Human Rights Activists Puzzled and Amused by Scientology's Attempt at Damage Control

The worldwide Anonymous human rights activist network was surprised by the absurdity and futility in the Scientology organization's official response to some outstanding investigative journalism. End Quote

St. Petersburg Times series: www.truthrundown.org | Scientology response: Download on upper-right side of this page

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (1888PressRelease) August 10, 2009 - The ANONYMOUS worldwide human rights activist network was chuckling to itself last week upon receiving a copy of the Scientology organization's 80-page official response to a hard-hitting series of articles by the St. Petersburg Times (Florida, USA). The glossy Scientology cult document was issued in the form of its annual "Freedom Magazine" (sic), a print copy of which was delivered to every home in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area. (You may download your own copy from this page).

The amazing St. Petersburg Times exposé, called "The Truth Rundown" (and which you may read at "truthrundown dot org"), documents the culture of intimidation and violence under cult leader David Miscavige, in the stories of numerous high-ranking former officials. It also provides new details about the case of Lisa McPherson, who died in the care of Scientologists, from the executive who directed the Church of Scientology's handling of the case. He admits he ordered the destruction of incriminating evidence. The series describes bizarre behavior and physical beatings inflicted by Miscavige, whose behavior grew more erratic in the wake of the Lisa McPherson case.

In its initial response to the claims of the high-ranking defectors, which is included in the St. Petersburg Times series itself, Scientology revealed the contents of the supposedly "sacred," "confidential" confessional files of these officials. Scientology did this in an attempt to discredit them, as these files contain profuse and slavish promises of devotion to Miscavige, in addition to bizarre ravings about life trillions of years ago on other planets. Scientology also trotted out the ex-wives of some of these former members, who provided additional private information in an attempt to make the "apostates" seem unreliable.

If this wasn't horrible enough a response from what is supposed to be a "church" and "religion," Scientology then released the big, fancy issue of "Freedom Magazine." The Anonymous activists were quick to see the potential for this gesture to backfire in an enormous way. Indeed, Anonymous felt that this was such a potential "foot-bullet" for the cult, this document should be disseminated far and wide, so that more people would understand the vicious yet stupid way in which Scientology operates.

The new Scientology document contains much more of the same sort of libelous claims and supposed-to-be-confidential material; bizarre, venomous attacks on all critics; gushing, over-the-top profiles of "Mr. David Miscavige"; easily-refuted lies about Scientology's supposed "explosive growth"; and generally a lot of other nasty and vituperative writing that makes one wonder how this organization could possibly have gained "religion" or "charity" status in any country.

Anonymous would be pleased if everyone would kindly read the "Truth Rundown" reports from the St. Petersburg Times, followed by Scientology's bizarre and almost hilarious official response.

ABOUT SCIENTOLOGY:
The Scientology cult was founded in 1950 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. Its primary goal is to “clear the planet” by “obliterating psychiatry.” Scientology’s many front groups include the Citizens’ Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), Criminon, Narconon, and Applied Scholastics. Scientology claims to be the “world’s fastest growing religion,” with some 8 million members, but mainstream demographic surveys have shown that the number of active members is closer to 55,000 worldwide, and declining. Scientology is currently under investigation in several countries for a variety of human rights abuses, including child abuse, violation of child labor laws, kidnapping and running secret internal prison camps, as well as for a number of financial crimes. Scientology has already been kicked out of Greece; in Germany it has been declared a “threat to democracy”; in France its leaders are being prosecuted for fraud; it is on very thin ice as well in Belgium, Norway, and other European countries.

ABOUT ANONYMOUS:
The Anonymous worldwide human rights activists are a network of thousands of ordinary people from around the world who are appalled and horrified by the Scientology organization and its abuses, and are working to stop it.

http://meowmacao.blogspot.com/2009/08/human-rights-activists-puzzled-and.html

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