Anonymous First Anniversary Closing By - What Did They Achieve?.

Nearly a year since the advent of Anonymous springing in the news with their attack on Scientology.

Of course, we are going to see a few analysis.

Here is the first one, from ARS, and some reactions.

My comments on what I pick up here and there follows:


Ted Mayett:

They started out with about 9,000 one year ago and today about 3% or 4% still picket, maybe less.

That seems a bit low. I think 10% would probably be closer to reality.

DOX OR STFU

And Ted then uses the claims that they closed down orgs (Last Vegas, Kitchener, San Diego) to show that they in fact do not substantiate their claim and when checked against reality one may find that it was indeed not the case.

As for me, while I agree with this kind of statement (Dox or STFU), I must observe that just like their claim that a group should not be discriminated against for their belief, and their brags about free speech, they are not really able to live up to this kind of ideal. Indeed, for a group that aims at "dox or stfu", they are incredibly gullible and shallow with researches, or else they wouldn't fall for old OG propaganda such as "Scientology Kills" or the Henson Myth.


Barbz:

About the masks:

That is the whole point of being 'anonymous,' innit. No leaders. No egos. Nobody trying to grab glory or take credit. The masks represent the collective as a whole.

I don't always agree with Barbz but I must admit that this is a good point.

Um, no. SD org is for sale. Hardly the same thing as "closed." We never claimed that San Diego was closed

Barbz did write in her post "The San Diego org has a for sale sign on it" but then check out the thread title she herself created: "ORG CLOSED DUE TO rAIDS".

If this isn't claiming that San Diego was closed, I don't know what is.


Same for Kitchener:

"PICKET REPORT: Kitchener, Ontario - ORG IS CLOSED!!!". Followed by a post two weeks later saying: "Kitchener org is open for business :("

why do you have to interject fantasy into your screed? HELLO MCFLY! Dox or STFU! See how that works?

Yep. Dox seems to confirm Ted claims, methink.

It's an information war, and we are winning.

Oh my... now I think hearing George W. Shoe.

You can see it reflected in the comments section of cult related articles.

Yes you can, most of these comments are increasingly seen as the deed of immature schoolyard bullys who need to get a life, as noted by the LA Times:

"many of those responses were immature or snide remarks, seemingly coming from 4chan members, which prompted Zoey Hampton to write: "The comments make it very clear that the members of 4chan need to get a life, as well as learn to spell and write cogently."

And in following comments:

"Indeed! As we enjoy a more free communication, so too with schoolyard bullys, semi-literates and disruptive elements."

"In days gone past it took great effort to rouse a demonstration. Today it takes only a few phrases on a disruptive website, a few minutes of discussion, and a few dozen computers running dedicated software"

"People dedicated to disrupting normal communication have found their comfort zone on the internet"

"Scientology may indeed be a cult, but these anonymous mask-wearing website-hacking "kids" (and I use that term loosely - many of these 4chan troublemakers are middle aged and living at home) are far more dangerous. Committing vandalism and hate crimes are NOT just "kids' play""

Barbz continues:

And if there are fewer people dancing, and the sheet cakes have become cupcakes, it doesn't matter a bit to me. Because we ARE winning. And that's all right with me.

Can someone throw a shoe at this lady, please?


Hartley Patterson:

My impression is that the number has stabilised

That's my impression too. The low numbers of the past few protests have remained more or less constant. In fact it could be said that it represents the solidification of Anonymous into Old Guards.

being ignored by the media and the police

If you don't know Hartley is referring to Scientology, you would think he speaks about Anonymous. Back in July, I already wrote:

Anonymous has big problem getting any press those days. Apart for their usual propaganda rag, such as Glosslip or HyndiMedia or the -ist series, they aren't getting any press at all.

This is more true than ever. Even worst, the press is even getting hostile to them, as in an article that appeared just today:

According to a report by MSNBC, the anti-Scientology group Anonymous did little to help their cause the other day, as they pulled off one of the lamest protests ever [...] Looks like the tides are turning [...] and now, due to a group of inept protestors, the oft-ridiculed “religion” that is Scientology successfully dodged an attack.

Wrote Hartley furthermore:

'Scientology' becoming a byword in the media for craziness and nastiness

Why "becoming"? This was always more or less the case, and, yes, they were more in the press of late than ever, for a while at least, and even so back in 2005 with the Cruise sofa incident, long pre-dating the advent of Anonymous, but as the article above said, the tide is turning. What counts, is the long-term, and Scientology having more or less graciously dealt with the attack may even become on the contrary stronger because of it.


henri:

Dude, "org closed due to rAIDS" is a joke based on an old /b/ meme. It's a JOKE. Google "pool's closed" for the origin.

That's easy - claim something seriously, then when undocumented or unproved, claim it was a joke... Read the context as above quoted, it does not sound a joke to me. Also read the context of the recent Anonymous propaganda video in which they insinuate that over 9,000 protested every month. The over 9,000 is indeed a joke, but it certainly is not presented as such in the video. It's more like deception, is what it is.


Point is, what exactly did Anonymous achieve in this one year? In the above referred propaganda video they attribute defections that in fact have virtually nothing to do with them at all. Speak about "Dox or STFU".

There was one guy who posted about the fact the protests helped him to leave. That's it, for what I can recall. (I thought I blogged about that but now can't seem to find in which category I filed it). Not a single org, that I know, closed (except maybe temporarily during the protest but that's not the same). I seem to recall that the SDO org is for sale because the CoS is moving in bigger quarters (have to check about that, though), and in Anonymous peak time they were busy buying expensive historical buildings in an apparent expansion drive, at least they did before the economic crash. Some say they just invest fraudulent money but anyway it really does not look like anything is closing at all, except of course for Anonymous protests venues.

What else did Anonymous achieve? Yes, the high numbers during protests of Feb. and Mar. This certainly will stay in Scientology History. That's it. And the guy who posted about being helped by Anonymous? What else? Dox or STFU, please...