December 5, 1998 - Wulfen

This picket was dedicated to the memory of Lisa McPherson.

Picketers: Myself (Wulfen), Seanster, Android Cat, Slippery Jim, and an ARS lurker whose name escapes me.. Sorry. :-( (I'll refer to him as Lurker until further notice.)

Leaflets: Approximately 200 of Deana Holmes' new Lisa McPherson flyers. Plenty of Roland's "$cientology: Insane Cult" and Lurker brought along some leaflets detailing the Scienositter. He went through a couple of fistfuls. :-)

Signs:

(side 1) http://WWW.XENU.NET
(side2) $cientology: BAIT AND SWITCH "Church"

(side 1) $cientology: Gerbil Wheel to Total Freedom
(side2) Staff Members get a 10% commission on sales. Is this a church?

(side 1) Scientology Destroys Lives and Minds
(side2) Scientology Orders Family Ties Severed

(side 1) What church persecutes and frames critics?
(side2) What church intimidates and sues maliciously?

Times: 10 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 5 PM

Because Gregg, Artemis, and Deep Wog are down in Clearwater, Florida, I took the role of Picket Host for the day. Seanster and me met at the usual Starbucks (others turned up later), and got set up to roll. Seanster tolerated my fussing and nervous demeanor. At quarter to ten we headed down, and I introduced myself to the off-duty police officer (that the Org has to pay approx $400 for, because in the past they misbehaved and if they called in any other false alarms they would get ticketed). I gave him a copy of the picket rules (Paraphrase of rules: Be good, don't be bad.), which he seemed to appreciate. He gave it to me straight about how we were all to be good (redacting, paraphrasing). I reiterated the long record of nonviolent, peaceful protest that the Toronto ARSCC enjoys, and asked him in return to tell me if any of our side got out of line, so I could make sure we were all operating on the same wavelength. Of course, this is never a problem, but the officer on duty should know.

Then, I put together my sign. I didn't change my slogan to something involving Lisa McPherson for this picket, because I couldn't think of anything involving her death that wouldn't be inciteful. So, I stuck with $cientology: BAIT AND SWITCH "Church", as that makes it as clear as possible that I am not a Scientologist. For this picket, since I would be occupying the "point" position near the Hubbard Dianetics Foundation, I duct-taped my sign to the bottom of my music stand. After being weighed down with my backpack, it stayed upright nearly the whole picket. Voila! I had both hands free for leafleting. Gregg Hagglund sign tech the cheap way. ;-)

Well, I found out the hard way what it's like for Gregg at a picket. From the start, I was constantly gang-handled. From a few minutes after the start of the picket, I had a group of Scientologists haranguing me. This culminated a while later with two Scientologists standing in front of my sign (apparently to block the public from seeing it), one videotaping me, and another two haranguing me. I tried to move my sign out of the way, and just missed the lady who would handle me for the rest of the morning (yes, they were standing that close). So, I turned around, and there was the police officer by the Hubbard Dianetics Foundation. I asked him, straight out, "Is it kosher that they can block my sign?" (quote perhaps not exact). Well, he beckoned them aside and informed them in a straightforward manner that they shouldn't be confrontational and provocative. At least, I gather that was the gist of the discussion, because after it the only people left handling me were "Pixie" (who blocked Gregg last time), and the camera operator (who rotated throughout the picket).

Pixie (don't know her real name) and me ended up chatting, when I wasn't passing out leaflets. I think she may have been trying to divert my attention, but once I made it clear via my actions that I wouldn't be distracted, she only talked to me when I wasn't passing out flyers. Pixie told me that I have beautiful blue eyes (I do, so there). We ended up having a friendly chat about lots under the sun, and some about Scientology as well. I passed out lots of leaflets, and found out interesting things about the way a Scientologist views the world. As I've often said before, I get on just fine with Scientologists when they're not screaming "criminal" at me. Pixie even told the other handlers a couple of times to stop bugging me, because I was nice. Also, she did loosen my Scientology Tyrannical Operational Policies tag, which had been getting tighter around my neck. Although, she did admit that if the police officer weren't watching, she might be turning it the other way. ;-) All's fair in handling an SP, I suppose...

Skipping ahead some, Android Cat arrived, bringing his "gerbil wheel" sign. He joined Seanster in the back-and-forth, stopping briefly to take point for a while as I fixed my sign. Slippery Jim arrived a bit later, and joined in the entheta fun. Now we were four.

The guy on the camera starting asking me if we (ie our group of picketers) were "alt religion". He seemed to have this idea that since ARS exists in the alt hierarchy, we must be against religion. I'm not sure if he was ever straightened out in his own head about the difference between a newsgroup name and our position on religion, but there's hope.

Anyway, the camera operator kept asking me very odd questions.. Like, wouldn't I rather be playing Quake? Playing music? Doing anything but standing where I was on the street corner, in the cold, passing out leaflets? Well, the answer was obviously no. Sometimes, he definitely seemed to be trying to "find my ruin", but at other times he was obviously wishing that I would go away so he could go back inside, in the warmth. Finally, the discussion moved to me mentioning various historical aspects of Scientology (the Wollersheim case, the criminal conviction, Lisa McPherson's case especially), and how I read all the documents on the internet. The camera operator stopped talking to me, for the most part, when the conversation devolved to him saying that he didn't know about this, and me saying, "Well, I do know about this. I've read the documents." This guy can evaluate data (to use the Scn term), but the data that he has is so limited that he sounds ignorant. His brain on Scientology - not enough data to make an informed decision.

A quick word about winter pickets here. I was wearing a full set of thermal underwear, warm socks, shoes, a thick sweater, and a thin trenchcoat made with some insulation that keeps me very toasty. The Scientologists, being very cold, were apparently NOT wearing any real winter wear. I outlasted several handlers, mainly because I was dressed warmly and they weren't. Note to the Toronto Org: Advise your members to dress warmly. It's healthier for them.

I also got to use my voice a lot more. With some care to keep my endurance up, I found that I could go practically non-stop for the whole picket. Slogans were of the "Scientology charged in Lisa McPherson's horrible, lingering death! Two felony charges: Abuse and/or neglect of a disabled adult, 2nd degree felony! Practicing medicine without a licence, 3rd degree felony!" Over and over, with only minor variations, through the whole picket. I hope the handlers got the idea.

At 12:05 PM I read OT3, the first few paragraphs thereof (right up until the bit where Hubbard writes "Good luck"). Pixie mentioned that I didn't have to get nasty.. What's nasty about reading Scientology literature? After, my handlers told me that I didn't get the point of what I was reading. According to them, I was only reading the words, not the underlying meaning (which was presumably why I wasn't dead of pneumonia, ie "implant is calculated to kill").

A noteworthy event occurred around mid-morning. A photographer from Now Magazine came around. Now magazine (Toronto publication, sort of a pop-culture weekly newsprint magazine or something?) is apparently going to publish an article on Scientology this coming Thursday. I'm mentioning this here because my picture was taken, leaning over the "WWW.XENU.NET" side of my sign, holding one of Deana Holmes' "$cientology Indicted: Last days of a Scientologist" leaflets out.

Finally, we went for lunch (after being asked innumerable times when we were going to lunch, and where we would be lunching at). Lunch was the usual plate of fries and orange juice for me, but I couldn't finish it.. The discussion of Lisa McPherson's case turned my stomach. For pretty obvious reasons.

We got back a little late, and the police officer was enjoying the warmth inside the Hubbard Dianetics Foundation. I waved at him through the window, and he waved back. So, I set up my sign again. Having learned from the morning's gusty winds, I made a few changes, and it didn't blow down all afternoon.

The afternoon handling started off differently. The camera was back, with a different operator. Andy Hill and another Scientologist who had been heckling Gregg at the last picket started in on me ("what could I find out about you?" etc), with another Scientologist hanging around. Then, the black-haired woman from last time (who was yelling at Gregg for lots of the picket) started in on me in the same way. So, here I was, with Scientologists surrounding me, heckling and yelling at me. Nice, eh? Quietly, I asked a nearby Slippery Jim to "go get the nice police officer, would you?" Well, the police officer came outside and saw what was going on. I said to him, "These people were hassling us at the last picket -". I was about to add "and would you hang around out here because they behave when you're here", but the police officer beckoned the group of Scientologists over by the HDF. He must have been explaining to them exactly how things work in a democracy, because they were mostly good after that. Isn't it nice when Scientologists are forced to obey Wog Law?

Unfortunately, this talking-to didn't deter the strident, loud Scientologist. After a little while she was back at it, yelling at me how I was a criminal, and how I was just making it up as I went along (this was when I was saying the felony indictments). The police officer must have heard her, because he came out of the doorway alcove of the HDF, stood there for a moment, and then said "Come here, darling," as he beckoned her over. Well, he must have had another of these "they're here to give their side and you're here to give yours" conversations with her, because she didn't bother me for the rest of the picket. (Although I did catch her looking in my direction. Longingly, perhaps? An SP that she couldn't harrass.. Must have been awful for her.)

As the afternoon wore on, Seanster had to take a break, because he was blistering badly. He had to leave early, and I felt no end of guilty about his injury.. Someone issue him an ARSCC citation or something. ;-)

Slippery Jim had to take off, just after Lurker arrived. Lurker, since he was new, got to read the whole picket rules before I'd give him a tag. He passed out lots of leaflets describing Scientology's Orwellian censorware. He also got a still thetacam shoved in his face a few times - an initiation ritual for anyone who pickets the Toronto Org, I'm afraid.

Well, the police officer was keeping a careful watch on the picket, which was nice. Every so often he'd wander around from the front of the Org to the side (where I was). I asked him every so often if things were ok from his perspective, and he always answered in the affirmative. Interesting point: Scientology had to pay this off-duty police officer's salary, but apart from a Don't Go On Their Property warning to me at the beginning (I am NOT going in that Org, ever), never once reproached me for either my conduct or the conduct of any picketers. BUT.. He spent a noteworthy amount of energy saving me from Scientology heckling and harrassment. Scientology is paying for the police officer which is keeping its members in line. Hah.

At about 3:30, the Scientologists started asking me how long we were going to. Also, at this point they started rotating handlers a bit more often (apparently handlers don't wear winter-capable clothing like I do). Well.. I published it to ARS, and we've followed the same schedule at every single other picket.. So what's the problem?

The pedestrian traffic really started to tail off around 4:00, which is when the sun starts going down in Toronto nowadays. Usually in the summer traffic really picks up in the last hour of a picket, and we do a fair effort in leafleting. In winter, all the traffic is local (who have lots of our leaflets anyway), no tourists. So, not much of a finish. Finally, I called the picket at 4:58 (feeling to lazy to continue for another two minutes). As before, by the time we got to our post-picket refreshment place, the street in front of the Org was devoid of Scientologists. They only come out when we're there..

ARSCC 1, Scientology 0.