Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

[azaleaqueen]

Watched this last night and didn't find any revelations. Just more of the same things I'd already heard. I did get creeped out watching Tom's toothy maniacal laughter in that interview and also by L. Ron's disgusting lips and teeth. However, David Miscavage is downright frightening. he's a teeny little man (smaller than Tom. That was obvious when they were hugging)who looks to have chihuahua syndrome as well as seeming dangerous. His eyes are weird. I can see him in a former life giving a thumbs down to a gladiator.

[Ella]

I'm convinced that Miscavage was Joseph Goebbels in his past life.they look so much alike.

[mementomori]

Watched last night. Didn't know the anecdote about Nazanin Boniadi. Yikes!!! If SNL satirizes this they need to get Seth Meyers to cameo as Miscavige. He is one scary LITTLE monster.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

Yeah, I didn't know about Nazanin either. She was one of my favorite characters on Homeland (before they killed her off). She sure dodged a bullet.

[Foo]

Paul Haggis' reaction to finding out about Xenu was pure gold.

[angelaudie]

Mar 31, 2015 21:44:31 GMT -4 Foo said:

Paul Haggis' reaction to finding out about Xenu was pure gold.

I was howling at his reaction! Granted what other reaction could you have but still it was funny. Sea Org lady's "I studied geography in school. Volcanoes were not around 75 million years ago," was pretty good as well.

As others have said it was interesting and confirmed many things I have long suspected. The things those who have defected have gone through are pretty frightening. I was pretty tense when Spanky described the day she grabbed her baby and fled. She's very lucky she had a non-clam friend she could turn to.

I must say I don't see how in the name of Xenu L Ron Hubbard managed to bamboozle as many people as he did. The man was creepy looking, charmless, and no charisma. Miscavage is definitely scary but he seems to know how to turn on the charm when needed.

The other thing that stands out is the interview footage of John Travolta going challenging the interviewer to name one other religion or philosophy whose ultimate goal is happiness and peace for all. Ummmm, virtually every single religion John. Plenty of philosophies hit on this as well. Did he pay any attention in school?

[Foo]

John Travolta, Tom Cruise, and especially Jenna Elfman have always struck me as total idiots, even without the Scientology.

[Deleted]

Just finished watching this, I haven't read the book so some of it was new to me. I remember Jason Beghe's interview from when he initially left. I didn't realize what a domino effect that had.

I'd also never seen video footage of Hubbard or Miscaviage before. I had several full body shudders while watching them, particularly Miscaviage. What a total creep.

[Babycakes]

I watched it the other night, but didn't get anything new out of it. Being a faithful member of this board, I already knew 95% of the stuff they talked about. Only the mistreatment of kids by the peons was shocking to me. But for the uninitiated, this stuff must have been jaw-dropping, and horrifying.

[Deleted]

We went to HGTV's parent's house for dinner and this movie came up in conversation. None of them knew much about it and were shocked at its horribleness. But they may have even been more horrified when I said I already knew most of the info because I've been reading about Scientology online for years, and that I can see how people get interested in the VERY early stages of it, i.e. the self-determination stuff, and I think a lot of people like to explore the deep recesses of their minds. (Not that I'M interested personally, and it's clearly very fucked up that it's a tax exempt org.)