Covert vs. Overt Mind Control, and The New York Times

 

OPEN LETTER in response to The New York Times journalist who wrote article on “mind control.”

The NY Times article by Sarah Kershaw (12 November 2008) is about the interest in covert mind control, click here to read it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/fashion/13psych.html?partner=rss&emc=rss 

Below is my open letter to Ms. Kershaw, and you are welcome to e-mail her your own civil comments. Feel free to forward. You may also e-mail a letter to editor of NY Times here: letters@nytimes.com At the bottom is my own letter to editor of NY Times.
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From: David Oaks – MindFreedom
Date: November 14, 2008 9:10:04 AM PST
To: kershaw@nytimes.com
Cc: Benedict Carey bencarey@nytimes.com
Subject: blind spot in media coverage

Dear Ms. Kershaw,

I read your article published in NY Times about individuals who believe they are being targeted by covert “mind control.”

I bring your attention to a blind spot in the mainstream media:

Actual, documented, overt psychiatric human rights violations right here in the USA.

See our web site https://mindfreedom.org about Ray Sandford, who receives involuntary electroshock every Wednesday morning, escorted from his home under court order. I talk with Ray on the phone. So far no corporate media have covered this.

I well remember when we had a campaign on another individual — google Paul Henri Thomas electroshock.

The NY Times had an article about forced electroshock in CHINA the very same week Mr. Thomas was receiving forced electroshock only a few miles away from the NY Times office, totally documented and above board. Thankfully, Newsday covered our campaign.

Every week probably I get a call from someone who feels targeted by covert “mind control.” We have to explain that we only have the resources to work on overt, documented problems.

I realize quite a few of the individuals calling about implanted chips, rays, etc. are not actually being targeted in the way they believe. I still try to be very respectful, because back in the 1970’s I experienced mental health problems and know what that’s like (I falsely believed the CIA was making my teeth grow).

And of course, there’s the fact that our government has had a documented history in the past of funding such efforts, so we can’t dismiss 100 percent of all claims. After all, the CIA was successfully sued by Canadian subjects of MK-ULTRA. If such a victim had called the media instead of suing, they probably would have been dismissed out of hand.

Another interesting issue is that if someone with a false beliefs of mind control ACTS on it,  for instance denouncing an innocent neighbor, it is they who are at risk of becoming a violator of human rights (if from nothing else, then defamation).

These are all fascinating questions for folks to consider around their breakfast table reading the NY Times. Go to a quirky bookstore, and you’ll find far more books on these kinds of “black bag” covert issues, then the kind of issues we see harming people, openly, by the thousands every day.

For 32 years I’ve worked as a community organizer in this field focusing on documented, overt human rights violations like Ray Sandford is experiencing every Wednesday.

Where is the corporate media coverage? You’ll see some on our web site https://mindfreedom.org, click on media and then the link for media articles about us. [Or go directly to media articles involving MFI by clicking here.]

But the mainstream media has a blind spot about this topic, especially when it happens in the USA.

You have a great mental health writer there at the NY Times, Ben Carey, who has done some superb journalism. But when it comes to evidence of neuroleptic-induced brain damage (actual measurable shrinkage of frontal lobes), he has pulled back, and refuses so far to examine this “greenhouse crisis” of the mental health system (made worse by the fact that these are the drugs often given coercively). Some issues are “too much” for mainstream media. So far. I’ll copy this to Ben.

For those interested, there are plenty of overt, documented questions in this field. For instance, University of Pennsylvania announced they are working on plastic disks that an be implanted with a single stitch to give off neuroleptics for many months to aid in “compliance.” There are profound ethical issues.

But every day, thousands upon thousands of Americans are being court ordered to take neuroleptic drugs right now, against their will, in and out of institutions. And where is the media coverage about the — literally speaking — lobotomy effect? Thus the public and decision-makers do not know.

Now the same thing is happening with Mr. Sandford. Every week he gets his forced electroshock, escorted FROM HIS HOME, coerced by court order. And the media stands silent as their neighbor is rounded up for one of the most intrusive procedures in medicine.

Sincerely,

David W. Oaks, Executive Director
MindFreedom International

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MY LETTER TO EDITOR OF NY TIMES (not yet published)

[144 words]

Dear Editor,

People alleging on the Internet that they are targets of covert mind control is a fascinating topic, and I appreciate Sarah Kershaw’s balanced exploration of the phenomenon (Sharing Their Demons on the Web, 12 November 2008).

For 32 years I’ve worked as a community organizer on the issue of overt, documented human rights violations by the mental health system, such as improper involuntary electroshock, psychiatric drugging, restraints and solitary confinement.

The puzzle for me is why both mainstream and fringe media tend to be more interested in undocumented rather than documented allegations of mind control.

Of course, instances of covert government mind control such as MK-ULTRA have been proven and these deserve everyone’s attention. However, where is the media attention to the countless human beings with proven allegations of being openly harmed by a global emergency of human rights violations in mental health care?

Sincerely,

David W. Oaks, Executive Director
MindFreedom International
454 Willamette, Suite 216 – POB 11284
Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

web: https://mindfreedom.org
email: oaks@mindfreedom.org
office phone: (541) 345-9106