Torontoist reports:

With greater dialogue, Project Chanology hopes to defuse some of the arguably propagandist rhetoric leveled against them by Scientology’s escalating PR efforts. “If you go in there right now,” said another Anon, pointing to the org’s rarely-open door, “they have a stack of flyers on their desks saying we are evil, evil people. They’ve been on Bloor walking up and down [the street] with them.” Anons, meanwhile, have reduced the scale of their demonstrations lately—with the exception of yesterday’s presence at Pride [PDF]—to more effectively engage the public. Sidewalk drawings state the names of those allegedly victimized by Fair Game practices, while an arrow-shaped sign points into the org’s lobby with a monosyllabic message: “CULT.”

An hour later, we followed up on that earlier request for an interview. As staff members we’d talked to had since changed shifts, a gentleman in a red Dianetics shirt—reportedly a member of the local org’s Office of Special Affairs—welcomed us. After our introduction, a knowing expression flashed across the man’s face, and we were guided back toward the entrance.

“Have a nice day,” he said, holding the door. Then he locked it in our faces.

After the EpicNoseGuy situation, wherein a 15-year-old London boy was threatened with a court summons if he didn’t remove a sign calling Scientology a cult, I posted on Enturbulation that if “cult” is unacceptible in the UK, simply spell it out as “cu*t”.  It got some laughs, and someone named “Scientology is a cult” on alt.religion.scientology even changed their name to “Scientology is a cu*t”.

Then I find out about this.

There’s been another development in what’s becoming a long-running dispute between anti-Scientology protesters and British police, as a 57-year-old man was charged with breach of the peace for displaying a sign that read “Stupid Cu*t” and “Greedy Cu*t” during a protest in Edinburgh at the weekend.

This has bad, good, and great written all over it.  The bad part is that someone was arrested without warning for a fucking sign, regardless of content.  Especially since this one happened to be factual.

The good part is that this arrest caused the news to spread that Scientology is indeed a stupid and greedy cult.  It was published and people across Scotland read the news, generating a sour taste towards the authoritarian cult and their attack poodles in the Edinburgh police.

The great part?  I trolled someone from across the ocean into getting arrested.  I’m kinda proud about that one.

This is a video from early June by 13Heathens.  It’s relevant to Will Smith, as he is shilling the cult’s flawed “educational” methods in his private school.

Just in time for Hancock, the LA Times exposes Will Smith’s school’s plan to use “teaching” methods devised cult founder and totalitarian L. Ron Hubbard.

Touretzky said many phrases and concepts on the school’s website are specific to Scientology. For example, the school lists a “Director of Qualifications” and another teacher who is an assistant in the “Qual” department. The “Qual,” said Touretzky, is where people who have completed a Scientology counseling, or “auditing,” session or a course in the Church of Scientology are tested by a qualifications teacher.

“There is no reputable educator anywhere who endorses [study technology],” said Touretzky, a critic of Scientology. “What happens is that children are inculcated with Scientology jargon and are led to regard L.R. Hubbard as an authority figure. They are laying the groundwork for later bringing people into Scientology.”

A spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology, Karin Pouw, denied Touretzky’s assertions and said the teaching methods are not religious and are widely used in schools around the world.

I don’t think she named any others, and if she did I have $20 that says the over 90% of them can be found on ABLE’s website.

Radar Online posts the following:

There’s something fishy going on at the Church of Scientology Los Angeles, and not just the normal fishy Scientology stuff. By the looks of these pictures posted to Flickr by former Scientologist Chuck Beatty, it seems the church is preparing for some kind of nuclear attack. Or maybe just another Anonymous protest. The pictures show stacks of shipping containers in front of the Los Angeles church. Beatty writes that it’s a part of “the hiding policy of L. Ron Hubbard” meant to “shield themselves from the anonymous demonstrators.”

The other night yours truly and a band of local anons did a fliering raid.  We try to do them once a week, where we don our masks and walk throughout downtown handing out fliers, and stopping to chat with those who are curious and ask for more information. If you don’t do these raids in your city try one out one evening, they’re surprisingly fun.

One member of the public we encountered was a librarian who works at a central library.  She recounted a story about how just the week prior a big box arrived from Bridge Publications filled with The Basics.

The Basics are an 18-book collection which combined costs $525 directly from Bridge Publications, Scientology’s publishing arm.  Scientologists are encouraged by the RTC to collect the addresses of their local libraries and pass them on to Bridge Publications, who will then send the libraries The Basics.  However, in addition to passing on these addresses, Scientologists are also required to pass along a payment at full price for The Basics collection to Bridge Publications.

Yes, you read that correctly: Scientologists pay full price for a book collection they’ll never see because David Miscavige tells them to.

No special discount.  No act of altruism from the very rich Church of Scientology itself to spread the word.  None of that.  Instead, the Joe Schmoe public Scientologist had to pay full price to cover not only printing and shipping costs but the markup that generates a profit.

These local Scientologists might be interested in knowing that the librarian we met has confirmed their payment has resulted in a collection of 18 brand-new books are filling up a garbage can outside of the library.

I told the librarian that her library should have done what others across the world are doing: sell them at a fraction of the cost on eBay where someone might find them useful.

This is the front page:

And here is the article.

Anonymous’s initial activities were silly - playing tricks or hijacking forums. Some were borderline legal. They would bring down websites by bombarding them with data (“distributed denial of service”). “Frankly, it wasn’t very noble. But it was fun,” explained one Anonymous, who called himself Halfdark. They have a word to describe such activities - lulz (see panel). Early this year, a video was posted online of Tom Cruise discussing Scientology. Unintentionally funny in its sincerity, it spread across the internet. Scientology called in the lawyers, and began forcing sites to remove it. Anonymous had a target.

“They had started screwing with the internet,” said Marc Abian, named afterthe Scientologists’ belief in an evil race of aliens called the Marcabians. “Initially we harassed them for lulz, but then we realised that they ruin lives. What we do is fun, but with a real cause.”

Moar here and digg here. This was three full pages in a big-time London newspaper.  The seal has been broken; time for other media to take note.

The Guardian has published a list of reasons to dislike Will Smith.  One of them:

Will is, as has been widely reported, the latest megastar to start recruiting for top loonball academy the Church Of Scientology. After shooting finished on Hancock, he gave crew members a delightful wrap “present” - a gift card for one personality test at any Scientology centre. It should be noted that personality tests almost always result in a series of previously unsuspected personality defects in the test subject that can be cured by the Church of Scientology, and that first personality tests are actually free anyway. Will, you shouldn’t have!

A voucher for a free personality test?  Does that mean all his extra money is being funnelled to the cult for auditing?

Resigning British MP David Davis mentions EpicNoseGuy in a list of reasons why he’s quitting his post to run in a by-election:

The state has security powers that clamp down on peaceful protest, and so-called hate laws that stifle legitimate debate - while those inciting violence get off scot-free. A 15-year-old boy was recently charged on the spot for holding a banner describing scientology as a “dangerous cult”, but extremists such as Abu Hamza are left free for years to incite violence and vitriol against this country.

This story is a few days old - but I was busy when it was new and it’s notable.  The best thing about this site is that it’ll always be here for future internet archaeologists to go through and understand the zeitgeist of when Chanology was around and the months leading up to the end of the cult.

At this point, five months in, we now have the minds of politicans. Referencing the treatment of us as evidence that something’s amiss, even if its just a splinter in a larger platform, shows we’re not just having a negative effect on Scientology but a positive effect on modern culture.

Here’s an editorial/short story that uses Tom Cruise as a standard issue buffoon.

“I am glad you called me,” begins Mr. Cruise. “As I’ve said before, when you see a car crash, only a Scientologist can help.”

“I’m don’t know what Ballmer believes,” replies Yang, “so that explains a lot…. Hold on, Yahoo is NOT a wreck. We’re very profitable.”

“Have you ever had an audit?” asks Cruise.

“Of course. Our numbers are great,” protests Yang.

“I mean an audit from the great firm of L, Ron and Hubbard,” says Cruise.

“Who?”

It deals with a tech business crisis the C|Net News.com types exist to report on so I don’t entirely get it, but it mocks the deservedly mockable so there you go.