Anderson Cooper on Scientology

[archibaldcrane]

He is a the head of a sovereign city state... what do you want? The UN to hold some bullshit trial that no one gives a shit about?

Well, in an ideal world, the guy who allows countless child molestations to occur under his watch should probably get ousted from, ya know, being the leader of a major religion by its members, regardless of criminal proceedings or the lack thereof.

I mean, if you can still be Pope after that stuff comes out, what crime can you commit that would get you removed?

[archibaldcrane]

Because Miscavige is a small-time Bernie Madoff

So why is shining light on his crimes a bad thing again?

Ksandra isn't exactly "Guy Fawkes Mask raging" in this thread - you seem to be imagining things.

[oldoldman]

Because Miscavige is a small-time Bernie Madoff and it's incredibly hypocritical for a Catholic to get in a guy fawkes mask frenzy about it while her pope is gonna get off scott-free for covering up decades of child molestation, not to mention the whole no condoms in africa bullshit etc.

Ksandra already responded to that. Get the fuck over it.

[Beckwin]

I happen to think it's funny Ksandra thinks she's addressing the cover-up problem by being so sure that her parish hasn't had any involvement.

Pointing out Miscavige being a douchenozzle is fine but we should be simultaneously looking at the bigger douchenozzles doing worse shit on a wider scale instead of resorting to lazy 4chan brands of faux religious outrage, because that shit is boring.

what should we be saying in this topic? "oh man scientology is such bullshit man, it's all a scam" "tom cruise is a nutjob! lol"

[archibaldcrane]

what should we be saying in this topic? "oh man scientology is such bullshit man, it's all a scam" "tom cruise is a nutjob! lol"

What makes this interesting isn't (for me) so much that "Scientology is bad, look how bad it is" - it's more that a major news organization is spending a whole week doing an expose about a notoriously media savvy and litigious "religion". Lesser reporters have been buried for similar attempts.

But then again we don't have any idea what people would be saying in this thread since you so successfully immediately derailed it into some bullshit.

[oldoldman]

I happen to think it's funny Ksandra thinks she's addressing the cover-up problem by being so sure that her parish hasn't had any involvement.

Pointing out Miscavige being a douchenozzle is fine but we should be simultaneously looking at the bigger douchenozzles doing worse shit on a wider scale instead of resorting to lazy 4chan brands of faux religious outrage, because that shit is boring.

what should we be saying in this topic? "oh man scientology is such bullshit man, it's all a scam" "tom cruise is a nutjob! lol"

Would be a whole lot better than your smoke and mirrors bullshit.

[Beckwin]

What makes this interesting isn't (for me) so much that "Scientology is bad, look how bad it is" - it's more that a major news organization is spending a whole week doing an expose about a notoriously media savvy and litigious "religion". Lesser reporters have been buried for similar attempts.

But then again we don't have any idea what people would be saying in this thread since you so successfully immediately derailed it into some bullshit.

media outlets pretty regularly do specials on cults and fringe wackos. WBC, Jesus Camps, polygamists, jihadists, christian militias, etc. if anything this is a step back, sniping an easy target because some yuppies are losing cash.

[archibaldcrane]

media outlets pretty regularly do specials on cults and fringe wackos. WBC, Jesus Camps, polygamists, jihadists, christian militias, etc. if anything this is a step back, sniping an easy target because some yuppies are losing cash.

You're an idiot. Scientology actively works to prevent and get fired journalists who criticize them.

Lumping them in with Jesus Camps and polygamists as far as the ease and danger of running an expose shows you are either trolling or you don't know what the fuck.

[Beckwin]

Danger? what, that a reporter might get fired?

Danger is South American Catholics worth a damn (i.e. not pedophiles and they preach liberation theology/social justice) get taken out by death squads funded by American evangelicals.

[Beckwin]

Danger is reporters being imprisoned by Islamic states.

[archibaldcrane]

Danger? what, that a reporter might get fired?

Sure, as an example yes.

I doubt you're completely oblivious to the tactics they use to silence critics.

Spoiler: show

Top Scientology harassment techniques:

Phone the critic's parents or family members
Stage a picket outside the critic's home
Contact the critic's employer and attempt to get them fired
Contact the critic's ISP and attempt to get their account shut down
Kill the critic's pets, or leave dead animals on their doorstep
Spread libellous leaflets around the critic's neighbourhood
Sue the critic
(if the critic is an ex-Scientologist) reveal infomation from the critic's confidential confessional folders
DA the critic (see previous post for some of the more common DA libels used)
Investigate the critic
Support the enemies of the critic (if, for example, the critic is involved in a messy divorce, support their spouse)
Dig up dirt on the critic using spies
Infiltrate a person close to the critic to report on them
Frame the critic

For what you can do in America, by the standards of "dangerous religions in America", yes, danger.

[Beckwin]

so basically shit that 4chan does to troll people irl, still bad (esp the pet thing) but not what I'd call dangerous reporting.

that or a Saudi prison.... hmmm

[quannum]

that's quite a stretch archi, to try and put that shit on the same level

[archibaldcrane]

that's quite a stretch archi, to try and put that shit on the same level

I'm not placing death squads and lawsuits on the same level dumbass.

Of all the religious organizations in America, Scientology is the riskiest one to "run an expose" on, despite the relatively miniscule number of people practicing it. If you find that to be insignificant, that's great...it doesn't make it not true.

[Beckwin]

This is dangerous reporting:

A Mississauga journalist was left bruised and beaten by attackers earlier this week, an incident he says was reaction to his criticism of a Pakistani cleric.
Jawaad Faizi said three men smashed the window of his car as he was parking in front of his editor's house Tuesday and began beating him with a bat.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/sto...#ixzz0jyJTEQ5t

Gunman kills Dutch film director

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...203_apcopy.jpg Van Gogh directed TV series and wrote newspaper columns

Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh, who made a controversial film about Islamic culture, has been stabbed and shot dead in Amsterdam, Dutch police say. Police arrested a man in a nearby park after an exchange of gunfire. The man, aged 26, had joint Dutch and Moroccan nationality, they said.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3974179.stm

[archibaldcrane]

When you hold up anything to death squads and torture it's going to pale in comparison.

Why would we ever criticize anything that isn't as bad as those ever?

Who cares about death squads guize? Have you ever heard of a thing I like to call the Holocaust?

[Beckwin]

right archi, so instead let's just focus all our relgion-related outrage on a fairly insignificant pyramid scheme that has a little hollywood following.

life's much easier that way, I'll give you that much.

[archibaldcrane]

right archi, so instead let's just focus all our relgion-related outrage on a fairly insignificant pyramid scheme that has a little hollywood following.

life's much easier that way, I'll give you that much.

Do you honestly think that people being upset with Scientology detracts from people being upset with other religions?

Do you think that if Scientology never existed, Ksandra would be more critical of the pope or something?

Recognizing how fucked-up Scientology is doesn't make me any less pissed off that the Vatican advocates not using condoms in Africa.

[Beckwin]

in say, ksandra's case or countless other internet-based critics of scientology, it's simply easy pickings while ignoring the bigger, more tangible problems out there. it's lazy and it's stupid and in many cases (esp ksandra) hypocritical. if scientology never existed, no, she wouldn't be more critical of the pope- that's the problem here.

I understand you've got some legit criticisms of other religion-based injustices, but I am taking some issue with how you've tried to equivocate scientology on similar grounds.

[Jaybar]

LETS STOP POSTING NEWS STUFF BECAUSE THERE ARE WORSE NEWS STORIES WE SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT GUYS.

Did you know there's a war in the Middle East?