I meant to post this a while ago. Well, better late than never…
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After posting on Tom Cruise’s Scientology video two months ago, I heard and read quite a few other reactions to it. While all of the reactions were negative, I was fascinated by the reasons for these reactions. Virtually all the commentary I encountered focused not on the sheer nuttiness of Cruise’s beliefs (my reason for posting on the topic), but on the passion with which he adhered to them.
I began to realize that I have more in common with Cruise than I would have previously imagined. The world hates Cruise for the same reason it hates me. Cruise and I are agents of intolerance, because we hold our beliefs to be objectively true. In a postmodern world, there are no silly beliefs or ideas. As long as belief X makes you happy or a better person, great! The truthfulness of the belief or idea is irrelevant in the age of postmodern relativity. However, once a believer believes too strongly - once he becomes convinced that his beliefs and ideas are objectively true, not just for him, but for everyone - then he’s in trouble.
Cruise has merited this universal disapprobation not by adhering to a religion that attributes humanity’s problems to Body thetans, unleashed 75 million years ago by the evil alien ruler, Xenu, by but by adhering to it with conviction and sincerity. In a weird way, I respect that. If Cruise believes these things to be objectively true, and believes it important for all humanity to understand and embrace these truths, then it would be both unkind and unreasonable for him to not proselytize.
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Cruise’s problem is not his passion. Cruise’s problem is his religion’s unwillingness to face (or allow) open examination and scrutiny. This unwillingness springs, I think, from a subconscious realization that LRH’s scam of a religion would crumble under very little critical weight.
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Now playing: Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire - Core and Rind
via FoxyTunes
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