The Scientology privacy curtain seems to be getting pulled back further and further lately. Either that or thetans are taking over my body and my perception is all warped. I’m guessing it’s a little bit of both. In September Kirstie Alley gave an abbreviation-laced interview to Scientology magazine SOURCE. (Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard was known as SOURCE). In it, Alley talks about how she used to dislike people so much that she loved animals a lot more than most humans. Though to be fair, I feel the same way about cheese. Anyway, apparently that was all changed after a little time at some abbreviation/lingo-filled Scientology summer camp.

“So this experience at Flag changed me totally. I can’t say enough about it, because I literally walked in the door of Flag four weeks ago as one person, and I’m walking out an entirely different being, and I mean ENTIRELY different.

My viewpoint on the fourth dynamic and mankind and other people changed. You know, I liked animals more than people! OK, I liked certain people, but the idea of mankind’-it really irritated me!

“But since being here in the AO and receiving some incredible auditing, combined with seeing the OT Summit, I started taking more and more responsibility for mankind. Then I realized why mankind upset me so much -it’s because I wasn’t taking responsibility!

“Now, I have genuine affinity for mankind and I’m up to taking genuine responsibility for mankind.

[From SOURCE, transcription found at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Secrets/Kirstie/]

You know if Kirstie Alley were one fifth as popular with the paparazzi as Britney Spears is, she’d be locked up at UCLA right now. Luckily for Kirstie, no one gives a damn about her outside of Jenny Craig and the Celebrity Centre. (Don’t forget the “re” in Centre, so you remember that it’s old fashioned and/or classy). Reading through any propaganda put out by Scientologists requires some major Wikipedia usage. I won’t even bother to explain most of the made-up crap terms they talk about. Suffice it to say that Flag is the name of their big church in Clearwater, where they hold a lot of their seminars/brain washes. Fox News also points out that Kirstie says she’s a Solo Nots Auditor. Big deal. My cat’s a solo nuts auditor after I took him to the vet for surgery, but he doesn’t make a big deal about it.

Alley, whose career has been mostly a muddle since “Cheers” went off the air in the 1990s, is described in the piece as a “Solo NOTS Auditor, Diamond Meritorious of the IAS and a founding member of the Super Expansion Project.”

What does all that mean?

Well, Solo Nots Auditor is a high-level Scientologist who spends several hours a day, according to their glossary, exorcising “body thetans” or aliens who are stuck to their bodies.

Diamond Meritorious is more interesting. This means Alley has donated a staggering $5 million to the International Association of Scientology.

[From Fox News]

Sometimes the Scientologists make it so easy to mock them that it’s not even fun. Give me a challenge, make me think a little! When the jokes just present themselves eagerly it leads to a very dull day. Both Kirstie Alley and Tom Cruise have talked a lot about how Scientologists are the only people who can really help the rest of us. Something about saving us from our own thetan souls. Ian Gurvitz of the Huffington Posts noted:

No longer plagued by original thought, discursive reasoning, or any financial assets whatsoever, they have become the kind of people who are so right in the mind that when they drive past an automobile accident, they know they are the only one in the world who can help. That is because they will be driving a combination ambulance and tow truck, and will have been trained as an insurance adjuster and EMT technician.

[From the Huffington Post]

Thank goodness we have Kirstie Alley again. When she was still a messed up/pissy Scientologist this past summer, she probably would have driven right by our wrecked car, or stopped just long enough to grab our dog out of the front seat. But now that she’s gone to the Flag AO OT Summit and donated what’s probably amounted to tens of millions of dollars, she’s seen the error of her ways. Now she’ll stop at our wrecked car, administer some thetan auditing, and grab our dog out of the front seat.

Note by Celebitchy: Here are scans of Kirstie’s crazy promotional interview, thanks to professor Dave Touretzky in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University. For more background on Scientology, read his article in Razor.

Full page versions

Larger readable versions

Kirstie Alley gives an interview about her “religion” Scientology in this week’s issue of In Touch. In it, she defends Tom Cruise and says that Scientology is as valid – and complex – as any other religion, and deserves the same respect. Alley also says that Scientologists have their own language, and that’s why Tom Cruise came off as such a nutball (my word, not hers) in all the Scientology videos that have been released over the last two weeks. She compares us listening to them to a Rabbi talking to Christians. I’m not sure how offended I should be by that.

The videos were made for Scientologists. And - we use abbreviations a lot - Tom was using words meant for a Scientology audience. On the web, the video is taken out of context. It’s like a rabbi addressing a Christian church speaking in Hebrew - no one would understand him.

[From In Touch, print edition, February 4, 2008]

Alley also goes on to say that the videos were edited to make Tom seem foolish. I don’t want to be a total bitch here, but it doesn’t take a lot to make Tom Cruise seem foolish. He does a pretty good job left to his own devices.

There’s a lovely section on how Scientologists help people during catastrophes. You know, like how they rushed to the World Trade Center, and continue to honor themselves for their 911 detox program. They were also ever-present (and apparently ever annoying) after the Virginia Tech shootings and the Oklahoma City bombing:

“We have different things called “assists.” For example, after the Oklahoma City bombing, I went in with the Red Cross to help give kids that were in comas assists and after, all of them were doing better. Did I cure them? I’m not going to say I did. The word is assist, you can assist something to be better. That’s why Tom said, ‘We’re Scientologists. It’s our responsibility.’”

[From In Touch, print edition, February 4, 2008]

You “assist something to be better.” That’s a good example of Scientology phrasing. I will point out that one common feature of cults is unusual verbiage and repetition of phrases specific to that cult. It’s also a common technique used to brainwash someone.

And what of Tom’s prestigious “Freedom Medal of Valor” that he’s shown receiving in one of the videos?

“You win Freedom Medal in our church by doing something extraordinary - about the call of duty in the area of human rights or civil rights. I won one once - I was an international spokesperson for Narconon, which is a drug rehab and education program.

[From In Touch, print edition, February 4, 2008]

Narconon is one of the sneakier Scientology scams. It’s designed to sound like Al-anon, Narcotics Anonymous, and Alcoholics Anonymous. You don’t really think about it when you hear the name, and you assume Narconon, which is run by the church of Scientology, is related to these other legitimate twelve step programs. Narconon is just another program used by Scientologists to take advantage of desperate, vulnerable people. But Alley has no problem shilling for it to In Touch.

Kirstie also describes how Scientology saved her life. She says that while driving to California to become an actress, it took her 26 days to get there because she had to stop and score cocaine all over the country. She then supposedly walked into ONE Scientology session and came out never craving drugs again.

[From In Touch, print edition, February 4, 2008]

Kirstie Alley concludes the interview by talking about how Scientologists aren’t perfect, but they want the same decency and “unbigotedness” (I think she means freedom of religion) that every other religion receives. Of course to request that, you’d have to debate the definition of religion… and the definition of a cult.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Kirstie Allen at the Mission Impossible III premiere in L.A on 5/4/2006. Images thanks to PR Photos.

I heart this guy so much after watching this. Jerry O’Connell spoofs Tom Cruise’s wacky Scientology video in a clip on Funny or Die. He goes on random tangents while wearing a black turtleneck and staring off into space, periodically laughing like an idiot. He talks about being an actor all wild-eyed and refers to the Writer’s Guild like Cruise referenced Scientology in his video.

The mainstream news isn’t really taking on the behemoth cult with a penchant for litigation, but the kids on the Internet won’t be silenced. Our heroes over at Gawker note that the Internet is Scientology’s most powerful enemy and no matter how much they try to keep the videos from spreading they’re sure to fail. The folks over at 23/6 made a “Scientology Balls ‘O Meter” (warning on that link! Read the rest of this paragraph before proceeding) measuring the nerve of the media outlets covering the recent exposure of the cult. Radar Online, Gawker, and South Park scored high, but those guys used a graphic featuring a photo of real human testicles, so they must be pretty ballsy too.

It just keeps getting better for Scientology. Last week a ton of videos came out of Tom Cruise spouting their in-terminology and laughing maniacally. The “church” tried to yank the videos off YouTube and wherever else they were hosted and every time they’d get rid of one, several others would pop up around the web. Fellow gossip site Gawker told the Scientology lawyers to go screw themselves and decided to personally host the videos despite a copyright claim, stating they were newsworthy and couldn’t be censored. Now The Sun has an unintentially humorous indoctrination video from the cult from over 10 years ago. It features John Travolta, Mimi Rogers, and Kirstie Alley proselytizing.

At the beginning the guy says: “If you leave this room after seeing this film and walk out and never mention Scientology again, you are perfectly free to do so. It would be stupid, but you can do it. You can also dive off a bridge or blow your brains out. That is your choice.” LOL!!

Here’s a transcript of the rest of the video that I typed up:

If you leave this room after seeing this film and walk out and never mention Scientology again, you are perfectly free to do so. It would be stupid, but you can do it. You can also dive off a bridge or blow your brains out. That is your choice.

But if you don’t walk out that way, if you continue with Scientology, we will be very happy with you, and you will be very happy with you.

- switch to Scientology store -
Lady in Scientology store: So I would recommend that you get this package to start.

Guy: Shouldn’t they also get a copy of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health?

Lady: Of course, then they’ll see the adventure of it, and they’re at liberty to buy any of these books, they’ll watch all of them sooner or later anyway.

- switch to office with two guys in suits -

Guy in office setting: Now these graphs are done before and after a person has received 12 and a half hours of auditing or what we call an intensive. These are personality traits, these are what they were before the person received auditing and these show how they were improved. Also the person’s IQ or intelligence increased, and he became 19 points smarter.

Another guy: Does that mean that psychology and Scientology are similar?

Original graph guy: oh no, but it shows you what happens when you address the spirit, not the brain. Even the theory of evolution has never proven that something else isn’t making it all happen. Psychology and psychiatry are proven failures. Stone age.

- Public office -
The success through communication course is the most popular. One learns how to handle others with communication alone. And there are sometimes special courses that can assist one to handle specific areas or problems in his life.

- back to original guy from the beginning -
You may well ask the question, “What are the advantages of Dianetics and Scientology for me?” So, let’s ask some people.

Mimi Rogers? Anne Archer (just labeled as “Actress” in video): Scientology did make me freer to express myself, but what it really did for me, was save my life, and made me feel for the first time the best at what I naturally am.

Kirstie Alley (just labeled “Actress”): To tell you the honest to God truth without Scientology I would be dead. So, I can personally highly recommend it.

John Travolta (just labeled “Actor”): Well basically, there’s no part of my life that Scientology hasn’t helped.

Another guy (Michael Roberts, not labeled): But whatever you do, remember that you’re always welcome in Scientology.

[Transcript of the video available on The Sun website and shown below]

Here’s the video. Is the last guy Isaac Hayes? I can’t really tell because he’s younger and I’ve never seen him talking on tape. Please let me know if you can help identify all the brainwashed celebrities at the end.

Update: The guy at the end is an actor named Michael Roberts, and I incorrectly identified Anne Archer as Mimi Rogers. Thanks to Critter, Geronimo and Poof for the help.

Gawker has an awesome compilation of newly-released internal promotional videos from the Scientology cult featuring Tom Cruise proselytizing. The cult claims they’re not threatened by the release of the videos, which were apparently taken at a 2004 Scientology Freedom Medal Award ceremony honoring Cruise. Their actions tell a different story. The previously released video, featuring 9-minutes of the star in a nearly incomprehensible rant, has been removed from nearly every video sharing site. When new copies are posted they’re quickly taken down with a notice that the material has been removed in compliance with a copyright claim from the Church of Scientology. It’s impossible to stop the flood of copies, though, and searching on “Tom Cruise Scientology” on YouTube shows how many people are quickly re-uploading the video.

The Scientologists sent a cease and desist to Gawker to quit hosting the videos and they refused, even including several new segments that show Cruise in all his deluded glory.

The new clips on Gawker feature Cruise saluting a picture of L Ron Hubbard as well as two new videos in which he lauds his fight against psychiatric medication and talks about the 9/11 detoxification project and how Scientologists “don’t ask permission.” They’re sure to hit the file sharing sites soon, and they’ll be available on Gawker for the foreseeable future.

These new clips and the release of Andrew Morton’s book will soon create way too many Suppressive Persons for the Scientologists to handle.

Hurry up and watch it before it’s removed. It’s hard to tell what the hell Cruise is talking about, apart from the fact that in his addled mind he thinks he has the answers to everything. At one point he talks about SPs, which is Scientology-speak for suppressive people, or people who try to detract from their craziness, and how they don’t confront him.

“It’s our responsibility to educate, to create the new reality…”

A commentor on RadarOnline, which had a YouTube version which was removed, is a former Scientologist and offers some definitions for all the cult-speak.

And US Weekly has a transcript.

Thanks to reader Moogle for the heads up on this video.

Update: Gawker is personally hosting the video and they refuse to remove it. If the video is not working above, and that’s probably the case, you can view it on Gawker.

Update: Thanks to commentor moogle for the link to the video above. It was also on YouTube and posted by RadarOnline, but that video has been removed.

The “church” of Scientology is known for lawsuits and threats to control all negative coverage, so it’s not surprising that a nine minute promotional video for the cult that showed Tom Cruise ranting about how he held the key to happiness has been promptly removed. Gawker has some excerpts, though, and The Huffington Post has screenshots. They say the film was removed within a half hour of the time it was posted.

Mark Ebner, the investigative reporter, just emailed us links to some Scientology promotional videos. [Cruise Biographer] Morton’s central claim is that Cruise, star of movies from Risky Business to Mission Impossible, is the effective number two of the Church of Scientology, the cultish religion founded by L. Ron Hubbard, and subscribed to by other eccentric Hollywood actors such as John Travolta. The videos bear out, at the very least, that Cruise is central to the organization’s marketing efforts. In this amazing clip, to a background track of theme from Mission Impossible, Cruise explains how Scientologists are “the authorities on the mind”, the only people who can bring peace and unite cultures. Watch it, after the jump, before the scary Scientologists silence us all.

[Quotes from Cruise] “When you’re a Scientologist, and you drive by an accident, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you’re the only one who can really help. We are the authorities on getting people off drugs. We are the authorities on the mind…. We are the way to happiness. We can bring peace and unite cultures. Now is the time. Being a Scientologist. People are turning to you. If you are a Scientologist, you see things the way they are, in all their glory, in all their complexity… It’s rough and tumble. It’s wild and woolly. It’s a blast. It really is. It is fun. Because damn it, there is nothing better than going out there and fighting the fight, and suddenly you see — boom! — things are better. I want to know that I’ve done everything I can do, every day… I do what I can. And I do it the way I do everything.”

[From Gawker.com]

We have a healthy fear of these people, because they have threatened us too for even a smidgen of negative coverage about them. I honestly don’t think Tom Cruise is gay, but crazy and scary, he definitely is.

Last week an article in US Weekly that Katie Holmes was set to run the Boston Marathon was mysteriously removed instead of being updated with a correction.

And we’ve heard about the suspicious deaths of a couple last summer who were supposedly friends of the musician Beck, who was born into a Scientologist family. One of the couple penned a screenplay about a musician who escaped a cult just like Scientology with the help of fans who stage a fake kidnapping. The woman who wrote the screenplay committed suicide after telling her friends repeatedly how she was harassed by Scientologists. The woman’s partner also committed suicide a week later by walking into the ocean. As of now, two out of three stories we’ve found on the double suicide with links to Scientology have been removed. One story, critical of the dead woman, remains available. Beck has denied any involvement with the couple and says he did not know them well. Here’s a link to a longer Vanity Fair article about the couple. [Thanks to commentor Breederina]

So we’ll probably never see these videos of Cruise ranting about how great his personal brand of salvation is. Given his very public couch-jumping and angry interview with Matt Lauer, we can all imagine what he looked like.

Hey look - isn’t Suri cute and isn’t his young bride so glamorous? I love her hair! Is she pregnant again? Wouldn’t that be nice? How harmless and privileged they all are.

I hate bad presents. Yeah it’s the thought that counts, but sometimes a present is the result of a pretty crappy thought. Everyone has that friend or family member who is known for continually giving crappy presents. I had a person who constantly gave me gifts of coffee. This was after I explained that I don’t drink caffeine (on purpose) and I don’t like coffee. I lived in Seattle at the time, a place where coffee is revered as next to Godliness. I explained that not only was my not drinking caffeine a deliberate health decision, but I wanted to be one of the two people in the Pacific Northwest that didn’t waste $5 on bitter or sugared crap. The giver was a coffee addict the likes of which I’d never seen, and apparently saw my decision as a personality flaw on my part. Thus I was forevermore given gifts of beans and grinders, even though I always politely refused coffee in the giver’s presence. As cranky as it made me, I now realize it really wasn’t all that bad. I could work with Will Smith, a multi-millionaire several times over, and be given gifts of free crap. Free Scientology crap. I’m pretty sure I’d then be begging for some coffee, so I could get the temporary energy rush from the caffeine that would then help me to kick Will Smith in the ear.

Big stars traditionally distribute “wrap presents” to crew members after completing a film. His recent gift after wrapping next summer’s comedy “Hancock” was a card good for a personality test at your local Scientology center. Fun! Never mind that such tests are given free by the church anyway. The quiz is designed to convert people to the religion by identifying personality flaws that - surprise! - Scientology can fix right up for you. For a fee, of course.

Smith, who is best buddies with Scientology booster Tom Cruise, has never confirmed that he joined the church. But he told “Access Hollywood” last month: “I was introduced to it by Tom, and I’m a student of world religion. I was raised in a Baptist household. I went to a Catholic school, but the ideas of the Bible are 98% the same ideas of Scientology, 98% the same ideas of Hinduism and Buddhism.”

Presumably the other 2% is the part about the evil space emperor who put the hydrogen bombs in the volcano.

[From Gatecrasher]

I don’t think even Tom Cruise gives presents which are that crappy. He probably gives a lot of Scientology-related garbage, but I’m guessing he also gives something that costs more than… nothing. I think it’s pretty clear that Will Smith is now a Scientologist. I have a hard time believing that someone would give Scientology presents just for the awesomeness of it. I wouldn’t hand out Star of David necklaces just because I think Judaism is cool, nor would give someone a copy of the Book of Mormon because I thought it was a fun read. But I might give you a tiny statue of a fat Buddha, just because he’s freaking adorable. Maybe that’s what’s going on. Maybe Will Smith thinks Scientology is cute as a button. I don’t understand all of his Tom Cruise ass kissing. Will Smith is a major movie star. He doesn’t need to get chummy with wackos to help his career. Which is why I’m pretty sure he must actually be bowing down at Xenu’s feet right now.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Will Smith is shown on 1/9/08 at a photocall for I am Legend in Rome. Thanks to PRPhotos.

Tom Cruise is flaming. And by that, I mean the little bugger is flaming mad. Famous celebrity biographer Andrew Morton’s new, highly unauthorized biography of Cruise is hitting American bookshelves next Tuesday, despite attempts by both Cruise and the Church of Scientology to halt the publication. What could possibly get the Scientologists so riled up? The usually low-key, live-and-let-live followers of Xenu have got their panties in a bunch over the majority of the revelations in Morton’s book. As we had previously written, Morton actually had to go into hiding a few months ago due to threats from Scientologists. Then why am I writing this? Well I’m a horrible combination of highly principled and incredibly stupid, which just so happens to be the most successful personality combination for a celebrity blogger.

Scientology is one of those religions/cults (depending on your view) that’s so secretive it’s impossible to separate fact from fiction. And frankly, I think that if you’re going to keep so much of your “religion” private, you’ve got to expect that people are going to call it a cult and all sorts of urban legends are going to be invented. The problem with the secrecy is that it makes it hard for the rest of us non-cult members… I mean those of us who are not Scientologists… to make educated guesses about what’s fact and what’s fiction. And considering the whole legend of Scientology, I don’t think it’s ridiculous to believe a lot of the stories we hear about the inner workings of the cult/religion.

According to Andrew Morton, Tom Cruise has risen so high in the Scientology echelon that he’s effectively the number two in charge. This is one of many points in the book that’s being disputed by the church.

Tom Cruise has become the de-facto second in command of the Church of Scientology, according to a new biography - which makes an extraordinary attack on the star by comparing his 20-month-old daughter Suri to the Devil’s child in the film Rosemary’s Baby. Andrew Morton’s unauthorised biography claims Scientology has taken over the 45-year-old actor’s life, with its officials selecting many of the staff at his Hollywood mansion. The biographer of Princess Diana alleges Cruise is consulted by Scientology leader David Miscavige on “every aspect of planning and policy” and is tailoring his career to fit the aims of Scientology.

[From the Daily Mail]

Frankly, that’s one of the least salacious points in the book.

He [Tom Cruise’s lawyer Bert Fields]criticized a passage in which Morton claims some “fanatical” Scientologists believed Suri Cruise was actually the result of a sperm donation by Scientology’s dead founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Morton writes that Ms Holmes may feel she was in “the horror movie Rosemary’s Baby, in which an unsuspecting young woman is impregnated with the Devil’s child”.

[From the Daily Mail]

You’ll note that Andrew Morton doesn’t claim that Katie Holmes was impregnated with L. Ron Hubbard’s sperm, but simply that some fanatical Scientologists think she was. I’m going with ex-fiancé Chris Klein, but L. Ron Hubbard is a good second choice.

The book appears to portray Scientology leader David Miscavige as Tom Cruise’s biggest fan – to an almost creepy extent. Morton mentions a story that has been told for several years about Tom Cruise wanting to run through a field of wild flowers with Nicole Kidman before they were married. An earlier mention of this anecdote said it was a field of wheat, but the point remains the same.

Miscavige is said in the book to have gone to extraordinary lengths to charm Cruise, even ordering his staff to plant a field full of wild flowers at a Scientology base in California after Cruise had told him of his fantasy to run through a wildflower meadow with his then newlywed wife Nicole Kidman.

“A team of 20 Sea Org disciples was set to work digging, hoeing, and planting wheat grass and wildflower seed near the Cruises’ bungalow. Naturally the work was regularly inspected by David and Shelley Miscavige [his wife], who would ride over to the site on his motorbike. They were apparently unhappy with the finished appearance and had the area ploughed over and reseeded.”

Although Scientologists deny the wildflower planting ever happened, Morton claims to have legal affidavits from several witnesses.

[From the Daily Mail]

Much of the Daily Mail’s article about the book focuses on Scientology’s recruitment attempts. While they’ve always paid special attention to their celebrity followers (who many people claim are actually just paid celebrity endorsers), Scientology gets the bulk of their wealth from charging exorbitant fees to regular parishioners. Thus the more converts they have, the more money they get, and Morton accuses them of recently targeting the German people.

The author says Germany’s population of 80 million made it a perfect “new market” for Scientology, although the church is not recognized officially as a religion there.

“David Miscavige and his lieutenants were in Scientology’s war room at Hemet, planning the invasion of Germany. From time to time they were joined in their desert bunker by Tom, who these days is the organization’s second-in-command in all but name, involved in every aspect of planning and policy.”

[From the Daily Mail]

That’s interesting, considering how unwelcoming the Germans appeared to be towards Tom Cruise when he was filming Valkyrie around Germany. The film initially had trouble getting permission to do much of the necessary filming, though the German government eventually acquiesced. However it doesn’t appear that Tom Cruise – or Scientology – won over the hearts and minds of the German people during his tenure there.

Andrew Morton’s Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography comes out January 15th, and I’ll be in line to get it that day, and I hope I’ll see the rest of you at Barnes and Noble.

While you were enjoying your egg nog, Christmas cookies, and those excellent peanut butter chocolate ball things that only seem to appear around the holidays, Will Smith said something incredibly stupid that he quickly backtracked from. Smith’s comments were so taboo that they could lead to a career setback - he invoked the name of Hitler to make a philosophical point. Many news outlets are claiming that Smith is dismissing the atrocities that Hitler committed, and the Jewish Defense League called for theaters to stop showing Smith’s blockbuster film “I am Legend.” In a recent interview, Smith tried to make an asinine point that no one is essentially bad by using Hitler as an example and saying the mass murderer set out to do what he thought was “good,” using “twisted… logic.” When you read the next part of Smith’s statement, though, it’s quite clear where he’s getting these ideas and why he would be making such an outlandish claim. He went on to say that “Stuff like that just needs reprogramming.”

Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good.

“Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘let me do the most evil thing I can do today’,” said Will. “I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was ‘good’. Stuff like that just needs reprogramming.”

[Daily Record via http://uk.news.yahoo.com/wenn/20071223/ten-smith-hitler-was-a-good-person-c60bd6d_1.html“>We Smirch]

Smith isn’t saying that Hitler was good, but that he somehow thought what he was doing was good through his own faulty reasoning. Sociopaths feel little or no guilt over the very manipulative and cruel acts they are capable of committing, and it’s not like they feel they have to justify their behavior even to themselves, so good and bad don’t enter into the equation for them. They just don’t care about other people or feel more than superficially expressed remorse.

Smith is making an argument that Hitler could have been cured through “reprogramming,” an essential component of the Scientology cult, which maintains that their own methods can cure all problems and that psychological disorders should not be treated with medication. Let’s hope that he got the stupid idea directly from his good buddy Tom Cruise and that he’s not personally going through Scientology training, but there may be no hope for him now.

This is the guy who was so excited over butt wipes and bidets that he had to personally spread the word, so he’s quite easily impressed and has the need to let everyone know about it. Just like his claim that Scientology is 97% similar to the bible, he has issued a follow-up statement in an attempt to do damage control. At first I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that it maybe wasn’t an original interview and that someone either put words in his mouth or re-worked an older statement, but no, he really said this, and just said it was “misinterpreted.” He’s probably referring to the writer’s benign editorial comment that Smith “believes everyone is basically good.”

“It is an awful and disgusting lie,” Smith said in a statement. “It speaks to the dangerous power of an ignorant person with a pen. I am incensed and infuriated to have to respond to such ludicrous misinterpretation.”

“Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet.”

[From DailySnack.com via Fark]

It took Tom Cruise a long time to recover after he told Matt Lauer that postpartum depression should not be treated with medication, and that it could be cured with vitamins. Smith should realize that he should keep all his newfound “knowledge” to himself or it will cost him millions in future revenue. There’s a reason why the rest of the population doesn’t agree with that belief system.

Here are Tom Cruise and Will Smith at the “I am Legend” premiere in NY on 12/11/07, thanks to PRPhotos.