Tom Cruise Never Wavers

If he finally conceded that he was gay, and gave us a guided tour of his sexuality, would that be enough? Unlikely, because the mood around him is one of terrible anger, not curiosity.

Ostensibly because he’s a liar, leading a double life in front of us – we who are exemplars in every way! More likely because he won’t do what we want, and that is to let us call him gay all the time.

Is Tom Cruise gay?  Does he have a mental illness?  Has he been brainwashed by Scientology?

As one of the top movie stars in history, there's obviously a lot of interest in Tom Cruise.  We love to scrutinize our celebrities; it has been thus since Zeus was a little fella.  Cruise himself has made this easy - through his couch-jumping, anti-post-partum medication-taking, Scientology practicing antics, there has always been fodder for a public hungry for controversy.  The fact that Cruise frequently comes across as sanctimonious doesn't help.

And yet... nobody can deny that Cruise throws himself fully into each role he performs.  He's certainly not afraid to push his boundaries.  Over his life he has picked up skills ranging from piloting to fencing; he stops to help complete strangers on the street.  Everything Tom Cruise does, he does with utter conviction. 

Who of us can say the same?  Not many.  It takes a certain kind of passion, of belief, to throw oneself so fully into a way of living that accepts no compromise.  The grand irony is, we demand that level of dedication from any leader (political, religious, etc) yet are mistrustful of conviction when we see it.  In a way, though, this does make sense; we create our leaders in our own image.

Me, I think Tom Cruise is delusional.  It would surprise me none at all if his position within the church of Scientology has fed that delusion.  Of course, I also believe that a certain degree of delusion (as long as it's accompanied by humility) is a good thing.  The best politicians I know thoroughly believe that they owe the world the benefit of their leadership.   If they didn't, if nobody did, we'd have no leadership at all.  Of course, the best politicians go out of their way to base their policy directions on fact, something Cruise himself has had trouble with.

Yes, Tom Cruise is larger-than-life and yes, there are some real, troubling problems with the way Scientology conducts its business.  But are those the things that really bother us?  I can’t think of a person I know that hasn’t supported sanctimony in one form or another when it supported an argument they believed in.  Maybe it’s the fact that he seems never to waver from his chosen lifestyle that irks us.  He says he believes in helping people and that’s what he tries (emphasis on tries) to do.  He believes in Scientology and lives its tenants to the letter.  If he’s got a homosexual skeleton in his closet, then that is a chink in his public armour that would scale him down to human size a little bit.

If that’s the case, though – if we dislike Cruise more for his constancy rather than the fact that we question our behaviour, does that say more about him, or about us?

I don’t believe in drawing lines in the sand, because I don’t believe there is any communication gap that cannot be breached, if we simply try hard and creatively enough.  And while I might not approve of all Tom Cruise does through the lens of Scientology, I’ll tell you this – if the zombie Apocalypse hits, you could do worse than to have Tom Cruie as a neighbour.

But again, that's the point, isn't it?  When times are uncertain, when we don't know what to expect next, when trouble is lapping at our shores, who do we turn to?  To those who demonstrate a dare I say it, ideological conviction.