Originally posted: 04:37 24/02-2000
Name/Nick: Mr.Cynic
Contact info: xenu@unfold.com
I would gladly picket if joined by one or more people at the London branch and may on occasions be able to go to the Brighton branch. Please contact me if ever in the mood for a picket - I can get to the Tottenham Court Road branch within 20 mins .

Sorry about the delay in replying. For some reason your reply came to Outlook and I deleted it by mistake (still learning)

My correct address is richardfordlondon@yahoo.co.uk
My phone is 01375 384 378

I organise meetings at speakers corner each sunday at 3.30pm. I am in the same situation as you regards pickets. I want someome there with me.

I think we should discuss this as soom as convenient. Please give me a ring

Leavng scietology

Hi,

I think your reply might be for me. I live in the U.S. and didn't know what Speakers Corner in London was. Dilbert informed me. Sorry I am too far away to participate. It sounds great.

Your local Scientology registrar might be able to assist you in figuring out how to finance the trip.

Dilbert:

The only things I am guilty of are being ignorant, curious and polite. I AM NOT A SCIENTOLOGIST! i did not know what a speakers corner was (thought it might be on the internet). And in my world, south
central U,S.. it's polite to acknowledge when someone has done you a service.

Thank God there is NO local registrar where I live. Jumping to conclusions when someone asks a simple question is,in opinion, not only paranoid, but ridiculous. Were you joking?

From someone whos family was torn apart because of a family member's enslavement in scientology.

Dear Anomynous,

I offer you a heartfelt apology. I made a silly joke which was taken seriously.

I really did mean it as a joke. The " " smiley face is used to label a joke. A CoS registrar is hardly going to help with a protest against CoS. And the target of my joke was the CoS encouraging its members to subordinate all outside obligations to the goal of obtaining money for CoS coffers.

And I certainly did not conclude that someone who would participate in a protest might be a Scientologist.

You suffered enough pain with your family being torn apart. I regret deeply that I added to your pain. I apologise.

Regards,

Dilbert:

Apology accepted. I apologize if I overreacted. It's that ignorance thing again. Being in the preschool stage of computers, the internet and websites,
I didn't realize those little squiggles were a smiley face==I thought they were typos. Silly me!

However you should know that even "implying" an anti-scieno is a scieno could be comparable to waving a red flag in front of a bull or calling an Afro-American a n-----.

Since I have exposed my computer illiteracy for all to see, I guess I can ask another stupid question??? I found where one can change their "handle" and password, but how does one acquire such in the first place? I wouldn't want another Anonymous blamed for anything I say.

Peace from little ole ignorant me

P.S. (Are there p.s's on message boards? Ooops! There I go again) Anyway, Consdering that scientology does send in undercover "agents" to infiltrate and/or disrupt, which I have witnessed personally, it did not strike me as unusual that scientology would pay to send someone to a protest site.

Anon,
Just pick a handle and stick with it,that is what most people do. A handle does not require registration as far as I know. Passwords are also yours to pick that keeps them personal. You don't
need one on this site anyway. Enjoy the surf.

NG

Anonymous,

Thank you for being understanding.

If you get into a thick and heavy discussion on this board, you can very well be slured with the "Scientologist" label. We have a few disrupters who seem to like riling people up. We also have a regular poster who writes long, long paragraphs who sincerely concludes that there is a Scio spy behind every post which does not endorse him.

I suggest that instead of being wounded when called a Scio, that you increment downward your respect for the name-caller. If it don't stick, you won't be wearing it.

As an aside, a matador waves a red flag in front of a bull in order to get the beast to charge. The eventual object is for the matador to stick the sword in when the fun gets old. Now you have more smarts than some hapless 3/4-ton of pot roast, don't you?

On to the question of handles: You just think up a name that you'ld like to call yourself and use it. (And don't check the anonymous box. And don't supply your e-mail address.) There are no passwords on this particular site---the feature is not implemented.

I most definitely did not imply that a CoS registrar would pay to send someone to attend a protest rally. No self-respecting registrar would dream of that. What I was implying was that they might harrangue the protester to expend the protester's funds to do so.

I think you have insulted the CoS registrars and have hurt their feelings. (A tutorial reinforcement of learning a new symbol.)

Regards,

NewGuy

Thanks for the info.

Dilbert:

Wounded? Who, me? I was just astonished that such a simple inquiry would generate such a response. And you were amazed that your "joke" caused such a reaction? As some say, truth (perception) is in the eye of the beholder.

I was not referring to the "sport" of bullfighting. (Thanks for the info on bulls and matadors, but I already knew that.) Gee, just think what our perceptions could be if we spoke different languages.

Thanks to you and NewGuy for the web info. I'll use it later after the perception fades away that the smarts of this AB (Anonymous Being) might equal those of a 3/4 ton of pot roast. (squizzles? Joke?)

Peace

Anonymous,

Yep, we both were astonished. I at least had the advantage of seeing from the sidelines similar collisions between others on this site.

What we experienced, I think, was a classic culture clash.

For example, South Americans, particularly Brazilians are accustomed to standing close when conversing---at a space of 15 inches or less. Most folks from the USA and Canada have a comfort zone closer to 24 inches. My wife worked as a secretary for a Brazilian when she was in her 20s. We didn't come across this snippit of data until after she had been fired. He was evidently as insulted by my wife's behavior as she had been by his.

With regards to red flags and bulls: Did you know that bulls are color blind? Did you know that bulls used in bull fighting are especially bred for their aggressiveness and enhanced sense of territoriality? Your run-of-the-mill bulls in farmyards are comparative pussycats.

I reiterate my caution that we have a few among us who seem to enjoy baiting other posters---waving red flags if you will---folks who are reacting in their own manner to the stress of being out of CoS.

In a sense, you and I do speak separate languages. LRH's special vocabulary serves as one of several elements the effect an isolation between Scios and the rest of the world.

What I would love to find is a book dealing with the ethnography of CoS. The whole society fascinates me to no end. Perhaps you might want to dip into a college text on general ethnography to obtain for yourself a long-view perspective on what divides CoS from the "wog" world.

I appreciate your self-deprecating humor but go easy on putting yourself down. You are no dummy. And you certainly have the advantage over 3/4 tons of pot roast in that you can react on cognition rather than on breeding. Re-entering a society that you have been aliented from is a daunting process of re-acculturation. There is considerable CoS training you need to unlearn.

I hope you will find Clambake to be a useful half-way house.

Regards,

Dilber,

Any chance your "3/4 tons of pot roast" is a reference to Prof. Tom Leher's "In Old Mexico"?

I'm guessing, of course, but I have a strong suspicion you're familiar with the master's works.

Steve G.

Indeed, I am familiar with Leher song's. I haven't listened to them for years.

The "pot roast" metaphor sort of floated up without my thinking where it must have come from---sort of fit my need to convey the admonition not to cooperate in the efforts of someone wanting to turn you into dead meat.

Great songs for cynical college kids, weren't they?

Regards,

Dilbert:

You may be right. We are having some sort of misunderstanding--perhaps it is cultural.

To be perfectly clear:

A. I am not a scientologist.
B. I have never been a scientologist.
C. I have never ever taken any scieno
course in this life (or any other).
D. There is no need for me to re-enter
"normal" society. I have never left
it.
E. I have known for many, many, many
years the difference between the
"scieno" world and the "wog" world and
I am proud to be a "wog".
F. I come from a part of the country
where we know about bulls, but most
of us wouldn't take a stroll in a
pasture enhabited by a strange bull,
even if it isn't mating season.

Enough already. I surrender!

Peace

Thanks for the warning but I know all about Gav. I'm the AB who told him to quit rambling and use paragraphs.

I have just returned from my Speakers Corner meeting. It was a massive victory going way beyond my hopes for it. I turned up early (about one thirty) spoke for about half an hour to a small but inteligent audience. It turned out that one of this number had lost a sister to the Children of God (now the Family). We talked for a while. I spoke again. This time I met a former Scientologist and one whos brother had been almost destroyed by the cult. I continued in this way untill seven or so, gaining more and more contacts. I now have somone who wishes to do pickets with me!!! The discover that really turns me on is that Speakers Corner is the meeting ground for inteligent, idealistic searching people. As a result of this a good percentage either have been or know someone in a cult. If I save just one of them from this experience then my life will be justified.