User:Thankyouanon
From Non-Violent Uprising
Contents |
My 'Dear Anonymous'
It's unlikely that anybody is going to read this at any point, being on an obscure talk page on a relatively obscure wiki that would perhaps be used by 5 or 6 hundred people at most. However, your events over the last 6 months have given me an unprecedented surge of optimism, not just for the actions of the so-called 'Anonymous' collective, but for the tendency of society to correct itself. Corporations that participate in improper and exploitative behaviors are met with boycott and protest, and so too is the Church of Scientology, although so-called "LRH Tech" has been adaptable to today's culture of narcissism more than any of the other prevalent 'new age' forms of philosophy (see thinks like Kaballah as well, of course, as more tragic examples like Jonestown). I hope to explain the relationship of Scientology in today's culture, and why you(we) have, in my opinion, failed so far to address the true causes of this cultish plague (and the nature of its actions in today's society can only be described as a plague on the sensibilities of people today). Of course, this will be VERY tl;dr, and I doubt anyone's going to have the balls to go through with reading the entire thing, as well as the huge amount of appendix I'm going to add for additional information. But I promise that I'll try to address any questions posed to me through my talk page, engage in discussion with any interested parties, and offer my own input onto any other subjects if it's requested. This is going to be serious, heavy, informative information, folks, so try to prove to me that you're So, from here, let's delve into the world you're skirting, the figurative belly of the beast, and try to see into the minds of our 'enemies'.
Background: Why I Write and Why We Fight
I want to make it clear that my association with CoS is merely informational, from what I could find on the internet and secondary sources over the past 6 months. I knew about 4/7/whatever number-chan before any of this began, however only as "that website with the goofy memes and lots of goatse", and I naturally stayed away. I knew what anonymous was, and I wanted nothing to do with it. I like to pretend I'm a sophisticated person at least somewhat above the sophomoric behavior that anonymous had previously been famed for. However, things obviously changed, and I can point it to a specific date: March 15, your second protest. I became engrossed in the opposition to this cult and its behavior due to my accidentally stumbling into a back neighborhood of the city full of crazy masked protesters, Anonymous. Your behaviors up to this point have gained a following, at least in one person in one city, and hopefully in a lot more. The information was presented nearly flawlessly, and although I was certainly wary of your behavior at first (not all of us like hearing Rick Astley anywhere outside of the local Market Basket's produce department, guys), I became intrigued by the nature of your information and decided to research the subject myself. From this, I gained literally reams of information that I'm currently in the process of disseminating. Hopefully, I can write some sort of "Scientology for Anons" pdf at some point and put it up for distribution, if people would be willing to read it. But this must be made very clear and very quickly, anon, for reasons I will explain later: Scientologists are firmly rooted in what they see as very concrete beliefs. The acute nature of the mind, self-determination, and reflection (personified in the process known as "auditing") are above all valued. We would not see the successes of the initial Dianetics in 1950 were it not for the (at least on paper) validity of this process. Talking about what we're worried about is good for us. However, Scientologists refuse to call it therapy and charge an inflated rate for what can, essentially, be covered on any good HMO. Scientology's opposition to psychiatry can be summarized with the remembrance that psychiatry is merely Auditing done by a person who actually knows what to look for (though a skilled auditor can be receptive to the way the human mind works) and charged at a deflated rate.
Now, why do I write? For the same reason any one of you wears a mask, draws a sign, or rides a bus to Beacon Street. Because I saw something that piqued my interest, that I felt I could be a part of. It's the same reason you vote a certain way, the same reason you watch some sport on TV, and the same reason a person might join some kooky self-help "religion" (that's right, they and we are not so different). Something seemed somewhat interesting to you, and for whatever reason (be it your desire to be part of that 'legion' or simply you have a true investment in putting what you feel is a sort of justice into this world) that you can be a part of and affect that collective. That is part of what makes Anonymous so amazing: that although, yes, you are bound to attract the types of characters you would want nowhere near you at a dinner party, their actions (or more specifically their presence) gives more weight to your argument, which in its information speaks to itself. A singular man handing out fliers is bound to attract a tiny bit of attention, but 280 are going to give any argument, regardless how convoluted, instant consideration.
And this is no convoluted argument.
I write, anonymous, because I am interested. You attend these protests and draw these signs and bake these cakes because you are interested. It's important to make a distinction here, though: are you interested in protest against Scientology, or are you interested in that anonymous subculture? On the latter, I must warn you that this anonymous, in its tactics, ways, means, and population, is different from other incarnations of the group, just as the anonymous of Habbo Hotel is nothing like the anonymous of Chris Forcand is nothing like the "Buy a Dog" anonymous. Just because this happens to be an opportunity for you to get your face out there is no indication of your success. That being said, it's a credit to your dedication to whichever interest piques you that you are participating despite the fact that, for all you do, you will never get recognition. You might snicker with some friends after seeing videos of Anonymous on Youtube, knowing you were part of it, but you will never have a medal pinned on your chest by the president, and if these operations are successful, your claims of being part of it will be drowned out by everyone else's desperate plea for part of the pie. Remember, people born before 1942 claim to have voted for John F Kennedy in an almost 10:1 margin, despite Kennedy barely winning. Everyone wants to be on the winning team, and thusly, if this operation does not work, nobody will blame you for wanting to get your head out of the oven as quickly as possible.
What and Who We Fight
I must say again that for all of their crazy Xenu stories and Body Thetans, Scientologists are largely unaware of the dirtier side of their belief system and firmly hold true their ideology. Rare is the Christian boasting of the Inquisition, and as such the Scientologist will rarely have actively sought out information about Fair Game/Freakout/Disconnection. Scientologists will defend their beliefs against those accusations as vehemently as a Muslim will defend themselves if you told them that Mohammad was a Pederast. As such, I would suggest to you that the main target of our protest be the average street walker, as I once was, to inform them that Scientology is more than just that "crazy celebrity religion", and be informed of their lies and how they have real-world consequences (i.e. getting passers-by to visit whyaretheydead.net would be worth making a note: Great Success!). Scientologists currently involved in the lower levels of the organization believe in Auditing and coursework, and above all in the knowledge and character of LRH. Scientology makes clear and direct implications that the higher level Scientologists will be able to move mountains and walk through walls - The lower level org members DO believe this, and this must be countered. How can we do this, you ask? Defectors are our greatest asset. If we can cause other high members to defect and participate in our operation, their stories will have more of an affect on the average org member than 10,000 anonymous ever could. They can easily brush away anon as "Low on the Tone Scale", but an experienced ex-Scilon, armed with the information and experience of being part of the cult, says volumes about how it works. Efforts must be made to recruit more ex-scilons to speak at local events and protests.
You know the dangers you're up against; the decision of anonymity has spoken to that already. Fair Game is very much still in play, people: One must only look at the OSA file on Frank Oliver to see how they're still directly involved in ruining lives for LRH. Anonymity is a must. You should know not to park within 10-20 blocks of CoS Boston, too: The T doesn't smell THAT bad, and it couldn't hurt to get a nice breath of city air for a few blocks.
Now What?
I believe, from what I've seen, that the average anon knows little to nothing about the average Scilon and doesn't see how they could even operate when presented with the correct information. It's this assumption that makes it impossible for said anon to treat any scientologist seriously, and therefore limits his abilities and skills in true protest. Do not underestimate these people. Let's look into what makes a Scientologist believe what they believe and how it changes them as people, shall we?
Scientology: The Religion of Narcissism
Why, you probably asked yourself at least once before, have all of these celebrities chosen to embrace Scientology, at a rate much higher than that of other, mainstream religions? One must only look at what differs between Scientology and classical religion to see this. The earliest, polytheistic religions painted man as a creature living side-by-side with Gods and Goddesses that affected his everyday life and status. From here, we evolved to monotheism, in which one divine being (or in some cases, a character like Jesus, divine but mortal, exists) rules over all men. We must see that in these religions, man is subservient to a higher power and exists to serve that higher calling. The new age religions have changed that. Scientology says that once a being is "Operating Thetan", free from the hang-ups of the normal life, he is divine in nature. The divinity of the average person. And who wouldn't want to be just a little more Godly in nature?
Celebrities, contrary to what I read in Us Magazine, are NOT like you or I. They are vain, self-serving, materialistic beings. Scientology serves all those purposes excellently. The vanity is found in their belief that they, when parted of large sums of money, can be divine too! Materialism tells them that they're putting so much money into their belief that it MUST be resulting in some serious payoff. Scientology was lucky enough to come around in the time that it would be seen as best. I can't get the right read on Hubbard, frankly. Either he was the pompous ass we see him as in anonymous, or he is seriously a smarter man than I have seen, put to a purpose more self-serving than any we have seen before. For further reading, I would check out Tom Wolfe's "Narcissism in the Me Decade" to understand why the climate of the world's cultures changed so rapidly as to allow Scientology to gain such a significant foothold.
Conclusion
That's it for now, although I'd like to organize, expand, and explain myself a bit better. It's late at night. Just remember that our greatest weapon is our information and how we give it to our greatest ally, the common man. Scientology hopes to move itself into the much more prolific Alexandra Hotel in 2008, which is actually a boon to us: Scientology will then be seen by more people, and in this climate, where one only has to type a few words into Google to see Scientology's disastrous effect, this will not work out nearly as well for them as they have hoped in the past. Just Remember: Society is correcting itself just as your body would, by purging itself of a virus. Scientology is that virus, and we are the cure, anonymous. God speed.
Additional Reading/Bibliography
http://www.wikileaks.org/leak/scientology-frank-oliver-osa.pdf http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/wakefield/us.html http://www.exscientologykids.com/anonymous.html
