Well, it’s warmer today, in the mid 40’s. Pretty nice. The snow is still here, but it’s metlting, as you can tell by the dripping roofs and occasional streams running into storm drains. Just a few more weeks and it’ll be pretty nice out.
On another note, I am taking a break from school and working. No, I haven’t dropped out; my school requires that I do a certain amount of work in my field of study. The company I am at is in Rochester, and it’s pretty nice. It’s a good job for me, and it’s not too far from where I’m living. I’ll be working through the summer, so this year should be a bit of a different experience for me.
Now, for a final note. Today is L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday. For those unaware, he was a science fiction writer as well as the father of the Scientology religion. Said religion is not in the greatest favor of the Internet community and has as a result sparked some turmoil. The religion (or cult, as some would say) has had its Websites attacked, phone lines jammed, and now its offices protested.
This happened a while back, with the Internet group “Anonymous” announcing plans to blast Scientology off of the Internet. The issues had to do with Scientoloy rasing legal action against leaked proprietary videos posted on sites like YouTube. It was further feuled by reports of actions taken by the religion that led to people dieing. (Search for this on Google; it has been explained many times already.)
This whole thing has interested me to an extent. Overall, I like to think of myself as more of an outside observer. I am for religious freedom; practice whatever you want so that long as you respect others (and the world) and don’t force your beliefs on anyone else. (That’s a simplification of what I think, but it’s the gist.) So, as far as I’m concerened, if someone thinks that Scientology may have something that can help them out in life, all the power too them. I can also respect an organization wanting to keep their intellectual property safe. However, I also wonder as to whether or not Scientology has crossed the line and caused harm; obviously there are reports, and obviously a religion will have the crazy minority which gives the entire group a bad name. But are the protests justififed?
Maybe, but I’m not getting involved. I can commend Anonymous for making a stand, and brining attention to the issue. But at the same time, it is something I am not sure I want to involve myself in too much. Not really because I am afraid, but because it seems like a waste of time. Sometimes you just need to step away.