BBCs John Sweeney goes Nutzoid

mike65

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxqR5NPhtLI

Ahem.

Mike.

the1andonly1

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0HGM8DSnYh0

and the response!!!

flogen

Pretty bizarre outburst by Sweeney - shame really, because it's more than the Scientologists could have hoped for to try and make him look bad.

the1andonly1

The whole documentary is available on the bbc website for the next week

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/programmes/panorama/default.stm

haz

flogen wrote:

Pretty bizarre outburst by Sweeney - shame really

It is a shame and it does him no credit. The techniques used in the lead-up to the outburst are classic bullying techniques. Many people must recall the continuous little jibes that one child gives another outside of adult earshot, over and over until the victim is fit to burst. Then (in front of an adult) the slightest little hint of a jibe causes a ferocious outburst "proving" that the victim is badly behaved. The scientologists are expert at adult versions of these mindgames and play them over and over on each other just for fun.

The unwary can find the experience very powerful and seductive - for instance when taking a free scientology "personality test". Any documentary maker should have been aware, and wary, of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) and other potentially head-messing techniques before getting involved. But they are very easy to underestimate until you see them in action first hand.

cousin_borat

haz wrote:

Any documentary maker should have been aware, and wary, of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) and other potentially head-messing techniques before getting involved. But they are very easy to underestimate until you see them in action first hand.

Wow, that's a sweeping statement and quite frankly is pretty ignorant. Good use of balanced scientific evaluation there "potentially head-messing".

haz

cousin_borat wrote:

Wow, that's a sweeping statement and quite frankly is pretty ignorant. Good use of balanced scientific evaluation there "potentially head-messing".

I wasn't aiming for a scientific evaluation of an event that Sweeney himself described as walking into an elephant trap. I was commenting on the emotional rapists who ambushed him through studied, practised abuse of human relations.

Dave!

lmao!

*INSANE SCREECHING*
Do you understand?
*INSANE SCREECHING CONTINUES*

What a nutter

Lirange

Background

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6650545.stm

whiskeyman

Shame this is getting all the press, and this was an excellent show.
Still, hopefully it'll get people to watch the whole thing.

On a side note, the youtube clip seems to be taken from one of the Scientologists cameras, as I can't remember that angle from the original broadcast.

flogen

whiskeyman wrote:

Shame this is getting all the press, and this was an excellent show.
Still, hopefully it'll get people to watch the whole thing.

On a side note, the youtube clip seems to be taken from one of the Scientologists cameras, as I can't remember that angle from the original broadcast.

It is - they leaked the clip just before the show broadcast to try and discredit it... Sweeney did show the clip on the BBC programme, but it's hard to know if they decided to put it in before the Scientologists released it or afterwards in order to give their side of the story.

the1andonly1

Must say, it was an excellent programme, showed the controling nature of scientology. That Tommy Davis guy is scary, completly contradicts himself by saying the church/cult doesnt practice its "fair game" policy by following Sweeney everywhere, and dragging up personal and private details of the person he was interviewing. Found the same type of thing happened to a CNN reporter when he tried to fly over a scientology compund in the states:

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2007/05/15/tuchman.scientology.circles.cnn

Oh, and the trick of discrediting the BBC over the outburst may have backfired, the ratings were excellent apparently:

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2079934,00.html

Voipjunkie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwTDvfjcUJU&mode=related&search=

gives a brief explanation of why sweeney lost it for those who did not see the program

bobbyjoe

Can't really blame him for loosing the rag. He's was being followed and harassed all through making the documentry. He then went to a museum which used the holocost to discredit psychiatry. By the end of it most people would be ready to blow. The guy he was shouting at would drive Mother Thereasa to start screaming at him. Not a professional thing for a journalist to do but understandable for a human. The scientologists just want this to become the issue instead of their cult.

Voipjunkie

bobbyjoe wrote:

Can't really blame him for loosing the rag. He's was being followed and harassed all through making the documentry. He then went to a museum which used the holocost to discredit psychiatry. By the end of it most people would be ready to blow. The guy he was shouting at would drive Mother Thereasa to start screaming at him. Not a professional thing for a journalist to do but understandable for a human. The scientologists just want this to become the issue instead of their cult.

Yeah completely understandable the scariest bit is the scientologists turning up with a file on that guy as the reporter interviewed him.
To be fair I think I would have blown my top at that stage fair play to him for keeping his cool for so long.

bobbyjoe

Scientologies reply.
Makes them sound so reasonable.

http://www.bbcpanorama-exposed.org/watch-the-video-documentary.php

Voipjunkie

bobbyjoe wrote:

Scientologies reply.
Makes them sound so reasonable.

http://www.bbcpanorama-exposed.org/watch-the-video-documentary.php

Do you know what is funny the scientologists hate psychiatry they have a centre dedicated to how evil it is and that it is psuedo nazi trickery in fact it is at that centre that Sweeney loses his cool.

But in the scientology rebuttal video they use a psychiatrist called Dr Colin Ross to undermine John Sweeney but how can we trust what Dr Ross says surely he is a psuedo Nazi

r3nu4l

To be honest this is an excellent example of Scientology embracing new media to further their aims and to my mind it was very effective. The centre of Scientology is Clearwater, Florida ( beautiful place).

How many Americans are going to see the BBC documentary? Not that many, despite the availability of BBC America I imagine. Yet, millions of Americans will see the English BBC journo talking about "in my country...and acting mental". Americans don't like criticism of their nation by British people so even those against Scientology will already be thinking that "this Brit is a bit uppity and needs a smackdown".

Have a look at this video from Google videos for examples of how anti-Scientology groups are using new media documentaries (on the internet) to spread their message concerning the "evils" of Scientology.

Exciting times for media

As for the Scientologists using cameras and tape recorders at every interview, this is not a new practice, or indeed sinister imo. Retired British MP Tony Benn recorded every interview he ever gave to any journalist. He carried a dictaphone on him 24/7 and journalists were always aware that if they mis-represented him it would come back and bit them in the ass. Political groups and Governements also gather files and assemble dossiers on anyone they consider to be a threat.

/I'm trying to stay away from condemning Scientology here because this is the News/Media forum

Dave3x

This was a really interesting show. While it was by no means an inside look at Scientology, I found it interesting, to say the least.

Sweeney seemed to be aware of what he was doing, particularly in the scene where he was being followed, and managed to turn it around.

While I might question Sweeney's personal bias, I'd question that of the church of scientology far more.

Makes me want to investigate things

Hobbes

mike65 wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxqR5NPhtLI

Ahem.

Mike.

That link is actually to the Scientologists video that they were filming while Panorama where doing theirs.

If you find the BBC video and the full unedited bits you will see that the whole thing is out of context to what was going on. He was clearly being goaded into provoking such a response and the person he is talking to wasn't even being interviewed. The guy was actually stalking the BBC.

I recommend watching the A&E documentary as well. It goes into detail of how they attack those with "Fair game" (what Sweeney got).

This 10 second clip of Sweeney is clearly to just try and discredit the message of the documentary.

Hobbes

bobbyjoe wrote:

Scientologies reply.
Makes them sound so reasonable.

http://www.bbcpanorama-exposed.org/watch-the-video-documentary.php

The documentry reminded me of Brass Eye. Also funny that when he talks about countries in desperate need of help Ireland pops up.