By RAE, October 26 at 10:17 pm #

“It’s beyond me how otherwise intelligent people get so entangled in such organizations”.

No fair using oxymorons in otherwise intelligent posts.  The words “intelligent and people” are not allowed in the same paragraph. 

And that pretty much sums up your inquiry,

“So why do almost all of them slowly deteriorate into a cesspool of corruption”?

TBD:

Remember “Married with Children”?
“Does this dress make me look fat?”
“No”...
“The fat makes you look fat!”

Kirstie Allie is, IMHO a waste.  She started making stupid moves when she gave up “Star Trek III”, wisely took on Rebecca, but, other than a few comedies (Look Who’s Talking, which resurrected John Travolta’s moribund career) she’s been a big nothing.

“Pretty soon, my looks will fade. They’ll discover I can’t act, and I’ll be some sad, middle-aged lady who looks like someone who was famous for a while”—Julia Roberts in “Notting Hill”—which describes K-A to a Tee.

Jim Yell’s explanation of religious freedom is one of the best I have read.

ITW, how sadly true. There is always that double barreled shot question of: Honey, do I look too fat? But in no way was my weight question directed at a woman’s self image, but rather the actress (I prefer to call them all actors, a gender neutral use of the term) Kirstie Ally, who portrayed Rebecca Howe on TV’s Cheers.
She is the one who used her weight gain and turned it into a cottage industry, complete with her mockumentary series for Showtime called “Fat Actress”.
A usual pattern emerged that is quite common in show business: gossip worthy revelations about a screwed up marriage, abuse of drugs, subsequent divorce where the husband walks away like a happy bandit…you get the picture. Then came the “issues” which served as an “enabler” for the massive (by media standards) gain in weight. But finally the successful triumph of Ms. Alley over her personal demons, when she walked onto the stage pf the Oprah show wearing a bikini.
Funny thing ITW, Ms. Ally’s participation in the Star Trek movie franchise ended with II. She did not appear in III because the producers refused her salary demands. She later said she didn’t want to do the picture because she did not want to be type cast as a Sci-Fiction actress. Apparently her misgivings about the science fiction genre had metamorphosed somewhat over the years. In 2007, she gave $5 million to Scientology, where she has attained the level of Operating Theten Level 7.

TBD,
True, but I make it a point NEVER to criticize a woman’s weight (except to say she needs to GAIN it).  That’s because 99.9% of all women I have ever met claim they are overweight and THINK they are overweight, even when they are skinnier than “slim” and look like a broomstick.  Even my lovely, petite, trim wife says absurd stuff like “I’m IMMENSE”.  My standard response is “no,Honey, you’re beautiful. What you are is crazy, not overweight.”

Despite the loud cries that Americans are too fat (probably) I see a more disturbing tendency to keep pushing ALL women to like like concentration camp victims—the Kate Moss/Twiggy insanity.  A model was recently fired for being “obese” at 5’11” and…a hugely fat, obese overweight 120 lbs…..120! On a 5’11” woman there’s NO WAY 150 lbs could be considered anything but trim, no matter her frame.

That ongoing destruction of women’s self-images is far more dangerous than a few pounds.

IMHO.

Inherit The Wind, yes my friend there is indeed something wonderful about crappy movies (“from hell’s heart I stabbeth thee!) and the Star Trek franchise has much to love. The buxom Kirstie in Wrath of Khan changed her hairstyle at one point, which Captain Kirk (or is that Denny Crane?) noticed. But there is always that “issue” of full figured voluptuousness, being transfigured with age into… you guessed it, WEIGHT WATCHERS!
Peace and happiness to all concerned…

thebeerdoctor, October 27 at 5:42 pm #

ITW (from one numb skull to another) it is indeed a bad move to follow the religion of some hack science fiction writer. And it does not matter how famous someone is who falls for this garbage, whether it is Chick Corea or some overweight actress who once had a steady acting job on a show called Cheers.
And I thought I was a numbskull!
**********************************************

You got it TBD!  And I remember her FIRST as the hot, pouting, chesty Vulcan goddess in the 2nd Star Trek movie, the one that saved the ENTIRE franchise, despite its silly plot and embarrassing over-acting.

Making Ricardo Montalban look like Joan Rivers was just an added bonus to “The Wrath of Khan”.  That and all the references to “Moby Dick”.

What a WONDERFUL crappy movie that was! I must have seen it 8 or 10 times, and NOT just to see Kirstie (the moron) Allie in it! (Pre-Cheers’ Rebecca).

ITW (from one numb skull to another) it is indeed a bad move to follow the religion of some hack science fiction writer. And it does not matter how famous someone is who falls for this garbage, whether it is Chick Corea or some overweight actress who once had a steady acting job on a show called Cheers.
And I thought I was a numbskull!

Out of all the nefarious goings-on in that cult, THIS is why he left?

Separating a schmuck from his money. That is the new way to make a living? What happened to investing in raw materials, manufacturing a product, useful to someone, having them purchase it and enjoy its usefulness? Even people who make movies invest enormous amounts of money in making the movie. Buy tons of different things, and then hope that you will exchange your money for two odd hours of escapism or education or just plain laughs. When did separating people from their money become the beginning and the end with no work in between?

Lary Waldman

There’s a certain irony, almost symmetry here:
  “Miracle Baby” caused a lot of grief to the disability community; now the director is upset because “his ox is being gored” to borrow an old old
phrase.

Just remember what L. Ron Hubbard said; “If you want to get rich, start your own religion.”  All the rest follows.  Though when you remove the mumbo-jumbo and psycho-babble from his books, the self-help aspect isn’t bad.

There’s a plethora of lost souls out there looking for a direction and thus the rise of Scientology and the spate of self-help books and if you’re lucky maybe you survive the “sweat lodge.”  Whether it’s the Scientology gang or the suave Tony Robbins et al, they all found a way to quickly separate you from your money!

I only wish the religions required adherents not to question, Inherit. Some, such as the RCs, have been around a long, long time and have PERFECTED answers to virtually every conceivable question.

These “answers,” of course, simply lead the questioner down some imaginary garden path that sounds so completely sane and reasonable and possible that they leave the questioner feeling like a schmuck for even asking.

The “con” is almost perfect… once they’ve got their psychophilosophical hooks into someone (the younger the better) it’s not too often the prey gets away.

BUT… if, as Leefeller says, it’s more to do with someone feeling a need to belong or to have a purpose, and, by extension belonging and believing makes the individual feel better, then I guess there are worse ways to achieve that end… drugs, for one example.

Religious faith and belief are clearly addictions only slightly different from the others available, of which there are plenty to choose from. I have a relative who RUNS… enters every marathon, usually leaving husband behind to take care of the couch. She’s completely addicted to the endorphins and I’m sure will go into withdrawal when the day comes when even she realizes WHY she’s running.

People will do whatever it takes to FEEL GOOD. Eat. Drink. And be Merry! Oh why not… we’re all rattling down roads that lead to the same destination - OBLIVION.

It has very little to do with intelligence, but more with wanting or even a need to belong to something providing a feeling of purpose for a group cause or belief.

Scientology is really just like all the other religions, distilled down to its essence:

1) Believe you are “better” for being a member.
2) Obey. Do not question no matter how vile the idea.
3) Avoid outsiders.
4) Recruit.
5) Shun those who the leaders deem “unfit”.
6) Give all your money.
7) When it’s gone, so are you.

I knew people in the COS, including someone dear to me and my family. When he needed them most, they abandoned him and shunned him, after taking untold amounts of his money—probably $100,000 to $200,000 over the years.

Church of Suckers is what it really is.

It’s beyond me how otherwise intelligent people get so entangled in such organizations.

There’s something about “group think” that seems to anesthetize that part of the brain that enables us to perform critical analysis much as alcohol puts our centers of reason and decision making to sleep. At least with alcohol the reason returns in the morning… with religious brainwashing the ability to reason can be made dormant for life!

The really odd part is that I do believe that MOST religions, as with most politicians, START OUT WITH THE BEST OF INTENTIONS. So why do almost all of them slowly deteriorate into a cesspool of corruption?

Because they’re run by human beings, I guess.