Tom: he's here to help
I hereby helpfully send you to this link. It's the notorious Tom Cruise Scientology Recruitment film that was taken off YouTube and will presumably disappear from this site too in good time. Have a look. I add no commentary. You just have to watch it. (Warning: it's 9 minutes long, although you'll get the general idea pretty quickly. Also, you may have no fucking idea what the hell he's going on about. I didn't.)
posted by Andrew Collins @ 1:23 PM
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21 Comments:
God, it's insane, isn't it? My favourite bit is when he says how he wishes he could "romp...and play...but I can't becAUse...I KNOW!"
Well, that was, um, interesting. I've got no problem with what anyone wants to believe, as long as it doesn't preach violence or mass-murder and the like, but this guy's obviously a few gherkins short of a Big Mac.
I suppose it's all harmless stuff, he seems to want to make the world and better place and help people; fairly noble aims really. If he wants to be a Scientologist, that's fine by me. The life and beliefs of Tom Cruise affect my life very little, surprisingly.
The thing that struck me though, was how vague everything he said was. All he said was a bunch of stuff about helping people and how "you're in or you're out," and that was it... stretched over 9 minutes! To be honest, the majority of what he said could be applied to an awful lot of religions, or, in fact, just trying to live your life as a decent person. You'd think if this was this guy's religion and raison d'etre, he'd be able to talk about it a bit more knowledgeably, as I'd imagine any practicing Christian, Jew, Hindu, Muslim or Sikh would.
There's a pretty uncanny parody of that by Jerry O'Connell here:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3f716ffebe
It's the laughter that nails it.
To paraphrase Billy Connolly, no-one has ever run up to the scene of a car-crash shouting, 'Let me through! I'm a Scientologist!"
vanilla sky was shit too.
i remember after 9-11 some witnesses knocked at my door and asked me what i made of it all.
i said i didn't know the answer.
they asked me what i thought caused all the trouble in the world.
i answered 'religion' and shut the door.
i was nice about it though as i am a fully paid up member of the andrew collins nice smiley person cult. it's a far better ethos.
Never trust a religion which makes you pay cold, hard cash in order to become a better person. Or indeed has its own Celebrity Center.
Hi Andrew. Sad news about Heath Ledger last night. Only 28 years of age. Did you ever meet him and if so what was he like? My thoughts are with his family-particuarly his ex-girlfriend Michelle Williams and their young daughter. I was looking forward to seeing him play The Joker in the new Batman film The Dark Knight later this year. Don't you think this brings back memories of what happened to River Phoenix in 1993?
I know we're shooting fish here, but that glassy stare reminds me of Dubya Bush. It's that same remarkable conviction that they're absolutely right and to contradict is beyond their comprehension, even though as Joe says he doesn't actually say anything.
Sad news about Heath Ledger indeed. I never met him, but am gathering my thoughts, as I'll be talking about him on News 24 this evening at 6.30.
Thanks for link to the Cruise film by the way, Clair.
For.
Crying.
Out.
LOUD!
I'm glad I can finally say i saw the thing but, by thunder that chap's a few sarnies short of a picnic. The bit about the scene of an accident did leave my jaw hanging open.
Second the Billy Connolly quote...
I wonder how long before the "Church" of Scientology stops regarding him as their poster boy, and starts regarding him as a huge embarrassment (even for them!)?
By the way, you should check out Marina Hyde's regular mickey-taking of Cruise in the Guardian. Very funny. I bet they regard her as an SP!
John
Hard to know how to react to this. On the one hand, TC seems to be genuinely trying to be a better person and help the world around him; on the other, he's off his rocker. Some helpful soul at Yahoo answers has suggested that a KSW is a Kind Sexy Woman and an SP is a Sexy Pervert.
Oh my. Tom Cruise IS Tony Blair. Talking crap with utter conviction and then grinning like we're in on the joke. Only difference is he hasn't got any PR people to help with the fallout. Because if they were just spectators and not participants he would probably cancel them from his area. Which would look bad on your CV I would imagine.
Much of Scientology is (even by religion's standards, and I'm sort of religious myself) wacky and antihuman; Operation Clambake is a good source on the secrets and practises that they make people pay out to partake in.
I liked Vanilla Sky though.
He's got a bit embarrassing now. Who could possibly take him seriously in anything he does?
Scientology is rubbish, isn't it?
I remember once sending a fan email to Jim Meskimen (yes, I know - "who?") and his reply, initially pleasant and courteous, asked me if I was interested in Scientology...
I watched A Few Good Men last night. Shame Cruise can't just be known for the odd reasonable movie.
There's a longer version of this video floating about in which Tom also calls for "no mercy" with regard to psychiatrists. I have no problem letting people believe in outlandish stuff. I fully support nonsense, in fact. But when you have a religion whose practises have actually lead to lives being lost, I can't find myself supporting that. Check out http://www.whyaretheydead.net/ for information there. Also, Scientology cons people out of a great deal of money, and is perfectly willing to harass anyone who speaks against it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_%28Scientology%29
By the way, an "SP" is a "Suppressive Person", who would be anyone who criticises Scientology. "KSW" is "Keeping Scientology Working", which I guess is to do with doing whatever the church tells you.
Sorry this comment's so long, I've been having a bit of a Scientology binge the past couple of days :) I do like your blog as well, even if this is my first comment.
I'm so glad Tom is there to help. Thank you Tom, thankyou, thankyou. Wibble, gibber, gnnnmph.
How to spend nine minutes speaking, without effectively saying a single coherent thing. Remarkable! How long before he stands for the Senate?
And is it just my eyesight, of does he appear to have webbed fingers? Such as a mutant Lizard-Boy might have?
As a cat person, you may enjoy this even more, Andrew.
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008
/01/28/tom-cat-unmasked/
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