Linkin Park are back together, but their reunion has already been marred by controversy. The band’s new co-vocalist Emily Armstrong was part of a group of Scientologists who showed up at the courthouse to support That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson during his 2020 rape trial, where he was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. The choice to have Armstrong fill in for the late Chester Bennington received quite a bit of backlash, notably from Cedric Bixler-Zavala of the Mars Volta/At The Drive-In. His wife Chrissie Carnell-Bixler was one of the four women who pursued rape charges against Masterson, and now, she has spoken out against Armstrong as well.
  • VirtualOdourEnglish
    795·
    2 months ago

    It’s good to see so many people now recognize scientology for the dangerous and manipulative cult it is and hope this starts to extend to the others like Falun Gong who are objectively worse in many regards but their propaganda tools like Epoch Times and their show Shen Yun are bizarrely popular in the US and much of Europe with hardly anyone ever commenting on the torture, rape, murder, and all the typical evil cult stuff they do.

    • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.eeEnglish
      10·
      2 months ago

      Le French resisted a bit of colonialism (from wiki/Scientology_status_by_country#France):

      Since 1995, Scientology has been classified as a secte (cult) by boards of inquiry commissioned by the National Assembly of France. It was first designated a sect in a 1995 report, and then in a 1999 report it was classified as an “absolute” sect and recommended its dissolution.

      In 2000, after ‘appeals for religious tolerance’ from USA President Clinton and his congress, president of France Jacques Chirac told Clinton to stay out of France’s business, noting “shocking White House support for Scientologists”. Alain Vivien, chairman of the Ministerial Mission to Combat the Influence of Cults, claimed that sects—primarily headed and funded by Scientology—had been infiltrating the United Nations and other European human rights organizations. In 2001, France passed the About–Picard law, intended to strengthen their ability to prevent and repress sects that undermine human rights and fundamental freedoms, and those which engage in mental manipulation. The law would allow courts “to order the immediate dissolution of any movement regarded as a cult whose members are found guilty of such existing offences as fraud, abuse of confidence, the illegal practice of medicine, wrongful advertising and sexual abuse.”

      A 2009 case resulted in a fraud conviction against two Church of Scientology organizations and five individuals, and recommended dissolution, and a 2012 appeal upheld the convictions including 600,000EUR in fines. Though the prosecution had requested the dissolution of the Scientology Celebrity Centre and its bookstore, a dissolution penalty wasn’t possible due to a brief retraction of the dissolution law prior to the 2009 verdict and the prohibition against enforcing it retroactively.

    • zarkanianEnglish
      925·
      2 months ago

      That’s cool and all, but this story is about Scientology.

      • ProgrammingSocks@pawb.socialEnglish
        161·
        2 months ago

        If you haven’t escaped a cult you might not understand, but cults control their members in similar ways, and understanding how one operates will help you to avoid others.

        Look up the BITE model

      • JaxEnglish
        61·
        2 months ago

        In a discussion about a cult

        Brings up other, equally bad if not worse cults - specifically a Chinese cult

        Whoa whoa guys, let’s not get crazy - this is about Scientology, remember? America bad, amirite?

        Hmm

        • zarkanianEnglish
          14·
          2 months ago

          Brings up other, equally bad if not worse cults - specifically a Chinese cult

          Whoa whoa guys, let’s not get crazy - this is about Scientology, remember? America bad, amirite?

          The Chinese government hates Falun Gong, so if anybody has a pro-China bias, it’s the person agitating against Falun Gong in an unrelated thread.

          • JaxEnglish
            31·
            2 months ago

            And I’m saying it’s weird to try to shut down conversations about cults in a conversation about cults.