Entertainment Weekly recently interviewed Alan Moore, the author of Watchmen, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the V for Vendetta, the latter of which inspired the Guy Fawkes masks that many members of Anonymous wear to anti-Scientology rallies. Moore named “Southpark” as one of his favorite television shows, and, in particular, he praises a certain notorious episode:

[Sings] “I’m trapped in the closet!” Yeah, that was terrific. I thought the way that South Park handled that bit with the Scientologists was wonderful. I was also quite heartened the other day when watching the news to see that there were demonstrations outside the Scientology headquarters over here, and that they suddenly flashed to a clip showing all these demonstrators wearing V for Vendetta [Guy Fawkes] masks. That pleased me. That gave me a warm little glow.

Speaking of “Trapped in the Closet,” Tom Cruise is out [ha!] of the running to play Edwin A. Salt. This decision is reportedly based upon the Cruise’s recent failure to put asses into theater seats, which puts the Poison Dwarf into “a position where a $20 million salary is not possible.” To add to this debauchery, rumours of a Top Gun sequel starring Cruise as Maverick have been circulating. Naturally, the Cruise camp would never have planted this rumour to test the waters, so to speak, because an OTVIII Scientologist carries a level of omniscience not known to mere mortals. As if on cue, Paramount, who produced the original 1986 film, has unequivocally stated that “there was ‘no way’ Cruise would be returning to the role.” As always, the interpretation of that statement is wide open, but it doesn’t look good for the Cruise.

This past weekend, Anonymous hosted an anti-Scientology regional rally at Chicago’s Millennium Park, which was covered by, among many media establishments, the Chicago Tribune, which speaks of legions of “masked activists”:

An Internet-based group that claims more than 10,000 members worldwide, Anonymous has assembled in the downtown park four times to criticize the Church of Scientology, arousing the curiosity of onlookers and the consternation of Scientologists. The church has called it a cyber-terrorist organization, and members have been known to show up and monitor the protests.

Once they have peoples’ attention, Szulczewski said, Anonymous delivers its message: that Scientology exploits its followers and encourages harm to outsiders. Scientologists counter that Anonymous is ignorant about their religion and has committed serious crimes against their church and others.

Anonymous alleges the church has charged exorbitant sums of money for spiritual teachings, encouraged members to harm those considered critical of the religion, and forced members to shun anti-Scientologist relatives—all statements that have been publicly affirmed by former Scientologists.

Anonymous member Jason Tippett, of Normal, Ill., said there is a difference between protesting Scientology and protesting the church. Though no one participant can speak for all, he said, the consensus of Anonymous is that the church structure–not the religious practice–should be peacefully dismantled.

“Lots of us are atheist or have kind of odd religions,” Tippett said. “If you’re crazy and hurting someone, that’s the line.”

The below imagery from the Millennium Park demonstration comes from Enturbulation.org, which also has a ton of relevant information. Below the pics, hit the next page for video coverage from Fox News and the Mancow Show.

Videos below:

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