Anonymous vs Scientology
Anonymous is a nebulous and faceless group that normally lives comfortably on the Internet but has chosen to step into meatspace on this particular day to face off with the Church of Scientology, an organization which it considers to be illegal and immorally coercive. Scientology labels Anonymous a ‘cyber terrorist’ group. Protests against Scientology were organized simultaneously in cities all around the world. Irina pays a visit to the Church’s San Francisco headquarters to get a sense of what all the fuss is about.
Episode links: Scientology, Anonymous, Project Chanology, Xenu.net, Lawrence Wollersheim, Mike Rinder, BBC Panaroma on Scientology
on February 11th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
[…] GETV’s report on yesterday’s protest in front of Scientology in San […]
on February 11th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
While Scientology is weird and I’m sure can be dangerous. Some people get a bit to earnest and serious about it.
on February 11th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Great episode!
… clearly we need to have a serious talk about the dangers of hot women and world of warcraft ….
on February 11th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
So, did Irina get cleared of her aliens? If she doesn’t want them anymore, I do!
on February 11th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
TOTALLY STRAIGHT, HONEST
on February 11th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Can’t I be done with the middleman and be clear? I mean why can’t I become post clear, being preclear? Does this mean Xenu will have me if I don’t pay up? Maybe I just lack sophistication, money & motivation to become clear?
on February 11th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
(also by email to enric)
Enric said:
While Scientology is weird and I’m sure can be dangerous. Some people get a bit to earnest and serious about it.
Dangerous? Fer sure. Lethal, in fact. February 10 was Lisa McPherson’s birthday – she died after two weeks in solitary confinement by the Co$ in Clearwater Fl in December 1995. See http://www.lisamcpherson.org.
Earnest and serious? Naah – check out the protest videos from London, there’s a lot of rickroll, chocolate rain, lulz and epic wins. Anonymous has engaged with humor where past campaigns have been earnest. This time it’s seriously funny, and I don’t think the Co$ has the tekkk to handle it. Picture Tom Cruise making funny. No? Can’t? Exactly.
on February 12th, 2008 at 1:40 am
There is no such a god “Xenu” in Scientology. I have read all the books in Scientology and there is no mention of it.
In fact there is not a specific “god” in Scientology.
You can go to a church of Scientology and see if someone is worshiping the god “Xenu”!!!
Regarding the Lisa Mc Phearson case the Church of Scientology was totally acquitted as the cause of the death was a car accident that she had before.
On the other side the Anon are behaving like the Nazi against the Jewes.
Read this and watch the video they put on the net.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ1qi9gz7UU
Statement by the Italian Church of Scientology about “ANONYMOUS”
Sunday, February 10, 2008
“Anonymous” is a group of terrorists of cyberspace hiding his identity behind masks and anonymity of the computer. Long before choosing Scientology as his latest target, “Anonymous” has destroyed the websites of thousands of users of MySpace. When Fox News has denounced their activities, hackers from “Anonymous” have caused an interruption of the operation of the website of Fox and published an evil manifest in a video message in July 2007 on the Internet: “We are the face of chaos. … We ruin the lives of other people simply because we can. … hundreds have died in a plane precipitated to the ground. We laugh. The nation is mourning for the shootings in schools, We laughk. We are the personification of humanity which has no remorse, no care, no love or any sense of morality. ”
(See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ1qi9gz7UU).
“Anonymous” is perpetrando crimes committed for racial or religious reasons against the Churches of Scientology and Scientologists individual without any other reason except the bigotry. “Anonymous” initially justified its attacks complaining that the demands of the Church to some websites to remove a stolen video on an internal event of the Church in some way was an affront to freedom of speech.
The Church of Scientology, as would any owner of copyright, simply sent routine communications that the presence of the video was a violation of copyright. Similar communications are sent regularly from television and record labels to those who show pirated versions of copyrighted works. “Anonymous” has claimed the justification of “freedom of speech” to the fact that the video in question was seen by millions of people. It is “Anonymous” who has repeatedly tried to suppress freedom of speech through illegal assaults websites of the Church, to prevent users of the Internet to obtain information on the Church. It is also engaged in other activities including threats of violence through telephone calls, fax transmissions and e-mail, not to mention their shipments of white powder to dozens of our Churches, which has prompted the intervention of security forces.
The claims of “Anonymous” about having an altruistic goals are no different from those heard from any hatred or terrorist group . We are not the first to be targets. Using the visibility of Scientology, “Anonymous” plans to attract more attention. “Anonymous” has proclaimed publicly that the works on which base its actions are the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf.
Of course, this group is not only anti-Scientology, anti-religious freedom and anti-freedom of speech.
The religious bigotry of any kind is regrettable and deeply affect the entire community. Crimes committed on the grounds of racial or religious by “Anonymous” should be condemned. For anyone who wants more information on the Church of Scientology or the content of the video reproduced without authorization, he should visit the website of the Church at http://www.scientology.org and make up their own opinion.
The actions of “Anonymous” will not stop the normal activities of the church in giving service to his parishioners and the community. The Church of Scientology is working with local authorities to minimize the negative impact of this group of masked terrorists of cyberspace.
on February 12th, 2008 at 2:03 am
FG = Scientologist
I walked by this protest and was amazed by how passionate these people were. I never really thought about Scientology but now I’m pissed that this business gets to call itself a church and get tax breaks
And FG, a quick look at wikipedia shows that Scientolgoist don’t worship Xenu, he’s their devil:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu
Xenu (also Xemu), pronounced /ˈziËnuË/, according to Scientology founder (and speculative fiction writer) L. Ron Hubbard, was the dictator of the “Galactic Confederacy” who, 75 million years ago, brought billions[1] of his people to Earth in DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs. Scientology holds that their essences remained, and that they form around people in modern times, causing them spiritual harm.[2][3] Members of the Church of Scientology widely deny or try to hide the Xenu story.
These events are known to Scientologists as “Incident II”, and the traumatic memories associated with them as The Wall of Fire. The story of Xenu is part of Scientologist teachings on extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in Earthly events, collectively described as space opera by Hubbard. Hubbard detailed the story in Operating Thetan level III (OT III) in 1967, warning that this material was “calculated to kill (by pneumonia etc) anyone who attempts to solve it.”[sic]
Criticism of the Church of Scientology often includes details of the Xenu story. The Church has tried to keep Xenu confidential[4] but critics say the story should be made public, given the high prices charged for OT III, part of Scientology’s secret “Advanced Technology” doctrines taught only to members who have already contributed large amounts of money to the organization.[5] The Church avoids making mention of Xenu in public statements and has gone to considerable effort to maintain the story’s confidentiality, including legal action on the grounds of both copyright and trade secrecy. Despite this, much material on Xenu has leaked to the public, largely via the Internet.
on February 12th, 2008 at 2:13 am
FG, Xenu is a part of Scientology. You are most likely a scientologist, and if you say Xenu is not a part of Scientology, you are either told to say that, or you have not yet reached OT-III yet. And as for your long diatribe on Anonymous that has been posted over and over again by other scientologists, we are not attacking your beliefs, we are attacking your evil ways.
Google Operation Freakout
Google Operation Snow White
Shut up already, your tired diatribes are less and less effective with each posting,
on February 12th, 2008 at 7:23 am
“Kind of like World of Warcraft” had me in stitches.
on February 12th, 2008 at 9:40 am
OMG OMG OMG Lawrence Wollersheim from FACTnet was there?!?!
That man has done more to fight Scientology than all the other protesters combined. Look it up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_A._Wollersheim
Excellent reporting. Was that “cured” gay dude for real?
on February 12th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
[…] Geek Entertainment TV : Blog Archive : Anonymous vs Scientology (tags: anonymous 4chan scientology protest geek tv) […]
on February 13th, 2008 at 2:50 am
[…] and I went down and covered the Anonymous protests of Scientology in San Francisco. This was only one of dozens or hundreds […]
on February 16th, 2008 at 3:43 am
wow!
on February 18th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Did you get “clear?”
on February 20th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
so if scientology fixed his gayness, why does he still sound ….gay?
hahahahah
on February 21st, 2008 at 5:56 am
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY. And, I’d be curious to actually see if he was cured of colitis. Actually, no, I wouldn’t, at all, but Mr. Heterosexual should really get medical attention because colitis does not simply go away (with or without auditing). Changes in diet can sometimes control it, but it depends on the severity.
on February 29th, 2008 at 10:55 am
You rock, Irina! This video was awesome. There was so much I didn’t understand about Scientology that was revealed to me in this piece and you made learning about it so entertaining. I, too, especially liked the line, “Kind of like World of Warcraft.” You are *hysterical*! Love you!
on March 27th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
http://xenu.net
http://www.enturbulation.org
Expect us April 12th for Operation Reconnect.
on March 8th, 2009 at 4:25 am
One of the most obnoxious reporters…
on May 9th, 2009 at 11:38 am
OMFG THAT REPORTER IS SO ANNOYING LET ANON TALK GOODNESS GRACIOUS
She isn't even funny.
on May 22nd, 2009 at 10:12 am
There is a lot of negative publicity surrounding Scientology. South Park ridiculed OT3 wherein we find out that Xenu has infested us with alien ghosts. There are rumors of mysterious deaths, slave labor, child abuse. My friend thinks it helps peoples careers, I don't see how. I am thinking of not seeing Tom Cruises next movie as are many others. So how is this positive?
on June 16th, 2009 at 10:47 am
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