On the Subject of Operation Chanology

A quick primer on a current ongoing internet phenomenon – awhile ago members of 4Chan got their hands on a secret material from the church of scientology and posted it on the internet. The material was a promotional video featuring an interview of Tom Cruise. CoS found out and took the video out. This prompted members of 4Chan (called “anons” because the bulk of posters on the site post under the “anonymous” title) to issue a message to Scientology akin to a declaration of war. They then, of course, reposted the stolen material in other places on the web.

Before this internet uprising, the church practiced a fair amount of censorship from people who were critical of the church. Historical accounts of harassment against reporters, authors, ex-members, etc., are long and graphic. Usually the church would sue people who published critical material against the church, or attempted to share church secrets to the public. The court system was the church's best way of "attacking" its detractors. However, the internet is a relatively new "world." As such, and this connects to our readings this week, legality in the internet world is fuzzy at best.

Over time anons gathered more and more official CoS material, many of which was posted on the internet before, and combined their forces with other anti-Scientology groups. Eventually, anons got the idea to protest, in person, the churches themselves – peacefully – by educating the public about past church actions and policies. Their entire cause is aimed to change the legality of scientology as a religion – since in America religious institutions are tax-exempt.

Now I’m not on anyone’s side in particular. I wrote this because, in my opinion, this movement would make for an interesting ethnographic study – specifically, the growing community of anons and non-anons under Operation Chanology. For example – the V for Vendetta masks protesters wear are representative of their “anonymous” nature as well as its symbolic link to Guy Fawkes, as anons consider themselves fighting against an overwhelming and oppressive presence represented by the church. When they protest they play “Never Gonna Give You Up,” so as to Rick-Roll the church, and at the same time, in their minds, promise to so-called brainwashed scientologists to “never give them up.” It’s interesting to look at how power roles play out in formulating the identity of the two sides, and to examine the historical, economic, political, philosophical, psychological, and legal interplay of the real-world and the virtual-world manifested in these protestors.

Another interesting point I’d like to address is the internet’s power in protest. I personally think Operation Chanology is mind-blowing. Not only are they winning the online battle, they are also exploring a new frontier in protest organization and maintenance. For example: an anon protest occurred in Los Angeles, Britain, Germany, and Australia all on September 13 of last year. A simultaneous, world-wide protest. Added to the fact that it all occurred under no central leadership makes it even more jarring. I'd go so far as to posit Operation Chanology will be the forefather of all future protest movements. If I were an anthropologist – this would be my dream research project.

Here's a bit of a lengthy read on one of Operation Chanology's founders.
Here's an anon and anti-scientologist supported website.
More could be read on Wikipedia, of course. But here's a special Wiki page for you detectives out there.
And here is another montage made of the September 13 protests:



Again, I'm not here to push any politics or whatever, I just think this community would be worthy of an anthropological examination.