Julian Dibbell

Dear Dibbell,

I recently read your article on Wired.com, titled "The Assclown Offensive", and prior to this reading had no knowledge of the battle between Anonymous and The Church of Scientology. I do have knowledge of the background of Scientology and think it is an absurd idea, and people who follow it are interesting to me, to say the least. So as I began reading I thought it was funny that such a large group of people would come together to make fun of it. I didn't agree with some of the ways this group of people, who originated from 4Chan, went about their rioting but I did see the humor in going against a religion that most do not take seriously. Although this went back and forth between Anonymous and the church I agreed in the statement you made in saying, "And the answer may be that the church is incapable of following one simple bit of Internet wisdom: Don't Feed the Trolls. By taking Anonymous as seriously as it has, Scientology has nurtured the one thing Chanology depends on above all: the lulz". I think this is a major point to make, and definitely strengthens the group of "Chanology". The fact that they are based on getting laughs and making fun of things means that they want attention, and Scientology is only adding fuel to the fire by answering to them.

You talk about Vitale and his outlook on the whole situation and what he says is one of the best ways to summarize the actions that took place. You quote, "It isn't because you have one group that's right and one group that's wrong. It's because you have two groups that are nut jobs for different reasons. and they are fighting each other in the streets". That is exactly it, both of these organizations are nut jobs and what's funny is Chanology is promoting the idea of Scientology in a way. Scientology is an idea produced by science fiction, which quite obviously is absurd, but regardless this "religion" has a following of people who believe in things that a majority of people think are wrong. Chanology also has a following of people who are doing actions that other's think are wrong. The majority of people definitely think both of these groups are wrong, and in turn they are feeding off one another by arguing over what the other is doing, but at the same time both are producing ideas that most think are morally wrong.

Sincerely,

Nicole Lengyel