Harassment Tactics

[TJOnline]

Hey everyone,

Just joining this board. I've been out of the community for far too long. I'd like to share a personal horror story with others in Georgia to see if anyone else has been hit with similar tactics. I was recently kicked out of a 15 year Georgia Tech career as a research engineer. Word apparently got around that I was a smoker and a gang of co-workers would do things like cough, rattle their keys, leave suggestive objects around for me to see, or sniff or suck air through their teeth when they would pass my office door or pass me in the hall. I caught one of them in the act:

http://www.afafa.org/Office1.mpg

When I would confront them, they would just pretend innocence and go right on doing it. Took the matter to management and was told that I was being paranoid. Eventually, management demanded that I enter into continuing psychiatric treatment and sign a waiver giving GT the right to talk to the shrink. I said no way to that and was terminated. No psych history. No criminal history. Lawyers said that their behaviors didn't qualify as harassment or that I didn't get enough proof. Management wouldn't investigate. I never told anyone in the workplace that I was a smoker. I eventually found that there's a whole lot more going on than just the workplace thing. Now I'm an activist.

You can read more about it here:

http://afafa.org (Please consider signing one or both petitions, because you could be next)

Has anyone else gotten treatment like that in the workplace or in public?

Anyway, glad youall are out there. If youall have a social in the near future, I'd like to pop by, if I may. I'm in the Decatur, Georgia area.

Ted

[Hamlet]

Sorry dude, but everything I've seen looks like paranoid psychosis to me. If coworkers were harrassing me they would get it right back, or their ass whupped in the parking lot.

Why spend your life looking over your shoulder in fear? Tell them to go fuck themselves, and if they're feeling sneeky, let them sneek around all they want. It's better than fretting about it.

[birdgirl73]

TJOnline, I've got to agree with Hamlet. It does sound like you were being paranoid, even if your coworkers were behaving in a strange fashion toward you. And frankly, your AAFA Web site just confirms that impression of paranoia. Does that organization support the wearing of foil hats to protect from unwanted "surveillance" into their brains?

Have you ever run into situations like this before where you felt that your colleagues were out to get you or targeting you for some questionable reason? It might indeed be worth being evaluated by someone with professional credentials just to see where you stand psychologically.

[josh180]

maybe someone you know that knows you smoke knows someone at your work and told them I got a friend that works there to and he smokes buds. You know how people love to gossip. Just a thought

[Breukelen advocaat]

You ought to try working every day in a terrorist-threatened area or building. Maybe then you'll realize that a sneeze is just a sneeze, LOL.

At your next job, if you have a similar problem, see a shrink or let them put you in the bughouse for a while rather than get fired.

[TJOnline]

Thanks for the responses.

Hamlet, if I had created a scene, it would have just resulted in either termination or a demand to see the shrink that much more quickly. They were TRYING to induce a fight. Management used my much more diplomatic efforts to answer their antics as the basis for the demand to enter into psychiatric treatment. They had no real issue with my job performance or behavior, so they ganged up to create a slim pretext. GT is apparently determined to clear its offices of smokers like me. If I were a bar tender, I'm sure it never would have been an issue.

Just look at the video. He coughs right as he passes my door. I wouldn't have gone to the trouble and risk to capture it on tape, if he and others hadn't been exhibiting similarly obnoxious behaviors for weeks before that. At least you can see that what I was reacting to wasn't simply imagined.

As far as my AFAFA site goes, I'm sure that it would seem to the casual observer as being paranoid delusions. That just goes with the territory. The techniques (including the group pressure tactics in the workplace) are designed to seem in the reporting like paranoid delusions. And obviously, that aspect worked on you guys. Noone believes in them until they're hit by them. The sorts of harassments I described at AFAFA have been in use for decades. Gloria Naylor, author of The Women of Brewster Place, is also a targeted individual, one of many that I have met. Recently, she wrote '1996' describing her experiences. Ted Gunderson, former agent in charge of the Los Angeles field office of the FBI, is another targeted individual, one whom I have met. Julianne McKinney, another targeted individual and a member of the Association of National Security Alumni, is also an acquaintance. We're doing our best to lobby for exposure of the harassment techniques described at AFAFA and for laws protecting citizens from them. But our government is at least as determined to keep them.

Anyway, I'm glad to see that your average smoker isn't getting pounded with those sorts of harassments (workplace and otherwise). But if any of you ever are, you'll know where to begin to look for some answers. All the best.

[TJOnline]

I offer any of you this challenge. Study my Close Encounters analysis carefully, then watch the movie with it in mind. I think you'll see what Spielberg was up to. He uses allegory (and the aliens phenomenon) to marry inferences to sins, crimes and trangressions to some aspects of clandestine harassment. Ask yourself why Spielberg would include a moment with the Neary son whacking a baby doll (a symbol of his little sister) on the side of a crib, lines like "Just breathe deep and everything will look real pretty", "Let's watch the Ten Commandments!", "You're in the middle of the road, jackass", "M-Mary-10" while a leafy shadow appears upon a map, etc. etc.. Then ask yourself why "Where did the voices come from", Pinnochio metaphors, a train wreck metaphor, "Following traffic to destination", "Teach music to the deaf", "I've got you on my super video detecto set!", "Now I use my secret weapon" and other suggestive lines.

Why do Spielberg and other 'insiders' they do that at all? Because they believe in it. Why do they always do it allegorically? To avoid an outright admission (and a trail of responsibility) on anyone's part. The technologies and techniques of clandestine harassment are precious to some. The moment they become public knowledge, they begin to lose their effectiveness. Clandestine harassment is a paranoia game that relies on shock and awe (and fear). It is a game that is several decades old.

Believe what you wish, but I know what I'm talking about.

[Hamlet]

Why would your employer insist you see a shrink instead of sending you for a piss test and fire you for failing, if they wanted to get rid of you? The only rationale I can make out of it is that they really didn't care if you toked or not (because they probably do themselves?), and they were trying to be somewhat compassionate maybe?

But maybe my social-economic group just does things differently. Instead of video taping the dude, if he was harassing me, I would have marched him back into my office and had a little chat with him. People only dish out shit to those willing to put up with it.

As far as Spielberg goes, I love him. He gets off on making sly references to films that have influenced him, etc. But as far as him being clued into some clandestined conspiracy, I'm highly skeptical.

You said it yourself though. If there is some monkey business going on, it's only power is shock, awe and fear. You've got to learn the power of 'not giving a shit' what some sneeky asshole is up to, man. By doing so you've completely incapacitated any power they have over you. And if it is just paranoia, think of all the energy you've wasted fretting about nothing when there are very real problems in life to be dealt with.

Conspiracies are fun and mysterious for sure. But I've never known of anyone shrewd, resourceful and intelligent enough to actually pull a good one off. And even if they could, what would be the point?

[TJOnline]

Hamlet,

Why would your employer insist you see a shrink instead of sending you for a piss test and fire you for failing, if they wanted to get rid of you? The only rationale I can make out of it is that they really didn't care if you toked or not (because they probably do themselves?), and they were trying to be somewhat compassionate maybe?

Why not insist on a test? Good question. They had no wreckless, lazy or substandard performance criteria to act as a pretext and they may have been loath to be seen forcing a research faculty member to be tested willy nilly. I was being harassed at home and elsewhere since well before that final few months and had already had published AFAFA and shown it to other employees there, so management MAY have been clueless about the issues raised there (and the harassers' behavior) and thought me looney and just handled the situation unfairly. I managed two laboratories and a couple of small radioactive sources, which may have been a contributing factor as far as the feds are concerned (get that smoker AWAY from those NOW). But I think most likely is that management was knowledgeable about the harassment and was determined to turn a blind eye to it and to allow it to play itself out to its inevitible conclusion (a fork, as they say in chess). According to the 'signs' I was getting in the workplace and in public, far more provocative things than just pot smoking were being whispered about too. But there was no way to answer or resolve them.

But maybe my social-economic group just does things differently. Instead of video taping the dude, if he was harassing me, I would have marched him back into my office and had a little chat with him. People only dish out shit to those willing to put up with it.

Believe me, dude, I tried. But they would just pretend ignorance, paste an innocent smile on their faces and suggest that I was being paranoid. Part of the game. But you're right - having a research faculty position as I did, at that level things usually have to be handled diplomatically. Things like fist fights in a parking lot definitely are not tolerated, though you can be SURE that I amused myself with the thought many times while under the pressure.

As far as Spielberg goes, I love him. He gets off on making sly references to films that have influenced him, etc. But as far as him being clued into some clandestined conspiracy, I'm highly skeptical.

At least you have an understanding that 'sly references' are part of modern filmmaking. That's the basis of how he and many of his peers go about it. He also mocks and teases people on an individual basis. Even so, I like him too. I just hate clandestine harassment and am disappointed by arch conservatives who support it. Your skepticism is quite understandable. With all due respect, it is as though you are looking at a page of text written in Spanish. You have never learned a word of Spanish, so all you see in the text is some incomprehensible gibberish. I suggest that you learn Spanish, but that would take weeks of hard work before you could begin to read it. Who could expect you to go to the trouble of learning Spanish? You have little to gain as far as you can tell. At least take my introductory class and read my web page! :-)

You said it yourself though. If there is some monkey business going on, it's only power is shock, awe and fear. You've got to learn the power of 'not giving a shit' what some sneeky asshole is up to, man. By doing so you've completely incapacitated any power they have over you. And if it is just paranoia, think of all the energy you've wasted fretting about nothing when there are very real problems in life to be dealt with.

You're partially right. Group pressure tactics have only so much power and one CAN learn to submerge the Freudian 'id' and not react. We're all programmed to respond to a perceived aggression (particularly males) and it takes a LOT of self discipline to do so. As you yourself suggested, one's knee-jerk emotional response is to take them out and kick their ass. But there are other tactics too that noone can simply rise above. Migraine induction, getting mocked around the clock while at home, deprived of sleep, etc. With time and persistence, they can drive just about anyone batty.

Conspiracies are fun and mysterious for sure. But I've never known of anyone shrewd, resourceful and intelligent enough to actually pull a good one off. And even if they could, what would be the point?

The point? Dude, there are plenty of conservative and evangelical types out there who would like nothing more than to see you rotting in a grave just for smoking pot (much less sharing it with someone else). Spielberg and others have done a superb job of inculcating the public with the notion that those tactics are for use against predators and evil people - real dangers to society. But once you're a target of such techniques, it's too late to ask why you've been thrust into 'the pit' - the game has already begun and the only direction available... is down. No courts, no lawyers, no self defense. No nothing. Just pain. Unless you choose to obey without question.

[Hamlet]

Obviously TJ you're an extremely intelligent individual. Research Engineer? Geez, in a battle of wits with you I'm an unarmed man. (I do speak a little Spanish though..lol)

So maybe I can put your mind to work in helping me figure this all out. Seems I'm surrounded by people with psychosis issues. My brother-in-law informed me he is, in fact, the reincarnation of St. Peter. --could be worse. (At least he's not Jesus I guess.) But anyway, he's absolutely convinced the Government is putting spyware on his computer every time it goes on the glitch. The careflight hospital helicopter is flying over to watch him, etc.. The whirring of my ceiling fan is actually a frequency sound 'brainwasher'..(or something like that) No amount of talking to him, or evidence would ever convince him otherwise. He spends most of his waking hours obsessing on reasons why this is all true. What would you tell someone like this?

Check out the Politics forum. We have people who believe Illuminati are really reptilian aliens and every single thing imaginable, from dates to pictures on money are all part of some gigantic evil scheme.

What can you say to someone when you see they're living their lives drowning in suspicion and fear for no real reason whatsoever? It reminds me of when I was a kid, hiding under the covers at night, horrified of the imaginary monsters. I can understand how tormented they must be and it bothers me that there's nothing I can say to convince them to pull the covers back, face the darkness, and realize what they're afraid of just isn't there.

You've probably got an IQ like a phone number and there's no way in hell my meager little brain is going to be able to 'out reason' you on such matters. I'm foolish for even trying but it's tough for me to stand by and watch a life turn into a trainwreck when it's so unnecessary.

You're a scientist, right? Couldn't you apply Occam's Razor, or some sort of scientific logic to your beliefs to test their validity? Doesn't your research training demand that you question, and requestion your own conclusions?

[TJOnline]

Obviously TJ you're an extremely intelligent individual. Research Engineer? Geez, in a battle of wits with you I'm an unarmed man.

Bullshit.

So maybe I can put your mind to work in helping me figure this all out. Seems I'm surrounded by people with psychosis issues. My brother-in-law informed me he is, in fact, the reincarnation of St. Peter. --could be worse. (At least he's not Jesus I guess.)

Jesus is one of the most common turn-about metaphors in media MC (mind control - unfortunate term). From one who takes the sins of the world upon himself to one who is burdened by his own sins (essentially what Jesus meant to his peers at the moment of his crucifixion as opposed to the centuries afterwards). Whatever it takes to thrust someone into psychiatry. Look for it in context in film and television media. Read between the lines. You'll see what they're up to. John Nash (the nobel laureat was also probably a targeted individual. And the religious figure complex was part of his story too. Read Nassar's book - A Beautiful Mind). Its surprisingly easy to self-perceive as Jesus or some other religious figure amidst the pain and persecution. I did too for a time. For a time, I found God in my CDs back in the shock and awe stage.

http://afafa.org/AFAFA_Media_Continued.htm#Jesus1
http://afafa.org/AFAFA_Media_Continued.htm#Jesus2

"Both of them say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong."
Dire Straights - Industrial Disease
http://www.searchlyrics.org/dire_straits/industrial_disease.html

But anyway, he's absolutely convinced the Government is putting spyware on his computer every time it goes on the glitch.

http://afafa.org/AFAFA_E_Psych_Assaults.htm

He may be right. He may be wrong. But I do know that computer interference is in the arsenal. It's great for driving people nuts. How would you feel if your computer suddenly crashed for no apparent reason or your house power suddenly shut off for a moment just as you were about to finish a long email. If it causes pain, frustration and desperation and can't be proven as a form of harassment, then it's probably in the arsenal.

The careflight hospital helicopter is flying over to watch him, etc..

Dragging a copter's shadow across the ground by sight such that it passes over a targeted individual's home is one of the freak-out techniques in the arsenal. Rule of thumb: If it's something that can make someone paranoid or remind them that they're being watched AND can't be used as proof of anything, then it's probably in the arsenal. It's a paranoia game. It's a fear game.

The whirring of my ceiling fan is actually a frequency sound 'brainwasher'..(or something like that)

Modulating a sound upon the 60 hertz hum that creates a resultant beat-noting sound that is barely legible as a vocal sound (but which doesn't register as such on recordings) does appear to be one of the psych tools in the arsenal, though I haven't experienced it personally.

No amount of talking to him, or evidence would ever convince him otherwise. He spends most of his waking hours obsessing on reasons why this is all true. What would you tell someone like this?

What he's probably really obsessing on is how to be FREE again. All targeted individuals do. So would you, if you suddenly found yourself in the perfect tiger trap. And then, of course, maybe he's a paranoid delusional! It's difficult to tell, because the techniques are designed to EMULATE paranoia and schizophrenia - whatever it takes to thrust someone into psychiatry. And THAT'S part of why it's a perfect tiger trap.

Check out the Politics forum. We have people who believe Illuminati are really reptilian aliens and every single thing imaginable, from dates to pictures on money are all part of some gigantic evil scheme.

All of that is not to say that there aren't real schizophrenics and delusionals out there. And plenty of targeted individuals who haven't the slightest idea of what they're truly experiencing. There are plenty of conspiracy theorists, people who are angry with their government and the world they live in and bad theories. It's a complex world out there. That's part of why the arsenal of clandestine harassments techniques and technologies exist in the first place.

What can you say to someone when you see they're living their lives drowning in suspicion and fear for no real reason whatsoever? It reminds me of when I was a kid, hiding under the covers at night, horrified of the imaginary monsters. I can understand how tormented they must be and it bothers me that there's nothing I can say to convince them to pull the covers back, face the darkness, and realize what they're afraid of just isn't there.

You have no good way to know if it's 'for no real reason whatsoever'. Only they truly do. But 'facing the darkness' is probably good advice - facing whatever thrust them into the tiger trap in the first place. Many people who are targeted probably ARE in need of help or change, but not all. The guiding philosophy appears to be to thrust us into psychiatry, into jail or into the grave or to bend our minds into shape or to give us a heaping helping of punishment and pain by any means necessary or to keep us at the end of a short leash or all of the above. I just wish they would restrict their attention to truly evil people. And/or reform it so that it looks more like justice or at least holds some light at the end of the tunnel for targets.

You've probably got an IQ like a phone number and there's no way in hell my meager little brain is going to be able to 'out reason' you on such matters.

Bullshit.

I'm foolish for even trying but it's tough for me to stand by and watch a life turn into a trainwreck when it's so unnecessary.

It's not easy. If I commanded you to give up smoke for the rest of your life, because it's good for you, would you do it? Why not? After all, the majority says you should. What are you waiting for? What if I gave you a thorough beating to encourage you. Would that make you more or less inclined to obey? Are you just a Skinnerian lab rat or an intelligent being with a will of your own? I face similar dilemmas. And even if I obeyed lock, stock and barrel, I still have no assurance that my troubles wouldn't resurface again at any time, if I strayed from the strictly straight and narrow.

You're a scientist, right? Couldn't you apply Occam's Razor, or some sort of scientific logic to your beliefs to test their validity? Doesn't your research training demand that you question, and requestion your own conclusions?

I was/am an engineer who had the good fortune to have the opportunity to dabble in and support scientific research. But I am not a PhD.

Sure, I've questioned everything at one time or another. There are a number of reasons to be certain. One of them is the fact that I came home from work one day to find the front door to my apartment standing wide open with no sign of break-in and my computer screen, television and CD player missing only to reappear again two days later neatly stacked in front of my front door early in the morning. But most of my experience has been far less... tangible.

[Hamlet]

One of them is the fact that I came home from work one day to find the front door to my apartment standing wide open with no sign of break-in and my computer screen, television and CD player missing only to reappear again two days later neatly stacked in front of my front door early in the morning. But most of my experience has been far less... tangible.

Since most burglaries, statistically, are committed by a 17 year old boy that lives within three blocks of you; wouldn't the most logical conclusion be that his parents caught him and made him return the stuff?...or he's working his 12 step program and was trying to right a wrong?

But anyway, whatever the answers are man. Don't let the World drive you batshit. It has just as many good things in it too.

[birdgirl73]

[QUOTE=Hamlet;1043793 It has just as many good things in it too.[/QUOTE]
Indeed it does. Good morning, Hamlet!

[TJOnline]

Birdgirl and Hamlet,

Sure, life has many good things in it and one of the best is good friends. And if you ever find yourself harassed in your home with no way to stop it, you'll appreciate the good things you used to take for granted all the more.

All the best to both of you and Breukelen and Josh. Hang in there.

[TJOnline]

Birdgirl,

Just noticed your profile. I see you're an overachiever (and cute too). Reminds me of someone I used to know. More people need to know that many smokers are overachievers. In fact, it may be part of the reason why they overachieve. They just have a... positive attitude. While at Tech, I would get home from work, have a little and enjoy the flavor, and get right back to work, refreshed and revived, often well into the night. Just enough for attitude enhancement. Not enough to be seriously slowed down. Worked for me.

[birdgirl73]

Birdgirl,

Just noticed your profile. I see you're an overachiever (and cute too). Reminds me of someone I used to know. More people need to know that many smokers are overachievers. In fact, it may be part of the reason why they overachieve. They just have a... positive attitude. While at Tech, I would get home from work, have a little and enjoy the flavor, and get right back to work, refreshed and revived, often well into the night. Just enough for attitude enhancement. Not enough to be seriously slowed down. Worked for me.
Hi again, TJ. Thank you for saying such a nice thing. Yep, guilty as charged of overachieving. I'm not sure where that came from, but I think it was my parents, who were the same way.

Glad to know there are plenty of smokers who are high achievers. You're obviously very accomplished and well educated. We have an interesting mix of both overachievers and unders here on the boards.

I found weed didn't help my brain power or motivation, but I may not have been smoking the ideal strain. We were aiming to get Indica-heavy strains for medical use for my sister, and I partook of those and then wanted mostly to lie around and giggle and do little else. I went clean when school started in August and haven't had the nerve to try smoking again, but that may change. I confess I would love to feel the effects right now, just for pure relaxation, but I'm also struggling with that ethically since the ethics/honor agreement I signed at the beginning of the school term had a very specific clause about no illegal drugs. Not sure how I shall resolve this dilemma yet.

Nice talking with you!

[TJOnline]

Likewise, Birdgirl. Let us know when you finish med school.

Hamlet, I'm obviously not going to have much luck in convincing you. It wasn't some seventeen year old opportunistic burglar with a conscience, unless he was working in coordination with my then upstairs neighbor who was dropping heavy objects on his bedroom floor to keep me awake at night, who was somehow shutting my hot water off while I would shower turning the water ice cold, and who would stomp the floor above when lines of dialog on my TV like 'You loser' or 'Go kill yourself' would happen by on the radio or television broadcasts.

Let me just drive home the basic point one last time. We all know about 'cause stalkers' - people of a mostly conservative/evangelical bent who hang out and harass at abortion clinics and such to discourage people with opposing views from patronizing such places. People like that are being organized to do much more these days - being given and allowed to expoit surveillance technologies to watch their more liberal fellows in their homes and mock and harass them in-home and elsewhere in all kinds of clever ways that can't be proven and which are designed to seem like products of delusion and mental disorder. They are also sharing what they surveill and can limit access to jobs and other opportunities and generally make life hellish:

http://www.afafa.org/AFAFA_Methods_of_Attack.htm

It's a kind of psychological war going on out there. The depressing thing is that even folks like you, who are prime candidates for being targeted, remain staunchly incredulous and won't even go and sign a petition demanding that government expose and/or end that war and who, if and when you are targeted, will find yourselves just as helpless as people like me who are already targeted in that war. Some things never change.

All the best,
TJ

[Hamlet]

Sorry TJonline, but it looks like neither one of us is going to have any luck convincing one another. Listen to your story though man, and think about how it must sound. So your upstairs neighbor is stomping on the floor right on que with what's being said on the TV? And he's in cahoots with people coughing at work? If this was the most elaborate scheme in the world devised by some mastermind genius, all powerful in the mysterious ways of mind-control, it would be a multimillion dollar project they would save for someone worth terrorizing, don't you think? Like maybe Bill Gates or some politician?

Think about it man. Nixon couldn't even cover up Watergate. No one is that competent, and, excuse me if I offend, but you're just not that important.

I know evangelical/conservative types. They're dumber than a sack of rocks. All of them. They can't even keep their own affairs in order much less mastermind a superscheme against anyone else.

I know you're between a rock and a hard place. Because there are only two conclusions to draw--either all this stuff is happening with the most outrageous plots behind them and your conclusions are correct; or, you're having some health issues with mild psychosis. The second option is unacceptable to you, so you're clinging to conclusions that just aren't rational.

All I'm suggesting is getting some counseling just to put yourself at ease. It might be something as simple as sleep depravation, or you just need to get some burdens off your chest with someone you can talk to.

But anyway, we've both already come to the conclusion we can't be convinced one way or another. I'm rooting for you anyway man. Take care.

[TJOnline]

Hamlet,

Thanks for the good wishes.

Heck, Microsoft Corp, the computer, the internet and the myriad three-letter agencies of the US government are all schemes so elaborate as to seem unlikely at first glance. Your argument is like the one creationists use to try to knock down Darwinism/natural selection theory. 'Well, gee, it sounds so complex, that it couldn't just... happen.' In their wishful thinking, the creationists just gloss over the logical underpinnings behind natural selection. (Pardon me if my metaphor is a bit strained).

Dude, it's just a kind of cage that one or more of those agencies can thrust people into to punish, toss into psychiatry, knock down, surveill, etc. It's not that I'm so much important as in trouble and I'm far from the only one in that cage. Do you think one upstairs neighbor makes for an unlikely elaborate scheme? Or that people can't be organized with a few phone calls to kick some guy into shape?

That being said, there is much more to it than that and I too am amazed that something so old could remain so well submerged for so long. I chalk it up to the way that all of the means are chosen to provide no compelling proof, the relative few people in that cage and the relatively large number of people who like it and support it, consider it precious and fight to keep it secret.

We all know that our government has poured a lot of money into developing so-called 'non-lethals'. For example, if along the way they invented a way to project the perception of sound at someone using microwaves (several publically available patent documents exist). Don't you think they would find a use for it? Or would they just say, 'Oh, that's interesting.' and put it away? Plenty of people are complaining of that kind of influence, but not a damn one of them can prove it. And it's all to easy to, with a wave of the hand, chalk it up to mental disorder. So, being unprovable, all of those reports effectively just add to the public perceptions (some of them false) surrounding mental disorder.

You may have seen the politically motivated commercial with the two friends smoking together and one of them shoots the other by accident. We both know that scenario is unlikely, but that doesn't stop the anti-smoking lobby from advancing a kind of politically motivated fiction for strategic purposes. Much the same has happened in conjunction with that 'cage'.

Take care.

[TJOnline]

Hamlet,

What you or someone else on this forum could expect is more or less as follows:

Say you were dealing or were just a regular buyer. One day, you might find a deck of cards left at your doorstep or maybe a dead bird, people following you in their cars or maybe giving you the finger while passing you on the road or giggling or coughing while passing you in public. Because surveilling you in your home and elsewhere is part of it, you could then expect people here and there to make sly references to anything you might do or say in the privacy of your home (particularly embarassing or personal things). They would do anything they could do to make it hurt and they would do it in such a way that you couldn't really prove anything or claim harassment. They might escalate it to the point of 'jabbering' at you in your home using microwave voce-to-skull or what I call 'click messaging' (making click, thump, light flicker or even the sensation of bee stings upon your body in conjunction with words and phrases that crop up in the radio or television broadcast stream) - utterly unprovable. They might start shutting off your power for short periods. Many people, not knowing what they're going through, get paranoid and fearful as hell. In any case, you would soon get quite sick of it. And there would be absolutely nothing you could do about it. No recourse to law, no warrants, no defense lawyers. Nothing. You would simply suffer until you choose to obey. If you would scoff and say, 'nah, noone's going to go to the trouble', just remember that there are plenty of conservative types that hate you and me and just love to take part in such harassment tactics and do it for fun. If you would scoff and say, 'Nah, they can't do that. It's illegal.' Oh yes they can too. What's to stop them?

If you choose to disregard my warnings, go ahead, but don't blame me if you get bitten in the future. If you want to know what simple things folks like you can do to help avoid that kind of future, just ask. I'll be happy to show you.

Regards.

[Hamlet]

When I was in the fifth grade me and some friends wemt on a shoplifting spree. My family spent the summer in Texas and at the time that State was having a big 'Shoplifting Propaganda' campaign running. You know the handcuffs posters, tv ads with Suzy getting caught in the crackdown (pic. of Suzy with black tape on her eyes).

I was guilt-ridden and horrified. The one that got me was an ad talking about 'the new XR surveilence camera--you can't see it, but it can see you!" I was certain all those stores had me on film and I was going to jail when I got back to Colorado. I was a wreck...I couldn't turn on the tv without seeing one of those ads. Couldn't go in a store without a handcuff poster there or feeling like everyone was watching me.

When we returned to Colorado in the fall I knew I was doomed. Every time the phone rang my heart was in my throat. I knew the next call would be for me.

Sure enough, one day I was home alone and the phone rang. "This is Officer 'so-and-so'...Is your mother there?!" I damn near died. He left a number and told me to have her call him back.

I decided to face my sins and give my mom the message. I knew I was busted. The call was about some little bastard stealing our gas cap off our car and having to return it. Of all the times for that to happen-just when I'm crapping my pants in guilt and fear whenever the phone rang.

Anyway, that long boring story was to illustrate what your mind can do. I've been there several times in my life and it always works the same way. I'm a skeptic on the ESP stuff but if there is such a thing I almost think this kind of emotional energy actually makes syncronicities happen. No one is behind it..no plots or subterfuge...just all that emotional mayhem playing hell on what you're noticing.

[birdgirl73]

That was not a long, boring reply. I enjoyed it a lot. How long before you felt relieved of your anxiety after the cop phone call about the other matter?

[Breukelen advocaat]

I had paranoid episodes years ago, and was lucky not to have a nervous breakdown. I was working the graveyard shift, often totally alone, in a large NYC business. Being on that schedule, combined with several undiagnosed illness', pushed me into a similar mindset as described here. Due to my delusions, I ended up making irrational statements to higher-ups, became confused and despondent, and resigned. Fortunately, I quickly got a 9-5 job at another company and recovered my sanity (for the most part). :D

[TJOnline]

If you have difficulty believing me, I understand. But perhaps some others can convince you. By the way, I don't believe in natural ESP for a minute either:

Thomas Dolby on media 'mirroring', equipment manipulation and so-called 'remote viewing':

She's caught up in traffic
and I'm on her radio
Carve her legend on the bow - Caroline four-five-two
When they come to call for her I will be there too...
What's wrong with the parking meter? What's happening to me?
Oh to paint her eyes so red and her lips so blue.
Raise her likeness on the mast. Caroline four-five-two.


Thomas Dolby on 'street theater':

What was that name you called me?
What was that grin you grinned?
An expression so uncertain
That breaks a line so thin


Thomas Dolby on creative media MC:

People never read the airwaves.
Do we only feed the airwaves?
I really should have seen through the airwaves.
Electric fences line our new freeway.
Dama said to take the airwaves.


Thomas Dolby on what it feels like:

Private hell...
Now there's only you


Talking Heads:

Peace of mind
Piece of cake
Thought control
You get on board anytime you like
Like sittin' on pins and needles
Things fall apart, it's scientific


Black Crows:

Says she talks to angels.
They call her out by her name.
She pulls those shades down tight.
She smiles when the pain comes.


Sting of the Police:

Young teacher
The subject
Of schoolgirl fantasy
Roxanne
You don't have to put out the red light
You don't have to sell your body to the night
Every breath you take
Every move you make
I'll be watching you
When you've made your secret journey
You will be a holy man
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives its heat to everyone


The techno band X-Dream:

Monitoring devices know where you go. Mass media. Total control.
Digital delight. Desire in megabyte.
Data overflow. Virtual suicide.
This information is disinformation.
Truth is hidden. Knowledge forbidden.
Structures, power, (to) delegate.
To speak is to lie. To lie is to collaborate.
Information streams. Simulating dreams.
Interactive mind control. Systemmatic overthrow.
We interface. We interface. We interface.
Monitoring devices know where you go.
Public mind. Propaganda show.
Magnetic sleep. Network addiction.
Be absorbed. Science fiction.
It's psychological. Diabolical.
Society's brain-washed hospital.
The sun never sets on cyberspace.
Transmit. Receive. Log on to interface.


X-Dream's X-Ray Eyes:

This is a promise. This is a threat. X-Ray eyes.
Public device capturing your mind.
Brain scanning machines discerning thoughts.
Original blueprints. Replicating imprints.
X-ray eyes are electric.
X-ray eyes analyze.
X-ray eyes strike the target.
X-ray eyes read your mind.


Harvey Danger - Paranoia:

I had visions, I was in them, I was looking into the mirror,
I'm not sick but I'm not well and I'm so hot cause I'm in hell....
Put me in the hospital for nerves and then they had to commit me.
You told them all I was crazy, they cut off my legs now I'm an amputee, goddamn you
I want to publish zines and rage against machines,
Paranoia paranoia everybody's comin' to get me,
Just say you never met me,
Hear the voices in my head, I swear to God it sounds like their snoring,
The agony and the irony it's killing me!


Audioslave - Like A Stone:

On a cold wet afternoon no room for love and emptiness
By a freeway
I confess I was lost in the pages


U2 - Running to Stand Still:

You've got to cry without weeping
Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice.
You know I took the poison from the poisoned stream
And I throwed it out of here.


U2 - Walk On:

You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen
A singing bird in an open cage


U2 - Vertigo:

Hello hello.
There's a place called vertigo.
It's everything I wish I didn't know.
But you give me something I can feel.


Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel:

Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing stretching every nerve
Had to listen had no choice
I did not believe the information
Just had to trust imagination
To keepin' silence I resigned
My friends would think I was a nut
When illusion spin her net
I'm never where I want to be
And liberty she pirouette
When I think that I am free
Watched by empty silhouettes
Who close their eyes but still can see

[Breukelen advocaat]

If you have difficulty believing me, I understand. But perhaps some others can convince you. By the way, I don't believe in natural ESP for a minute either:

Those are just song lyrics, not a justification for anything.

During the period that I wrote about in the above post, I actually believed that people, and agencies, were out to "get" me. It seemed like there were hidden clues everywhere. Living alone, working nights, bad nutrition, and health problems put me on a collision course with myself. That was over 20 years ago, and I'm still here - and doing better than ever.

If you can admit that your own mind is at least partially responsible for your situation, you will be on the way to recovery. You have developed belief systems that are irrational. You must learn to DISPUTE them, with rational thinking, over and over until it is apparent what reality consists of. This is the only way that you'll get better. If you donâ??t believe me, try it - and if Iâ??m wrong, it wonâ??t hurt anything. Logic will show you that the truth can be found by controlling your thoughts. It can be done. I would recommend Albert Ellis' books. He is the founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy.

[TJOnline]

Those are just song lyrics, not a justification for anything.

Yes, they are just song lyrics. But actually they ARE a justification for MC, because they almost always link some form of sin or trangression to hints of MC tactics and tech. Strong supporters of MC in the media love particularly to marry hints of child abuse to hints about the tech and tactics of MC. It's the best sales tactic possible. And it has worked wonders.

During the period that I wrote about in the above post, I actually believed that people, and agencies, were out to "get" me. It seemed like there were hidden clues everywhere. Living alone, working nights, bad nutrition, and health problems put me on a collision course with myself. That was over 20 years ago, and I'm still here - and doing better than ever.

There ARE hidden clues everywhere. Both from people who have been bitten by MC and don't wish to talk plainly about their experience (for fear of being labeled a nut, of being embarassed, etc.) and who are supporters of MC and know that hints and innuendo are ultimately more useful in advancing MC than plain facts. Both ends of the spectrum ultimately seem to serve the same purpose - entrenching, protecting and selling MC.

If you can admit that your own mind is at least partially responsible for your situation, you will be on the way to recovery. You have developed belief systems that are irrational.

It's not my mind that's responsible for my situation, it's more likely my behavior (particularly past behaviors) that set the jaws upon me. Irrational? No. Actually, what I've been telling you guys is quite logical and rational, complete with opportunity and motive. It's just unprovable. Can you not see why such a system would exist in the first place?

With all due respect, Breukelen, there's a fool born every minute. You remind me of my French colleague who would come up with just about the most unlikely sleep-walking scenario one could imagine to explain the disappearance and reappearance of my equipment, just so that he could hold on to his precious little view of the world, even though my own explanation was much more likely. As for your experience, maybe you WERE being given the treatment. The best question is probably, 'What were you doing at the time that might have gotten the jaws clamped down upon you?'.

TJ

[Myth1184]

Georgia Tech is a Ivy League school, and you admitting to smoking pot would be grounds for termination. Oh...and on a side note...Ga Tech Sucks....UGA!!!

[TJOnline]

Myth,

You are mistaken! Georgia Tech is NOT an ivy league school! It is a kudzoo league school.

I only admitted to smoking pot well after termination. Isn't smoking pot grounds for a UGA scholarship?? :-)

Yes, Georgia Tech does suck! UGA looks like much more fun. Youall have so many beautiful women there! Tech is just beginning to realize that it's no longer an all male military institute (though it's still a 'military institute'). I'm quite fond of Athens and its influence on popular music (listening to the B-52s right now).

TJ