"Yahoo! Ritalin Saved My Life!"
Well, that's not really what I said when I was at the Scientology Museum, Psychiatry: An Industry of Death, with Andrew Gumbel. I didn't say "Yahoo!" (although, I now wish I did), and I actually said, "Ritalin changed my life" (ie, improved it measurably), and I didn't jump up and down. There are, however, a few correct "and"s and "the"s in there.
What a surprise that a propagandist employed by Scientology gets the facts wrong. Those facts, and then there's the stuff in the museum, suggesting the Holocaust and 9-11 were caused by psychiatry! Oh, and then, there's the belief that we're all inhabited by tiny bits of blown up aliens that forms the basis of their religion. Hello? If there's anybody who needs a shrink, it's somebody who believes that shit!
From Jeannette Walls on MSNBC yesterday (thanks, Bev!):
Psychiatry blame game
Does Tom Cruise’s religion believe that psychiatry is responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks?That’s the impression one visitor got after he visited the Los Angeles Scientology museum, "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death."
Scientology abhors psychiatry as well as psychiatric drugs, and the museum’s recent opening was attended by a slew of Hollywood Scientology celebs, including Lisa Marie Presley and Jenna Elfman.
Quoting an exhibit that claims “suicide bombers are … assassins manufactured through drugs and psycho-political methods,” Andrew Gumble writes on LACityBeat that the museum “all but asserts that psychiatry is responsible for everything evil in the world” including the terrorist attacks.
A spokeswoman for the museum dismisses Gumble’s account.
“He came in with some chick who started jumping up and down, shouting ‘Yahoo! Ritalin saved my life! So I think he’s hardly unbiased,” Marla Filidei of the Citizens Commission of Human Rights International — which bills itself as a “watchdog group sponsored by Scientology” — told The Scoop. “We invite people to come in and judge for themselves.”
UPDATE: Andrew Gumbel's email to Jeannette Walls:
Hey there,
Thanks for your item about the Scientologists' anti-psychiatry museum, as reported by yours truly. One quick thing: I hope you noticed that Marla Filidei, in her effort to trash me and my credibility, didn't actually deny that the museum claims psychiatry was responsible for 9/11. (And it's pretty hard to deny, since the museum display says so explicitly.)
All the best
Andrew Gumbel
(PS You might also want to correct the spelling of my name. Thanks.)
A note regarding his note:
(PS You might also want to correct the spelling of my name. Thanks.)
He's so...British!
And even if you had jumped up and down, they're in a bit of a glass house to use that against you, given some of Tom Cruise's public behavior in recent months.
deja pseu at January 25, 2006 7:15 AM
deja pseu writes:
Excellent observation!
I'm delighted to find out that "some chick" was a reference to you, Amy.
Incidentally, the faulty logic is apparent (and from Scientologists, we can expect no less). You cannot simply dismiss someone's criticisms because of who they happened to be with and what they happened to be doing.
Patrick at January 25, 2006 8:03 AM
stupid
sonewmakorei@msn.com at January 25, 2006 9:18 AM
Alas, it seems I'll never be quite so eloquent and intelligent as you.
Now, back to your "clearing" session!
Amy Alkon at January 25, 2006 9:36 AM
I thought that it might be you! Just don't ask me what I was doing reading the site, when there was perfectly good but dry journal article waiting to be summarized...
bev at January 25, 2006 5:02 PM
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