Worldwide pickets against Church of Scientology on the 10th / Project Chanology

[Arrian]

Dan's a catholic, I take it.

-Arrian

[Wezil]

I got that impression.

I was going to point out the Mafia doesn't exist (an ugly slur) but didn't want to threadjack.

[Lancer]

DanS, yeah ok you win. *cough*pyrrhic victory*cough*

I mean come ohhhn. Profits from drug smugglers? Ten B I L L I O N in foriegn investments? You going to tell me they need the $ of the poor people of Cebu to feed that kid on the garbage can poster? They could make him a KING and not miss the pocket change! Did Jesus have ten billion dollars stashed for a fat & happy bottom line?

I don't trust them, and niether should you. "Beware the scribes and pharisees" Duh.

I'm sure I'll see lots of catholics when I get to heaven, not sure I'll meet many banker catholics, but who knows, not me, God only.

[Elok]

Originally posted by Ari Rahikkala
(*) I believe that the reason why LRH originally put the Xenu story in was to see if people would actually honestly become so deeply indoctrinated by the lower levels that they'd swallow that crud. Well, that, or as a hint to point out to those who'd already invested more than they should have that they really should just get out.

Rather I would say that he knew full well that after so much indoctrination they would accept anything. In those circumstances he succumbed to the temptation to let his imagination run wild. Remember, he was a B sci-fi writer at heart.

[Ari Rahikkala]

There's not much time left until Sunday and I really would like to nudge at least one person who would not otherwise have gone to a protest to go. I would definitely go myself if it weren't for the fact that the only Org in Finland is located halfway across the country, and even if I were there their Finnish operations are so small that I'm afraid any publicity would be good publicity.

With that in mind...


SOME REASONS TO GO

1. It might just be worth it. Prepare well and be convincing, and you might just get the message out to somebody who'll get the message out to someone who would have otherwise have become this cult's victim. There are ways to spend a Sunday that are even more meaningful, but how many can you name offhand, and were you going to be doing any of those?

2. It might just be a challenge or a thrill. It depends on how the CoS ends up responding. Most likely, however, they're going to have their trained handlers out fully in force. Remember when John Sweeney flipped out? While I know getting harassed by Scientologists would get old very fast (not to even think of what would happen if they got your name and home address), I can't help but think that if I were in the position to participate I'd rather enjoy trying to get through the handlers' exteriors...

3. You *will* be a part of something, a kind of social movement that is quite remarkable in its conception - the culturally enforced lack of organisation and leadership, etc.. If it turns out to be big, maybe you'll get that warm fuzzy feeling of participation while watching the evening news, even if you had obscured your face.

SOME REASONS NOT TO GO (because I like being honest)

1. You won't make any new friends. At least not from Anons who act by the guidelines I linked to in the first post. Remember, you *are* up against a paranoid cult in here that knows about these plans and is quite prepared to spy on you, quite possibly infiltrating the protesters and either trying to befriend them or making trouble and framing them. Don't be fooled.

[DanS]

Originally posted by Lancer
DanS, yeah ok you win. *cough*pyrrhic victory*cough*

I mean come ohhhn. Profits from drug smugglers? Ten B I L L I O N in foriegn investments? You going to tell me they need the $ of the poor people of Cebu to feed that kid on the garbage can poster? They could make him a KING and not miss the pocket change! Did Jesus have ten billion dollars stashed for a fat & happy bottom line?

I don't trust them, and niether should you. "Beware the scribes and pharisees" Duh.

I'm sure I'll see lots of catholics when I get to heaven, not sure I'll meet many banker catholics, but who knows, not me, God only.

To be quite honest, I'm baffled by you being impressed by an account that contains less than $10 per catholic.

There's lots of legitimate criticisms of the church based upon known facts. Why not keep to those things?

[Lancer]

Never mind about it, sorry if I bothered you. They do alot of good in the world also as you know.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Originally posted by Ming
If somebody is that stupid to sign up and give them all their money and want to believe in alien aura's... that's their problem. Morons...

Whereas if somebody's stupid enough to sign up and give subscription money to post on a forum moderated by an alien aura...?

[snoopy369]

Sister Alinestra, now, when we, um, initiated you, into the third level of Apolytonia, you were sworn not to tell anyone about the Aura ...

We shall have to punish you now

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by snoopy369
We shall have to punish you now

Spank her! Spank her!! Spank her!!! Oh yessssss, doooooooooooo!

[Zevico]

How would picketing them help, exactly?

[Wezil]

Well, it's Monday. Are the Scientologists gone now?

I didn't hear about the Sunday protests and had to dig for a news article.

A report from Toronto.

Kim Palmer doesn't care if Scientologists know who she is.

"I'm not anonymous because they know me. I've picketed here before," Palmer, 47, said.

As for most of the other 200 anti-Scientology protesters who gathered outside the religious group's Yonge St. offices yesterday, they did care. Many said they believe that if the controversial religious group learned their identities, it would attempt to keep tabs on them.

"To them we are SPs -- suppressive persons," said one female protester, referring to the term that gained prominence after a wide-eyed Tom Cruise mentioned it in the famous video of him praising Scientology.

Launched through an Internet collective called Anonymous, which claims no leaders and no organizers, yesterday's rally was one of dozens of Anonymous-inspired anti-Scientology rallies that took place around the world.

Some of the Toronto protesters covered their faces with scarves or balaclavas, while most donned Guy Fawkes masks -- popularized in the movie V For Vendetta -- as they crowded the Yonge St. sidewalk, hoisting signs that read "Ron is gone but the con lives on" and "Scientology Exploits."

Toronto Police said there were no arrests or incidents during the protest, which stayed peaceful from its 11 a.m. start to its 6 p.m. finish.

The Anonymous anti-Scientology campaign -- called Project Chanology -- was sparked by the religious group's aggressive efforts to rid the Internet of the video of an intense Cruise laughing hysterically while lauding the merits of the religion, founded by former science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

"We don't like people telling us what we can and cannot do on the Internet," one protester said yesterday.

In Anonymous' "Message To Scientology" video that was posted on the Internet last month, a cryptic, robotic voice intones: "Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed. For the good of your followers, for the good of mankind -- for the laughs -- we shall expel you from the Internet and systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form."

In an interview inside the Church of Scientology's Toronto facility, Rev. Yvette Shank, the president of the church in Canada, called the protesters "bigots" and said Anonymous is engaging in "hate mongering" and "religious hate crimes."

MORALE UNAFFECTED

Shank said the protest wasn't affecting the morale of the church members who watched as some of the protesters held signs up to the window and waved mockingly.

"I don't think it's affecting anybody at all," Shank said.

When asked if she and fellow Scientologists had considered talking to the protesters, Shank said there would be no point.

"I don't know why we'd bother," she said. "We do what we do, they do what they do."

She said that anybody who is curious about Scientology will only realize what it's about by reading books published by the religious group.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/02/11/4839594-sun.html

How was it reported elsewhere?

[Alinestra Covelia]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


Spank her! Spank her!! Spank her!!! Oh yessssss, doooooooooooo!

I hope you know you're going to be stuck with the cleanup afterwards.

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia


I hope you know you're going to be stuck with the cleanup afterwards.

I'm not sure what that refers to. I'd like not to know.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia


Whereas if somebody's stupid enough to sign up and give subscription money to post on a forum moderated by an alien aura...?

The highlighted bit refers, of course, to Ming - that alien aura that moderates this board.