they were discussing the alleged beatings and other instances of mistreatment at Miscavige's hand/orders. He & Mika couldn't believe Tom would stay if he knew because their interaction with him. They said everyone thought he was a great guy, so they were skeptical about how much the celebrities knew about the allegations.
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Deleted
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Oct 2, 2024 18:36:27 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2013 14:35:32 GMT -4
Supposedly they don't know anything about the beatings and abuse, but I would think it more likely that they've heard about it and were told that it's all lies, kind of the same way Fox News accuses the "mainstream media" of not telling the truth. It is hard to believe Tom Cruise or anyone for that matter would support a "religion" that abuses its followers, but he's very close to David Miscavage, and it's hard to believe that a rageaholic like DM hasn't shown his true colors at some point when he was around Tom. Who knows. Maybe Tom is actually somewhat afraid of him.
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Post by Witchie on Feb 4, 2013 14:49:32 GMT -4
I doubt Tom's afraid of Miscavige. I think Tom is as much a bully as his bestie. I think he probably verbal abused Katie, to the point that he broke her spirit. We laughed about Zombie bride, but looking back on her disheveled appearance, she was probably seriously depressed.
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Post by kostgard on Feb 4, 2013 16:01:06 GMT -4
The way the media has been interviewing Wright has been annoying - they all take the approach like they are challenging him. None of it has the tone of "Wow, there is some crazy stuff in your book. How deeply did you research? How can you be sure of all this?" But rather a tone of "You're a liar! Prove otherwise!" But that, unfortunately, is what "hard-hitting" journalism consists of today.
I'm reading the book now, and not only is it fascinating, but Wright is clearly turning himself inside out to be as fair as possible to Hubbard and the COS. The only time the books flat-out says "This is batshit crazy" is when he is directly quoting someone who called the clams batshit crazy.
And yes - why would Tom ever leave a religion that tells him that he is literally a superior being to the rest of us. In fact, Hubbard declared that Jesus, Buddha, etc., were all just a smidge above "Clear." So Tom, at OT-whatever, is superior to them. Scientology tells Tom he is better than Jesus. Of course he's never gonna leave.
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Millis
Blueblood
Posts: 1,138
Mar 9, 2005 10:42:27 GMT -4
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Post by Millis on Feb 7, 2013 20:44:36 GMT -4
And the hits keep coming!
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Deleted
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Oct 2, 2024 18:36:27 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2013 13:16:02 GMT -4
I saw her on Anderson Cooper the other day. She comes across as sweet and honest, and it's also clear that she is very happy with her new life of relative freedom. When pressed over whether she's angry about what she went through, she stated that she's grateful for her past because that's what led her to her happy life now (paraphrasing). Her focus is on the treatment of children in Sea Org, and there's really no sign that she holds a personal grudge, so good luck trying to discredit her Clams. So far all they can come up with is the old "apostate" bullshit.
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Post by Ladybug on Feb 8, 2013 15:15:41 GMT -4
I can't believe they can treat children like this and get away with it. I guess it is a very insular community and no one will report the abuse to the police, CPS, etc.
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Post by Ladybug on Feb 18, 2013 12:35:12 GMT -4
I was talking to a friend recently who is an academic librarian, and somehow we ended up on the topic of Tom Cruise (weird bc she's not into pop culture stuff). Anyhow, she told me that the Church of Scientology sends her a box of books for the college library every few months. I asked her if it's stuff like brochures that they want distributed in public areas and she said no, it's all of L. Ron Hubbard's books, plus Scientology DVDs. They want them added to the library catalog and they send her the same books on a regular basis. She never adds them, but they keep sending them to her 3 or 4 times a year. I didn't get a chance to ask her what she does with them, but she definitely doesn't add them to the holdings. She saves her shelf space for books that are actually useful! I imagine her school isn't the only one getting this stuff, and I was just doing the math figuring out how much it must cost them to send these books to academic libraries all over the country on a regular basis.
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