• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Scientology facilties raided in Tenessee

Kthulhu said:
Rule of law? You can't throw the rules out the window just because someone's a scumbag.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know. I was hoping to get by without being too obvious. Oh well.

I was jokingly referring to the terrible state of US police, stereotyped by the seemingly-weekly threads on GAF where one (more often than not poor, and often black) guy gets royally screwed over by US Police (and usually then gets to watch them walk away from it all with a slap on the wrist, if that). You know, the stereotypical "bad apple".

So, in this one instance, having such a bad apple wait in front of the compound while his colleagues speed back and get the papers in order would have been damn nice. If there ever was a time and place for gray area policing, then situations like this one would be in the top 5. Knowing who was on-site and who entered or left after police had rescued that poor fella would certainly have been advantageous. So: "Why did they have to have only upstanding and sincere officers in that one crucial case, dammit."
 
Volimar said:
That's it? There had to be more people there than that. Does Canada not have accessory laws? Maybe more will come.
Click to expand...
I imagine this will go no where because, like the mafia and other criminal organizations, no one piece is bigger than the whole. Personal accountability along with a complex chain-of-command will make it hard to take out leadership.

The suspects will tell the courts that they planned and carried this out themselves; no one with any real decision-making authority will be touched. Its a damn shame.

They already have Leah Remini divulging all their secrets and what-not. Only way you're going to take down Scientology is flipping Tom Cruise, and I can't foresee a scenario in which he willing jumps ship from the cult that has taken care of him for so long.
 
Two Words said:
Uhh, you should look at some of the terrible shit people have done for their religion. Hell, the Catholic Church protected pedophile priests.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this. Scientologists do bad shit and are a shady group, but so much of the negativity towards them comes from it being a religion that's OK to bash on. (every religion should be!)

They do terrible shit (a la this) but compare Scientology with every other FAR older religion, and everyone has them beat. Genocides, crusades, colonialism, executions, prejudices..on and on. At least gay people can be Scientologists without having to worry too much.

Scientology, from what I understand, has about 10,000 members, if I've learnt anything from John Atack/the Louis Theroux Q and A I attended..!
 
dinoroar said:
Yeah, this. Scientologists do bad shit and are a shady group, but so much of the negativity towards them comes from it being a religion that's OK to bash on. (every religion should be!)

They do terrible shit (a la this) but compare Scientology with every other FAR older religion, and everyone has them beat. Genocides, crusades, colonialism, executions, prejudices..on and on. At least gay people can be Scientologists without having to worry too much.

Scientology, from what I understand, has about 10,000 members, if I've learnt anything from John Atack/the Louis Theroux Q and A I attended..!
Click to expand...

I think it's more of a Per Capita issue.

Being small and having this happen looks a lot worse than the transgressions of religious officials of a religion numbering hundreds of millions.
 
dinoroar said:
Yeah, this. Scientologists do bad shit and are a shady group, but so much of the negativity towards them comes from it being a religion that's OK to bash on. (every religion should be!)

They do terrible shit (a la this) but compare Scientology with every other FAR older religion, and everyone has them beat. Genocides, crusades, colonialism, executions, prejudices..on and on. At least gay people can be Scientologists without having to worry too much
Click to expand...

It's fair to take the relativist approach to this, but you might be veering into using it to silence criticism of Scientology. They're a cult that are designed to scam people out of money and hold their family members as bargaining chips for obedience.

Also, Scientologists do not recognise homosexuality, they see it as a perversion. So no. You absolutely cannot be gay in Scientology.
 
MadJackChurchill said:
It's fair to take the relativist approach to this, but you might be veering into using it to silence criticism of Scientology. They're a cult that are designed to scam people out of money and hold their family members as bargaining chips for obedience.

Also, Scientologists do not recognise homosexuality, they see it as a perversion. So no. You absolutely cannot be gay in Scientology.
Click to expand...

Thanks for coming back to me. You're absolutely right though, and I really wasn't trying to sound like a Scientology apologist. i took someone's comment as being representative of the gaf-wide opinion, that if you believe anything other than Scientology being worse than any other collective religion, you're laughably stupid.

It was absolutely built on scams and lies, but there are definitely people in there who are totally happy to be where they are. If they want to be there and it's their money to spend, is it so wrong if they still derive a sense of place/purpose from it? I'm not saying either way, it's just interesting.

My friend is Muslim and so is his mother. She's started going to a guy in England's house who is claiming to be a prophet, happily takes their money and lets her/others clean his house and generally take care of him. My friend finds it infuriating, like his mum is being had, while his dad is encouraging him to let her do her thing, since it makes her happy.

It's all so interesting to think/talk about. But yes, Scientology should not be allowed to continue to do things like this, just like anyone else in the world.
 
After so many god damn incidents like this, it's still shocking to me that Scientology is still allowed to exist. It's rotten to the core, absolutely disgusting.
 
This whole organization needs to be taken the fuck out by authorities. They're beyond fucking evil. If you didn't get to check it out I can't recommend Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. That series on A&E was beyond enlightening on how evil they were. Course anyone who's remotely looked into them should know how evil they are. Still though check that out.
 
Xe4 said:
After so many god damn incidents like this, it's still shocking to me that Scientology is still allowed to exist. It's rotten to the core, absolutely disgusting.
Click to expand...

Funny how Hollywood is so preachy about everything but don't seem to have much to say about this evil brainwashing cult in our midst.
 
Kud Dukan said:
GAF has a Scientology defense force? I would love to see how those discussions go.
Click to expand...

It's not really a Scientology defense force, it's people who are so virulently anti-religion that they can't recognize any relative differences between Christianity and Scientology in the year 2017.
 
Übermatik;235841353 said:
Horrific and everything, but...



Why the fuck would you LATER RETURN? STAY THERE, surely?
Click to expand...

Looks like they went to pursue proper warrants for a full investigation. I'm not a legal expert, but it's probably the way they have to do things to keep Scientology's lawyers from rendering most of what they would have found inadmissible as evidence, right?
 
Xe4 said:
After so many god damn incidents like this, it's still shocking to me that Scientology is still allowed to exist. It's rotten to the core, absolutely disgusting.
Click to expand...

First Amendment.

They should investigate the fuck out of anything criminal, but can't just outlaw a religion.

That said, I hope this is widely reported to discourage anyone from joining.
 
Amory said:
Anyone else read her book "Troublemaker"?

It's really good. She came up in the church from childhood, so she's not one of the BS celebrity members who don't have to go through all the shit everyone else does. It's a real, and terrifying, account of life in Scientology.
Click to expand...

No, but I listened to her Joe Rogan episode.
 
lastflowers said:
The-Master_Joaquin_Phoenix_Philip_Seymour_Hoffman.jpg
Click to expand...

This movie is only passable because it doesn't go far enough. South Park and the various documentaries had already shown the true fuckery behind the scenes.
 
PSqueak said:
Less of a scientology defense force and more of a religion hate boner.
Click to expand...

To be fair, not all of us with religion hate-boners will pull a "Sony Too!™" where scientology is concerned. I think what's detailed in this article is another heinous example of why scientology should be burned to the ground ASAP, and no amount of religious history in war and misogyny will change that. Then after that let's get rid of all christianity, islam, and buddhism as well.
 
Sho_Nuff82 said:
This movie is only passable because it doesn't go far enough. South Park and the various documentaries had already shown the true fuckery behind the scenes.
Click to expand...

This movie is amazing for a billion different reasons that have nothing to do with how well it captures scientology.
 
Chmpocalypse said:
It's not all that, and certainly isn't worth disregarding LGBT equality for the 10-minute pleasure of consuming it.

I'll let this go now since the thread isn't about that, but yeah. If you're willing to help fuck over LGBT people for a goddamn chicken sandwich, your priorities are a bit fucked.

On topic, Scientology is horrible. This isn't the first time members of that church have imprisoned people.
Click to expand...

Ny that logic we shouldn't buy most of our shoes, or iphones, or most of anything else. Ill keep eating it, because I like it. Not gonna feel guilty for buying something when everything I buy comes from somewhere were people are fucked over or the people at the top get paid. Not everything is a "defense force" its just people living.

I don't think anyone defends Scientology here.
 
I wonder what the new membership rate is for this trash cult. I don't mean monetary fee to sign up, rather the amount of new people joining. Better be diminishing.
 
Mister Saturn said:
To be fair, not all of us with religion hate-boners will pull a "Sony Too!™" where scientology is concerned. I think what's detailed in this article is another heinous example of why scientology should be burned to the ground ASAP, and no amount of religious history in war and misogyny will change that. Then after that let's get rid of all christianity, islam, and buddhism as well.
Click to expand...

Hey now. Buddhism is the least of our problems.

The rest can go though.

I hope this prompts some serious investigation into this cult. It should have been torn to pieces years ago.

Someone is going to find a Buddhist group that has killed a bunch of people and prove me wrong, aren't they?
 
That's terrifying to even think about! Being holed up in a place like that being force fed pills. I hope they catch all of them.
Imperfected said:
There are militant forms of Buddhism and even Buddhist doomsday cults, despite how self-contradictory the former might seem.
Click to expand...
Yeah that's definitely self-contradictory! I had no idea those things existed!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

The Furious | Red Band Trailer with heavy 'The Raid' vibes (Joe Taslim, Xie Miao & Yayan Ruhian)
6
222
SJRB replied
Focker-In-Law Trailer
16
296
Dirk Benedict replied
Handkerchief In 2026
24
621
jason10mm replied
In-Home Security Cameras
46
745
Unknown? replied
Stranger Things spinoff set in different decade in the works
38
813
efyu_lemonardo replied
Top Bottom