Anonymous protests Scientology worldwide. Will this work against JW's too?

mavie

Over 9,000 protesters, media coverage worldwide, Scientology embarrassed all over the internet.

Can the Ex-JW community pull this off?

VoidEater

Could we pull it off? Sure.

Would it have the same impact? Perhaps not.

WTS is viewed as "mostly harmless" and is not well known for *violent* or invasive harrasement of those that disagree with it. They still exhibit much of the pacifist notions of Russell.

Scientology, on the other hand, has well documented insitances of routine corporal punishment, illegal harrasement and libel of "squirrels", escapees and detractors, with leaders convicted of various felony charges.

When the pedophile cases make it to convictions or some similar activity galvanizes public perception, then a tipping point will be reached - and campaigns can become more effective.

DT

I don't know. I hope it's possible. These protests were sparked by Scientology's repeated attempts to remove the leaked Tom Cruise video from the Internet. If the WTS did something stupid to irritate enough people, then it's possible that something similar could happen.

It may be worth pointing out that a good number of the Scientology protesters aren't ex-scientologists. Many are just concerned citizens. If we could get that kind of public support for our cause, the effects could be powerful.

This could have a big impact on the Watchtower Society. I'm sure that a few at headquarters are concerned about how much public outrage can develop in such a short period of time over the damaging practices of a cult. Anonymous is trying hard to get Scientology's tax exempt status revoked. If this happened, it would make it much more likely that the WTS finances could come under scrutiny.

I attended the last protest. It was very interesting. These people are committed. I don't think they are going to give up any time soon. They already have another big protest scheduled for March 15.

There's a lot we can learn from this movement. It's an unprecedented social experiment and who knows what the result will be. I actually think that if you are interested in fighting the power of the WTS, then supporting these protests may be one of the better things you can do. When I went, I had a chance to talk a little bit about how Jehovah's Witnesses have some similarities, especially with their shunning policy. A few are even talking about who to hit after Scientology.

reneeisorym

I would think that the silent lambs would be enough to cause concern for the general public.

lrkr

Will this work against JW's too?

Any proof that its "working" against Scientologists? Seems like most people consider them an odd sect that they wouldn't go near. Those that are "in" seem to act like they dont care what anyone thinks. Kinda like JWs

VoidEater

Hi Renee:

I would think that the silent lambs would be enough to cause concern for the general public.

I think this may be at the heart of my point: silentlambs, while valuable, is not enough to galvanize the public (either as consumers of information, or as a poopulation to generate supporters/demonstrators). In the court of public opinion, it's still just too much he said/she said, and does not have a lot of visibility at this point in time. What was the tipping point in Catholic pedophilia? I think it was at conviction in a court of law. In Scientology? A background of outrageous behavior and the latest ocercive attempts to get the Cruise video hidden. The public is not yet galvanized into seeing the WTS as much more than an oddity that doesn't touch them much. The WTS is is still in the shadows, by comparison to Catholicism and Scientology, in terms of notoriety and "buzz". But that can change in a moment, and perhaps is indeed changing with pedophilia, child abuse cases, blood transfusion refusals in the media of late. All that has to happen is for someone to make a PR blunder, or a case make it to conviction.

XJW4EVR

Protests will work provided they are organized correctly. I would suggest a weekday (in order to get maximum play on the news). And a date which a slow news cycle is expected, say after the elections. What is more, there must be a worldwide protest. This is what made the Anonymous protest of the CoS effective. If any of you have gone to xenu.net you can see photos posted from protests in every major city in the world.

I think an organized protest of the summer conventions could also be effective. This protest would give a good counter to the usual happy gas that the Watchtower BS Society usually spews at that time. Does anyone have a list of the summer conventions available? This would be good to have in order to pick a date for maximum effectiveness.

There is a lot of logistical work that would need to be done in order to accomplish this, however, I believe that it could be done, and be done in a manner that will bring maximum effectiveness.

DT

Any proof that its "working" against Scientologists? Seems like most people consider them an odd sect that they wouldn't go near. Those that are "in" seem to act like they dont care what anyone thinks. Kinda like JWs

I guess it depends on how you measure success. It appears that public opinion is changing from viewing Scientology as an odd sect to a dangerous sect. It will be much harder for them to prey on uninformed individuals. There are reports coming out of individuals rethinking their association with Scientology and others building up the courage to leave in response to these protests. I don't know if the number is significant or not, but it's having an effect.

I saw some videos about how Scientologists have tried to disrupt earlier protests. For this protest, I just saw a few stare at us from inside their church. They're losing control and they know it. I almost felt sorry for them.

DT

Just a few more comments and observations. A primary goal of the Scientology protests seems to be to educate the public. This appears to be a higher priority than influencing current members. I think we can learn from that. It's usually pointless to attack a person's religion. However, if you educate the public about them, then they will probably feel embarrassment and it's not easy to reconcile that with their belief that they are
representatives of God. I think Jehovah's Witnesses are particularly vulnerable to this kind of approach because of how they interact with the public in their ministry. If more of the public knew about the pedophilia scandal and their false prophecies it could make the field circus a real challenge to their faith.

The more I think about it, the more I suspect that the common approach of picketing the memorial may not be the best approach. I wouldn't say it is counterproductive, but it's dark and just isn't going to have that big of an effect on the community. It can also make the JW's look and feel like victims. It might be more effective to picket a Sunday meeting during the day and concentrate on passersby, rather than the JW's. It might prompt them to think about the public reactions to the information instead of just dismissing it. Even if they do dismiss it, they will hear
about it later.

It's probably more effective to attack the leadership than to attack their beliefs. The Scientology protesters I have talked to made it clear that they aren't protesting a religion or its beliefs. They are protesting the corrupt practices of the leadership. If the members are to be viewed as victims. It's much better if they are viewed as victims of their leaders. If the protesters can be seen as advocates for the membership, then the movement will be viewed more favorably by the public.

Kenneson

There was one of those protests here in Florida at Clearwater. It started off with 80 protesters and by the afternoon the total came to 180. Of course, some Scientologists view this as hate. See "Scientology Protesters take to the Streets of Clearwater, Florida" at

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/20600/scientology-protest-clearwater

Anonymous protests Scientology worldwide. Will this work against JW's too?

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