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.