My Views, Scientology, BBC, John Sweeney and all the hubbub

I’ve been watching the hubbub on the net about the BBC reporter losing it in the face of a Scientologist. So far I have been watching it and haven’t commented on it much. I didn’t want to mix this into my blog as I found it inappropriate. But I am a Scientologist and thought I would give My View.

Here are the key points.

About John Sweeney loosing it. Look, he’s a journalist and he has made it his life’s work to push people to the limit and pretend he didn’t notice it if they fall off the cliff. So can I forgive him for loosing it? No. If he messed up doing what he is paid for then there is no mercy really. If he plays the game in the global arena then you have to be willing to pay the price.

About Scientology having a problem with criticism. I think the people that write that haven’t been reading up on their history. I could name a quite a few religions that reacted a lot tougher than Scientology on this type of criticism. Cartoons come to mind anyone? The bottom line is attacking people’s religion is never a good idea. At best they get some publicity, but when it’s then a biased and incorrect – well that’s asking for trouble.

“If all the brightest minds since the fifth
century B.C. or before have never been able to
agree on the subject of religion or antireligion, it is
an arena of combat between people that one
would do well to stay out of.
“In this sea of contention, one bright principle
has emerged: the right to believe as one chooses.
‘Faith’ and ‘belief’ do not necessarily surrender
to logic: they cannot even be declared to be
illogical. They can be things quite apart.
“Any advice one might give another on this subject
is safest when it simply asserts the right to believe
as one chooses. One is at liberty to hold up his own
beliefs for acceptance. One is at risk when he seeks
to assault the beliefs of others, much more so when
he attacks and seeks to harm others because of their
religious convictions.” – The Way to Happiness

About the brainwashing accusation. I’ve been in Scientology for many years. I’ve also been out of Scientology for some years. Come on, that’s fiction my friend. Do I act brainwashed? read my blog. Does Chick Corea act brain washed? does Beck act brain washed? And in case that is your next question ["you are a fan of them just because they are Scientologists"], no I am not a fan of their music, and not just because they are Scientologists. But I certainly admire how they constantly are pushing the envelope of respectively Jazz and Rock.

Really I see this TV program and I wonder how any normal person reacts when he goes to a Church of Scientology with his little notepad from the program and looks and can’t find any of the stuff that Sweeney mentioned. BBC loses credit, world media loses credit, journalists in general lose credit and documentaries lose credit.

Now the sum of all this is, if anything, the internet has brought to the people the possibility to communicate freely and investigate for themselves. And the “web 2.0″ gives the people the possibility to do their own journalism and publishing.

People like John Sweeney and the BBC are no longer holding the monopoly of information and propaganda. Now call it web 2.0 call it Andy Warhol’s 15 minute of fame, call it what you will. I will call it the end of media monopoly. And it’s time the big Media corps realized that the “little” people in the streets can now do something against the Goliath of the media, they will need to stay on the straight and narrow now because they will be exposed.

As to my religion and my beliefs, well in short. I believe in Scientology because it is all about increasing understanding. When you increase understanding then you think better and do better. Scientology is systematic in the approach and it’s all about personal improvement. What do I do? I read books on the subject. I do courses and drill how to apply the information in the books. I listen to lectures by L. Ron Hubbard that elaborate on the books and they’re are pretty funny. Hubbard had a great sense of humor and a massive understanding of life.

Well enough of all that, there have been many John Sweeneys before and maybe there’ll be a day when that too comes to an end.

Cheers.

[;-]