The Internet vs Scientology

[Morfiend]

This has been all over the net the last few days, and I am suprised we didn't see it here. I guess "Anonymous" has declared war on Scientology. Along with other less effective groups.

Here are some links. It starts with this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCbKv9yiLiQ&e

and then here are some stories about it.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/01/anonymous-attac.html
http://apcmag.com/7905/anonymous_threatens_to_dismantle_church_of_scientology_via_internet
http://mensnewsdaily.com/2008/01/23/anonymous-releases-statements-outlining-war-on-scientology/

Here is their wiki: http://www.partyvan.info/index.php/Project_Chanology

Some time last night they hacked the Scientology server and downloaded some internal docs that I guess are pretty crazy, and it was number 1 on digg.

Also this went up earlier today

[Der Helm]

No time to read more about this, but if it is true then that's  ^3

[schild]

God I love this. I think CJ and I are going to need to don our masks and give those elegant fucks a frontpage salute.

[Nebu]

I prefer exposing cults for what they really are as a tactic instead of censorship.  When you tell a group that something is bad for them, a percentage sees it as immediately attractive.  This way, people can see just how ridiculous the whole thing is. 

[HaemishM]

Le grand awesome.

[schild]

You gotta stop saying 'le.' It's killing me. Funny the first 200 times.

Not so much the second 400 times.

Basically, le overkill.

[Nebu]

How about "En Fuego!"

Better?

[schild]

Uhm.

I'll have to ask The People.

The People say...

No, not really. This isn't a sitcom. Catchphrases are for sitcoms.

[IainC]

Uhm.

I'll have to ask The People.

The People say...

No, not really. This isn't a sitcom. Catchphrases are for sitcoms.

Awesome. For reals.

[Nebu]

I blame Freddy for your profound lack of humour this day.

[Samwise]

I've been seriously thinking about getting a Guy Fawkes mask and picketing the area around the SF branch with a "Free Xenu" sign.

[schild]

I have 4 guy fawkes masks. They're all awesome.

[Roac]

This has been all over the net the last few days, and I am suprised we didn't see it here. I guess "Anonymous" has declared war on Scientology. Along with other less effective groups.

It was kicked around over here.  But yes, much   

[Chenghiz]

I think this is the first time and only time you'll ever see me say 'hooray for 4chan'.

[Llava]

The Internet and Germany are allies in the war against Scientology.  Could any force hope to stand against their combined might?

[Samwise]

We just need Italy and Japan and we'll have ourselves an Axis of  .

[Llava]

http://gawker.com/5002269/the-cruise-indoctrination-video-scientology-tried-to-suppress

This is a video of Tom Cruise talking about Scientology that the church attempted to have removed from the Internet.  They're still attempting, as far as I can tell, but this site refuses to take it down.  This is, apparently, the spark that ignited this.

[Lantyssa]

That is in the other thread, too.   Of course it's a long rambling read to find that out.

[Jain Zar]

Im sure SA is having brain explosion issues right now.  They generally loathe Hubbard's crew, yet they loathe the Chans just as much.

Don't approve of the illegal activities Anon is doing though.

The Feb 10 thing is how they should do it. 

[Phildo]

Public displays are tricky when there are lawyers involved.

[Llava]

They generally loathe Hubbard's crew, yet they loathe the Chans just as much.

The call does specifically say, though, that even though the various Internet factions may hate each other, it's time to put aside those differences to bring down this cult.  I can't help but agree- really, is the hate that SA has for the chans justified by actual damage the chans have done to actual living people, money they've swindled, minds they've corrupted, or is it just Internet e-peen Hatfield VS McCoy bullshit?

I don't pretend to follow this shit, but my money is on the latter.

[Calantus]

It's just vogue to shit on 4chan on SA, like furries. Basically the perception is that they're a bunch of pathetic no-lifers who fap to lolicon and tentacle rape porn when not making stupid stunts and inventing hilarious memes and running them into the ground and passing them off to the rest of the internet.

[schild]

I would wager that a lot of the anonymous folks are some of the smartest people on the internet.

Also, yes, funnier than uhm, anyone.

[Jain Zar]

I used to post on SA since compared to the wussies on RPGnet, it was a breath of fresh air.
The problem was they hate too much and it gets annoying.  Helldump pretty much ruined the site IMHO.  (Its a section devoted to hating the rest of the forum.  No shit.  Of course then there is their spinoff forum SASS, which complains people at SA are too nice and should be more intolerant and full of mean hatred for everyone.  Yeah.  This confuses and frightens me.)

People in the Helldump section Net Detective any subforum they have decided is full of bad people so they can prove they are bad people. 
Even though they got rid of some scumbags, this really rubs me the wrong way.  People I have mentioned this to who were close to joining SA thought it was pretty fucked too. 
I always thought forums are supposed to be about interesting discussion, which doesn't always mean agreeing with one another.
But I guess I am in the minority there.  (Let's face it.  Most webforums turn into groupthink eventually.  Even giant ones like SA.  Little ones like RPG Codex and NMA are more obvious about it.)

Ok.. this is too tangential to the topic at hand.   

[sidereal]

Holy shit, did anyone actually watch that Cruise video all the way through?

They awarded him the 'Freedom Medal of Valor'?  Is that not the stupidest name for a medal ever?  Was it invented by a 12-year old?  Who are the fucking dolts that this sort of stuff impresses?

[Abagadro]

It is a much higher honor than the Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.

[Chenghiz]

I used to post on SA since compared to the wussies on RPGnet, it was a breath of fresh air.
The problem was they hate too much and it gets annoying.  Helldump pretty much ruined the site IMHO.  (Its a section devoted to hating the rest of the forum.  No shit.  Of course then there is their spinoff forum SASS, which complains people at SA are too nice and should be more intolerant and full of mean hatred for everyone.  Yeah.  This confuses and frightens me.)

People in the Helldump section Net Detective any subforum they have decided is full of bad people so they can prove they are bad people. 
Even though they got rid of some scumbags, this really rubs me the wrong way.  People I have mentioned this to who were close to joining SA thought it was pretty fucked too. 
I always thought forums are supposed to be about interesting discussion, which doesn't always mean agreeing with one another.
But I guess I am in the minority there.  (Let's face it.  Most webforums turn into groupthink eventually.  Even giant ones like SA.  Little ones like RPG Codex and NMA are more obvious about it.)

Ok.. this is too tangential to the topic at hand.   

You just need to avoid fyad, helldump, byob, and half of gbs to keep your sanity.

[Calantus]

I pretty-much just post in games. If there's even the tiniest, smallest gripe you could have about a game someone will bitch about it in the game's thread. I like knowing all the bad parts going in because it's so easy to find the good points and you guys don't cover enough games that aren't schild saying it's robot jesus and 2 people saying "I should pick this up". Plus sometimes there's good discussion and you can always count on baldur's gate threads to surface so you can talk about it again (I don't know why I like this). Let's play is alright too if you find a good one.

I don't even know how you could post in GBS, threads move too fast and like 10 people know eachother and everyone else is just some random talking shit. The community is just way too big for anything but a nice information dump for games. Imagine a forum with 10 lamaros' saying people are racist, 10 Dash's... well I think that's enough to give you the picture. Although, the occasionally funny thread makes GBS worth skimming occasionally.

[Tale]

(Repeating some of what I posted on January 21 in Politics.)
The following comment has been widely posted on lots of YouTube videos:

[This comment is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Church of Scientology International]

With so many different accounts posting that, it seems to the average user that Scientology is actually forcing YouTube to police comments.

Anonymous prank call: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNrsZQfAtFI
Clips of TV coverage: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=CHANOLOGYPROJECT

I'm not sure if this is all such a good idea for Anonymous, because it will bring moar fame, moar newfags. The extra attention and wider participation could result in people getting caught. A few high profile jailings would make this only for the hardcore. Hope not though.

[Ironwood]

Le Ayla.

You got me on my knees.

[Dtrain]

http://gawker.com/5002269/the-cruise-indoctrination-video-scientology-tried-to-suppress

This is a video of Tom Cruise talking about Scientology that the church attempted to have removed from the Internet.  They're still attempting, as far as I can tell, but this site refuses to take it down.  This is, apparently, the spark that ignited this.

I love how the music loop in the recruitment video is evocative of the mission impossible theme.

Me and tom cruise are going to zip line into the closet and wrestle some thetans.

[Roac]

Holy shit, did anyone actually watch that Cruise video all the way through?

They awarded him the 'Freedom Medal of Valor'?  Is that not the stupidest name for a medal ever?  Was it invented by a 12-year old?  Who are the fucking dolts that this sort of stuff impresses?

Yes, and bits of the other 5 in the same series that Gawker doesn't have.  The medal sounds stupid, but was brilliant marketing by Scientology.  He's (almost literally) the robot Jesus of their cult, so this move was nothing more than a way for them to throw him in the internal limelight and drum up more support within their own ranks.  Further, it's a way to slap a (further) seal of approval on their brand of crazy.  If you're starting to get into Scientology and start to doubt what you're doing because things just sound fucked up... well, here's super-cool Tom Cruise jabbering on about it and he's getting a damn medal.  Also, keep in mind this was intended to be internal-only. 

[Ironwood]

I believe that the 'Freedom Medal of Valor' drops from Illidan.

[Calantus]

Not for my guild.

[Ironwood]

Le VanCleef.