Wednesday, February 20, 2008

"I certainly hope that a very thorough investigation is conducted."



The headline above is the statement from the attorney of Shawn Lonsdale. Shawn allegedly committed suicide over the weekend. Who is Shawn Lonsdale? Shawn was one of the harshest critics of Scientology around. He lived in Clearwater, Florida and after a confrontation at a City Council meeting with a Scientologist, he basically became a one man crusade against them.

2006 was his biggest year for making them mad. Almost everyday in 2006 Lonsdale would stand in downtown Clearwater beside a sandwich board that read "Cult Watch" in the heart of Scientology's religious headquarters.

He used his video camera to record footage of Scientology buildings, church staffers walking the streets, security guards watching his movements and verbal confrontations with Scientologists. He then edited them into a "pseudo-documentary" about Scientology that eventually aired on local cable television.

After his big video came out on public television, the Scientologists decided to hire a private investigator and set about ruining Lonsdale's life. The publicized past convictions and would call Lonsdale's employer and his landlord telling them they should get rid of Lonsdale.

Over the past six months or so, Lonsdale has kind of moved on with this life. He found a new job and didn't devote nearly as much time to his anti-Scientology crusade. I think this is why it was the perfect time to get him if they wanted him. Now the Scientologists can say that they had no reason to go after him because he wasn't doing anything to them anymore. Well, yea, duh, if he had committed suicide back in 2006, the world would have come swarming down on the Scientologists. Instead, now, it just looks like a guy who paid his rent every month, was friendly to everyone, had a new job that he loved and was moving forward, suddenly killed himself over the holiday weekend. If you want to read more about Shawn, you can click here.

Advertisements

Popular Posts from the last 30 days