I really like how the scientology speedrunning trend is developing, in this clip we see that the participants are
Not deterred by the closed door
Working as a group
Protecting their identities
Inflicting material costs to the institution via property destruction
Getting away at the end
These ideas were not all here from the beginning. They are genuinely gaining experience that can be applied elsewhere
The church of scientology is on tumblr and they are sending me anon asks telling me that they can't even commit to reporting a post
*their
I would like to point out that this trend really does nothing for the victims of Scientology. Cult victims are not going to be helped by this. Leah Remini (a survivor of Scientology, who has been harassed by the church for speaking out against it) spoke on this recently, on Xitter:
I wanted to weigh in on this recent trend of people running into Scientology buildings, causing chaos, and posting the videos on social media. Whether these people are doing it for social media clout or to genuinely expose the abuses of Scientology, what they are doing is unhelpful, and by engaging in these actions, they are unwittingly helping Scientology. I want as many people as possible talking about the dangers and criminality of Scientology. But I spent decades on the other side of this, and if I had been confronted by people running through Scientology buildings and harassing me or staff, it would have pushed me further into Scientology. That is because Scientologists are deeply indoctrinated and radicalized and believe they are helping people. They have been brainwashed over many years into believing the outside world is filled with chaos and criminality, and that their mission, one they believe they are on through countless lifetimes, is to help eradicate this chaos. If someone is brainwashed for years into believing the outside world is filled with dangerous lunatics who wish to impede Scientology, a group of people running through a Scientology building is only going to confirm that belief and lead them to dedicate themselves even more to the cause they believe in. Mike Rinder and I discussed this on our podcast Fair Game: Scientologists, in particular Scientology Sea Org members, have a level of dedication and radicalization to Scientology that surpasses that of a jihadist terrorist. Running through a building is not going to break that or lead them to reconsider what they’ve given up their entire lives for. I also want to note that any Scientology building that someone is allowed to easily enter from the street is not a building where someone like David Miscavige or any senior Scientology executive is going to be. People at that level of Scientology’s criminal leadership will be behind gates and many layers of security. Please focus on exposing the dangers of Scientology, not making a spectacle out of it.
Scientology is a terrifying cult with way too much freedom in the US and as much as I hate it and want to see it gone, mockery doesn't help the people trapped in it or those who have lost people to it. People like mocking Scientology (and Mormons and JW and every other cult) because it makes them feel smart and superior and good, but it just reinforced exactly what the cult wants it's victims to believe: the outside world is hostile and threatening to us, outsiders think you are stupid and will hurt you for fun because of your beliefs and your community, we are the only ones who understand you and will keep you safe, never leave us or look what will happen to you.
I mean, if you were part of a religion that you know is widely mocked and (to you) discriminated against by a chaotic corrupt world, and there were people doing this shit to your churches, how would you feel about that? Unsafe, threatened, seeking to further connect with other members of your church, feeling an increased urgency to continue the "good work"?
People make themselves feel better about engaging in mockery by convincing themselves its somehow helpful. But they also often fixate on cults having "weird" or "stupid" beliefs, rather than the actual problem with high control groups (the abuse). This will not help anyone. People doing this trend are doing it to entertain themselves and to get clout, not to help victims. It should not be encouraged or seen as a good thing.
The people in the notes who are talking about how much they hate Scientology and all Scientologists and so they deserve this... who exactly do you think you are defending? What victims of Scientology are you angry on behalf of?
I WOULD love to see this energy directed towards political action. But meme logic is ultimately a pretty shallow political motivator.
I seriously need everyone to look at what Leah Remini said, and then read these notes:
And a very special "fuck you" to this person:
Congratulations! You know nothing about high control groups and you will happily blame victims of abuse because it makes you feel good. What you are literally saying here is "if you are abused by a known abuser who found and took advantage of you at a vulnerable time in your life, and when you may have been ignorant to their abuse or open to believing that the claims of abuse were actually lies, you deserve to be bullied for being abused."
I ask, once again: what victims of Scientology are you angry on behalf of? You are all using Scientology's abuse to justify your enjoyment of this, despite actual cult survivors, including people who have escaped Scientology, pointing out how unhelpful this is.
You aren't bravely standing up to Scientology. You are just experiencing schadenfreude. This is no different than people hating racists more than they love people of color, or hating homophobes more than they love queer people; y'all hate Scientology far, far more than you give a fuck about the people "under their sway," who you conveniently treat as an entirely separate group from Scientologists.
You literally cannot say "fuck Scientologists" but also claim to say that on behalf of their victims. The people defending Scientology are the people who get raped, beaten, emotionally abused, who have their children taken away, who are used for slave labor. The victims are the fucking Scientologists.
But yeah, haha South Park meme xenu haha!!!!!!!!!!!!! funee joke Tom Cruise crazy people getting epically memed on!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you guys CLEARLY care sooooooo much about abuse victims by seeing those exact victims as a class of people it is morally okay to harass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#also most people in Scientology were born into it#very few join it today it’s overwhelmingly people raised sometimes multigenerationally in it#the cults momentum was during LRon Hubbards era like when he was still alive and running it#that’s when most people joined and then they had kids raised in it#and then they had kids#and now we have 3-4 generations of people raised in it#people who have known nothing else and are literally trained to avoid all critiques of the cult#and trained to see critiques as purposeful bigoted hateful lies#like ‘how do you not know it’s known as THE cult’ because they aren’t looking at what we look at ! they are told to avoid it !#literally learn anything about how a cult functions and it becomes very clear how people get trapped in the various groups#even if they individually wouldn’t get you like you need to understand how they get others and what tools they use to keep people#from leaving and from learning about the harms done


























