I am stunned. I have been so disconnected with the Scientology-related issue over the years that I was completely unaware that Dave Bird passed away on Feb.10 of this year (ironically the same day as one of the biggest Anonymous protest against Scientology, which I am sure he would have loved to attend or at least to see).
I just got a hint of his demise today, reading this ARS post,then confirmed my suspicions through a Google search that led me to David Gerard's R.I.P page on Dave.
Even though Dave was a staunch (and some may say obsessed) opponents of mine, making posts after posts calling me "Barnie", "Barmpot the barmy Belgian", and comparing me to Barney the purple dinosaure because what I was saying made for him no more sense than what the child mascot was blatering, I cannot help feeling deeply sad learning of him having passed away.
I always remembered Dave upon seeing the Rubeus Hagrid character in Harry Potter's movie. A gentle giant with a big beard and a big heart. Of course, "gentle" would not exactly describe Dave's impetuous character, but one thing I know for sure, is that he did have a big heart, and his anger with me was prompted by his sincere activism and involvement against what he considered an evil cult, and me "defending" it.
All of a sudden, I do miss his harangues on ARS and his lyricism in his essay on me: "Hercule Barmpot: the Case of the Missing Marbles", in which he displayed a real talent for writing stories.
Rest in peace, Dave. Even though I do not think your arguments and tactics with me were right, I am certain that your heart-felt involvement in severals causes which you deeply and sincerely felt for will speak favorably for you up there.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Protest Stats
Jens Tingleff points out the Anonymous effect on the annual Lisa McPherson vigil in the U.K., that went from one protest with 5-10 protesters last year, to five protests across the country totaling about 200 protesters.
Even though this is only the tail end of the wave that started a bit more than a year ago and that is slowly dying out, you've got to admit that it did revive, at least for a while, the OG movement that was almost on the bring of extinction.
Even though this is only the tail end of the wave that started a bit more than a year ago and that is slowly dying out, you've got to admit that it did revive, at least for a while, the OG movement that was almost on the bring of extinction.
Same-Old Same-Old
There is a conventional separation in the academic study of religion between the anti-cult movement and the counter-cult movement.
The anti-cult movement qualifies what they call "cult" through certain behavior, to the point they have been accused of "medicalizing" religious beliefs.
The counter-cult movement mostly sees as "cults" those new religious movement that depart from key religious beliefs of their own, namely, that JC died on the cross for our sins.
The anti-cult and counter-cult movement are natural allies against so-called cults, though at times things haven't been so rosy. This was for example the case when Conway and Siegelman started to adapt their "Snapping" paradigm to religious fundamentalists in their follow up book, entitled "Holy Terror: The Fundamentalist War on America's Freedoms in Religion, Politics, and Our Private Lives".
While the anti-cult movement can be a danger to society when the natural outcome of its "mind-control" theory is not tamed, it at least points to a concrete phenomenon best described, in my opinion, by the word "indoctrination".
The counter-cult movement, OTOH, offers no such rationale, other than the fact it "identifies" all the "false prophets" who dare to depart from the sacro-saint miracle of the Good News of JC's advent and who supposedly seek to deceive the elects away from salvation.
That this, by itself, is itself cultish should be obvious for reasonable onlookers, and I must say I fully agree with Monica Pignotti's recent blog post about it.
Not surprisingly, her position gets mis-characterized as "hating Christians", just as anti-cultists call "cult apologists" those who question their absolute certainties, just as the CoS refers as "SPs" those who dare challenge Scientology's grandiose proclaiments, just as fanatical right-wing activists accuse those objecting to a senseless war based on lies as "anti-patriotic".
Same-Old Same-Old.
The anti-cult movement qualifies what they call "cult" through certain behavior, to the point they have been accused of "medicalizing" religious beliefs.
The counter-cult movement mostly sees as "cults" those new religious movement that depart from key religious beliefs of their own, namely, that JC died on the cross for our sins.
The anti-cult and counter-cult movement are natural allies against so-called cults, though at times things haven't been so rosy. This was for example the case when Conway and Siegelman started to adapt their "Snapping" paradigm to religious fundamentalists in their follow up book, entitled "Holy Terror: The Fundamentalist War on America's Freedoms in Religion, Politics, and Our Private Lives".
While the anti-cult movement can be a danger to society when the natural outcome of its "mind-control" theory is not tamed, it at least points to a concrete phenomenon best described, in my opinion, by the word "indoctrination".
The counter-cult movement, OTOH, offers no such rationale, other than the fact it "identifies" all the "false prophets" who dare to depart from the sacro-saint miracle of the Good News of JC's advent and who supposedly seek to deceive the elects away from salvation.
That this, by itself, is itself cultish should be obvious for reasonable onlookers, and I must say I fully agree with Monica Pignotti's recent blog post about it.
Not surprisingly, her position gets mis-characterized as "hating Christians", just as anti-cultists call "cult apologists" those who question their absolute certainties, just as the CoS refers as "SPs" those who dare challenge Scientology's grandiose proclaiments, just as fanatical right-wing activists accuse those objecting to a senseless war based on lies as "anti-patriotic".
Same-Old Same-Old.
Off Topic - Farewell Kiss to Bush
Rarely have I seen a shoe throwing more appropriate.The guy lied to the world with lies as obvious as the nose in the middle of the face, killed hundreds of thousands iraqi and seriously injured many more, held people without charge for years, spied on his own citizens against the most elementary human rights, justified torture, pressured those who disagreed with him with cult-like us-vs-them arguments, spread his right-wing corrupted and retarded moral the world over, irremediably damaged the U.S. reputation across the globe, placed egoist corporate interests over planetary health, left the US with the biggest deficit recorded in history and gave a hand in shattering the world-wide economy into recession.
Thanks to that pair of size-10 shoes, it can now be said that the U.S. and the rest of the world are on solid footing again.
PS - Best blog to follow the unfolding saga of the shoe.
Some of my favorite quotes (culled from various media):
"Never in the history of humanity have so few shoes expressed the sincerest feelings of so many to one who was so deserving of that expression."Related blog entries - R-Bushoe-
"Bush was not offended. He consulted his favorite Middle East experts, Bernard Lewis and Fouad Ajami, and they both assured him that throwing shoes at someone in the Arab world is a gesture of affection, as is calling someone a dog. ""Please, please, one shoe at a time"
"Recommended shoes for bush runs advice" (actually this one has nothing to do with the incident but it came up in Google search I found it remotedly appropriate...)
"Of course, attacking a country under false pretense is a pretty large insult in and of itself. "
"Bush gets the Boots"
"Had it been Rosa Klebb's shoes, it could have been more effective." (Where's Imelda Marcos when she's needed? )
"Looks like a Great Exclamation Point from the Arab World for All the Deaths and Destruction"
"Ouch, that is the closest thing to justice that the Iraqis could ever see, but that would never even come close to repairing the massive damage that the jihadist (right-wing) US has done. "
"Even showing the sole of your shoe to someone is a major sign of contempt, let alone throwing it. "
"The shoe-thrower's words have been translated as, "Here's your farewell kiss, dog". I don't condone his actions but that's a catchy quotation that'll make it to the history books."
"The neocons nuts were telling us that Iraqis will throw flowers at them once the US illegaly invads Iraq by lying about WMDs and butchering a million Iraqi civilians. All bush got was two SHOES !!!!"
"Great, I can't take pepsi onto an airplane, but this guy is able to throw things at the President of the United States, SCARY!"
"yet I feel bad for Bush, he will go down in history as the worst president ever , his tenure will be remembered for how he tarnished the US image"
"I'm sure George's wife has thrown a few at him. He's had lots of practice."
"A lame rubber chicken would've been more appropriate."
"Wow! That's the first "Shoe-ting" Bush has ever witnessed firsthand, coward. "
"so shoe me"
""A Farewell Worthy of a War Criminal."
"Muntadar al-Zeidi talked to Bush in a way that matched the atrocities he committed and was heard by the entire world."
"lame duck" from the post is my favorite headline on the shoe storyA man beats with a shoe a mock poster of US President George W. Bush with a "War criminal" written in Arabic during a protest in Najaf, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 15, 2008
"I don't think you can take one guy throwing shoes and say this represents a broad movement in Iraq." - Georges W. Bush of Bushism Supremo!!!
"I also wanted to speak to the appallingly flippant and insensitive remarks made by soon-to-be-ex-President Bush regarding this incident. [...] He dismisses this profound insult as the act of someone "just seeking attention", instead of the eloquent expression of one man's frustration and rage after seven long years of occupation, death and destruction."
"He deserves to be hit with 100, not just one or two shoes."
"Bush can dodge flying shoes but not what history will remember him as: war criminal"
"I could not think of a better way for the majority of Iraqis ( represented by the journalist ) to express what they think of GWB ( venting their anger but doing no physical harm ). "
"2008 Video of the Year"
"That is by a million miles the best thing I've seen since the year 2000. "
"The man is an instant legend."
"I am going to print up a picture of the soles of my shoes, and then put it on a postcard and send to the White House. [...] I hope all Americans will join me in doing this. Some folks near DC will be throwing shoes at the White House - some folks are mailing in a shoe to the White House (costs about $4.50 to do that)."
"While I don’t condone throwing anything at the president - or anyone else for that matter - as a means of expressing your displeasure, I do think this incident speaks volumes about how President Bush is perceived by the very people he “liberated.”
"THE most beautiful statement made this year BY ANY JOURNALIST. This Journalist is a master of his trade. He summed up the entire situation in a "one liner""This is a farewell kiss, you dog."
Sunday, December 14, 2008
About Bernie
There are currently a couple of lengthy threads about me and my web sites on ARS, fostered by my recent open letter to Andreas Heldal-Lund on OCMB asking him to activate my months-old account registration request so I could have my say on Don Carlo's threads about my websites.
In OCMB and on ARS people have made a few speculations as to who I really am. Some people thought that I was from Germany and others that my native language was Dutch
I post pseudonymously, for a variety of reasons, and did so as I started posting as an outright Scientology critic on ARS back in 1996.
There are, however, a few things that I let know about me over the years:
I am from Belgium and my native language is French.
I believe my command of Shakespeare's language is more than fair, but here and there, there may be some idioms or subtlety I may miss.
The latest example of this is my recent blog entry where I claimed that "What is Scientology Queries Tops Google search in 2008". In my mind this meant “among the top”, but, upon a remark in that ARS thread, I looked it up, and now realize that it really means “at the topmost”. I adapted the post title to reflect this.
If you have any more such comments or doubts or whatever, my comments section is open and I suggest you post them there or sent me email before setting off in wild accusation campaigns based on nothing more than a possible misunderstanding.
Though moderated, the comments section is open to every viewpoints, except for spam, off-topic posts, copyright violation, and invasion of privacy. Apart from this, I always post all comments, no matter how insulting, false or misguided (keep in mind, though, that this is a comment section only, not a public forum aimed at extensive debates). I also believe that aggressive comments tell more about those making them than it does about the target of their vindication.
For the rest, what I also made known, was that I was on local staff from 1975 to 1978, during which I went for a lengthy stage at the European HQ in Denmark, then started working for the SoCo bureau at GO WW where I stayed for an other half year before leaving the movement altogether in 1980. My Scientology stories are recounted here, here, and in more details here.
After I quit Scientology, I never had anything to do with it, and didn’t even join any Freezone groups as I simply stopped believing in the tech when it came to spiritual results, my one and prime interest.
I basically “fell” back on my previous spiritual path, that of Theosophy and Krishnamurti, and extended it with things like Alice Bailey (about whom I had a web page until representatives of that movement sent me copyright notice to put what I webbed down, and ignored my request to keep part of it as fair use). Nowadays I am a fan of Eckhart Tolle, which was tipped to me by a Scientology ex-member who was greatly helped by my web site.
After I left Scientology I was fascinated by the anti-cult movement and traveled quite extensively in the USA to personally understand what it was all about, and even had an extensive interview with the dreaded Ted Patrick as he was commuting between San Diego and Los Angeles (where he had to attend one of his numerous suits). My spiritual background, my Scientology experience, and my anti-cult-related researches are part of the reasons my web site and blog reflect a host of what I refer to as “alternative” viewpoints.
It’s funny to read from the ARS thread above (I do read ARS currently but try to avoid starting to post to it for now), that Piltdown Man thought my native language was German. I am not sure why he would think that. I do have a certain understanding of German but when it comes to speak that language, I am rather clumsy.
Piltdown Man is currently one of my favorite posters, even though we probably disagree on more issues than one. I appreciate his witty style and insights, but I have no idea who he could be, even though we both are from the same tiny country.
Most of my friends who were in the org at the same time as myself are now ex-members too (partly because of my own dissent), and all of them unanimously share my moderate viewpoint on Scientology (which leads me to believe from that sample and emails I receive that this is a very common situation when it comes to ex-members). I have heard through some of my friends that they know of someone in Belgium who is more radical or engaged than the lot of us but I really don’t know who it could be. Probably just as well.
In OCMB and on ARS people have made a few speculations as to who I really am. Some people thought that I was from Germany and others that my native language was Dutch
I post pseudonymously, for a variety of reasons, and did so as I started posting as an outright Scientology critic on ARS back in 1996.
There are, however, a few things that I let know about me over the years:
I am from Belgium and my native language is French.
I believe my command of Shakespeare's language is more than fair, but here and there, there may be some idioms or subtlety I may miss.
The latest example of this is my recent blog entry where I claimed that "What is Scientology Queries Tops Google search in 2008". In my mind this meant “among the top”, but, upon a remark in that ARS thread, I looked it up, and now realize that it really means “at the topmost”. I adapted the post title to reflect this.
If you have any more such comments or doubts or whatever, my comments section is open and I suggest you post them there or sent me email before setting off in wild accusation campaigns based on nothing more than a possible misunderstanding.
Though moderated, the comments section is open to every viewpoints, except for spam, off-topic posts, copyright violation, and invasion of privacy. Apart from this, I always post all comments, no matter how insulting, false or misguided (keep in mind, though, that this is a comment section only, not a public forum aimed at extensive debates). I also believe that aggressive comments tell more about those making them than it does about the target of their vindication.
For the rest, what I also made known, was that I was on local staff from 1975 to 1978, during which I went for a lengthy stage at the European HQ in Denmark, then started working for the SoCo bureau at GO WW where I stayed for an other half year before leaving the movement altogether in 1980. My Scientology stories are recounted here, here, and in more details here.
After I quit Scientology, I never had anything to do with it, and didn’t even join any Freezone groups as I simply stopped believing in the tech when it came to spiritual results, my one and prime interest.
I basically “fell” back on my previous spiritual path, that of Theosophy and Krishnamurti, and extended it with things like Alice Bailey (about whom I had a web page until representatives of that movement sent me copyright notice to put what I webbed down, and ignored my request to keep part of it as fair use). Nowadays I am a fan of Eckhart Tolle, which was tipped to me by a Scientology ex-member who was greatly helped by my web site.
After I left Scientology I was fascinated by the anti-cult movement and traveled quite extensively in the USA to personally understand what it was all about, and even had an extensive interview with the dreaded Ted Patrick as he was commuting between San Diego and Los Angeles (where he had to attend one of his numerous suits). My spiritual background, my Scientology experience, and my anti-cult-related researches are part of the reasons my web site and blog reflect a host of what I refer to as “alternative” viewpoints.
It’s funny to read from the ARS thread above (I do read ARS currently but try to avoid starting to post to it for now), that Piltdown Man thought my native language was German. I am not sure why he would think that. I do have a certain understanding of German but when it comes to speak that language, I am rather clumsy.
Piltdown Man is currently one of my favorite posters, even though we probably disagree on more issues than one. I appreciate his witty style and insights, but I have no idea who he could be, even though we both are from the same tiny country.
Most of my friends who were in the org at the same time as myself are now ex-members too (partly because of my own dissent), and all of them unanimously share my moderate viewpoint on Scientology (which leads me to believe from that sample and emails I receive that this is a very common situation when it comes to ex-members). I have heard through some of my friends that they know of someone in Belgium who is more radical or engaged than the lot of us but I really don’t know who it could be. Probably just as well.
More Valkyrie Reviews
I reported about Fox News commenting on the freshly made reviews of Valkyrie but still wonder where these are. Nothing comes up as of now on Metacritics, while only four reviews (with a 2-2 split so far) are to be found on Rotten Tomatoes, while IMDB features a very positive comment.For his part, Alex Billington from FirstShowing.net loved the movie and gave it a wooping 9/10:
A film that I optimistically went into and walked out loving. It may not be exactly be flawless, but it's already high up on the list of my favorite WWII films, and that's admittedly a very hard list to get on to. The cast may be the weakest link in the end, but Valkyrie literally had my heart racing from start to finish, even though I already knew what that outcome would be.
A Successful Scientology Business
Tampabay.com reports on a successful enterprise using Scientology technology to boost business.PostcardMania, a direct-mail company that prints and ships postcard advertisements on behalf of businesses nationwide, is 10 years old with 160 employees and 31,000 customers. [...] A few years ago, PostcardMania cracked Inc.'s 500-fastest-growing list. In 2007, it still made the Inc. 5000 (No. 3,130) as sales more than doubled.Reading through the article you can see traces of quite a few Scientology techniques for business being applied:
- Rewards "upstats", slack the "downstats", and don't let external influence dictate too much what you do:
She's fighting the thought of layoffs. Reluctantly, she trimmed the annual Christmas party budget from $30,000 to $15,000. It won't be at the Don CeSar like last year, but the party will go on. "No way we can cancel it. Our staff worked too hard," she said. "We need it this year." [...]Helms said there has been no scrimping on salaries, with positions in various fields paying 20 percent above industry averages. [...]
Make sure your core workers are on the bandwagon to beat the slump. Get the eternal slackers slacking somewhere else.
- Outflow is inflow:
'Gendusa has flipped her marketing machine into overdrive. In mailing 120,000 self-promoting postcards to businesses every week, PostcardMania is its own biggest customer."You have to be even more aggressive on PR … on buying ads," suggests business consultant David Gerwitz, author of The Flexible Enterprise. "Many of the businesses that succeed during a downturn are ones that put money into marketing as opposed to pulling out." [...]
Gendusa became a marketing devotee during PostcardMania's early days. Orders were coming in, but for months the company was stuck at $20,000 a month in sales. Gendusa doubled mailings of marketing material and soon after sales doubled.
- Don't make credit except maybe for really big investments:
Be picky in taking on debt. As a rule, the company saves to have enough cash on hand before buying new furniture or adding amenities. The exception: taking out a $2.4-million industrial revenue bond for a printing plant and equipment that was later repackaged into a $5-million construction loan to finance new headquarters.
- And lastly, the controversial no open criticism and "good news" stance:
Keep morale up. Every week, employees gather to share kudos about fellow co-workers, with one compliment sparking another. No negative comments and no gossiping allowed.
Golden Globe Nominee Cruise Does Elvis
Tom Cruise on Jay Leno's Tonight Show did happen.
Interview part 1
Interview part 2 - with Jay Leno's funny Christmas song about killing Hitler... putting the finger on what may be a weak timing for the film opening, on Christmas day...
But first check this Cruise impersonation of Elvis as a teaser... Nice piece of work, coming after his Golden Globe nomination for his hilarious acting and dancing in Tropic Thunder (nomination about which even Brooke Shields is thrilled).
Interview part 1
Interview part 2 - with Jay Leno's funny Christmas song about killing Hitler... putting the finger on what may be a weak timing for the film opening, on Christmas day...
But first check this Cruise impersonation of Elvis as a teaser... Nice piece of work, coming after his Golden Globe nomination for his hilarious acting and dancing in Tropic Thunder (nomination about which even Brooke Shields is thrilled).
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Should Anonymous Unmask?
I recently made a blog entry entitled “Operation Drop the Masks”. I really did not mean that Anonymous should unmask during their protests, though I admit it really is not obvious through such a title.
What I meant to say was that if anons want to speak, on an individual basis, with Scientologists in an earnest desire to have some dialog going, as was developed in the page I was commenting on, then they should first drop the mask.
Would you like to speak in such a serious manner with an individual hiding behind a mask? I wouldn’t think so. Who would?
This brought me to think of the concept itself as the title of some operation, but I did not meant as something literal.
In reality, I don’t think Anonymous should unmask during their protests. One reason being that the mask now became the symbol of Anonymous itself, and it is even used by critics whose face and identity are already known.
In fact, I wrote about my initial fascination for this concept on my web page:
I also wrote about the witty choice of the V mask per se:
Of course, I did wander about “The Other Side of the Mask” but these were just thinking out loud. To this day, I have not made my mind about it yet one way or the other, but I still think it is a terrific idea, and an indelible symbol of Anonymous. So, no, I don’t think they should start protesting unmasked.
However, if Anonymous wants to move to another stage of their protest, as was developed on the AnonymousHouston page, then yes, they should drop the mask – thus Operation Drop the Mask could be an option. But this should be done in a more subtle way than simply start to protest unmasked. I don’t know how. It’s just a cool idea, a food for thought. And also a witty title.
Blog entries in this series:
What I meant to say was that if anons want to speak, on an individual basis, with Scientologists in an earnest desire to have some dialog going, as was developed in the page I was commenting on, then they should first drop the mask.
Would you like to speak in such a serious manner with an individual hiding behind a mask? I wouldn’t think so. Who would?
This brought me to think of the concept itself as the title of some operation, but I did not meant as something literal.
In reality, I don’t think Anonymous should unmask during their protests. One reason being that the mask now became the symbol of Anonymous itself, and it is even used by critics whose face and identity are already known.
In fact, I wrote about my initial fascination for this concept on my web page:
"What I do find interesting about the protest, though, is the concept of wearing masks. A wall of masks advancing silently down the street in protest of oppression... Hordes of exploited victims of Scientology brainwashing and harassment walking silently. The mask can't speak. The mask has been reduced to silence (OK, they were chanting but I take the mask figuratively here). There's something of a poetic message in that and I predict that all future pickets will be mostly masked ones. Quite impressive..."
I also wrote about the witty choice of the V mask per se:
"You've got to admit that the Guy Fawkes mask is terrific, and it carries another message through its sarcastic smile (or however you want to interpret that smile). Indeed, Guy Fawkes was an Englishman who was sentenced to death in 1605 after he attempted to blow up the House of Lords with kegs of gunpowder. In 2005, the fictional movie "V for Vendetta" revived the event. The masks used by protestors are modeled after those worn in that film, in which a crowd of people wear identical masks to challenge a totalitarian government."
Of course, I did wander about “The Other Side of the Mask” but these were just thinking out loud. To this day, I have not made my mind about it yet one way or the other, but I still think it is a terrific idea, and an indelible symbol of Anonymous. So, no, I don’t think they should start protesting unmasked.
However, if Anonymous wants to move to another stage of their protest, as was developed on the AnonymousHouston page, then yes, they should drop the mask – thus Operation Drop the Mask could be an option. But this should be done in a more subtle way than simply start to protest unmasked. I don’t know how. It’s just a cool idea, a food for thought. And also a witty title.
Blog entries in this series:
Friday, December 12, 2008
The L. Ron Hubbard Museum
The L. Ron Hubbard Museum has been open as a museum for a few years. It is being hosted in Washington D.C., in the townhouse on 19th Street near Dupont Circle (a block away from the current D.C. Church of Scientology). It is there that LRH held his lectures and is therefore considered as the first-ever Church of Scientology.
Another Happy Scientology Kid
Another happy Scientology kid speaks out. What is interesting is that, though being born in a Scientology family, he nevertheless was a rebel to it until the age of 15, and his parents did not try to force it upon him. He eventually came to it basically like others outsiders - after being helped through a concrete incident. He has been a Scientologist for the next 25 years.
Valkyrie First Reviews
Fox News announces that the reviews of Tom Cruise as Col. Von Stauffenberg in "Valkyrie" are in (though I wonder where they are to be found currently).
The result, they say, is not that good, or so-so, as the commercial success of the film is predicted to be.
Well, that may be, as I wrote earlier, Valkyrie will indeed have a serious uphill walk to success if it ever reaches it. Nothing is done, though, until is done, as previous predictions of same have sometimes turned false.
The article ends by these words:
The result, they say, is not that good, or so-so, as the commercial success of the film is predicted to be.
Well, that may be, as I wrote earlier, Valkyrie will indeed have a serious uphill walk to success if it ever reaches it. Nothing is done, though, until is done, as previous predictions of same have sometimes turned false.
The article ends by these words:
"Will Cruise’s career be over? Oh no, not by a long shot. But the challenge to resuscitate will be that much more heightened as Cruise — if he’s to stay in the game of movie making — must choose his projects more carefully."I personally disagree. As I wrote earlier in the same article above, Cruise chose this script because he deeply felt for it, not because he wanted to make a big hit or "revive" his career. That alone makes it a winner, and I hope he will continue to give priority to heart-felt sentiments rather than how an unpredictable market would receive the film. Of course, making a less challenging film would indeed not be a bad idea.
Xenu About to Taze People
Interesting email sent to the whole Dianetics group on MSN and also posted in the group forums.The mail makes a parallel between the Godeka incident in 1996, in which a mad man shot and wounded four people in a Scientology church, and the recent Majorski episode where the guards shot Epic Sword Guy before he had time to harm anyone.
The writer also suggests that instead of fire arms (or in addition to them), guards protecting Scientology buildings should carry and use first tazers (stun guns).
Surely, this would contribute to make Scientology even more science-fiction like, but not in a bad way this time.
Anonymous 2.0 Redux
Recently I blogged about how a faction of Anonymous wants to distance themselves from their prankster reputation. In a subsequent article I pointed out the reaction of the original Anonymous to this trend. All the different factions want to find the real cause of the drop in numbers. Another faction of Anonymous decided that it was because Anonymous strayed from the lulz, as is visible through this post from an anti-anonymous website of the supposed Tom Newton (who is not the Tom Newton who posted to ARS).
This is nothing new. Anonymous already attempted this later after the Magoo debacle, something they called "The Return of the Lulz", and which changed absolutely nothing to the situation.
Things have evolved and January 2008 is not necessarily January 2009. The Cos did not crumble after the massive protests, some of the anons got better educated and decided they would have more fun playing Warlords and posting hentails than protesting the CoS which, after all, is not as bad as they thought, Tom Cruise got back some respectability, the novelty aspect of the masks and all that sort of things have now become old...
And therefore I don't think that anything Anonymous will try will bring back the numbers. The best they can do is to get more educated and go beyond the crude presentation made by the Old Guards, unless they want to turn as old as the Old Guards themselves.
Related blog entries:
This is nothing new. Anonymous already attempted this later after the Magoo debacle, something they called "The Return of the Lulz", and which changed absolutely nothing to the situation.
Things have evolved and January 2008 is not necessarily January 2009. The Cos did not crumble after the massive protests, some of the anons got better educated and decided they would have more fun playing Warlords and posting hentails than protesting the CoS which, after all, is not as bad as they thought, Tom Cruise got back some respectability, the novelty aspect of the masks and all that sort of things have now become old...
And therefore I don't think that anything Anonymous will try will bring back the numbers. The best they can do is to get more educated and go beyond the crude presentation made by the Old Guards, unless they want to turn as old as the Old Guards themselves.
Related blog entries:
- Jan 17: Is Close-in Pictures of Passer-By Legal?
- Jan 14: The Riverside County Ordinance Farce Continues
- Jan 13: Riverside Ordinance - New Information
- Jan 06: Riverside Ordinance Prevents Picketing
- Dec 18: Barbz Gets a Letter
- Dec 09: Anonymous 2.0
Critics Split Over Cruise's Nazi Role
Critics split over Cruise's Nazi role
"But not everyone in Germany was against the film. Some said the country should be pleased Hollywood was finally making a film about a “good German” that would show that not every German obediently followed Hitler."This well-written article gives an overview of the film in context of World War II and the various reactions to the film.
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