Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 136
One year later we learn that Ruth‘s father divorced and married his mistress. Ruth and her
mother moved to India to work at an animal rescue mission. P.J. Waters is married to his
assistant/girlfriend and they have baby twins. He has become a novelist. He writes to Ruth
to tell her so, and he expresses his constant devotion to her. Campion‘s ending has the
taste of a resolution with happy endings, but like the rest of the film it feels inconsistent and
forced.
Ads for the movie promote it as a front-page, tabloid feature, so we might place it in the
dark humor category in which Pulp Fiction set a dubious but potent standard: Pulp fictions
may shock us, but they never deliver deep messages.
Holy Smoke attempts to ride its title toward a message that everything that should be holy
in one girl‘s life—family, friend, guru, and savior--goes up in smoke. Ruth is virtually the
only fleshed out character, and the film asks us to take her seriously--somehow. I was not
sure anything she does or says is meant to be funny or a parody—all the characters in Pulp
Fiction remain consistently shallow. Ruth‘s nemesis turned suitor is a trashy parody of the
myth of a deprogrammer. Waters could amuse us if Ruth were less ―real.‖ The feminist
emphasis is clear in Ruth who views sex as not necessarily for making offspring, but rather
for exploring self and pleasure with either gender. We see her drunk, for example, in a
dance club scene in which she dances with and sensually kisses a woman in view of an
envious Waters. Later, Waters saves Ruth from two blokes she engages who take her
outside to apparently rape her. These provocative scenes appear forced in the film.
Did my Aussie relatives like the film? No. They felt it was a pointless embarrassment.
Neither did I like it, but I can hardly be objective. Nothing Campion put into this project is
without foundation as stories abound among cult members about what ―deprogrammers‖
do, how much they charge, and how they behave badly. I‘m sure every exit counselor will
have the nagging suspicion, as I did, that Campion would rather we raise kids and write
novels. She manages to offend everyone, even the audience, except herself in Ruth.
Joe Szimhart
Cult Information Specialist and Consultant
Pottstown, PA
“Cult” Alert: A Practical Handbook for Saving Families. Nancy O‘Meara. Cult
Awareness NetworkTM :www.cultawarenessnetwork.org,
inform@cultawarenessnetwork.org, 1-800-556-3055 [no mailing address listed].
1999, Paperback ,104 pages, $5.95 plus shipping, ISBN: 1-928575-03-x.
―What do you do when someone you love joins a group you think you hate?‖ This sentence
is written in bold, red letters on the back jacket cover of this ―handbook.‖ ―First,‖ it states,
―Calm down!‖ Second: ―Read this practical handbook based on thousands of calls to the Cult
Awareness Network national hotline (800-556-3055). Third: ―Apply it!‖ Written mainly by
Nancy O‘Meara, a ―Scientologist for 25 years since age 19,‖ the book summarizes a generic
sampling of ―successful‖ consultations with no falsifiable attributions. For the past two
years, O‘Meara has ―volunteered‖ to answer e-mails and calls at this CANTM information
center in the Los Angeles area. In contrast to its predecessor, the Chicago based CAN, this
new version suggests a more open, accepting approach to ―cult‖ problems in a spirit of
recognizing the pluralism and diversity allowed by law in this nation.
The booklet is divided into three sections: what to do, what not to do, and special
categories. The third section includes brief comments about teens in cults, the

Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 137
―brainwashing hoax,‖ diversity in religion, and how to judge and not judge a group. The text
ends in a spirit that encourages the reader to be open and accepting of new ways of belief.
The first section contains advice familiar to most cult information volunteers of any
persuasion: calm down, collect information, and stay in communication without using a lot
of negative words. But there are peculiar assumptions. One is that the cultist even wants to
talk to the family another is that everyone overreacts when someone they know joins a
strange group. The book claims that really bad groups are rare, and that there are no
victims (p. 36), merely people who choose differently. On page 18, the author suggests that
a person who can maintain a supportive communication with a member, despite disagreeing
with the beliefs of the group, is ―a rare diamond.‖ Page 21 offers general advice on how to
fix communication once it breaks down, for example, asking an intermediary or friend to
help. Common sense suggestions for gathering information include visiting the group,
reading group literature and websites, and talking to scholars who have studied the group.
―Do Not‖ advice takes up more than half of the booklet. To summarize: The media is not a
good source as it concentrates on the sensational. Never pay anyone called an exit
counselor (―mercenary haranguer‖ on page 56), and by all means stay away from illegal,
brutal deprogrammers [though they are rare these days]. ―Free‖ help is available by calling
the hotline. Do not read books by ex-members as most are biased and cannot be accurate.
Do not listen to those religionists who preach against the theology of groups they do not
like.
Brainwashing and thought reform theory is said to be a hoax. Pages 89 to 90 targets
psychiatry and ―most psychology‖ as anti-religion and pro-drug: ―Possibly there are
members of the psychiatric clique that come from a place of deep spirituality. Please let us
know if you find one.‖ The book suggests that one find a counselor who ―has spiritual
grounding,‖ but does not offer a clear definition of what that means.
Only two scholars are mentioned, David Bromley and Anson Shupe, in reference to a satire
―latched onto by the media‖ about a sect called TNEVNOC (p. 47). Bromley and Shupe
invented a group that ―pried‖ females away from their families, compelled them to eat the
flesh and drink the blood of the dead leader, and even marry that dead leader. If you have
not noticed, the group is convent spelled backwards. This is one example of the crude effort
to demean ―anti-cultists‖ in “Cult” Alert.
The book is a crude addition to the cult awareness literature. Over 100 cartoons illustrate
the text. 108 are male figures as compared to only 8 female. Almost all of them appear
derivative of simple cartoon styles from the late 1930s and early 40s. The 800 number is
printed in large type around twelve times throughout the book. The book‘s parting advice is
that it is ―okay to judge‖ these groups, but ―judge them by the results they produce.‖ Yet
the very next sentence asks: ―Do they promote peace and goodwill?‖ As if promotion equals
results.
The book offers no specific leads, no bibliography, no counselors or resources other than its
own contact information via e-mail or phone. No address is listed. If you contact this ―CAN,‖
you may be asked to give out your name and address and information about the group that
concerns you. Do that with caution, and ask yourself: Do they really give out ―free‖
lunches?
Joe Szimhart
Cult Information Specialist and Consultant
Pottstown, PA