Her fair share of abuse
My daughter madelineusher participated in the anti-Scientology demonstration in Hollywood last Sunday. You can see her in this video for a moment right around the 1:01 mark.
I was a bit worried about her being involved in provoking a notoriously paranoid and retribution-prone organization, especially with the LAPD also in play, but everything went very well, and she had a wonderful time.
Personally, I'm a little queasy about turning protest into performance art or a net "happening". I'm sure most of those involved didn't care one way or another about Scientology; it was all about an excuse to get together wearing V for Vendetta masks and make a lot of noise. Those who did care about Scientology were basically exploiting a lot of youthful geeky exuberance to push their own agenda, and I worry about how that kind of maneuver could play out in the future. After all, the Nuremberg rallies followed pretty much the same pattern -- the attraction was spectacle and civic pride, not the Nazi program per se, but the latter benefited.
Then again, I suppose it's always been that way; in any uprising you have a few ideologues and a lot of people looking for excitement and group identity. The only difference now is that the net makes it very easy to organize quickly and on a global scale.
We live in interesting times.
I was a bit worried about her being involved in provoking a notoriously paranoid and retribution-prone organization, especially with the LAPD also in play, but everything went very well, and she had a wonderful time.
Personally, I'm a little queasy about turning protest into performance art or a net "happening". I'm sure most of those involved didn't care one way or another about Scientology; it was all about an excuse to get together wearing V for Vendetta masks and make a lot of noise. Those who did care about Scientology were basically exploiting a lot of youthful geeky exuberance to push their own agenda, and I worry about how that kind of maneuver could play out in the future. After all, the Nuremberg rallies followed pretty much the same pattern -- the attraction was spectacle and civic pride, not the Nazi program per se, but the latter benefited.
Then again, I suppose it's always been that way; in any uprising you have a few ideologues and a lot of people looking for excitement and group identity. The only difference now is that the net makes it very easy to organize quickly and on a global scale.
We live in interesting times.