Picket Report : Brisbane, Sat 7 Sep

Neil Muspratt, Fri 13 Sep 1996

From: neil@fit.qut.edu.au (Neil Muspratt)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Picket Report : Brisbane, Sat 7 Sep
Date: 13 Sep 1996 14:37:36 GMT
Message-ID: <51brjg$10v@dove.qut.edu.au>

Greetings from sunny Brisbane, Australia.

For those not acquainted with Brisbane (quite a lot of you), our org is
located in the CBD, but several blocks away from the main centre of town.
Unfortunately, this means that there is not a great deal of pedestrian
traffic there on a Saturday morning.

It was an interesting morning to say the least. I turned up at the local
haunt around 10:40. Lo and behold, no reception committee! And it stayed
that way for at least 20 minutes! Must have caught them asleep. Don't
anyone tell OSA though. I'd hate to be responsible for someone in there
getting RPFed.

I had decided to base my protest on Scientology's attempts to silence
those trying to spill the beans. To that end, I carried a sign which read

  THIS IS
   FREE
  SPEECH
SCIENTOLOGY
   STYLE

and wore a couple of pieces of masking tape over my mouth. I thought this
would help get the message across. As an added bonus, it meant I didn't
have to talk to the three people detailed to handle me, just endure the
abuse.

Of course, out came the video camera with a Scientologist attached to it.
What do they do with all that footage of the pickets I wonder? Collect it
for later amusement at coffee evenings perhaps? Hey, I don't mind looking
like a git for a good cause. Just don't show it to my friends is all I ask.

The bloke with the camera filmed for about 10 minutes or so, on and off.
Later, a still camera was used for a few happy snaps. I must remember to
ask them for some prints next time I'm there.

Unfortunately for me, the cameraclam realised who I was. Well, I do work in
a *public* university and it's amazing who you meet out on the street (like
mature age students). Information Technology is such a worthwhile profession.
And it pays so well, too. I wonder what his bank balance is like?

For some strange reason, he kept calling me Damian.

The three of them handed out leaflets, one of which was the anti-CultAware
spiel David Gerard described in his Sydney picket report. I read through it
afterwards - funny how some of the accusations reminded me of Scientology.
There were no copies of Freedom this time and I don't know what the other
leaflets contained.

I handed out what I could, (a flyer listing references for people to look
up) but they won on overall numbers. Well, there's only so much one person
can do.

The other guy there didn't say much, but he had his small son with him,
obviously enjoying handing out leaflets with Dad. I couldn't help wondering
what the boy thought of me when he looked at me. What had he been told?

The guy with the camera tried pushing every emotional button he could think
of to get me to react. I listened to what he said, and believe it or not,
some of it actually made sense. I intend to be more widely read next time.

It's certainly an unsettling experience to be confronted with people who
are convinced that you are insane and/or criminal. After all, Hubbard said
so, therefore it must be true. Creepy.

Overall, their performance only confirmed to me what the critics have
been saying all along.

Hey OSA. They *will* get my name right next time, won't they?

Neil

SP Wannabe

--
 _.-_|\     Neil Muspratt                    Tel : + 61 7 3864 2146
/      QUT Technical Services Section        Fax : + 61 7 3864 1959
\_.--,_/  Faculty of Information Technology  Net : neil@fit.qut.edu.au
      v  GPO Box 2434 Brisbane Qld 4001      PGP : 2.6.2i (send email)

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people
all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

- Abraham Lincoln