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Your Brain on Gang Stalking Conspiracy Theories |
For this post, and maybe several more to follow, I'd like to take the time to talk about a little known subculture in the internet conspiracy theory world known as Targeted Individuals, or TI's for short.
First, allow me to get you all up to date on the jargon used by them so that there isn't any misunderstanding later on. A Targeted Individual is a person who believes, for whatever reasons, that they are being targeted by a group of people who conspire to make their lives a living hell. They call these people Gang Stalkers or Organized Stalkers.
TI's usually believe that the gang stalkers are apart of an even bigger conspiracy involving the Illuminati, New World Order, CIA, NSA, Homeland Security, and so on. Some even believe that these stalkers are supernatural, and work for Satan personally.
A lot of them believe that the gang stalkers have access to exotic military grade weaponry capable of beaming voices into their heads, known as V2K (voice to skull ), or are "zapping" them with EMF, which stands for Electro Magnetic Frequency.
A few of them even suggest the use of aluminum foil on their heads as shielding from these weapons, even though an MIT study has proven that their protective head gear might in fact amplify some frequencies.
Some even go further than that, and deck the entire house with various metals and aluminum foil to protect themselves from electronic attack, like this individual known on youtube as Vulcan Wolverine.
Some targeted individuals even claim that a person wearing a certain color, or driving a certain color vehicle are paid by the powers that be to stalk them. Certain gestures like scratching your nose, coughing/sneezing, or yawning are believed to be tools of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).
http://www.stopeg.com/ (scroll down to the all caps GANG STALKING = ORGANIZED MURDER part for more examples of alleged gang stalker tactics)
Targeted Individuals rarely, if ever, believe only in just this single conspiracy theory. A belief in a global conspiracy to rule the world is almost always a prerequisite to being a targeted individual. Experts have weighed in on how these communities reinforce each other's paranoid delusions.
Quote from the article: “The views of these belief systems are like a shark that has to be constantly fed,” Dr. Hoffman said. “If you don’t feed the delusion, sooner or later it will die out or diminish on its own accord. The key thing is that it needs to be repetitively reinforced.” And that is exactly what this conspiracy theory subculture does. They even go so far as to actively discourage others from seeking psychiatric help, because they believe that the psychiatric industry is in on the conspiracy. https://sites.google.com/site/targetedindividuals101/health-issues-1
http://psychologyharass.wordpress.com/category/gang-stalking/
At the 15:00 minute mark in this video He talks about how he is refusing to take the medication prescribed to him.
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These screen shots come from the "Targeted Individuals International" group on Facebook, the very same group Myron May was a member of... | | |
They refuse to acknowledge the most likely possibility is that there is a mental issue of some sort, and if they do actually acknowledge any issues, they only do so by claiming it was caused by the gang stalkers.
Trying to reason with targeted individuals can be extremely frustrating. They will claim that you are a gang stalker too if you call any of their claims into question, express doubt, or ask to see tangible proofs of the stalking taking place.
This can have a negative effect on the TI's relationships with family and friends. Because they believe that everyone is against them somehow, the ones who genuinely are concerned and want to help them as much as possible will be considered enemies.
Trying to reason with them can often be counter-productive, and might lead to the TI burying themselves even further into paranoia, and might make them refuse to communicate with you further, making any attempt to help them nigh impossible unless you can prove they are a danger to themselves or others.
(testimonial from a person whose wife believes in gang stalking)
(a targeted individual talking about how his immediate family members were his gang stalkers under the employ of the local police)
Conspiracy theorists in general typically react to anyone doubting the theories in a similar way, accusing them of being paid agents/provocateurs and so on. The difference is, the conspiracy theorist is protecting their ideological beliefs, the targeted individual is protecting their paranoid delusional perceptions of reality.
Sometimes it is a lot easier to convince yourself that you are the target of a vast conspiracy, than it is to simply admit you might be wrong.
So how does a TI deal with their persecution delusions? Some handle it by going on the internet and joining the various online communities that focus on "supporting" targeted individuals. Some write blogs, some make videos, some make comic strips, some write e-books, and some make websites. There are also some who handle it in a completely unproductive manner that usually lands them in a bad situation, e.g. being committed to a mental institution.
Take this video for example.
He goes out into his front yard and begins shouting about how his neighbors are attacking him with stolen military equipment. The gentleman in question previous to making this video had a gun pulled on him by his neighbor for pulling similar stunts, and to be honest, I can't blame the neighbor for doing that.
I can't recall the exact videos, but this guy claimed before that he had been committed to a mental institution at least twice in the past. Some of these people can and WILL get violent, which I will show examples of later in this post.
Before I get into the meat of this post, I just want to make one thing clear. Gang stalking DOES exist, but not in the type of way these people are talking about. In the past, the KGB and the Stasi used similar tactics on their political opponents. COINTELPRO was also very similar. There is also work-place mobbing, members of street gangs who will harass, stalk, and kill former members, and generally spite filled people who don't like you and want to pick on you for some percieved slight against them.
For instance, Christian Weston Chandler, an internet personality known for being a whacky autistic man with a heart of gold, was the target of a conspiracy organized by trolls to ruin his life. (go do your research on him, this cwcki is an authority on all things Chrischan. http://sonichu.com/cwcki/Main_Page)
These are genuine instances where gang stalking has occured, and there is a plethora of evidence to back it up when it does happen. Except, the majority of the people making gang stalking claims now rarely, if ever, have proof that this is indeed happening to them. Somehow, through impressive mental gymnastics, the lack of evidence proves that powerful forces are seeing to it that evidence never sees the light of day.
If evidence surfaces that proves their claims wrong, they see this as further evidence that powerful forces are fabricating plausible, but still false, data. After all, these powerful forces control the media, government, and so on; obviously the truth will never see the light of day, right? "They" will invent and plant new evidence to make their accusers look discredited, or ridiculous, as if the TI's aren't doing that well enough on their own (e.g., the guy above shouting about his neighbors "zapping" him with electronic weaponry, or stuffing his shirts full of aluminum polyester)
With that said, meet Myron May. Myron May claimed he was a targeted individual. He belonged to a Facebook group named "Targeted Individuals International". He recently asked the group a question that SHOULD HAVE set off red flags for everyone in that group. He asked, "...has anyone here ever encouraged by your handler to kill with a promise of freedom?".
Apparently, not one person in that group thought that question was an odd one to ask. Soon after this he sent out various packages to people, and then after conducting his preparations, Myron May went to Florida State University with the intent to kill. He wounded three, and was killed by the police. One of the people he sent a package to was Renee Pittman Mitchell. She also considers herself to be a Targeted Individual. Hours before he opened fire at the Florida State University library,Myron May left a desperate voicemail for her with this plea: "I do not want to die in vain." She said that after their initial conversations, she became wary of Myron May, concerned that he might be what she called an "impostor." Instead of getting Myron May the appropriate help he needed, she instead let her paranoid delusion that he might be an "impostor" get the better of her judgement. Perhaps she could've prevented this somehow if she didn't assume that he was an impostor, rather than a person crying out for help. Included in the package she and nine others received, was a letter.
In this letter, he implied that he intended to die, and become a martyr for targeted individuals when he said, "Lastly, please whisper a prayer for my soul. I am still a believer and honestly feel there is no hope for me. Consequently, I am making a sacrifice so that others in my same position might have a chance at a normal, harassment-free life. I realize that my methods are not the best selection and probably will not be perceived as the selection of a Christ follower. But I have prayed incessantly for months to no avail. There are targeted individuals that have endured this torture for decades without any relief. And what targeted individuals need more than anything is media attention."
I can not imagine why none of the recipients of this letter didn't do or say anything to anyone about it. Whether the recipients, like Renee Pittman Mitchell, believed him to be an "impostor" or not, it should've been taken to the authorities. Renee Pittman Mitchell also hosts the public Freedom From Covert Harassment and Surveillance conference calls on talkshoe.com, and they had at least one show discussing Myron May and making excuses for what he did. I recommend listening to it if you have about 4-5 hours to kill.
The members of that group have now erected an "RIP Myron May" page, full of martyr worship by the targeted individual community. A large portion of them believe this event was an 'inside job', perpetrated by the very same people who are targeting them. They aren't alone in this belief, because now there is cross-pollination between the TI community and conspiracy theorist communities as a whole. If you type "Myron May" into the YouTube search bar, you will find that the majority of the videos in the results are conspiracy theory oriented. The only ones that aren't conspiracy oriented are the clips of news reports about the event. Before the dust has even settled, conspiracy theorists leapt on this like white on rice. And as usual, no evidence is provided, only speculation presented as if it were fact.
(Here's a drinking game, take a shot every time he makes a claim without providing evidence. On second thought, don't do it. You will 100% die from alcohol poisoning)
Myron May was also trying to start a law suit on behalf of the TI's in that group, which lead to the group believing that he was killed or "MK'd" (a reference to Project MK ULTRA) in order to stop the law suit from going forward. Never mind the fact that several people in the past have done the exact same thing, and didn't get killed (http://bit.ly/1taTySM). Never mind the fact that he was trying to kill people when he got shot down by the police. No, it must be a conspiracy. Targeted Individuals never lash out violently or anything, right?
Wrong...
Meet exhibit A; "Richard" from Port Alberni, British Columbia.
Richard's current whereabouts are currently unknown, he has not posted to his youtube channel in over two years. He is, like most TI's, pretty unhinged in his videos. Even in the videos in which he appears calm, there seems to be a torrent of emotions boiling over under the surface. Here, I link you to his recollection of events that occurred while he was out driving one day, and to make a long story short, ended in him grabbing a random person and screaming in their face about how he knows they are a stalker. This story was delivered across three videos, but every minute is worth watching if you want to gain insight into what he went through that day, and the events that transpired afterwards.
In these videos, he narrates as if it was aimed at his wife and children who seem to have left him after what occurred. He is trying to convince them he isn't crazy, despite what some "sick doctor" claims. This leads me to believe he was diagnosed with a mental illness, although he doesn't disclose what his diagnosis was. He tells the story of how he drove down a country road somewhere in Port Alberni looking for gang stalkers, and then began to chase down a person who drove passed him while talking on their mobile phone. According to Richard, using a mobile phone while driving was some kind of cue to let him know that the gang stalkers are watching him. The chase ends with the person parking at a co-op service station, and getting accosted by Richard for no apparent reason other than Richard is delusional, and talking on your phone while driving is some sort of underhanded persecution according to Richard's delusions. This is a violent lashing out that luckily didn't end up with someone getting seriously hurt or worse, however, it appears to have ended Richard's family life as he knew it, and understandably so. Unfortunately, events like these are a dime-a-dozen for "targets" who often perceive normal public behavior as some sort of persecution against themselves.
Meet exhibit B; Jason Rodriguez. Jason's story ends a lot worse than Richard's does, with 6 people shot, 1 person dead, and a life sentence behind bars for Jason. Jason claimed to have been gang stalked, and his main stalker went by code name "Sharptooth", who communicated with him via voices in his head.
Quote from the Orlando Sentinal's news article on Jason-
The defense's case relied on opinion, in the form of extensive expert testimony about what was going on inside Rodriguez's mind at the time of the gunfire.
Six forensic doctors testified, all with the same conclusion: Rodriguez suffered from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the killings and wasn't able to know what he was doing was wrong.
In the words of Dr. Randy Otto, Rodriguez "believed that there was a conspiracy of many people working together to harm him and his family," which involved his former employers and law enforcement.
The paranoia centered on "sharp tooth," a voice Rodriguez heard that he believed was sending him "threatening and derogatory" messages, Otto said.
Added Dr. Jacquelyn Olander: "'Sharp tooth' had threatened him for years... Mr. Rodriguez reported that when he walked through that door into [RS&H], 'sharp tooth' was there with his followers."
In her closing argument, public defender Melissa Vickers argued the defense had proved Rodriguez legally insane.
"Six doctors, with over 100 years of experience, came in here and told you, number one, [Rodriguez had] paranoid schizophrenia, number two, he didn't know [what he did] was wrong," she said.
Williams, however, argued those opinions were "sloppy, incomplete... They're incomplete because they didn't consider the facts that you have heard," he told the jury.
Williams noted that Rodriguez left a threatening note and made a menacing gesture when RS&H fired him in 2007: "He pointed his finger... and pulled the proverbial trigger," the prosecutor said.
Williams argued Rodriguez's career had been in steady decline since he was fired, and he had hit rock bottom by Nov. 6, 2009. When his unemployment benefits didn't come as expected that day, he blamed RS&H, Williams said.
Rodriguez stalked the halls of RS&H, Williams said, "firing two at a time, pop pop.... walking along the hallway where his managers worked, the people responsible for his firing."
"Those, ladies and gentlemen, are the facts that you heard," Williams said.
Rodriguez, 44, remained stoic as the verdict was read. He faces life in prison at sentencing Dec. 18.
After the verdict, Beckford's family said that's the sentence they want: "I want him to spend life in prison for killing my innocent grandson," said Beckford's grandmother, Deleta Earle.
Said Beckford's mother, Icilda Cole: "He's a monster."
On to exhibit C; Aaron Alexis, the Navy Yard shooter. His story ended with 13 people dead, counting the victims he murdered, and himself. In case you don't remember, he believed, just like a lot of other targeted individuals, that he was under attack by low-frequency radio waves. He etched the words "end the torment!", "Not what ya'll say, better off this way!", and "MY E.L.F. WEAPON!" onto the barrel of his weapon. The clues about Alexis’s mental state and motivations come from inscriptions found on his Remington 870 shotgun and documents found on his electronic devices.
In one document, he wrote: “An ultra low frequency attack is what I’ve been subject to for the last three months, and to be perfectly honest, that is what has driven me to this.”
The police also claim to have computer disks and thumb drives that were found, the contents of which have not been released. I assume that it contained a lot of the same type of material about gang stalking and targeted individuals that Myron May was sending in his packages to his acquaintances.
Exhibit D; Benjamin Frankum. Benjamin Frankum broke into the house of Daniel Quelch, a 34 years old father of three, and stabbed Daniel 82 times in front of his children. He emerged almost naked from the house covered in blood just as Mrs Quelch returned home in her car. In the aftermath of the attack, Frankum is alleged to have claimed that he was from MI5 and had been ordered to carry out the killing because Daniel was a torturer.
In September 2001 Frankum was sectioned and admitted to an establishment in Brighton, where he was diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations, described as 'hearing of voices and delusional thoughts.'
'He suffered from bizarre behaviour and a lack of insight into his own condition.'
Mr Frankum had been in residential care until shortly before the attack.
He was discharged into the community on two occasions but had to be readmitted because he relapsed due to not taking his medication.
When he began to improve in June 2007 he was placed in supported accommodation in Littlehampton, West Sussex.
However, his condition began to concern his support worker and his family, and there was evidence that he had been attacked, that he was drinking alcohol and was not managing his money.
Then, it appeared he had still been taking his medication.
But when arrested and examined there was no evidence he had been taking the prescribed medicine.
Exhibit E; Tamerlan Tsarnev, one of the Boston bombers, thought to be motivated by radical Islamists, either directly or indirectly, in fact turns out to have been motivated by his mental illness according to the investigation conducted by the Boston Globe, link here. The article is quite lengthy, and would take up a large portion of this post to even summarize, but in it they refer to Tsarnev family acquaintances who suspected Tamerlan of having mental illness, and a doctor who suspected him of being schizophrenic. He apparently told his mother at one point that there were voices inside him, and that he felt as though he had two people living in his body.
His mother and father have been reported as having a history of visiting psychologists for therapy sessions, yet they never sought help for their son Tamerlan for his mental illness and allowed it to blossom within their son's mind. He and his family also believed that 911 was an inside job, that was perpetrated by the US government as a false flag attack in order to create the pretense to wage war against Muslims. This belief in conspiracy theories is important and relevant to this post, because most if not all targeted individuals believe in such conspiracy theories.
There have been conspiracy theorists in the past who have committed violent crimes without being targeted individuals, Timothy McVeigh being the most notable. But when you combine it with the ultra paranoid belief that you are a targeted individual, which is predicated upon a paranoid belief in conspiracy theories, along with mental instability, the results can be deadly.
It begs the question, which came first? The conspiracy theory, or the mental illness? I shall pontificate more on the answer to this later.
Tamerlan also grew very close to a friend he met through his mother, named Don Larking. Don and Tamerlan attented mosque regularly together for several years. The following is an excerpt from the Boston Globe's report regarding Tamerlan's belief that he was being mind controlled. Pay attention, because this part is imperative to exhibit E.
As their relationship grew closer, Tamerlan confided in Larking his troubling secret about the voice inside his head. Tamerlan told him that he had been hearing the voice for some time, and that he had a theory of what might be afflicting him.
“He believed in majestic mind control, which is a way of breaking down a person and creating an alternative personality with which they must coexist,” explained Larking. “You can give a signal, a phrase or a gesture, and bring out the alternate personality and make them do things. Tamerlan thought someone might have done that to him.”
The person inside him, as Tamerlan described it to Larking, “was someone who wanted to control him to make him do something.”
In 2010, DEMOS think tank published a paper in which they discuss how conspiracy theories are used within the context of extremist ideology recruitment, and terrorism.
Tamerlan has been suspected of being linked to terrorist groups, or at the very least compelled by extremist muslim rhetoric. His internet history confirms as much. He and his brother Dzohkar, Don Larking, and their mother Zubeidat also believed in conspiracy theories. This ideological alchemy is strong enough to create killers, without mental illness even being a factor. If you consider possible schizophrenia into the mixture with absolutely nothing done about it, it would be quite surprising if that person didn't lash out violently at some point.
Another quote from the Globe report.
Larking, too, found his young friend changed in several ways on his return. Much more serious than he had been, Tamerlan insisted that Larking grow a beard, “to honor the prophet Mohammed.” Larking complied. He also pressed Larking to remove his wedding ring, saying that most Muslims did not wear gold, but Larking refused. The last time Larking and Tamerlan sat together in the rear of the mosque, Tamerlan once again mentioned the voices in his head. This time, as Larking recalled it, he seemed afraid.
“He said, ‘Someone is in my brain, telling me stuff to do,’ ” recalled Larking. “He said he was trying to ignore it but it was hard to do. Whatever it was he was being told to do, he didn’t want to do it.”
Sounds to me like he was an already mentally unstable individual made even more unstable by being indoctrinated by conspiracy theories and extremist Muslim rhetoric.
DEMOS think tank published a paper that went in great detail about the subject of extremists groups utilizing conspiracy theories as indoctrination and recruitment tools.
Quote from the report:
Our analysis shows that conspiracy theories are widely prevalent across this extremist spectrum, despite the vast differences in the extremist ideologies themselves. For far right groups, the concept of Zionist Occupied Government (ZOG) – that a small cabal of Jews controls world governments – is central to both ideology and propaganda. For al-Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups, the conspiracy tends to be a generalised Judeo-Christian-Capitalist quest to destroy Islam.
Far left and anarchist groups propagate a Marxist-inspired bourgeois conspiracy of ‘international financiers’, or ‘global elites’, which they sometimes believe is leading toward a ‘New World Order’ of a unitary, totalitarian world government. Cults, on the other hand, tend to believe in conspiracies that are targeted against their specific group or movement. It is striking that there is considerable overlap and fusion between many of these conspiracies, even across groups that exist at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum.
I'm not going to say TI's are forming terrorist extremist groups, but they are a conspiracy theorist subculture that recruits people into their fold in a very similar way.
The Boston Bombers grew up in a family and atmosphere that encouraged the belief in absurd paranoid conspiracy theories, Tamerlan grew up with possible schizophrenia, and his parents encouraged him to stay mentally ill by choosing to ignore the problem and not get him help for any of it.
They encouraged the brothers to turn to the more radical and militant parts of the Islamic faith. These elements mixing in the same pot is a deadly concoction. It would only be a matter of time before a person like that lashes out and attempts to harm others or themselves.
Back to the Chicken or the Egg, Conspiracy Theory or Mental Illness, which came first question.
When it comes to TI theories, its really hard to tell which came first. Some of these people who get interested in the gang stalking/targeted individual conspiracy theory usually start out as conspiracy theorist that might, on the surface, have nothing mentally wrong with him at all. They are just conspiracy hobbyists. But then, they gradually convince themselves over time that its true, and from that point on, everything negative in their day-to-day life is the fault of the "gang stalkers".
They slowly start to believe that every person who sneezes or coughs in public, or scratches their nose, or talks on their cell phone, or wears a red article of clothing, or drives anything red is automatically a gang stalker there to fuck your life up. So the conspiratainment hobbyist doesn't do research and gets sucked in fairly easily into believing the claims of TI's. Paranoid schizophrenics that haven't been diagnosed yet also go onto the internet, seek out their symptoms, such as voices in the head, they most likely are going to be directed to some TI website discouraging them from getting help, because the doctors are gang stalkers too, and some other nonsense about v2k. Other TI's don't want to help you, they just want to recruit and indoctrinate you into joining their online mental institutions just so they can get attention and validation for their delusions.
One last exhibit. Exhibit F; Todd Giffen, advocate for the murder of innocent people on the behalf of Targeted Individuals. Just after the evens that happened with Myron May, a person in the very same Facebook group "Targeted Individuals International", in which Myron asked if anyone had ever been encouraged by their "handler" to kill, someone else claiming to be a TI began advocating for Myron May's actions, and hoping there would be more. He believes the people that got shot by Myon deserved to die simply for being "peons" and "idiots" who have most likely never heard of gang stalking.
He posted this shit in the very same group Myron posted the just days after the shooting took place.
Not a single person in that group even so much as batted an eye at these posts besides myself. In fact, his statements were defended by others in the group. They didn't see anything wrong with him saying these things. One would think they would have a problem with this, considering Myron May was killed by police for attempting to kill others at FSU after posting about killing in this exact same group. But no, they were perfectly fine with it, and defended or made excuses for his actions.
The majority of TI's seem to literally believe that its impossible for a TI to EVER be capable of hurting themselves or others. They also think its impossible for a TI to actually have a mental disorder/illness. I think the exhibits I presented here prove that to be wrong. There is actually quite a bit I had to leave out, because this is an extremely lengthy post as it is.
Special thanks goes out to the members of Targeted Individuals International for inspiring this blog post, after seeing how willing they are to advocate and make excuses for Myron May's actions. Hopefully some of them are reading this and will snap out of their paranoid state before its too late. We need to work on preventing these people from hurting themselves or others, not encouraging them.
