The Church of Scientology has some rather strange beliefs, but one of it’s most strange beliefs is that it’s more important than you are. This is ridiculous, especially to those people in the world who read Meddling Kids. We’re the kings, dammit! But any time anyone does anything to them, about them, or near them, they get very agitated. So it’s no surprise that from time to time they get all up in the face of someone, but often this amounts to nothing more than two dogs in a field raising their hackles and growling before calmly sniffing one another’s butt and going on their way. But it seems that Twitter is one dog they simply can’t walk away from.
Yeah, you read that right. A guy made a twitter comment about them being stupid and they are SUING him. The link above was to Pharyngula (which is now on strike, hopefully not for long) but you can also enjoy Skepchick’s Rebecca Watson commenting on this on youtube.
What’s equally interesting to me is the relationship this has to another common atheist discussion point, a point which PZ commented on recently, and which I’ve seen in a few places of late… The idea that atheists are dicks. You know, the way that when someone says “God bless you,” we instantly throw them through a window or burn their aging Nana. Me, I can honestly say that I’m sometimes a dick and sometimes not. My parents have often got dickishness from me because I believe their forwarding me religious emails (911 HAPPENED CUZ U KICKED GOD OUT OF TEH PUBIC SQUARE AN TEH SKOOL!) is an equal act of dickishness. And when someone says “God bless you” to me, I often reply with “Oh, he does. He really, really does.” That’s dickish, and I know it.
As much as we have the capacity to be dicks, nobody is a dick full time. Except possibly my ex-mother-in-law. But even she slept, so I’ll give her that one. This whole issue isn’t one just relating to atheists. Scientology suing a guy for saying their system of belief is stupid is being a dick. The BCA suing Simon Singh for calling their treatments bogus is being a dick. Loudly praying for the people on my C-Train while they sit in uncomfortable silence is being a dick. Anti-vaxxers frightening the general public into fearing life-saving medicine is being a dick. There are dicks everywhere doing dick things to other people, and that’s just the nature of the beast.
Scientology? You’re dicks. And your beliefs are stupid. I’m familliar with Canadian defamation law, and I recognize that our law leaves me open to attack with it. However, I do not believe that calling you stupid lowers your esteem in the minds of ordinary members of the public, because ordinary members of the public think you are stupid. It is only the confused masses that attend your Xenuriffic church that could be impacted, they are not ordinary members of the public. They are deluded cult members, and any impact on your esteem to them would be arguably a good thing. And don’t worry, I’m a dick too, and I’m sure I have a few stupid beliefs. Quite possibly, the belief that the legal system would side with me over this might well be stupid. But it is what it is.
Jim