# BBC reporter explodes at Scientologist **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180 "2007-05-15T14:29:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/1 "2007-05-15T14:29:47Z")
[Link](http://thezeroboss.com/2007/05/13/video-bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologists/) This is just too funny for words ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/2 "2007-05-15T15:34:49Z")
From the link: > [@](#): > > Like all religions, it’s the output of a talented person who took a few too many drugs. Karl Marx’s opium, I reckon. That’s why there will never be peace. We dehumanize and taunt one another over opinions and beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/3 "2007-05-15T15:43:34Z")
I saw that documentary last night, and he did undermine his credibility just a tad with that crazy red-faced rant. Slightly alarmed to learn from that and other reports that the Church of Scientology seems to have the City of London\* police and administration in its pocket :eek: . Just how powerful are they, anyway? I got the impression they were on the wane, with seemingly more public ridicule from sources such as that most excellent episode of _South Park_, and other mocking coverage I have seen from MSNBC. - City of London = the financial district, basically, not the whole of Greater London ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/4 "2007-05-15T18:48:58Z")
WTF? That was just bizarre. Does that reporter have a reputation for having a short fuse? I wonder what preceded the clip to make him blow up like that. I had the sense that maybe he’d tried being reasonable with whoever he was talking to over and over again, but was getting nowhere, and then just lost it in frustration. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/5 "2007-05-15T18:50:32Z")
Wow, you’d think if anybody could deal with a volcanic personality it would be a Scientologist. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/6 "2007-05-15T19:08:01Z")
My God, He’s full of Thetans. ---
**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/7 "2007-05-15T19:14:18Z")
The inside story [here](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/6651231.stm) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/8 "2007-05-16T00:22:01Z")
[QUOTE=Ponster] The inside story [here](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/6651231.stm) [/QUOTE] That is a great article. They make me almost regret the 1st Amendment. I like this part: > [@](#): > > Scientology is a pay-as-you-go religion - which is one of the reasons why the Charity Commission in Britain does not class it as a religion. I wish we could make that distinction. I would be very disappointed if I put out $100,000 to learn the big secret only to find out that I could have learned the same thing from South Park. This part really pissed me off: > [@](#): > > Take “Rosemary”, who is an ordinary mum and lives in England. She had two children and one died. Her surviving daughter was also her best friend. Then her daughter joined Scientology and her mother saw less and less of her. > > Almost two years ago she received a “disconnect” - a letter cutting her mother out of her life totally. > > Rosemary received no Christmas cards, no birthday cards, no Mother’s Day cards. > > Rosemary said Scientology was a cult. It was one of the most moving and shocking interviews I have ever done. > > Out of the blue, three hours after we left, her daughter came round for the first time in almost two years seeking a reconciliation. The next day she begged her mum not to use the interview. So we won’t. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/9 "2007-05-16T01:23:46Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Link This is just too funny for words [/QUOTE] Why not cut and paste a few bits too, instead of just a link? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/10 "2007-05-16T02:23:04Z")
> [@](#): > > They make me almost regret the 1st Amendment. The first amendment doesn’t keep the US Internal Revenue Service from deciding whether something is or isn’t a religion for tax purposes. I don’t remember all of the things that a group must do to qualify, but Jesus and his Disciples wouldn’t have qualified. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/11 "2007-05-16T06:27:59Z")
It seems pretty clear to me that the reporter exploded after being pushed ridiculously hard to it by harrassment by the Scientologists on whom he was reporting. The release of this segment by the Scientologists who filmed it is pure defamation, nothing more. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/12 "2007-05-16T06:38:23Z")
I don’t know about that; it seems the other way around to me. Look at the reporter [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HGM8DSnYh0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjodimelancholy%2Elivejournal%2Ecom%2F554230%2Ehtml), trying to get a rise out of the Scientologist. The guy doesn’t take the bait and peacefully walks away, so the reporter follows after him, with “I’m a British subject, not an American citizen, and in my country, we have freedom of speech.” Hoo-kay, freedom of speech means the right to get up in unwilling listeners’ faces and harass and insult them, does it? It’s an odd day when I end up feeling sympathy for Scientologists over the BBC, but that’s how it goes sometimes… (Man, I just watched it again. God, that reporter comes off as smug and arrogant…) ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/13 "2007-05-16T06:50:19Z")
Post deleted on account of mounting oddness. I’m going to have to sit down and figure out what’s what. Apparently, the YouTube link I posted before may or may not have been doctored footage from the Scientologists. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/14 "2007-05-16T06:52:10Z")
[QUOTE=Yllaria] The first amendment doesn’t keep the US Internal Revenue Service from deciding whether something is or isn’t a religion for tax purposes. I don’t remember all of the things that a group must do to qualify, but Jesus and his Disciples wouldn’t have qualified. [/QUOTE] Actually, they would have. Or that is what my Bro, the “Enrolled to Practice before the IRS” tax expert, sez. ---
**Author:** ![Intravenus\_De\_Milo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Intravenus\_De\_Milo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intravenus_De_Milo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/15 "2007-05-16T06:55:37Z")
From the article: > [@](#): > > Scientologists want “the global obliteration” of psychiatrists, who they say were to blame for the rise of Nazi Germany. > > To prove their point, they showed me hideous images of people having needles stuffed in their eyeballs No no no, that was just the sicko in _Un Chien Andalou_. Geez people, get it right. “Hollywood cult”, indeed 😉 I’m as big a fan of the 1st Amendment as anyone else, but I draw the line at supporting an orginization as calculated and exploitative as the Scientologists. The horror stories from ex-members point to an outfit keen on attracting those who are most easily manipulated and lowest in self-esteem, and is none too fond of ANYONE - public or private - calling them out on their practices. People who deny the existence of such things as schizophrenia, post-partum depression, and even AIDS don’t deserve any more respect from me than Holocaust deniers. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/16 "2007-05-16T08:23:55Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] Post deleted on account of mounting oddness. I’m going to have to sit down and figure out what’s what. Apparently, the YouTube link I posted before may or may not have been doctored footage from the Scientologists. [/QUOTE] More importantly, you missed what the BBC reporter was saying. He was saying that the people he had previously interviewed had a right to make the claims they made, and he had a right to report on them – hence, Tommy should respond to the claims, not shout at the reporter for asking them about it. As a sidenote, BBC reporters are notable for grilling interviewees – it’s simply their technique. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/17 "2007-05-16T10:00:31Z")
[Here](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/default.stm) is a link to the entire documentary. I don’t know if this will work outside the UK, but a UK proxy is easy to find. It’s all over the torrent sites too (probably seeded by the BBC themselves). ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/18 "2007-05-16T10:15:49Z")
To be honest, this is a programme that is typical of the decline of Panorama. It is very _flashy_ and _now_ and _relevant_ - the BBC learning from “The Day Today”, but not in a good way. At least they have picked a worthy target in that bunch of brainwashing cunts. [struan.idiotwind@googlemail.com](mailto:struan.idiotwind@googlemail.com) , by the way, for the usual load of hostile spam that I won’t read and drearily seems to happen after every mention of the bunch of cocknockers that is the Church of Scientology. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/19 "2007-05-16T10:27:14Z")
I heard a soundbite of that guy screaming played completely out of context on Steve Wright’s show yesterday - I think he’s just using it as an amusing item in his cart wall - at least I know where it came from now. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180/20 "2007-05-16T10:30:21Z")
Seriously? You get spammed for mentioning Scientology? After watching the whole programme, I’d have found it hard not to explode, too. The whole thing was completely sinister. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-reporter-explodes-at-scientologist/404180.md?page=2)