Date: Saturday, November 4, 2000
Start and End Times: 12:00 - 2:30 pm
Location: San Francisco
Picketers: Peaches, Kristi Wachter, Murdoch, Marcab
Handlers: Jeff, Josh, "Betty"
Weather: moderate and overcast
Number of Handouts given away: 191 (upstat!) - includes all of us
Comments: Jeff "interviews" me; one new picketer (Marcab)


flier stats:

8 Lisa fliers
3 Rodney
2 Mint/Law
1 advisory
19 Belgium/France
158 Tax/What's Wrong
191 total This is the number of fliers given out by all of us.
----------------------------------------------- Familiar faces seen:
Josh
Jeff Quiros
Mr. Get-Your-Facts-Straight
Ms. A
Guitarman

New faces:

"Atlas"
"Betty"

Familiar faces not present during this picket:

Craig
Frank
Burly Guy
Lucretia
El Greco
Mr. Tall Thin Sea Org
Mr. Lady-I-Work-Here
Movie Star
Miss Pixie
-----------------------------------------------

Note: Quotes are not exact, since I didn't listen to my tape recording at all.

Also, I occasionally rearrange the chronology slightly to enhance the narrative flow.
Photos of handlers and picketers at
http://www.scientology-lies.com/picketphotos.001104.html.

As always, before heading out, I called the police to let them know we were on our way. Nothing to report there.
LET'S GET PHYSICAL
==================
I did a few minutes of picketing on the corner near my home while waiting for Peaches to pick me up. As I stood there waving, holding my sign, I felt the weight of the bookbag holding my fliers and the weight of the picket sign - my arms were tired ALREADY and I could really feel my muscles protesting. Some pickets I can tell I'm out of shape for picketing. (The solution, of course, would be to picket MORE, to build up those upper body muscles. I used to picket twice a month instead of just once. Maybe my body's telling me something.)

For the second month in a row, Peaches and I got to the org right on time - just a minute or two after we started, we heard church bells tolling the noon hour.

I saw several policemen go by (as usual - the SF org is half a block from the police station, which is always a great comfort to me). I exchanged waves with one or two of the patrol car officers as they drove past. I didn't see any go into the org, so I'm not sure if they called the police this time or not. I did notice several patrol cars driving up the walkway between Market and McAllister - twice - but I don't know whether that was related to Scientology's habit of calling the police on us, or whether it was instead related to the China-Taiwan protest taking place on Market Street during our picket.

WALKS LIKE A LADY
=================
(You know, probably the most time-consuming part of writing these picket reports is coming up with the song titles for the section headings.) (If I didn't have my Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, I don't know what I'd do.)

During the first large chunk of the picket, it was just Peaches and me, strolling along, having a lovely chat, handing out fliers occasionally. We saw and greeted Josh and Mr. Get-Your-Facts-Straight. A pleasant-seeming couple, probably both Scientologists, sat on the ledge in front of the org eating their lunch; I noticed the gentleman was wearing a Scientology cross around his neck, and I paused to admire it, having never seen one before. I complimented him on it. (I also complimented a lady on her nice Freewinds t-shirt, although I'm afraid she may have thought I was being sarcastic.)

I DO WHAT I DO
==============
One gentleman approached and asked what my (our?) hourly rate was. I told him I don't get paid for picketing, and we had a little back-and-forth about whether I knew anyone who was being paid to picket. (He asked whether I knew Bob Minton, I said yes; he asked whether I knew any other picketers, I said yes; he said well then do you know people who do get paid to picket, I said I didn't know of anyone being paid to picket - if other people I know happen to be getting paid, I didn't know about it, and I didn't know of anyone who claimed to be getting paid to picket. We went round with this two or three times.)

Somehow, we managed to continue conversing. (Oh, I remember - I called after him to ask whether he was concerned about RTC squirrelling the tech, and he rather sarcastically asked me if I was trying to protect the tech and forward Scientology tech. I tried to explain that I was neutral on the tech - neither trying to forward it nor trying to destroy it - but that I WAS for truth and honesty, and if Scientologists were being lied to about the authenticity of the tech, I wanted them to know that.)

He claimed that my sandwich-board sign, "Scientologists Convicted Again,"

would make people think that all Scientologists were convicted. I asked him if he thought, when CCHR said "Psychiatrist kill," if that made him think that every single individual psychiatrist had killed, and he admitted that it did not. (On the way to this part of the conversation, we had a discussion about whether there is such a thing as an organization.

He claimed that there isn't - there's no such thing as an organization - and I asked him if, when CCHR issued a statement on official CCHR letterhead, whether that statement was a statement made by CCHR or a statement made by an individual. He seemed to concede that sometimes those statements were statements of the organization, not of the individual who typed or dictated the statement. I'm fascinated by the conviction I find among many Scientologists that there is no such thing as an organization.

I believe that society believes otherwise, and that that belief is encoded in our laws, and that we as individuals and society differentiate between acts of organizations and acts of individuals. I find it so interesting that so many Scientologists reject this view.)

It was, overall, an interesting conversation. It progressed, I thought, from a rather emotional one in which he saw me as an evil paid-to-picket SP (I doubt he believed me when I said I'm not paid to picket), to a somewhat calmer one in which he MIGHT have ended up believing I was merely a severely deluded, deeply PTS wog.

As I often do, I asked if he wanted to give me a name or a nickname, and he declined, so I'm nicknaming him "Atlas", for no reason whatsoever except that that's the nickname that popped into my head.

He had three course binders in his arm, and he departed to get inside for whatever he was scheduled for - presumably Academy study. I thanked him for taking the time to talk with me and wished him the best with his studies.
I DON'T WANNA KNOW
==================
Another gentleman stopped briefly to talk with me. He asked me about my opposition to Scientology and said he thought most of the protestors were upset about Internet issues and he thought the courts had said that Scientology's actions in the Internet disputes showed that Scn had been in the right so why were we still protesting? I said that, personally, I was most concerned about the evidence that Scientology held people against their will and lied to people. He said he'd been in Scientology for years and that he'd never seen any of that happening. I told him I was very glad he hadn't. I did not, alas, get a chance to mention that I thought it would be good for him to really take a look at the evidence that Scientology was involved in those things and determine whether he wanted to support an organization that did those things. I wish I had an opportunity to encourage more Scientologists to consider that question, but unfortunately, I don't see many signs that many Scientologists wish to consider that question.
BACK WHERE YOU BELONG
=====================
To my delight, we saw Jeff Quiros again at this picket. Faithful readers will recall that Peaches and I had been a bit worried about Jeff, as we hadn't seen him for two or three months. (Jeff was certainly aware of this - he said he knew we had been concerned. He said he did have other things going on in his life and couldn't do this - "this" being photographing us and handling us at pickets, I believe - all the time; I replied that I was glad he had other things in his life [as, indeed, I had surmised he surely must].)

Jeff took some pictures of us; I posed obligingly, as usual, then turned to Peaches in mock horror and said "It's a plot! He's getting us to pose so we'll stop moving and he can complain about us!" (In most US cities, I believe, picketers are supposed to keep moving. We are generally quite good about staying in motion, but occasionally we pause to converse with a passerby - taking care not to block the sidewalk at any time, as that's the point of the "keep moving" regulations, after all. Despite our occasional pauses, I don't believe the Scientologists have ever complained about us failing to keep moving. I think they make spurious accusations of hate crimes or something, instead.)

Jeff asked where "the others" were, and I joked that they were out doing secret agent things, then said "I don't know - I don't keep tabs on them."

Since we were well into the picket, I wasn't really expecting anyone else to turn up; but since I rarely hear from other picketers between pickets, I didn't know whether anyone else was planning to join us.

Anyway - while Jeff was photographing us, Josh kept a camcorder trained on us, and a young lady I don't recall seeing before handed out DA fliers on Peaches and me (I assume - I know they had fliers on me, and I know they usually have Peaches fliers, too). For no good reason at all, I'm nicknaming this young lady "Betty."

Having told Jeff how pleased I was to see him again and chatting ever so briefly while he took our pictures, Peaches and I returned our attention to one another (and to the occasional pedestrians), largely ignoring Jeff, Josh, and Betty. As I recall, Jeff went back into the org, while Josh and Betty remained, videotaping and DAing us.

(Unfortunately, Jeff wasn't wearing one of his dashing all-black outfits, so I couldn't title this section "Back in Black." Thwarted again!)

GET THE FUNK OUT MA FACE
========================
Some time later, Jeff re-emerged from the org carrying a tape recorder with a big microphone. He said he had some questions for me. Since my tape recorder was still running, I said okay, and he began.

As soon as he approached, I was mindful of Mike O'Connor's repeated comment that he thinks talking with Scientologists during pickets is not a good idea. I'm not sure whether participating in Jeff's interview was wise. I generally believe communication is a good thing (a belief I share with Scientologists), and my fondness for Jeff makes me want to talk with him and continue building what I believe is a relationship; but I also know that he has spent years in a culture that views me as an enemy of Scientology and of any hope for the world, and that his job is to eradicate the threat he perceives I pose. I want to trust him, but I know that I can't.

But I did talk with him - or rather, I answered his questions.

During the interview, he kept his microphone right in my face, hence the title of this section.

(He started out with a comment about "in the past four years I've come to know you" and I said "FOUR years?" Jeff's Clear[tm] Perfect Memory seems a bit flawed. He said, "Well, it SEEMS like four years." I joked, "It seems like an eternity!", a sentiment he echoed.)

He began by asking about my web site. He said that it doesn't state that Florida is not prosecuting the charges in the Lisa McPherson case, and that it's misleading for me to say that the criminal case is pending.

(Frankly, Jeff, it's not misleading - it's downright false. The page is out of date.) I promptly admitted that it was wrong, and I said that, since I have so many things to attend to in my life, I regrettably don't manage to update my web site as often as I'd like. I said that, since he'd brought it up, I would make it a higher priority to fix that, and I said I'd try to make the change in, say, two weeks - did that suit him? He seemed slightly surprised and said well sure whatever.

He went on to ask about my Today in Scn History feature - what was my purpose in creating that? (They noticed! SOMEBODY's reading TISH!) I took some time to answer (being a Scientologist, he probably considered that a "comm lag" and took it as evidence of some duplicity or fear in my answer, but personally, I think it's a GOOD thing to pause and give yourself time to think about what you're about to say). I said that, for one thing, I had wanted to learn the skills involved in creating the daily posts - dumping something from the database on a daily basis and creating auto-posts that will run even if I'm away from ars for a few days. So part of my motivation was simply learning some new skills. But a bigger part was this: there are a LOT of people who have been hurt by Scientology, and a lot of people don't know about those abuses, and a lot of times we forget them. One of the reasons for my criticism is Scientology's long history of criminal activity, and I wanted to remind people about those actions. And, to reflect the interests of non-critics, I acknowledge that Scientology does sometimes do good in the world, so I try to include things that Scientologists would view positively, such as policies LRH wrote and newspaper articles about Scientology court victories.

Next he said that I've stated that I don't ridicule Scientology's beliefs, but said he thought the inflatable alien I carry was ridiculing Scientology's beliefs. I said that what bothered me about the space alien stuff was that Scientology didn't tell people about it up front and in some cases actually lied about it to newer members. He said that people can read about past lives right in History of Man, and I said, "Wait a minute - you asked me about space alien stuff, not about past lives. Those are two different things." He continued trying to mix the two issues as we discussed this. I pointed out that Scientology clearly considered Xenu to be a secret since they had sued critics over the Xenu story on charges of trade secret violations.

He asked about my thoughts about psychiatry. I said that, although I'm concerned about Scientology's statements about psychiatry, that's way down on the list of things I'm concerned about, so I wasn't inclined to discuss psychiatry with him.

He then asked about my committing hate crimes and inciting violence. I held my peace for several seconds on this one. Finally I responded thusly:

first, I was not committing hate crimes; in the US, as I understand the law, if it isn't a crime, it isn't a hate crime, and picketing is a constitutionally protected form of expression, not a crime. He asked why he didn't have the right to attend services at his church without seeing picketers out front and I said "As far as I know, in the United States, NOBODY has that right. You are free to attend church services, but you do not have a right to avoid picketers." I told him that if his understanding of the First Amendment was so inadequate as to think that he had the right to avoid expressions of speech in a public place, I was sorry he didn't know better. As to the ludicrous charge that I was inciting violence, I paused again, then said, "I emphatically, categorically, absolutely deny the claim that I'm inciting violence, especially since I have long been a proponent of non-violent protest." He said, "But what if somebody reads your web site and decides they should go commit violence against Scientologists?" (Gee, Jeff, what if somebody reads Scientology texts and decides they should go dispose of the bottom 2.5% of the population quietly and without sorrow?) There is, of course, NOTHING on my web site that encourages violent acts; on the contrary, I state that I don't hate Scientologists and say "I do believe that most Scientologists are drawn to Scientology because they have good hearts and good intentions, and they want to make the world a better place while making themselves better people. I admire and respect those intentions".

I told him that, considering what Scientology had done to Gerry Armstrong during the Christofferson trial, taping him and attempting to make it look like he had said and done things that he hadn't, I didn't feel it was in my best interest to continue the conversation. He said, "You've got it all on tape," and I said, "Yes, I have." He accepted my decision and went away.

<sigh> I wish we could have a real dialog, like I believed I was having with Atlas. To my immense dismay, it became increasingly clear to me that Jeff was more interested in provoking me or getting some sort of incriminating quote from me on tape than in understanding me or communicating with me.
I am so sorry you see me as you do, Jeff. I wish you understood - I am not the enemy.


IT'S LATE, IT'S LATE, IT'S LATE (BUT NOT TOO LATE)
==================================================
Round about 1:40, Murdoch appeared from the west side of the org. (I helpfully pointed him out to Josh, still manning the camera, but he kept it steadily pointed at me.) We hugged and chatted. I gave him some fliers to hand out.

Perhaps five minutes later, another person appeared. He gave his name as Marcab, and he said he'd come mostly to just stop by, but he was happy to help hand out fliers, and by the end of the picket, he was carrying one of Peaches' signs. (She usually carries two, which is great when a newcomer arrives without a sign.)

Since Murdoch and Marcab has just arrived, we decided to continue until 2:15, and then extended it until 2:30.

Afterwards, we had a quick gathering in the usual cafe. While we were there, a woman came over and said she'd seen us picketing and asked for more information.

She had a friend who had joined the Sea Org about ten years ago in LA, and she ended up sitting down at the table next to us and chatting with us for several minutes.

When we left the cafe shortly after 3 pm, Murdoch and Marcab returned to the org for an additional round of picketing. Hopefully they'll post and tell us if anything interesting happened.
COME ON DOWN TO MY BOAT?
========================
Upon returning home, I found no signs of a revenge picket - no reports from the neighbors, no libellous fliers. However, since Craig has apparently been picketing me religiously every month, it's entirely possible that he was back again today. I may never know.




REMEMBERING LISA, REMEMBERING RODNEY
====================================
The next regularly scheduled first-Saturday-of-every-month picket is December 2.

This will be the annual Lisa McPherson memorial protest and vigil. I will be in front of the org from noon until dusk, when we will hold a candlelight vigil in memory of Lisa and other victims of Scientology.

Rodney Rimando, a youth from the San Francisco Bay area, died on December 2, and I will be keeping Rodney in my thoughts as well on that day.

All who wish to join us in remembrance and respect of Scientology's victims are welcome to join us.
(NOTE: Noon until DUSK!)

With respect and honor to all who have been hurt by Scientology,


Kristi

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