The Complex - And Other Paranoid Rumors

There are rumors currently that Tom Cruise helped censor a critical book in the U.K.. The claim is made that Amazon U.K. retired the book after he visited them.

This does not make a lot of sense.

Why would the CoS send their highest profile celebrity on a mission when a simple letter from their lawyer would do (which is most probably what happened)?

Why would Cruise bother about a book in the U.K. when it is still being sold in the U.S. where the libel laws are different?

Did Cruise use his tremendous OT powerz to guess the book would come out at the same time of the probably long planned visit to Amazon for the 10th anniversary of the movie store?

Nah - it just does not jive. It's silly, and Shawn Lindseth rightly wrote in a wonderfully written and hilarious article yesterday:

"Cruise is innocent - we think we can explain things right away here. Tom strangely stopped by the Amazon offices to show off his new Valkyrie movie. Seems like a weird choice until you realise that later in the day he’d also let the employees of a local mom & pop grocery store sneak a peak. Then he went to two gas stations and an unimpressed toll-taker, all allegedly with a projector in tow, but we digress."

Anyway, if you still long to hear the non-existent wise beard of John Duignan, you can head to this site, where you will be graced with a vocal rendition of the first four chapters.

Don't expect to be enthraled, though, according to a Scientology critic himself:

"Holy Xenu, this is the most boring story on scientology I heard so far. The female voice reminds me of Delta air (Sung). Always went to sleep before take off."

To me it reminds me of the movie "The Profit", a so-called critical film that was so bad even critics dished it off when it was leaked. Like for this book, though, the producers tried to boost sales claiming harassment and letting loose all kinds of wild rumors.

Just as for paranoid anti-Scientology claims, sensational harassment rumors is not enough to sustain the success of a book. If the content of the book is not worth it, it will eventually take the plunge.