2B) ANTISOCIAL: NASTY SGI WEBSITES
One headline here says:
“Many SGI members websites attack one man in the Midwest. The guy in question, Craig Bratcher, had the audacity to criticize the Gakkai on the Internet. Since then a vendetta of abuse has been hurled at him from a number of sites.”As noted earlier, Mr. Bratcher is not just someone who “had the audacity to criticize the Gakkai”. Many Gakkai member criticize the Gakkai, many other Nichiren Shoshu members criticize the Gakkai. None of them have been the subject of websites.
Mr. Bratcher is the main conduit for anti-Gakkai propaganda on the Internet, using materials organized by the Myokanko in Japan and sent to him for distribution in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. With the Ipcress group in England, he maintains a 24 hour presence on the Internet, watching for any pro-Gakkai news, which he then attacks. He has an organized system of insuring that most of the headlines on ARBN at any time are disparaging to the Gakkai. He disguises himself as a Gakkai member, or as a Gakkai official entity, hoping his attacks will carry more weight that way.
For example, (“Netnitco” is “Network of the Northern Indiana Telephone Company”, which is Mr. Bratcher’s host on the Internet), you can see evidence of Mr. Bratcher if you examine the message ID information on some ARBN posts:
Subject: Gasp! What’s Going On Here!!![Al Albergate is the chief of the SGI-USA Public Relations Bureau]
From: Al@gakker.org.jp (Al Albergate)
Date: Thu, Jul 30, 1998 11:04 EDT
Message-id: <35c08aa5.6078313@ news.netnitco.net>I was so shocked when I subscribed to this newsgroup! I came here to study Buddhism but all I see is someidiot named Luap master-baiting in public! And what’s all this stuff about the DaiGohonzon being just an icon! It’s a no brainer.
Al Albergate
Bratcher invades Gakkai discussion groups, and has written to institutions with whom the Gakkai has established a relationship, to try to undermine those relationships. Here is a description of one of his aggressive invasions, from an email sent in June 1997:
I was visiting a site on the Internet on a SGI in French. At this site, you could leave a message in an email section to the site originator. So I did. And I started to communicate with France. I think, Craig went on this site and in a way or another he find my message. So he send me a message proposing me a few sites to visit on Nichiren Shoshu topics. I answered him that I was not interested (in French). He never replied. I know him from the newsgroups. Sometimes I go have a look in the arbn. I am not very literate in computer. So, I was very very surprised to have a message from him. But I don’t think we can intercept a message from a private e-mail.He is currently (April 2001) busy trying to invade an SGI discussion site on Yahoo, sending inflammatory massages, and posting (and “refuting”) on ARBN parts of SGI members’ messages. He has tried to introduce code into his ARBN messages that would lead anyone who opened the message to his anti-SGI site on Cebunet. This occurred in December 1997: he wrote two seemingly innocuous messages just the word “test”, followed by his signature — that contained, hidden some twenty-five lines down, a string of code ending in a link to Cebunet. A computer analyst looked at this and concluded it was indeed a trap, but it used such an obsolete code that it failed. He tried to provoke Gakkai members to violence in Ghana so he could videotape it and send the tape to various news organizations.
Subject: NOTICE TO ALL MILITANT SGI SKINHEADS IN GHANAHe receives mail at Myogyoji Temple in Chicago, and consults with a priest in Washington about activities on the Internet:
From: jqpublic@SpammerJammer.netnitco.net (Cult Busters)
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 18:14:51 GMTMr Yabba: This is to notify that all SGI skinheads who plan to attempt to disrupt the soon to be opened NST temple in Ghana of the following:
- All NST overseas members who are going to be in Ghana during the ceremonies have been requested to bring their camcorders and cameras. About 100 USA members are going and I know as a fact that they have between 40-50 camcorders (Mine has a real good zoom...).
- Other foreigners are bringing them as well. The camcorders will be running from the time the High Priest arrives at the airport to the time he leaves. We’ll be looking for the angry faces in the crowd at the airport and you can be sure there will be many fine close-ups taped for our later enjoyment.
- All videotape of SGI members causing disruption or attempting any gakker antics will be forwarded to me and immediately posted on the internet and also forwarded to the appropriate news agencies. All photographs will also be posted to the appropriate newsgroups and websites and also forwarded to the news agencies.
- Several foreign news services have been alerted to the new campaign of intolerance and hatred that the SGI is now ready to carry out. This was passed to them in the form of various memos leaked out of SGI Deutchland, SG Ghana, SGI Taiwan, and SGI Singapore. They are licking their chops at the prospect of reporting another juicy report of the out of control cult, Soka Gakkai.
- Notified so far: TIME, Newsweek, LA Times, Several Ghana news bureaus, and several Japanese journals (and you know how they love to take pictures!).
So go ahead and make my day Ikedabots. You may be the star of my on-line documentary of the SGI merging with the skinheads. I can’t wait to see the look on Mr Aryeh and the gakkers faces as they “confront” the High priest while being captured from 10 different angles on videotape...ho HO!
This may be more fun than I thought!
See you soon!
Ta-ta!
Most sincerely
Craig Bratcher
Subject: Re: snakes and bladdersHis interests can be seen in the following Index of his “Archives” site, so extensively documented and refuted in the SG-eye sections of this website (numbering refers to the different parts and sections used here):
From: adonoss@ekuyihcak.com (Soka Gakkai International News)
Date: Fri, Jun 26, 1998 18:37 EDT
Message-id: 359420f5.14712151@news.netnitco.netI just happened to talk to Rev Kawabe last night and I told him the silly story Keith has been spreading. We both had a good chuckle especially since he definitely *is* second in seniority in the American priesthood-second from the *bottom!* har!!
Craig
LIES BY CREATING NEW CONTEXT: 1-1) New pressure group; 1-2) Narita speech; 1-8) arrogant quest; 1-10) disturbing invective; 1-11) crackdown on dissident group; 2-5) just plain crazy; 2-6) casts voodoo spells; 2-7) arson; 3-7) grizzly murder; 3-12) Naito; 3-20) Naito; 3-36) cults on campus; 3-37) warning signals.
STRAIGHT LIES: 1-3) Soka U network; 1-6) demented poem; 1-12) voodoo prayer campaign; 1-14) abuses Holocaust; 2-1) harassment; 2-2) airbrushing; 2-3 Internet domain games; 2-4) disgusting articles; 3-2) Asaki murder; 3-3) LA Times; 3-4) Singapore; 3-6) HP’s room bugged; 3-8) appoint son; 3-9) former American members; 3-10) bunch of rape stories; 3-11) stock scandal/money in dump; 3-13) Washington state lawsuit; 3-15) Asaki suicide; 3-17) leader stabs other leader; 3-18) TACL; 3-19) pirating name; 3-22) money in dump; 3-24 Minneapolis paper on cults; 3-26) Time follow the leader; 3-27) Manchester Guardian; 3-28) statesman billionaire god; 3-29) rape; 3-30) BBC; 3-21) censor BBC; 3-34) bent on wordly power; 3-39) state senator; 3-41) Harvard Square; 3-42) Castro.
OUT OF CONTEXT: 1-4) crackdown on dissidents; 1-5) Buster Williams; 1-9) Clow case dirty tricks; 1-15) doubts Seattle verdict; 3-14) SULA; 3-16) priests vacate temple; 3-32) Washington state court transcript; 3-35) LA court transcript; 3-38) in his own words.
DISTORTION OF SGI POLICY/TEACHING: 1-7) deification.
SGI NOT FOLLOWING Nichiren Shoshu: 1-13) Post lifts lid; 3-1) militant Buddhists; 3-5) Look Magazine; 3-21) Buddhism American style.
Naturally, Mr. Bratcher is a specific subject of many SGI members’ sites — not because he dares to criticize the SGI, but because he is obviously the priesthood’s agent on the Internet who, with their knowledge, help and endorsement, is supposed to use any means, fair or foul, to destroy the SGI.
Mr. Bratcher, when cited as the Nichiren Shoshu mouthpiece he is, cries that he is being “persecuted” (as SG-eye does for him here). He does not address the substance of the issues, whether they be ones he raises, or those raised by others who have an inkling of the true nature of Nichiren Shoshu. He will not answer the substance of anything n this web site, either; but will again moan that he’s been “singled out” for abuse by an SGI member.
More rebuttal of SG-eye: