Anonymous versus Scientology - Pittsburgh Edition

An interesting thing happened in Pittsburgh yesterday: thirty or forty nerds (of both genders) stood up from their computers and walked, drove or used public transportation to get to the local office of the Church of Scientology. There, in below freezing temperatures, they stood in masks, hats, sunglasses and coats, and peacefully protested the tactics employed by the Church of Scientology in suppressing information about its beliefs and practices.

However, these were no ordinary nerds, and this was no isolated, easily ignored protest. The protesters were members of internet strike force Anonymous, a group that sprung up out of some of the least censored places of information exchange on the internet: the *chan family of boards. The boards, which include the notorious 4chan, serve as a home to one of the internet's most vibrant, rapid-paced, bewildering, brutal and intellectually incestuous cultures. Serving as houses of exchange for images as well as ideas, they are the secret forges in which lolcats were forged and the breeding grounds in which memes exponentiate.

Anonymous emerged as a kind of group identity in these troubled waters, a sort of lurking presence that would have you believe they are always behind you, watching what you do, always there to mock anyone who displays overweening pride, a collective voice moving through the shadows. You see, anyone can post anonymously on one of these boards, but you never know which anonymous comments are Anonymous.

This shadowy group of forum dwellers and IRC aficionados was incensed when, on January 18th, the Church of Scientology attempted to have a certain infamous Tom Cruise video (check the tag) removed from Youtube as a copyright violation. Considering this act an act of internet censorship, Anonymous launched Project Chanology on January 21st with a video in which a synthesized voice read out the following message over intensely menacing music and time-lapsed footage of clouds:

"Hello, Scientology. We are Anonymous.

Over the years, we have been watching you. Your campaigns of misinformation; suppression of dissent; your litigious nature, all of these things have caught our eye. With the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation, the extent of your malign influence over those who trust you, who call you leader, has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed."

The message continues, in brilliant propagandistic form, and was merely the opening move in a strategy which yesterday saw actual human beings taking to the actual streets in actual anonymity, except for the brave few who left their faces uncovered, and those who were picketing in areas where masks were prohibited. Some of those made do with hats, scarves and sunglasses. The nearest protest,as far as I'm concerned, was the one in Pittsburgh.



A friend of mine, who we're going to call Jordan Edwards*, was able to make it to the scene. He took the pictures you're seeing, and had this to say: "Besides the fact that it was a protest, everything seemed pretty cordial. No one was shouting anything, they were just waving signs and talking politely to the people who stopped or honked their horns."


*The illegitimate son of John Edwards. Yes, this is a pseudonym. Somewhat.

The rest of the pictures depict similarly peaceful scenes, which seem to have been a general theme for the day, with protesters apparently enjoying themselves. There was an incident in Hollywood where a Scientologist woman apparently approached, heckled, and then assaulted protesters before being dragged back into the Scientology compound and subsequently arrested. I find it infinitely amusing that, as she approaches and attempts to provoke hostility, Anonymous begin to chant, "Don't feed the troll!"

I think this is the first time we've seen an internet subculture become actively involved in protesting organizations or events in the real-world that do not directly threaten them. Certainly, it's the first time an internet subculture has organized global protests of an organization in under three weeks.

Pundits and traditional journalists have frequently disparaged the internet generation for writing about things on their blog, but not taking action in the real world. Events like this, which remind me of flash mobs (or, more accurately, smart mobs) on a global scale, make me wonder if we're just still figuring out how to best arrange such displays.

It's something to keep an eye on.

Oh, blogger, you wacky web thingy. I can't enter in a title for this post. I don't know why. Perhaps because my computer is made entirely out of potatos. Or something.

Anyway, this week's theme (which is almost over! We are masters of timely writing!) is Transit, if you couldn't guess, and it's especially relevant to me right now, as I'm noving to New York City for some reason. I guess. I mean, everyone does eventually, right? Unless you're like James, and live in Chicago, and are like, whatevs*. But given that right now I live in the middle of bumblefuck nowhere, it'll be a nice shift. For example, when bored, I can walk out of my sublet, and see things. As opposed to now, where I basically just get bored and then eat food.

*Whatevs indeed, James.

It's not really too new for me. I've been to New York before, and I know not to look up at them fancy-pants tall buildings (else betray my sorghum-root chewing, squirrel-eatin', hee-haw watching roots), though the last time I was there I got this awful sore throat. It wasn't too bad, since I talked like Tom Waits for a solid week, and got a free cup of tea at this cafe once. So I can't help but wonder if Real Tom Waits gets things like that - people offering him cough drops, throat lozenges, soothing chamomile tea. It must be pretty nice!

Speaking of scary things, I am infested with bird mites. They came from a nest of baby birds that live out on the back porch. Needless to say, the birds no longer live there, and their mites are slowly going away too. Having been infested with things before, though, I gotta say, bird mites are the way to go - they wash off easy, don't leave any horrifying, itchy marks, and barely bite at all.

Though, right, yes, Transit. I take the train. I would take the train to the effing moon if I could. It's like riding in a larger plane, where instead of being surrounded by vacationers, you are surrounded by one of four types of people, which I shall detail thusly.

1. Menonites - there will be dozens of them, and they all leave around Philadelphia. To where? Who knows! Once there was a large family of them on the same train as I, and they had an adorable child. The child, maybe two years old, kept walking back to me and staring. The anxious father, who looked to be about eighteen, would quickly scoop the child up, like I was the devil or something. When the father dropped the child on it's head while disembarking, I couldn't help but feel that my revenge was complete. Then I found out I was deriving joy from a child's injury.

I am good people!

2. Drug Dealers - you will know them, because they are dressed very well. Suspiciously well. Like, shouldn't be riding the train well. Their luggage is nice, their clothes are nice, and their cell phones are shiny and clean. They make poor conversationalists, though, perhaps because they hate the game, or something. Whatever, they're almost as big a bunch of douchebags as the menonites.

3. Old People - there was a time in my life when I didn't have any friends below the age of 65, so I dig old people. They're frequently crazy about Jesus. I once had an old man walk up to me, and ask me if I was a Christian. I responded that yes, I am, I'm Catholic. He then told me that boy, he's sure glad he knows the love of Jesus Christ. And I was like, yep. We then sat in awkward silence for two hours, before he started talking about Pittsburgh. Another time, I sat next to an older black lady, who was accompanying her enfeebled mother aboard the train. We talked about how people who don't believe in evolution are dumb. She was pretty keen on Jesus, now that I think about.

4. Young Jerks - the category that I fall into. They ride the train and talk loudly on their cellular phones about what Paula is doing and omg are you going to Claudine's tonight and Kendra's dating Michael again I thought they broke up! Many of them are trying to be young professionals, to which I respond, ha ha, you wouldn't be riding the train if you were successful, your ass would be on an aeroplane.

Passive Aggression is the only way to meet new people.