About book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, And The Prison Of Belief (2013)
I'm fascinated by cults, religious sects, science fiction, and international intrigue - and I have a little crush on John Travolta. Scientology touches upon all those things, and Wright's book is a well-researched and well-written examination of the Church of Scientology. To sum it up, I knew things were bad, but I didn't know they were THIS bad. It's really bad, and it also offers some really interesting insight into how and why people are drawn into cults. This book shines a bright light on the strategic, deliberate, and frightening tactics used to lure people into Scientology and to keep them there. The really terrifying part is to note ways in which our current political culture uses similar methods to ensure that citizens stay in line. I recommend this book for anyone interested in Hollywood, celebrity, religious organizations, and 20th century history. While I would hesitate to recommend this book to someone actually interested in knowing what Scientology is, it certainly offers a revealing insight into what can happen when a person is determined to denigrate something they believe to be nefarious. This book does not actually deal with the subject of Scientology per se, but is a detailed and often tedious account of the author's case against it. Where it falls down is its exclusive reliance on avowed detractors of the church for its information. I came across the book while browsing the HBO website for something entirely different, where I saw the channel was doing a documentary feature based on it. The first thing I found when searching for the book on the web was actually the church's own rebuttal to many of the statements and claims Wright makes. Out of interest I read both simultaneously and was somewhat discouraged to find just how liberal the author has chosen to be about quoting his sources, while paying no heed at all to facts which often render them unreliable at best, and preposterous at worst. Arguments aside, it is all but impossible to believe many of the claims made in the book on grounds of sheer likelihood. For one, the book contains allegations, which if true, would long since have cost the church its legal right to operate at all. The idea that those invested with the responsibility to protect the church have somehow circumvented the rule of law time and time again, as well as blackmailed the IRS into declaring it a religion, is beyond the realm of plausibility. In short, whatever the merits of the Church of Scientology, this book does not represent an impartial investigation, but a calculated effort to discredit at any and all costs, and as such is a poor source of information. That it will be met with much enthusiasm by those already subscribed to its conclusions, however, I have no doubt.
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Burn Scientology to the ground and salt the earth where it once stood
—Blackwolf
