The weekly show where I answer questions from viewers left in the comment sections of my Critical Q&A videos or sent to me by email at AskChrisShelton@gmail.com. This week, the questions I answer are:
(1) Hi Chris, I just finished watching Q&A 129 and heard you say how much you loved movies. I recently watched one of my favorites – V For Vendetta – and I noticed a direct correlation between the movie and what people like you, Leah, Mike, Aaron and everyone else that tells their stories to whoever will listen. It is the point in the movie where Evie finds the letter in the rathole of her cell and it turns out to be the life story of another prisoner she has never met but it gives her the strength to carry on and do what is necessary. I would love to hear your thoughts on this as it is a very powerful bit of cinema to me personally, but I also think that it portrays the love and hope that you and all the others that put their stories out there have for those still trapped by the cult. In essence, you are pushing letters into the crack in the cell wall where they are waiting to be found by that next person desperate to break free.
(2) I often wonder how could L. Ron Hubbard think that he knew what had happened trillions of years ago? And how could somebody believe this so-obvious-nonsense? This teaching seems to be an indicator that Hubbard was delusional, don’t you think?
(3) I often sit in a cafe near the Dianetics center in London and I observe the body routers on the pavement in front of the center doing their job. There’s a lot of foot traffic, a very diverse cross section of people, and I notice that when handing out their flyers the body routers appear to focus on young, non-English looking people, especially Asians. Indeed, I sometimes walk by the body routers myself and as a middle aged white person they completely ignore me. I imagine they are attempting to target people who are less likely to have heard of Scientology before. Would these body routers actually be instructed to target certain groups of people? Or is the choice of target a personal decision made by the body routers to increase their statistics?
(4) I see STAND (Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination) propaganda everywhere lately. I see Scientologists coming out of the woodwork making statements against Leah, Mike & Aftermath. Blah blah blah. What is glaringly absent, as always, is a personal statement or address from the LEADER, David Miscavige, to not only his flock, but to the world about what he believes makes his religion great. Why should we read or believe statements from any Joe Blow in any special interest group if the leader of that group is not confident enough to step up & be heard? I know he won’t defend, but say something…anything. Anything at all. Why will this never happen? Will he just let Scientology sink under the waves without personally standing up for his group?
(5) I have a strong interest in finance and also have a passion for applying critical thinking to this sector. The number of people who get sold truly terrible financial products (or outright defrauded) is staggering and seeing these people tricked out of their hard-earned money is one of the things which irks me most in life.
The Scientology world looks to me like a place which financial manipulation or scams could easily occur, not only to members but between members. If you look at the history of financial fraud most instances seem to occur between members of community groups, churches or families. People seem to let their guard down, assuming their neighbor has their back, unlike the outside world. The questions and basic critical thought which somebody would normally apply before walking into even a major financial institution seem to go out the window.
Be it multi-level marketing, high-commision insurance products, high-fee investment funds or outright Bernie Madoff-type financial frauds, I picture Scientologists especially being prone to these sorts of ripoffs. With the fierce group mentality and the much admired group of OTs, I can just picture the potential for bad stuff to spread like wildfire. After all if a successful OT VII approached you as a mere preclear with an offer for a seemingly amazing investment why wouldn’t you sign up right away? Does this sort of activity happen in the Scientology community?
(6) Is it common for Sea Org members to assist a customer in obtaining credit cards, then just turn around and expect the customer to spend the entire credit line on Scientology services?
(7) Do the Sea Org members ever go to sea?
(8) What is the Church of Scientology’s political stance on gun control? Do Scientologists tend to lean more left or right?
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I enjoy reading your posts because I am an ex-jehovahs witness. The parallels are remarkable. All cults seem to follow the same guide-lines. Are these guidelines posted somewhere I am unaware of? I hope that Leah Remini considers exposing the watchtower in the same way she has scientology. They are both science fiction religions. And I loved science fiction but not in religion.
Hi Chris, the question about and your response to gun control reminded me of the Rodney King riots in the early 90s. During the day when I was driving the PBC pick-up about hollywood I saw many instances of black people angrily breaking into stores along Sunset ave and Holloywood blvd and handing out TVs, computers etc to other blacks on the sidewalks outside. It looked scary and I quickly finished my business and headed back to base at the complex. But that night I became part of the security detail watching from the roof tops for any gang activity along Fountain ave. Meanwhile I was watching as the horizon along Wilshire blvd was going up in flames bldg by bldg from east to west, I could see as each bldg was set alight and turned into a bonfire. I was on top of one of the bldgs along Fountain ave with a radio to report any suspicious activity I could see from on high. N. Catalina near the horseshoe was blocked off and manned by Doug Fiandaca and several guards who had shotguns and other guns in hand to repel any rioters. I don’t recall any sentiments from anyone regarding gun control but SO members are not backwards about brandishing them in these dangerous circumstances. Nothing happened to us and ours that night. Later on the press urged any and all looters to return the stolen items to the stores they broke in to, and many of them did. TJB fan