HBO: Scientology

[Inky29]

Anyone catch the documentary on Scientology on HBO? Maybe it's been out before but it's the first time I saw it. I always thought the thing was nuts but man after watching that show I don't have any doubts. How this group is tax exempt is beyond me.

 

[hollywood]

I was watching walking dead last night, but plan on watching it tonight on demand.

This is its first TV airing, but it has been shown on a very limited basis in some movie theaters. I know it debuted at Sundance and was shown to attendees, but the air date for HBO was set way after that screening.

I'm hoping this is the one that's going to paint a large, red Bulls-eye on these jokers. Go back and read some of the stuff they were doing in the 70's, like bugging and breaking into the IRS and other federal agencies to either copy or destroy govt documents and evidence that the Justice Dept and IRS had on them. (they only got busted after a sharp eyed secretary noticed that the copy machines seemed to be getting used a lot more than normal.) After reading about those escapades, I am likewise shocked that they still have their tax-free status as well.

 

[Inky29]

I always wanted to join and do an undercover expose on them but alas I couldn't leave my wife and daughter. Still I think it would make for a great story.

My favorite part of the documentary is when the leader spoke about LRH's death and how he jettisoned his body because he no longer needed it and is on a higher plain. Like it was a voluntary thing where he'd learned so much that he just decided it was time to pop out and move on.

For an organization that only has 50k active members apparently they sure do have a ton of money.

 

[shortbus]

Just saw a video of the great grandson on Upworthy.

Wow if true. Guess I'm gonna need to watch this documentary.
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[PTaxPoke]

The documentary is worth your time. However to truly appreciate the insanity read the book gone clear which the doc is based off of. It is incredibly well researched and the first 3rd is a biography of L Ron and showcases all of his nuttery. Really gives you a sense of how the "religion" came into being.
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[PTaxPoke]

The documentary is worth your time. However to truly appreciate the insanity read the book gone clear which the doc is based off of. It is incredibly well researched and the first 3rd is a biography of L Ron and showcases all of his nuttery. Really gives you a sense of how the "religion" came into being.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[KingKongGundy]

You think that's crazy - there's a bunch of people that think the earth is 6,000 years old, a baby was born to a chick who never had sex and then he walked across a lake.


Bill Burr on why he walked away from religion

 

[Been Jammin]

Originally posted by KingKongGundy:
You think that's crazy - there's a bunch of people that think the earth is 6,000 years old, a baby was born to a chick who never had sex and then he walked across a lake.


Bill Burr on why he walked away from religion

That's funny.

However, that is nothing compared to the scam that is the Church of Scientology. Watched the documentary last night. Such insanity.

 

[cornichon]

I watched it on Sunday night as well. I've always kind of been fascinated by Scientology and knew some of this stuff already, but the documentary was really interesting. Contained a bunch of stuff I had never heard before and even showed video from inside events and of Hubbard I had never seen. Very eye-opening. I wonder if this will result in any kind of concerted push for the IRS to revisit the group's tax-exempt status.

 

[hollywood]

cornichon,

I don't know how often you got over to the Hollywood and Sunset area, but I frequently was around there when I belonged to the Hollywood/Wilshire YMCA. For ***** and giggles, I actually went into a couple of the buildings, which I knew to be "fronts" for Scientology, like the "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Museum" which was on Sunset just a couple of blocks from the YMCA.

It was creepy as hell as all/most of the people just gave off this vibe of the "true believer" who couldn't seem to engage in actual conversation, but seemed programmed to just follow a script by rote memory. The weird thing was, they would deny that they had anything to with Scientology, they were just trying to set the record straight about how harmful Psychiatrist were. Inevitably, any of those fronts would always try to get your name and contact info and typically, if you walked around that area of Sunset Blvd. between La Brea and where the main Scientology "Church" is located about a mile East, you could expect to get approached a few times to see a star-studded movie or a "free" E Meter reading. I could only imagine what they would do if they got a name, address and phone number from you.

Of course L. Ron Hubbard's fear of psychiatrist may have had something to do with the fact that smack dab in the middle of WWII, while he claimed he was out winning a chest full of medals by battling the Japanese serving in the US Navy, he was actually strapped to a bed in the psych ward at Pearl Harbor.