Fair Game Abused

The Church of Scientology certainly did engage in harassment along their "Fair Game" policy. That it was canceled does not mean the spirit and rationale has changed much.

While this is true, however, I have observed Anonymous and critics engage in two myths about this:

1. Virtually anything critical the CoS or Scientologists say about critics is automatically tagged as "Fair Game", even when it is a mere normal answer.
2. Anonymous and critics tend to greatly exaggerate Scientologists' reaction in an attempt to tag it as fair game. I once have given an example of this, where a Scientologist engaged an anon in a relatively friendly manner and where her words were completely distorted to make it sounds like something absolutely sinister.

Quite on the contrary, I found that Scientologists in general have been remarkably cool in the face of sometimes abject harassment on the part of Anonymous, that actually illustrate the notion of Fair Game much better than what Scientologists did.

Put the shoe on the other foot and for a moment and imagine what you would say if Scientologists engaged in these types of behavior towards critics.

In this sense, I found the following thread rather in ARS interesting, and so far critics could not come up with a good answer: Demagoguery and the Anti-Scientology Movement - alt.religion.scientology | Google Groups

Pubes Accomplice Arrested as Accessory

Man who filmed petroleum jelly-covered Scientology protester's rampage arrested as accessory:

"The man who videotaped a petroleum jelly-covered protester on a rampage inside a Scientology center in Manhattan was arrested Tuesday for helping with the crime, police said.

Jacob Speregen, 21, of Brooklyn, was charged with two hate crimes including aggravated harassment and criminal mischief for helping Mahoud Samed Almahadin, aka Matt Connor, during the Jan. 14 incident. [...]

Jacob's mother argues that the fact her son filmed the preparation of the incident and the incident itself is part of his "free speech right" and not a hate crime.

R-pubes- related blog entries

Anon-Orange's Arrest

A while ago where shown videos of one Anonymous held to the ground by Gold's guards. The video was part of anti-Scientology forums using it to blame Scientology but the news was not really picked up further. One reason for this may have been the fact that what happened before was not shown.

More information on that incident is unfolding now.

"ANONYMOUS" IS A GANG OF CYBER-BULLIES AND ANTI-RELIGION EXTREMISTS: "ANON-ORANGE" PROVOKED AN ATTACK ON HIMSELF AS A PUBLICITY STUNT

"Several months ago, fifty-five year old Anonymous member 'Anon-Orange' (see below) screamed out '..FUCK YOU!' into the face of a security guard patrolling the perimeter of the Church of Scientology's Gold Base. The guards had repeatedly warned 'Anon-Orange' that he was indeed trespassing, and clearly didn't expect such a heated response.

As per their standard operating procedure, the security guard necessarily detained 'Anon-Orange' for trespassing and for acting aggressively.

Strangely, the videos which surfaced onto Youtube.com at the time of the incident neglected to show the provocative "...FUCK YOU!" which precipitated the arrest:

The videos which surfaced made it appear as though the arrest was in violation of his rights. Evidentally, this is the spin which Anonymous seeks to perpetuate. They want you to see "Scientology Bad Guys" attacking "Anonymous Good Guys".

So today, Anon-Orange just released his own footage, which sheds more light on the issue. Namely, that Anon-Orange provoked the attack."

You can watch the video on the page above or on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8FFCNZifvU

More related information, that appeared in ARS today, although the background and time of this incidents reported are unclear at this stage:

Agent Orange Goes Back to Jail - alt.religion.scientology | Google Groups:

"After this morning's arraignment, AO is back in jail.

An offer was made to drop the charges down to a 3rd degree misdemeanor with a $100 fine if AO would admit to screaming and yelling at Danny Dunigan. Graham advised AO to take the offer, which also would have allowed AO to protest Gold at his leisure, but AO refused it.

Following this, Scilon attorney Eliott Abelson informed the judge that AO had violated the court order given at the last arraignment on three occasions:

-AO had been ordered to stay away from Danny Dunigan, yet within 20 minutes he was filmed on the steps of the courthouse cursing at Dunigan and shoving a camera in his face.

-AO had been ordered to stay away from Gold Base, yet he has been filmed driving around Gold on two separate occasions.

Abelson said they may also be charging AO for his harassing behavior toward Catherine Fraser following one of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors meetings.

AO was escorted out of the courtroom by the deputies and bail was set at $2,500."

Seeing the Whole Field at Once

Sandy's Good News: Scientology increases reaction time and intelligence, says winning quarterback:

[...] "For several weeks running, he was listed as the number one top scoring high school quarterback in the NATION, on the popular web site, Max Preps.

Jesse says that Scientology and L.Ron Hubbard technology have given him an "unfair" advantage in life. When he was 13, he had an opportunity to take some basic Scientology courses that are designed to increase one's perceptions in present time. He says that the exercises he completed on his course have resulted in increased reaction time and ability to make decisions on a dime. Fast thinking and intelligence, he feels are key to being a successful quarterback. He can see the whole field at once: the guy who is trying to tackle him, the next guy after that, the receivers, the guys who are about to tackle them, and the guys that are coming in after that. All in a flash. Pressure is his friend. When he's being rushed at, he says, he has all the time in the world. "