Kha Khan

The November 16, 2009 edition of In Touch Weekly has an article entitled, "The Bitter Battle Over Suri." The article begins on page 34 and goes through page 39. The article mentions the resignation of director Paul Hagis, Tommy Davis walking out of the Martin Bashir Nightline interview, and quotes Tom as follows:The sidebars include:

• "An adult at age 3," about Suri.
• "Scientology under fire," about the resignation of Paul Haggis.
• "They've all been criticized," about Tommy Davis walking out of the Martin Bashir Nightline inverview.
• "Tom's more controlling than ever," about, well, Tom being more controlling and ever.
• "Divided by their beliefs," about Nicole Kidman and the fact that the two older children "have sided with their dad and chosen Scientology."

The leed of the article is that Tom agreed to allowed Suri to enroll in a Boston Catholic school after a compromise with Katie, but then reneged on the deal.

The article discusses Katie's fear of disconnection at some length, including:The article also quotes former Scientologists Jeff Hawkins and Karen Schless.

Particularly for a gossip magazine, the article is quite good. It is actually one of the better articles I have read about the Church of Scientology.

Ex Scientologist Message Board

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -- Hunter S. Thompson.

Herro

Tom cruise is only $2.99?

Shitposting Shitposter of the Year - 2009

Deus Ex Machina

Umm, what?

tazor

Thanks for posting this Kha Khan. It's funny that the gossip rags aren't even afraid of Scientology these days.

The dam has burst. :)

P.S. I doubt Jen wants Brad back with that nasty looking beard of his.

Scientology was just a joke written by hack science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. Xenu is the punch line.

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Shalashar

Given the state of Valkyrie, he's fucking lucky he's worth that much.

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The Goddamn Pacman

QFFT

"Beware of any individual or ideology that claims to have all the answers but does not tolerate any questions."

Mah JewTubes. Watch and rate for great justice.

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Kha Khan

Corrected.

Ex Scientologist Message Board

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -- Hunter S. Thompson.

Kha Khan

That is true. But I think there is something more going on.

First, I sense an element of revenge. Blood in the water. Getting back at the bully. For years the COS shuddered many, if not everyone, into silence. Threatening lawsuits. Going over the heads of reporters to editors / publishers to spike stories. (Reporters hate that.) The COS is not able to do that anymore, and journalists can have long memories.

Second, sometimes journalists actually like to do journalism. They got into the profession for a reason, and it wasn't to make easy money. Like I said above, the In Touch Weekly article is very solid. Quotes, sources, tying in all of the most recent COS developments, etc.. Much more than one would expect from a "gossip rag."

I think the Star Magazine, In Touch Weekly, tabloid stuff is very important in inoculating the public and shaping public opinion. People pick up the mag to learn the latest about Tom, or Katie, or for that matter Jen, and wind up learning about disconnection.

I can well imagine a parent reading the In Touch Weekly article, having his or her kid come home talking about wanting to take courses at the COS, thinking about how stressed out and unhappy Katie is (and her parents perhaps even more so), and saying "Oh no you're not."

Ex Scientologist Message Board

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -- Hunter S. Thompson.

tazor

Yeah, I think you're right about that Kha Khan. It's a good thing no matter why they printed it. And I like that they did their homework.

Scientology was just a joke written by hack science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. Xenu is the punch line.

Please! Don't get the fuck me out! At least let me be in the dome! ~Lily the Troll~

Belladonna

Please refer to this thread for more info.

In the rumor stages: Cruise suit against In Touch
As reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Exes! Still intellectually curious? Here are some worlds of wonder, for free :)

FUCK

They should pay me.

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Qball

Very much this. The friends (non-scientologists) that the cult has made are mostly of the fair-weather variety, getting their picture taken with celebrities and mouthing stock platitudes about all their alleged good works to help humanity.

On the other hand, the enemies (not counting ex-members) the church has made have been very bitter ones. Even the most opportunistic hack journalist has to have felt a cold rage when they've watched professional colleagues badgered into silence with lawsuits or been pre-emptively stopped by a nervous editor. To say nothing of their direct victims of intimidation.

It doesn't really have anything to do with journalists per se. Very few people who have been on the receiving end of this kind of bullying ever forgive or forget the indignity and personal shame of acquiescing to their tormentor.

"No one can be 100% sure what’s going on, because that would require actually speaking to Scientologists, and if you try to do that, they steal your brain."

Hermesacat

One of the recent articles I saw about Suri noted Katie's parents, reportedly devout Catholics, helped persuade Katie to raise Suri in Catholicism.I also read Katie has not been seen at a Scientology org in months, and may be cooling to cult teachings.

Since there's no mention anywhere yet that Katie is disconnecting from her parents, or that Tom is threatening to separate from Katie over the Catholicism-for-Suri issue or because Katie is losing enthusiasm for the cult, isn't this more evidence of the double standard Scientology applies to celeb-members, as opposed to ordinary members?

I can't help thinking if Katie and Tom were both non-celeb Scientologists instead of celebrated stars, a dedicated Scientologist hubbie in similar circumstances as Tom would be ordered by the church to threaten his wife to the effect that if she refused to disconnect from her SP Catholic parents and reject Catholicism for herself and her child, that she herself risked being declared SP, and risked imminent disconnection from her husband. If hubbie was a valued member, the cult might even run a dirty tricks, character assassination campaign against the wife, in order to turn family courts against her, so the husband would get full custody of the daughter, so she'd be raised a good little Scientolgist slave, instead of a SP Catholic, raised and influenced by a SP mother!

Celeb-Scientologists, coddled & stroked with kid-gloves and deference, get a particularly rose-coloured-glasses picture of the cult, and rarely or never have to suffer the abuses the other 99.9% of members have to face such as slave labour, extreme physical, mental and emotional punishments, losing life savings to the cult, being held captive as virtual prisoners, losing family contacts due to disconnection policy, SP family members being persecuted as "fair game", etc.

And Tom Cruise is probably about the only close associate of Miscavige who isn't regularly demeaned verbally by COB and slapped, punched, choked, thrown or kicked on occasion!

Scientology is a hypocritical, two tiered organization with an unjust double standard. There's one set of preferential rules and treatment for the coveted Hollywood celeb Scientologists like Tom & Katie -- and another set of rules applied to the hapless, duped, abused other 99.9%!