Scientology

Scientology is receiving much attention at the moment, thanks in large part to Tom Cruise's anti-psychiatry views. What is frustrating is that the media has been more interested in framing this issue as being about Cruise's wackiness (possibly because of the Church of Scientology's history of legal and public intimidation tactics) than as an opportunity to inform the public at large about exactly how insidious a cult Scientology is. So I'm here to help, if you're in the media and/or are an interviewer, here are some talking points to bring up:

Xenu:

In Scientology doctrine, Xenu is a galactic ruler who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth, stacked them around volcanoes, and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls then clustered together and stuck to the bodies of the living, and continue to cause people problems today. These events are known to Scientologists as "Incident II," and the traumatic memories associated with them as The Wall of Fire or the R6 implant

Body Thetans:

[Scientologists] are full of the Thetans (or souls) of murdered space-aliens. Roughly 2,500 of them. And they have to talk to them telepathically to make them go away. These aliens were once part of the local galactic confederation of 75 million years ago, ruled over by the evil galactic overlord Xenu (sometimes said as Xemu).

E-meters:

Scientologists claim the device allows people to "see a thought". In the hands of a trained auditor, they believe it can uncover "hidden crimes".

Dead members of scientology:

On December 5, 1995, Lisa McPherson died. Scientology had held her against her will for 17 days. During that time, she tried to leave, became violent, and refused to eat. At the time of her death, she had bruises and abrasions on her body, and she had lost over 30 pounds in just 17 days.

Brainwashing:

Not only, therefore, is brainwashing an appropriate social scientific term to use when describing the RPF, but also it is a term that coincides with Scientology's own descriptions about forcing attitude change within confined environments.