Scientology

Dear Julian Dibbell,

            My main concern with your article The Assclown Offensive: How to Enrage the Church of Scientology is that there is no real answer to why Project Chanology actually happened and why it’s continuing. I understand that they were sparked by the disappearance of the leaked Tom Cruise video, but to me that’s not enough of a reason to try and upend an entire religion. Not that you really would be able to answer that question for me, since you aren’t involved in any of this ‘trolling.’ To me, it seems like these Anons are doing nothing more at this point than trolling for the sake of it. From what you’ve described, from their attacks on Scientology’s page to the grotesque display of the man covered in Vaseline and pubes, there is nothing concrete these Anons are doing that makes sense of why they are so against Scientology that it must be gone. I am all for trolling when it’s funny, I can admire a person’s cleverness in most situations (sometimes depending on whether or not they have had no tact at all) but I don’t find what they are doing funny or amusing. It seems very childish, asinine, and futile if you ask me. They are not going to achieve the goal they aimlessly seemed to start out with, so what is the point anymore? I don’t like to get into debates over religion, because I feel that people are far too defensive and close minded to discuss different religions with one another, but I’m a very accepting person so I find it hard to understand why such hatred seems to have spawned from a video about Scientology. I know that Scientology has been openly criticized by many because of the beliefs that they have.

            There was an episode of South Park that mocked Scientology (Tom Cruise included) that’s general point seemed to be that they were ripping people off and anyone could really define what their religious beliefs might be, even an 8 year old boy. Though both Project Chanology and South Park made fun of Scientology, South Park did it in a way that was seriously funny and no one seemed genuinely outraged after the episode aired. I think South Park had a better take on the situation because they treat everyone equally, by making fun of everyone on the same level. No one is truly safe when it comes to South Park and that’s what I like to see. I know I can laugh at what they portray because while they are intending on mocking a subject, they’re not doing it to try and be assholes about it. I believe that Project Chanology is too fueled by the testosterone of the twenty-something year old males that are a part of it that it’s lost any humor that it might have had and has taken on a more hostile undertone. When the Anons tried to troll at the Chicago Zoning Council committee it became quite obvious that they have no idea what they are doing and have no way to prove that what they are doing makes any sense to anyone else but them.

Regards,

Ana Luisa Suarez