Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that Scientology is the only one to focus on as there are a lot of other religions that do the same – for example the Christian Church. The difference is that with the Christian Church greed has taken over and has contradicted the core beliefs of the religion that it is trying to represent.

Now getting back to Scientology – the main reason why this organization (it is not a religion as what defines a religion is the belief of a higher being - ”Human recognition of superhuman controlling power and especially of a personal God entitled to obedience”), is to make money. This is not just an opinion of an ‘outsider or non-believer’ but was said by the founder himself – L. Ron Hubbard. Here are some of his quotes:

• “MAKE MONEY. MAKE MORE MONEY. MAKE OTHER PEOPLE PRODUCE SO AS TO MAKE MORE MONEY.” - L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, 9 March 1972, MS OEC 384
• “I’d like to start a religion. That’s where the money is.” - L. Ron Hubbard to Lloyd Eshbach, in 1949; quoted by Eshbach in OVER MY SHOULDER: REFLECTIONS ON A SCIENCE FICTION ERA, Donald M. Grant Publisher. 1983

Now we have a  bit of a conundrum here as if a believer were to say that Scientology is not about making cash then that person would be contradicting their ‘messiah’ and if believer were to say that Scientology was only around to make money then they would contradict their ‘religion’.

L. Ron Hubbard was lucky that he started Scientology when he did and where he did. Had he tried in any other country or time then I do not believe that Scientology would have been as successful as it is today. The reason why I say this is because Scientology was created close to the end of the 2nd world war, in 1954, when people were shaken up by the war and started questioning their beliefs and wanting to follow something, wanting to find meaning. Another reason why it is so successful is that it was created in America, where it is easy to ‘bribe’ politians – political ‘donations’, and where they virtually no privacy laws – you can find dirt on anyone quite easily and then blackmail them if they do not  pass a law etc..

Do I feel sorry for people that join this organization? Well for those who are born into Scientology then I do, but for those who decide to join them then I do not as there is enough information on the Internet to find out what they are really like.

I don’t really want to get into what I really think of Scientology because they are just too powerful, but I do believe that the more information on the Internet about them so that people can form their own opinions about them the better it is. If this is in fact the one true religion then it should welcome people who are against them as truth is only truth if it can stand up to opposition. But unfortunately they’re are not of the same belief and will do anything to try  keep their religion stain free. Unfortunately for them  this is also a reason why people are becoming vocal in their opposition against them.

Basically the Equality Bill was passed in the UK which encourages employers to take action to widen diversity in the public sector.

Top Gear, as do a number of other programs,  falls under this Bill as it is owned by the BBC – a publicly owned entity.

So it appears that Drrr Louise Livesey, a tutor in sociology and women’s studies at Ruskin College in Oxford, thought that this would be a good opportunity to jump on the ‘sexist bandwagon’ and said of the show that it was ”entrenched with institutional sexism”.

Ahem.. I am sure we would all agree that most of the programs on TV are focused towards the fairer of the sexes, and if you feel different then I would like to propose a challenge by asking you to get today’s, or any days, television program and have a look.

It was claimed that, not only are the 3 hosts all male, the show had a ‘boys club’ production team and more male guests than female.

Andy Wilwan, Top Gear’s executive producer claimed that it was ”utter drivel that the show excluded women, and asked if it was geared so harshly towards men then why is the audience almost half women?”

He continues by saying, “Secondly, if we are to have a female presenter just to represent the sexes, then by that logic Loose Women needs a bloke in the line-up pretty sharpish.”

“I actually believe these sorts of mandates are patronising to women viewers, because they assume that women can’t enjoy a show’s presenters on merit, but can only appreciate a program if spoken to by one of their own sex.”

If Top Gear is change then I know for sure that it will lose a majority of the viewers. Not just the male viewers but the female as people love the show as it is.

As a normal guy living a normal life, I am sitting on my couch watching the TV and wondering to myself – what are they fighting for? A lot of it is just completely confusing. For example a statement on a placard read – ‘Ban Money’. What on earth will that achieve? Another said ‘Capitalism Doesn’t Work!’ – as communism worked for Russia didn’t it. Am I missing something here? Obviously I am as why are people so passionate about whatever they are fighting for. We all want peace yes, we all want to live happy lives, but the problem is that as humans we want more then to sit around a campfire and smoke a peacepipe, we want to achieve, explore the moon, find a cure for cancer and expand. Like everything it has a negative side to it, we become unsettled and envious, greed sinks in and the strongest wins out. But isn’t this just evolution? Isn’t that why evolution decided that monkeys should evolve and become humans? Maybe a balance should be found, but to me Capitalism is just a form of Evolution.

Anyway, sitting here watching the news and drinking some wine.. life is good.

I feel quite perplexed sometimes as to why there is so much animosity towards American’s and their culture. I feel as though I have missed something because as far as I can see, and from friendships I have with American’s, I just don’t see anything wrong with them (on an individual level). They are the most positive people I have ever met. Maybe they’re too positive which contrasts with most people from other countries I know of (not to generalize but it’s hard not to). The few things that I can see that contribute towards anti-Americanism is firstly that monkey of a president George Bush which tends to take over what we see on the News and pretty much affects what goes on in the world. Actually on that point, I believe that TV is the main culprit that contributes to the animosity towards America. Firstly the programs that we have on TV do not paint American’s as the most brightest of people. That show Judge Judy, for example, is full of no-hopers trying to sue each other for the most trivial of things. Not to digress too much but I want to talk about this one episode I saw. This daughter tried to sue her mother because she lent her some money and she didn’t pay the 50% interest that she demanded – ended up being about $500 or some trivial amount like that. She lost the case because there is apparently a law against such a thing, but what caught my attention was the comment the daughter made at the end of the hearing. Basically she told the mother that she wants nothing to do with her again! Unbelievable! So the programs we have on the TV tend to be of that nature. Of American’s doing completely unbelievably stupid things. I must say I do find them quite entertaining as there is something in most of us that finds seeing other people humiliating themselves, especially on TV, very gratifying and I’m sure we all know why. But to get back to the point I was trying to make before. We are all influenced by our senses, and what rewards those senses. When what we see on TV is full of a collective of people that are doing humiliating things then we are rewarded by almost feeling empowered that we are not part of that culture. Does that make sense? To me it does. I may seem quite bent against the media at the moment, which I am, and also is a quite contradictory as my family is full of people in the media – like my oscar/bafta winning sister – my internationally known photographer brother – etc etc – but I can really see that a lot of ills in this world are the direct consequence of what is on TV. Is that really a surprise though? We are all but sheep looking here and there for where to go. Even the most head strong of people are to a point easily influenced. We are all born a blank slate. I really did digress.. must focus!So I believe that a lot of what feeds this anti-American sentiment is the direct result on what we see on TV and read on the paper.
I will leave it there and hope that people will comment on this subject as it is really relevant, and as you can all hide behind the Internet I am really interested in what you all think.

PS – I should have spell checked it etc.. but it was a nice bottle of Pinot