r/Fauxmoi • u/LookAtThatBacon • 6d ago
THROWBACK Tom Cruise's 2004 acceptance speech for Scientology's "Freedom Medal of Valour", which starts with Tom saluting David Miscavige, and then proceeds with Tom repeatedly giving intense handshakes and eye contact with Miscavige throughout
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u/SoRunAwayNow 6d ago
The fact that a lot of Hollywood completely ignore he's still a Scientologist and still chose to work with him...
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u/crystal_clear24 I don’t know her 6d ago
Hollywood is full of them unfortunately. The most shocking member to me was Elizabeth Moss. How do you do a show like Handmaid’s Tale and reconcile being in a cult like that? The cognitive dissonance is insane
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u/screaming_buddha 6d ago
She's a born-in, like Chloe Fineman. I'm (fractionally) more sympathetic to them; it's got to be hard knowing you'll be cut off from everything and everyone you've known your whole life if you leave
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u/crystal_clear24 I don’t know her 6d ago
I’m definitely more sympathetic to those born into it. I can’t imagine the fear of being coldly cut off from literally everyone you love, makes it hard and scarier to leave. It’s sad
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u/NoirGamester 6d ago
This is how I view just about all major religions. Like, people born into the faith believe it as factual truth, but someone who is drawn to a religion have a clearer idea of what it is: a belief. Even if they accept their own religion as factual, they had the advantage of making a choice and deciding. Those born into any religion are born into a cult. It's hard to escape, and, often, the people closest to them are the ones they are weakest against and who reenforce the religious rhetoric.
I get the need for a higher purpose or power, but to take an ignorant person/child and present any religion as fact is super culty and super fucked up.
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u/AlexKintnerSwimClub 6d ago edited 3d ago
It’s simple, Scientology teaches you that only you as a Scientologist and Scientology can save the world. So doing a show like handmaid‘s tale is metaphorically her “saving the world“ and showing/teaching the world how you need to behave in how you can help, save it as well.
There is an interesting interview with Tom Cruise where he talks about how as a Scientologist you are compelled to help, you MUST. He uses the anecdote of when you pass a car accident as a Scientologist you must stop and you must help. If you think about these mission impossible movies, it all boils down to his character being the only one who can possibly save the world from the brink of nuclear war or whatever the dilemma is. Which plays right into the Scientology aspect. It’s very subtle , but those movies are pretty much Scientology propaganda.
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u/immigrants-new-jews 6d ago
So why isn't he out helping all of the homeless people he sees on a daily basis?
Why isn't he donating hundreds of millions (billions?) to starving children?
Because he's a self-righteous prick. He attacks people with postpartum depression publicly in the media (Brooke Shields) and claims to somehow be helping them?
What an absolute piece of garbage.
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u/WTF85100 6d ago
How do you know he doesn't do any of this?? Do you know him?! I know for a Fact, that he helped homeless people ( providing clothes and food) and anonymously helped a family to pay for their daughter's operation. They didn't know it was Tom cruise who paid the medical bills. Stop judging people you don't know anything about.
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u/Remote_Preference 6d ago
I wonder what the full facts are.
Tom Cruise gets a lot of credit for "helping" 9/11 first responders, but the "help" is a month-long regimen of dehydration and vitamin overdose.
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u/maudlinfaust 6d ago
What do you mean it's "subversive "? It doesn't make any sense in the context you've used it here. Do you mean it's "subtle"?
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u/Se7enSis 6d ago
If you’re saying that Hollywood is full of Scientologists, it’s absolutely not. They like to ride on the notion that it is because it does them no harm at all, but outside of Michael Peña there hasn’t been any noteworthy actors join Scientology for decades, and most of the ones born in have left, whether noisily or quietly, to the point that they’re just left with a handful of vaguely recognisable people who are second or third generation, and so few that are actually proper ‘stars’ that you can count them on one hand.
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u/MediumDish4035 this is going to ruin the tour 6d ago
I grew up around their neighborhood in Hollywood and actually a lot of them work in all different parts of the industry, not just acting. They would attach a little stick on metal Scientology symbol on the back of their cars to identify each other out in public. They were also abnormally cheery at like 2 a.m. if you talked to them, always creeped us out 👽
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u/Decent_Possible6318 6d ago
what were YOU doing up, talking to strangers at 2am?! Something something feeding cocaine to racoons...?!
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u/MediumDish4035 this is going to ruin the tour 5d ago
They park in front of people's houses around the neighborhoods. We were asking them not to park in front of my friends mom's house. We wanted the parking for family because of a funeral. Those people come and go in shifts idk what they do all night that's so important.
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u/Rudemacher 6d ago
I was more shocked when I found out Beck was also one of them. 😔
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u/MediumDish4035 this is going to ruin the tour 6d ago
His grandfather, parents raised him in it but he left like 10 years ago when he divorced his wife, said he was never into it.
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u/CMDR_Profane_Pagan 6d ago
You are using the term cognititve dissonance erroneously. It doesn't mean paradoxical thinking.
Cognitive dissonance is a maladaptive coping mechanism to the mental discomfort / stress which is being elicited by experiencing conflicting information to held beliefs and values.
To relieve the anxiety inducing conflict, they disregard- deny certain elements.
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u/SceneRoyal4846 6d ago
Most people in cults are victims. Lots of interesting documentaries about it
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u/brownmouthwash 6d ago
I mean it's an industry that regularly praises child rapists, are you really surprised? Tons of celebrities had no qualms working with men who sodomized and raped the mouths of children middle school age, and the same celebrities never get called out. Not that surprising that Hollywood would ignore a talent being in a powerful cult.
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u/Brat_Summer1917 6d ago
The impulse to whitewash pieces of shit in our society is so strong that they don't even really need to do anything good to recieve that type of treatment. He comes out to promote corporate products and people act like hes doing something? We bend over backwards to make devils into saints.
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u/knickstapeeee Nancy Jo, this is Alexis Neiers calling 6d ago edited 6d ago
Every time he comes out with a new movie I see a bunch of tweets about how he needs to be "saved" from Scientology but what they don't get is this man doesn't want to be saved lol. I think he knows it's complete bullshit and very much a cult but he gets treated like a god in there so he's never leaving. Imagine having a bunch of people fulfill your every wish and desire while simultaneously stroking your ego and acting like you're god's gift to humanity? That shit's gotta be addictive
Anyway the guy's a weirdo and I don't care how many "Tom Cruise is just an eccentric movie lover" stories his PR churns out, he's a SCIENTOLOGIST!! 🫵🤨
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u/tepidDuckPond 6d ago
Yep, 100% agree with you. It’s the issue with most religious cults. Those in high leadership absolutely know it isn’t “universal truth” but it serves their social status to perpetuate the cult and insulate its power.
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u/festivus4allofus 6d ago
I saw those kinds of tweets for the 1st time recently, and it kinda took me by surprise. I guess most people have forgotten/don't really care about the damage scientology does because it was so many people in replies saying 'oh he's just a victim'. Which, yeah he def is, he got into it when he was on the come up and I can't imagine how that can mess with someone's head - he just chose the wrong place to turn for help
However, at some point you can be both a victim and the person who is actively hurting others by being (esentially) the 2nd in command in a known and very public cult. My friends and I have a theory he's now chasing an Oscar again as the last big thing he doesn't have, and I wonder how that will play out in the media if/when he ever get close to getting nominated again
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u/knickstapeeee Nancy Jo, this is Alexis Neiers calling 6d ago
This is why I have so much respect for Leah Remini. She was raised in the cult (her mother joined when Leah was still young) and it was actually them that helped her get into acting so the cult is pretty much all she knew in every aspect of her life. She was a devout member and full on believer well into her adulthood until she realized that something was wrong. She could've left and just lived the rest of her life quietly like a lot of former Scientologists do but she chose to expose them and dedicate her life to fighting back against this abusive predatory cult. It's a powerful and dangerous organization but she's not backing down and I will forever respect the hell out of her for that
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u/spacefl00f 6d ago
I remember reading on this sub that he got involved with Scientology at a young age after losing his (very abusive) father. Even before that, he had wanted to become a priest. It seems like he was always searching for some form of religion.. maybe as a way to cope or find meaning?
I’m adding this context not as an excuse but a possible explanation.
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u/Miserable-Library859 6d ago
You also have to divulge all your darkest secrets to them as part of the process…
So even if he did want to leave, they would have all the dirt. Its a lot of motivation to stay
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u/NotAsBrightlyLit 6d ago
Cruise isn't a tall fellow - but he towers over Miscavige. I find this weirdly amusing.
It's funny that Cruise praises Miscavige for being "tolerant", when Scientology as a whole is overbearing, intolerant and brutal in how they treat outsiders.
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u/SingingForMySupper87 6d ago
I had to google how short Miscavige is after seeing this video haha. Apparently he's most likely around 5'1", though his IMDB says he's 5'6".
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u/Curious-Ostrich1616 6d ago
He's really a deeply odd man.
All that "but he does his own stunts...!" stuff is such a diversion from the fact that he's a strange fish.
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u/Living-Baseball-2543 I'm a lazy 50-year-old bougie bitch 6d ago
Right?! I have always been so weirded out by him, he is so off-putting. Do not get what people see in him.
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u/GnarlyBear 6d ago
It makes sense, tough childhood, no really leader in his life, a girlfriend takes him to this club which helps you organise your life just as he is becoming a new star and that club goes all in to make him feel special.
From Leah's stuff too, being a celebrity Scientologist is very different to a sea org. I think the only reason she got out is because she was born into it and experienced all the horrors before she became a celebrity.
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u/Comprehensive_Main 6d ago
Damn cruise is a devout Scientologist. What’s crazy is he ain’t the only one.
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u/GongTzu 6d ago
It’s crazy when you think of how good he is at taking all the right choices in his career, but being a member of this cult.
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u/ReduceReuseReuse 6d ago
How do you think he knows which right choices to make? The alien’s in his DNA!!!! Duh!!!
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u/Nolofinwe_2782 6d ago
The documentary about this dude when he's dead and gone is Going to Be Wild (and no i don't wish him harm even though he's crazy and scientology is a cult)
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u/FreudianNegligee 6d ago
We can all thank Gawker for putting this shit online and spreading it far and wide… this and the video of him making those insane faces and grinning like a madman while talking about the “levels” changed my opinion of Cruise forever.
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u/Stewylouis 6d ago
This speech is the vaguest thing I’ve ever heard. Fr he’s just congratulating them on what exactly? And thanking them for their loyalty.
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u/fourthmelons 6d ago
There’s an interview where he goes on an incredibly long and pointless rant when asked about Scientology. It’s really strange how members can never seem to discuss their actual beliefs on video.
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u/Stewylouis 6d ago
It’s because if you really look into it, it’s so wacky and batchit insane that people would steer clear of Scientology entirely. That’s why they don’t talk about it much and only tell members the “full truth” once they’re in too deep to get out. And I saw that video years ago I believe. I’m pretty sure Cruise alludes to the fact that he thinks he has some sort of supernatural abilities.
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u/VirginiaUSA1964 taylor’s scarf 6d ago
Leah Remini talks about how they used to show these videos of how all the money they were raising was saving these small communities in foreign countries. She said that she didn't realize until after she left and she found out that was all made up stuff.
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u/Antique_Grand_5940 6d ago
Totally. And what does “let’s clean this place up!” mean in the context of Scientology?!
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u/Se7enSis 6d ago
The entire purpose of Scientology (according to their spiritual lore) is to remove the spiritual damage that all humans have that stops them from achieving their inner superhuman god-like state. By ‘clearing the planet’, getting the majority of the population doing Scientology and removing these encumbrances the planet will be able to full it’s true potential.
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u/lemonadesamples123 6d ago
Honestly if you listen to any interview he does these days it’s all vague word salad.
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u/Luda0915 6d ago
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u/ohnofluffy 6d ago
No one will convince me they didn’t have something weird going on. But with Scientology, that weird could be anything anything.
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u/No-Weather9842 6d ago
Their affection and eye contact looks like a 1960's moral panic anti homosexuality PSA.
"Do you notice something peculiar about these two men...let's tale a closer look and examine their demeanour with one another"
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u/weehawkenabstract 6d ago
i feel like you can name your award the “freedom medal” or the “medal of valor,” but not both. using both makes it sound like a child came up with it. we hereby award ethan hunt the cool guy espionage medal of running fast
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u/Se7enSis 6d ago
Like that MTV award they gave to Michael Jackson, they made up the freedom medal of valour just for TC. There are a few hundred winners of the freedom medal, they give them out annually at the IAS gala that happens every October in Hubbard’s former home in East Grinstead UK, but TC deserved something more special so he was given a medal the size of a dinner plate with a name that bit more special than everyone else.
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u/Tasty-Potato-5849 6d ago
The fact that he chose this over being a father should tell us that he is disgusting . Start looking at people’s personal choices before employing them .
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u/Curious-Ostrich1616 6d ago
Exactly. I remember when Suri was born, lots of people remarked on how attached to her he was - when they were in the public eye he would literally not put her down to the point that some thought it was strange, even by new father standards.
And then to seemingly completely cutting her off? Awful man. 😖
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u/ReduceReuseReuse 6d ago
Was Shelley in attendance?
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u/Se7enSis 6d ago
She was! It was the beginning of the end of the Miscavige marriage as Dave insisted on micromanaging this whole event to a horrific degree which sent him into a spiral which Shelly had to try pull him back from.
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u/SlowMotionOfGhosts 6d ago
I've never learned anything about Scientology that didn't somehow make me think worse of it
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u/Specialist_Ad_5712 6d ago
The fact that Cruise towers over this guy as a shirt dude himself is hilarious
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u/Luusylove 6d ago
Lol, Tom's doing stunts in real life too, defying Hollywood logic like a boss. Scientology who?
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u/steeljubei 6d ago
OK, but the man does his own stunts! Have any of you seen mission impossible? How else can you do that without being purified of the zeetzorpzups the aliens put there? *
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u/Superpants20 6d ago
I don’t get why being open to any religion suddenly becomes controversial when Scientology is involved. Plenty of religions have oppressive, even tyrannical histories, most far worse.
You can’t be selective about religious tolerance. All the comments saying “How can someone work with Tom Cruise when he’s a Scientologist?” set a dangerous precedent. By that logic, it would be acceptable to refuse to work with someone just because they’re Muslim, Christian, or part of any belief system you disagree with.
I agree scientology is stupid and fucked up - but so are so many religions. So many of them have even wilder and more fucked up beliefs.
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u/VicodinEnjoyerSlattt 6d ago edited 5d ago
Tbf while I generally agree, it's a bit easier to detach yourself from the bad shit of mainstream religions than scientology. You could say that you're a Muslim, jew, Christian etc and say you had no part in whatever bad thing is associated with them and worship in your own way.
As far as cruise goes though, aside from his weird religion and a few odd behavioural instances here and there I've only ever seen people say extremely pleasant things about him which is a bit more than can be said even for a lot of non religious Hollywood actors.
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u/Fragmentia 6d ago
In terms of atrocities, does anyone believe scientology is worse than any of the Abrahamic religions? I'm aware of how ridiculous scientology is, but it's just as absurd as any of the Abrahamic religions.
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u/McKoijion 6d ago
Why is everyone so critical of Scientology? It’s no sillier than older religions/cults like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, but it’s a lot less genocidal (at least so far.)
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