The green masks and the word XENU partially visible on the far right poster are a reference to the figure in the Scientology religion who supposedly was a dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy," brought billions to Earth in an airplane-like spacecraft 75 million years ago, and killed them, leaving their souls to haunt people today and cause us spiritual harm.
From a rhetorical standpoint, I find it interesting the mere word XENU has become an argument. The word singlehandedly evokes laughter in many. "What? They believe in some alien named XENU? XENU???" Scientologists attempt to keep the Xenu story secret--I believe it became public through some documents entered into evidence in court--but protestors bring up the word as a way of ridiculing Scientology. Even one of the most prominent websites attacking Scientology, Operation Clambake, took xenu as its domain name ( www.xenu.net ).
2 comments:
I understand the whole uproar over scientology - yes, it's silly, but they probably believe our religion is silly too.
Protesters who obsess over picketing in order to try and get people to change their views or see the light or whatever are wasting their time. Honestly. Stuff like this disgusts me. What if a bunch of people in masks picketed your church? I seriously wonder what kind of lives these people lead. Are they so hateful that this is all they think about? I personally don't have time to go picket whatever organization I don't necessarily agree with.
I think people are taking the whole "free speech" think to mean they've got a free pass to be as disrespectful as they want without having to suffer the consequences. I don't know what happened to common courtesy, but it is obviously dying. If the scientologists aren't hurting you, leave them alone - if you honestly think they're going to hell or whatever, then let them do it in peace, people.
I understand your objections to the protests, Brooke, but is Scientology like other religions? Maybe it is and we just can't see it that way because we see it from our own religious points of view. That's what made it hard for Christian fundamentalists to accept Mitt Romney, even though he was both experienced and a social conservative. I know I grew up thinking Mormons were cult-like, and I got that from my church, not from the media (where Donny Osmond, a Mormon, was all the rage.
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