What hit You the hardest?

[Fish]

I first heard about Co$ when my boyfriend was doing a Uni assignment on cults. It got filed under 'weird crap that I can't do much about'.

Then, the Anonymous video went up, and suddenly there was a movement out to tackle Scientology. I did some more research. I saw 'The Unfunny Truth' on YMNTD. I read about how Scientology attempts to treat mental illness with vitamins and 'counselling', and how all the deaths, the suicides and the murders, haven't made a damn IOTA of difference to what they're doing. THEN I got pissed off.

You see, it could so very easily have been me.

A few years ago, I developed depression. With a supportive boyfriend, an understanding doctor and medication, I got back on track. But I was (am still) wary of any long-term drug use, so I went the long way round. I meditated. I took lots of vitamins. I exercised and attempted to remove sources of stress from my life. And if I'd heard at that point about Scientology's claims, I would have probably tried that too.

If it hadn't been for that boyfriend, that doctor and a supportive family, I would have been a prime target. I would have been desperate for an understanding peer group. I would have been quite easy to 'love-bomb'. And in that depressive state, it would have been so very easy to convince me that 'the tech' worked, that all I needed to do was work harder, pay more, do more courses, give it time to work. Sure, some critical thought could have uncovered the BS behind the tech, but when you're depressed you constantly doubt your own thoughts and feelings.

I know what it's like to feel totally without hope, to be desperate for an answer, to be willing to try anything no matter how esoteric or illogical if it might work. And the thought of that 'Church' targeting people in that state to suck them into a life of misery and exploitation, training them to exploit others, makes me sick to my core.

[Calypygian]

Originally Posted by The Enturbulator

Something I forgot to mention was Mark's "Scientology's Fourth of July" video. I had heard about the church harassing and badgering its critics, but I thought that was bullshit (I guess my way of thinking was that "why would a church do this?"). The behaviors of the Scientologists on that video really opened up my eyes.

Let's not forget that Bob Minton was the guy who purchased the camera for Mark, if I'm not mistaken. Bob is a hero, and the way he handled the Scientologists when he would protest really made me chuckle.

If Bob somehow reads this, I just want to thank you for everything that you have done to expose Scientology. Your hard work is now coming into fruition. Thank you, Bob.

Before 2006, I thought Scientology was just a rather strange religion, like Christian Science; in fact, I probably would have mixed up the two. I've got no idea how, but I just came across Operation Clambake one day and later XenuTV. To be brief - I read and saw lots, but was still more astonished that people could get away with it all than I was upset. (I don't really do emotion) Months and months later, I looked up by chance the wikipedia entry on Bob Minton. I guess as I'd been watching the videos, I'd imaginatively identified with Bob as the kind of person I aspired to be like, the way you do when you're watching videos. To find out, very suddenly, how Scientology had silenced someone who had been (and still is for me) a model of self-sacrificing idealism, of true 'agape' ... that was it. It stopped being intellectual for me and became emotional, and the kind of emotional that I can't imagine diminishing. I don't know - a kind of silent, cold emotional. In my gut.

[Anonymous SP]

Originally Posted by SP_thats_me

Astra's interview where she talked about the Cadet Org was what put me over the edge.

That's what got me, too. The idea that they aren't even teaching those kids basic things about their own bodies, let alone allowing them a chance at any sort of real childhood, just boils my blood. For whatever reason, that's what put me over the edge.

Kids are new people, they don't know anything about life, and it's already far too easy to make their lives difficult even under the best of circumstances. The things the cult does, and fails to do, to children are enough to make me want to tear street signs out of the pavement and go 1.1 on some thetans.

[The Enturbulator]

Originally Posted by Calypygian

Before 2006, I thought Scientology was just a rather strange religion, like Christian Science; in fact, I probably would have mixed up the two. I've got no idea how, but I just came across Operation Clambake one day and later XenuTV. To be brief - I read and saw lots, but was still more astonished that people could get away with it all than I was upset. (I don't really do emotion) Months and months later, I looked up by chance the wikipedia entry on Bob Minton. I guess as I'd been watching the videos, I'd imaginatively identified with Bob as the kind of person I aspired to be like, the way you do when you're watching videos. To find out, very suddenly, how Scientology had silenced someone who had been (and still is for me) a model of self-sacrificing idealism, of true 'agape' ... that was it. It stopped being intellectual for me and became emotional, and the kind of emotional that I can't imagine diminishing. I don't know - a kind of silent, cold emotional. In my gut.

I think the first time that I saw any of Mark's/Bob's videos, I thought to myself, "who are these people? They evidently want to disturb and disrupt things because they are bringing a camera to film their pickets." That's how I felt. But then I read more, became more educated on the issue. It took a little while, but I finally understood why there had to be cameras during a picket - Scientologists would accuse someone of doing something that he/she didn't do, and even worse, that's their policy (fair game).

I'm glad that first impressions are often wrong.

For those of you who do not know who Bob Minton is, you should definitely learn because for awhile, he was Scientology's Public Enemy #1. Unfortunately, he made one mistake and Scientology got him to be silent. Here's a link to the story about Bob that Mark sent to me.

[Yoni Alter]

Two things:

(1) The use of Holocaust imagery to attack psychiatrists (am niece of Treblinka survivor).

(2) Had just watched "Jonestown: The Life and Death of the People's Temple." Recommended watching for everyone, if you want to understand how a cult can pull people in, especially with the survivors talking about how they felt at the time - and how they believed in Jim Jones until the very last minute, when their whole family was lying on the ground, dead.

[SimpleCoax]

Mine was when they silenced Slashdot. I read about them around 1997 or so, and heard xenu.net floating around, but I thought that was their site so I never went to it because I was scared to after all the crazy things I read about. Years passed. Then when they went after Slashdot in 2001 I read the entire discussion and there was too much in there to remember what hit me hardest. That was when I realized they were total assholes.

[Mumeishi]

Just the knowledge that this cult won't think twice about tearing families apart through brainwashing and horrible conditioning practices. Seeing that blank Scientologist stare breaks my heart, because I realize that these people are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters. These are normal people who were torn away from their families, just to make a quick buck. It's absolutely abhorrent...

[supafreak]

Before Chanology, I didn't know that much about Scientology. I knew that it was a bit weird (a friend told me part of the Xenu story, LOL space cooties), that it's litigation-happy, and that it likes to use the personality/stress test to scare people into buying their shit.

After I saw the first Anonymous video, I started digging. The first website I went to was xenu.net, and expanded my search from there. I wanted to be well-informed before making the choice to go Anonymous. And holy hell, I never expected things to be as bad as they are: the rampant bullying of critics, all those deaths, the gulags, the Nazi-Holocaust-psychiatry shit.

Also, the fact that they poisoned an activist's pets (cats, IIRC) angers me to no end. Going after an innocent creature because it's owned/taken care of by someone you don't like? That says a lot, right there.

[nnemus]

The autopsy pictures of Lisa McPherson and the handwritten log about her last 17 days. Seeing the horrible state of her body and reading her caretaker's notes makes my blood boil.

[eksef]

The suppression of freedom of speech - the way they try to silence and hurt any critics. It's already annoying to have al qaeda cutting our freedoms, we don't need a fucking scam cult right here in the US doing it.

[anon0004]

Anonymous hit me hardest with Chanology.

I was always worried and aware of the vicious nature of the cult, but Anonymous kicked it for me.
I´ve been around in the webs for over 10 years now and I never experienced a movement like this. It´s creativity, its lulz, its attitude hit me right in the face.

I do not wanna stand up and fight for national politics or someone´s career, but this international netwide thing just cracked me up. I just had to use my skills for it and to go out and do something.

Disregard that,

The suppression of freedom of speech - the way they try to silence and hurt any critics.

makes me doing it, this just can´t be accepted

[Anonymousnouses]

I remember in 2004 I watched XenuTV as a dumbass kid going "Wow, these people are fucking retarded. And that man is fat! Hahah, fatty got tripped cause he couldn't go on a Ferris Wheel." Only now that I'm older do I realize what was going on, and what Mark Bunker stood for. Not only was it a realizationt hat I at one point looked at it as nothing, but probably the rpf camp, and reading the story of the girl who joined the Sea Org at 13 that really hit me hard. Placing myself in a situation where I went through such an awful thing in devotion to my parents... man, it hit about as hard as this.

Also, meme's, /b/ getting off their asses, that all was just icing on a cake of awesome.

[xscnchild]

The thing that's hit me the hardest was reading about the 10 year old kid on top of one of the scientology school roofs refusing to come down. It's probably because I can empathise with just how he felt. The sheer enormity of what he was feeling is quite overwhelming to me. It's kind of like it does not seem so bad when something happens to yourself but when the same thing happens to someone else it really brings it home. It's like "Yes it really was that bad", and there's a sense of vindication, of relief that it's not something wrong with you.

On the positive side, what's hit me hardest is so many people suddenly putting so much time and energy into understanding just how destructive and evil scientology is. Again this is a huge sense of relief that finally people are standing up and saying "this isn't right". This is what finally inspired me to put my experiences down on paper. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you all enough.

[BigTallAnonGuy]

My interest kicked off with the "first church of xenu" which was pretty much just a thread on the SA forums, created in reaction to the Co$'s attempts to suppress the trapped in the closet south park episode. That went well, but we never really reached critical mass, and the whole thing tapered off, only to be revived on a temporary basis each time the crazy cult got in the news again.

I see the whole tom cruise debacle as the straw that broke the camels back. /B/ then declared war, which sparked my interest again, and for a few weeks I just sat and watched while those glorious bastards started using fair game back on the cult. But, I just expected a fizzle again, and when WBM made his first address to the battered /b/astards, I was honestly expecting a backlash against him. I was wrong, the majority listened, and critical mass was reached.

I am in this for all the reasons mentioned above, and my own. I have bi-polar disorder, my partner has ADHD, both quite serious conditions that the Co$ claims does not exist, and can be cured with "vitamins and long walks" (and lots of expensive auditing). Had I fallen for that at my worst stages, I would probably be six feet under by now. It is also for my brother, who happens to be gay, for my sister and father, for whom anti-depressants have made a vast positive difference to their lives.

See you in july magoo :)

[anon.il]

The whole concept of fair game is what gotten me furious about Scientology in the first place, several years ago.

Then i've seen their attempts at internet censorship. Disconnection. Sea Org member abuse. It only got worse and worse. And as if to top it off, these people dont talk straight - they talk in circles like politicians. They cover everything they say in roundabout chatter and logical fallacities.

Its time for the opposition to be heard. They're not going to shut us up anymore - its the 21th century and we are the internet.

We told them to expect us. And here we are.

Right outside their window.

[CherrieZ]

Originally Posted by vagabond

Really the mountain of evidence I have read about Co$ just got to me. When I watched WBM's videos and saw how the acted towards him and try to suppress and interrupt his right to protest made me furious. Then I found out about McPhearson and that was it I knew I had to join in the movement.

^^THIS^^

....I was shocked when I watched WBM's vids, the pickets from the 90s and how the CO$ reacted to 3 people picketing outside an org - the bullbaiting and picture taking - and especially when they picketed outside WBM's house calling him a wife beater and child molester....OMG!! I saw the vids from the LMT days and what they put Bob Minton through and it was absolutely INSANE!

Then I started digging MORE and then there was just no stopping me :)

[SamuelAdams]

Two items. One is the "VOICELESS" video.
The other is a story from the other forums about someone trapped in RPF at goldbase. Razor wire, german shepard, armed guard. Trapped for years trying to 'route out'.