1 step beyond

A meme isn't just a list of funny questions where you reveal what you like and don't like and then pass it on to unsuspecting victims....

"A meme consists of any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Examples include thoughts, ideas, theories, practices, habits, songs, dances and moods and terms such as race, culture, and ethnicity. Memes propagate themselves and can move through a "culture" in a manner similar to the behavior of a virus."

Recently a living meme of cultural information known as Anonymous has been waging an information war against the Church of Scientology, and the results have been nothing short of amazing to long-time critics and ex-Scientologists who have been on the receiving end of Scientology's "Fair Game" tactics for decades.

"Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."

The Church of Scientology, much like fundamentalist Islam, has had a long and dubious history of harassing and trying to intimidate critics of its practices who have for years questioned the organization's policies of disconnection (if a relative - mother, father, son or daughter - is opposed to your participation in Scientology and are deemed by the "church" to be a "suppressive person", you will be instructed to disconnect from them. There are cases where mothers have not seen their grandchildren because the church has ordered them to disconnect from their sons or daughters), heavy sales tactics, and existing as a "religion" with which you must pay (upwards of $300,000 for the full package deal) in order to read their "scriptures'.

This video is difficult to watch, but in the days before Anonymous, what you are about to see (if you can stomach it) would have been the typical way Scientology would have addressed a critic, in public. This had been typical, and - remember - the three men who appear at 2:06 in this video are Scientologists. (VERY difficult to watch)

Long standing policies within the "church" are designed to chill free speech, including punative lawsuits, and even faked bomb threats, to get critics charged with felonies (even manufactured ones) against them so that they shut them up.

Until the arrival of Anonymous these tactics, along with picketing critic's homes, and making complaints that their opponents were "religious bigots" quite often worked to limit the number of people - mostly ex-members - effectively.

In January Scientology attempted to take down a video of Tom Cruise that had appeared online. This attempt to bring its own special brand of censorship (which failed in this case) caught the attention of a meme...

Since February demonstrations have been carried out by this leaderless organization every month, through the self-coodinating hub of a series of websites and discussion boards, that have taken place - most impressively - around the world in front of or near Scientology properties, regularly.

Scientology's response has been to make an effort to use the same tactics of intimidation against "members of Anonymous" (which is actually an impossible term) which have included letters from their various worldwide lawfirms - though meaningless by law - to families of identified protesters or the protesters themselves warning that "you/your son/daughter may be involved in terrorist activity", claiming bomb threats have been made against them (authorities have dismissed these claims as spurious), and various other methods including claims of hate crimes, child pornography and, most recently, telling their membership that Anonymous has picketed the Vatican, and/or is paid off by big drug companies or 'the psychiatrists" (against whom Scientology has been waging a war with its front groups).

They have attempted, at almost every demonstration, to identify participants so that they can include "namefagged" individuals in their cycle of counter-attack. unfortunately for Scientology "the meme" arrived masked, aware of the game, lucid, fluid, and determined. In short, the standard tactics used against critics since the 1950's have produced very little in the way of a deterrent. Imagine - a "church" standing ready with a veritable army of private Investigators wanting to go through the histories of people that can't be identified.

And, apparently, for all his brilliance and ability to see the past and the future, L. Ron Hubbard never figured on the internet.

How does one used to old-style battle tactics fight a meme with no leaders? What Scientology is trying is to identify leaders that do not exist. They have gone after people who apply for permits for demonstrations, they have used private investigators to tail demonstrators leaving protests to get their license plate numbers or photographs, they have outright come out of their buildings and demanded people take off their masks, and they have complained - mostly to no avail - to police departments around the country that Anonymous is scaring them. But at no time has there been one case of violence, terrorist threat, or vandalism. Indeed - how do you fight a meme?

Apparently, last Saturday, one Scientologist in Germany decided that throwing eggs at the demonstrators would work. Which was "fail".


How do you deal with people drawing attention to you by using public games of Twister, delicious caek, longcats, battletoads, literally hundreds of viral videos (Scientology has attempted to shut down critic's YouTube accounts), rickrolling, free hug raids, dozens of websites, V-masks, gas mask girls, people "manning the harpoons", a steady stream of information being leaked to the meme by disgruntled church-members, tits or GTFO, pics or it didn't happen, not to mention people leaving the church and making affidavits about how Scientology "masked itself" in order to be seen as a "religion" for tax and societal purposes. (pdf)

There is more to a meme than just a list of movies or things that bother you. Sometimes a meme is a living thing. And some times it bumps issues for great justice.