It would appear that the virtual world that we've come to love is starting to spill over into the real world, the automation struggling against its reins and attempting to drive the cart of life in its own direction. I don't know about you, but I for one embrace this; I'm loving every minute of what's happening. The best example I can give is what's happening between the aptly-named Anonymous and the Church of Scientology. Taken on their own, neither group is particularly noteworthy or deserving of any praise or malice; for the most part, they're rather ignorable, truly contributing little to what's happening around them.
Anonymous began much as they remain: An ever-growing gaggle of idiots utilizing stolen Japanese software to shock their friends, harbor their grudges, trade all sorts of strange and disturbing pornography, and basically jerk each other off through the wonders of the Internet. 4chan is the single most popular group of Anonymous, being the original American group of geeks and dweebs who stole the most beloved of Nihon Softuwaru: The Imageboard. Here, they proceeded to expose massive amounts of people to the beauties of Goatse, Tubgirl, Lemonparty, and then began introducing their own. Lots of jockeying and maneuvering trying to get others to download gray-area child porn and creating a breadth and depth of image macros, internet memes, retarded sayings, catchphrases, and in-language that before this time there has never been a society on the face of this planet so dedicated to retarded exclusivity. It's one of those things that you either 'get' or 'don't get'... win or fail, tits or GTFO, the language is all the same. Despite its humble beginnings, however, it has exploded into an internet phenomenon, currently rated 299th most-traveled website in the whole internet according to Alexa. That's a lot of geeky 12-year-olds.
4chan, however, spawned its own revolution. Thousands of splinter sites exist, each filling a different niche that 4chan itself can't or won't pander to. They are slower, but more specialized, their userbases less inflated, the pseudo-social bonds stronger. The Overchan is a veritable cornucopia of anything you'd like (or wouldn't like) to see, cataloging not only just about every -chan that has or ever will exist, but also a few spin-off imageboard sites such as AnonIB. And it's here, in these niches and alcoves of the Internet, that the Anonymous I'm going to talk about is drawing their real power. 4chan merely lends a publicly accessible, easily-identifiable face and focal point to the Anonymous world power.
On the other side of this quorum, you have the Church of Scientology. These guys have been around for years, and their influence is strange and varied. Started by pulp sci-fi writer and rotting corpse L. Ron Hubbard in 1953 on a drunken bet after everyone pissed on the blarney stone and called it good. A Scientologist will tell you that the church aims towards "a civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights." When in reality, there is lots of evidence to the contrary. Through the use of hypnosis, various mind-control techniques, rudimentary induction of Stockholm Syndrome, and even murder, their numbers have swelled worldwide, and the cult continues to flourish. Such well-regarded (ahem) names as Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Ghandi, Hitler, Mother Theresa, and Urkel all proudly fall under the Scientology banner. Fortunately, my man Will Smith dodged that particular bullet, would that we could all be so lucky.
So why the hubbub over a bunch of celebrities and a cult that's been around since the 50s? Issues of legality aside, the CoS has done a lot of really really nasty stuff since its inception. Most notable in 1976 was Operation Freakout, where Hubbard's wife and 11 other Scientology operatives were attempting to infiltrate various Government buildings and organizations, including the IRS, to gain information on their detractors and defame and discredit them, most notably the author Paulette Cooper for the scathing book she wrote against the CoS 5 years prior. The fortunate thing is that Hubbard's wife and those working with her were caught and arrested, though the damage had been done. The church gained even more press in 1982 after it was found that Hubbard had embezzled over $200 million from the Church of Scientology.
I'm going to type this again.
In 1982, it was found that Hubbard had embezzled over $200 million from the Church of Scientology.
Fortunately he died in 1986, a coward in hiding. Though his Church followers would claim that he simply "discarded his body" to do "higher level spiritual research", and now resides on "a planet a galaxy away". The most interesting thing about his death, however, is the fact that Scientology is where it is today. Most cults fizzle out when the leader sheds this mortal coil; however, the Church of Scientology has only gained popularity since, and boasts a total membership of over 8 million followers worldwide.
But I'm not here to talk about all of that and what it entails; there's lots of great websites that do a spectacular job of laying the facts -- no more, no less -- out on the table.
I'm much more interested in talking about the conflict itself. Remember earlier how I mentioned that Anonymous was actually made up of thousands of people across a number of splinter groups dotted around the world? This is important. These various groups of Anonymous are an amazing and varied bunch. The main hub -- those found on 4chan's /b/ -- are mostly mindless, a group of hyperactive, nerdy teens with too much time on their hands and severely crippled social skills. But they're smart, and their numbers are impressive. All it really takes is a few charismatic and focused people to get them to begin to mobilize and act -- and these are the other Anonymous, the different sect, the close-knit, knowledgeable few that understand not only how the Internet works and how Anonymous works, but how best to apply that strength. This upper-crust, the mobilizers, like to call themselves /i/nsurgents after the /i/nvasion board originally of 711chan (now deceased). Their track record is rather impressive, hitting targets from the sprite-chat program Habbo Hotel all the way up to retarded pundit Hal Turner, with varying degrees of success.
Now, they've turned their sights on the CoS, and for good reason. It's not often that I say this, but I support Anonymous on this. They've done their research, and they're mobilizing quite well. Their collective effort, known colloquially as Project Chanology is very impressive, sporting a number of plans over a plethora of avenues. Their efforts have polarized the internet, and garnered attention on a national level; XenuTV.com's Mark Bunker (a longtime opponent of Scientology and most of what it stands for) has been interviewed by various radio and TV stations... even the BBC is getting in on it, sending correspondent John Sweeny to do some field investigations on the Church and what it's about, only to be assaulted.
There's raids planned for the 10th of February, all over the world, where members of Anonymous are going to go to various church or "org" sites across the globe and picket the CoS's methods and hopefully help some of the members who are feeling trapped. I'm not in a place at the moment where there's an Org nearby that I can show up at, but you can bet your ass that I'll be here, watching and cheering.
Fuck Scientology. Anonymous is legion.
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