02. Tom Cruise Scientology, Cult, Human Pet

Transcript: Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show. The video I recommend to study today is a video that has been popular on the internet recently, the Tom Cruise Scientology video. This is a video of Tom Cruise talking about Scientology which was intended to be for members of that group, but was somehow leaked. So I’m going to talk about some language related to that video. First of all, what is Scientology? Wikipedia says it’s: a body of beliefs and related practices. And it says the guy who started it, called it an applied religious philosophy. And some people call it a cult. Journalists, courts and the governing bodies of several countries have stated that the Church of Scientology is a cult. I think it’s interesting that different people call the same group different things. So what is a cult? Cult typically refers to a cohesive social group devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture considers outside the mainstream, with a notably positive or negative popular perception. In common or populist usage, "cult" has a positive connotation for groups of art, music, writing, fiction, and fashion devotees, but a negative connotation for new religious, extreme political, questionable therapeutic, and pyramidal business groups. It’s interesting how words have such strong connotations. If you’d never heard of Scientology before and I said it was a religion you might think, "oh yeah", but if I said it was a cult you might think, "ahh, scary". But whatever label you give it, it is what it is, whatever that is, I’m not too sure, except that I read some of LRH’s theories on education and I thought they were nonsense. Anyway, about this video, one interesting point is that Tom Cruise uses a lot of jargon – which is understandable because it was supposed to be an internal video. I wasn’t sure how much – because sometimes I just think oh maybe it’s American English – or maybe I just don’t understand that word. But then I saw one video which had subtitles explaining the jargon, which was helpful. For example, SP stands for suppressive person. I looked at a site called whatisscientology.org and they have a glossary which explains a lot of scientology words, and suppressive person means: a person who possesses a distinct set of characteristics and mental attitudes that cause him to suppress other people in his vicinity. This is the person whose behavior is calculated to be disastrous. Also called antisocial personality. I think this video is popular because it makes Tom cruise sound kind of crazy, if you’re not into Scientology that is. As for me I think this is one of the strangest lines. Being a Scientologist, when you drive past an accident, it’s not like anyone else. As you drive past, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you’re the only one that can really help. STICK NEWS Kia Ora, in Stick News today, a British bus company has apologized to a human pet after one of its drivers threw her off a bus. This 19-year-old woman says she is the pet of her 25-year-old fiancé. Recently a bus driver told her to get off the bus. He said: "We don't let freaks and dogs like you on." The company has now apologized. A spokesperson said they were worried about safety and she was welcome to use the buses but not when she is on her lead. "Should she be attached to a chain and something happens on the bus, that could be dangerous,” they said. The woman said her choice of lifestyle might seem unusual but was harmless. "I am a pet," she said. "I generally act animal-like and I lead a really easy life. I don't cook or clean and I don't go anywhere without Dani. It might seem strange but it makes us both happy. It's my culture and my choice. It isn't hurting anyone." And that was Stick News for Thursday 24 of January. Kia Ora. THE SNOW REPORT on the road It was really windy when we were driving back from Saison Club. Snow had blown over the road into mountain shapes, like sand dunes. It was really pretty. And scary too cause the wind was quite strong. conversations with sarah #377 Can cult have a positive meaning? Step 1: Repeat Takako’s lines. Step 2: Read Takako’s lines and talk to Sarah. Takako Can cult have a positive meaning? Sarah Yeah. Takako In what way? Sarah Um, when it’s used as an adjective before a noun, for example, a cult movie or cult book. Or a cult figure or cult status. Takako What’s a cult movie? A movie about a cult? Sarah No. Cult as an adjective means popular with a particular group. So a cult movie is very popular with a particular group of fans – as opposed to, say, a blockbuster which is a movie that has made a lot of money, so it’s more popular with a bigger group of people.