Saturday, June 25, 2005
What's with Tom Cruise?
One of the most bankable A-listers in Hollywood, Tom Cruise, attacked psychiatry as a "pseudo-science" in an interview with Matt Lauer on the Today show. Here's the transcript. Agreed that he's a damn fine actor and all that, but how the hell is he qualified to comment on psychiatry? I mean, the guy hasn't even completed his high school education, if what I read somewhere is true. He did give a lot of soundbites like "There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance", "You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do." among others. It is not like I know anything about the "history of psychiatry" like Tom Cruise does, but to say that psychiatry is not useful and things like that is plain stupid. OK, Tommy has the right to believe whatever he wants to; and it's not like he doesn't realize that his comments may be taken seriously by a good number of the public. He even told Lauer that since he is a journalist, he should not go about telling people that psychiatry is good. Then how can he tell people that psychiatry is bad? Afterall, he is much more known than Matt Lauer is.
I gather that Cruise doesn't believe in psychiatry since he is a follower of Scientology (although he says that he has always been against it). He said that he would like to make people more aware of Scientology. Good, he accomplished his goal. How much good does it do? I am not sure - there are already people, and a decently good number of them, who are saying that this is Tom's mid-life crisis, even his relationship with Katie Holmes. Now, Mr. Cruise, how does this help people want to know about Scientology? Refuting that psychiatry could be an effective tool even though there are a lot of people who benefit from it, just because you don't believe in it sounds rather foolish, doesn't it? Acting like the know-all is definitely not good. Tom Cruise should have realized that people who don't really know much about psychiatry could and would be mislead by his comments mainly because of his celebrity. I would have thought Cruise would have learnt it after all his years interacting with the media.
I think the problem here is that this man wants the world to follow a path which he thinks is right. Maybe his "star" status did really get into his head; maybe he is just too deeply religious and doesn't want to believe anything against its principles. I don't know. If it is the latter, then all I can say is: Where the hell has you rationale gone? I feel that blindly believing everything that one's religion says is foolish. Obviously since almost all religions' dogmas are more or less influenced in a large part by ordinary mortals, one has definitely got to take everything with a pinch of salt - maybe even more than a pinch. I just Googled for Scientology, and the top results are almost evenly distributed for and against it. This is not just about Scientology; look at any religion, and chances are that you'd find many for and many against it. One should always look for the good aspects and make decisions for oneself. Tolerance is the key... and Mr. Cruise, I am sorry to say that I lost the respect (whatever of it) I had for you because of this "I know best, all those who disagree don't know what they are talking about" attitude of yours.
I gather that Cruise doesn't believe in psychiatry since he is a follower of Scientology (although he says that he has always been against it). He said that he would like to make people more aware of Scientology. Good, he accomplished his goal. How much good does it do? I am not sure - there are already people, and a decently good number of them, who are saying that this is Tom's mid-life crisis, even his relationship with Katie Holmes. Now, Mr. Cruise, how does this help people want to know about Scientology? Refuting that psychiatry could be an effective tool even though there are a lot of people who benefit from it, just because you don't believe in it sounds rather foolish, doesn't it? Acting like the know-all is definitely not good. Tom Cruise should have realized that people who don't really know much about psychiatry could and would be mislead by his comments mainly because of his celebrity. I would have thought Cruise would have learnt it after all his years interacting with the media.
I think the problem here is that this man wants the world to follow a path which he thinks is right. Maybe his "star" status did really get into his head; maybe he is just too deeply religious and doesn't want to believe anything against its principles. I don't know. If it is the latter, then all I can say is: Where the hell has you rationale gone? I feel that blindly believing everything that one's religion says is foolish. Obviously since almost all religions' dogmas are more or less influenced in a large part by ordinary mortals, one has definitely got to take everything with a pinch of salt - maybe even more than a pinch. I just Googled for Scientology, and the top results are almost evenly distributed for and against it. This is not just about Scientology; look at any religion, and chances are that you'd find many for and many against it. One should always look for the good aspects and make decisions for oneself. Tolerance is the key... and Mr. Cruise, I am sorry to say that I lost the respect (whatever of it) I had for you because of this "I know best, all those who disagree don't know what they are talking about" attitude of yours.
