WI: Tom Cruise Never Joins Scientology

Forgive me if I'm wrong but i thought a lot of major celebrities including tim cruise joined for tax breaks :/

I'm wondering why an individual would get a tax break for joining. You don't get them for joining a religion, and if the COS is regarded as a self-improvement organization, you don't get them for joining those, do you?

Maybe if you've got yourself incorporated, and Dianetics is supposed to help your "business", that could be the angle?
 
The 1981 movie T•A•P•S, when Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, and Tom Cruise were all relatively young men.

I think an underappreciated movie

My favorite line from that movie...

George C. Scott's character, the principal of the military academy, laments that "These days in movies, military men are always portrayed as deranged or insane."

I have to assume that was an in-joke directed at anyone familiar with Scott's history of playing military men.

its-fucking-beautiful-man.jpg
 
Let's see now...

An American actor, whom the majority of the world couldn't care less about (and not insignificant numbers will have never even heard of), joins what most people would classify as an odd-ball cult.

This "world-shaking" event is of the slightest interest to 99.999% of humanity how precisely?
 
Let's see now...

An American actor, whom the majority of the world couldn't care less about (and not insignificant numbers will have never even heard of), joins what most people would classify as an odd-ball cult.

This "world-shaking" event is of the slightest interest to 99.999% of humanity how precisely?

Well, I don't think there's ever been a threshold percentage for how many people have to care about a topic before it becomes legit for speculation on AH.

There's a thread about British Leyland kicking around here somewhere. I'm doubting too many people outside of the UK have heard about that company, and even in the UK, I'd be willing to bet that it barely penetrates the collective consciousness of Gen Y(or whatever they're called over there) and younger.

And FWIW, Scientology has been the subject of political controversy and legislation in Germany and Russia, not to mention their previously mentioned IRS battles in the USA. So it's not as if this issue is totally bereft of political significance.
 
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Anderman

Donor
There's a thread about British Leyland kicking around here somewhere. I'm doubting too many people outside of the UK have heard about that company, and even in the UK, I'd be willing to bet that it barely penetrates the collective consciousness of Gen Y(or whatever they're called over there) and younger.

And FWIW, Scientology has been the subject of political controversy and legislation in Germany and Russia, not to mention their previously mentioned IRS battles in the USA. So it's not as if this issue is totally bereft of political significance.

There are some people knowing "Britisch Elend".

Scientology was for a time a big issue in Germany because it had a program to clear Germany .
 
I'm wondering why an individual would get a tax break for joining. You don't get them for joining a religion, . . .
For a corrupt religion, the tax-exempt status mainly helps the leaders live high off the hog, whether the money’s technically theirs or not,

for the followers, they can deduct donations if they itemize (instead of taking the standard deduction), just like they can for any charitable donation
 
Tom would still be the Tom he's always been in terms of production of films; he just won't be as kooky and probably would have had a better personal life. He might have an Oscar by now if he wasn't so kooky.

I see him maybe still being married to Nicole. I think she probably got tired of the BS and wanted to get away from Scientology much like Katie did. Plus her becoming a star in her own right didn't help. Maybe that might have been the reason they ultimately split but who knows maybe they could've worked it out with counselling minus Scientology because Scientology made Tom despise therapy and mental help (the whole Brooke Shields/Today show saga from 2005 shows that.)
 
. . . Scientology made Tom despise therapy and mental help . . .
I’m pretty skeptical about “mental health” professionals, too!

Because too many are dogmatists, egotists, ideologues, “be righters,” and by that I mean, the crappy practitioner is more invested emotionally in being right about a diagnosis than they are about whether the client’s life actually goes well, and shit, sometimes I’d almost rather be wrong, and I wish they had that attitude, too, etc, etc, etc.

And yes, of course there’s all kinds of exceptions!
 
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Okay, about 25% of us will struggle with depression or anxiety at some time during our life to an extent that potentially we’d benefit from medication. As I’ve read with the current SSRIs (such as zoloft) or SNRIs (such as wellbutrin), it typically takes 4 to 8 weeks to tell if a medication is working. It is trial and error in a respectful sense. Maybe it’ll be the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th medicine which rebalances you chemically.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/03/health/he-depression-drug-choice3

And I say, it’s a person’s choice. You can see a psychiatrist, or you can see a ‘regular’ doctor such as an internist.

The other thing I’ve read, if you’re stopping one of these medications, you generally want to phrase down in a series of steps.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/03/health/he-depression-stopping-drugs3

——————

* scientology is against medication for depression or anxiety, I think just because Hubbard was against it, and yes, the earlier medication was crappier.

** Yes, I’ve struggled with depression. No, I haven’t yet tried antidepressants, but they are kind of my ace in the hole for future bouts. :)
 
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And concurring, but not agreeing with ‘scientology’, the fields of psychiatry and psychology have more of a monopoly than they should.

Perhaps you say, well, they have training. Yes, they have training to sit there with a stone face, and apparently never to say, Wow, that’s some bad stuff, I’m sorry that happened to you, you seem like an okay person. And apparently, never to proffer advice no matter how lightly.

Well, heck, a bartender or hair stylist with a little bit of snap can easily out compete this. :)

As can a speech therapist, an exercise coach, maybe also a shiatsu massage person, although if they’re also touching you it needs to be the lightest of light-touch advice.

In fact, when my dad and I went to visit my uncle in his later years, there was an older lady at the car rental place. My dad told her just a little about our visit. She said, Oh, these are the blessed years. That is, she performed well beyond a rather basic job description. She basically performed as a minister, which I appreciated even though I’m not a particularly religious person.

So, I say, listen actively without overdoing it, maybe proffer some light advice or not, either way is okay, perhaps just offer some encouragement, don’t get married to your own advice or religion in which you try to foist it onto the other person (harder to avoid this with a religion, because that’s often part of the religion)

So, listening, and light encouragement and/or advice, often less is more, and you, too, can help other people :)
 
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