Excuses and Manipulations in Mind Control
 
Rationalizing Away Torture
- Post-hoc rationalizations.  Most of the rationalizations are of
   this sort, but it is included as a separate item.  Basically a person is
   selected for torture and surveillance for whatever real reason is involved
   -- classified work, they are presumed subversive, they are a random experimental 
   subject, etc. -- and then one objective of the surveillance is to come up
   with plausible lies about why the surveillance was begun in the first place.
   
 - Pretend it is a battle between equals.  Act like this is some struggle
   between equals, a sporting event, or even a war between two armies.  Never express
   the reality that this is a military and intelligence attack against civilians
   in their homes using advanced weaponry.  
   
 - Demonize the victims.  Pretend the victims were terrible people, who
   deserve what they got, and from whom the public needs to be protected.  Portray
   domestic repression as a ``good'' sort of government vigilante action.
   Choose one or two victims in particular to smear.  An individual cannot begin
   to counter a huge, behind-the-scenes smear campaign -- especially when coupled
   with torture -- and all the other victims will be smeared by association.
   
 - Compare adult citizens to children.  The paternalistic approach to
   justifying torture.  Claim that these people do not know what is best for them and cannot
   make their own decisions.  If we have to abuse and violate these people it
   is only tough love.  If they demand their basic human rights it only shows
   how childlike and naive they are.
   
 - This information is too valuable to give up.  The Nazi medical data excuse.
   This research is necessary for national security, for the medical and psychological 
   data we obtain, and any other information we steal.  To protect freedom and uphold
   the Constitution, some citizens must be summarily enslaved and tortured.
   
 - ``She wanted it.''  Like the excuse of the rapist, pretend the victims
   really wanted the ``attention'' of the mind controllers.  This is especially good
   if Stockholm syndrome can be induced in the victim.
   
 - Medieval doctor syndrome.  Torture and traumatize the victim into a terrible
   state.  Back off the overt harassment a bit.  If the victim gets better, claim you
   cured them.  You were only ``helping'' them all along.  (``The lobotomy cured the
   patient's hyperactivity.'')
   
 - Spread the blood around.The more people who can be made to take part in the 
   crimes, the more support there is for covering
   them up and continuing them. Spread around the ``spoils'' of the torture. 
   Give foreign governments and intelligence agencies some of
   the data and technology.  Encourage the general public to participate 
   in the harassment and torture of the victims. 
   
 - Appeal to the status quo.  Point to how things are now.  Claim that surely
   things would be worse if the secret atrocities had not been committed.  Present some
   ludicrous and dubious scenarios that ``might have happened'' if the Bill of Rights
   had stood in the way.  (The same sort of approach can be taken to show why the 
   secret crimes cannot possibly be exposed...)
   
 - The victims are only in it for the money.  This absurd claim can aid in turning
   the public against the victims, and can even sow dissension among the victims.
   People are always suspicious of their purse-strings, and many are just greedy.
   This claim ignores the fact the most victims first want the torture to stop,
   and then want to see some sort of justice done.  With the facts out, any claims
   for compensation can be rationally considered in the open.  (Calling compensation
   for years of torture and abuse ``welfare'' is another way to belittle the victims.)
   
 - It's not really that bad.  The current American-style system of political
   imprisonment and harassment has evolved precisely to evoke that sort of reaction
   from Americans.  As such, it is in many ways a reflection of our society.  The
   system, at the same time, has also evolved to maximize the trauma and terror 
   experienced by the victims.  It really is that bad.  Victims have to live under
   constant surveillance for 24 hours a day.  They never know when they might be
   killed or have their brains fried into retardation.  They cannot trust their
   own thoughts because their minds have been repeatedly violated.  It is 
   like being a chimpanzee in an aversive conditioning lab with an electrode in the
   brain.  This is carried out in the context of purposely induced trauma and human
   social ridicule.
   
Denying the Problem
 - The victims are crazy, the weapons do not exist.  The standard lines.
   Repeat every step of the way.  Put the burden of proof on the victim to
   explain all the technology developed in secret, black projects, and to explain exactly
   how the effects they experience each day are being caused.  Use techniques that
   mimic mental illness and counter every claim of harassment with a dismissive
   ``paranoid schizophrenia.''  If some weapons are shown to exist, claim that the
   government never built any such weapons.  If the government is shown to possess
   such weapons, claim that they would never, ever use them in the way that has been
   alleged.
   
 - Silence the whistleblowers.  Harass them.  Destroy their careers.  Threaten
   their families.  Make them the next victims.
   
 - ``Chomskyize'' the whistleblowers.  If someone cannot be intimidated, if
   they are too well-known, and if their careers cannot be completely ruined, ignore them.
   That is, actively ignore them.  If too many of their facts and analyses 
   cannot be refuted, then they are left out of the debate.  Everything proceeds as if
   the person had never said anything.
   
 - Claim, ``the system works.''  Repeat this again and again to make it more true.
   Sure there are some problems, but the system is working.  You just need to follow
   channels, hire lawyers, and lobby for your cause (even if that cause is stopping 
   the torture of American citizens by their government).  Some of these things are worth
   doing, but not because the system works.  The system only works to maintain the 
   status quo.  In intelligence matters, even more than others, the system is corrupt to
   the point where it is simply evil.  Intelligence agencies routinely lie, even to
   Congress, which may or may not be aware of it.
   
Manipulating and Turning Away From Individual Victims
 - Straightforward harassment.  Death threats, threats against family and friends,
   surveillance, ridicule, attempts to demean, rumormongering.  Attacks with secret
   weapons inside the home, harassment on the street.  Psychological warfare attacks,
   especially with feedback from surveillance.  This is a chapter in itself.
   
 - Aww, poor baby.  You went and got yourself tortured.  You must have done
   something to deserve it.  This really fits in with the demeaning aspects above,
   but I've put it here because it illustrates an attitude that extends beyond just
   the harassers.
   
 - Call the victim naive.  Imply that the harassment is normal, and that the
   victim should have known that all along.  ``The natural order of things'' and other
   such supremacist crap.  Everybody knows -- but at the same time it is not happening
   at all and the victim is crazy.
   
 - If only you hadn't done that!  Imply that help is on the way, and that
   you have the power to aid the victim.  Build up the sense that help is just
   around the corner.  Watch the victim, and when they do something you want to
   train them out of, cry, ``If only you hadn't done that!''  That is, no help
   will be forthcoming, and now it is the victim's fault.  This works well with good cop/bad 
   cop routines.  It also works well in conjunction with other harassment.  If the victim
   is really desperate, traumatized, and in fear for their life it can work over and
   over again.
   
 - If only you would do this...  If only the victim would modify his or her life
   in the prescribed way, then the harassment would stop or the rescuers could help.
   This is direct behavior modification:  Only by conforming and following orders can
   you be free.  Once you change one thing, there is always another.  Later on, the
   ``rescuers'' may say, ``We cannot help you, but aren't you so much better off for following
   our directions?''  The fact that you cooperated with harassers posing as rescuers
   may be used to imply that you consented to the harassment.
   
 - The harassers need to save face.  This is used to get victims to back off
   from their complaints, and to get activists to tone down their activities.
   The claim is that somehow things will be magically worked out behind the scenes
   if only the torturers could do it in a face-saving way.  The fact that this has
   not happened in fifty years is not mentioned.  It is basically a lie to stall
   for time, and stonewalling and delay is the preferred technique of escaping
   accountability.  I call a Nazi a Nazi.
   
 - You have to wait in line.  The implication is that there is some secret
   process of justice working behind the scenes, and your turn is coming.  You are
   selfish for wanting to jump ahead in line!  This system is overloaded (which is no excuse,
   even if such a system did exist) but if you put up with torture for a few more years you
   may come to the top of the list.  See u above.