In case you’re still lost as to what the heck is going on, a Scientology Run is when people film themselves charging into a Church of Scientology building to see how far they can get before being caught and booted out. It’s a notoriously secretive religion, so it turns the whole place into an action-movie set piece where the protagonist is trying to infiltrate a compound while fending off its legion of foot soldiers, clad in terrifying white button-ups with black vests.
On the one hand, this is very funny. On the other hand, however, it’s still very funny, but also maybe we shouldn’t turn running full speed into a house of religion, no matter how hokey that religion may be, into a trend? Yes, the whole enterprise is shady at best, and they believe in some weird space alien magic. They also have a history of harassing former members and anyone who dares to pull back the veil on the secretive organization’s scare tactics.
Fuck off with this whitewashing. Scientology isn’t “hokey” or “shady”. It’s outright evil.
and its not a religion.
It only has tax exempt status due to one of the largest infiltration and attacks against the US government in the entire history of America.
It only has tax exempt status due to one of the largest infiltration and attacks against the US government in the entire history of America.
Do tell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_status_of_Scientology_in_the_United_States
both are long reads, but well worth it to just get started in understanding just how fucking vile and criminal scientology is, especially when it comes to getting what it wants.
and thats before you even get into the harassment, blackmail, torture, human rights abuses, kidnapping, robbing members of their life savings and even homes and property, etc, etc, etc.
Bruh
And we know this, and yet our government has done nothing to purge this national security threat from our government.
And why does the journalist call it a religion? It’s a cult.
Or a for profit company, under German law.
This reads like a guy afraid of getting sued
It reads like someone who accepts that religion/storytelling/folktales always have and always will have a place in our society.
Scientology really does try to push that concept far past its breaking point though. In my opinion, its a money and blackmail type situation, where dumb famous/rich people are taken advantage of.
They also have a history of harassing former members
Weird way to spell “do shit like boil them alive”.
Wow. I missed that one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Harrison_Hotel#Notable_incidents
Yeah 100%. Also not a religion where I live thankfully.
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This isn’t a genz novelty, there were a lot of activism in the early 4chan days against Scientology. The whole guy fawks mask and anonymous thing started there.
Came here for this. We had Project Chanology in my day. As long as there’s Scientology, the youth will continue to milk them for lulz.
lol yeah, those were the days - the LA scene for that was interesting, and it also gave me my first real taste of opsec, because the CoS goons would absolutely dox and harass you and people close to you if you weren’t careful.
The little known trivia here is that the ‘Anonymous Mask’ wasn’t intended to be serious. It was first used to troll the CoS.
It came from the Epic Fail guy meme, the purpose was to call Scientology lame while also protecting their identities.
It wasn’t until the regular media started reporting on Project Chanology that it become the symbol that the public thinks of when they hear ‘the group Anonymous’.
Later, during Occupy Wall Street, it was used a bit less Ironically because it was already known from the Project Chanology days and also because people still needed to hide their face or risk federal prosecution (i.e. Lulzsec).
Seeing the new generation of Internet trolls starting their career by taking up the Chanology fight… well, we will watch their career with great interest.
Of all the brainrot fads I’ve seen come and go over the past few decades, I think this is the one I like the most. Anything that pisses off the CoS gets my seal of approval.
But maybe a better use of Scientology infiltration tactics would be an investigative piece rather than a viral speed run.
The irony of the journalist writing this and missing that this is their job
Most journalists wouldn’t know hard hitting journalism if it fucked them balls deep with no lube.
I read that as “fucked them in the balls with no lube” and I really liked the way it sounded.
It’s pretty common mentality among a lot of adults that the fucked up world will just have to be fixed by the kids. It’s fucking absurd.
Seems to me if you did some research, came up with a cover story and dressed the part, you could walk in and get pretty far before being caught. Just pretend you’re on your mission year, and wear a nametag.
Uhh… wrong one?
Works for scientology too doesn’t it? Not just LDS?
Pretty sure they don’t do missions. They’re all about recruiting people for money, not righteousness.
Jehovah’s Witness are another that’s big on missions and door-to-door converting. Maybe that’s what you’re thinking of?
Jehova’s Witness: “Hello, we’d like to talk to you about Jesus”.
Bernard Black: “Oh, I’d love to talk about Jesus! What’s he been up to lately?”
I still often say “Jesus” the way that actor delivered that line
Jaee-zus
You could be a Mormon trying to recruit Scientologists?
Seems to me if you did some research, came up with a cover story and dressed the part, you could walk in and get pretty far before being caught.
That’s how you get organ farmed.
Until they figure out you are an imposter and kidnap you. These people are rather known for retaliating against members that quit at least, and have been accused of kidnapping multiple times.
You wanna get Sea Org’d? Cause that’s how you get Sea Org’d.
I guess I’m fine with these stupid tiktok prank videos as long as everyone involved is an asshole!
I’ve lived in their home town. Anything to annoy and distract them is a good thing.
Run till you find Shelly.
Just need to look in David Miscavige’s basement freezer.
but also maybe we shouldn’t turn running full speed into a house of religion, no matter how hokey that religion may be, into a trend?
No. The whole thing was started by a bad sci-fi author who felt he could make a lot of money by inventing a fake religion. It’s just a scam to rip off gullible people. Hopefully, enough mockery will make prospective joiners think twice before they get taken for all their money.
“You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.'” - L Ron Hubbard
Way worse than a scam, tons of human trafficking, torture, etc.
who felt he could make a lot of money by inventing a fake religion. It’s just a scam to rip off gullible people. Hopefully, enough mockery will make prospective joiners think twice before they get taken for all their money.
which is different than any other religion how? Everyone wants an angle to power or money.
Before I get the “so edgy” nonsense: At least lets remove tax exempt status from all religions. People can gather and listen to what ever crap they want but it should not be aided by government in any way.
it’s trespassing with the added benefit of a dice roll on the building security’s understanding of castle doctrine.
Or even just getting hit in the head by a well-meaning person who reasonably thinks they’re trying to prevent a maniac from killing someone in the building.
And filming yourself and posting it online for the notoriously litigious organization.
Can they try Mormon temples next? Please? That would be so fucking funny.
I am crying at the mental image of a bunch of retirees in white suits and white dresses trying to politely shepherd a bunch of teenagers with phones out of their crystal-covered collection of big living rooms.
It would be difficult, idk anything about Scientology but I’ve spent time in Mormon temple. Scientology buildings are more like offices I think and the temple has tons of locked doors
I dunno. These are cracking me up for some reason and even though this article is a bit shallow, I think a decent point was made at the end: power charging religious buildings is kinda bad taste I think - even if Scientology is full of complete asshole weirdos.
Scientology is not a religion
Sounds like something a religious person would say to feel like their religion is more sensible.
It’s absolutely a cult. Ex enforcer Mike Rinder himself called Scientology an intelligence gathering organisation.
Religion, cult, intelligence gathering… none mutually exclusive.
All religions are cults.
Give it a few more generations, and it’ll look like Mormonism (originally an obviously scammy personality cult with a problematic founder, but now a respectable pillar of conservative society). Another century or two and it’ll be like Lutheranism or Episcopalianism: so much part of the background that people don’t even notice the weird stuff in its doctrines.
I mean, I get that but isn’t LDS considered still a cult? It certainly fits a lot of the criteria.
By who? Other Christian’s or religious people? Typical of them to accuse everyone else of being a cult.
Legally, no.
If you ask anyone sane, all religion is a cult.
By people that study cults and other high control groups, I mean.
Yea. What do you think confession is?
It’s pretty well documented that L. Ron Hubbard founded Scientology to serve as a financial tool. Hence the financial controversies and the IRS battles from the 70s-90s
I agree, but that doesn’t prevent a social club from being a religion, does it?
There’s a clear difference between an organisation intentionally created as a cult in living memory and one which, as far as we all know, arose organically from the sincere beliefs of people.
It doesn’t make the beliefs of one more true or something, it’s just a useful categorisation.
Mentally ill people have sincere beliefs too.
You just said the difference is time and the fact no one can remember the religions founding. Which is no clear difference at all.
Well that’s not quite what I said. But either way, I think it’s pretty clear. What are some examples you think lie in the grey area?
Well the thing is, it’s a cult.
They all are though tbf
Well yes, especially given that the Catholic church is basically (for a given value of ‘basically’) a continuation of the Roman empire, a financial instrument clothed in religion. Same as Scientology.
There’s different types of names for a group depending on certain variables. Not all cults are religions.
The difference between a cult and a religion is that in a cult the person at the top of the pyramid scheme knows it’s all a bullshit grift and everyone else is a true believer, it’s a religion when that person dies.
I didn’t say that though did I? I said all religions are cults.
True. I’m not sure what my point was, honestly.
What’s the difference between a religion and a cult? Its size and follower numbers?
One worships God (imaginary person), the other worships a human (real person).
inb4 “but Jesus was a man” yes. But he’s dead, and whatever remains is not “real” anymore
Cults often worship gods too.
My point is there is literally no difference other than how many people follow it. If it’s big enough, it’s a religion.
Christianity is a cult. And a bad one.
It’s whether the person you’re talking to just happens to be a part of that religion or not, typically.
They are all cults to me. Some just have better pr.
charging religious buildings is kind do bad taste
Fuck em they’re an organization built on kidnapping and abuse.
On the other hand, all religions are complete weirdos and not a single one of them deserves special status or protections.
calling exploitative cult a religion is quite bad taste imo
Which religion isn’t though?
They’re all exploitive and cult-like in my opinion.
There’s a difference, aside from size and social recognition?
Control. Generally speaking a religion and a cult are differentiated by how much they demand or control in members lives. Scientology, Mormons, and even a lot of Southern Baptists are generally cults or really cult like. For comparison Anglicans, Quakers, and progressive Neo-Pagans are on average not cults even if they are insane and playing with the dynamics at times.
The hallmarks of cults is: separation from friends or family, a person or ruling body that delivers the one and true version, punishment for rule breaking, and a difficulty separating. Also, it almost always devolves into sex slavery and/or arranged unions.
Those things give you control of course, but they are the basic guidelines of cult like behaviour.
Yeah there are probably dozens of definitions of cult with tonnes of overlap but without complete agreement. Just a notable example is there are some cults which pop up wherein they don’t necessarily have a ruling body since it’s basically a cavalcade of idiots feeding into each other.
So christianity was more of a cult in medieval times?
Depended on region and what period of the medieval era, for example Iceland around 1000 absolutely not, but in France during the crusades absolutely was. Remember the medieval era lasted about a thousand years and was spread across Europe so there’s lots of nuance.
Plenty of sects cut you off still. Like Catholics.
reminder: scientology is not a religion.
Reminder: all religions are made up and mental illness adajcent.
Yeah sorry this one is actually a cult and not a religion.
Fuck all religions/cults.
Leave the pastafaria a alone, ok?
It is, for tax purposes.
No. No it’s not at all.
Religion is in bad taste. And before you come at me, go witness a few religious atrocities first. Like Gaza.
I won’t come at you at all with that statement friend.
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Fight stupid with stupid. I dig it.
‘Gen Z is obsessed with’
Wat
“some kids are doing something I haven’t seen before, whole generation must be obsessed”
More like “I am obsessed with GenZ doing this”
they are channeling any number of Tom Cruise characters
This should be the top comment
