So, I have been recording this for a while, but only watched the first episode or so until this weekend. Growing up in LA I had similar contacts with Scientology as Kevin described below, and for a while one of the things my friends and I would do over the summer during college was to go to Hollywood and take tests and engage in long debates with them. At the time we thought they were con men and/or brainwashed, but did not understand how much harm they had done.
But now what I don't understand is the nature of the show I am watching; what is this? It seems to have a lot of repetition and filler. As Kevin noted, it is a surprising that there is so little that is new here. It would have more impact if it were just a two-hour documentary telling Remini's story and summarizing what has already been reported about the cult for context. I am also puzzled by the structure of the show - there have been a couple of short (15 min) episodes that then are repeated within later, longer episodes. In one episode it seems like there is a scene that is repeated immediately after we first see it, right before they go to a commercial. Again, it seems like they contracted for a certain number of hours from A&E and then did not have enough actual content to fill it. On Wed, Nov 30, 2016 at 10:42 PM Kevin M. <drunkbastar...@gmail.com> wrote: > After watching the first episode, I don't know that I learned anything I > didn't already know about the organization (I believe that was my review of > an HBO documentary on the same subject a couple years ago). All I can do is > add to the conversation with my own experiences. > > To begin with, I was in the room with a very well known science fiction > author as he told the story of standing next to a young, broke, L. Ron > Hubbard the day somebody jokingly said to him, "You should start a church; > you'd never have to pay taxes." After which Hubbard took one of his failed > science fiction novel premises -- that of alien "souls" inhabiting human > bodies -- and Dianetics (and Scientology) was born. > > One of my first jobs in Hollywood was as a runner for a small independent > commercial company (that I'm fairly certain was a front for drug smuggling, > but that's neither here nor there) based in the Los Feliz neighborhood > adjacent to Hollywood. As a low-paid flunky, my lunch hours were typically > spent in my car munching whatever fast food didn't have a long line. I'd > usually find a street with some shade and park and eat. One street I liked > happened to be the street leading to the Scientology Celebrity Centre. > Parking, eating, and listening to talk radio, I was approached my two > well-dressed goons who told me to drive away. They were Scientology thugs, > and the street was a public street, so I refused. They came very close to > making it physical when a police car pulled up behind my little Geo Tracker > (I did mention I was low-paid). I wasn't sure what to expect, but the > police turned immediately to the henchmen and said, "We've already talked > to you about harassing people. Go back to your castle and leave this kid > alone." > > There are several buildings in Hollywood owned by Scientology... more than > the ones that are labeled as such. I've seen Scientologists walk out of > clearly labeled buildings to other unlabeled buildings and use the same > key-card to gain entrance to both. It would not surprise me to learn the > whole Hollywood & Highland Center (a mall built next to Grauman's Chinese > Theater) is owned by Scientology. > > A few years ago I blogged about visiting a different church every Sunday. > One Sunday I chose to head to the big blue Scientology Hollywood > headquarters. In the lobby area was a series of displays about the church, > including a blatant lie (verified by my Kazakh friends) that Scientology > had a large presence in the city of Karaganda, Kazakhstan (a city some > might recall I lived in for six months). I was given a test (Scientology is > big on tests) to determine what areas I needed to work on. I immediately > recognized the test as the Keirsey Temperament Sorter (I've taken it > several times, dating all the way back to high school), a famous > personality profile best known as boiling people down to four-letter > combinations (i.e.-INTJ or ENSP). The Keirsey test isn't designed to make > judgments about people, merely pinpoint key facets such as whether a person > is introverted or extroverted. However, the Scientology snake-oil salesman > who "graded" my test pointed out several problem areas, all of which could > be resolved if I paid for a course or paid for a book. > > When it comes to religion, I'm generally a "live and let live" kind of > guy. God has many names, many faces, and many different ways of serving > both He and mankind. Generally speaking, I doubt the average low-paid > follower of Scientology is going to face some of the harsh abuses or > manipulations of the upper-tier "clear" members who rebel, so I'm reluctant > to want the whole thing shut down if it provides some sense of comfort or > support for people. But as with a pedophile Catholic priest, those who > flagrantly abuse the system or their followers need to be stopped, removed > from positions of power, respect, and authority at once. Women can claim > Bill Cosby raped them and the public is inclined to believe them, but > countless reports of physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental abuse, and > brainwashing by Scientology has met with no legal action. > > I don't know if Leah Remini's series will affect any change, but if you > somehow aren't aware of how much power and influence Scientology has over > its followers, I'd recommend watching it. > > First episode free on iTunes > > https://itun.es/us/hSa9fb > > > > > > > > > -- > > > -- > > > TV or Not TV .... 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