Internet group "Anonymous": Scientologists Complain of Stalking and Harassment

Despite repeated claims that Anonymous raids are not intended to infringe the rights of Scientologists, I was curious about how Scientologists feel about it, so I asked a few of them for their reactions, and got a very different story.

In a recent "raid", one Scientologist was upset by masked videographers lying down in the street to take pictures her from below as she stood outside her church. “I found it quite frightening and intimidating,” she complained. “I’ve never been subjected to treatment like that. It made me feel unsafe.” Another Scientologist was repeatedly confronted by a masked woman who taunted him with a challenge to join the picket. “If this happened at the temple down the block I’ll bet the ADL would be out in force demanding warrants for their arrest.”

“I respect the rights of people to protest peacefully” said another Scientologist. “But these guys were out there with bullhorns, yelling abuse, interrupting counseling sessions. And when we tried to point it out they just turned up the volume.”

Although most Scientologists surveyed thought the masked protesters were just bored kids with nothing to do, some were concerned when they read about picketers bragging about them getting their “fun” from disrupting Scientology churches. They call it “lulz”. According to the Urban Dictionary, “Lulz is the one good reason to do anything, from trolling to rape. After every action taken, you must make the epilogic dubious disclaimer: ‘I did it for the lulz’.”

“I can’t take these kids seriously,” said one Scientologist about a recent flash raid.” Less than a mile from here there are homeless people who could really use some help, anywhere you look there are folks who can’t kick drug or alcohol dependence, people are really suffering from marriage problems, kids are dropping out of school. In the peaceful protests of the 1960s there was real purpose to the activity and it resulted in so much reform that the odds are that next President of the United States will be a Black man. I’d like to see someone harness the energy of these college students to do some good in the world. I’d like to invite them to help in our community programs, where a Saturday afternoon at one of our tutoring centers can make a real difference in a kid’s life.”