I hate that I feel compelled to write this, but...

...I'm going to anyway. I don't like to rant; or maybe I like to TOO much, so I've learned to try to avoid it. I can't avoid it this time.

Tom Cruise is an absolute idiot. I realize I am almost certainly not the first to say this (Hi, Brooke!). But I didn't always think he was an idiot. Perhaps a bit arrogant, yes, even though his charm usually managed to hide this. I actually once considered myself a fan; I own videos like Top Gun, Mission: Impossible, Jerry Maguire, A Few Good Men, The Firm...I could go on and on.

Katie at Snick-r-snack recently wrote a great post on Tom's recent interview with Matt Lauer. I went to go watch the whole interview myself, and any remnant of respect for him, as an actor or otherwise, dissolved by the end of the segment.

My problem is not that he is a Scientologist. It's not that he thinks vitamins and exercise will cure anything, including ADD or depression. It's that there's just no balance. It's that he's so condescending and patronizing, implying that anyone with a different opinion is simply ignorant. He said to Matt Lauer in this interview several times, "You don't know, and I do." He insinuated that Matt Lauer was "irresponsible" for suggesting that antidepressants might actually work for some people, because he, Matt, OBVIOUSLY hadn't researched it as well as Tom himself had (does the lad have a degree in psychiatry, I have to wonder?).

It's true I'm a bit biased; I'm on an antidepressant myself, Zoloft, and have previously been on fluoxetine (the generic version of Prozac). I went on Prozac when I realized I was at the end of my rope with post-partum depression and needed some help. Although my daughter was by then already over a year old, I had been depressed since her birth, and had not been able to shake it. So I asked my doctor to prescribe Prozac. The effects were very fast; within a week and a half, I felt more balanced, more rational, more able to deal with life. I successfully weaned myself off of the Prozac when I got pregnant with my second daughter. When she was born, I did not feel depressed right away, and thought I might escape it this time. But within a few weeks, I felt the old feelings coming back. After a couple of days of that, I knew I was not going to let myself sink to the depths of my previous depression. This time, since I was nursing an infant, I asked my doctor for Zoloft (it's a bit more breastfeeding friendly). Again, very fast results. This is significant because when a person is depressed, you can't always risk waiting a long time for results. I don't think I can say I was ever suicidal the first time, but I definitely felt like hurting myself physically, and I KNOW I hurt my psyche over and over, beating myself up from guilt and shame over my thoughts. Would vitamins and exercise have given me results as quickly? I have say that I doubt it.

I also find it ironic that Mr. Cruise does not consider vitamins to be drugs or chemicals. Anything you ingest is a chemical, and if it has an effect on your body, then it's a drug (at least, that's my understanding, though I could be wrong. Don't shoot me for not being as informed as you, Tom). The thing is, I think that, while I could probably have tried "vitamins" while on these antidepressants (and I've never figured out exactly which vitamins he thinks will help depression), so that I could at some point stop taking the antidepressants, I don't see how switching one for another is any different. Prozac had ZERO side effects on me. None. Zip. Zilch. Zoloft, well, I think it makes me tired. But I am doing something to try to go off of it that Tom himself probably would not: I'm getting counseling. Since by his own admission he completely disagrees with psychiatry, I can imagine he would have little to do with some of the exercises my therapist takes me through. But my end goal is to get off drugs. And at the end of that time, I won't be on any "vitamins" either.

I'm not opposed to holistic medicine, which seems to be what Tom Cruise is advocating. Actually, my exposure to Chinese culture has made me more aware of it and open to it. Both my children were born at home, unmedicated. But there is a BALANCE. I think holistic medicine works best when it's used in conjunction with allopathic medicine, and vice-versa. And I also don't think everyone NEEDS to give birth at home, or without medication. There are many ways to do things, and though I am not a believer in relativism in all things, I do believe that what works for me may not work for you. And what doesn't work for me...well, it might work for you. Ideally, we learn from each other's different experiences, taking from each other what we can learn from the other and adding it to what we know works for us.

It's clear to me that Tom Cruise has never personally suffered from depression, or if he has, is delusional enough not to realize it. Because while he claims just the opposite, it's obvious that HE does not know what he is talking about.

I'm really starting to ramble a bit, but I think I've made my point. I did comment on Katie's post that I believed Tom's career would start to falter if someone didn't rein him in, but sadly, I have a feeling that like Michael Jackson, this freakishness will only generate publicity for him. However, I've resolved that I will not watch another Tom Cruise movie again; it may seem like a petty type of boycott. Oh well. It works for me.

Oh, and Katie Holmes? I would not be one BIT surprised if she starts to wonder about this nut she's engaged to and decide to call it all off. I'm wondering if she's already having second thoughts. If she's not, she's not as thoughtful and informed of a person as Tom Cruise seems to respect anyway.

END. OF. RANT. (at least, for now!)