ScientologyWatch.org
March 3, 2003 5:36 PM   Subscribe

 
Great site. I wonder how long before Scientology tries to sue them out of existance.

Given the crap Scientology does, I'm amazed there isn't more protest of those wackos. I mean, Nike might do some dubious things, but Scientology DEFINITY does.
posted by Leonard at 6:13 PM on March 3, 2003


Enturbulator / El Queso Allstars have been putting up a musical protest against the Church of Scientology for some time (their songs are funny, check them out) and have been booted off mp3-hosting sites as a result. The CoS threatened mp3.com, who booted the band off the site, and gave the CoS their identity. Not nice.
posted by Jimbob at 6:44 PM on March 3, 2003


Everyone should inform themselves of the practices, policies, and goals of Scientology. An excellent starting point is A Piexce of Bluxe Skxy.

I have no doubt that Scientology uses web bots to track any bad press on the web. The book mentioned above is very bad for them, so I've inserted some "x"s in the URL and title. With any luck, it'll prevent Metafilter from being swamped by a sudden infllux of new and surprisingly pro-CoS users.

Paranoid, yes. Justifiably so, yes. Read the book.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:49 PM on March 3, 2003


well matts closed the place for new users, thats a good point on the incredible silence many organisations have about this bunch of frauds.
posted by sgt.serenity at 7:14 PM on March 3, 2003


That's my advisor--go, Dave, go!

It seems that new accounts are out of commission once again, so perhaps extra caution isn't needed right now. Still, I agree it's good to be careful, and of course the content will persist long after we're done with the thread.

Dave would probably appreciate a mention of one of his current interests: the Scientology "rehab" organization Narconon. Note clever spelling reminiscent of Narcotics Anonymous, a rather different program.

(Now back to Dave's take-home midterm!)
posted by tss at 7:15 PM on March 3, 2003


five fresh fish: That link gives a 404 error.
posted by Plunge at 7:56 PM on March 3, 2003


take out the x's homeboy, it'll work.
posted by foot at 8:09 PM on March 3, 2003


I don't know enough to guess the dangers of Co$ attack on MeFi, but I was around for some of the UseNet attacks ten years ago. If anything, I'd say fff's paranoia level is a little low. This stuff can get incredibly ugly.
posted by Nicolae Carpathia at 8:46 PM on March 3, 2003


Do'h
posted by Plunge at 8:56 PM on March 3, 2003


If you think that's scary, don't forget to check out Moonie World. It's Scientology plus the Republican Party.
posted by inksyndicate at 9:36 PM on March 3, 2003


What is the CoS's connection to Clearwater,FL? During a Thanksgiving trip to visit family in Pinellas Park I was surprised by the "The mile of highway maintained by the C o S" signs and C o S bulidings everywhere. Strange little town, that.
posted by ttrendel at 10:08 PM on March 3, 2003


Operating Thetan Level 3 on sale. Was $400K, now free.
posted by samuelad at 10:51 PM on March 3, 2003


ttrendel: Clearwater is headquarters.

c.f. this local anti-Scientology site
posted by tss at 10:53 PM on March 3, 2003


I take it back. From the FAQ in the second link, it used to be headquarters. Now they're in L.A., but there's still a lot of activity in Clearwater for various reasons.
posted by tss at 10:59 PM on March 3, 2003


Thanks, tss.
posted by ttrendel at 11:05 PM on March 3, 2003


Scientology has purchased a good chunk of downtown Clearwater. They sunk millions of dollars into attempting to basically turn Clearwater into their version of Pleasantville. It turned into quite the bizarre showdown between the culties, the businessmen, the elected officials, and the anti-culties. Dirty tricks doesn't even begin to define it all.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:36 PM on March 3, 2003


Thanks, FFF. That actually explains alot. My GF and I were driving to a restaurant on the beach to hopefully meet Mike Alstott and ended up roaming quite a bit. We saw tons of ornate buildings billing themselves as either retreat or relaxations spas. I guess we never made the CoS connection at the time. A few of the CoS buildings north of the bridge from Pinellas Park are pretty breathtaking, even with the high gates around them.
posted by ttrendel at 12:04 AM on March 4, 2003


oh god i remember the huge cos building in hollywood. i had a friend go in there once to take one of those free personality tests they give. its not that he wanted to join them, he was just extremely stoned at the time and thought it sounded fun. he told them his name was rusty shackleford (are there any king of the hill fans here?) and randomly bubbled in their questionairre. when they went over the results with him they told him that he had serious emotional problems and that they could help (something i bet they tell everyone who goes in there), but by that time he was getting the munchies so he took off and went to mcdonalds.
posted by joedan at 2:23 AM on March 4, 2003


Sorcratic ethics question: Is boycotting films by J-hn Tr4v0lta (just for the sake of fff's bot comment) on the basis of his affiliation with CoS a bigoted act? If so, how 'serious' of a bigoted act is it?

Another way to put it (purely for a philosophical discussion): Is it discrimination to refuse to give money to, or do business with, people linked to organizations that some perceive to be involved in criminal acts? How do you determine the line between "These people may/do some questionable things," and "These people control the banks, manipulate the world economy..etc" paranoia?
posted by Tystnaden at 10:14 AM on March 4, 2003


Boycotting a film with John Travolta in it is not only in good taste, it's roughly equivalent to boycotting a film that stars ObL. You don't want ObL using the money he makes from his movie-star efforts to fund his particular flavour of terrorism; nor should you want JT to put his money towards the CoS.

BTW, there is no doubt re: "involved in criminal acts." Read the PoBS book I linked to above. CoS regularly engages in illegal acts, from hounding outspoken ex-members to the point of suicide, to infiltrating government offices, to holding people prisoner.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:29 AM on March 4, 2003


If you own the Battlefield Earth DVD, the terrorists have already won.
posted by boost ventilator at 10:34 AM on March 4, 2003


The Bush administration has made the faith initiative a top priority. In Alaska, the Murkowski administration also is embracing this approach.

Lt. Gov. Loren Leman led the state's first meeting Thursday. A White House aide in the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives spoke by phone. A crowd of about 100 gathered at Wilda Marston Theater to listen and talk at a session that began and ended in prayer. Pastors came. So did leaders of nonprofit organizations.

Many church groups represented were Christian but not all. A minister with the Church of Scientology, for instance, came to ask how the new effort will affect denominations that have experienced discrimination.

The intent is to define religion broadly, Leman responded. Churches, synagogues, temples are all welcome, he said.


Great. The "Church" of Scientology moves on into social services.
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 1:32 PM on March 4, 2003


they told him that he had serious emotional problems and that they could help (something i bet they tell everyone who goes in there),

That's exactly what they tell everyone. Somewhere on Operation Clambake there used to be a thorough analysis of the test, showing how it's rigged. That acticle seems to be giving me a 404 error now, but there's another page that has the actual test.
posted by dnash at 2:37 PM on March 4, 2003


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