Will Smith's Scientology Ties Odd Given Founder's Overt Racism
L. Ron Hubbard Writings Spoke Ill of African Americans Other Races
Will Smith’s and Jada Pinkett Smith’s ties to Scientology and the controversy it’s causing surrounding his latest picture, “After Earth,” are bizarre given the overt racism of the pseudo-religion’s founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Smith’s picture, which is bombing at the box office, has touched off a heated debate about Scientology’s hold onHollywood.
The movie’s themes, reflected in dialog, are clearly aligned with many of the church’s precepts. Meanwhile, the Smiths’ ties to church are well known. They’ve donated thousands of dollars to the organization over the years, although more recently they have moved away from the group.
Smith has insisted numerous times that he is not a Scientologist although he has defended pal Tom Cruise for his ardent belief in Hubbard’s teachings.
Smith has also compared Dianetics to teachings in the Bible. “In all of the experiences I’ve had with Tom and Scientology, like, 98 percent of the principles are identical to the principles of the Bible,” he said in a 2007 interview withVogue magazine.
Kelly Preston Hypes Sketchy Kirstie Alley Diet Products
The church’s philosophy is based on a system of “universal truths” known as “Dianetics.” Hubbard, a science-fiction writer came up with the philosophy in the 1950s. Although he was revered by his church as someone who was enlightened, he was very grounded in his times, especially on race relations.
Hubbard was overtly racist and considered people of color to be sub-human, according to many of his own writings.
“You shouldn’t be scrubbing the floor on your hands and knees. Get yourself a ni**er; that’s what they’re born for,” he wrote in a letter to his first wife, Polly Grubb. Their marriage lasted from 1933 to 1947.
Phillp Seymour Hoffman ‘The Master;’ Scientology or Not? (watch!)
Hubbard once dreamed of setting up a colony for whites in Africa because he believed the natives were easy to subjugate. He had a special fascination with South Africa’s then all-white apartheid regime. “The African tribesman, with his complete contempt for truth and his emphasis on brutality and savagery for others but not for himself, is a no-civilization,” he once said.
He had particular contempt for South Africa’s native Zulus. “The Zulu is only outside the bars of a madhouse because there are no madhouses provided by his tribe… primitives are far more aberrated than civilized peoples. Their savageness, their unprogressiveness, their incidence of illness…”
Tom Cruise in Scientology Flap Over Drug Use, or Not
Hubbard also had particular contempt for Asians and considered the Chinese to be sub-human as well. ” The trouble with China is, there are too many chinks here,” he wrote in his journal in 1928.
Jesse Prince, an African American and former high-ranking church leader, says Hubbard’s racism permeates the church to this day.
“[Current church leader] David Miscavige, is a racist, a racist in extremis, as well as his South African companion, Norman Starkey,” Prince said in a 1998 radio interview.
Katie Holmes, Suri Find Religion; Scientology Officially Out
“I was the only African-American that I know of that ever achieved a high position within Scientology. And even then, I was continually subjected to racial slurs by David Miscavige and, um, Norman Starkey to the point where we nearly came to blows about it,” he added.
“L. Ron Hubbard himself is on tape giving lectures speaking about how stupid, uh, African-Americans are, you know, and how they can’t be cleared and the best thing to do is to just put ‘em all on a barge and dump ‘em in the middle of the water,” he said. “They don’t care anything about African-American people.”
Is Scientology unwatchable?
The news is not good for the new movie “After Earth,” which means the news is not good for Sony Pictures, or Will Smith … or, it seems, Scientology, whose sci-fi inflected religious systeminspired what was to be a summer blockbuster. Now it’s looking like a summer bust.
As the NYTimes reports, “After Earth” took in 18 percent less than the lowest of prerelease expectations and may have ended Smith’s reputation as a surefire action-adventure box office draw — not to mention hurting the budding career of son Jaden, his co-star. Oh, and how much further off track could M. Night Shyamalan’s career go? He used to pose big questions in intriguing ways, but he directed and co-wrote this movie, yet another flop for him.
The movie has been ripped in reviews, and may well add to the narrative of decline and crisis that has been surrounding Scientology: an exodus of members, tell-all books, lawsuits, celebrity scandals. Well, maybe Scientology IS like a real religion after all.
But the main difference may be that Scientology just isn’t watchable. “After Earth” appears destined to join John Travolta’s 2000 film “Battlefield Earth,” which aimed to introduce Scientology’s unusual cosmology to the public, as among the Worst Movies Ever.
This is ironic given the Hollywood DNA in Scientology’s genome — it draws celebrities like moths to a flame. It’s also odd in that biblically-based dramas — like the eponymously-named History Channel series, “The Bible,” are going gangbusters and spurring copycats.
Could it be that Scientology itself is the problem? Religions succeed in part because they tell a convincing story that undergirds the eternal truths they preach. Maybe Scientology doesn’t have such a coherent story, or one that is so easily told. Even “The Master,” the 2012 Paul Thomas Anderson drama that gives a fictionalized account of the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) got raves (and Oscar nominations) for acting and direction but still puzzled critics who weren’t sure what it was about.
Apropos, Ex-Scientologist Marc Headly explains some of the Scientology motifs in “After Earth,” including the display of “Robotic Emotions”:
Will Smith’s character is pretty much devoid of all emotions for the entire movie. While this may be part of his character or something that was directed in the script, in Scientology, one goes through great amounts of training and counseling to control one’s emotions and “mis-emotion,” as described by Hubbard. Anyone who has done even the smallest amount of Scientology training will recall sitting and staring at a person for hours on end without being allowed to blink, smile or turn one’s head. Will Smith pretty much masters that for the entirety of this movie.
Yeah, that’s not a formula for cinematic success, really.
What also may hurt the cause is how cagey Scientology’s adherents can be about Scientology. Tom Cruise got got out on video explaining the religion, but normally the religion imposes strict rules on confidentiality. “The first rule of Scientology is you don’t talk about Scientology.”
Hence this passage from Will and Jaden Smith’s two-handed interview with New York Magazine:
Q: I’ve read that you believe life can be understood through patterns.
Will: I’m a student of patterns. At heart, I’m a physicist. I look at everything in my life as trying to find the single equation, the theory of everything.
Q: Do you think there is a single theory to everything?
Jaden: There’s definitely a theory to everything.
Will: When you find things that are tried and true for millennia, you can bet that it’s going to happen tomorrow.
Jaden: The sun coming up?
Will: The sun coming up, but even a little more. Like for Best Actor Oscars. Almost 90 percent of the time, it’s mental illness and historical figures, right? So, you can be pretty certain of that if you want to win—as a man; it’s very different for women. The patterns are all over the place, but for whatever reason, it’s really difficult to find the patterns in Best Actress.
Q: Do you see patterns too, Jaden?
Jaden: I think that there is that special equation for everything, but I don’t think our mathematics have evolved enough for us to even—I think there’s, like, a whole new mathematics that we’d have to learn to get that equation.
Will: I agree with that.
Jaden: It’s beyond mathematical. It’s, like, multidimensional mathematical, if you can sort of understand what I’m saying.
Q: Are both of you religious?
Will: No, we are students of world religion.
Maybe they need to study some more before their next film?
http://davidgibson.religionnews.com/2013/06/03/is-scientology-unwatchable/
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2335824/Jada-Pinkett-Smiths-touching-family-portrait-singer-daughter-Willow-mother-battled-drug-addiction-raise-her.html#ixzz2VJCKtYww
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Jada Pinkett Smith's touching family portrait with singer daughter Willow and the mother who battled drug addiction to raise her
|
With their strong bone structure and natural star power, it's clear that good looks run in the family.
Jada Pinkett Smith poses with her singer daughter Willow and her mother Adrienne Banfield Jones in a touching family portrait for Redbook magazine.
But while the trio are obviously close, their happy smiles hide a troubled past, with Adrienne a former drug addict who struggled to raise Jada as a single mother.
Touching: Jada Pinkett Smith, right, poses with daughter Willow, left, and her mother Adrienne Banfield Jones, who battled drug addiction to raise her
Adrienne was not much older than her granddaughter Willow, 12, when she gave birth to Jada while still at high school.
But overcoming her troubled background Jada found success and fame when she moved to Hollywood as a young actress.
As proof of her star power she is featured on the front cover of July's Redbook magazine.
In an interview with the magazine the 40-year-old talked about her relationship with actor husband Will, saying she would never leave him.
'What is the thing that Will could do to make me not love him?' she said. ' That would make me abandon him?
Covergirl: Jada features on the front of July's Redbook
'I can’t think of one. I’m sorry. Except if he did something bad to the kids – now we’ve got a problem.'
And she explained that rather than seeking out the spotlight, the couple took delight in the little things.
And she explained that rather than seeking out the spotlight, the couple took delight in the little things.
'We tend to find magic in the mundane. Picking Willow up from her girlfriend’s house at 9.30pm, and enjoying that ride together, then stopping at 7-Eleven to get some ice cream as a family.'
And Jada insisted that despite being a staple of the gossip magazines, she avoided reading them.
And Jada insisted that despite being a staple of the gossip magazines, she avoided reading them.
'I have been affected by gossip and I know people who have been too,' she said. ' I’ve seen marriages destroyed by gossip. It is cruel.
'At the end of the day, all that matters is: Do you love what you see when you look in the mirror? That is it, baby.'
Despite their previous troubles, Jada remains close to her mother.
The three recently gave a joint interview in which they discussed their past.
'I don't look at the experience that we had as bad,' Jada assured her mother, in the excerpt from the new web series Red Table Talks, from Will Smith's production company Overbrook Entertainment.
The Smiths: Jada joined Willow and stepson Trey at the premiere of husband Will and son Jaden's new movie After Earth in New York last week
Adrienne told Willow: 'I had mommy when I was very young and then I got addicted to drugs after mommy was born.
'It was a very difficult time for us growing up with her and Jada did not have the kind of life that you have now.
'I was on drugs until your mom was like 17 or 18-years-old. That's a long time.'
Adrienne never reveals what type of drugs she used, although it should be that noted that Jada drew up in Baltimore in the 1980's at the height of the American crack cocaine epidemic.
Jada told her mother she has no resentment saying: 'I turned all of that into power. So I used those things as motivation.'
Jada graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts in 1989 and eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, landing parts in several television shows and feature films.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2335824/Jada-Pinkett-Smiths-touching-family-portrait-singer-daughter-Willow-mother-battled-drug-addiction-raise-her.html#ixzz2VJCKtYww
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
0 comments:
Post a Comment