Washington, D.C. Anonymous vs. Scientology, An Eyewitness Account, Part 1
Dawn’s Head Shows Up In The Crowd
I arrived at yesterday’s Anonymous protest against the Church of Scientology around 11:00 and it was already in full swing. Having covered the event from the safety of my computer on February 10, it was a very surreal experience to be amongst the throngs of masked Anonymous, with busy Saturday Dupont Circle foot traffic also making their way around the crowd gathered.
The masks varied in shape and size, some wearing bandanas, surgical mask, full ski masks, wigs, there was even a very statuesque Anon wearing a demure ladies suit, complete with high heels and hose. He was considerate enough to ask what was the proper way for a lady to sit when he sat down to smoke a cigarette. It was quite charming and sweet for him to assume I’d know how a lady sits 
Also within this crowd were the iconic Guy Fawkes masks in every type and size. These familiar faces were what let me know I was within the right group, as the city was filled with St. Patty’s Day revelers, who also packed the streets and added to the confusion.
Anonymous Invites the Church to “Jump On It”
This favorite Irish holiday confusion was a clever disguise for those wanting to blend in to the sunny, and warm day of city-goers. There was a frenetic, but friendly atmosphere within the Anonymous group. Many of the protesters walked the perimeter making sure the paths and sidewalks were kept clear for passersby, including the elderly and plenty of moms with strollers. The women of Anonymous doing what women do, looking out for the old and young. This really was just a crowd of everyday folks taking part in something they seemed to feel passionate about: opposing the Church of Scientology.
Bel-Airing The Church
I lurked on the perimeters much of the time singling members out to talk to, for my “on-the-fly” radio broadcast for Blog Talk Radio. This was the first time I had ever attempted such an endeavor and I likely fumbled a bit, but the individuals who agreed to speak to me were engaged, articulate and seized the opportunity to share what brought them here to spend this uncharacteristically warm sunny March day protesting the Church of Scientology.
There were easily 250 people at the DC Anon protests, many crowding in front of the Tomate cafe, which juts out into a pointy V, on one side, the Church of Scientology’s neatly kept brownstone building, and on the other, busy R Street. Flanked on all corners of the pedestrian-laden intersection were enclaves of Anonymous carrying signs and handing out fliers. They were extra friendly and never pushy, understanding the need to balance out their somewhat off-putting garb and their desire to inform the public.
Silver-haired Scientologist filming the crowd
As with the February 10th protests, they were kind and OVERLY pleasant, even when in engaging the humorless and chilly Scientologists who entered the crowd taking pictures of anyone who was not completely masked. There was one Org member in particular, a dapper silver-haired gentleman who carried what I felt was a knowing and sinister smirk. His modus operandi was to come and go inside of the Org, stalking protesters with his camera, including walking up to an underage girl (all of 15) and taking her picture — in spite of her father’s (a former Scientologist from the DC org) complaints.
At one point, he came out with a purposeful stride, walked up to me and took my picture. I gladly obliged, even thoughtfully removing my sunglasses and introducing myself. He smirked and sulked back into the Org.
Menacing CoS Videographer
Also menacing the crowd was a man who I can only describe as a “shadowy figure” who showed no emotion, except to scowl, while videotaping the entire three+ hour event from a jutting balcony, safely ensconced within the arms of the Scientology building.
More to come in the next installment….
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Great report. You continue to do us all proud at a time when mainstream media still recoil in fear from the “church” of Scientology.
Comment by Musketeerwang — March 16, 2008 @ 9:44 am
Ohhh, D is a hottie!
Comment by Anonymous — March 16, 2008 @ 10:04 am
Before this comment section explodes remember this. Just because Muslums did WTC, are EVERY ONE of them bad? The holocaust was due to germans, are ALL of them resopnsable? Scientology has promoted actions that have caused people to die, are they ALL responsable? Anon members have done illegal things, are ALL of them a terrorists? the awnswer is no. The fact is that those responsable should be punished for their actions not the group as a whole. To say ALL are responsable for the actions of an indvidual/individuals is ignorant.
Comment by Rick Remaro — March 16, 2008 @ 10:06 am
Rick, um WRONG. No one is saying rank and file members are to blame for what David Miscavige and his cronies have done. And what illegal acts have Anon done? And please don’t quote me that lame Fox News report that was both biased and skewed.
Comment by D — March 16, 2008 @ 10:19 am
Wow Rick, way to say exactly what anon has been saying this whole fucking time!
The only side in this conflict that has ever made any claim that a whole group is responsible for the actions of a few of its members has been the Scientologists by calling Anonymous a group of “cyber-terrorists” and doing everything in their power to try and stop a legal peaceful protest with false claims of bomb threats.
But hey, bonus points for your lame attempt at damage control. I love how you OSA cronies change your tune as the situation requires as if no one will ever remember your past claims or actions.
Comment by Anonymous — March 16, 2008 @ 10:21 am
And wow, just wow. I honestly can’t believe both of us threw out such an archaic word as cronies :p
Comment by Anonymous — March 16, 2008 @ 10:23 am
Scientologists are the most peaceful people i have evet met. No need to afraid at all. The better we should afraid from psychiatry ad what they do right now doing over innocent people like electro schocks and heavy drugs as their only solution…
Comment by umut — March 16, 2008 @ 10:26 am
Great minds think alike
Comment by D — March 16, 2008 @ 10:26 am
I bet Lisa McPherson and Paulette Cooper would disagree with you #7. Peaceful people don’t starve and neglect people until they die. And they sure don’t set them up with false claims of bomb threats.
And really, enough with all the anti-Psyc crap, you sound retarded and it’s starting to piss me off to be perfectly honest.
Comment by D — March 16, 2008 @ 10:28 am
Umut, electroshock and heavy drugs the only solution? Are you living in the last century or something?
Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?
Comment by Anonymous — March 16, 2008 @ 10:33 am
no offence guys but losen the tin-foil. The piont I was making is CoS saying all of anon are baby-eating-pedo-terrorist is the same as saying all black men are going to mug you. Neither group has a spotless records and we know that. But the bottom line is 20 phone calls asking if their refidgerator is running and they should go catch it can be considered hasassment BUT IS NOT the same as causing the deaths and abuse of countless people and abuse of tax and civil laws. In both cases those responsable should be punished, not the ones who have done nothing wrong.
Comment by Rick Remaro — March 16, 2008 @ 10:56 am
Coverage of the Anonymous protest in Edinburgh here - http://www.squareonenews.blogspot.com
Comment by SquareOne News — March 16, 2008 @ 11:02 am
D, it was absolutely a pleasure to talk to you and to have you out there with us yesterday. I’m glad they got footage of that smarmy guy getting up in my face and taking my photo. He really annoyed me. But we were definitly glad to have you.
Comment by Kaden — March 16, 2008 @ 12:19 pm
“No offence” followed by an insult? Do you expect anyone to take you seriously after that, Rick?
The Feb 10 and March 15 protests were directed at Co$ leaders. Anonymous directed its first Internet video statement at “leaders of Scientology.” It has been made abundantly clear that rank-and-file Co$ members are not the target. I don’t see anyone in this discussion thread calling for punishment of “the ones who have done nothing wrong,” so your contribution to this discussion is dubious at best.
Comment by Narcissus — March 16, 2008 @ 12:21 pm
That ” dapper silver-haired gentleman who carried what I felt was a knowing and sinister smirk.” happens to be named Dave Kline, a once known and admired innovative violinist.
http://www.violindave.com/
I knew him well when I was in Los Angeles at Celebrity Center. What a waste of talent, of life. This is what scientology does to it’s artists. This is the end result of so many hard working second shelf artists who the church convinces abandonment of trade of skill for helping ‘clear the planet’ Dave was once a very talented and kind man. I cannot believe what he’s turned into. You can see from his site that his life has been musically nonexistent since 2005, probably when he joined staff.
He aged considerably. The smirk on his face in the video is so contrary to the nice person he used to be before he got involved in this end of scientology involvement. He’s the perfect example of why an artist should not join scientology
Comment by Mary — March 16, 2008 @ 12:22 pm
Just offering this link for consideration. It sheds some insight into how friendly, good-intentioned, good-hearted, intelligent, and deducated members of a group may not even be aware of what goes on above them. NOTE: this deals with another religious/spiritual group NOT Scientology.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cDgOf2Om28
“The Rise and Fall of Rajneeshpuram”
Comment by Dave — March 16, 2008 @ 12:43 pm
Great info Mary. Yes it seems artirst’s careers tank once they get high up the ranks…i.e. Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Jenna Elfman, Juliette Lewis, etc. etc. And # & umut..why is it that whenever discussion ae started here you sci plants keep coming back to the anti-psych rant. Check back to previous posts. That topic has been covered ad nauseum. Other posters I would simply ignore all anti-psych and nazi BS.
Comment by Mitsu Too — March 16, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
#7 While it may be true most sci-members are peaceful their failure or refusal to examine critically ALL the facts and evidence of the abuse committed by the CO$ organization leads one question “why would they allow these abuses to continue”??
Wth most “established” religions any believers can look at their religion freely and critically yet still maintain their beliefs, why is this not possible in the CO$?
Comment by Rob — March 16, 2008 @ 12:56 pm
Godwin’s Law! Reductio ad Hitlerum!
No more Nazi cards, please.
Comment by PlainJaneLane — March 16, 2008 @ 12:57 pm
Thanks for the link Dave. Very interesting in light of what is going on today.
Comment by Mitsu Too — March 16, 2008 @ 12:59 pm
The bearded guy looks rather a non-clam. I’d say from his harsh look that he was a PI?
r
Comment by roger gonnet — March 16, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
Here’s an open letter to all Scientologists that I just found on a blog called Ask the Scientologist (http://askthescientologist.blogspot.com). The blogger is a former member of the church and has good insight into what the church teaches. It’s a good letter and addresses the issues brought up here about who really is responsible.
Dear Scientologist,
I am writing to you in hopes of bringing some balance and clarity to the recent upsets and protests.
L. Ron Hubbard speaks much about integrity, responsibility, honesty and ethics. These are good things. The world needs more honesty and people need more integrity, better ethics, and need to take more responsibility.
But we have a problem.
I’m sorry but I must be blunt here. You have given up your responsibility for your church. You have given all the responsibility for your church to unnamed and unseen “others†of church management. Most Scientologists only know of one person, David Miscavige, who is in charge.
You trust that your church management is doing a good job. You trust that they are doing the right things. But your only source of information on how and what management is doing is management’s own event presentations, which are, obviously, produced to make management look good.
The actual actions and statistics of the Church of Scientology management are hidden. The actual people involved in church management, except for David Miscavige, are hidden.
You are told that all information from outside sources about the church is false, and that these event presentations are the only valid sources of information. And you believe, and follow that.
This is irresponsible.
It is your church. You are responsible for the Church of Scientology. You. Not David Miscavige, not some mysterious and unnamed “management teamâ€, not “someone elseâ€, you.
You have been told that your “responsibility” is to follow management’s orders. This is not responsibility. “Obedience” is not part of any definition of responsibility. Responsibility involves knowledge and it includes action–knowledge you have gathered for yourself, not some spoon-fed, predigested presentation, and action you have decided is best, based on your own personal knowledge.
I won’t tell you what you should do, except to say that you need to take responsibility. The information available on the Internet won’t kill you. Millions of people have read everything available and no one has died from it. No one has even gotten sick. Scientology has certainly not made you weaker than those people.
Some of the information may be upsetting. So? Is your faith so weak that it falls apart at the slightest contrary opinion? That’s not possible.
Taking responsibility has never been easy, but it has always been necessary. It is time for you to step up and assume the responsibility you abandoned.
You should be ashamed that others have felt it necessary to take responsibility for your church. They might not understand and may be clumsy in their attempts to correct things. You would obviously be better at it but you haven’t done anything.
Take responsibility for your church. It is time.
Comment by gargy — March 16, 2008 @ 1:40 pm
Heh, PIs for the church tend to be a little….ah….noticeable.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=87bN3griilQ
Comment by PlainJaneLane — March 16, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
Great find, gargy.
Comment by PlainJaneLane — March 16, 2008 @ 1:42 pm
D, it was an absolute pleasure to have you out there with us. Operation Party Hard was a complete success and I hope everyone had a lot of fun out there. I’d say the 20 or so private investigators and Scientologists taking people’s pictures and trying to follow them home was definitely a bit creepy. I mean, what kind of “church” hires scary older men to follow young kids home?
And let’s not even mention the PI that was identified on the metro snapping photographs through the hole in the pocket of his sweatshirt. DC didn’t report anyone being followed on 2/10. Now, almost everyone was tailed after the event. I guess the Co$ is just anxious to find out where we keep getting our delicious cake. We also spoke to local police officers about the private investigators who seemed very angry that the PIs were out hassling the crowd without any permission.
I would like to extend a special Thank You to the cult of Scientology’s overreaction to the protesters by hiring all the private investigators and filming us from the balcony. You have made the concept of Fair Game VERY clear to your neighbors and made it very easy for us to explain why we were all wearing masks. I can’t tell you how much local support and sheer ANGER the community in Dupont holds towards this invasive and dangerous cult in their community. We extended an invitation for community members to join us for Operation Reconnect on April 12th, and after seeing how the cult was responding to the peaceful protesters, many local people were eager to join.
Comment by Hubbard-Telescope — March 16, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
Gosh it was so easy in San Francisco, 300 high energy Anons et al eating cake, flashing signs, looking into windows, engaging passersby; Scilons in hiding, terrified; cops just hangin’ out, amused, chillin’ with us, reading the brochures etc.; motorists wildly honking horns, including fire department; I’m sorry to hear that it was so nasty in places like Atlanta.
Comment by Rao — March 16, 2008 @ 3:31 pm
Hey Dawn — I like what you’ve done with the place. Here is your video and thanks for the interview!
Glosslip.com “Dawn Olsen” on Scientology from Chip Gallo on Vimeo.
Comment by Chip Gallo — March 16, 2008 @ 4:09 pm
Lol PlaneJaneLane. DC has a whole PI photo gallery now. They definitely stuck out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXN41U5WmnU
No PIs were noticed carrying a gun like they did in LA though, thank Xenu.
Comment by Hubbard-Telescope — March 16, 2008 @ 5:35 pm
I’m pretty sure it is illegal — totally — for a PI to carry a firearm in the District of Columbia. Here is a reference (from http://www.thesiroffgroup.com/faq.html#weapon).
Can a private investigator carry a concealed weapon?
While some jurisdictions do permit an investigator to carry a concealed weapon, it is against the law in the District of Columbia. In some other states (but not all), a private investigator may carry a concealed weapon if he/she possesses a concealed weapons permit issued by local law enforcement - or is an active duty peace officer or a retired peace officer with an endorsement to carry a concealed weapon.
Comment by Chip Gallo — March 16, 2008 @ 6:43 pm
Heh…so much for your kitchen table and bad hair day, huh? LOL, sad, pathetic insults put to rest by pix of D. They hate it when you turn out to be smart, energetic, hip, funny, and hot!
But, I can almost guarantee the ad hom won’t stop. I’ve been called fat, a bundle of sticks, old, a kid…they try to find these buttons. It’s like groping in the dark for them, poor things. But they won’t stop trying.
Comment by Imominous — March 17, 2008 @ 8:42 am
Hey, my poor kitchen table has low self esteem now
Seriously, thanks to all the kind Anonymous people who helped out with the radio show last night and the great people I met at the protest in DC. Everyone was very cordial, friendly and polite. It was a tremendous experience covering this event.
I will post part 2 as soon as I am settled in. Just got home.
Comment by D — March 17, 2008 @ 3:26 pm
While I disagree that protests by Anonymous are aimed only at the Church management I am still offended by untrue statements made by Anonymous. Believe me if there is something wrong with the church management and the efforts of Anonymous rectifies this I will be grateful. I suppose their defense is which anonymous is doing what. I do appreciate that Anonymous is getting the message that it’s not cool to promote psychiatric “therapy” and that the phrase “obliteration of psychiatry” is not meant literally and that Scientologists would save a drowning psychiatrist regardless of the number of children which have been killed with psychotropics. Google “psychiatry ritalin children death”. Perhaps we could ask these kids how they feel when they are taking ritalin before they die. Please don’t tell me again how psychiatry uses scientific method.
Comment by curiouser — March 18, 2008 @ 3:20 am
This is really funny. Has anyone looked up some of these people, like Chip Gallo? His LIFE career is bashing Scientology. Seriously. Is this the same Chip Gallo who posts all over the net complaining about his horrors as a flunky staff member of the Co$ ?? Whining about how the devil made him do it. Dudes, get a shrink and get over it. Chip Gallo, Anonymous does not need you because you do not help the cause of rational, sane people. Get a life. People so someone told you to read a book. And you went for it. Get over it. The whole thing is a mixed bag bringing out weirdos.
Comment by Jared — April 10, 2008 @ 2:14 am
[...] glosslip.com [...]
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