It’s all over the place; the aftermath of “Trapped in the closet” South Park episode (view here.) Links to get up-to-date on this incredibly logical and attractive cult: scientology, operation clambake, evil Xenu, costs and illustrated history of scientology [PDF].
I’ve spent a few hours reading into this bad joke (actually, a joke would be a compliment) and it occurred to me that there are a lot of similarities between its ways and hollywood.
- Scientology (S): First 6 months free without giving you any of the details… these are only revealed piecemeal as you pay to go through the ranks. Preconditioning.
- Hollywood (H): The trailer.
- S: Large sums required to get in the know, only to find out it’s utter crap ($360K, to be exact.)
- H: The movie.
- S: The shittiest plot ever. Come on! DC-8′s with jet engines? In space?
- H: Doesn’t need explanation.
- S: Congregation of rich people who think that they are the best thing that ever happened to this world/universe/man-kind.
- H: The Oscars.
- S: Out of touch with reality.
- H: Well, hollywood.
Now, I ask you, is it any surprise that the feeble minded hollywood folk are buying into this? Literally, they are spending their easily earned money on this Xenu story. Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, the creator of this establishment said in 1940, “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.” THEY STILL PAY UP!
I was gonna write this blog but now you’ve done gone and beat me to it. Dead on. Stupid hollywood. They deserve each other, the funny cultists and the actors.
I think Hayes is an idiot and probably did more to endanger his career than to advance it, but he’s got to make a statement I guess. What statement, hell if I know, but at least he made it. Ditto for Cruise, but that guy is already nutty. I’m putting Vegas odds on his ‘marriage’ to Holmes. Give it no more than five years. Then they’re sooooo divorced. It’ll probably be all Cruise can do in 2011 to salvage a has-been career. (You heard it hear first!)
It seems as with any other group belief system the people who are in it don’t get it is only a belief system. I imagine it offers what other group belief systems offer: a sense of community and justification of behavior and general comfort to the believers. Too bad that in practice belief systems tend to objectify and dehumanize the non-believer. There is a lot of that going around these days.
Hubbard seems to have had a good idea of what works with human nature. Very logical of him.
The SP episode was darkly humorous. Totally outshone by “Cartoon Wars” though.
Shalom Saar !
-Mike