It’s definitely different from the BBC’s version, anyway. I watched the short clip first, then the whole programme - Sweeney doesn’t mention being a British subject in the full version.
I saw footage of the “subject”/“free speech” quote. It happened outdoors, whereas the outburst thing was indoors. It was a different conversation, where the Scientologist goes on about being offended by the talk of “cults” and everything regarding his religion, and then walks away. At one point the clam said the stuff about his faith was so offensive that if Sweeney repeated it again he cannot be responsible for his actions. So, he was threatening the reporter. Here it is:
Oh yes. Mind you, spamming is a lot easier to handle than people turning up at your door at all times of the day and night.
One of my cousins was temporarily involved with that hideous organisation, and I’m probably not an impartial commentator here, but I hope that the people in charge die horribly. That includes you, Mr Cruise and Mr Travolta you couple of financially-enabling fucks.
The impression I get is that the indoor clip with the outburst is a response to a line of questioning over his attitude in the funfair clip - he is presumably being accused of poor treatment of the guy with sunglasses, and responds angrily “You weren’t there at the start of that interview”. That’s the way I read it anyway.
The guy with the sunglasses struck me as one of the most sinister people I’ve ever seen. What’s the guy in the Matrix films? Yeah, him.
“The Power of Christ Compels You!” - why does the shouting guy remind me of that?
Anyway - I’d like to try that at work:
“I SAID THE APRIL REPORT, YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THE MAY REPORT - LISTEN TO ME… I SAID THE APRIL REPORT…”
Maybe not, I once got a very bad reaction from someone when I put a “DO NOT” in an e-mail.
Dude, have you ever read anything about Scientology?
Where the heck did that come from? I wasn’t commenting on Scientology. I was commenting on what I quoted: “Like all religions, it’s the output of a talented person who took a few too many drugs.”
I saw that documentary the other day and I have to say that I think it makes the Scientologists look far worse. Every time he tried to find info about Scientology, that Tom Cruise lookalike tried to come around and harass him using ad hominem attacks about his subjects and about the reporter himself. It’s pure character assassination and intimidation throughout. After he used the word “Cult” it was as if he was a mortal enemy. I seriously would love to know what the hell is up with this organization though.
This whole Xenu thing is obviously ridiculous, and a lot of people seem to deny it. But are they denying it simply for the sake of trying to appear less cooky? Or are they simply denying it because they consider it to be a bit that isn’t to be taken seriously. Who knows. It’s certainly part of their ideology.
I certainly will do my best to stop from supporting those guys from now on.
Because you leave out the rest:
wjhich makes it seem as if you’re chiding others for criticizing Scientology just because it’s a different religion. That may not have been your intent, but it certainly looks like what you meant. And Scientology is certainly not “just another religion”. read the link in Ponster’s post – they’re nasty bastards.
I’m telling you what I meant. The line I quoted equates all religions with scientology. Jesus, just look at it. Once again, with helpful emphasis:
“Like all religions, [Scientology is] the output of a talented person who took a few too many drugs.”
It was that writer, with one phrase painting all faithful with the same stripe as Scientologists, who was dehumanizing and taunting others [Christians, Jews, Hindus, Pagan. Muslims] over opinions and beliefs.
There’s notjhing futile about it – I understand. But you asked why you got that reaction, and I’m explaining. You reacted with exasperation to someone’s reaction to your post, and I’m telling you why – it looked as if you were defending Scientology, rather than as if you were criticizing the BBC writer. I understand perfectly, but sometimes things don’t look like what we intend.
The church did a whole thing with Rolling Stone Magazine. As I recall they acknowledged the Xenu thing, but their position was that it isn’t a “story”, it isn’t history, it’s an auditing level which is something you can’t possibly understand unless you have reached that level.
I only saw the last half of the programme, but I would agree with your comments - it would seem (of course this is only based on the presentation of the programme itself) that they were being frustrated in their access to the Org and its followers, but when they spoke to anyone else about them, Tommy would appear and get all angry and aggressive. It was almost as if he was trying to get a rise out of the reporter, and succeeded in the end.
Having said that, my impression of the outburst was half-believing that it was faked, because the reporter ranted and raved for a while, then switched seamlessly back to his normal “rational” voice for a few sentances, then ranted again - as if he felt that he needed to scream at these guys to get heard. Tommy would go off on his tirades (it seemed) whenever the questioning went anywhere vaguely uncomfortable.
For me the freakiest scene was when they were doing the celebrity interviews, and had to retreat to the bathroom to get a moments privacy (interviewer, cameraman and producer). Just as the interviewer was explaining that this was the only way they could get away from thier “hosts”, there was a knock on the door - Tommy, asking “Are you all right in there? Is this some kind of British thing, all three of you in the bathroom together? Can I help you with anything?” on and on is a faux-jovial voice.
For me the sad thing is that my step-mother-in-law and her daughter are both Scientologists, and the two nicest, most loving people I know. Just does not compute… 
Grim
Here’s a link to the Wikipedia article that perhaps may shed light on the situation.
This site has some examples of similar behavior. Clearwater is pretty much Scientology’s domain at this point.
I should also note that I’ve always been interested in cults, à la Jonestown or the Branch Davidians. Scientology, however, appears to be entirely unique in its continual, cynical exploitation and mafia tactics. It’s the world’s first sustainable cult.
From a blog:
ROFLMAO!
OK, I watched a repeat of the whole (well, I caught it from about five minutes in) documentary last night.
Of course we’re only seeing the side as edited by the BBC, but still, it looks as though this guy wanted to do a probing documentary on scientology and they (mostly by the action or direction of the sunglasses guy) harassed, threatened and obstructed him.
Couple of things:
-In the documentary, when the reporter is pursuing the sunglasses guy through the fairground, he doesn’t say the thing about freedom of speech in Britain - he attempts to continue his side of the discussion, saying something completely different - one of these pieces of footage - either the online clip or the broadcast documentary - must have been dubbed over with dialogue from another segment.
In the clip where he’s screaming/shouting, he intersperses it with a completely calm and composed question to the effect “Are you actually listening to me now”. It was very clear on the broadcast version that he shouted like this simply because the sunglasses guy kept interrupting him or cutting him off.
The sunglasses guy came across as really pissed off and beligerent - for example, the journalist was interviewing some other guy out in the street and the sunglasses guy rolled up with a dossier detailing some supposedly embarrassing personal details about the interviewee - he just butted in and completely hijacked the interview, making threats and being generally intimidating, and just talking loudly over the top of everyone else.
In the segment where they were interviewing some celeb scientologists, again, the sunglasses guy kept interrupting and talking over the top of the journalist, and wouldn’t let him address the camera - in frustration, the journalist and camera crew went to the rest room to try to take a few minutes calm to compose themselves, but were interrupted by the sunglasses guy banging on the door and calling through to them.
He also had the crew tailed everywhere on foot and when they were driving.
Taking the whole thing together, I think it might well be the case that the sunglasses guy was trying to engineer a punch-up, so that he could turn it into a lawsuit and publicity circus.