Cults & Angels

I thought it marvellously ironic as the music of Handel's Messiah accompanied the arrival of the smirking Rev Moon, a self-annointed 'Messiah' and his corpulent wife, as they waddled out to receive the raptures applause of his disciples. This was the highlight of Channel 4's prostituted 'documentary'.

Two, maybe three thousand couples were married in one go, many only having met their partner days before. Some only hours before  matched personally by the 'Messiah' himself. Intelligent, educated people, giving themselves to this cult. The one thing that really unites this Unification Church is that they all want to be part of a 'superior' race. Hence the arranged marriages to breed purity. Eugentics. Bringing 'World Peace' they say piously. But at its heart, it's basically just another fascist, money making organisation.    

In return for access to film inside the cult of the Moonies, they have provided an advertisement for this awful sect. No pertinent questions were asked about this convicted criminal 'Messiah', jailed for tax avoidance, or his 10% levy on all sect members earnings, or his billion dollar empire. These uncomfortable facts were given about ten-seconds of air-time, mentioned only in passing. Not nearly good enough in a documentary lasting nearly an hour that probably recruited more simplistic dupes to his money making abomination of an organisation. Appalling. Shame on you, Channel 4. 

By contrast, the BBC provided an inspiring documentary on the workings of the emergency unit at King's College Hospital, which was beautifully and unobtrusively filmed. These are people who work real miracles everyday. And I was shocked at my own emotional response to watching the team work to save the life of an injured man. I found my feet shaking in the same way they did when I felt at my most vulnerable during my heart attack. I seem to do this feet thing to distract myself, and I was doing it again last night as I had flashbacks to when I stared up into the people clustered around me working to save my life. I wanted to turn over to another channel as I felt I couldn't watch, but I'm glad I didn't. For the most part I think I've done a pretty good job of putting my own trauma behind me, but clearly it's still with me.