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	Anonymous vs. Scientology Masked Protest
In this Series: Index Overview Masked Protests Videos War The Fundaments of Anonymous Anonymous Glossary

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V for Vendetta

What I do find interesting about the protest, though, is the concept of wearing masks. A wall of masks advancing silently down the street in protest of oppression... Hordes of exploited victims of Scientology brainwashing and harassment walking silently. The mask can't speak. The mask has been reduced to silence (OK, they were chanting but I take the mask figuratively here). There's something of a poetic message in that and I predict that all future pickets will be mostly masked ones. Quite impressive...

You've got to admit that the Guy Fawkes mask is terrific, and it carries another message through its sarcastic smile (or however you want to interpret that smile). Indeed, Guy Fawkes was an Englishman who was sentenced to death in 1605 after he attempted to blow up the House of Lords with kegs of gunpowder. In 2005, the fictional movie "V for Vendetta" revived the event. The masks used by protestors are modeled after those worn in that film, in which a crowd of people wear identical masks to challenge a totalitarian government.

However, I gather from one of the anon that "wearing masks is actually an in-joke from the Internet. The V for Vendetta / guy fawkes mask is actually known by most members as "Epic fail guy", a popular meme that was started on 4chan. We wear the mask as a symbol of solidarity, to stay anonymous, and as a joke - a reference to Epic Fail guy. Whilst the mask is symbolic of resisting oppression, its true roots are those of a little stickman wearing a guy fawkes mask, doing his little epic-fail-guy thrusting crotch dance."

Photos

I was quite fascinated by some photo of these masked protests. Here are my favorites shots:

From the Feb 10 Boston protest. This ought to be one of the best shots, and the uniform gray-blue background gives an extra feel to it.

.	This is another winner - and no wonder, since it comes from the Feb 10 Hollywood protest

This would be my winner for the Mar 15 protests (Berlin). There's something Frankensteinesque in this cute monster.

Toronto Mar 15 - What is this supposed to mean? All the nasty BTs in your head?

Houston Mar 15 - The black and white rendition definitely adds a scary touch.

Hollywood Mar 15 - somebody put in big money into this. The sign says "Honk/Tell if you Think Scientology is a cult".

The Other Side of the Mask

There is also an irony in this mask wearing. Here are critics who complain that cults turn people into faceless robots... and here they turn themselves into just this... They are faceless, and like robots, they all spout forth the same old myths they have been reading on critical websites...

Consider the following picture:

This is taken from a pamphlet encouraging many anonymous to attend the February 10 event. Granted, it does give the message of a mass protest against oppression - but then you can also view it from a different angle. In fact, if I was to illustrate the raise of a dangerous cult, normalizing people and removing their personality, I would use just that photo... (Note: I have heard that the CoS expressed the same idea to accuse Anonymous, either they read it on this page or they had it on their own. However, I do not mean anything serious here, I am merely playing with ideas. The CoS has also compared Anonymous to the KKK because the KKK wears masks as well.)

Honk for Megatron

Needless to say, I have been reading some quite hilarious comments on web pages. My favorite is this one, I really can't stop laughing about it up to this day:

"But.. what is up with this protest? I have a really hard time taking a protest seriously where the protesters are dressed as transformers and holding signs saying "honk for xenu", whatever that means. These people hardly make me want to consider their point of view. Presumably the goal of this protest is to convince the public at large to learn more. All I'm saying is that dressing up as a kid's cartoon and holding meaningless banners seems like the wrong approach. If I wanted to highlight environmental issues (something I'm interested in) I wouldn't put on a teletubby suit and hold up a sign that says "honk for megatron". I'd dress as myself and hold up a banner with a key phrase explaining the point I was trying to make."

Other banners urged passers-by to "Honk if you hate Scientology" - and there I thought critics were not a hate group...

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