Thoughts on "Going Clear," the Scientology Documentary

by OnTheWayOut 19 Replies latest jw friends

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    I managed to find a copy of "Going Clear" on the internet. I won't post a link because most are loaded with pop-ups and you have to be careful about accidental downloads. Mine was no exception, but I managed to keep the computer clean. It was a link from putlocker, so they are out there now. Just be careful. If I could have found a trusted link that just charged a couple bucks, I would have paid it.

    Anyway, people really need to understand that when someone is sucked into a dangerous mind-control cult, they are not exposed to all the information that would cause an intelligent person to avoid the group. Scientology doesn't tell new members about the Zenu and the spaceships dropping creatures into volcanoes and all that nonsense. You have to be intertwined with the life and the lies before you can learn that garbage.

    I think it is highly possible that John Travolta is just keeping quiet because of all the things they know about him.

    I say these things because I have heard over the years, many comments about being too intelligent to become a JW and how my coworkers or family members would never have gotten suckered into the Jehovah's Witnesses (or other cults). I could similarly say I would never have been suckered into Scientology because of all their weird doctrines, but I know better. When some group offers you all the answers to all the questions and/or all the solutions to all your problems, you might apply the old saying "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." JW's did that for me. Scientology did that for many of it's members.

    The best usable quote from the documentary, in my opinion, was:

    "People are so indoctrinated and have been in Scientology a really long long time or they've grown up in it, they don't know anything else. It's so scary to them to have to start all over, and it takes a really strong person to stand up to them and say NO !"

    The same woman, Sara, who makes the above statement near the end of the show also presents the saddest moment. In her turmoil over the church, her adult daughter, with a family and a daughter of her own, says to Sara, "Mom, I love you but I have to disconnect from you." That would be the equivalent to JW shunning.

    A guy named Tom, 10 minutes from the end says, "When you're out, you look at it and go 'WHAT THE....CRAP WAS I THINKING?'" He indicates that it is easy to see the problem with it, but only from the outside.

    At the very end, they mention that membership is way down to 50 thousand people but that church assets (worldwide properties) are valued at over 3 Billion Dollars. The documentary seems to indicate that they don't really need to recruit or retain members anymore because they have what they want- money. I actually look forward to the day when Jehovah's Witnesses don't try to retain members and all they want to do is run away with the money. While I might not like that outcome, I would gladly settle for "the leaders" taking the money and running away without the people.

    Overall, I would say that I have heard virtually everything about Scientology said in this work, except for the personal stories and the information about celebrities. That is because I have a vested interest in learning about cults. But in this heavily talked about new release, the putting together of all the information AND THE CELEBRITY STUFF is many nails in the coffin of this dangerous cult. I gotta believe this will seriously hurt their membership drives and retention and their pockets.

  • bohm
    bohm

    I am just now reading the book and are at the last chapter. A striking thing is how absolutely nuts Miscavige and Hubbard come across -- they strike you as genuinely dangerous people who could use professional help. For instance Hubbard seems absolutely bonkers; he really did seem to believe he had special gifts and also seemed like he couldn't tell a story without lying. There is a particular memorable account of how Hubbard gathered the crew of his ship and had two older male members push peas around on the splinter-filled woden deck in front of their family with their noses. So you got to imagine the scene: father is on all four pushing a pea on the wooden deck leaving a trail of blood, girls are crying, everyone is scared shitless for what Hubbard will do next and Hubbard is excitedly crying "faster, FASTER".

    Then there is Miscavige who's idea of management is to randomly punch people in the face every now and then and otherwise just be a total dick.

    It is also eye-opening. If something like Scientology can survive, it bodes well for jehovahs-witness who are a few rugs down the crazy-ladder. I can't imagine this is doing them any favors in term of new members and (hopefully) they will never find another Tom Cruise.

    Very interesting stuff. Can't wait to see the documentary.

  • Tapioca
    Tapioca

    I don't know whether or not I can even bring myself to watch "Going Clear." I really appreciate hearing some of the most remarkable points observed by others. But deep in my gut, I get a sick feeling about this cult and the JDubs. It's almost a visceral reaction. Thanks for the posts from those who have read/viewed. Whew.

    It's so scary and so dangerous to be convinced of your own infallibility. How smug and self-righteous they all are--even the leaders don't question the deep mysteries of the universe and our existence. You are right OTWO. It's frightening to think that having "all the answers" is possible.

    In reading some of others' experiences on this site, I am so saddened. What a terrible waste of years and lives. We have to think that we are being good examples for someone, somewhere, who will consider our paths and what we have said...I have my own goals in this regard. It's a good thing to bring these cults to light for what they are. But right now, it's seems so sad that such foolishness thrives.

  • Witness My Fury
    Witness My Fury
    I have it on my laptop, I just haven't mustered up the enthusiasm so far to watch it at 2 hours long...
  • Agape.Love
    Agape.Love

    I saw it.

    Thought it was disturbing. Don't see how anyone can call it a "religion".

    Seems to appeal to ego of participants. I guess all cults do. Members want to have some inside knowledge or ability no one else has.

    Tom Cruise seems even nuttier now than before and I feel sorry for John Travolta.

  • OneEyedJoe
    OneEyedJoe

    I watched it the other day. My wife had actually already watched it and when I talked to her about it she seemed to have made zero connection to her chosen cult. I think she's a lost cause.

    The part that hit me the hardest was watching the 4 women going on TV badmouthing their exhusbands. That may well be my future (minus the tv part)

  • Finkelstein
    Finkelstein

    I found the documentary both shocking and a bit disturbing.

    In the end the organization was founded on greed for money, power and control and was able to achieve that goal by exploitation and ridged manipulation of young impressionable naive people.

    Sadly since the organization has garnered itself religious status its accumulated a huge amount of money and that money has gone into real estate investments., making it even richer. With that much money and attainable power over people its going to stick around for awhile.

    Sound familiar to the Jehovah's Witnesses cult ?

  • violias
    violias

    you can watch it on Daily Motion without creating an account -at least I did. I have my pop up blocker on high and Malewarebytes on so if it was a malicious site I would have been warned. It was a very disturbing film, hits a bit too close to home.

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2l7b1p

    you will have to watch brief advertisements- commercials throughout the program but it was not oppressive.

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    Bohm, your mentioned particular instances were in the flim. Thanks for more insight. Personally, I think Hubbard definitely knew it was all nonsense, but power may have gone to his head. Miscavige, I think he's like Rutherford in seizing power.

    Tapioca, what a waste of years indeed. In Scientology, people with decades of faithful service could be tossed aside because of the whims of the leader on some new agenda.

    Witness My Fury, take it in segments. I left it on the laptop and stopped it to do other things. Thanks for sharing.

    Agape.Love, I have to agree on how it qualifies for a religion. Anyone reading this without having viewed the film should know that Scientology went to war with the IRS in the United States, digging up any kind of problems they could find in private investigations to make life difficult for the people at IRS, and they ended the war by having IRS cave in to them, calling the Scientology dogs off by declaring Scientology a tax-exempt religion and wiping out a billion dollars in back taxes. John Travolta seems just like any of us who were caught by a cult while naive and now doesn't know how to make changes, so just keeps his mouth shut. They've really played with Tom Cruise's mind. I feel just as sorry for him- a highly active victim of a cult.

    OneEyedJoe, thanks for that. I am confident that my JW wife (and many other JW's) would blank out on the important similarities and just focus on the serious differences between the cults. Sorry to hear your future prediction.

    Finkelstein, that was just as I saw it also.

    Violias, thanks for the link for anyone hoping to catch it.

  • Finkelstein
    Finkelstein

    After reading about L Ron Hubbard, I can see part of a conniving manipulator and part delusional personality dealing with his own mental health issues. If you look carefully at his own proposed ideology of psychoanalyst, you can see similarities to Freud's .

    I'm believing that he took his gained knowledge of psychology and creating his own following in spite of it being to fault or partially effective. Although he did realize that at one point in time that he's making money from this supported by his publications, so he thought he should carry on, with a blind eye to criticism, all the while luring mostly young naive adults to serve as subservient deck mates (slaves) while he took the controlling captain position. In the end it showed that he got overwhelmed in power, control and financial greed and started up the so called Church of Scientology to help in maintaining all of that, without regulatory restraint or taxation.

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