There is a process the people who leave the cult go through. They don’t fervently believe everything one day, and believe the opposite the next. Read a few books by ex-members and you’ll see the same pattern. It takes them a while to work all of this stuff out of their heads. The “reform” group is the “Freezoners” who continue to do Scientology without paying for it.
I just finished binging it.
In one of the later episodes they discussed the possibility of some sort of legal action against the church. They showed Remini and Rinder preparing to meet with some lawyers, but they of course couldn’t show the meeting. They then said that they couldn’t talk publicly about legal strategies, but that things were going to be happening.
It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, happens.
Yes. And Hubbard’s crazy shit is often largely borrowed from re-interpretations or paraphrases of things he learned in his disasterously failed military career. Things like “The Sea Org” itself, “knowledge reports” (think intelligence reports!), operation code names, and relentlessly shouting down people as a tactic to avoid unwanted questioning (like a drill seargent might do). On this last one there are youtube videos of Scientology leaders doing just this in TV debates. It’s a taught tactic, but looks childish and a bit demented IMHO.
According to a cover story in *Star *magazine, Leah is in talks with A&E about another season.
She could probably do 10 seasons and not even scratch the surface.
I’ve caught up with the series on the DVR, and in the “Ask Me Anything/Reddit” supplement episode, Leah talks about the “first season.” This episode was one of the most interesting, and mature discussions I’ve seen on cable TV in a long time.
Season 2 has started. The first episode is on Comcast On Demand. I’m not sure what day they air.
This episode is about something that I’ve strongly suspected has been going on given the nature of this “church” and the way it treats its members.
They interview two women who were sexualy abused as children and were told not to cause trouble when they reported it to church members.
If you “llke” Leah’s show, check out Louis Theroux’s My Scientology Movie. He looks at the church with his typically off-beat perspective with both humorous and not-so humorous results.
What more is there to reveal?
It seemed like season 1 covered most of the abuses of Scientology.
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Controlling people’s lives
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Draining away their money
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Trying to silence ex members
I know every ex Scientologist has their own unique story.
Is that enough to keep another season interesting? We’re going to hear pretty much the same abuses over and over again.
I guess it’s good to keep the heat on this cult.
It seems from the tone of the first 2 shows of Season 2, they are focusing now on the abuse of children and the whole notion within the church that children are just adults in little bodies.
I have enjoyed this show a lot, and I have also been somewhat fascinated with COS for a few years. Being raised strictly Southern Baptist, I embarked about 10 years ago on a mission to learn more about other religions. I started from a place of relative ignorance about Judaism, Catholic Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and various forms of Paganism, and I have to say the more I read on all of these, the made MORE sense.
Needless to say, Scientology made a whole lot less the more I read about it.
I can’t recall where I read this, but I came across someone’s theory that the reason Cruise and Travolta were early devotees was because Scientology claimed it could “cure” homosexuality, and these 2 guys, with careers on the rise in the 80s, didn’t want to or weren’t ready to embrace their own homosexuality. They were conflicted, the church claimed they could help them “rid” themselves of it. And of course it became a catch-22. Once they had been audited, the church could use that info against them, so they were trapped. Travolta seems to cope with it by keeping up a charade, and Cruise has just gone ball-to-the-wall pure stone mad. Cruise is obsessed with ramming how manly he is down our throats in the past few years. Every movie is all “look looky at me, I am so manly, doing manly thing in a manly way with all my manliness!!!”
Episode 2 was about depression and suicide. Psychology and psychiatry are forbidden in Sciencetology. Their treatment for depression seems to consist of telling them to buck up and telling other members to avoid them because they’re Debbie downers.
In other words, criticism and isolation. Predictably, this has resulted, more than once, in suicide.
The number of people who were long time members or top executives who they have harassed, the families they have broken up, the sheer quantity of nasty evil shit they have done is enough to keep the show running for years. I’ve studied them for a long time, and the surface has barely been scratched.
I remember last season that Leah pointed to a wall of books that she bought for Scientology courses. She remarked the courses cost her hundreds of thousands.
Haven’t Scientology members heard of sharing books? That’s how most of us got through college. You borrowed or bought a used textbook from a student ahead of you. Sometimes you got his lecture notes too. It’s one of the advantages to being in a fraternity or sorority.
If they know if you took the course, they’ll know if you purchased a book from them.
Yet, another indication they’re in it for the $$$$.
I guess they bundle the coursework and books together in Scientology. Maximizing their profits.
Colleges charge for the class and you buy the books separately.
In fairness to my own religion (Catholicism), excommunication just means one can’t receive the sacraments. The excommunicated person isn’t kicked out of the community. The Scientology version seems a bit sadistic.