In case you’re still lost as to what the heck is going on, a Scientology Run is when people film themselves charging into a Church of Scientology building to see how far they can get before being caught and booted out. It’s a notoriously secretive religion, so it turns the whole place into an action-movie set piece where the protagonist is trying to infiltrate a compound while fending off its legion of foot soldiers, clad in terrifying white button-ups with black vests.
What Are ‘Scientology Runs’ and Why Is Gen Z So Obsessed With Them?
https://www.vice.com/en/article/what-are-scientology-runs-and-why-is-gen-z-so-obsessed-with-them/
116 Comments
chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz · 176 pts · 120d
Fuck off with this whitewashing. Scientology isn't "hokey" or "shady". It's outright evil.
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world · 59 pts · 120d
and its not a religion.
It only has tax exempt status due to one of the largest infiltration and attacks against the US government in the entire history of America.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 119d
And we know this, and yet our government has done nothing to purge this national security threat from our government.
man_wtfhappenedtoyou@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 120d
Do tell.
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 120d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_status_of_Scientology_in_the_United_States
both are long reads, but well worth it to just get started in understanding just how fucking vile and criminal scientology is, especially when it comes to getting what it wants.
and thats before you even get into the harassment, blackmail, torture, human rights abuses, kidnapping, robbing members of their life savings and even homes and property, etc, etc, etc.
QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 119d
Bruh
axx@slrpnk.net · 17 pts · 120d
And why does the journalist call it a religion? It's a cult.
Or a for profit company, under German law.
NOT_RICK@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 120d
This reads like a guy afraid of getting sued
Rekorse@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 120d
It reads like someone who accepts that religion/storytelling/folktales always have and always will have a place in our society.
Scientology really does try to push that concept far past its breaking point though. In my opinion, its a money and blackmail type situation, where dumb famous/rich people are taken advantage of.
khannie@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 120d
Yeah 100%. Also not a religion where I live thankfully.
Skepticpunk@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 120d
Weird way to spell "do shit like boil them alive".
angryred67@piefed.social · 6 pts · 119d
Wow. I missed that one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Harrison_Hotel#Notable_incidents
bedwyr@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 120d
brave_lemmywinks@lemmy.world · 137 pts · 120d
This isn't a genz novelty, there were a lot of activism in the early 4chan days against Scientology. The whole guy fawks mask and anonymous thing started there.
aldhissla@piefed.world · 82 pts · 120d
Came here for this. We had Project Chanology in my day. As long as there's Scientology, the youth will continue to milk them for lulz.
gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 120d
lol yeah, those were the days - the LA scene for that was interesting, and it also gave me my first real taste of opsec, because the CoS goons would absolutely dox and harass you and people close to you if you weren’t careful.
FauxLiving@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 120d
The little known trivia here is that the 'Anonymous Mask' wasn't intended to be serious. It was first used to troll the CoS.
It came from the Epic Fail guy meme, the purpose was to call Scientology lame while also protecting their identities.
It wasn't until the regular media started reporting on Project Chanology that it become the symbol that the public thinks of when they hear 'the group Anonymous'.
Later, during Occupy Wall Street, it was used a bit less Ironically because it was already known from the Project Chanology days and also because people still needed to hide their face or risk federal prosecution (i.e. Lulzsec).
Seeing the new generation of Internet trolls starting their career by taking up the Chanology fight.... well, we will watch their career with great interest.
neidu3@sh.itjust.works · 92 pts · 120d
Of all the brainrot fads I've seen come and go over the past few decades, I think this is the one I like the most. Anything that pisses off the CoS gets my seal of approval.
lama@lemmy.world · 65 pts · 120d
The irony of the journalist writing this and missing that this is their job
OldChicoAle@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 120d
Most journalists wouldn't know hard hitting journalism if it fucked them balls deep with no lube.
Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 119d
I read that as "fucked them in the balls with no lube" and I really liked the way it sounded.
Earthman_Jim@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 119d
It's pretty common mentality among a lot of adults that the fucked up world will just have to be fixed by the kids. It's fucking absurd.
adespoton@lemmy.ca · 55 pts · 121d
Seems to me if you did some research, came up with a cover story and dressed the part, you could walk in and get pretty far before being caught. Just pretend you’re on your mission year, and wear a nametag.
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world · 51 pts · 121d
Uhh.. wrong one?
adespoton@lemmy.ca · 13 pts · 120d
Works for scientology too doesn’t it? Not just LDS?
Reyali@lemmy.world · 37 pts · 120d
Pretty sure they don’t do missions. They’re all about recruiting people for money, not righteousness.
Jehovah’s Witness are another that’s big on missions and door-to-door converting. Maybe that’s what you’re thinking of?
finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 120d
Jehova's Witness: "Hello, we'd like to talk to you about Jesus".
Bernard Black: "Oh, I'd love to talk about Jesus! What's he been up to lately?"
FishFace@piefed.social · 9 pts · 120d
I still often say "Jesus" the way that actor delivered that line
finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 120d
Jaee-zus
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 120d
You could be a Mormon trying to recruit Scientologists?
Sabata11792@ani.social · 14 pts · 120d
That's how you get organ farmed.
bedwyr@piefed.ca · 12 pts · 120d
Until they figure out you are an imposter and kidnap you. These people are rather known for retaliating against members that quit at least, and have been accused of kidnapping multiple times.
thesohoriots@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 120d
You wanna get Sea Org’d? Cause that’s how you get Sea Org’d.
remon@ani.social · 46 pts · 120d
I guess I'm fine with these stupid tiktok prank videos as long as everyone involved is an asshole!
TachyonTele@piefed.social · 45 pts · 121d
I've lived in their home town. Anything to annoy and distract them is a good thing.
TheFlopster@lemmy.world · 40 pts · 120d
Run till you find Shelly.
ikidd@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 30 pts · 120d
Just need to look in David Miscavige's basement freezer.
Manjushri@piefed.social · 38 pts · 120d
No. The whole thing was started by a bad sci-fi author who felt he could make a lot of money by inventing a fake religion. It's just a scam to rip off gullible people. Hopefully, enough mockery will make prospective joiners think twice before they get taken for all their money.
DillDough@lemmy.zip · 23 pts · 120d
Way worse than a scam, tons of human trafficking, torture, etc.
NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 120d
which is different than any other religion how? Everyone wants an angle to power or money.
Before I get the "so edgy" nonsense: At least lets remove tax exempt status from all religions. People can gather and listen to what ever crap they want but it should not be aided by government in any way.
flandish@lemmy.world · 34 pts · 120d
it’s trespassing with the added benefit of a dice roll on the building security’s understanding of castle doctrine.
GraniteM@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 120d
Or even just getting hit in the head by a well-meaning person who reasonably thinks they're trying to prevent a maniac from killing someone in the building.
CileTheSane@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 120d
And filming yourself and posting it online for the notoriously litigious organization.
GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 120d
Can they try Mormon temples next? Please? That would be so fucking funny.
I am crying at the mental image of a bunch of retirees in white suits and white dresses trying to politely shepherd a bunch of teenagers with phones out of their crystal-covered collection of big living rooms.
CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 120d
It would be difficult, idk anything about Scientology but I’ve spent time in Mormon temple. Scientology buildings are more like offices I think and the temple has tons of locked doors
betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 120d
Fight stupid with stupid. I dig it.
itsjustachairmary@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 120d
'Gen Z is obsessed with'
Wat
XeroxCool@lemmy.world · 40 pts · 120d
"some kids are doing something I haven't seen before, whole generation must be obsessed"
VinegarChunks@lemmus.org · 8 pts · 120d
More like “I am obsessed with GenZ doing this”
Dearth@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 120d
The author of the article calls scientology a religion because they are in a country where scientology can disappear them for saying the wrong thing
TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com · 19 pts · 120d
they are channeling any number of Tom Cruise characters
CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 120d
This should be the top comment
kepix@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 120d
full of energy and stupidity. no special reason.
Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 120d
I dunno. These are cracking me up for some reason and even though this article is a bit shallow, I think a decent point was made at the end: power charging religious buildings is kinda bad taste I think - even if Scientology is full of complete asshole weirdos.
Fusselwurm@feddit.org · 71 pts · 120d
Scientology is not a religion
theherk@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 120d
Sounds like something a religious person would say to feel like their religion is more sensible.
DamienGramatacus@lemmy.world · 43 pts · 120d
It's absolutely a cult. Ex enforcer Mike Rinder himself called Scientology an intelligence gathering organisation.
theherk@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 120d
Religion, cult, intelligence gathering… none mutually exclusive.
AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space · 7 pts · 120d
Give it a few more generations, and it’ll look like Mormonism (originally an obviously scammy personality cult with a problematic founder, but now a respectable pillar of conservative society). Another century or two and it’ll be like Lutheranism or Episcopalianism: so much part of the background that people don’t even notice the weird stuff in its doctrines.
dreamkeeper@literature.cafe · 5 pts · 120d
Scientology isn't based on an already accepted mainstream religion and they're losing membership. History rhymes, it doesn't always repeat.
AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space · 1 pts · 120d
That should have had an “if it survives long enough”; most weird cults/sects don’t.
DamienGramatacus@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 120d
I mean, I get that but isn't LDS considered still a cult? It certainly fits a lot of the criteria.
architect@thelemmy.club · 3 pts · 120d
By who? Other Christian’s or religious people? Typical of them to accuse everyone else of being a cult.
Legally, no.
If you ask anyone sane, all religion is a cult.
DamienGramatacus@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 120d
By people that study cults and other high control groups, I mean.
watson387@sopuli.xyz · 6 pts · 120d
All religions are cults.
architect@thelemmy.club · 1 pts · 120d
Yea. What do you think confession is?
EditsHisComments@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 120d
It's pretty well documented that L. Ron Hubbard founded Scientology to serve as a financial tool. Hence the financial controversies and the IRS battles from the 70s-90s
theherk@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 120d
I agree, but that doesn’t prevent a social club from being a religion, does it?
FishFace@piefed.social · 10 pts · 120d
There's a clear difference between an organisation intentionally created as a cult in living memory and one which, as far as we all know, arose organically from the sincere beliefs of people.
It doesn't make the beliefs of one more true or something, it's just a useful categorisation.
architect@thelemmy.club · 2 pts · 120d
You just said the difference is time and the fact no one can remember the religions founding. Which is no clear difference at all.
it_wasnt_arson@awful.systems · 2 pts · 120d
Time tends to sand off the rough edges of any organization that wants to keep pulling in new members and that doesn't need a framework of total control to protect itself from fizzling out early. It's an evolutionary process, not just historical whitewashing. Though it's also historical whitewashing.
FishFace@piefed.social · 1 pts · 120d
Well that's not quite what I said. But either way, I think it's pretty clear. What are some examples you think lie in the grey area?
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 0 pts · 120d
Mentally ill people have sincere beliefs too.
yakko@feddit.uk · 11 pts · 120d
Well the thing is, it's a cult.
Obituarykidney@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 120d
They all are though tbf
yakko@feddit.uk · 8 pts · 120d
Well yes, especially given that the Catholic church is basically (for a given value of 'basically') a continuation of the Roman empire, a financial instrument clothed in religion. Same as Scientology.
TachyonTele@piefed.social · 1 pts · 120d
There's different types of names for a group depending on certain variables. Not all cults are religions.
NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 120d
The difference between a cult and a religion is that in a cult the person at the top of the pyramid scheme knows it’s all a bullshit grift and everyone else is a true believer, it’s a religion when that person dies.
Obituarykidney@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 120d
I didn't say that though did I? I said all religions are cults.
TachyonTele@piefed.social · 1 pts · 120d
True. I'm not sure what my point was, honestly.
GraniteM@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 120d
GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 120d
architect@thelemmy.club · 4 pts · 120d
It’s whether the person you’re talking to just happens to be a part of that religion or not, typically.
They are all cults to me. Some just have better pr.
Fusselwurm@feddit.org · 1 pts · 113d
One worships God (imaginary person), the other worships a human (real person).
inb4 "but Jesus was a man" yes. But he's dead, and whatever remains is not "real" anymore
GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 113d
magic_smoke@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 29 pts · 120d
Fuck em they're an organization built on kidnapping and abuse.
ieGod@lemmy.zip · 24 pts · 120d
On the other hand, all religions are complete weirdos and not a single one of them deserves special status or protections.
reksas@sopuli.xyz · 19 pts · 120d
calling exploitative cult a religion is quite bad taste imo
kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 120d
Which religion isn't though?
They're all exploitive and cult-like in my opinion.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 120d
There's a difference, aside from size and social recognition?
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 120d
Control. Generally speaking a religion and a cult are differentiated by how much they demand or control in members lives. Scientology, Mormons, and even a lot of Southern Baptists are generally cults or really cult like. For comparison Anglicans, Quakers, and progressive Neo-Pagans are on average not cults even if they are insane and playing with the dynamics at times.
NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 120d
The hallmarks of cults is: separation from friends or family, a person or ruling body that delivers the one and true version, punishment for rule breaking, and a difficulty separating. Also, it almost always devolves into sex slavery and/or arranged unions.
Those things give you control of course, but they are the basic guidelines of cult like behaviour.
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 120d
Yeah there are probably dozens of definitions of cult with tonnes of overlap but without complete agreement. Just a notable example is there are some cults which pop up wherein they don't necessarily have a ruling body since it's basically a cavalcade of idiots feeding into each other.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 120d
So christianity was more of a cult in medieval times?
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 120d
Depended on region and what period of the medieval era, for example Iceland around 1000 absolutely not, but in France during the crusades absolutely was. Remember the medieval era lasted about a thousand years and was spread across Europe so there's lots of nuance.
architect@thelemmy.club · 1 pts · 120d
Plenty of sects cut you off still. Like Catholics.
flandish@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 120d
reminder: scientology is not a religion.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 120d
Reminder: all religions are made up and mental illness adajcent.
Escape13@slrpnk.net · 5 pts · 120d
Yeah sorry this one is actually a cult and not a religion.
architect@thelemmy.club · 4 pts · 120d
Fuck all religions/cults.
Escape13@slrpnk.net · 5 pts · 120d
Leave the pastafaria a alone, ok?
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 120d
It is, for tax purposes.
architect@thelemmy.club · 2 pts · 120d
No. No it’s not at all.
Religion is in bad taste. And before you come at me, go witness a few religious atrocities first. Like Gaza.
Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 120d
I won’t come at you at all with that statement friend.
Jumi@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 120d
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 120d
Surprised they weren't just shot.
HubertManne@piefed.social · 9 pts · 120d
so what percent of the generation does it. I mean obsessed. must be pretty high. 90%? 75%, I mean gotta be higher than 50 right?
DarkFuture@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 120d
Why are they obsessed with 67?
In this case, I don't really care why and I fully support them.
Fuck a scientology.
Evotech@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 120d
Area 51 all over again
YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today · 9 pts · 120d
Have there been any Naruto scientology runs?
coffeeisblack@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 120d
I saw one kid dressed as sonic.
SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 120d
Xenu isn't going to like this.
FE80@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 120d
At least it's funny.
trackball_fetish@lemmy.wtf · 6 pts · 120d
Helll yeah, carrying on the tradition
Escape13@slrpnk.net · 5 pts · 120d
Someone wasn’t screaming at their ashtrays and actually meaning it hard enough to keep these SPs in check. That’s not gonna look got on the Thursday report lol
20cello@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 120d
I love gen z
Etterra@discuss.online · 4 pts · 120d
Clearly they're doing it wrong - they need to attack en masse.
orenj@leminal.space · 3 pts · 120d
And they need to do the naruto run, i thought we already had this figured out
oopsgodisdeadmybad@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 120d
CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca · 0 pts · 120d
What are 'Scientology Runs' and Why is Gen Z So Self-Obsessed With Them? FTFY
architect@thelemmy.club · -1 pts · 120d
Mmhmm. I wonder who is putting them up to this. Nothing is organic anymore.