The backstory:
We were gonna have a party at the Marriott next to the Woodley Park Metro Station. But the Scilons went crying to mommy about how MEEN we were, and the Marriott kicked us out. They may or may not have fired the girl who made our reservation, but no one can get in touch with her to confirm.
But did Anonymous sit down and take it? No fucking way. FLASH RAID BABY!
We protested outside the Metro. And although it started out slow, we had a decent number of people by the end. We were a little short on dox, but a lot of people already knew who we were and what we were doing, and people walking by recognised us as Anonymous. That was pretty cool, considering we haven't really been in the local news. I spent the whole time photographing and filming, but I'm going to have to get some more camera memory cards before 4/12, because I ran out of memory halfway through and had to delete a bunch of stuff.
Also, God is still on our side, because even though it drizzled a bit early on, it didn't actually rain.
Pix on flickr.
We had a kid who drummed on the sidewalk, a panda, two Burger Kings, the Marcab flag, and my favourite Scilon PIs! Srsly, I love them, they are my CoS OTP:
Also, God is still on our side, because even though it drizzled a bit early on, it didn't actually rain.
Pix on flickr.
We had a kid who drummed on the sidewalk, a panda, two Burger Kings, the Marcab flag, and my favourite Scilon PIs! Srsly, I love them, they are my CoS OTP:
About 30 minutes after we started, we had an incident. A CoS bullbaiter came around and tried to pull an Anon's mask off. My camera was off at the time, but I happened to be looking in that direction, and this is what I remember:
It looked like the Anon stepped back, but the guy had his arm out, so maybe he was just pulling his arm away. I started fiddling with my camera, because I wanted to get him on film, but it seemed to take forever because my heart was pounding. The guy started throwing up his arms and saying "Take my picture, take my picture," and I really thought he might hit someone. Some other Anons started calling to him (not yelling or taunting, just like, "Hey, stop!" sort of thing), and he walked over to where I was standing (maybe 15-20 ft away). I finally got my camera to turn on, but it was on photo and not film! Argh. I could hear my blood rushing through my ears; I was seriously freaked at this point, and thought he might grab my camera and smash it, but I didn't back off because I didn't know if anyone else was documenting it.
It took a hundred years (really less than a minute, I think), but I finally managed to start recording. He taunted the King, who was standing near me handing out fliers. Anons were laughing and joking, and I laughed too because I was so tense. He said again to take his picture, and I told him I was filming him. He said "okay", and started to play nice, posing with the King, and then he walked off. He didn't want to be caught on camera acting like a total douche. Too late! Anonymous handled it awesomely, though, because we are made of win!
YouTubed for great justice.
I don't know if we're going to have this problem again. As far as I know, there haven't been any other physical incidents between the DCfags and the Scilons. But someone mentioned on the DC boards that the local org is being suspiciously quiet compared to some other orgs, and since we're dealing with an organisation that could be diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, you kind of have to wonder what they're going to do to "handle" Anonymous.
I handed out fliers on 3/15, but I think for 4/12 I'm going to document. I'm going to get as much on camera as I can. And maybe we need some coordinated camera work, so that someone with a camera is ready at each street corner, etc.
This incident also proves how much team work is important, because the Anon who was assaulted was alone. But the scary part is that he wasn't far from us; the Metro station is on a triangular street corner, and he was standing at one corner, and he was in plain view of a dozen other Anons on that side of the street. The rule is that you travel in groups of three or more, but we need to be in groups of two or three even when handing out fliers, and at least one Anon in each group needs to have a camera, preferably with recording capability. CoS is getting desperate, and if fair game holds, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to hurt some of us at a public protest. Their foot-shooting skills are unparalleled.
It looked like the Anon stepped back, but the guy had his arm out, so maybe he was just pulling his arm away. I started fiddling with my camera, because I wanted to get him on film, but it seemed to take forever because my heart was pounding. The guy started throwing up his arms and saying "Take my picture, take my picture," and I really thought he might hit someone. Some other Anons started calling to him (not yelling or taunting, just like, "Hey, stop!" sort of thing), and he walked over to where I was standing (maybe 15-20 ft away). I finally got my camera to turn on, but it was on photo and not film! Argh. I could hear my blood rushing through my ears; I was seriously freaked at this point, and thought he might grab my camera and smash it, but I didn't back off because I didn't know if anyone else was documenting it.
It took a hundred years (really less than a minute, I think), but I finally managed to start recording. He taunted the King, who was standing near me handing out fliers. Anons were laughing and joking, and I laughed too because I was so tense. He said again to take his picture, and I told him I was filming him. He said "okay", and started to play nice, posing with the King, and then he walked off. He didn't want to be caught on camera acting like a total douche. Too late! Anonymous handled it awesomely, though, because we are made of win!
YouTubed for great justice.
I don't know if we're going to have this problem again. As far as I know, there haven't been any other physical incidents between the DCfags and the Scilons. But someone mentioned on the DC boards that the local org is being suspiciously quiet compared to some other orgs, and since we're dealing with an organisation that could be diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, you kind of have to wonder what they're going to do to "handle" Anonymous.
I handed out fliers on 3/15, but I think for 4/12 I'm going to document. I'm going to get as much on camera as I can. And maybe we need some coordinated camera work, so that someone with a camera is ready at each street corner, etc.
This incident also proves how much team work is important, because the Anon who was assaulted was alone. But the scary part is that he wasn't far from us; the Metro station is on a triangular street corner, and he was standing at one corner, and he was in plain view of a dozen other Anons on that side of the street. The rule is that you travel in groups of three or more, but we need to be in groups of two or three even when handing out fliers, and at least one Anon in each group needs to have a camera, preferably with recording capability. CoS is getting desperate, and if fair game holds, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to hurt some of us at a public protest. Their foot-shooting skills are unparalleled.
After the protest, we all piled on the Metro and hit Crystal City for the actual party. We got yelled at for not being able to cross the street, but whateva! We all live in our mom's basement, what do we know about traffic lights??? O.O
Our live feed was set up, there was rickrolling, glow sticks, Xenu, a totally crap auction -- Epic Fail Brigade did a barrell roll!!! I <3 EFB. There was cake! It had a mudkip on it, and it was delicious. OM NOM NOM NOM.
There was a Freezoner who spoke for a while. Freezone is basically heretical Scientology. We listened respectfully, but frankly I thought it was a bunch of crap. I don't think Scientology, whether CoS or FZ, is a religion per se. I think it's a lifestyle thing, like yoga, or vegetarianism. And hey, if they want to believe in Thetans, whatever. But I see Dianetics/Scientology for what it is, which is a pirated and corrupt version of various psychological theories and techniques. And it pains me to sit there and listen to a Scientologist talk about engrams (a term they use incorrectly, btw) and PTSD (any concept of PTSD which does not involve the hippocampus is wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong ahem) in bizarre terms that don't mean anything to a psychologist.
I find it offensive that they're practicing psychology with no formal training and no research to back them up. Seriously. I'm a citationfag. I want to see the refs. I want to be able to pubmed it (PubMed is like Google for bioscience types). Scientologists haven't published their theories in a peer-reviewed journal. Even Freud published. He was crazy as fuck, but he at least did case studies. Is that asking too much? (Also, Freud published medical research before he got into psychoanalysis, and his medical research was actually pretty good.) And considering that "Auditing" is basically talk-therapy, which Freud popularised, Scientologists sure are butthurt over the rest of psychoanalysis. IT'S CAUSE L. RON DIDN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW HE WAS ONE OF THOSE DAMNED HARRY POTTER PLAGIARISTS!!!
I did like what the Freezoner had to say about disconnection, because in psychology we also believe in disconnection. What he said is that in FZ, disconnection is not forced, but it is encouraged in cases where an individual is currently unable to cope with a situation (psychologists say "cope", Scientologists say "handle"). E.g., if you are fighting with someone and cannot resolve it, then you disconnect from that person -- you remove yourself from the negative situation until you are able to resolve it. The CoS Disconnection policy is different, because it's not a choice that an individual makes; it is a choice that the Org makes for the individual. I can respect the disconnection concept in FZ.
After the speeches, we partied hard. We had musikz and dancing and a pillow fight! At one point we overloaded the speakers and you could smell ozone! We had the IRC chat on the screen and lol'd at the comments about the live feed, and we lost the game 3 or 4 times. A lot of people (including me) took off their masks, which I'm not sure was the best idea, but really, if there were any CoS spies there at that point, they're going to need so much auditing that it's worth it. :D
Then Arnie Lerma came, and we all sat down and listened to him talk. He answered a lot of questions, and it was really cool to actually hear him speak about CoS.
After Arnie finished, we did clean up, popped all the balloons and threw away the trash, and I went with some other Anons to IHOP, and we had real food instead of the gazillion-dollar food they had at the hotel restaurant. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed getting to relax and make friends with Anonymous. 4/12 is going to be even moar epic than previous raids, and I can't wait.
IRL stuff: I'm off to NY on Wednesday, gone for a week; my boss decided my project was over budget and fired me; and I have an awful, awful sinus infection thing that is making my throat and ears hurt. Plus, I am still sore all over from the dancing. Also, Tony is busy this week and probably won't have time to show me where I am going wrong in the data analysis, so... yeah. Three months work wasted and I still haven't fixed it. *headdesk*
Our live feed was set up, there was rickrolling, glow sticks, Xenu, a totally crap auction -- Epic Fail Brigade did a barrell roll!!! I <3 EFB. There was cake! It had a mudkip on it, and it was delicious. OM NOM NOM NOM.
There was a Freezoner who spoke for a while. Freezone is basically heretical Scientology. We listened respectfully, but frankly I thought it was a bunch of crap. I don't think Scientology, whether CoS or FZ, is a religion per se. I think it's a lifestyle thing, like yoga, or vegetarianism. And hey, if they want to believe in Thetans, whatever. But I see Dianetics/Scientology for what it is, which is a pirated and corrupt version of various psychological theories and techniques. And it pains me to sit there and listen to a Scientologist talk about engrams (a term they use incorrectly, btw) and PTSD (any concept of PTSD which does not involve the hippocampus is wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong ahem) in bizarre terms that don't mean anything to a psychologist.
I find it offensive that they're practicing psychology with no formal training and no research to back them up. Seriously. I'm a citationfag. I want to see the refs. I want to be able to pubmed it (PubMed is like Google for bioscience types). Scientologists haven't published their theories in a peer-reviewed journal. Even Freud published. He was crazy as fuck, but he at least did case studies. Is that asking too much? (Also, Freud published medical research before he got into psychoanalysis, and his medical research was actually pretty good.) And considering that "Auditing" is basically talk-therapy, which Freud popularised, Scientologists sure are butthurt over the rest of psychoanalysis. IT'S CAUSE L. RON DIDN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW HE WAS ONE OF THOSE DAMNED HARRY POTTER PLAGIARISTS!!!
I did like what the Freezoner had to say about disconnection, because in psychology we also believe in disconnection. What he said is that in FZ, disconnection is not forced, but it is encouraged in cases where an individual is currently unable to cope with a situation (psychologists say "cope", Scientologists say "handle"). E.g., if you are fighting with someone and cannot resolve it, then you disconnect from that person -- you remove yourself from the negative situation until you are able to resolve it. The CoS Disconnection policy is different, because it's not a choice that an individual makes; it is a choice that the Org makes for the individual. I can respect the disconnection concept in FZ.
After the speeches, we partied hard. We had musikz and dancing and a pillow fight! At one point we overloaded the speakers and you could smell ozone! We had the IRC chat on the screen and lol'd at the comments about the live feed, and we lost the game 3 or 4 times. A lot of people (including me) took off their masks, which I'm not sure was the best idea, but really, if there were any CoS spies there at that point, they're going to need so much auditing that it's worth it. :D
Then Arnie Lerma came, and we all sat down and listened to him talk. He answered a lot of questions, and it was really cool to actually hear him speak about CoS.
After Arnie finished, we did clean up, popped all the balloons and threw away the trash, and I went with some other Anons to IHOP, and we had real food instead of the gazillion-dollar food they had at the hotel restaurant. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed getting to relax and make friends with Anonymous. 4/12 is going to be even moar epic than previous raids, and I can't wait.
IRL stuff: I'm off to NY on Wednesday, gone for a week; my boss decided my project was over budget and fired me; and I have an awful, awful sinus infection thing that is making my throat and ears hurt. Plus, I am still sore all over from the dancing. Also, Tony is busy this week and probably won't have time to show me where I am going wrong in the data analysis, so... yeah. Three months work wasted and I still haven't fixed it. *headdesk*