Debbie Newhook's Posts

Below is the article as it was written on the internet.I am "Susan" in the article. I decided that I should not have my face or name exposed.Pictures of the back of my head and my car signs are on the front page of our newspaper. When the story is continued onto page 3 of our newspaper, they have used another picture of my car and it's signage. So the very least this is publicity for my website. I am not happy about the article. I was taken out of context and some of what he said I said, I did not. Really it sucks..and that is why I got the jitters after the interview and called Paul Walton and requested that my name not be used.http://www.chtv. com/ch/cheknews/ story.html? id=7e65271d- 9534-422b- 945d-3425d6b8d6a 6Resident alleges harassment, abuseSeveral people make claims of mind controlPaul Walton, Daily NewsPublished: Monday, December 08, 2008Susan has no doubt she is being stalked.The Nanaimo woman claims to be a Targeted Individual, a TI for short. She maintains that since taking on a case as a social worker 17 years ago involving a seven-year-old girl who was allegedly the victim of ritual abuse, that she has been stalked, blacklisted, harassed and defamed to the point of post-traumatic stress disorder.But she can't identify the mysterious perpetrators.While Susan understands why people might doubt her claims, she has started a website, OSNanaimo.org, to document the phenomenon. It is because she said she is being stalked and harassed that Susan asked that her real name not be used.Susan is just one of many people who responded to the claims of Jerry Rose, seeking $2 billion in compensation for the effect of "brainwave interface technology" on him in a Nanaimo B.C. Supreme Court court case."The same thing is happening to me," said Susan, "only I'm being stalked, not victimized by technology."And many others say the same thing is also happening to them. In response to Rose's case the Daily News has received dozens of e-mails and phone calls from across the U.S. and Canada as well as Europe. All claim they are IT's, being either stalked like Susan or victimized by technology like Rose.Eric Vatikiotis-Bateson, a professor at the University of British Columbia in linguistics and cognitive systems, makes a distinction between the claim and the truth of the claim. He acknowledges there are some good reasons for people to believe such things, even if they are impossible."I'm not surprised and while I don't believe anyone's brain is being manipulated, there are lots or radio waves out there," he said.The only such technology Vatikiotis-Bateson knows of is a recent discovery that allows individuals to alter their own brain wave patterns to generate some movement in their limbs. But that is moving from the inside out, he said, not the outside in as claimed by TIs."This all good benign stuff, like operating a prosthetic."But Vatikiotis-Bateson said that present technology is impracticable for penetrating someone's brain."It's plausible, but to do it and not to overlap with other waves is impossible," he said. "The airwaves are too damn busy."Asked why someone might be stalking her, Susan was unable to say."We can only guess, it's been going on for me for 17 years," she said.While Susan has no doubt from her experience she is targeted, she has also met others with the same experience. She said the stalkers want to put her on the street."There are so many of us who are targets, there are 12 of us in this town alone," she said.Scott Carlson, an assistant professor at UBC in psychology specializing in mental disorders, vulnerability for mental disorders and psychophysiology, said the phenomenon is not new."It's a classic, almost cliche, phenomenon where individuals have a fixed belief that some outside agency is interfering with their thought processes," said Carlson.He said that 1% of people diagnosed with schizophrenia suffer from such a condition.page2"When you multiply it out it's a large number of people with this delusion," he said. "You don't even have to be psychotic to have this sort of belief."Susan has never been treated for or diagnosed with a mental illness. When living in Nanoose some years, ago she tried to have police investigate."I went to the cops and they laughed at me . . . the police sent mental health to my door."In Rose's case he was given a psychiatric examination at the request of a provincial court judge after being arrested on various charges. A psychiatrist recommended that due to his mental state he was not fit to stand trial. A judge later found under the law that Rose was fit to stand trial and he later pleaded guilty, taking a sentence of time served.Police and private security, Susan said, are part of the stalking and harassment she endures. But she said getting solid evidence to prove her claims conclusively is next to impossible."That's the problem with this evidence, it's plausibly deniable," she said.Vatikiotis-Bateson said that current "folklore" springing from genuine actual mind-control tests, such as those done in the CIA-sponsored MKUltra project, and technical inventions of recent years has enforced that idea that mind control may not only be possible but happening."Add to that a little paranoia, greed or sensationalism and people say 'this is happening to me,'" he said. "The claim is not necessarily crazy, but proving it is another issue."Carlson agreed that the Internet may also be facilitating and enforcing such ideas with sites that serve as clearing houses of information sifted through by "targeted individuals" ."I would think that's a reasonable hypothesis, it could make it easier for people from across the spectrum to come together," said Carlson.Neither he nor Vatikiotis-Bateson are certain such ideas arise purely from some widespread mental disorder, and Carlson said there could be any number of causes."Including that it might be happening, though there's not a lot of evidence for it," said Carlson.Asked being seen as crazy, Susan said, "I don't blame you. It took me a year to convince my family."And Susan does not believe the stalking and harassment will ever end."Not now," she said."I'm an activist so now they target me even more."Though Vatikiotis-Bateson doubts the details as raised by people like Rose and Susan, he said we cannot just assume it all arises from mental disorder."This case may be crazy, but this idea is not crazy," he said. "It's not out of the realm of possibility. "PWalton@nanaimodail ynews.com

Debbie Newhook's Posts (2)

podcast

article in my local paper, Nanaimo Daily News

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