Dear small furry naysayers who still somehow believe that the movement to stop Scientology is a shallow waste of time based on religioius bigotry and lulz:
This is just a letter to let you know that we are not angry at Scientology for having weird beliefs. It is true that many of us think those beliefs are hilarious, yes, but far more troubling is the disproportionate ability of Scientology to hurt people and ruin lives.
Here are some search terms that might help you out in your quest for knowledge:
RPF or Rehabilitation Project Forces
Scientology Coerced Abortions
Lisa McPherson
Fair Game Policy
Operation Snow White
Operation Freakout
Auditing Process R2-45
Scientology Disconnection
Scientology lawsuits
Scientology censorship
scientology tax exemption
Scientology harassment
And some critical websites that sum it all up rather nicely:
http://www.whyaretheydead.net
http://www.xenu.net
http://www.lermanet.com
You may not end up believing Scientology is guilty of all these terrible crimes. Hell, you might not even want to bother forming an opinion either way. And that's fine. But at least find out what the issue is before you make up your mind to declare yourself sickened by the people who care about it. At the very least, try to respect that all the people ranting on the internet might actually have a genuine beef beyond the fact that celebrities are jumping on couches because of a wacky space cult.
This movement has real meaning to real people who have been deeply hurt by Scientology, to the point of losing their jobs, life savings, families and friends to what amounts to a pyramid scheme with a tax exemption.
I've seen so many people trot out the "this cause isn't worthy enough because there are other causes that also need love" argument. It's come up at least once with every single social movement I've ever been involved with. If every movement died the second it was declared a waste of time, this planet would be completely fucked.
Just because Darfur gets away with being shitty and awful doesn't mean everybody should leave the Scientologists alone to continue violating people's basic human rights on a smaller scale. Anonymous and many long-term activists happen to be in a position to do something about this particular injustice while it is still small enough to stamp out, and screw not giving a damn because someone out there has it worse. Wrong is wrong and should not be tolerated.
Also, and this really, really bugs me: Who says people can't be involved in more than one cause at a time? It's so defeatist and negative to assume that a person can only care about one thing at a time and should let the rest slide. There's nothing quite as deadly to social consciousness as that first tiny surrender to apathy.
Love, Anomalous
February 14, 2008
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I think the big thing is that our culture has become so jaded that anyone standing up to a religion that is rooted (read: has much money and is everywhere like bacteria) is considered a tinfoil hat-wearing loony. And then they start spouting about darfur or free tibet or some such.
ReplyDeleteWhat they fail to realize is that like darfur and tibet, CoS is exactly a group of people bent on dominating others... they just do it through religion. The only difference is that unlike darfur/tibet, Scino isn't just in one country, and their actions are better masked.
But the human rights abuses are there. The murder is there too. It's just not as well documented. But if it all came to light, the world would stand up and fight them. Because it's not just the dead that we should be angry about.... but the brainwashed members whom actually think they are part of a good organization.
"Doctor, don't do that apendectomy, there's a patient over there who has cancer!"
ReplyDeleteYeah, how dare we seek justice for well-documented crimes when there are so many intractable problems we could be beating our heads against? Activism is supposed to be futile and depressing!