[TV] Louis Theroux - Scientology

[Chinman3000]

Surprised no thread on this (unless I've missed)

Documentary on BBC Two last night. Seems an absolutely crazy cult, where they are brainwashing people and keeping them against their will.

Louis was absolutely class throughout though.

 

[Munkfish]

Surprised no thread on this (unless I've missed)

Documentary on BBC Two last night. Seems an absolutely crazy cult, where they are brainwashing people and keeping them against their will.

Louis was absolutely class throughout though.

Its been around for a while. Hopefully it is on Iplayer as I havent seen it for a while.

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Am a big fan of LT and this looked like a really clever idea and a worthwhile target. But I'm not sure the format worked: the idea of making a movie just seemed contrived & artificial somehow and over-extended the programme. But the net effect was fun and disturbing at the same time.

 

[jimhigham]

It's been around for awhile and was given a limited release in cinemas about a year back. An interesting take on it by having actors play scenes alleged to have taken place inside the "church" and something that differentiated it from the Going Clear documentary. What was interesting was that Marty Rathburn, the guy that had eft the church, was painted as hard done by in Going Clear. By the end of the Louis Theorux documentary it was hard to escape the impression that Rathburn was just a bit of a arse. I've limited sympathy for the life he now has to live.

Plus, you were right. Theroux was class throughout. He's just so calm and English when faced with confrontational Scientologists. I thought he was admirable but then I am a bit of a suppressive person.

 

[Chinman3000]

Its been around for a while. Hopefully it is on Iplayer as I havent seen it for a while.

Ah didn't realise it wasn't new

 

[Wilko]

Too big to be a cult, it is now recognised as a religion. People mock it obviously but I see similarities to other religions too to be honest. The Going Clear documentary is superb viewing if you fancy some more about the views of Scientology.

 

[jimhigham]

Am a big fan of LT and this looked like a really clever idea and a worthwhile target. But I'm not sure the format worked: the idea of making a movie just seemed contrived & artificial somehow and over-extended the programme. But the net effect was fun and disturbing at the same time.

A fair point and one I chewed over. In the end I gave it a pass but I quite understand why others did not. My daughter is a big Theroux devotee and went to see it at the cinema and she tended to agree with your view too.

I felt that as it was made as a movie rather than a TV programme a longer running time was fine. Given that he'd spent years trying to speak to people within the church and been denied this was a means of portraying events within the church as told by those that had left it.

 

[Withdean11]

I thought it was 'racist' to speak negatively about an ideology..

 

[Albion my Albion]

There are two sides to every story. The "Church" of Scientology is extremely over possessive and those on the fence become victims. For myself I believe in the ideas of L. Ron Hubbard but the "Church" not unlike the christian church is skewed from it's purpose and should be disbanded.

 

[beorhthelm]

Too big to be a cult, it is now recognised as a religion. People mock it obviously but I see similarities to other religions too to be honest.

the whole origin of it was to create a "religion" to avoid taxes in the US. it basically started a spoof, a joke bet between Hubbard and a mate that grew out of control. the guy was a SciFi writer and comparisons to other religions are unfair on them (and i say that as an athiest). the ideas have less validity than Lucas's Jedi concept, at least he was drawing upon some well meaning spirituality.

 

[boik]

There are two sides to every story. The "Church" of Scientology is extremely over possessive and those on the fence become victims. For myself I believe in the ideas of L. Ron Hubbard but the "Church" not unlike the christian church is skewed from it's purpose and should be disbanded.

You seriously believe that we all came down from space and can be immortal? Wow!

 

[Wilko]

the whole origin of it was to create a "religion" to avoid taxes in the US. it basically started a spoof, a joke bet between Hubbard and a mate that grew out of control. the guy was a SciFi writer and comparisons to other religions are unfair on them (and i say that as an athiest).

My point being that all religions are created by man.

 

[Albion my Albion]

You seriously believe that we all came down from space and can be immortal? Wow!

You should not talk about what you truly do NOT understand!

 

[beorhthelm]

My point being that all religions are created by man.

i think the key difference is that religions are created to try to make sence of the world and give people some order (and essentially control them - there's similarity there of course). Scientology was conceived for personal financial gain, its status of "religion" is from US rules on protecting religious believes.

 

[boik]

You should not talk about what you truly do NOT understand!

Well that TOLD ME!

 

[Wilko]

i think the key difference is that religions are created to try to make sence of the world and give people some order (and essentially control them - there's similarity there of course). Scientology was conceived for personal financial gain, its status of "religion" is from US rules on protecting religious believes.

The catholic church is the richest 'charity' in the world.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

You should not talk about what you truly do NOT understand!

Brilliant - a true believer in L Ron. Please educate us on the true message of Scientology. Honestly, I'm interested.

 

[Titanic]

There are two sides to every story. The "Church" of Scientology is extremely over possessive and those on the fence become victims. For myself I believe in the ideas of L. Ron Hubbard but the "Church" not unlike the christian church is skewed from it's purpose and should be disbanded.

You believe this sort of stuff?

"According to L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology’s fundamental creation myth goes something like this: Xenu (also referred to as Xemu) was once ruler of the Galactic Confederacy, an ancient organization of 76 planets. Having existed for 20 million years, the planets were struggling from extreme overpopulation.
Fearing he’d be thrown out of power, Xenu gathered billions of his people, froze them to capture their souls (“thetans”), and transported them to Earth (then called Teegeeack) for elimination. He dumped them at the bottom of volcanoes and then destroyed them in a series of nuclear explosions, killing all but a few and sending their souls into the air.
Once in the air, the souls were captured by Xenu, who then implanted into them misleading information, including concepts related to all of the world’s religions.
After all this evil was carried out, Xenu was eventually imprisoned, and Earth was left to be a mere prison planet by the Galactic Confederacy."

 

[Brovion]

Brilliant - a true believer in L Ron. Please educate us on the true message of Scientology. Honestly, I'm interested.

Me too. Quick, someone get the Pringles, Tony Bloom had them last.

 

[Albion my Albion]

You believe this sort of stuff?

"According to L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology’s fundamental creation myth goes something like this: Xenu (also referred to as Xemu) was once ruler of the Galactic Confederacy, an ancient organization of 76 planets. Having existed for 20 million years, the planets were struggling from extreme overpopulation.
Fearing he’d be thrown out of power, Xenu gathered billions of his people, froze them to capture their souls (“thetans”), and transported them to Earth (then called Teegeeack) for elimination. He dumped them at the bottom of volcanoes and then destroyed them in a series of nuclear explosions, killing all but a few and sending their souls into the air.
Once in the air, the souls were captured by Xenu, who then implanted into them misleading information, including concepts related to all of the world’s religions.
After all this evil was carried out, Xenu was eventually imprisoned, and Earth was left to be a mere prison planet by the Galactic Confederacy."

Do you believe L. Ron to be a science fiction writer or someone who believed in the stories he wrote?

The best thing about a magician is that he knows it's all fake but perpetuates the illusion that it is real.