Three representatives from the Church of Scientology were standing outside Conde Nast headquarters this morning and distributing copies of their Thetan-inspired magazine Freedom. This month’s issue is a parody of The New Yorker that’s filled with articles attacking writer Lawrence Wright and his employer for a 24,000 word piece about “Crash” director Paul Haggis.
The Church says that they met with New Yorker editor David Remnick and other top employees to present them with 48 binders full of errors that the the story contained during the fact checking process.
They claim Wright has “no scruples” for shopping around a book deal based on the piece before it was even published. The magazine also features a fun-filled DVD with short video segments that criticize Wright and his “nameless, faceless, masked” sources.
Scientologists were undoubtedly inspired by the Yes Men, the pranky activist group that had a lot of success spoofing the New York Times and the New York Post in the past few years.
Here are some of the best scanned pages from this issue of Freedom.
hahaha i gotta stop by scientology hq this week and get me a copy of that.
It's on the internet too: http://freedommag.org
It's in the internet too: http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/
Bunch of fucking loons…
I like that part:
"But Wright’s article wasn’t even close. Of the 971 statements, assertions and questions submitted to the Church to “fact check,” more than half were completely and utterly wrong. To put it politely, that’s not a fact check, that’s “throwing something at the wall to see what sticks.”" http://www.freedommag.org/special-reports/new-yor…
Other witness' dedicated to fact checking: http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/
Is it necessary to point out that the New Yorker has the best fact checking dept. in magazine-land? I love how the parody is all about character destruction; only cultists don't understand why a neutral observer wouldn't praise their cult as super-awesome.
I guess this reputation is gone. What good does fact checking do if they ignore the results?
I doubt that. Facts speak for themselves.
To me it strikes the most that a mag like The New Yorker would omit so many obvious facts to make a “story” out of hot air.
Wake up.
Riiiight, the Church of Scientology would NEVER omit obvious facts to make a story out of "hot air" or for any other reason riiiight?
Well, here is the difference between the New Yorker and the Freedom mag:
"On Wednesday, copies of the magazine and a companion DVD were handed out in front of the building that New Yorker parent company Conde Nast calls home."
The Freedom mag is "handed out". The New Yorker magazine is sold to paying people who place some value on it's contents.
If the Freedom magazine is so superior why are they shoving into peoples hands for free that entering and leaving a building? It is not a magazine, it is a propaganda pamplet. You think people "out here" can't see differences and similarities?
The invisible microscopic Thetans wouldn't worry me at all, but those Iota-Kappa-Lambdans are scary!
How far out of touch can these twits be?
Either their leadership is nuts or their followers are nuts or both.
lol wut?
Notice how none of the articles have an Author listed. Is Davey the Dwarf lettered? Or is he too busy being super awesome to take credit?
scienctologists are bat shit crazy.
The main problem with Scientology is that it's based on a work of fiction masquerading as a religion, building itself with tax-exempt status into a mind-controlling empire that eventually will work its way into politics unless it is exposed as a bunch of crap.
1. If you have to hide behind the words "Freedom" and "Church" and claim that someone writing things about you is "anti-religious", you're in trouble.
2. They're spending a ton of money to make a slick magazine but if you read carefully, there's not a whole lot of actual meat in there. They have nothing solid, and when they do, it's a lie. Those margins in Freedom magazine are the largest white spaces possible – hilarious.
3. Their cartoons are twisted and sad and humorless…the Jesus one just shows how deluded they are.
What's really sad is that the rest of society (including the IRS) actually treats these people like an actual religion.
What's worse is that a "religion" as flawed and morally corrupt as Scientology gives ALL legitimate religions a bad name! Tom Cruise should be ashamed of himself, committing the ultimate sin of pretending to be a God among men. Isn't that a mortal sin?
I happen to know that every single word in The New Yorker piece was fact checked numerous times and the Scientologists may have attempted to change the facts, but they could not!
Is the New Yorker piece available on the Internet?
Well, here is the difference between the New Yorker and the Freedom mag:
"On Wednesday, copies of the magazine and a companion DVD were handed out in front of the building that New Yorker parent company Conde Nast calls home."
The Freedom mag is "handed out". The New Yorker magazine is sold to paying people who place some value on it's contents.