Yes, on Saturday, May 8, Anonymous DC held its monthly raid from 3-8 PM, protesting the abusive practices of the Church of Scientology. This was also our smallest monthly raid yet, with all of three people in attendance. Those three people were MaidofWin, Sparrow, and myself. Sparrow wore a Guy Fawkes mask. MaidofWin had a stars-and-stripes bandanna and big movie-star sunglasses. I wore my zentai for the first time this season.
It’s funny about the zentai, though. I was actually late to the raid on account of not being sure what I wanted to wear with it. As you know, when I raid, I’ve always used the zentai as a base layer under other clothes. Remember that in 2008, the zentai look was tie dye and funny hat. Then in 2009, I went with black-on-black-on-black as the zentai look. This time, I wanted to do something different, but at the same time, make it fun. I tried a number of different combinations, and nothing seemed to work. I eventually resigned myself to the fact that I was unable to properly accessorize things, and ended up packing the 2008 “look” to change into once I got down there.
However, once I got down there and started putting on the zentai, I got the suit on, and then decided to go out with only the suit. I’d always been a little concerned about doing that in the past, specifically about whether I’d look too “lumpy” under there (“lumpy” in this case referring to the love handles and what have you that I sport). As it turned out, though, I looked fine, as the zentai smoothed out all the lines. After getting up the nerve to actually go out wearing the zentai by itself (never did that in public before), it seemed to work. And then when I got to the raid site, I put the hood up and the “windshield goggles” on (they fit over my glasses), which completed my anonymity, and I got out a stack of You Found The Card cards. I’d say I was ready to raid.
The Scientologists, meanwhile, were having a barbecue, which is something that they had done many times before at their old location. However, unlike how they did it at the old location, where they barbecued behind the building, out of sight of Anonymous, they couldn’t do that in the new building, since their building backs up against a public alley. So they had it out front. However, they couldn’t just cook out in the open. Oh, no. So they revived “Curtain Tech 2.5”, and hung giant tarps around half of their front yard, shielding their activities from P Street, with big “DIANETICS” and “COME IN!” signage hanging from the tarps.
Scientology also again saw a need to hire a rent-a-cop on a Segway. And not just any security guard, either. They had an armed security guard, as this guy sported a sidearm. Really – is this necessary? And most of what this guy did was stand in one spot on his Segway, while occasionally doing something of a loop around the building. Your fixed donations at work…
In raiding, Sparrow did his Sparrow thing, where he films and confronts Scientologists about their so-called “religion”. Meanwhile, MaidofWin and I worked the crowd. She had a sign that said, “Honk to fight Scientology”, which got a great response, and then I handed out You Found The Card cards to passers-by. The Scientologists mostly left us alone this time, preferring to counter us through our interactions with the public. Sometimes, when we would hand them cards, a Scientologist would swoop in like a vulture and hand them Dianetics literature. Most of the people I saw were less than receptive to the Scientologists’ tactics.
We also had a little fun with the Scientologists’ kids. A few of them came out to see us. I handed them You Found The Card cards, which they then took inside. Going to show how Scientology tries to control the information that their members receive about Scientology, a few of the adults took the cards away from the kids! Geez… One would think that an organization that believes it’s right would allow its members to view critical information, and then explain why they’re right. But not Scientology. See, a free flow of information prevents them from making “controlled individuals”.
Speaking of that, and other things I saw during the furniture sale, MaidofWin and I made great hay out of what came out of that trip. We particularly latched onto the whole “controlled individuals” bit. Additionally, most of our discussion with the public this time around centered on the concept of fixed donations. After all, Scientology is not a system where they offer religious services to the public and ask nicely for a monetary donation in return. Scientology is a pay-to-play system, where you don’t get your religion unless you pay up. Scientology really should consider releasing all of their materials under the GFDL or a Creative Commons license. That would show that they’re more interested in being a nonprofit, focusing strictly on the religious aspect of things rather than money. After all, one can be a devout, practicing Christian without ever setting foot in a church. Can one be a practicing Scientologist without ever setting foot in one of their Orgs?
Perhaps the most interesting person that MaidofWin and I got was a gentleman who turned out to be a veteran of the armed forces. We talked to him for a while, and he eventually took issue with our masks, which we explained with the usual protect-us-from-them defense, and explaining how they use a policy called “Fair Game” to harrass critics. The man wasn’t buying it, and didn’t seem to want to stop until he’d talked our masks off. This is when a gentleman with an Australian accent jumped in to our defense. He said that we were exercising our rights, and that he for one was glad to see us out demonstrating, because having a Scientology facility right up the street from the White House was a disgrace. That shut the man down pretty well. I have to say, the gentleman with the Australian accent did a better job defending us than we probably could have.
Then Tony Turrisi (the man with the mustache at far left in this photo) asked me, “What are you supposed to be, Rubber Man?” in passing. When he came back around, I said, “Rubber Man, Tony? Rubber Man?” Then I explained that what I was wearing was a zentai, and turned around for him. MaidofWin added that the suit is often used for interpretive dancing. All in all, it’s not hard to make Tony look like an idiot. But then again, it’s not hard to make someone look like an idiot when they already are an idiot…
I didn’t get any photos this time around, but Sparrow did. And here we are:
Photo: AnonSparrow
Curtain Tech for their barbecue. That’s not tacky looking at all!
Photo: AnonSparrow
MaidofWin and I work the crowd.
Photo: AnonSparrow
Giving rabbit ears to a Scientologist on the corner.
So all in all, we had a good time, and despite our small numbers, we got the word out. Win! See you next month!