• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Will Smith funds school teaching Scientology creator's study method

Rrose Selavy

Stranded in Sub-Atomica
Rrose Selavy
Joined
Sep 11, 2004
Messages
3,395
Actor Will Smith is funding his own private school that will teach youngsters using an educational system devised in part by the Scientology cult.
The curriculum at Smith's New Village Academy of Calabasas, on which he has spent nearly £500,000, uses different educational theories including "study technology" – a learning method developed by L Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology.
Click to expand...

More here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/19/usa.filmnews
 
Damn it! And I was so looking forward to seeing "Hancock", too.

Well, that's it then. Will Smith is on my "ignore" list along with Tom Cruise... plonk! :rolleyes:
 
Not only are schools using "Study Tech" effectively front groups to either cater to Scientologist's and their children or to recruit children of the unwary, but the "tech" itself is unsound. It's not approved by any educational body that I'm aware of, and was developed by someone with no relevant background or qualifications. It also draws directly from Dianetics and Scientology e.g. the "misunderstood word" as some sort of mythical impediment to understanding. I for one learned a great deal precisely by skipping past words I didn't understand, looking them up later on - learning their meaning in context rather than from a dictionary or god forbid, a Hubbard-penned glossary. Study Tech dictates that you stop reading at an "MU" and define it before continuing.
 
Last edited:
Is boycotting Will Smith or Tom Cruise movies worth it? I can't help feeling I'd be cutting off my nose to spite my face. I enjoy many of their movies (more WC than TC) I do't coputn watching their work as any form of endorsement of their religion.

I mean I'd even read L Ron Hubbards Science fiction if a trusted friend told me it was any good.
 
The church that dare not speak its name

I'm not going to stop seeing entertaining movies just because some nutcase is involved in some way. I didn't stop watching "The Simpsons" when Nancy "voice of Bart" Cartwright's pamphlets for "Happy House" arrived in the mail.

It does make one wonder about all the rebranding that's going on with Scientology's "tech." Narconon, Delphi School, Happy House. I suppose it's really no more insidious than soup kitchens that give you a sermon with the meal, but it is interesting how much effort they put into hiding the "Scientology" name.
 
Last edited:
what I don't get is that WS seems to deny being a scientologist.
 
Ocelot said:
Is boycotting Will Smith or Tom Cruise movies worth it? I can't help feeling I'd be cutting off my nose to spite my face. I enjoy many of their movies (more WC than TC) I do't coputn watching their work as any form of endorsement of their religion.

I mean I'd even read L Ron Hubbards Science fiction if a trusted friend told me it was any good.
Click to expand...

Ocelot I'm with you on that one. Personnaly I have no problem with recognizing that both Tom cruise and Will Smith are good at their primary craft (acting), while acknowledging that they're seriously deluded elsewhere. Accordingly I can watch they're movies and enjoy them and that will not for a second reconcile me with the fraud of scientology.
 
Ocelot said:
Is boycotting Will Smith or Tom Cruise movies worth it? I can't help feeling I'd be cutting off my nose to spite my face. I enjoy many of their movies (more WC than TC) I do't coputn watching their work as any form of endorsement of their religion.

I mean I'd even read L Ron Hubbards Science fiction if a trusted friend told me it was any good.
Click to expand...
If a trusted friend does, and you do, the trust factor will go down a bit.
 
Ocelot said:
I mean I'd even read L Ron Hubbards Science fiction if a trusted friend told me it was any good.
Click to expand...

Having tried to read some of it years ago I'd say that if anyone told you that, they're not a friend.
 
Last edited:
bokonon said:
I'm not going to stop seeing entertaining movies just because some nutcase is involved in some way. I didn't stop watching "The Simpsons" when Nancy "voice of Bart" Cartwright's pamphlets for "Happy House" arrived in the mail.
Click to expand...


There's a big difference - I don't pay money to watch the Simpsons on TV. I'm not going to give any money to a movie starring Tom Cruise or Will Smith any longer. They've both jumped the couch, and I'm not interested in spreading the $cientology doctrine with my cash.


It does make one wonder about all the rebranding that's going on with Scientology's "tech." Narconon, Delphi School, Happy House. I suppose it's really no more insidious than soup kitchens that give you a sermon with the meal, but it is interesting how much effort they put into hiding the "Scientology" name.
Click to expand...


I disagree. I think it's much more insidious.


MichelQC said:
Ocelot I'm with you on that one. Personnaly I have no problem with recognizing that both Tom cruise and Will Smith are good at their primary craft (acting), while acknowledging that they're seriously deluded elsewhere. Accordingly I can watch they're movies and enjoy them and that will not for a second reconcile me with the fraud of scientology.
Click to expand...


I agree that they're good actors - no doubt about it. And if I were viewing one of their movies for free (say, via the Internet) then there's no big deal. My contention is that I don't want to give these whackjobs any more money for them to funnel into the mental septic tank that is $cientology doctrine.
 
Last edited:
Who's Will Smith ?
I quite liked Jim Kruise in 'The Firm' even though they failed to kill him in the end . As for John Trevolting in 'Battleaxe Earth ' ...
 
MattusMaximus said:
There's a big difference - I don't pay money to watch the Simpsons on TV. I'm not going to give any money to a movie starring Tom Cruise or Will Smith any longer.
Click to expand...
Most of the movies I see these days are on TV or DVD long after their theatrical run, but I'm not going to have a moral crisis if I happen to see "Hancock" in the theater. Smith's cut (if any) of the studio's cut (50%) of my $10 ticket won't even buy him a stick of gum, much less enslave the minds of a whole new generation.

ETA: Somebody around here has a signature that says something like "Prayer: A way to pretend you're making a difference by doing nothing." That's kind of the way I feel about boycotting actors because of their religious or political views.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom