World War Internets Escalates: Martyrs, Casualties, Collateral Damage

Been goin' through a lot of popcorn the last week or so trying to keep up with rapidly unfolding developments. The buzzword for the week is 'footbullet' as Scientology keeps digging themselves in deeper and deeper & as I shamelessly mix metaphors. Every tactic they use to combat this offensive either blows up in their face or is fixin' to come back and bite 'em in the ass. Hard, too, looks like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q40DzdVVw-s

Since the March 15 protests, a few folks have been targeted by Scientology with their Fair Game Policy, one of the things that the protestors are protesting. It reads as follows:

"Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."
http://www.fairgamed.org/fairgame.htm

Perhaps the saddest story is that of Sean Carasov and his cat. His story & that of another Southern California member of Anonymous can be heard here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blMPBVLkR4M

R.I.P. Mudkips.

Nor are these the only cases of legal harassment that have occurred; there were two arrests at the Atlanta protests - where the police showed up in full riot gear & where it is rumored that Scientology has connections with the city government. Two speakers were arrested for protesting without a permit despite protest organizers being told repeatedly that permits were not required. Interestingly enough, video shows them being led into the Scientology compound. Without being read their rights. The police were also ticketing motorists passing by who honked in support of the protestors. Nice recap video of those events:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dexAtZ54Sg

Another outrageous charge of criminal tresspass in Boston - along with a recent Scary Legal Letter Campaign, is profiled here:

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/03/anonymous-scientology-legal-letters-gregg-latham-watkins.php

Really, though....if this is the best they got, it's closer to the end than I thought. Epic fail, as they say. The really lulzy part though is how, as word spreads of these people's stories, even more people are compelled to act against these injustices. Enturbulation.org has over 13,000 registered members now.

Most fun of all are their YouTube videos, or would be if they didn't exhibit so much ignorance and psychosis. A typical example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NowhEuS-zsY

Lulzy Anonymous response:

"Knave of J, Anon does not fear water cannons. Because another of our many secrets is that we are really, really absorbent. In fact, you may think of Anon as a massive, porous, and courageous sponge of free speech. So soak us. Our picket signs may run, but we won't."

C'mon, ya gotta love these guys.

But it keeps you wondering...that video, for example: was it made by Scientology? Or by Anonymous to make Scilons look like jackasses? Considering that these are the same sort of tactics Scientology have traditionally used, they are ideal for Anonymous to employ against them in this particular arena, the tubes, where they have the clear advantage. Makes it hard to tell the players from the played...not unlike Iraq, I reckon. But with more lulz and cake and lots less Traumatic Brain Injury.

Other recent wins for Anonymous include leaks of the entire set of Scientology OT documents - the stuff they charge these poor suckers upwards of $300k for - and various financial and tax records. The organization is reportedly hemorrhaging funds and hitting up their minions for an additional $100k per month per "org" to combat this horrific "terrorist threat". Their desperation seems borne out by my friend Richard's report of finding Scientology fliers papering his neighborhood. You know you're in trouble when you have to start going door-to-door. Unless you're the Girl Scouts & you have cookies. Especially those tasty thin mint ones.

But my favorite development came not only out of Texas, but out of the Republican Party of Texas: they adopted a resolution calling for the revocation of Scientology's status as a legitimate religion in the State of Texas.

http://www.anonhouston.com/wiki/Image:Resolutionsmall.jpg

...Just makes me all warm and fluffy inside. Now if I could only get one of those letters...

This is about much more than Scientology: it's about free speech, it's about tax fraud - YOUR money! - it's about human rights violations, it's about child abuse, it's about the perversion of our legal system, it's about corporate fascism and corruption and the destruction of familes, it's about the legally sanctioned exploitation of the emotionally vulnerable.

There's lots more documentation for all this stuff out there, easily available. Google is your friend. Educate yourself. Knowledge is free.