I just got back from today's protest, I had to leave quite early. Some of you may remember me as one of the few unmasked people, carrying a big (wet!) grey bag.

Opposite the Church of Scientology is a really nice, small vintage clothes shop called yoyo. I went in there to have a look around, and to chat with the shop's owner. I asked her how the protests were affecting business, and said that I presumed that it would go up what with all the new people in the area. However, she politely told me that she thinks the masks scare a lot of people away. She also said that children are scared of the masks and that she thinks we should change them to something much more positive looking.

Just thought I'd write that down here, so that people can think about it.

It was nice to see you all, and to spread some more positive vibes through Birmingham!

What's more positive than a smiling mask? :huh:

When i arrived early, parents were actually encouraging their children to wave at me and i waved back.

Mine was plain white. . wit a KFC bucket on the head. Kids like bright colours and fast food right?

I certainly was not scaring any children, they kept waving at me.

There were a few kids that were dragging their parents towards me... So I'm fairly sure the majority aren't intimidated.

Besides, asking Anonymous to stop wearing V masks is like asking Martin Luther King to stop being black.

The overall impression I got was that people were acting normal when faced with something new; kids in this situation always like to go see and look around, adults are more wary.

I agree with 1812, most kids were fascinated by the masks, which is a good thing ™ :)

It actually made me realise that phobia's are not born into us but taught us.

Like there was a little girl and she looked at me and i waved, her mother took a look at me, pulled her closer, and said: Don't look, you'll be scared.

Now, whats that, if not TEACHING someone to be afraid?

Well said, LolPro. I also worry that our antics may drive away some business from shops in the area, but I've read in the other thread that customers of the Cafe Rouge were "vying" for window seats to watch us, so I really think it could go either way.

i found a few who i waved/tipped hat and generally played to in cafe rouge later wopuld come over and ask why i'm there, why i think scientology is bad etc. etc.

where as i was doing it because i can.

I don't remember any young kids being afraid of my mask, most seemed interested in it, were staring, pointing it out to their parents etc.

With regards to businesses, I don't think we'd have drove many people away. The only possible I can think of would be the cafes in the area, but as stated elsewhere, people were vying for seats to watch what was going on - if anything, all we did was stop people sitting outside due to the noise, maybe.

Good Sir, Your throat must be made of win to have survived all that. You were most epic.

All i have to say is. We don't do anything to make ourselves seem to be scary.

We give free hugs. We offer cake. We speak formally, and politely, and friendly.

We explain why we wear masks, dress smartly, wave at children, dance and sing nice songs in the street.

We do nothing to make ourselves seem fearful.

What more can we do?

LOL

I had a small child laughing.. he laughed at my friend and said "you're old" a few times then said "you have white face" to me.

That's people in novelty masks, dancing and offering cake, against people who use symbolism such as a crucifix with spikes added on and erupting volcanoes, suing and destroying those who oppose.

I will laugh if they trot out the internet terrorists description of us again.

Protester: Free Hugs! Thetan free!

Scientologist: I DEMAND YOU REVOKE THAT USE OF SCIENTOLOGY TERMINOLOGY!

Protester:...what? 'hugs'?

We have hugs and cake. Terrorists, we are not.

Out of all the kids I saw who took notice of the mask, only one of them behaved scared - she shuffled behind her mum's leg and stared. The rest seemed interested in the funny people, and I got loads of waves and big smiles.

I guess some families raise their kids to be wary of anything new and unconventional, while others encourage them to investigate and understand.

I wonder whether my original choice of getup - a ski visor - would have been more or less intimidating than the V mask. When people can't see your eyes properly, I think they're less inclined to trust you.

I get grief for wearing sunglasses - when I'm nothing to do with anon, and they're not even that dark!!! Dude says he can't see my eyes, so he can't trust me... WTF?!?!

I shall admit that at times it was not easy to talk to the Vmasked Anon, not out of distrust, but I could not tell if you were looking at me or not!

T'was also hard to speak with them on... between slurps of condensing sweat.

This. I was constantly having to scoop my own condensing breath out of the damn thing.

I reckon next time around I'll go with the visor and leave my mouth visible. A lot of people found it hard to hear me around the mask.

I started off wearing my hand-painted mask for the first hour, but the condensation just got on my nerves and I ended up wearing a dust-mask for the rest of the protest >>

Never mind

i made the point in the IRC chanal but ill do it here as well

when the bussnes owner says we scare customers away, and that we looked scary and intimidating. its all personal prefrance, i mean look at pigen park some people don't like walking thought there and get intimidated by the "Goths, emos and greebos"

if i was there dressed like i nomraly do i know that a lot of people would still not talk to me because i dress difrantly.

so if people where there unmasked and in normal clothes then they could still say some where intimidating and others not.

I had that problem with mine the first time around, hence the reason I wore my bandana underneath as well, so I could raise the mask to stop the sweat condensing. Also, I preferred raising my mask to communicate, it made it easier for the public to hear me, and, as DaftHats said, it shows them I'm paying attention to them.