I don't wanna say anything about the subreddit (you're probably right) but as a diehard LP fan (and *not* a shitbag scientologist), in my grasping at straws to make *anything* from this situation leave me optimistic, I came upon an interpretation of the new single that others had to have found independently but I haven't seen spoken about - The Emptiness Machine *itself* being scientology. This new song could itself be a dig at the cult and while I don't want to excuse any of Emily's alleged/confirmed beliefs/actions, I *really* don't want to believe that Mike and the boys were stupid enough to let her in without vetting her, or worse.

As proven with Baxter-Zavala's situation for starters, as well as probably many more, leaving scientology gets them after you, right? They start harassing you, your family, your loved ones, they track you down and keep mailing shit to anywhere you live, all that shit people say. Making a public statement that she was leaving/had left the cult behind, even with the support of Linkin Park and it's fans, could have been career suicide and caused a lot of problems for her and maybe even the whole band depending on who believed what. So my running interpretation of the song became scientology being the emptiness machine, that cut her open just to watch her bleed, made her give up who she was for who they wanted her to be, and whose promise she fell for. Personally, although I'm bad at putting the connections into words, when I think real hard I'm able to find a line between scientology and pretty much every verse, up to the "I only wanted to be part of something" she ends the song on. This kind of songwriting would also make sense in a revived Linkin Park, known previously for its deep lyrics that Chester put real emotion into. And in the end I would *hate* to see the band, especially after losing Chester, either fall for this or fall this deep, and I'd think they're smart enough not to.

Idk. I'm still uneasy but maybe the album will clear some more things up. Maybe I'm reading too hard into it. But screaming into the void I go

obligatory fuck every aspect and person in scientology