The Ides of March - Anonymous protest against Scientology 15-03-08

by Paul Hardy Thu Mar 13, 2008 23:48 prh1973 at gmail dot com

A pathetic parody of public protest. There is no prospect whatsoever of the Scientologists using their supposed vast power over society to intimidate protestors. So why not take the masks off? Anonymity, especially in the absence of any credible fear, is the opposite of solidarity.

And why protest against the Scientologists at all? People CAN join or leave religious groups as they wish. They CAN'T as easily leave poverty, poor housing, illegal war zones or abusive employers, though. Might any of these be better topics for protest than a creepy religion that you don't like?

I don't like Scientology much myself, but I find that I have been able to resist their evil mind-bending powers so far. (Perhaps I have superhuman will.). Anonymous doesn't have much faith in the ability of ordinary people to make their own decisions as to what to believe and how and whether to worship. Any activist group not based on the belief that ordinary people can change their world is like a house built on sand (guys, that's a metaphor from the Book of Matthew, not L Ron Hubbard).

by predator of Xenu Thu Mar 13, 2008 23:51

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/11/2348242...m=rss they're having a go at fair game & inflitration.

Readers who are new to the stopping the Dangerous cult of Scientology thing could do well reading the back material on the newswire here :-

"Stopping the dangerous Cult Scientology. a global call to action."
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/86092

"Anonymous Ireland Press Release - Feb 10th"
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/86085

Remember, many readers of this site may be familiar with the ideas well articulated by Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt in their book "Empire" (2000) which you can download for free here http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/negri/ But for those who are not, the 2 marxist philosophers argued cogently that the current geopolitical framework is nothing more than an "Empire" with three capital cities or focal points in the dominant & hegomonic conglomeration of states (the USA). Those capitals are being political in Washington DC, economic in New York & cultural in Hollywood. No other cult or body of beliefs which purports to be a religion but is in fact an astoundingly aggressively protected money making scam & commercial enterprise has dominated Hollywood to such an extend as Scientology. The influence of the cult on global popular culture & its agenda far outweigh any cohesive communality which might be ascribed to the preponderence of one ethnic group which since the foundation of the cinematic culture industry was identified with Hollywood. In short, the work of the Scientologists has had more effect on script acceptance & movie plot ideas than any mythical jewish propaganda machine. A quick consideration of the film CV's of Scientology's most famous proponents will chart a development of warped & nonsensical notions of non-human intelligence, contact scenarios with extra-terrestial species & models of self-development or autonomy.

There are many other cults out there which are & most certainly were much more dangerous on the use of pseudo-cognitive science, high technology, brain washing & disconnection fronts. Even to the point of developing & using WMD. IF you need an example I'd send you to this picture http://www.indymedia.ie/article/63543?&condense_comment...63375

But the Aum Shinrikyo cult led by Shoko Asahara didn't have an office on Abbey Street Dublin, nor did it mobilise against psichiatry in Ireland, the only state in the top ten of UN Human development rankings which also gets pillored every year by Amnesty International for Psichiatric abuse.

know your enemies.
L Ron Hubbard, Hollywood & Tom Cruise are your enemies.
Xenu is your friend.

by Ah sure I'm only an ordinary Joe soap Fri Mar 14, 2008 02:04

"So why not take the masks off? Anonymity, especially in the absence of any credible fear, is the opposite of solidarity."

Because Scientology HQ targets those who speak out against the organisation in any form whatsoever. They bombard them with phonecalls, they warn the associates of the "opponent" and spread lies against them, they take harassing court actions against them irrespective of whether they are likely to win or not. Don't take my word for it, look it up.

"And why protest against the Scientologists at all?"

Because citizens have a right to raise their concerns as they see fit within the law?

"People CAN join or leave religious groups as they wish."

Yes, but once within a cult, they can't always leave. There are numerous verified accounts of people being held against their will, never mind the brainwashing and the blackmail. Again, don't take my word, look it up for yourself.

"Anonymous doesn't have much faith in the ability of ordinary people to make their own decisions as to what to believe and how and whether to worship."

I see you agree with the Scientology line on the issue. In fact, perhaps someone could correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they are recognised as a religion here. The only reason they applied for recognition as a religion in the States was for tax purposes. The great Leader, L Ron Hubbard, writer of the worst science fiction of all time, said that the easiest way to become a millionaire was to found a religion.

The leaders of this cult are literally criminals in the United States and have served time in prison. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White

I'm no expert on this, neither am I associated with Anonymous. But anyone who has spent any time on the internet has had the opportunity to read about what this organisation has done to people and is still doing. They are not victims. There are allegations that they have caused deaths. Don't trivialise their crimes.

by Paul Hardy Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:20

Of course people have the right to protest against the Scientologists, within the context of the Scientologists’ rights to associate and to worship, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Just looking at today’s news, Anonymous could pitch up at Rath Lugh, or at Erris, or at Shannon Airport, all of which make more sense.

As to agreeing with Scientologists that people have the ability to make their own choices in religion, well, I agree with Stalin that the state should nationalise the banks, but it doesn’t make me a mass murderer.

by predator of Xenu Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:48

Germans take worship very seriously & after long consideration & many criminal investigations produced a leaflet to warn Germans against the cult. It's a money making scam not a religion. I suppose someone down in Cork could ask Tom Cruise along to do a debate.

by Paul Hardy Fri Mar 14, 2008 13:08

Predator, freedom of worship includes the freedom to worship in ways that you, or even the German courts, don't like. This idea of 'recognised as a religion' is absurd - who exactly is to make this recognition and keep this list of things that we are allowed to believe?

by CrackerJack - We The People Fri Mar 14, 2008 21:53

I'm sorry, but your assumptions that the church of Scientology is not looking to take some kind of aggressive action against Anonymous is entirely wrong. Throughout the world at the Feb. 10th protests, Church figures were recording protesters faces, some took pictures of license plates, and now, the Church has posted a youtube video revealing personal information about Anonymous members that they have identified for the sole purpose of intimidation.

To top that, they're looking to file a lawsuit against 26 "suspected" members of Anonymous for the sole fact that they are affiliated with the group. I will not say that there are idiots among Anonymous who took things too far, but in a group with virtually no organization it is nearly impossible to keep out the dumbasses who like to destroy property and otherwise go outside of legal grounds. That, and because of this lack of structure, there is also a high probability that many Co$ affiliates have masqueraded as Anonymous and committed vandalism and scripted harassment for the sole purpose of damaging public opinion of Anonymous.

Read more on the Co$ and their tactics before you try and dismiss them as an innocent "religion". A real religion doesn't expect their followers to pay.

by Just covering myself there Fri Mar 14, 2008 22:11

http://gawker.com/5003867/the-scientologists-glitzy-bir...ruise

by predator of Xenu Fri Mar 14, 2008 23:10

A German citizen may choose to pay for the upkeep of their religious denomination through their taxes. If they don't hold religious beliefs, they don't pay for the maintainance of any organised religion. You're obviously not that well versed on the establishment, disestablishment, or regulation of public worship.

The dangerous cult of scientology is not a religion. it is a series of exploitative & intrusive levels of collective entrapment which has been proven to inflitrate legitimate groups worried about psychiatry, to destroy families & falsify figures on drug rehabilitation as well as fiscal returns.

Are you taking me on?
don't do that. I'm not as much an idiot as I specialise in seeming.

by ANON Sat Mar 15, 2008 15:01

Party hard people!

March 15 will be remembered as the day scientology truly started to fall.

for those of you reading this, not knowing what's going on here, let me clarify
Anonymous is not a gang of hackers. We are the very literal definition of an anonymous collective. Everyone’s moral compass drives them in the direction we go.

there are also misconceptions of scientology, it is not just some kooky religion, it is not some fringe religion… it is by the very definition, a cult. they don’t just take money from people who sign up, no… we’re talking extortion, slave labour, worse than prison conditions, invasion of privacy, murder… this is serious business

Scientology has tried to disrupt our legal, peaceful protests before. They sent their own children to attempt to give us a bad image by sending a protest group made almost entirely of youths ahead of ours when only days before they stated in court that they were afraid of anonymous. Their protest was in support of human rights (something scientology does not have a good record with) to make our protest look bad.

They also barricaded some of the streets on route to their church in LA. They put up 10-12 foot walls in an attempt to prevent us from getting closer to their buildings. Also, they have falsely accused us of threatening bombs, nitroglycerin and anthrax.

Scientology has had a record of forcefully preventing their members from exercising freedom of speech by monitoring their members’ activities online. They threaten to prevent their members from leaving and exploit them for money. Workers are paid less than minimum wage in some cases and in some situations are treated as prisoners.

www.exscientologykids.com www.whyaretheydead.net www.enturbulation.org www.xenu.net

by anon - ? Sat Mar 15, 2008 15:21

Several issues have been raised here. They are issues that it must be said are valid ones. The right to freedom of religion for example.

But lets just examine that from a very basic perspective.

Everyone has the right to their religious belief without question. This is a lie. Its a nice idea, but a lie. We live in a time where the very concept of rights is so ingrained that its easy to be mistaken on how far they apply.

Freedom of religion is not absolute.
An irish catholic, directed by the bible should be allowed to kill someone in cold blood for planting two different crops side by side. Does he have the right to do this? To claim diminished responsibility because the bible said it was ok? If he did, do you honestly think this would work?

Of course not.

Similarly, do you think the ritual honor killings as cultural/ religious acts are above the law?
Of course not. And the british would agree, to quote an officer

" Violence in the name of culture will not be tolerated ."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/31490...0.stm

So, when the church of scientology uses its beliefs to justify human rights abuses, such as the RPF and the introspection rundown, responsible for the infamous death of lisa mcphearson, and the recent almost identical situation of a french scientologist held against her will in italy in horrific conditions for weeks,

http://glosslip.com/2008/03/05/scientology-denies-any-i...taly/

how can any responsible citizen stand idly by and do nothing? Apathy.

This has nothing to do with the right of others to be scientologists, this has to do with the reformation of that churches practices to bring them into line with basic human rights.

Why do we protest this and not something else, because no other protesters in the civilised world have to protect themselves from harassment and litigation from the injustices they are protesting. At today's protest in washington alone, there are to be an expected 50 private investigators employed to follow protesters in order to gain their identities, and make them open to scientologies fair game policy, which encourages them to destroy the lives of critics without remorse.