Acculturated: In her best-selling book about escaping Scientology, actress Leah Remini revealed the question she is most often asked since departing the cult: “‘How does someone like you get involved with an organization like Scientology?’ Or some people may phrase it more like ‘How the f— did you get into some crazy sh– like this?’”
She tells readers, “Scientology offers a clearly laid out scientific process that helps you overcome your limitations and realize your full potential for greatness.” How does one get drawn into such a group? What’s the sell? She explains: “You walk into a Scientology church… They offer you food, listening to what you have to say. Maybe you talk about how your parents are not supportive of your endeavors, and they respond, ‘Wow, that is not cool. You can achieve your goals in life’….You feel vindicated. This person understands me. He or she is my ally. This group believes in me. In the real world you may feel like you are nothing, but here you are treated with respect.”
The tales of how seemingly intelligent and strong men and women become involved in cults and abusive organizations are all remarkable in their similarity. It’s the same reason why people become involved in relationships with individuals unworthy of their time, love and attention. They provide something that is otherwise missing in these individuals’ lives.
The New York Times broke a scintillating story this week about a cult in New York that managed to draw in powerful and successful women and even went so far as to brand them. You read that right. MORE
Nah, it’s plain old weak minded fools.
Some people have a really big void to fill, I guess. And others can only function with lots of drama in their lives.
I really don’t understand that.
And it pains to see
you look at me in that
most unpleasant way, sir
meth much?
The first question to ask is “Where is L. Ron Hubbard”?
Other than the fact L. Ron Hubbard who founded the Church of Scientology was a lousy hack science fiction and pulp fiction author it has absolutely nothing going for it. Even Philip K. Dick wrote better sci fi than Hubbard did and his stuff is atrocious for the most part. I tried reading Battle Field Earth once and it’s the only book sci fi or otherwise I gave up on even before I finished the first page, it was absolute crap.
geoff – Have you seen Battlefield Earth the movie with John Travolta? omg, wear a tarp because you’ll be spewing food and drink from laughing.
She’s got that Dylan Roof, Adam Lanza, Jared Lee Loughner look in her eyes
It’s not an answer, but there seems to be the common factor of achieving perfection or that man is perfectible. It’s hard to imagine a person so admittedly messed up, thinking — that of all people — they are capable of being perfect. It seems that even after they suspect the new path isn’t working, they don’t want to be humiliated by admitting they were merely making a human mistake. What’s behind this, then? A colossal ego?
MJA, no thanks if I want to watch movies with lots of spewing food and barfing scenes I’ll watch the barforama with Lard Ass AKA David Hogan from Stand by Me, Mr. Creosote from Monty Pythons The Meaning of Life or the scene from The Sandlot with the kids getting sick on the Tilt A Whirl after chewing on chewing tobacco.
I agree with Davy: look at her eyes, the lights are on. there is no light ant the end of that tunnel.
When my son was about 8, he learned sage advice from John Wayne: “Life is tough, it’s tougher if you’re stupid.”
My son would respond, “so don’t be stupid, right Dad?”, and I would wink or give him an ‘atta boy’. Good advice can be real simple.
And my personal favorite was Theater of Blood from 1973 with Vincent Price when he killed Robert Morley who was a food critic who Price put to death eating a pureed poodle thru a food funnel. It was gross but still funny as hell. Hey, what can I say I loved Vincent Price movies, when he played The Saint on old time radio and when he used to used to host Masterpiece Mysteries on PBS.
no … it’s because we are now raised, from early childhood, that we are all special snowflake purple penguins, or something …. & when life sucks, as it does the majority of time, we are all mentally crushed & taught to run to a ‘safe space’ & curl up into a fetal ball, suck our thumbs & be ‘comforted’ by anyone who is offering to be ‘mommy’
yeah, you’re special, just like everyone else …. buck up, you little bastards
I suspect that Remini is actually a lot closer to the truth then people admit. We all want validation, we all want to be taken seriously and to be listened to and to be made to feel as if our opinions count. If someone is skilled enough in manipulating people and their feelings it strikes me that it would be damned easy to gather in those that have those things missing from their lives. After reading to Times story my question is why the leaders of these cults and their assistants don’t end up far more frequently as victims of a mugging gone wrong.
….You feel vindicated. This person understands me. He or she is my ally. This group believes in me. In the real world you may feel like you are nothing, but here you are treated with respect.”
AKA being part of something, AKA herd mentality being played by psychological manipulators.
I love that you used Laina’s picture for this post, and had to find her again. LOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh0AhrY9GjA
I went to a Scientology meeting in San Francisco, 1971.
The guy I went with told me the manipulators, my name for them, told him I wasn’t welcome back.
Yeah, my personality hasn’t changed much over the years.
I read the article thinking I might understand why people become Democrats. STILL don’t get it.
I’ve watched all of these shows on Scientology. The mindset, the manipulation is dead on Leftism we see today in America. The group called Sea Org makes children sign billion year contracts. Total brainwash here.