Vow of Silence

[Drisgirl]

Tom Cruises fiancee is to give birth under a vow of silence (impossible) in order to adhere to his Scientology beliefs.

Now - on here we discuss PC gone AWOL re Muslims etc but no-one has brought this subject up.

Surely in this day and age this would be barbaric to expect a woman to give birth silently with placards surrounding her reminding her - yet we are obsessed with Baa Baa Black sheep and Blackboards and Whiteboards.

Poles apart maybe but religion unites them.- or does it?

Which belief given what you know do you believe is actually true - bizarre as they both sound?

I know what I believe.

[noxlumos]

I'll be interested to know if she manages it and why the hell she'd want to put herself through that. I have to say my wife didn't make a fuss with our daughter but niether was she, by any stretch of the imagination, silent. I'd like to see Tom Cruise and his placards near my missus when she's giving birth ( she's presently overdue).

I think the thing is that she is choosing to do this, it's of her own free will, so although I personally might find it weird, she probably feels it's terribly important.My real concern is if she does make a noise, how will she feel? I don't think it's healthy to put a sense of failure into the wonderful experience of a new life coming into the world.Will she feel guilty? A failure? Less than some other miraculously silent woman? None of these things should be a concern to her when she's just given birth. Lets hope her pint sized partner isn't a prat about it if she doesn't manage it.

[Drisgirl]

Nox - she would appear to be a young girl being controlled - I would go as far as to say brainwashed.

I did my best when I had my two but I wasnt silent.Best wishes with your imminent new arrival and please post and let us all know how everyone is:)

[noxlumos]

I'm reasonably with you on the being manipulated thing. I really am not gone on Tom Cruise ( unfair, irrational judgement ahead alert), I think he's a slimy unwholesome little creep to be honest whose way too full of his own importance and who seems to be calling all the shots in their relationship thus far. I'm rarely that judgemental about someone but he really makes my flesh crawl.

[Drisgirl]

Thanks for that Nox because he makes me physically sick.Mark my words - and my gut instincts are usually good -there is more to this pregnancy than meets the eye.She has either been used as a convenient womb or a surrogate.If he is so committed he would not have gotten this young girl pregnant so quick and out of wedlock given his beliefs.If you could extract any morsel out of what you read and treat it as true then he is sterile.

[sp1814]

It all sounds like madness...personally, if I were ever to give birth (being a bloke, it's highly unlikely) I would want to be completely numb from the neck downwards.

I hope she screams the roof off and repeatedly punches him in his cheesey face.

[Trojanfarce]

I find this whole thing completely baffling and not a little unsettling. The closest thing to the pain of childbirth that a man can experience (so i've read) is to be kicked in the cods. repeatedly. Now, I know when that's happened to me once, I wasn't particularly silent, so how can Tom Cruise expect his partner to keep quiet?

I agree with the posts on him being a manipulative, arrogant, freak and my advise to him would be to stay clear of her during the birth as she's likely to rip his face off.

Oh, and he ain't all that as an actor, either, but that's just a cheap shot.

[flip-flop]

Oh this is utter rollocks - I mean, for gawds sake, these supposedly intelligent people are following a 'religion' (make no mistake, it is a cult) invented by a science fiction writer a few short years ago.

I happen to like Cruise and Travolta - JT's turn in Pulp Fiction was a work of inspired genius in my opinion - but they must be highly susceptible to ridiculous suggestion to fall for this utter utter rubbish: perhaps it is because they are so cossetted that they have no sense of reality (I thought Steve Martin parodied this very well in Bowfinger).

The mind boggles.

[sixpence]

Will the baby have to remain silent, also? I'd like to see any placard that could convince a newborn baby not to cry. Poor Tom would have his work cut out there!

[zara 4]

I wish tom cruise was the one giving birth,see how quiet he would be in labour,i'm also curious as to wether a bloke is behind this scientology!

[caro_]

I'm with Drisgirl on this

"would not have gotten this young girl pregnant so quick and out of wedlock given his beliefs"

From personal experience I went into childbirth thinking I would not have any pain relief and I ended up having everything they could give me - both times!

Maybe she is going to be sedated? (Or is that the brainwashing again). Shame about Tom Cruise - he was so perfect in Top Gun and now look at the annoying little patronising worm (yes that was my personal judgement)

[WaldoMcFroog]

Answer yes! Scientology is the brainchild of sci fi writer L Ron Hubbard. It's worth having a look at the Tom Cruise wikipedia entry just for a little background on this most sensible of religions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_cruise

I recall being stopped in Tottenham Court Road by some chap with a clipboard (this was before 'chugging' was commonplace - wouldn't stop for 'em now!). He proceeded to ask a load of questions such as, 'Do you find the suffering of children disturbing?' When you say yes, oddly enough, you do find the suffering of children disturbing, they turn round and say, 'Ah, what you need is Scientology...' and try and whip you off into their brainwashing centre near Goodge Street tube. But actually, I'm quite happy with the fact that the notion of suffering children disturbs me. I be very worried if it didn't.

Anyway, suffice it to say they're completely hatstand.

[andy-hughes]

The country and western singer Hank Wangford is the alter-ego of gynecologist Kim Hut. He always provides anaesthetic when inserting inter-uterine coils to women for birth control, because it is painful. As he points out - most gynecologists are men, so they have no experience of this pain, so they don't even think about it. As he also points out - no man would dream of having a tooth filled without anaesthetic, because we all have mouths, so men know what pain there is like - abd dealing with it is taken as standard.

The point I am making is - L Ron Hubbard is a man ... i am sure you can work out the rest .....

[zara 4]

Hmmmm,no offence meant to men on here but,,,,,,,,only a man could come up with them rules!!!

[Drisgirl]

Waldo - thank you for that link.I just skipped down to the 'Church of Scientology' bit and it made very disturbing reading re Cruise.He is a complete nutjob and has been totally and utterly brainwashed.

When you think of him years ago he was just a goodish looking charming actor who tried to keep his private life under wraps.He now leaps about like a man posessed.

All your posts are appreciated and some did raise a wry smile I have to say because neither one of them know what is front of them.Sixpence - suspect the child will be offerred to the 'Church' for scientific research if it dares to cry out when delivered(:

[Drisgirl]

BTW - forgot to say the comments from the menfolk have been especially well received.Heres us thinking you all thought it was a cakewalk us womenfolk giving birth:)

You do get the best deal - go on admit it!

I'm more interested now in this cult type scenario, on a serious note.It would appear to be more bizarre than I first imagined - specially after Waldos' post (him getting stopped etc)

more would be in italics if I could do them.

[smudge]

I always thought Tom Cruise was a bit of an odd-ball - I'm glad Nicole Kidman is well rid of him!

[JamesEverton]

Drisgirl, do you not think that you're jumping the gun a bit? I'd be interested to know whereabouts you've got all of your information from. The trash media is very good and taking a grain of a story and turning it into something far more sensational.

[netibiza]

Let Tom Cruise give birth before ordering his partner to be silent. I have never heard of anything so ridiculous. I only groaned twice in childbirth as it only lasted half an hour, but I was lucky. I hope she hits him with the gas and air mask (if she's allowed one). Get rid of the pompous little t*rd.

[Drisgirl]

James Everton - sorry to disappoint you - I am not jumping the gun - it came straight from the wee man in the straight jackets mouth itself.

Did it not occur to you that you are the first, in a good few posts from seasoned ABers, to doubt it?

What do you personally think given that this is what Tom Cruise and indeed his 'Church' demand?

[JamesEverton]

Can you provide a reference?