Scientologists cloning themselves ont Internet
Par DAVID DUFRESNE
Hereabove, one of the shots of its rout in LA, published by the cult.
It should have been "the triumph of spirituality over materialism". On
december 28th, into the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, the church of
scientology invited its most convinced adepts to an immense rout. Three
hours along, it was a feast to the glory of the cult founder, L. Ron
Hubbard. Speaking: the present super chief, David Miscavige himself. Coming
there, some 30 french people or more. Two days after the event,
scientology -which is never late on the Public Relations affairs - sent a
press release. And it publishes four photos on one of its websites. For
scientology, it's a demonstration of power: a stadium, 14000 persons, 65
countries represented, a laser show, four panoramic shots. On its site, a
note indicating that those photos are for media publiscation. But ... the
same evening, an american internetizen, Arnalado Lerma, 49, ex executive
into the cult turned critic, receives a hint from inside scientology. The
published shots on Internet by scientology could be somewhat strange.
Arnaldo Lerma checks them. And he finds here and there, a women appearing
twice in the crowd. There, a man has been cloned three times, and has lost
his head through a wrongly done copy and paste. There is something almost
divine in those duplicates.
Immediately, it's the sudden crazes. Arnaldo Lerma takes some contacts with
friends, between them is Roger Gonnet, 58, also a cult's ex-member , also
turned critic, also an internetizen. Both get the shots on dec 31st to
download and dissecate the lot. Laughing a lot too, as said Arnaldo Lerma to
Libération, because the work of falsification from the cult was so badly
done.
Both friends remain silent for some time. Arnaldo Lerma:"We decided first to
be discreet and to wait for the millenium to start before saying it to
internetizens." On january 2d at dawn, Arnaldo Lerma, from Virginia and
Roger Gonnet, from Beaujolais, exposed their findings on their sites (2),
and announced the news into the newsgroups (3). For scientology, always so
image-concerned all this is really coarse-looking.
Then, as usual, the fast reacting cult acts immediately. And suppresses the
images from its website. Tilt, too late to complete a game of skill? The
other critics of scientology and internetizens have already taken the coup:
this manhandling symbolizes so well the "Cult's Lies". Cut shots helping,
some indicate as well that this is no new practice for L.Ron Hubbard
proselytes.(4)
From the scientology viewpoint, evidently, one does play it down. Jean
Dupuis, the PR person for France, speaks of a wet cracker. A parisian
member, who went to Los Angeles, swears that "the stadium was entirely
filled". The mother church in LA recognizes the error when Libération called
it. And Karin Pouw, communications executive, says: "It's for esthetical
reasons that a photograph added persons, because when the shot was taken,
some had left to go to a procession". We were really 14000 on that day." But
Karin Pouw has no other argument than the following to explain why those
manipulated shots have been choosen then publicized: "They were the first to
be developed".
(1) Author of La Secte, éditions Alban, 1998, 274 pp.
Return to The Skeptic Tank's main Index page.
How the cult manipulates shots to illustrate a big mass.
Friday, jan 7, 2000
(2) http://www.lermanet.com et
http://home.worldnet.fr/gonnet/photos
(3) mostly alt.religion.scientology
(4)
http://www.xenu.net/archive/image_edit/
©Libération 2000
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