S01.E07: Enemies Of The Church

[Sew Sumi]

Hugs to you as well, TheGreenWave. I also suffer from panic attacks (just had one a couple of hours ago, as a matter of fact). I'm lucky that my job is on academic break at the moment. For me, they come in waves; I can have several a week, or none for six months. It's so random, which is why I feel for Brandon if he was following $ci doctrine and not taking his meds. Even with them, it doesn't guarantee eradication of symptoms. <3

[ketose]

On 1/12/2017 at 2:10 PM, Chaos Theory said:

My guess (and this is just a guess) is they do a lot of recruitment on college campuses where alot of people are particularly vulnerable.  Many are away from home for the first time in their lives.  Many are facing increasingly difficult challenges.  Many probably do get caught up in the false promises of changing the world.  

It's where I plan to go when I start my own cult to find Vic...followers.

This reminds me of the Cult Awareness Network story. Back when I was in college, CAN came and did a talk about how there were various cults that liked to target kids away from home for the first time. I found out years later that they were taken down by, you guessed it, Scientology. They were able to bury CAN in lawsuits until they declared bankruptcy. Then, COS bought the name "Cult Awareness Network" to make people aware that cults were not a bad thing (for business).

[applecrisp]

On 1/11/2017 at 11:49 AM, geekgirl921 said:

There is a case that has been covered a couple of times on the ID channel where the family were devoted Scientologists especially the mother. It turns out their the son was a paranoid schizophrenic (only diagnosed after an involuntary psych hold) he was only ever treated with vitamins and things like that as prescribed by the church and he ended up murdering his mother. Scientology is directly responsible for her death. Unfortunately, the father and daughter of the family were only concerned that the church not look bad.

Sadly, the tax exemption stuff, besides saving them a billion dollars, gives them a sheen of respectability.

You don't have to be appealing your sentence to have a felony reduced to a misdemeanor; there are certain charges where after you do a certain amount of community service for example you can have felony reduced. Once it is reduced you can work on having it expunged.

I saw that episode and was so upset.  This kid had no chance.  I was thinking schizophrenia is hard enough to deal with in the best circumstances.

Blood is on their hands for the mother's murder.

[bubbls]

On 1/11/2017 at 8:59 AM, TaraS1 said:

I need someone to do an introspection rundown on me, to rid me of the thoughts I've always had that Tommy Davis - that horrible little weasel - is kinda hot.  I'm sorry.  If you all need to file knowledge reports on me about this, I understand.

I share your shame. 

[MaryPatShelby]

On 1/12/2017 at 10:53 AM, Giselle said:

Agreed.

I've refused to watch TC movies since the late 80's (he's always creeped me out) but have added any movies and TV shows with known Co$ actors. JT, KP, GR. Why put money into their pockets and ultimately the cult's?

Just found out another actress is a member. Good bye Orange is the New Black.

As a Mad Men and Top of the Lake fan, I was very disappointed to find out that Elisabeth Moss is a Scientologist.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

Why Did It Take Leah Remini: Scientology And The Aftermath So Long To Bring Journalists Into The Conversation?

And more questions sparked by 'Enemies Of The Church'!

[RedheadZombie]

On ‎1‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 2:26 PM, Neurochick said:

On a previous thread, I said, I believe DM will "disappear" and Tom Cruise will wind up heading the  CO$.

It wouldn't surprise me, but I really feel that they would want one of their own - someone who started in Sea Org.  I guess it's possible that Cruise could be the puppet leader (not a puppet!), while the Sea Org higher ups actually ran everything.  But it might be a bad idea to promote a true believer (I believe Cruise is a fanatic), versus the previous two ruthless leaders who knew it was all about the money and brainwashing.

[RedheadZombie]

On ‎1‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 0:49 PM, geekgirl921 said:

There is a case that has been covered a couple of times on the ID channel where the family were devoted Scientologists especially the mother. It turns out their the son was a paranoid schizophrenic (only diagnosed after an involuntary psych hold) he was only ever treated with vitamins and things like that as prescribed by the church and he ended up murdering his mother. Scientology is directly responsible for her death. Unfortunately, the father and daughter of the family were only concerned that the church not look bad.

Is it the story where the father comes home and his wife had been butchered with an axe, and in the bathroom/bathtub?  If so, I saw that story on one of the network newsmagazines years ago, and Scientology was definitely NOT mentioned.  I hope it's the same (please let that have only happened once), because it would be a very clear signal that Scientology is no longer protected.

[WInterfalls]

So on my now daily visit to Tony Ortega's Underground Bunker I saw this news.

http://tonyortega.org/2017/01/25/brandon-reisdorf-scientology-complained-to-probation-dept-over-leah-remini-appearance/#more-37258

Apparently the CO$ is trying to claim Brandon Reisdorf violated his probation by do this episode of Leah's show.  I am honestly surprised by how much it shocked me. You would think by now I would expect it.  Disgusting really. 

[spiderpig]

7 hours ago, WInterfalls said:

So on my now daily visit to Tony Ortega's Underground Bunker I saw this news.

http://tonyortega.org/2017/01/25/brandon-reisdorf-scientology-complained-to-probation-dept-over-leah-remini-appearance/#more-37258

Apparently the CO$ is trying to claim Brandon Reisdorf violated his probation by do this episode of Leah's show.  I am honestly surprised by how much it shocked me. You would think by now I would expect it.  Disgusting really. 

These Dementors won't let anything go, will they?

[shelley1234]

I betcha that Scientology lawyer is really regretting that they didn't put a gag order in as one of his conditions of probation.  Oh well.  Too late now.  *neener neener*

[HunterHunted]

On Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at 8:29 PM, shelley1005 said:

I betcha that Scientology lawyer is really regretting that they didn't put a gag order in as one of his conditions of probation.  Oh well.  Too late now.  *neener neener*

I don't think they could. You really need strong public policy reasons to put a gag order, such as being a minor or disclosing a rape victim's name has a chilling effect on a victim's willingness to report a rape. To overcome a person's first amendment rights, you need to demonstrate that society is made worse by freely exercising your right to speak. The restriction has to be as narrow as possible to curtail the potential harm. 

What would be the public policy reasons behind a gag order for Brandon? He's critical of Scientology. So what. Many people are critical of various faiths. Scientology takes advantage of the ignorance of its current and former members. They bully people with their money. But on freedom of speech issues, they know better than to actually try to push back.

You'll notice that they went to the probation department and not the DA. The probation officer doesn't know if that's constitutional. The probation officer gets on Brandon's case in part they are law enforcement and it feels right to chastise him for the interview. To LEO, Brandon talking about how Scientology did him wrong could come across as not taking responsibility for his actions.* If they'd gone to the DA with the same argument, the DA would have told them to get the fuq outta here with this nonsense.

*I'm not saying that all probation officers are like that, but they're not as well versed on these other aspects of the law. I'm sure they have to deal with many excons who have excuses, valid or not, for their behavior. So Brandon's new PO hears from the church, doesn't know first amendment law, is unfamiliar with Brandon's case, and gives Brandon grief about excuses until they can explain to the PO what was going at which point the PO reverses.

Edited January 30, 2017 by HunterHunted