John “On the Spot”: A challenge to the Office of Special Affairs(Scientology)
For those who don’t know who Mark Rathbun is you might have heard about him in the news last week. He broke a HUGE story last week on how the Church of Scientology were so pissed off about South Park’s episode “Trapped in the Closet”. If you don’t recall, this episode was about Scientology and the ridiculous things this religion believes in. The immediate result of this episode was immense, first Isaac Hayes(Chef) leaves the show and then Tom Cruise threatened to not do a publicity tour for Paramount pictures’ Mission Impossible III in which Cruise would later deny in an interview with ABC’s Primetime.
In reference to the article, Mark talked about how Scientology employs a certain sect of their office called the OSA(Office of Special Affairs) which is more or less the propaganda arm of the the religion started by a guy(L.Ron Hubbard) who was once a sci-fi writer, called a “mental case” in a statement filed to the FBI after an agent interview, and thought the US Navy was trying to sabotage his bullshit research. Pretty much, if you’ve seen the movie “V” for Vendetta, the OSA would be the ones who “black bagged” people who talk out against them. As a matter of fact these tactics sound like those used by another famous figure. It was basically these guys jobs to start going after Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and a slew of their Hollywood friends. And boy, did they mess with the wrong crowd.
What I find ironic is how Scientology considers itself a serious religion like Christianity or Judaism but when dealt with the same critiques(and guess what South Park has done episodes speaking of Christianity and Judaism too) they get all pissed off and start trying all of this gestapo bullshit against guys(Matt and Trey) that have the means and the medium to discredit you in every step of the way? And then you’re going to get guys like me who count South Park as more of a major influence then anything religion has done(and proud of it) to come about in blogs like this and hopefully notify the world what we are up against. And what were you hoping to accomplish?
I was brought up Christian, but since the age of 18 I’ve been fairly agnostic to the point of borderline athiest, but I’m not the guy to go out and blast people for what they believe in. Shit, if you guys want to believe in stories of people who can walk on water or that Earth was created with a snap of a finger versus crazy things like science and facts go for it. That’s your business, not mine. But, the second a religion breaks the law for its own good (like hiding convicted pedo-priests or creating arms of your sect that would try and discredit the government or celebrities and their friends) you now become the victim of your own excess. Because, in this age of the interwebs and being able to ascertain information at the speed of light on just about anything, the likelihood of religions GAINING followers is not nearly as great now as it were back in the 70’s or 80’s where you were just told to believe in what your parents wanted you to believe in. Nowadays we have a choice. We have a chance now to challenge against such unruly and heretic practices.
So, I’d like to give a warm shout out to South Park, my favorite show, and I hope that they continue to challenge religion, challenge authority, and question everything.
I hope this turns out to be another Gravity Falls-type show with an overarching storyline.