Linkin Park - From Zero (November 15th, 2024) • Page 21

Also I think Christina insinuated that Mike Shinoda is part of the church now, right?

 

I did not know that, that would make sense.

 

both of Emily's parents work for the PR firm of the church, so they're directly responsible in intimidating former members (Cedric and Chrissie claim they're responsible for the death of their dog)

 

Chester Bennington's Mother Feels 'Betrayed' By Linkin Park Reunion

 

Didn't think I could be more disappointed in this band, but here we are.

 

and just because we talked about it the other day, the LP subreddit is not allowing that link to be posted.

 

I mean if the "Mike turning towards Scientology" statements are true then it would kind of track that they'd basically cut off anyone tied to Chester after a certain point, as sad as it is

 

I just posted it on their Reddit, let's see what happens.

 

I just upvoted it, I'll comment too, see if it gets traction or deleted

 

I see some comments on the Rolling Stone article of people saying "Chester wasn't the only one in the band they're allowed to move on!!!" but like, if they told her they'd let her know about stuff happening and then just decide not to when it did...yea that sucks lol

 

I try not to get too deep down conspiracy theory rabbit holes, but every new thing that comes out just keeps adding up to the band possibly being scientologists now. To be clear, I am not saying that they are AT ALL, just saying that I wouldn't be shocked if that ends up being what happened here

 

the way the Rolling Stone piece words things sounds like she's mostly upset that they've replaced Chester (especially since Mike once told him that if he left, they'd replace him with a female singer, which supposedly upset Chester per his mother) and didn't inform the family about it (except maybe Chester's widow, judging by her positive reaction to Emily). i'm sure the Scientology connections soured that even further for his mother, although they're not mentioned here. it all sucks.

 

Me coming back to the Reddit post I made eight hours later:

 

I’m afraid to look

 

613 comments, 350 upvotes, but sadly a lot of people trying to dismiss the opinion of Chester's mom by suggesting she was never close with him/is crazy/was responsible for abuse.

I don't know how true any of that is. She's also claiming Mike made fun of Chester and told him he'd be replaced with a girl if he left, in a hurtful way, and I don't know how true that is.

The whole thing is fucked up and seeing people be super parasocial like this is disturbing.

 

Yeah your post is wild now. If you scroll down, there are SO many reasonable and kind posts that got downvoted to hell

 

yeah I’m gonna try to go back to not paying attention to this band anymore. I basically haven’t spent any time on them since 2005, and I got a little nostalgia rush this week looking back on it. saw some YouTube vids and Chester’s voice performing live really impressed me.

 

Bros helping bros

 

Hot take: those comments are correct. Shinoda is allowed to move forward with the band and he doesn't particularly owe Bennington's mom an explanation.

LP is far from the first band that has continued releasing music after a member has passed away. The single was decent enough, Emily sounds good.

 

All of this is irrelevant compared to the scientology/Masterson thing, which is still a big deal and the biggest deal, but you do understand the issue isn't so much that they continued but that they did so without telling her after they specifically promised to do so?

Whether she agreed with it or not isn't so much the problem as the fact that they specifically broke their promise instead of doing a minimum of due diligence to someone whose child died.

 

I mean...I don't know any of these people. Maybe Shinoda and the Bennington family had a falling out after that promise was made? Who knows? Maybe they just wanted to keep it under wraps?

The Masterson stuff is very unfortunate and reprehensible. I don't really care if someone is a Scientologist though. Again, I don't know these people. The only thing I know about them is that they are human beings who make mistakes.

 

Maybe it's worth it to educate yourself.

 

See how fucking dumb your ignorance sounds?

 

lol

 

What difference does that make? If my wife decided she wanted to become a Scientologist I would have feelings about that. Some random woman I've never met and never will meet that joined a band I kind of enjoy is a Scientologist? Yeah I don't care.

Also it's worth noting that it's entirely possible that Armstrong is, herself, a victim of abuse and manipulation and supporting the organization under duress and aggressive coercion. Is there a list somewhere of Scientology members who are being held captive against their will in this dastardly clandestine cult and members who have full agency over their actions? Which one is Armstrong?