This Thom Crooze debacle...

[Jim Alfredson]

This brings back unhappy memories of attampting to meet Chick after an RTF concert. I was working for a radio station in Phoenix at the time and station employees were invited to a meet and greet for Chick after the show. The catch-the meet and greet was at the Scientology church. When we got there it didn't take long to get very bad vibes.

The scientologists could care less that we were just there to say hello to Chick they told us in so many words to join up or get out. Needless to say we left and I never got to meet Chick and to be honest with you I view that as no great loss.

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Jim and I briefly met Chick and his wife in Florida; they were perfectly kind and friendly.

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I'm sure it would have been nice meeting Chick but the Scientology brownshirts never gave us the chance.

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Chick was very very nice and he and I had a nice discussion about the Hammond organ. Cool cat. I am glad he didn't start lecturing about Scientology, however.

[chris olivarez]

This brings back unhappy memories of attampting to meet Chick after an RTF concert. I was working for a radio station in Phoenix at the time and station employees were invited to a meet and greet for Chick after the show. The catch-the meet and greet was at the Scientology church. When we got there it didn't take long to get very bad vibes.

The scientologists could care less that we were just there to say hello to Chick they told us in so many words to join up or get out. Needless to say we left and I never got to meet Chick and to be honest with you I view that as no great loss.

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Jim and I briefly met Chick and his wife in Florida; they were perfectly kind and friendly.

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I'm sure it would have been nice meeting Chick but the Scientology brownshirts never gave us the chance.

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Chick was very very nice and he and I had a nice discussion about the Hammond organ. Cool cat. I am glad he didn't start lecturing about Scientology, however.

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Consider yourself lucky.

Edited June 30, 2005 by chris olivarez

[RonF]

Chick into scientology? Very depressing. Wish I didn't know.

[Chalupa]

Check out the poster for Cruise's "War of the Worlds"

and the cover of this L. Ron Hubbard book.

Weird.

[Kalo]

So Spielberg's into Scientology, too?

Or just surfing the wave of the future?

Depressing either way.

[Kalo]

It WILL be fun, though, seeing the right-wing Christians and the Scientologists fight it out in the next presidential election...

Assuming that the Mormons stay out of it. (Here in "Liberal" Massachusetts, in case you didn't know, we have a Mormon Governor! I often picture Henry Adams, among others, SPINNING in their GRAVES over this. Alnost makes it worthwhile...

Almost....)

[BruceW]

Check out the poster for Cruise's "War of the Worlds"

and the cover of this L. Ron Hubbard book.

Weird.

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So what is it that everyone is "trying to say" but won't say it???

[Jazzmoose]

So what is it that everyone is "trying to say" but won't say it???

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"They're here already! You're next! You're next, You're next... "

[jazzbo]

I don't bellieve the director is into Scientology, but as an article that 7/4 linked to earlier in the thread indicates, Hubbard may well have been influenced (wittingly/unwittingly?) by Wells and the War of the Worlds itself in concocting his "methodology."

[Kalo]

Gotta wonder where they dug up these "readers"...

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I'm curious about that myself, Moose.

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A friend of mine had this observation about the Modern Library "readers" poll:

"The prevalence of Ayn Rand and Scientology books makes me think that the methodology for compiling the readers' list was open to a measure of ballot box stuffing. Both those crowds (do they cross over? seems like they ought to) are the types who would sit at their computers all night pushing "Send" on a ballot e-mail."

Sounds plausible to me. Still, for over 20 years, the book I have most frequently seen people (almost always women) reading on the Boston subway is Atlas Shrugged. Last sighting was only a month or so ago, and I've spotted other Rand titles, too. The Bible is a very distant second.

Edited July 1, 2005 by Kalo

[Michael Fitzgerald]

I think Atlas Shrugged is a pretty good book - but if so many people are reading it I can't see the effect on the world. Unless they're all practicing how to be the bad guys instead of the heroes. Maybe all the women are fantasizing about running railroads. Maybe that's why they read it on the subway.

Mike

[Epithet]

Still, for over 20 years, the book I have most frequently seen people (almost always women) reading on the Boston subway is Atlas Shrugged.

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A = fucking A, man.

Danielle Steel ain't all that in Boston, huh?

[Big Wheel]

Still, for over 20 years, the book I have most frequently seen people (almost always women) reading on the Boston subway is Atlas Shrugged.

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A = fucking A, man.

Danielle Steel ain't all that in Boston, huh?

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Of course not. Why would you bother to dig into someone else's fantasy when you have so many strapping, hot young men like me up here?

[Chalupa]

July 1, 2005

War of Words

By BROOKE SHIELDS

London

I WAS hoping it wouldn't come to this, but after Tom Cruise's interview with Matt Lauer on the NBC show "Today" last week, I feel compelled to speak not just for myself but also for the hundreds of thousands of women who have suffered from postpartum depression. While Mr. Cruise says that Mr. Lauer and I do not "understand the history of psychiatry," I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression.

Postpartum depression is caused by the hormonal shifts that occur after childbirth. During pregnancy, a woman's level of estrogen and progesterone greatly increases; then, in the first 24 hours after childbirth, the amount of these hormones rapidly drops to normal, nonpregnant levels. This change in hormone levels can lead to reactions that range from restlessness and irritability to feelings of sadness and hopelessness.

I never thought I would have postpartum depression. After two years of trying to conceive and several attempts at in vitro fertilization, I thought I would be overjoyed when my daughter, Rowan Francis, was born in the spring of 2003. But instead I felt completely overwhelmed. This baby was a stranger to me. I didn't know what to do with her. I didn't feel at all joyful. I attributed feelings of doom to simple fatigue and figured that they would eventually go away. But they didn't; in fact, they got worse.

I couldn't bear the sound of Rowan crying, and I dreaded the moments my husband would bring her to me. I wanted her to disappear. I wanted to disappear. At my lowest points, I thought of swallowing a bottle of pills or jumping out the window of my apartment.

I couldn't believe it when my doctor told me that I was suffering from postpartum depression and gave me a prescription for the antidepressant Paxil. I wasn't thrilled to be taking drugs. In fact, I prematurely stopped taking them and had a relapse that almost led me to drive my car into a wall with Rowan in the backseat. But the drugs, along with weekly therapy sessions, are what saved me - and my family.

Since writing about my experiences with the disease, I have been approached by many women who have told me their stories and thanked me for opening up about a topic that is often not discussed because of fear, shame or lack of support and information. Experts estimate that one in 10 women suffer, usually in silence, with this treatable disease. We are living in an era of so-called family values, yet because almost all of the postnatal focus is on the baby, mothers are overlooked and left behind to endure what can be very dark times.

And comments like those made by Tom Cruise are a disservice to mothers everywhere. To suggest that I was wrong to take drugs to deal with my depression, and that instead I should have taken vitamins and exercised shows an utter lack of understanding about postpartum depression and childbirth in general.

If any good can come of Mr. Cruise's ridiculous rant, let's hope that it gives much-needed attention to a serious disease. Perhaps now is the time to call on doctors, particularly obstetricians and pediatricians, to screen for postpartum depression. After all, during the first three months after childbirth, you see a pediatrician at least three times. While pediatricians are trained to take care of children, it would make sense for them to talk with new mothers, ask questions and inform them of the symptoms and treatment should they show signs of postpartum depression.

In a strange way, it was comforting to me when my obstetrician told me that my feelings of extreme despair and my suicidal thoughts were directly tied to a biochemical shift in my body. Once we admit that postpartum is a serious medical condition, then the treatment becomes more available and socially acceptable. With a doctor's care, I have since tapered off the medication, but without it, I wouldn't have become the loving parent I am today.

So, there you have it. It's not the history of psychiatry, but it is my history, personal and real.

Brooke Shields, the author of "Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression," isstarring in the musical "Chicago" in London.

[ghost of miles]

I think Atlas Shrugged is a pretty good book - but if so many people are reading it I can't see the effect on the world. Unless they're all practicing how to be the bad guys instead of the heroes. Maybe all the women are fantasizing about running railroads. Maybe that's why they read it on the subway.

Mike

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Budd Schulberg was horrified to find out that modern-day readers study WHAT MAKES SAMMY RUN? as a "how-to" book for succeeding in Hollywood.

Edited July 1, 2005 by ghost of miles

[Bright Moments]

brooke's response is terrific!

[7/4]

Earlier this morning I read the four part article on Scientology on Salon.com. Pretty interesting stuff. Pretty wacky stuff - not just the aliens, but their stance on medicine is pretty scary.

[chandra]

Brook Shields: "So, there you have it. It's not the history of psychiatry, but it is my history, personal and real"

Right on!

[chandra]

Earlier this morning I read the four part article on Scientology on Salon.com. Pretty interesting stuff. Pretty wacky stuff - not just the aliens, but their stance on medicine is pretty scary.

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L. Ron Hubbard's autopsy showed that he was taking a psychotropic drug at the time of his death.

[ghost of miles]

Earlier this morning I read the four part article on Scientology on Salon.com. Pretty interesting stuff. Pretty wacky stuff - not just the aliens, but their stance on medicine is pretty scary.

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L. Ron Hubbard's autopsy showed that he was taking a psychotropic drug at the time of his death.

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Heretic!

You'll probably get sued for saying that if any Scientologist happens to read this thread.

[Jazzmoose]

brooke's response is terrific!

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Amen! As one of the millions of Americans who has benefited from these "bogus drugs" and this "discredited science", I'm proud of her for making a public stand on this jackasses comments.

And no, I never thought I'd say I was proud of Brooke Shields...

[Quincy]

And no, I never thought I'd say I was proud of Brooke Shields...

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I never pictured that happening all those years ago while watching Blue Lagoon.

Me thinks she paid attention in them there classes at Princeton.

And in all seriousness it is a serious problem. More power to her for trying to help and for standing up to that little dork Cruise.

[chris olivarez]

And no, I never thought I'd say I was proud of Brooke Shields...

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I never pictured that happening all those years ago while watching Blue Lagoon.

Me thinks she paid attention in them there classes at Princeton.

And in all seriousness it is a serious problem. More power to her for trying to help and for standing up to that little dork Cruise.

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Right on!!!! Good for Brooke and fuck Tom Cruise-fuck that pompous Jackass!!!!!

[Guy Berger]

The Onion had a wickedly clever parody of scientology a while back. It's behind their subscriber firewall now, but I found a link.

LOS ANGELES�According to a report released Monday by the American Institute of Religions, the Church of Scientology, once one of the fastest-growing religious organizations in the U.S., is steadily losing members to the much newer religion Fictionology.

[image Above: The paperback that has already sold two million copies. Imaginetics: The New Pipe-Dream of Modern Mental Make-Believe]

"Unlike Scientology, which is based on empirically verifiable scientific tenets, Fictionology's central principles are essentially fairy tales with no connection to reality," the AIR report read. "In short, Fictionology offers its followers a mythical belief system free from the cumbersome scientific method to which Scientology is hidebound."

Created in 2003 by self-proclaimed messiah Bud Don Ellroy, Fictionology's principles were first outlined in the self-help paperback Imaginetics: The New Pipe-Dream Of Modern Mental Make-Believe.

Fictionology's central belief, that any imaginary construct can be incorporated into the church's ever-growing set of official doctrines, continues to gain popularity. Believers in Santa Claus, his elves, or the Tooth Fairy are permitted�even encouraged�to view them as deities. Even corporate mascots like the Kool-Aid Man are valid objects of Fictionological worship.

"My personal savior is Batman," said Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Greg Jurgenson. "My wife chooses to follow the teachings of the Gilmore Girls. Of course, we are still beginners. Some advanced-level Fictionologists have total knowledge of every lifetime they have ever lived for the last 80 trillion years."

"Sure, it's total bullshit," Jurgenson added. "But that's Fictionology. Praise Batman!"

While the Church of Fictionology acknowledges that its purported worldwide membership of 450 billion is an invented number, the AIR report estimates that as many as 70 percent of the church's followers are former Scientologists.

Church of Scientology public-relations spokesman Al Kurz said he was "shocked" when he learned that Fictionology is approaching the popularity of his religion.

[image Above: A recent Fictionology rally in Clearwater, FL.]

"Scientology is rooted in strict scientific principles, such as the measurement of engrams in the brain by the E-Meter," Kurz said. "Scientology uses strictly scientific methodologies to undo the damage done 75 million years ago by the Galactic Confederation's evil warlord Xenu�we offer our preclear followers procedures to erase overts in the reactive mind. Conversely, Fictionology is essentially just a bunch of make-believe nonsense."

Hollywood actor David McSavage, who converted to Fictionology last year, attempted to explain.

"Scientology can only offer data, such as how an Operating Thetan can control matter, energy, space, and time with pure thought alone," McSavage said. "But truly spiritual people don't care about data, especially those seeking an escape from very real physical, mental, or emotional problems."

McSavage added, "As a Fictionologist, I live in a world of pretend. It's liberating."

A tax-exempt organization, the Church of Fictionology stands poised to become a great moneymaking power if it continues to grow at its current rate�a situation Kurz called "outrageous."

"In recruiting new members, Fictionology preys on the gullible with fanciful stories and simple-minded solutions," Kurz said. "Fictionology is depriving legitimate churches of the revenue they need to carry out charitable works worldwide�important charitable works like clearing the planet of body-thetan implants."

[7/4]

Thanks Guy.

Dig this one. It's real.