Internet Group Declares War on Scientology

Darkman, Walkin Dude writes "An internet group calling itself Anonymous has declared war on the Church of Scientology, in the form of an ominous posting to the YouTube site. 'In the statement, the group explained their goal as safeguarding the right to freedom of speech. "A spokesperson said that the group's goals include bringing an end to the financial exploitation of Church members and protecting the right to free speech, a right which they claim was consistently violated by the Church of Scientology in pursuit of its opponents." The press release also claimed that the Church of Scientology misused copyright and trademark law in order to remove criticism from websites including Digg and YouTube. The statement goes on to assert that the attacks from the group "will continue until the Church of Scientology reacts, at which point they will change strategy".' It should be noted that Slashdot users have had interactions with Scientology in the past as well."

RIAA

[paganizer]

Hopefully the RIAA will be next. Sure they seem to be shooting themselves in the foot a lot lately, but they still need to be wiped out.

Anonymous?

[Anonymous Coward]

Cowards.

Followed by

[Bobfrankly1]

Tom Cruise declares war on the internet.
-
He's gotta do something until the mothership arrives...

Re:RIAA

[MrNemesis]

Even better; tell the RIAA that the Church of Scientology is a massive front for copying CD's. Simultaneously, tell the scientologists that the RIAA are planning to clone Xenu from some evil thetans that were surgically extracted from Britney.

Unstoppable force, meet immovable object. Space DC-10's dropping atom bombs on volcanoes will be nothing compared to those fireworks :)

Re:It's not a church

[grub]

Any "Church" that charges for its teachings and also has them copyrighted to prevent free distribution is not a church it's a scam at best and a dangerous cult at worst

cult (n): A small, unpopular religion.
religion (n): a large, popular cult.

Re:The war

[Dr. Cody]

The war on Scientology, led by the same people who said "Google Ron Paul"

No, this is lead by 4chan [youtube.com].

Some people say "google Ron Paul." /b/tards, on the other hand, listen intently and google bomb "Rob Paul" to link to a picture of shitting dick-nipples.

Michigan Daily quote

[gardyloo]

From Wikinews: The "Message to Scientology" video was highlighted as the "YouTube Video of the Week" by The Michigan Daily. Commenting on the video, the piece states "if this video is any indication, it seems like the assailants mean business". Hehe. If that were a credible metric of "business", we'd have an emo President by now.

Re:RIAA

[Dr. Cody]

Maybe not wiped out, but their pool might get closed.

Trolls

[TI-8477]

You do realize that the people who are leading this war are the same people who consider trolling Slashdot a professional sport?

Re:RIAA

[cashman73]

Even better; tell the RIAA that the Church of Scientology is a massive front for copying CD's. Simultaneously, tell the scientologists that the RIAA are planning to clone Xenu from some evil thetans that were surgically extracted from Britney.

Where can I buy tickets to that event? I want front row seats!

Re:The war

[Anonymous Coward]

No loonies in the Clinton camp?

I'm pretty sure all of the Clinton Campaign Funding is in US dollars, not Canadian ones.

Re:'Anonymous' is actually...

[Anonymous Coward]

The sites you mention do not require membership, therefore your argument is flawed.

Should I be ashamed?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it wrong that the story's title alone gave me wood? I mean really now, who doesn't want this 'church' to fall into darkness and die a miserable death? I pray for the souls of the poor people that have been hornswaggled by the 'church'. And not in anyway overly Judeo-Christian, just, you know - 'Dear Space Pope, help these lost morons come to their senses...seriously... Lord Xenu? What kind of evil overlord is that. Morgoth, Palpatine, and Voldemorte: those names have staying power, a little Tabasco in their shorts . Xenu sounds like a new brand of toilet scrubbers. Amen.'

Re:Scientology is pervasive

[JulianConrad]

And fighting cults rarely works unless they're small and focused around a single charismatic leader.

It also helps if the cult leader and his followers [wikipedia.org] hole up in a bunch of flammable wood frame buildings in a rural area.

Meanwhile back in the woods.

[AndGodSed]

Ned:"Heya Ed, watcha doin?"
Ed: "See that cave full of bears? I am pokin' em with a stick!"
Ned:"OMG Ed, that's crazy!"
Ed: "No worries! See I build a remote poking robot device that I am controlling via wires attached to this here laptop computer."
Ned:"Uh Ed?"
Ed: "Yeah?"
Ned:"Can't they just follow the wire to where you are hiding?"

Re:Anonymous?

[GungaDan]

And just how anonymous are they, anyway, getting Prof. Hawking to record their youtube rant for them...

Re:The war

[untaken_name]

and all-around psychos who couldn't stop ranting about him in some way.

Um, isn't ranting about him what you just did? Oh, I know. You can quit any time. You don't have a problem. I mean, why would it be a problem when you have to rant about him in a thread dedicated to an anonymous internet group's attack on scientology? Seems like the perfect place to slam Ron Paul to me...NOT.

Re:RIAA

[Anonymous Coward]

Ticketmaster. Unfortunately, there's a $1000 service fee per ticket.

Re:Anonymous?

[Fizzl]

*SWOOOOSH*

I have some dirt on Scientology here:

[tak amalak]

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

Re:Followed by

[antdude]

So Mission Impossible 4? ;)

Re:It's not a church

[feepness]

Human psychology. The hard sell works using various techniques such as making it seem like a logical contradiction if you say "no", or making it seem like you're being mean to a nice person. People become incredibly uncomfortable with these situations and paying money is an easy way to escape.

This hurts my feelings and I'm a nice person. Send me a check please. You're not a mean person, are you?

The way to Destroy Scientology

[jameskojiro]

If to get about a million people to join all at once and then when the muckey mucks are not around you really mess up the place. I could see at a Scientology meeting you have 300 people 2/3 who are plants, when the rest want to do somethign evil like harass someone, you would then have 2/3rds stand up and say, HELL NO WE AINT GONNA BE ASSHOLES! You can join without paying just tell them that the other churches don't require you paty and demand that they let you into their churches because if you are dressed nicely I have yet to see a church kick you out if you go in, sit down and behave civily. Plus regular churches don't charge you for services, yes they pass around the collections plate but you don't have to put anything on it.

Basically, just kill their silly little cult with a nationwide flash mob of epic proportions.

Re:More Interesting...

[Atlantis-Rising]

I always respond in the same way to people who think there is some vast conspiracy against Ron Paul.

Is there a conspiracy against Ron Paul?

Yes. A large group in the US has decided to block his rise to power, since his policies would grievously threaten their interests. Little is known about this shadowy organisation beyond its name - 'The Voting Public'.

Re:It's not a church

[Anonymous Coward]

Shut the fuck up.

Re:'Anonymous' is actually...

[Anonymous Coward]

In before Shitstorm

Re:I've been asked, "Have you ever met an SP?"

[Firehed]

This is the point where I invoke Godwin's Law, right?

Re:I've been asked, "Have you ever met an SP?"

[iminplaya]

Uh, what is an SP?

High quality video tape marketed by Sony. A precursor to their digital tape format.

So they made a video ...

[j-min]

... now what? Is the next obvious step to make a facebook group about this? I think it would be about as effective.

Re:RIAA

[Dancindan84]

Too late. All the tickets were bought by automated systems within the first .2 seconds. You'll now need to get them from a reseller charging $25,000. Still not bad when you consider Hannah Montana tickets are $1,000,000 + your next child.

Re:Michigan Daily quote

[sm62704]

Hehe. If that were a credible metric of "business", we'd have an emo President by now.

I take it you're too young to remember Jimmy Carter.

Re:Anonymous?

[TriezGamer]

Onomatopoeia

Re:RIAA

[Vexor]

Too late. All the tickets were bought by automated systems within the first .2 seconds. You'll now need to get them from a reseller charging $25,000. Still not bad when you consider Hannah Montana tickets are $1,000,000 + your next child.

Is there a bigger discount if I include a 2nd child?

Re:More Interesting...

[8ball629]

I can't read that without hearing the A-Team theme in the background.

Re:Anonymous?

[AndroidCat]

Careful, *SWOOOOSH* is a trademark of Nike, the Official Travelwear Supplier for UFO Cults.

Re:RIAA

[MrNemesis]

I know it's terrible form to reply to oneself, but I've just realised* that "The Church of Scientology" is an anagram of "Tech go filch tunes, cry ooh!" - if that isn't enough evidence for an RIAA lawsuit of titanic proportions I don't know what is.

* i.e. put it into the anagram finder at wordsmith.org

Re:Anonymous?

[ravenlock]

Text version of a Nike ad.

Where is Tom Cruise?

[Medenus]

Why hasn't Tom Cruise responded a-la Chris Crocker with a video called "Leave Xenu ALONE!"

Re:More Interesting...

[geekoid]

and now, neither can I.
Thanks!

Re:More Interesting...

[skuzzlebutt]

Argh...now you've got me thinking about thinking, and I've Lost The Game! I was doing so well, too...

A La Family Guy

[sporkme]

He blows himself up, ascends to heaven, and there are 72 slashdot users having a celestial lan party, playing netcraft and flaming Microsoft.

Re:RIAA

[Alpha830RulZ]

Does the phrase, "suck the chrome off a trailer hitch", mean anything to you? ;-)

Re:A La Family Guy

[tehBoris]

playing netcraft

Is that the game where you kill BSDs?

Re:It's not a church

[autophile]

This post just gave me an idea out of the blue. Why not make religious texts non-copyrightable?

Some would say Perl is a religion.

--Rob

Re:'Anonymous' is actually...

[moosesocks]

Never underestimate the power of trolls in large groups.

Re:RIAA

[AndroidCat]

UFO cult or money making scam? It's a dessert topping and a floor wax!

Star Wars isn't real?

[CristalShandaLear]

Tell that to the people building the Jedi Church [bbc.co.uk].

Re:It's a money machine

[dprovine]

Ron Hubbard - the founder of Scientology - has been quoted as saying that if you want to get rich, you start a religion.

Well, it's worked for Steve Jobs . . .

Re:It's not a church

[jollyreaper]

Can we please start modding up all "fixed that for you" posts to the point of visibility?

Fixed that for you.

Re:The war

[Anonymous Coward]

actually i think the response to virginia tech was "Harris and klebold are faggots who just got their record broken"


that was in fact how i learned there had been a shooting.

Re:RIAA

[ConceptJunkie]

Well, wait... if they were advanced enough to have DC-8s 75 million years ago, it's reasonable to assume they would have managed to also invent DC-10s. QED

(Wow, that sounds like Scientology logic, at least if I threw in a bunch of meaningless terms).