I watched this story, not because of TC, or his cult, but because I wanted to see how it would be handled. Okay, so Hoda Kotb asked some mildly pointed questions, maybe even irritating to the scientology crowd. What I was hoping for, and didn't happen, was for the story to look into some of the cults' activities. They seemed to focus on the "Celebrity" center. But what about the curious compound near Hemet, CA, which Gilman Springs Road, just SE of Highway 79, runs through? I used to travel this route, when servicing an account in Hemet. It was always a little unnerving, like some kind of retraining compound or prison. I would see uniformed para-militaristic individuals walking back and forth across the road, sometimes hearding bewildered looking people in plain jumpsuit-like outfits, back and forth. I've heard that they've built a tunnel under the road now, so it's probably not as noticeable.
You could see large, hanger-style buildings in the background, and what appeared to be dormitories. One would think that this was some kind of training, or retraining, center. My mind would go racing with thoughts of what might have been going on inside those fences. What were these folks being put through?
Years before, I had the "opportunity' to visit the scientology center in Riverside, CA. It wasn't a voluntary visit. My brother's girlfriend had been visited by some scientologists, who asked her if she would like to be more self-assured, more confident. They eventually convinced her to take a self-help class - for a fee. As a devout LDS, once she realized what had happened, she tried to get her money back. That's where I got involved.
I was home for the weekend from Camp Pendleton, and my brother told me what had happened. He said they were heading over to the Riverside center to get her money back. I said I'd tag along, as I didn't have any plans, and maybe we could hit In-n-Out on our way back home. No such luck.
We arrived at the center, and went in through the entrance, where we were greeted, and asked how we could be helped. When my brother explained the situation, and mentioned that his girlfriend wanted her money back, things immediately changed. We were ushered back into some other part of the building, and my brother and his girlfriend were taken into a room with a "counselor," who promptly locked the door. According to my brother, the counselor asked a lot of questions about why she changed her mind, and if my brother coerced her. then he had her hold some metal pipes, which were connected to a meter, and asked her more questions. He said that according to the machine's responses, she didn't really know what she wanted, and was being controlled by my brother. They came out after a bit, and the counselor left, telling us he'd be back. I peeked in the room, and saw the "machine." as an Electronics Tech, I recognized the "machine' as a simple lie detector. I'm talking Radio Shack here. I've posted a schematic of one here, in case you want to start your own scientology counseling center.
Anyway, this went on for some time, the counselor would come back, they would go into the room, lock the door, and continue with the questioning. I stood in the hallway. at one point, I heard the counselor yelling, and stepped closer to the door to listen. He was shouting obscenities! Good job, bud. He left again, and my brother and his grilfriend came out. She looked like she'd been crying. I told my brother I could hear the guy yelling, and that he should allow that to happen. So the next time he let the guy know that was not acceptable.
By this time I was getting pretty fired up. No body should talk to a woman that way, and why couldn't they just give her the money back? And.......In-n-Out was going to close soon.
Well, they wouldn't give her the money back until she had undergone the "counseling," because they knew that she really did want to take their classes.
So, to make a long story short, this whole thing took about two hours, and finally, we were ushered into an office with some guy that spoke very quietly, very controlled, and she was given her money back. Of course, he told us they would always welcome us back, should we change our mind. Yeah, right.
Of course, Tom Cruise is a real poster child for this group.
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