Panda Software linked to Church of Scientology
It's been a quiet week at the Vulture Central Mailbag. Eugene Andres' letter does, however, more than compensate for the paucity of material:
I am appalled by John Leyden's very poorly done article on Panda Software.
Your articles are usually very informative and interesting, but I am afraid this time your reporter just copied some ill-informed propaganda from a French newspaper and didn't even bother to check the most elementary of facts.
As a regular reader of "The Register" Internet edition in Spain and a Scientologist myself, let me give you some very well known facts, which you can easily check and will surely even find in your own files (BTW, I'm not a Panda employee, nor am I a staff member of any Scientology organization. I work as a freelance computer programmer and analyst and I'm a Scientologist since nearly 20 years now. I live in Madrid, Spain.)
First, completely apart from the possible religious affiliations of the various people mentioned in the article, the fact is that Scientology is fully recognized as a bona-fide religion in the U.S. - not-for-profit, tax-exempt and on the same level as e.g. the Catholic Church or the Church of England. It's also been fully recognized in other countries, and as far as I know, it's already pretty much on its way towards complete religious recognition in the U.K. Neither these facts, and not even the web address of the Church are mentioned in the article. There isn't even a pretense of being unbiased - just pure, undistilled anti-religious bigotry.
Second, why is John Leyden spreading rumors on the actions of recognized religions? Is this some new kind of Inquisition? What next? An anti-Semite trying to find out if part of The Register's revenue goes maybe to your local synagogue through a personal charitable donation of yours, so as to discriminate against Jews? How fanatic is this going to get? Holy wars anyone?
Third, John's numbers are absurd. I don't know about the global income of Panda Software, but let's just make a quick guess: It's easy to know from trade magazines and such, that they have hundreds of employees, just here in Spain, and just one good employee costs a company more than those alleged $40.000 per year (what with pay, social security, etc.), as you very well know. Then there are rents, phones, general overhead, etc. So, what might the alleged $40.000 be as a percentage, 0.1%? 0.01%? I'm sure the local coffee shops, cafeterias and diners get a lot more than that from Panda a year. So, in any case, we're talking about very small amounts here.
Then the allegations are just plain old spreading of FUD (fear-uncertainty-doubt). In the case of Executive Software you mentioned, in spite of all the black propaganda and all the effort put into the hate campaign, nobody ever proved anything was done wrong. Two months later, I was very surprised to read in a German computer magazine (the one that started the hate campaign) that two German universities actually have a Windows source code license. If these universities with access to the source didn't report anything wrong with the Executive Software defragger and nobody else could really find anything wrong one way or another, with all the effort put into it, then there just isn't anything wrong.
Both the German and then the French governments have been repeatedly accused of violating religious freedom in reports from prestigious entities, like the U.S. Department of State, the European Council, etc. and it seems when anti-religious bigots can't find anything wrong with someone they hate, the next step for them is to spread a smear campaign. Curiously enough, some of the politicians most active in these black propaganda campaigns HAVE been indicted in the past for various corruption charges and/or are under investigation for them right now.
There's a Spanish saying which can more or less be translated as "the thief believes that all are of his kind" ('Cree el ladrón que todos son de su condición'). In my opinion, this pretty much sums up the situation of those originating and/or spreading these false and unfounded accusations.
How about some REAL news, based on some relevant FACTS, on the level that makes The Register be all that it is?
Strong stuff indeed. A few points, though. To cite a report from a French newspaper is perfectly legitimate. Whether or not the French and Germans are involved in a 'black propaganda' campaign is up to readers to decide.
John Leyden clearly states that he attempted to contact Panda Software but the company did not return his calls.
The legal status of the Church of Scientology is irrelevant to the accusations. Recognition by the US Department of State hardly constitutes an assurance as to the organisation's intentions - good or otherwise.
And as for mudslinging, your statement that some of the politicians most active in these black propaganda campaigns HAVE been indicted in the past for various corruption charges and/or are under investigation for them right now, would you like to provide some facts to back up that claim?
There is another Spanish proverb which perhaps sums up your hostile reaction to claims against the Church of Scientology: 'La verdad es amarga'