Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

[Mudhammam]

This HBO documentary premiered yesterday and if you can get the chance to watch it, holy shit... mind-blowing. Has anyone else seen it? I think the "prison of belief" it depicts is rather emblematic of even the more mainstream faiths that have segmented into small communities where the motive of the leaders may not necessarily be financial but are themselves victims of intrinsically harmful or empty-headed ideas, as generation after generation crazy doctrines have just subliminated into cultures and traditions so as to seem perfectly normal. Unfortunately, these ridiculous beliefs also then permeate into people's thoughts about everyday, fundamentally non-religious subjects. But it's easy to see how this sort of thing gets started. The film is enlightening and mildly creepy. I walked away actually feeling a deeper sympathy for these people whom I would typically just write off as nut jobs.