In anticipation of the next big global demonstration by Anonymous on March 15, when Operation Party Hard kicks in, Scientology has begun its attempt to strike back. From the heart of its empire in Clearwater, Florida,Scientology has launched an attempt to serve an injunction on every member
of the group to stop this Saturday's demo. The funny thing about this is not simply that Anonymous has no members, it's also the way Scientology claims to promote free speech in its propaganda.
Launched by a cluster of high ranking Scientologists, the first injunction was a stew of victimology in which the Scientologists express fear of Anonymous, claiming bomb, arson, and threats of violence against parishioners and church property. As "proof," they cited a Youtube video, purportedly from Anonymous, but couched in cult linguistic patterns. The video was only up for three hours, long enough for the cult to capture and offer it as proof of their persecution.
It included a threat to detonate nitroglycerin in cult buildings across the country, stating "this will be the largest attack on a religion in history."
The problem is, nobody considers or refers to Scientology as a religion. Except Scientologists.
There were recorded "threatening phone calls." They offered emails as well. The problem is, these unverified threats could easily have come from Scientology, as they have a history of creating threats when nobody else will comply.
Writer Paulette Cooper, for example, was arrested after Scientology operatives broke into her house, stole stationary with her fingerprints on it, and sent itself a bomb threat, followed by a call to the FBI. Dubbed "Operation Freakout"
by the cult, the aim was to get her imprisoned or drive her mad. She was working on a book at the time, entitled 'The Scandal of Scientology.'
When the cult sent our local Domestic Terrorism Unit to my door, they responded to a complaint that I "planned to blow up" the Scientology building in San Diego.
We Army linguists are highly trained that way, you know.
Scientology is a fear mongering organization. When Keith Henson picketed their desert compound in Hemet, protesting the deaths of two young women on Scientology property,
the cult squealed that they were in fear of this elderly man walking along the road carrying a sign. Mr. Henson was arrested. In court, Scientologists who didn't even
know their own mailing address wept on the stand about their fear of one man and a sign. He was finally sentenced, in a totally bogus kangaroo court, of "interfering with a religion," a misuse of that law. No religion is practiced at Gold Base. It is the home of Golden Era Productions, which churns out all those exploding volcano ads run on late night cable tv. It also produces all the PR material fed to members, reinforcing their fantasy that Scientology Is Doing Something with their donations.
Something other than fattening leader David Miscavige's bank account, that is.
Elronically, Scientology's shiny happy facade includes its support of human rights. Their front group, 'Youth For Human Rights,' states on its website that you are;
19."Free to say what you want. We all have the right to make up our own minds, to think what we like, to say what we think, and to share our ideas with other people.
- Meet where you like. We all have the right to meet our friends and to work together in peace to defend our rights. Nobody can make us join a group if we don't want to."
There are 30 of these declarations, and according to ex-members and kids who grew up in Scientology, the organization violates all of them. But that's another story for
another time.
Anonymous wants to share their ideas with other people in Clearwater. And on March 15, they want to meet in peace to defend their rights. But Scientology doesn't want them to.
In a delicious bit of hyperbole, the petition includes this tasty nugget; "Various members of the group have encouraged the use of attacks, raids, bombs, hand grenades, machine guns and executions of Church leaders."
Scientology's own promotion videos include images of hand grenades blowing up psychiatrists' offices, as well as an animated clip of psychiatrists being machine gunned. Supposedly, these clips are offered to the court as "proof" of Anonymous' evil and violent intent. But Scientology made the images for its own DVDs, so it is quite likely they created these clips and gave Anonymous the credit. Machine guns? Hand grenades? These are elements of their own propaganda machine!
On February 10, Anonymous kicked off the first of a series of global events protesting Scientology's abuses of people and the law. Over 9000 people joined in for peaceful marches in 93 cities worldwide. It was a stunning success, with only a couple of arrests. A Scientologist in Melbourne, Australia assaulted a man wearing a mask. In Los Angeles, a barefooted Scientologist was caught on video; ripping off a man's sunglasses, spitting at someone, kicking another, before running back into the Scientology building.
All incidents of violence were perpetrated by members of this "peaceful religious group!"
In its petition for an injunction, the Scientologists cite an incident where an anonymous phone caller stated that a man was hiding under a desk at their Fort Harrison Hotel, shooting people. Police were called, and nobody was found. The Fort Harrison is the same place that Lisa McPherson was held against her will, spending her final days slowly dying under the watchful eye of Scientology "minders."
Another incident accuses a man of "pulling the main power switches at a Clearwater Church building, shutting off power to the building." Please note, the complaint does not say "Clearwater Church of Scientology building." I find that odd.
An earlier video which came out on Youtube after the Feb. 10 event is also cited as a threat to Scientologists. In it, a computerized female voice claims to be part of "elite Anonymous." This is absurd, and caused a great deal of merriment amongst Anonymous. It's not an organization, has no leaders, and certainly does not have an elite hierarchy. This is sheer Scientology projection. To understand the nature of Anonymous, the following sig file puts it in a nutshell.
"We're Anonymous. We're people. That's all we are. We're people who've seen this, said, 'This isn't right,' and decided to take a stand."
That is the essence of the nature of Anonymous. Decent people, using the Internet to try to right a wrong.
The petition states that numerous threats of violence, including arson and bomb threats, were received by various Scientology organizations nationwide. However, when one person called the police departments of those cities, not one report had been filed! Had they been genuine, Scientology would have been crying to the Po-po at length, loudly
and publicly. This was not the case.
Included in the petition, Scientology cites two cases that happened in 1996. One, in California, resulted in a man blowing up a van full of explosive devices. The other, in Portland Oregon, relates the story of Jarius Godeka, who attacked a Scientology establishment and shot several members. But, what the petition fails to relate is that both
men were Scientologists. Godeka was mentally unstable, and he wanted a refund of the thousands of dollars he'd given to Scientology. When they refused, he cracked. His case was also cited in Keith Henson's trial. There, too, the Scientologist failed to mention Godeka's relationship with the organization.
It is therefore, quite likely that the Scientology PR machine has been churning out threatening videos, emails and phone calls threatening itself in order to convince the court that its members are truly in fear for their safety. What did the court say to the initial petition?
It said that the law does not apply to a corporation.
A second petition was filed, approaching from a different law.
This shining beacon of staunch human right support, the Church of Scientology, seeks an immediate injunction "against Anonymous, its local leaders and supporters, and all persons in active concert or participation with them, enjoining said group from committing any further acts of repeat violence; and an injuction preventing Anonymous, its local leaders and supporters and all persons in active concert or participation with them, from coming within 500 feet of Rev. Heber Jentzch as well as the locations and entrances of buildings which Rev. Heber Jentzsch will frequent, and the buildings and locations where large numbers of Scientology parishioners, leaders and officials typically gather."
(Reports from people recently departed from Scientology have stated that Mr. Jentzsch is currently being held in the "SP Hall," a place where high ranking Scientology executives are imprisoned and subjected to egregious living conditions and hard labor. After being held against his will, Mr. Jentzsch will probably say anything they order him to say, if doing so will get him released.)
This injunction would shut down the whole of downtown Clearwater to protesters. To Scientologists, passing out fliers outlining Scientology abuses constitutes violence. Speaking out against their abusive and criminal acts constitutes a threat.
Distributing information about Scientology's fraudulent and dangerous front groups, exposing the organization as a destructive, totalitarian cult constitutes vandalism.
Indeed, these pickets and protests are incredibly damaging to Scientology; to its lies, to its religious masquerade, to its continued ability to lie, cheat and steal to get what it wants from the innocent, the gullible, and the trusting.
The continued media exposure of its fraudulent, tax-funded front groups will ensure that lawmakers will eventually have to give these programs the scrutiny they deserve.
The rise of Anonymous is also giving ex-members the courage to speak out about their own experiences with Scientology abuses.
A new website, Ex Scientology Kids, has a wealth of stories about growing up neglected, undereducated, underfed,
and abused children, born into Scientology, overworked, underloved, and undeserving of the kind of treatment they endured. Founded by three young women who grew up in prominent Scientology families, this website gives a unique perspective on what it's like to grow up in a Scientology family.
This is exactly what the Scientology organization desperately seeks to suppress. They're not afraid of bombs, or machine guns, or arson, they are afraid of the truth. By their own actions, they inadvertently offer proof of their totalitarianism, their aversion to the rights of others to speak out, and their willingness to abuse the courts, the police and their own members to Keep Scientology Working.
In order to continue this business as usual, they cannot afford to have the truth about them disseminated. But it's too late. No matter how many threatening videos they put up as "proof," no matter how many threatening emails and phone calls they send to themselves, Anonymous is not going away. Our right to speak out will not be crushed by this fruity little club called Scientology.
Anonymous recognizes that everyone has the right to pursue their chosen beliefs. This isn't a religious issue at all. It is best stated here:
"I think that the protections that we enjoy for freedom of worship exist so long as we don’t step over the line. When religious worship and belief cross over into things like fraud, victimization of others and the disruption of the political arena, that protection is no longer appropriate."
--Robert Goff
Professor Emeritus, UCSC
When Scientology falls, it will not be because people object to an evil Galactic Overlord named Xenu. It will be because of actions like this, an attempt to quash the First Amendment rights of people who don't agree with their behavior, their morally bankrupt treatment of innocents, and their reluctance to allow people the right to make informed decisions about the group before joining.
If Scientology stopped the lies, the fraud, the harassment and abuses, if Scientology started acting like a real church instead of The Sopranos in dog collars, nobody would have a problem with them.
But if they did that, it wouldn't be Scientology any longer, would it?