Recently it's been in the news that a group calling itself "Anonymous" has targeted the Church of Scientology (religion or cult, flip a coin) for distributed denial-of-service attacks, server cracking, and other general harassment. One private communications forum I was on featured people gleefully presenting a 69 megabyte compressed collection of their supposedly "secret" files, while another denizen growled that hackers in the group should "go after their financials".
The latest press release from Anonymous, processed through a voice synthesizer, lists the many apparent sins of Scientology and ends with the ominous Sweeney Todd-like statements: "We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us."
Now, I am hardly one to sympathize with the Church of Scientology. As far as I'm concerned, it's a wacky cult.
But what bothered me about this situation is that you have this group of hackers, et. al. rattling a serious sabre in the cult's direction, and the Department of Hopeless Insecurity isn't the least bit concerned.
So I started connecting the dots. First thing that came to mind is why ONLY go after Scientology? I mean, the Unification Church is another crazy religious cult that certainly engages in questionable activities - but they get away with it because Moon pretty much owns certain businesses and selected Congresscritters lock, stock and barrel. The religious right LOVES Moon. Corporate right-wing Christian wack jobs of his calibre are hard to find these days - they need all the help they can get. He's contributed close to a billion dollars in both lobbying and campaign contribution funds for certain Congresscritters.
So why isn't Anonymous going after the Moonies, too? And how can it be that DHS isn't taking their attacks on Scientology seriously enough to do anything about it? Could it be that they're a government front?
The remaining question: "Why go after Scientology at all?"
The answer: VALKYRIE.
Valkyrie is a movie that was shot last fall by famous Scientologist Tom Cruise, with assistance from fellow Scientologist John Travolta. It's in the can as of last October, and scheduled for release this summer. It concerns the real-life story of Nazi insiders who led a failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler and his entire high level staff.
Watch the trailer and then ask yourselves who might possibly have a problem with the Scientologists making this movie. Who might want to bring down the Church of Scientology and annex it's money and resources at all costs - before this movie is released?
Moral: don't get caught up in the glamor attached to mindless hatred and fearmongering. When hatred and fear are "cool", lies and manipulation will not be not far behind. Don't let yourself be used. There are two sides to every story. GET THE OTHER ONE BEFORE YOU ACT. Do your fucking homework when someone tries to get you to hurt somebody else you don't even know.
"First they came for the Scientologists, and I didn't complain because I wasn't a Scientologist..."