There is the possibility that Cruise was initially just trying to help out the director and editor by giving them lots of soundbite footage to choose from, just like when you're filming for a series of commercials, making best use of the actor's time whilst you have him. You know, what with the Golden Era crew being complete fucking amateurs, Cruise was doing them a favour and they just sat there as Cruise emptied his entire head with the cameras rolling on...and then emptied it some more. When the raw footage gets to the editing suite at Goldbase, there's micro-managing Miscavige, ecstatic at watching his boy Cruise ejaculate profusely about scientology, SPs, Psychiatry etc with a passion. So, instead of going with the "less is moar" ethos, choosing the footage carefully, with modest not-so-crazy sounding snippets, and keeping as close to context as is feasibly possble in a proaganda vid, DM is going like "moar!!....yessss!....fucking mooarrrr is moooaaarrrrr!!!!111!!!". So I think it is partly the fact that Cruise is indeed batshit mental but, because of being used to working with real professional film makers instead, he gave them too much and probably didn't quite expect them to actually use the whole fucking lot in ridiculous stream-of-conciousness chunks like that. That's my theory. There is another theory that there's more stuff on a yet-to-be-leaked master tape somewhere that was too batshit even for Miscavige. Oh how I'd like to believe that.
That's actually my theory as well. It looks like a lot of takes, and "someone" lacked the good sense to choose from among them. But the initial impression is jaw-dropping. I'd love to get my hands on that master tape!
It's March 2008 and I just finished reading Andrew Morton's book on TC. I had been a frightened ex for about 4 years now. After reading the book I get curious. "I wonder if there is something in KSW 1 that will get them to leave me alone". I was new to the internet and had NO IDEA. What kept popping up was the Tom Cruise video. After going thru the run around of trying to find a site that still had the video, I finally watched it. My first thought was 'the public can't see this'. I spent the required 5 days with no sleep, glued to the web thinking the whole time "I've been betrayed". Then after 5 days I made the decision 'I'm fucking protesting these assholes'. So with a cardboard sign saying MISCAVIGE WHAT ARE YOUR CRIMES, I started. And haven't stopped. Thanks pooks and company. )
One of my favorite early comments from a blogger about Anonymous is from The Good Lieutenant at Jawa Report. He wrote, "I think we have found the antidote to Scientology."
While Bunker should get credit for the 'Speaks to Anonymous' thing, he should also be credited as the one who put up the TC vid on his YT channel instead of putting it somewhere the media could dl it, and also for taking it down again. Credit where credit is due!
I think what happened was the best: a physical disc in the hands of media. Any critic who directly put the video on the Internet would have been painting a large target on themselves, and against a lone critic, CoS would have used their full arsenal of legal harassment rather than the empty threats and bluster against media sites. (Points to Gawker for finally calling their bluff.)
This is awesome Patty, Barb, Emma et al!!!!! Thanks so much for sharing it. So in summary on day one there was "the leak". On day three the lulz kracken was released: On day five, now, the shitstorm of truth ramps up to near F5 strength: And on the seventh day, soon enough, we may rest as there will at last be the reckoning. Gawd but I do love this!
Let me clarify my part in this story and explain the details I find in error. Pooks contacted me with the tape and the request and sent me the DVD to put online. One thing I've never done over the years was post Scientology's copyrighted materials. I was asked to put this online. I didn't know from megauploader and whatever options there were for massive files at the time. I knew about streaming video which is what I thought was desired and why I was being approached. I created a new YouTube account called Tom Cruise Book and uploaded all the videos of the Cruise section with password protection. I also created a wordpress account called Tom Cruise Book which I was using to collect stories and information about the release of the book and answer some of the misinformation that was coming out before the book's release such as Tom Cruise's baby being created with Hubbard's sperm or whatever other nonsense was being printed at the time. I put the YouTube videos on the wordpress site and gave that page a password too then sent the password to Pooks to send to the media so they could access and download the videos to use for their reports. I felt this would get the video to the press and give me at least a little wriggle room if Scientology came after me legally. I asked that my name not be used and the password only given to the press. Gawker put the video online with this note: "Mark Ebner, the investigative reporter, just emailed us links to some Scientology promotional videos." All fine and good but below in the comment section someone asked where did this come from and Ebner relied something along the lines of Mark Bunker put it on this website (and gave the url) but there's a password on it. I think he's officially releasing the videos tomorrow." So I was outed only minutes after the video appeared. I wasn't happy about that. You may say, "Bunker, you are a fool to think you could get away with not being discovered..." and you are right. But I didn't expect to be instantly named as the dude who did this. I pulled down the videos and the wordpress page and watched as Gawker wrote "That didn't take long. Scientology had the videos taken down already." Mark Ebner called me and was very upset that I removed the videos. I explained that I was upset at being outed. He apologized for the mixup and explained that it was important that NBC and these other news organizations get the video from YouTube or another such site so they could say it was public and they could air it without being sued. I pointed out that these big media conglomerates with their massive legal departments didn't want to get sued by Scientology but they would happily allow me to be sued so they could show the video. This didn't seem entirely fair and I wasn't quite interested in being the pawn to cover their asses. He called me multiple times that night. I stood my ground...for a few hours. Before going to bed I decided to reupload the videos to YouTube and send the links to a producer at Countdown with Keith Olbermann who I had been emailing. It was now the wee hours of the morning as I was finishing this. I had the eight or nine chapters of the DVD uploading simultaneously as I went to bed about 5 a.m. I had set them all to be private, accessible to only the Countdown producer...or so I thought. I woke up a few hours later to discover that the one chapter that had Cruise's monologue was accidentally not set to "private." It had been viewed about 20,000 times while I slept and was downloaded and mirrored multiple times on multiple accounts by people who had read the Gawker and Radar stories and other coverage of the video. Later that afternoon, YouTube took down the channel I created for the Cruise tapes. By then, Barb had driven her DVD up to Mark Ebner and they were working to get the rest of it out. And Anonymous soon started attacking Scientology. After seeing Anonymous' "Message to Scientology" I was worried that I had helped to spawn attacks that would potentially scare Scientology staffers and also get Anonymous members in legal trouble so I decided I needed to make my initial tape to Anonymous. That's a part of the Wise Beard Man story that has never been told. Was it cowardly of me to take the Cruise video down? Maybe. Mark Ebner took credit for the release in the press and he never got sued so maybe I would have been safe, too. But even a year ago Marc Headley told me he was being grilled in deposition for half an hour about whether he had given the tape to me or if I was involved in its release. Incidentally, Marc had nothing to do with that tape being released. And as the tape rocketed abound the planet that first week of release, I was actually happy I took part in getting it out. It was newsworthy and deserved to be seen.
Glad you cleared that up Mark. There is a good reason you are known as Wise Beard Man and this episode is one of the reasons.
I note that you don't point out any errors in the original post. Not griping, but while you fill in some very important details that weren't clear because you were the one who knew them, I don't think anyone here is disagreeing about facts. No, it wasn't cowardly. It was the only sensible thing to do. Only a fool would have kept it up under those circumstances, especially since you are someone the cult particularly hates. They'd be a lot more likely to sue you for copyright infringement than Joe Schmoe. I also thought the strange "hiccup" in introducing the video and the fact that the one that showed up publicly accidentally was the craziest part of it attracted early attention to it, because it made it look like Scientology had taken it down. Because of that, people were actually watching when they actually attempted to take it down and failed, so the failed takedown attempt got a lot more attention and pissed more people off. Thanks for the rest of the story on this. I had known some but not all of those details.
Many thanks, Mark. The posting of the Cruise video and the rise of Anonymous are events of the greatest significance in the history of the Downfall of the Church of Scientology. It is important that we have an accurate historical record established before memories get fuzzy. Speaking of the Downfall of Scientology, here's this awesome vid from Rogue Anonymous from February 2008: "Before I go I have a personal message for you, David Miscarrige. Transmission is as follows: Eyes to the North, your kingdom will freeze. Eyes to the East, your kingfom will starve. Eyes to the South, your kingdom will burn. Eyes to the West, your kingdom will flood. And David, eyes to the ground, your kingdom will fall.
People like Pooks- and many of the Anons- are directly responsible for my leaving the cult. The awesomeness level evidenced in this thread is reaching epic proportions.
Dragging your ass (and mind) out of the brainfuck was a slow, tedious and incremental process, I must say.
Actually, I was fully aware of the problems and abuses within the first six months. I was in private communication with a number of critics and disaffected (so to speak) members and exes almost from Day One. I'd hoped to stay and work within the cult as an unindoctrinated member (which was an impossible dream) and I specifically posted several times that I was "Self censoring". I finally gave up on the cult at the two year mark, but, as I said, by that time, I was in the know for about a year and a half. I was then expelled a year later and made a full disclosure on a.r.s. of all my activities. So, really, not so long.
Not really much moar to say. After brabz and WBM filled in the gaps, the story is basically compleat. Once that video went up and became a controversy, Anons did the rest. None of us intended anything remotely like this to result. It was intended to be an OG style media troll to get a bump for Morton's book on Cruise. We often did that kind of shit, usually successfully, but this one was WTF? Everyone involved was utterly amazed at the actual results.
Ok I screwed up the dates on this report. Mod could you please edit my OP THAT WACKY TOM CRUISE VIDEO OR SCIENTOMOLOGY. Back in 2007 I received a copy of Scientology’s 2004 IAS (International Association of Scientologists) Event DVD featuring that now famous Tom Cruise video clip of him receiving the Medal of Valor from the Scientology dictator and tyrant, David Miscavige. The video that basically set Anonymous into action after Scientology tried to take the video down I had originally reported on the 2004 IAS event back in November of 2004. You can see my anonymous post on the event here: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.scientology/msg/68ff0e9525a02834 All mentions of 2005 should be edited to 2004. Sorry for the screw up. Mod edit: done
OK-- This is from my original report ( Nov 2004) on the Tom Cruise Freedom Medal of Valor Award. http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.scientology/msg/68ff0e9525a02834 THE DM AND TOM CRUISE LOVEFEST We are lectured by DM right out of Keeping Scientology Working. “It's a tough universe. The social veneer makes it seem mild. But only the tigers survive--and even they have a hard time.” It doesn't matter if you are a street sweeper, a house wife or a corporate executive. Life isn't fair and "you're in for the duration" so get your act together and do everything you can from YOUR position in life to expand Scientology NOW! He tells us that you can fool other people but you can't fool yourself about what you know you should be doing as a Scientologist. When you go to bed at night you had better know that you did ALL YOU could do. Remember I told you that I thought Tom Cruise was going to get a Freedom Medal at this IAS event? Not only did he get a Freedom Medal Award, but he got a super-duper first-ever spectacular award for being the OT celebrity that they all think he is. Tom Cruise was the recipient of the first-ever FREEDOM MEDAL OF VALOR AWARD! I can tell you what Tom was like in this event, in one word. Megalomania: A psychological state characterized by delusions of grandeur. Tom Cruise, like DM, was wallowing in a highly exaggerated estimation of himself. He was way too happy and pleased with himself. It wasn’t so much about all the things he's accomplished but about his tough attitude and his ethics. He often got this look in his eyes that was over the top. You had to wonder if the guy was really OK or becoming a stark raving nut job. It's fine to be happy with yourself and happy with achievement but he has gotten so intense that it’s scary to see the looks that come over his face sometimes. That gleam in the eye is the making of a fanatic. It's that "fixed dedicated glare" that LRH talks about in KSW. I would think that you would want a serene and confident look, not a fixed dedicated glare. Tom Cruise is beginning to look like a fanatic and it's damned creepy. If he’s very lucky, this guy will have a soft landing when he crashes back into the real world. The Tom Cruise section of the event was a big DM and TC love fest. They reminded me of the Ambiguously Gay Duo on Saturday Night Live. http://madison-paintball-club.com/MPC%20122.JPG http://www.teamhaze.com/Big_Wheel_Rally_3_021.jpg DM was Batman and Tom Cruise was his Robin. DM is awarding him but is careful about stroking him (at least publicly) because what they want to put across is that Tom is doing all of this because HE knows he should be doing it. Pay attention to that because that is important. It's at the heart of the Scientology mindset. OK Back to what happened. The video introduction to Tom is all about his celebrity thing around the world. It went on for ages. There he was at NASA, and thanks to his dissemination of study tech, the NASA website has a glossary of difficult terms. There he was with the leader of Japan. There he was being interviewed all over the world. On and on and on and on. His involvement in many Scientology programs including his promotion of CCHR was hammered home. It was a totally glowing report showing him to be the most influential celebs on the planet, the most active shilling member of the cult. It wasn’t about stroking Tom. It was about stroking Scientologists to get them to PRODUCE MORE. One story he told was about a wog. Tom told him all about SP’s until the guy finally asked with his voice full of awe, "Have you ever actually MET an SP?" Lots of laughter at that line and I missed whatever the point was that he was making. By that time I had a fixed glare of my own and it wasn't dedicated to getting everything he was saying. What I heard next was Tom saying he tried to imagine later what it would be like in a future when SP's were only a part of history. At that point I tried to imagine what it would be like when C of S PR was a part of history and you could take ANYTHING a Scientology shill says without a sack of salt. Here are some more of Tom’s cognitions. “WE are the authorities. We know who we are and what we have. We are Scientologists! We don't need to ask anyone for a permission slip! We should just go out and DO it.” Those were not his exact words but they are close enough. What did Tom have to say about the psychs? "Show no mercy! None!" That is a direct quote. The audience hung onto every word he said. They lapped him up like a drunk with a bottle. The IAS did their own long interview with Tom. I can't remember how many times he said it was all about having your ethics in and Keeping Scientology Working. He said the turning point for him was when he realized that. Because of his position in the world, he had to be more responsible than he was before. What it tells me is that Tom has moved into FULL INDOC MODE. It was so obvious DM and Tom had a coordinated message and the message was ONE BIG HINT to all Scientologists. Tom has accepted mega responsibility for the mega celebrity he is. He is doing ALL he can to Keep Scientology Working. If you're a Scientologist, YOU don't have another option. YOU have to do ALL YOU can. Tom went onto the stage and was given his award to thunderous applause by DM. You’ve never seen anyone accept an award as though they knew they had it coming to them like Tom did. But his acceptance speech was a mega acknowledgment of DM. This is a paraphrase but pretty close to exactly what he said. "I've met the leaders of the world. I've met the leaders of the leaders. I've met them all. And I can tell you we're lucky to have Mr. Miscavige, the smartest, most competent, most compassionate and caring of them all.” Then Tom walks to where DM is standing on the stage and they shake hands and hug. But not too closely. Eventually, as this information gets to the mainstream media, it will destroy his career or at least make a big joke out of him, but he doesn't care. He now has that fixed dedicated glare and he truly doesn't care.
And then it turned out he does care after all. It's been very little scientology noice coming from him lately.
If you read the interviews with Andrew Morton at the time, what he had to keep reiterating was that he was saying that the true believers were saying that, not that he believed the actual claim. The clam PR was saying the Hubbard spawn thing was a ridiculous thing to say, which it was, but Morton was claiming that they were the source of this ridiculousness and he was merely reporting it. When the Tom Cruise crazy video came out it seemed to overtake the Morton book publicity completely even though it was right on topic for for it. It made up for the fact that UK publishers didn't call TC's lawyer's bluff and pussied-out of releasing the book here.
Looks like. The Church of Scientology: An Apology November 23, 2007, ShowBiz, Daily Express BRITISH AUTHOR'S ON 'CRUISE' PATROL December 18, 2007, Cindy Adams, Gossip, New York Post People Week in Review December 23, 2007, Lynn Carey, Contra CostaTimes A Tale of Two Cruises January 6, 2008, FilmStew Cruise attacked in shock bio January 6, 2008, Daily Telegraph SLAMS VS. SECT IN TELL-ALL ON TOM January 6, 2008, Susannah Cahalan, New York Post Diana author names Tom Cruise as 'World Number Two in Scientology' January 7, 2008, James Tapper, Daily Mail Scientologists hit back at Kidman blackmail reports January 7, 2008, AAP, Sydney Morning Herald Morton's Cruise Bio Claims Actor Is Scientology's Number Two January 7, 2008, Kimberly Maul, The Book Standard SURI-OUSLY LOONY CLAIM January 7, 2008, Eric Lenkowitz, New York Post Cruise's camp bashes Morton, unauthorized bio January 7, 2008, Courtney Hazlett, Today Show, MSNBC Scientologists 'threatened to blackmail Nic' January 7, 2008, AAP, Sydney Morning Herald Cruise is second most powerful Scientologist, Morton book claims January 7, 2008, David Langton, The Independent Tom Cruise Biography Leaves Door Open For Oddsmakers January 7, 2008, Jordan Bach, Gambling911.com Is Tom Mr Big in alien church? January 7, 2008, Tom Wells, Showbiz, The Sun No sex life tapes on Nicole, say Scientologists January 8, 2008, Janet Fyfe-Yeomans, news.com.au Cruise biography 'sick stuff' January 8, 2008, Michelle Nichols, Brisbane Times Cruise camp rips upcoming biography as 'tired old lies' January 8, 2008, Reuters, Los Angeles Times Author is cruising for a bruising January 8, 2008, The Times (South Africa) Tom Cruise and His Bully Pulpit January 10, 2008, Janet Maslin, Book Review, New York Times A reader's guide to Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography January 11, 2008, Juliet Lapidos, Slate Magazine Scientology holds sway in banning Cruise book January 13, 2008, Angela Cuming, The Age Bookshops won't stock Tom's tale January 13, 2008, Angela Cuming, Sydney Morning Herald Threat of lawsuit if Tom Cruise book sold January 14, 2008, Kelly Andrew, Dominion Post, Stuff.co.nz Cruise biographer: 'He breathes his religion'- January 14, 2008, Books, MSNBC Cruise biographer: Star has Tinseltown scared January 14, 2008, Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today Controversial Tom Cruise biography kept off NZ shelves January 15, 2008, NZ Herald An unauthorized Cruise. Let the attacks begin! January 15, 2008, Simon Houpt, Globe and Mail Tom Cruise's Devotion to Scientology Revealed in New Videos January 15, 2008, Roger Friedman, Celebrity Gossip, FOX News Aussie publisher pulls Cruise biography January 15, 2008, ABC News (Australia) Tom Cruise biography pulled by its publisher January 15, 2008, Dominion Post, Stuff.co.nz Publisher dumps Tom Cruise book January 15, 2008, Edmund Tadros, Books, Sydney Morning Herald Cruise scientology video leaked January 16, 2008, BBC News e-book version of Cruise biography could lead to legal action in Australia January 16, 2008, Andrew Hendry, PC World Tom's medal for services to Scientology January 17, 2008, Patrick Barkham, The Guardian Quackery's envoy: the gospel on Cruise January 17, 2008, Ian Munro, Sydney Morning Herald As his bizarre Scientology video is revealed - is Tom Cruise out of control? January 17, 2008, Alison Boshoff, Daily Mail Scientology madness continues January 22, 2008, Roger Coombs, Daily Telegraph Author goes inside Scientology January 24, 2008, Bill Brownstein, Montreal Gazette Niece of Scientology's leader backs Cruise biography January 28, 2008, AFP, Google Family feud in Scientology's upper ranks exposes more oddities February 6, 2008, Monsters and Critics The Passion of "Anonymous" February 8, 2008, Brian Braiker, Newsweek The faith business: Scientology in NZ February 15, 2008, Sunday Star-Times Cult Friction March 17, 2008, John Cook, Radar Online Scientology's Anonymous Critics: Who Are They? March 25, 2008, Marcus Baram, ABC News Scientology, Hollywood and the path to Washington April 16, 2008, Stephen Crittenden, Religion Report, ABC News (Australia)
Tony O posted the entire 35 minute segment of the Tom Cruise/DM lovefest on vimeo You can see the video here: on Tony O's blog. http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/03/happy_birthday_13.php http://vimeo.kom/38249534 NOTE: CHANGE THE .kom to .com in the link above. I
thanks Pooks! it was worth the rewatch. man! he really is one manic dude. Amazing how silent he is now. Well not relaly amazing, but compared to what he used to do and they way he used to act.
