A hedgehog is a harmless British rodent that is covered in quills and shuffles about late at night looking for earthworms and saucers of milk that kindly old ladies leave out for them. They are harmless to any animal that wishes them no harm because there only method of defense is to roll into a ball and wait for the preditor to go away. Unlike the porkupine, they cannot project there quills.

I identify with the gentle hedgehog. Most English people do. We are a nation of hedgehogs.

Scientology doed not identify with the hedgehog at all. L Ron Hubbard thought that nothing could be defended and that the only means of defense was attack. Accordingly, all of scienntology is designed to intimidate. They have some very formidable weapons.

1) The Noisy Investigation. This is a loud, public investigation into the critics business that is designed to embarass and discredit.

2) The ad homminin attack. To discredit and upset.

3) Picketing and leafleting your neighbourhood.

4) The harassing lawsuit.

5) Personal attacks on your charicter on the internet.

6) Fair Game 'Tricked, sued, lied to or otherwise destroyed'

7) PC folder blackmail.

Victimisation of relatives still in the cult.

9) Behind all of this the threat of 'R2-45'(the 'joke' policy of blowing critics brains out with a Colt 45)

This is a frightening and repellant combination. The natural reaction is to lash out verbaly in an effort to protect your family, or to hide.

Both these reactions tend to backfire. One person had to leave the USA as a result of a relitively mild joke about an ICBM. The cult is simply better at being nasty than any healthy person can be.

Let us look at the alternative. How about being really gentle? How might a hedgehog counter all this agression?

1) The Noisy Investigation can be countered by joining the local residents association and being honest about your problem. They will support you. Your union and your employer will also flock to your side. Nobody likes bullies and you will find friends at every turn. The important thing to remember is that the issue is not the rights or wrongs of the cult. The isssue is bullying.

2) The ad homminin attack is only made by people who have run out of reasoned arguments. The fact that scientology starts off the debate with ad homminin attack tells people more about scientology than you could ever do.

3) Picketing your neighbourhood will create more enemies for the cult than you could ever do. There is a tendency to unite against outsiders causing trouble. Your neighbours will rush to your side.

4) The harassing lawsuit. This will not work provided you remember the isssue is not there right to believe stupid things (they have this right). The issue is your right not to be silenced by thugs and bullies. This is an absolute and unconditional right in all democratic societies. There is no room for harassing lawsuits provided you stick to this theme.

5) Personal charicter attacks on the internet serve only to pprove any points you may be making about the bullying nature of the cult. They can be used as evidense of harassment.

6) The Fair Game Law can be made into a liability for the cult. Once you have made the authorities aware of this policy then anything that happens to you will be laid at your door. They will pray each morning that you are not assualted or mugged because this would cause a police visit to your local org.

7) PC folder blackmail is illegal. It also has the effect preventing people from volunteering for auditing. If you have the courage to call there bluff then they will always back down.

Victimisation of relatives is hard to counter but usualy takes the form of denying them auditing. This weakens the hypnotic side of scientology and makes there escape more likely.

9) If you are in the public eye then they cannot kill you.

Simply by calling the cult's bluff it is possible to do them immense dammage.

The really amazing fact is that there is no need to 'do' anything to get this result. All you have to do is protect yourself and your family. Scientology will impale itself upon your quills like a particularly stupid dog.

And I have very long quills!!!!!

By my own experience (in Europe) i found out that making a lot of noise about $cn will provoke them to expell your family member. Their first step is of course to ask him/her to 'handle' you. If that doesn't work you will be threatened. That's when you have to start to make MORE noise, go to the press, get in touch with Christian tv stations (they love that kind of stuff), and let $cn know exactly what you are doing. It worked here. My daughter was kicked out the cult because she couldn't handle me and was becoming a liability, she would be able to come back when I was totally 'handled'. Actually, she's the one that's been handled and she became an enemy of $cn. That's my succes story. It might work for you too..... I sincerely hope so.

Wow! This is a wonderful story! I congratulate you on your guts and compassion.

You have also managed to avoid the major danger that comes from scientology threats and bullying. This is not the danger of what they might do to you but the danger of what you might do to them!

Are you a Christian? If so does this help you to love your enemies? I must admit that I would have trouble keeping my cool if they were to ruin a family member and then compound the crime by comming after me.

There is a very good Latvian folk saying that I know (it may even be authentic!)

"Never wressle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig enjoys it."

Pease keep on winning and tell us all about it.

LOL,

No, I am not a christian and I don't love my enemies (on the other hand I don't think the clams are worthy to be called my enemies). The fact is that once you start attacking them (legal ways) you see how stupid they really are (foot bullet tactic). And everyone can relate to, and will take the side of a parent loosing his child to a cult. Very bad PR for the clams!!!!!!!!!

Yes, for all that these people claim to be Masters of the Universe, Immortal, Agelees, All-Knowing and All-Understanding Beings ... they sure act stoopid!

The guy behind the curtain is very un-wizard-like.

Freeborn,

Actaully, when I watch the Wizard of Oz I see it as being a parable about Scientology.

The fortune teller/Wizard is a dead ringer for LRH both in Kansas and in Oz. The Yellow Brick ROad is the Bridge, and then they finally confront the man behind the curtain, all he can offer is symbolic validation of the talends they really had already.

Mike

Mike: Wow! That is really wild, and it fits perfectly! And then, when Dorothy gets home, she realizes it was all a dream!

To Richard Ford - re: the hedgehogs:-

Q: What's the difference between a hedgehog and 68 Tottenham Court Road?

A: A hedgehog has its pricks on the outside!

Bill Robinson

Ha Ha Ha Ha!

I love it!!!!

One way of looking at hedgehog tactics is that it calls scientologys bluff in such a way that they cannot blame the victim.

For instance...

If a hedgehog were to leave the cult and seek out fellow victims for mutual support and defense then the cult has only two possible responses.

1) They may fair game you. This would make them appear thuggish, stupid and undemocratic. It would also draw the media to you like flies.

2) They may ignore you. This would have the effect of diminishing the fear out there and cause other people to go public.

So this is the only choice the skillful hedgehog gives the cult. To present themselves to the world as thugs or inefectual do-nothing windbags.

I am quite sure the cult can manage to combine the two options.

Only with lots of pricks?

DEFENDING YOURSELF AND GOING PUBLIC.

My motto regarding the cult is 'no advance without security'. (This is also the motto of my bank manager unfortunately.)

The cult is pretty stupid, and very cowardly, but they surprise you with there sheer nastyness and dishonesty from time to time.

Whenever the cult is faced with a new opponent it always hopes that you will 'cave yourself in'. Unfortunately critics oftain do exactly this by not controlling there emotions. This can result in ironical references about atom bombs that may even result in having to leave the country. It is a shame and a tragedy that this happens in democratic societies but it does happen.

The first step to becomming a effective hedgehog and an effective critic must be to gain some detachment. The people who do us the most harm (staff members) are also the greatest victims of this cult. They may have been wound up to hate us but we are the only friends they have. We must not let them down by forgetting this.

For some time after my mothers death I was afraid to meet a scientologist on the street. This was because I was not ready to use my anger constructively. Fortunately the cult seems to have stopped public recruitment activities and resigned itself to slow decline.

Decide to engage in activity that is sustainable. Do not treat yourself like a scientology staff member! You deserve rest, good food and small luxuries. Your recovery will proceed more quickly the kinder you are with yourself.

When you choose an activity make sure it is for the long term. Scientology burns people out by demanding they work all there waking hours. This is ultimately self defeating as there only resourse is people. They have to work full time at recruiting more victims simply because a large proportion of existing members suffer emotional collapse, die of preventable sickness or simply run away. This means the cult is always running hard to remain where it is.