Can we talk about the fact that Scientologists don't believe in drugs in here?

[Pale Blue Dot]

Obviously, we should wait until all of the facts are in, but I think it's reasonable to at least speculate that Travola's son's death may have been avoided with proper medical care.

I will happily post an apology if it turns out that his beliefs had nothing to do with his son's death.

[greyl]

1. I don't see why the heck not.

You're worried because of that other thread on the outside, eh? ;)

[moggie]

3. The fucker who made Battlefield Earth?

I'm supposed to be sensitive to his feelings? On an obscure corner of the net which he won't read anyway? Or is it because any hint that religious belief might be harmful upsets religious DUers?

I haven't read any threads about the kid's death, but I'm guessing that there's the usual pearl-clutching at any posts deemed insufficiently mawkish.

[Orrex]

4. Number me among the pearl-clutchers, then

It's fine to speculate about whether Scientology's tenets may have led to the boy's death. However, I posted to one thread in which the OP directly mocked the death, essentially declaring outright that Scientology was the cause. I find this premature and tasteless.

Whether or not Travolta reads DU is immaterial, in my view.



However, I'll admit that if Battlefield Earth had bankrupted Travolta and black-listed him from future work in films, then I would have laughed with a smug sense of justice fulfilled.

[moggie]

7. Mocking crosses a line

Mocking a kid's death is distasteful, no matter how nutty his father is: I wouldn't condone that.

[dawgmom]

11. Oh, how I love the word "mawkish"

And oh, how appropriate it is. ("pearl-clutching made me laugh, too.) Certainly, this is a tragedy -- the death of a young person is always a tragedy. If there were threads that were making fun of it, that's reprehensible. However, most times I wish some people would just STFU when stuff like this happens. It's as though they're trying to "out-sensitive" everybody else.

[mr blur]

2. Well as I understand it,

the question is whether they were in denial about their son being autistic because 'mental' illnesses are a sign that one is "degraded" and if you're a good scientologist than you will "cure yourself" of such things. Travolta is quite obviously a whackjob and if it should turn out that his loony beliefs had any bearing on his son's death, then he's a dangerous whackjob.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Though we have to ask who has made the diagnosis of 'autism'

because normally it would be the parents who announce that publicly, after a medical doctor has examined the child, not just someone who's seen the child in a public place.

They had carers for their son - it's not as if they were denying there was any problem at all. Neurological problems are wider than just 'autism'.

[LeftishBrit]

5. I think we do have to wait till all the facts are in...

there is so much contradictory stuff. For example, the issue of whether he had autism or Kawasaki disease - the two are so different that it seems impossible to confuse them. And autism as such is not fatal, while Kawasaki disease could be. Of course, he could have had both - or yet another disorder could have killed him.

[TZ]

6. Will have to see.

What the root cause of his seizures were...And for some, meds don't work..
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081202170816.htm
Of course there is this:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080618161549.htm

assuming of course that it was epilepsy he was suffering from. I also believe that if the epilepsy is considered minor many doctors won't recommend meds, because I *think* (don't quote me here) there are some pretty serious side effects associated with these meds.
I don't think this is gonna be a cut and dry case.

[greyl]

8. According to this, Jett began taking Depokate:

www.tmz.com/2009/01/04/john-travoltas-son-meds-ultimately-did-harm

[Pale Blue Dot]

10. Time to Audit Scientology's Anti-Medicine Stance

The tragic death of John Travolta's teenage son Jett could spell the end of Scientology, sci-fi author L. Ron Hubbard's loopy, medicine-hating cult from the 1950s.

Jett's parents, Travolta and Kelly Preston, are both "clear" — an exalted, expensively attained status in Scientology. Critics of Scientology have long known that the pseudo-religion, based on Hubbard's Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, discourages adherents from seeking medical help for problems they deem "psychosomatic." That old line about it being all in your head forms the basis of Scientology's weird belief system; most problems, even if they manifest themselves physically, are spiritual in nature, stemming from the patient's "reactive mind." Even aspirin is deemed a mood-altering drug to be avoided — too bad if you take it to prevent blood clots.

Hence the controversy over Jett Travolta's apparent death from a head injury, likely incurred after he suffered a seizure in the Bahamas condo where the Travolta family and their two nannies were staying. John Travolta and Kelly Preston have long claimed Jett developed Kawasaki disease after exposure at a young age to carpet-cleaning chemicals, which resulted in seizures, a claim medical experts find unlikely. At the time of his death, he was under the care of Jeff Kathrein, a wedding photographer whose main qualification for the nanny post seemed to be a course he completed in Scientology and a kiss he shared with Travolta.

Whatever the cause of his seizures, a Travolta family lawyer now says Jett had been taking Depakote, an anti-seizure medication, but had to stop it because of liver damage. Liver damage from Depakote is rare; more recently, the FDA has been concerned about its link to suicidal thoughts — exactly the kind of condition Scientologists they believe they can treat through the religious coursework they call "auditing."

http://gawker.com/5123114/time-to-audit-scientologys-anti+medicine-stance

[moggie]

12. Like that's going to happen

When was the last time a religion with hundreds of thousands of followers (or millions, depending on who you believe) came to an end because of a scandal? I suppose some of the vulnerable nuts Scientology would have otherwise recruited will now think twice and gravitate to a different nutty ideology instead, but I don't feel confident predicting what nutjobs will do, for obvious reasons.