Hi ! Below please find a letter to the editor recently published in the Hartford Advocate. It is in reply to: the article "Losing Our Minds - Many Americans believe in government conspiracies -- and why not?!" by Christina V. Tormey at http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/articles/conspiracies.html First is the edited letter actually printed, second is the original letter I sent. Sincerely, Neil Brick Hartford Advocate - www.hartfordadvocate.com - Vol. 27, No. 21, May 25, 2000 - Pg. 3 (Letters to the editor are not listed at the URL.) Who's Crazy? I was very disappointed by the article, "Losing Our Minds" by Christina V. Tormey, (Hartford Advocate, 3/2/00). In my opinion, Ms. Tormey uses several propaganda techniques. She uses the words, "crazy" and "paranoid" to describe Ms. Taylor and her story. The usage of negative names, intentional or unintentional, is to discredit the person they are being used on, without discussing the facts of the debate or topic. Nowhere in the article is there an investigation of the facts of Ms. Taylor's life. Nowhere in the article does she mention reports similar to Ms. Taylor's that would have corroborated much of what she said. She also only presents one side of the argument of the recovered memory debate. I do appreciate the fact that she mentions the fact that MK-ULTRA existed, a fact well documented and corroborated by congressional testimony and court hearings. Unfortunately, she concludes that these experiments were ended in the 60's, a supposition totally unproven and contradicted by the numerous survivor stories of the last ten years. She also seems to ignore the huge amounts of data given to her that back up the existence of repressed memory and its recovery as well as the accuracy of a great deal of this data. She states, "Instead memories are easily distorted after an event, simply by a suggestive question." Much of the data to back this up has been critiqued. Furthermore, this has not been found to apply to traumatic memory, since traumatic memory is believed to be stored differently in the brain. For those that are interested in hearing the other side of the story about ritual abuse, mind control and recovered memory, one that has many peer reviewed studies, court cases and anecdotal data to back it up, visit: <http://members.aol.com/smartnews/research.html>. Or to hear about several well documented legal cases pertaining to this issue, visit <http://members.aol.com/smartnews/fivecases.htm>. It is unfortunate that for the most part, only one side of the argument was presented in this article. I believe this kind of article will only hurt those still going through and recovering from child abuse, ritual abuse and mind control. Neil Brick editor of S.M.A.R.T. Newsletter Original letter sent, before edits: Letter to the editor of the Hartford Advocate, I am writing this letter in response to the article, "Many Americans believe in government conspiracies - and why not ?!" by Christina V. Tormey, 3/2/00. I apologize for the lateness of my reply, but I believe I was told that I would be notified when the article would be published, and to the best of my knowledge, I never was. I was very disappointed by the article written by Ms. Tormey. In my opinion, Ms. Tormey uses several propaganda techniques. She uses the words, "crazy" and "paranoid" to describe Ms. Taylor and her story. The usage of negative names, intentional or unintentional, is to discredit the person they are being used on, without discussing the facts of the debate or topic. Nowhere in the article is there an investigation of the facts of Ms. Taylor's life. Nowhere in the article does she mention reports similar to Ms. Taylor's that would have corroborated much of what she said. She also only presents one side of the argument of the recovered memory debate. I do appreciate the fact that she mentions the fact that MK-ULTRA existed, a fact well documented and corroborated by congressional testimony and court hearings. Unfortunately, she concludes that these experiments were ended in the 60's, a supposition totally unproven and contradicted by the numerous survivor stories of the last ten years. She also seems to ignore the huge amounts of data given to her that back up the existence of repressed memory and its recovery as well as the accuracy of a great deal of this data. She states, "Instead memories are easily distorted after an event, simply by a suggestive question." Much of the data to back this up has been critiqued. Furthermore, this has not been found to apply to traumatic memory, since traumatic memory is believed to be stored differently in the brain. >From "Memory, Trauma Treatment and the Law," by Brown, Schefflin and Hammond, "Claims about memory fallibility are only valid, when considered in terms of the type of memory assessed....More sophisticated studies that clearly distinguish between plot-relevant central information....have clearly demonstrated that memory is well and accurately retained for the gist of a central action...even over long retention intervals." The base rates in adult misinformation studies run between zero and 5 percent for adults and between 3 - 5 percent for children. From "From Ground Lost: The False Memory/Recovered Memory Debate" by Alan Scheflin, "although science in limited on this issue, the only three relevant studies conclude that repressed memories are no more and no less accurate than continuous memories...Thus courts and therapists should consider repressed memories no differently than they consider ordinary memories." Occasional suggestions about abuse are not generally effective, except in highly suggestible people. Most people would almost have to be in a cult or in a cult like situation or under considerable duress to produce an untrue memory. But, if all the information in the media and society available to most survivors is biased toward the incorrect position that many memories of abuse are false. And a survivor is manipulated and pressured by their family emotionally and cognitively, it is very possible that a survivor may wrongly believe that their memories are not true. Several of the statements made in the last part of the article are totally unproven, including one statement that verbal persuasion is more effective in terms of mind control than overt torture. Is someone's memory simply a delusion because the hearer doesn't believe it, possibly due to lack of experience or knowledge of the topic? Is it appropriate to psychoanalysis someone simply on the basis of their story, without checking out the facts first ? For those that are interested in hearing the other side of the story about ritual abuse, mind control and recovered memory, one that has many peer reviewed studies, court cases and anecdotal data to back it up, visit: http://members.aol.com/smartnews/research.html. Or to hear about several well documented legal cases pertaining to this issue, http://members.aol.com/smartnews/fivecases.htm or write [EMAIL PROTECTED] and I will be more than happy to forward pertinent data. It is unfortunate that for the most part, only one side of the argument was presented in this article. I believe this kind of article will only hurt those still going through and recovering from child abuse, ritual abuse and mind control. Sincerely, Neil Brick (Conference Coordinator for The Third Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference, and editor of S.M.A.R.T. Newsletter) <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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