Anonymous vs. Scientology

For the past 14 years, an invisible war has been raging on the Internet. Since 1994, the Church of Scientology has been engaged in a desperate battle against, well, a bunch of kids.

Anonymous’s struggle against Scientology shows how, against both a powerful organization and the media, a group of purposeful individuals can prevail. It exemplifies the best thing about the Internet: anyone can have a voice, and with enough voices, the world will take notice.

Last month, over 9000 protesters rallied at Scientology churches around the globe. They carried signs and wore Guy Fawkes masks (as made popular by the movie “V for Vendetta”), to remain anonymous.

Because that’s their name: Anonymous. Feared by some, and called “hackers on steroids” by the mainstream media, Anonymous is a powerful force on the Internet, and now, in real life. It has no leaders, and no measure of knowing how many people are members. In effect, Anonymous could be anyone and everyone.

By protesting, Anonymous showed that, even if only a small portion of its members are shown, it creates headline news. The protests were covered by national news agencies such as Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times, as well as local news stations.

These protests, which were held at 17 locations around the globe, marked the start of something even bigger, something unprecedented on the Internet.

They marked a shift from argument to action. More and more, people on the Internet are taking a stand for their beliefs.

Anonymous and other groups are showing us that we can have ultimate freedom of speech, with no repercussions. In an age of wiretapping and censorship, this is a very good thing.

If people can express themselves without worrying about the backlash, they will be more willing to speak. As the protests have shown, if Anonymous speaks, it will be heard.

These protests followed three videos, released by Anonymous on Youtube. They attack the Church of Scientology for its litigious nature, its overwhelming secrecy, and its coverups of certain members’ deaths.

Anonymous makes a note that it isn’t attacking the religion itself, but the methods it uses. By its very nature, it promotes the freedoms of speech and expression, and oppose actions of the Church of Scientology, especially their habit of suing any and all critics of the church.

The next protest will be on March 15, the birthday of Scientology creator L. Ron Hubbard.

It is expected that even more people will show up now that the idea of anonymous protesting has been proven safe and effective. Remember, Anonymous is not some “Internet hate machine”.

Anonymous is anyone who takes a stand for freedom of speech, anyone who wants his or her opinion to be heard.

It consists of friends, teachers, family members and total strangers.

Irrational Behaviour and Vaccination

Last March, four students of California High School organized a Hepatitis B awareness week, to promote treatment of this terrible disease.

The treatment, which is both safe and effective, is vaccination. Hepatitis B is an epidemic in many Asian countries which are too poor to afford the vaccine, relying instead on the help of charitable organizations to help them.

It is both disturbing and wrong, then, that people who can afford medical care in the United States choose to forgo getting vaccinated. Not for themselves, but for their children.

Last month, in Wisconsin, a family brutally murdered their oldest daughter, isolating her for a month as she died a slow, excruciating death. As her corpse was taken off to the coroner’s, her family was smiling. There were no charges pressed. That family has two more children.

Two weeks ago, in southern California, 12 children were infected, with 70 more quarantined, due to an outbreak of a disease barely seen in over a decade. This outbreak was due to the actions of one mother, who didn’t do the first thing to protect her children; Vaccinate them.

What do these two incidents have in common? In both cases, the reason given by the family was, “personal religious matters.”

These two cases illustrate that even though the severity of the parents’ actions vary, their motivation is the same. There are a growing number of people in this country who don’t protect their children from the most easily preventable of diseases, and don’t provide adequate medical care for them when they fall ill.

In the first case, the child had diabetic ketoacidosis, a disease in which one loses insulin. This disease can be easily treated if one has access to insulin shots, which the family in question did.

The fact that they chose to pray, rather than consult a doctor, as their daughter was dying in her bed amounts to criminal negligence. That they still don’t think they did anything wrong shows their sheer madness. These people are not alone.

In southern California and Arizona, there has been a recent rise in PBE’s, “personal belief exemptions.” These allow parents to enroll their children in school without having to vaccinate them, and they are given on the basis of religious objection to vaccination. The number of PBE’s given has grown 6% a year since 2001, and continues unabated.

The disease in the specific case in Measles, which is easily preventable with the MMR vaccine. Before the United States implemented the vaccine, there were 450 deaths and 1,000 children chronically disabled per year. There were also a further 28,000 hospitalizations. Now, the disease has been virtually eliminated from North America, with the notable exception of Southern California.

If people choose to not vaccinate themselves because of their religious beliefs, that is one thing. But the parents in both these cases didn’t provide for their children, who they are legally and ethically obligated to protect. This amounts to nothing less than gross incompetence on the parents’ part, and they should be punished to the furthest extent of the law.

I’m not advocating forced sterilization, but perhaps these people should be put somewhere where their irrational beliefs don’t harm others. Like an asylum.

Why I support Barack Obama

When the democratic primaries started, I was rooting for Senator Joe Biden. He seemed the most suitable candidate for the job, and I agreed with his stances on many issues. As the primaries wore on, though, his viability visibly waned. He dropped out soon after.

I was left with a decision. Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama? I didn't know much about either candidate, so I decided to investigate. I looked into their backgrounds, and saw what they stood for. The choice was clear.

To me, Senator Obama represents all that I've been working for. He's honest, uncorrupted (and hopefully incorruptible), and understands the issues. If it were just that, I would vote for him over all other contenders. But he's also diplomatic, and he has the skill and social grace to be the President, something we've been missing for the past eight years.

The more I've researched, the more I've come to believe in Senator Obama's vision. I want to do everything I can to help him, and to help the Democratic Party enact the change that it should stand for.

Wow!

ｷﾀ━━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━ !!!!!

That is all.

SARTRE

I've fallen in love with the SARTRE programming language. Here's a little program I wrote today:

Nihilator Sartre2;
{love}
Const 3 = !!;
Matter dooM: integer;
Rniqqlj:en-soi, rank "3", of pour-soi
Act
IF ;
LVAL := expr ;
again ;
IF ;
Life Is Meaningless ;
No more ; .

Photographs

Well, I've been taking a few photographs, and I'd like to share them with you all. They aren't really Myfriendstorkutbooky, so I'll post them on my picasa album. You can visit it if you like. Please give me some feedback, as I'd like to improve.

(All images are licensed under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 3.0 License. This means you can share them, make derivative works, and use them personally, as long as you attribute them. Thank you for helping me support CreativeCommons!)

Two Blogs?

Well, I just joined a scholarship contest for this website, so I'll be posting a lot in this other blog. Yeah, I know I don't post nearly as much as I should, but my life has been pretty hectic at the moment. I guess I'll give a brief synopsis:

1. I have achieved geekhood. I am now as close as I can get to being perfectly content in my geekiness. I have finished compiling all the tools necessary (Desktop, Laptop, iPhone, Nintendo DS, Camera, Guitar), and now am both 100% efficient and 100% entertained.

2. I'm generally happy in my life. I'm going out with a nice girl, Ihara Aya, who is an exchange student from Japan. I wish I hadn't neglected my studies this past year; I could've used that knowledge with her more. I also got a new job, where I have nearly doubled my salary from its previous rate. It should keep increasing from here on out.

3. I bought a ton of books, and now have more entertainment than I have free time. This is an altogether new experience for me, and an enjoyable one. I'm currently reading Dan Simmons' "The Terror", which I highly recommend.

4. I got into RIT, and will be moving to Rochester, NY in Autumn, and I got cold weather clothing. I feel happy about this. Coats and Scarves for the win.

RON PAUL, /b/

I hope to see all of you March 15, in San Francisco. We should have a better turnout this time.

Anonymous does not forgive.
Anonymous does not forget.
Anonymous is Legion.

Expect us.

Portfolio

Well, this is the portfolio I've compiled for Photo. They are the most unique, least shitty pictures I've taken in the past half-year or so.

Tomorrow I'm getting my D50. I have a lens. I can't wait.