*xenu saves*

[rjwhite]

Have any of you read the New Yorker piece about Paul Haggis and his dropping out of Scientology after 30+years?

It's very interesting reading and I was constantly struck by how bizarre it was to me that people could get into this and not find it strange at all.

Then, I started thinking about their cultivation (or, should I say- cult-ivation? HAR) of

Comments

[ludickid]

The work should always stand alone. You can and should take the person into account, but believing something stupid doesn't preclude someone from creating great art any more than believing something smart protects them from creating bad art. The work is what matters. If you had to vet every great artist based on their belief in ridiculous and/or offensive ideas, there'd be none left.

[rjwhite]

For some reason, though, the big S is the one where I just feel pity and take a dim view of the practitioner.

[aurienne]

I feel that way about Scientology too, though I know many other beliefs are just as new or take as much money, but there's something about "created by an SF writer", that even though I use a lot of Bablyon5 stuff to explain my beliefs, Scientology feels more "fake". I do see it as casting something over my view of the work itself - like watching an R movie on a Family channel - lots of commercial breaks and dubbed over lines or edited or cut scenes -- maybe the work would be stronger if the artist didn't have to put so much into Scientology. (And my perception of Scientology is that of a religion that takes rather than gives.)

Again, this is all my perception, not any absolute statements. I'm just echoing that I share your feelings, and the curiosity about the feelings too.

[tawdryjones]

A college friend was into Scientology and I tried my best to be supportive when none of our other friends were. They mocked and teased him for being into this nonsense and even though I believed it was pure (but still interesting) science fiction, I was the only one he could talk to intelligently about it. (I was the only one of our group who'd read Dianetics). I didn't like him any less for his strange obsession in Scientology. The sad part was when, two years later, he'd become disillusioned in it and became a slob, stopped working out, stopped showering regularly, started doing badly in classes, and just looked terrible. We used to call him Superman because he was broad-chested, muscly, had black hair and glasses, and was energetic in a child-like "save the world" way. Losing his religion, even a quack one, hit him hard

[rjwhite]

I'm just disappointed in Giovanni Ribisi for being a terrible, terrible actor.

[pookieman]

Be fair- there should have been many, many Oscars for the tearful scene with his father in The Boiler Room.

[rjwhite]

If you mean old men named Oscar pelting him with shoes from just off camera, then yes.

[007donuts]

people love fantasy, and believing in a religion/cult is having a role in your own personal sci-fi movie with plot holes. with actors/entertainers/media whores, it's like they never get to stop acting and/or feeling important. c'mon, it's ALIENS!! that is so neat!

[kevincostnerfan]

I tell you why it's weird. Most of these cults end up getting busted for all their molesting and creepy stuff, or they self destruct. But this one has gotten really good at keeping stuff under wraps. It's pretty obvious that there like in all cults, these people are engaged in child abuse and other horrible stuff.

The Catholics have had to pay a price for this recently. But in their defense, even though they believe that wine turns into the blood of their savior and then you drink the blood, but if you ask a Catholic about this, they will tell you all about it. You don't have to spend $400,000 to learn about communion.

Honestly, Orthodox Jews are probably even worse than scientologists as far as cults go, and a lot of them are living outside the law too(try parking in one of their neighborhoods in brooklyn). They even have a country (Israel) that uses people's tax dollars to subsidize their lunacy.

[pookieman]

Short answer: I think the art should speak for itself