Cult Corner

n.
A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.
The followers of such a religion or sect.
A system or community of religious worship and ritual.
The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.
A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.
Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.
The object of such devotion.
An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.

Look here, boys and girls, Auntie Dew isn't trying to make anybody feel bad or nothin', but this insidious Scientology stuff is giving her the honest-to-G-d heebie jeebies. Goosepimpled flesh crawlin' creeps, man!! While I won't deny that I too have grave concerns about the over-prescription of Ritalin to "fix" high-spirited but mis-diagnosed schoolkids in this country and the rush to label something out of the DSM that can be "cured" with drugs zippy quick, but the fact remains that there are certain mental illnesses or disorders that really truly do need to be treated biochemically, because they are, at their root, chemical in nature. Not just that your chi is out of whack or what have you, but because something went chemically cattywhompus in there and only chemicals, administered under a doctor's care, can knock you back to plumb. And let's not even go down the road of stupidity suggesting that psychology and psychiatry are pseudo-sciences, because there are things unworthy of remark, believe it or not.

Which is why I am profoundly disturbed and annoyed that the people leaping to ol' Tommy's defense in his public horse's-assedness on the topic of post-partum depression are, surprise surprise, his fellow Scientologists; today it was Kelly Preston and Catherine Bell. Watch for other canned rebuttals at an entertainment media outlet near you. Make it stop, make it stop!!!

Oh, and p.s. to Madonna: I am watching you, too, sister, with all this Kabbalah business. That's right: nice Jewish girl, watching you, Madonna Louise Ciccone!!!