I also liked your article Michael. Thanks for posting it. Good stuff.
Birds
Private Mail Welcome
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Pugliese <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2000 10:15 PM
Subject: [CTRL] Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia
> CSICOP / Skeptical Inquirer / September 1996 / Conspiracy Theories and
> Paranoia: Notes from a Mind-Control Conference
> Home : Skeptical Inquirer magazine : September/October 1996
> Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia: Notes from a Mind-Control Conference
> Evan Harrington
>
> The debate over "recovered" and "false" memories continues to be one of
the
> most contentious issues in the field of psychology today. The debate is
> extremely polarized with very little amicable communication among members
of
> the opposing camps. While such a dispute may eventually be beneficial to
> science, in that both sides are clearly being spurred on to produce
original
> research at a frenetic pace, at the moment the clearest manifestation of
> this dichotomy is miscommunication and friction between factions. Such
> miscommunication has been exacerbated by a tendency of some theorists on
> both sides to make sweeping generalizations and use vague terminology. An
> example of such miscommunication is the use of the term recovered memory
> therapy, used frequently in books such as Making Monsters by Richard Ofshe
> and Ethan Watters (1994). The term as they used it is not without its
> critics (e.g., Dalenberg 1995) who complain that the term is
> overgeneralized. Conversely, in a televised debate, Charles Whitfield, a
> trauma therapist, stated that there is no such thing as recovered memory
> therapy. The true state of affairs likely rests somewhere in between.
> While some misunderstandings may be rooted in semantics, others are more
> difficult to trace and harder still to describe adequately. It is very
> difficult to get quantitative data in the area of the beliefs held by
> therapists regarding topics that may manifest in the form of false
memories
> in their patients. And although some surveys have attempted to obtain
> quantitative measures of therapists' beliefs, practices, and experiences
> regarding traumatic memory recovery and therapy (e.g., Poole, et. al.
1995),
> such surveys fail to fully inform the reader of the quality of those
> beliefs. In an attempt to obtain a qualitative analysis of the beliefs of
> therapists with regard to recovered memories of traumatic events, I have
> frequently attended sexual- and ritual-abuse conferences. Some of these
> conferences ##have afforded me valuable insight into the dynamics of a
> scientifically informed trauma therapy. At other times I have gained
> valuable insight into the beliefs of some "fringe" therapists who believe
in
> vast and nefarious conspiracies organized to harm children. My purpose
here
> is not to argue whether such beliefs are accurate or not; rather, I simply
> wish to outline what some of those beliefs are. The following is not meant
> to be representative of all therapists in this field. I offer only a
> description of what some therapists believe. The reader will please keep
in
> mind that any qualitative description, such as this one, may not be used
to
> infer anything about the population as a whole, but it may be illuminating
> in that there is a certain subpopulation that clearly is represented.
>
> This article describes my experiences at a conference held in Dallas,
Texas,
> March 23-26, 1995, by a group calling itself the "Society for the
> Investigation, Treatment and Prevention of Ritual and Cult Abuse"
(SITPRCA).
> SITPRCA may be reached at P.O. Box 835564, Richardson, Texas 75083-5564.
> The 1995 SITPRCA conference was titled "Cult and Ritual Abuse, Mind
Control,
> and Dissociation: A Multidisciplinary Dialogue." The word dialogue is
> misleading because there were no skeptics or critics among the speakers
and,
> as will be demonstrated, any dissension from the audience was strongly
> discouraged -- it was essentially a monologue. The 1995 conference offered
> continuing education credit available through the Texas State Board of
> Examiners of Licensed Professional Counselors.
> The conference was attended by 150 to 200 people. A significant minority
of
> the audience consisted of patients who claimed to have had recovered
> memories of ritual abuse (several of whom I spoke with) and who were
allowed
> access to even the most advanced professional training sessions, sometimes
> at the recommendations of their therapists.
> The SITPRCA organization was created by Dallas therapist James Randall
> "Randy" Noblitt, currently the president of the group, and Pamela Perskin,
> its executive director. Noblitt lectures widely on the existence of ritual
> cults and mind-control techniques, and has served as an expert witness in
a
> number of child-abuse cases. In the 1992 Austin, Texas, day care case of
> Fran and Dan Keller, he helped obtain a conviction by informing the jury
> that cults across America regularly ritually abuse children through
torture
> and sexual abuse and that the cults make child pornography with these
> victims. Noblitt stated that these children will often not be able to
recall
> the events because they are so highly traumatized, and that the severity
of
> the abuse causes the amnesia. This testimony, combined with Noblitt's
> statement that he was "convinced" that the child in this case had
> experienced extreme trauma, apparently helped convince the jury that the
> Kellers operated a ritual-abuse cult in their day care center. At the time
> of that trial, Noblitt testified that in addition to supervising his own
> clinical employees he had been sought to consult in 15 similar cases and
> that he provides supervision for therapists individually and in groups.
> Noblitt and Perskin (1995) recently released a book outlining their
beliefs
> about ritual abuse. While some mainstream therapists may conclude that
those
> associated with SITPRCA represent a fringe element, I would point out that
> such organizations are able to have a dramatic influence on society.
> Opening Remarks
> The conference opened with a panel consisting of Walter Bowart (author of
> Operation Mind Control, Dell, 1978), Mark Phillips (who claimed to have
> inside information on government mind-control techniques), and Alan
> Scheflin. Scheflin is a lawyer who has for years documented the Central
> Intelligence Agency experiments with "brainwashing" in the 1950s and 1960s
> and who spoke on a panel at the 1993 American Psychological Association
> (APA) meeting with memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus and again at the
1995
> annual meeting along with Richard Kluft and several others. Bowart opened
> the conference with a direct appeal to the therapists. Bowart claimed that
> "the False Memory Spindrome [sic] Foundation . . . is a Central
Intelligence
> Agency action. It is an action aimed at the psychological and psychiatric
> mental health community to discredit you, to keep you in fear and terror."
> Bowart stated that everyone connected with the False Memory Syndrome
> Foundation (FMSF) will be shown to be "spooks or dupes." According to
> Bowart, the CIA is currently conducting a campaign of mind control against
> the American public and wants to discredit victims of these experiments so
> that their stories will be seen as false memories. Phillips spoke for a
> while about how he would reveal the trade secrets of mind control.
> Scheflin gave a lengthy talk about how therapists can protect themselves
> against the lawsuits brought by former patients who retract memories of
> childhood abuse. These lectures were warmly received, especially
Scheflin's.
> Perhaps because several speakers at the conference had been successfully
> sued by former clients, the therapists in attendance seemed quite fearful
> that their clients would retract their memories of abuse and sue them for
> instilling false memories. I felt that the opening remarks were overtly
> political for what was purported to be a scientific gathering.
> Racist Conspiracy Theories and the Militias
> Doc Marqui, a self-described former "school teacher and witch," lectured
> about the satanic "Illuminati" conspiracy, which he alleged President Bill
> Clinton was part of, serving as the "anti-Christ." Marqui assured the
> audience that this theory is not racist; but the fact is the Illuminati
> theory is the same one advocated by most members of the American militia
> movement, and it was utilized by the Nazis in their effort to justify
their
> campaign of genocide against the Jews of Europe (Cohn 1966). The Protocols
> of the Elders of Zion is an anti-Semitic document (based on the Illuminati
> conspiracy theory) that purports to document plans for Jewish world
> domination and which first appeared in Russia in 1903 in a newspaper
edited
> by a "noted and militant anti-Semite" (Cohn 1966, p. 65). The book was
> instituted as mandatory reading in German schools by the Nazis in 1933
(Cohn
> 1966). Marqui touted the overall validity of the Protocols while replacing
> the word Jews with the word satanists. The Illuminati conspiracy holds, in
> part, that large Jewish banking families have been orchestrating various
> political revolutions and machinations throughout Europe and America since
> the late eighteenth century, with the ultimate aim of bringing about a
> satanic New World Order. Members of the militia movement have said they
> believe that the United Nations has been infiltrated by these "demonic
> forces" and is poised for a violent overthrow of the American government,
> after which American rights to own firearms will be removed and American
> citizens will be enslaved by the introduction of a cashless society, as
> foretold in the Bible's book of Revelation (see, e.g., Constantine 1995;
> Kelly 1995; Springmeier 1995; Stern 1996). Marqui stated that the
Illuminati
> is essentially a shadow government that has controlled the United States
> since its inception, controls the Masonic order, and commits all manner of
> occult crime culminating in human sacrifices on eight days of each year.
> Much of this paranoia was chronicled more than 30 years ago by Richard
> Hofstadter (1965).
> While the Illuminati conspiracy theory is widely endorsed by militia
> members, it is also embraced by reactionary groups such as: the Lyndon
> LaRouche organization (political analyst Chip Berlet [1994] stated that in
> the early 1970s, Lyndon LaRouche "took his followers . . . and guided them
> into fascist politics"); the John Birch Society (which Berlet [1994] said
> believes "Insiders" have for years controlled the U.S. and former Soviet
> Union governments); and the Liberty Lobby. The Liberty Lobby, with its
> newspaper Spotlight, was created by Willis Carto, who also founded the
> Institute for Historical Review, which asserts that the Holocaust was a
hoax
> (Berlet 1994).
> Author Linda Blood, who spoke later in the day, protested that she was
> "unhappy to be following someone [Marqui] who is pushing the Protocols of
> the Elders of Zion," which she said was anti-Semitic trash. Blood's
protest
> deeply angered some and bewildered others, while about four of Blood's
> friends clapped in support. Perskin, who moderated the session, announced
> that although she is Jewish she found nothing offensive in Marqui's
lecture.
> Marqui appeared to me to be connecting existing racist conspiracy theories
> with the therapists' theories about satanic cults.
> Marqui was followed by former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Ted
> Gunderson, who highly praised Marqui's lecture. Gunderson is well known
for
> his claims that an archaeological dig under the McMartin preschool showed
> evidence of tunnels, through which the children were allegedly spirited to
> other buildings to be prostituted in the community (Summit 1994). The
> results of this dig have for years gone unpublished while calls for funds
to
> self-publish the results have been issued in newsletters such as the
> Survivor Activist (1994). Meanwhile, the integrity of the dig has been
> strongly disputed (Earl 1995). Gunderson presented what he called "new
> evidence" in the 1984 McMartin preschool sex-abuse case in Manhattan
Beach,
> California. He produced a number of photographs of the foundation of a
house
> in the hills above San Bernadino, California, that had burned down, he
> claimed, the night the charges were filed in the McMartin case. He alleged
> that the McMartin children were flown to this house and ritually abused,
and
> that the house was torched to destroy evidence. The sum total of the
> evidence he presented to support this allegation was the existence of
> spray-painted satanic graffiti on the foundation stones and on boulders on
> the property. Apparently, several years had gone by between the time of
the
> alleged fire and the time Gunderson snapped the photos. Yet Gunderson was
> dismissive of the idea that the house foundation on the lot, with its
> hillside vista of San Bernadino, had been used by teenagers who might have
> painted the graffiti after the fire. The therapists were enraptured and
> later asked if Gunderson was planning to publish his photos or if there
was
> any chance of using this evidence in a new trial. The McMartin preschool
> case resulted in the longest criminal proceeding in American history and
> failed to produce any convictions (see e.g., Nathan and Snedecker 1995).
> Gunderson then described a conversation he had with a witness, Paul
Bonacci,
> from an alleged satanic-ritual abuse case in Nebraska that was detailed by
> former Nebraska state Sen. John DeCamp (1992), who was also a speaker at
> this conference. The grand jury of Lincoln described this case as an
attack
> by DeCamp "for personal political gain and possible revenge" (Dorr 1991,
p.
> 1), a "smear campaign," and a "carefully crafted hoax" (United Press
> International, September 18, 1990). The grand jury jailed one and indicted
> two others (including Bonacci) for perjury, and was so critical of DeCamp
> that he sued the grand jury for ridicule, though he quickly lost (Dorr
> 1991). A church in the area, the Nebraska Leadership Conference, responded
> by publishing a tract (no date) named The Mystery of the Carefully Crafted
> Hoax, with a foreword by Gunderson, in which he continued the allegations
of
> satanic-ritual crime. At the conference Gunderson related Bonacci's
> description of a slave auction in Las Vegas in which 25 to 30 vans pulled
> up, airplanes landed, and foreign men with turbans bought children and
took
> them away. According to Gunderson: "Nobody knows what happened to those
> kids. They use them for several things: body parts, they use them for
> sacrificing, for sex slaves. But this is a big market. Does anybody have
any
> idea what a blue-eyed, blond-haired eleven- or twelve-year girl would sell
> for? Fifty thousand dollars."
> Gunderson claimed that there are currently 500 satanic cults in New York
> City alone, each averaging eight sacrificial murders a year, for a total
of
> 4,000 human sacrifices every year. Gunderson did not explain how the cults
> remove bodies in the asphalt jungle of New York.
> Gunderson believes in the threat posed by the New World Order, as do
Marqui
> and militia members. Gunderson has appeared on Dateline NBC, at militia
> conferences (Witt 1995), on Michigan Militia member Mark Koernke's
shortwave
> radio program, and on the cover of Spotlight (May 13, 1995), stating that
> the U.S. government intentionally bombed the Oklahoma City federal
building
> in April 1995, in order to remove our rights through anti-terrorism bills.
> Gunderson informed the audience that Spotlight "tells it like it is," and
> urged audience members to call the subscription number, which he read
aloud.
> On top of this, Gunderson gave an interview to Lyndon LaRouche's Executive
> Intelligence Review (May 25, 1990), in which he described FBI special
agent
> Ken Lanning as "probably the most effective and foremost speaker for the
> satanic movement in this country, today or at any time in the past."
> Gunderson and Marqui seem to me to be attempting to introduce therapists
to
> racist conspiracy theories and reactionary propaganda, while at the same
> time groups such as the LaRouche organization endorse satanic conspiracy
> theories to draw in new members.
> Political analyst Chip Berlet's argument that radical right elements are
> seducing the left should be taken seriously. In his monograph Right Woos
> Left (Berlet 1994), he describes, among other examples, how the LaRouche
> organization has persistently destabilized legitimate leftist activist
> organizations by infiltrating these groups and then claiming that these
> groups endorse LaRouche. The LaRouchians also gain credibility through
their
> association with legitimate political activists, which enables them to
draw
> new converts. The cult-ritual abuse field is a prime example of such
> infiltration. Many therapists who specialize in treating ritual or other
> forms of abuse identify to some degree with feminism and other liberal
> ideals. When radical right conspiracists get such liberals to believe in
the
> New World Order or "Operation Monarch" (a similar movement, described
later)
> they gain a boost in credibility far beyond what they could expect by
> printing their stories in Spotlight or the Executive Intelligence Review.
> Former Nebraska state Sen. John DeCamp, mentioned earlier, has been on the
> ritual-abuse circuit for some time now, talking about his 1992 book The
> Franklin Cover-Up, which purports to document a satanic organization in
> Nebraska that abused children and prostituted them within the White House.
> DeCamp gives a favorable mention to a fact-finding mission sponsored by
> LaRouche (DeCamp 1992, p. 241). The editors of the Executive Intelligence
> Review repeat DeCamp's claims and praise his book as "important" in their
> virulently anti-Semitic party tract titled The Ugly Truth About the ADL
> (Anti-Defamation League) (Editors of the Executive Ingelligence Review
> 1992). The July 27, 1990, issue of the Executive Intelligence Review
stated
> that the FBI in Nebraska covered up child abuse and murder.
> On June 15, 1995, DeCamp appeared before a U.S. Senate subcommittee
hearing
> on domestic terrorism chaired by Arlen Spector. DeCamp appeared as a
lawyer
> representing the American militia movement and the four militia leaders
> testifying that day. At a Washington, D.C., news conference, DeCamp
> glowingly described the militia movement as "a political movement in the
> birthing . . . painful, joyous, confusing, and exciting" (Janofsky 1995,
p.
> 10). DeCamp also has clear ties with the Nebraska Leadership Conference. A
> call to the church office confirmed that the Nebraska Leadership
Conference
> had "contributed significantly" to DeCamp's book.
> DeCamp delighted the therapists at this conference during a luncheon
session
> in which he described the allegations put forth in his book.
> Conspiracy Theories in Action
> I struck up a conversation with a woman and her son and learned that the
> woman claimed to have recovered memories of being abused in a satanic
cult.
> She drove across two states to attend the conference, she said, in the
hope
> that she could learn about Nazi scientists being brought to the United
> States after World War II. She knew nothing about this topic but seemed to
> suspect that it had something to do with her. The conversation drifted to
> the topic of treatment for sex offenders while they are incarcerated. At
> this point we were joined by a man, whom I'll call Felix, and his
companion,
> who said that treatment for sex offenders is unnecessary because when the
> New World Order takes control of the country, members are going to shoot
all
> prisoners and also eliminate three-quarters of the world's population.
Felix
> described to us how the New World Order operated, manufacturing multiple
> personality disorder through torture and creating sex slaves and drug
mules
> under the mind control of the CIA (this is the basis for the alleged
> "Operation Monarch"). Felix also described how the black helicopters of
the
> New World Order landed in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, and
black-suited
> storm troopers illegally searched all the homes in the neighborhood. There
> was a total news blackout of this because, Felix said, the media are part
of
> the conspiracy. Later, Felix confided to me that his companion was wrong:
> the New World Order would not kill all the prisoners, but would use them
as
> slave labor. Felix said he did not like to disagree with her because she
was
> a former "Monarch" mind-control slave.
> Felix sold me his newsletter, as big as a book, in which he makes some
very
> strange claims: Charles Manson was programmed by the Illuminati, the
> Anti-Defamation League is controlled by Jewish satanists, and Marilyn
Monroe
> was a mind-control slave. According to Felix, virtually anyone who
disagrees
> with Felix is a Monarch slave, including prominent militia leader Bo
Gritz,
> who talked Randy Weaver into surrendering at the 1992 incident at Ruby
> Ridge, Idaho. Most disturbingly, Felix told me that he works as a
counselor
> and has helped "a lot" of people suffering from multiple personality
> disorder. Felix apparently has no mental-health counseling credentials,
and
> his name badge identified him as "clergy." Nevertheless, he said he
counsels
> dissociative clients and guides them through the intricacies of
> international cabals.
> By this time a crowd had gathered around Felix and me. After Felix's
> monologue, a social worker from North Carolina informed the group that in
> the day care sex-abuse case she was investigating, she thought she
> remembered the kids talking about black helicopters. She said she would
look
> into it.
> Secrets of Mind Control Revealed
> Felix's claims paled in comparison to what came next. Mark Phillips
claimed
> to be a former government agent involved in mind-control experiments. He
was
> always vague, never giving any information that could be checked. His
> companion, Cathy O'Brian, claimed to have survived years of torture and
> abuse at the hands of her CIA handlers in Operation Monarch (these two
seem
> to be the source of most of the Monarch material). O'Brian maintained she
> had been tortured in unimaginable ways since the time she was a child, and
> that her cult handlers successfully created dissociative identity disorder
> in her, which was cured by Phillips, who also managed to hide her from the
> CIA. She was so savagely tortured, she said, that her back was a complete
> mass of scar tissue. Phillips added that he had once tried to count the
> scars but lost count somewhere in the hundreds. We never saw the scars,
> photos of the scars, or doctors' reports about the scars.
> O'Brian stated that she was forced to have sex with a plethora of
political
> figures including George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald
Ford
> (whom she said she knew as "the neighborhood porn king"). She also said
she
> was abused by Hillary Clinton (but not by Bill). Politicians were not the
> only ones involved -- O'Brian stated that a number of baseball figures
were
> in this satanic/CIA mind-control plot. She told me personally that
virtually
> the entire country music industry is set up by the New World Order to make
> money. According to O'Brian, most popular country singers are Monarch
slaves
> who had alter-personalities created with good voices for singing. Phillips
> and O'Brian, along with Bowart and others, claimed that the CIA is
currently
> abusing people through Operation Monarch. Phillips claimed 20 years of
> experience in genetics and said that the cults would breed slaves
> selectively to create musical geniuses. To test his vast experience with
> genetics, I asked him what he thought of the Human Genome Sequencing
> Project. He had never heard of it. It seems impossible for anyone with
even
> a rudimentary knowledge of genetics to be unaware of the biggest project
> ever in that field. Nevertheless, one author claims that Phillips is
> "currently deprogramming at least six Monarch slaves" (Springmeier 1995,
p.
> 243).
> It seems that a number of people in the audience were accepting of
> Phillips's and O'Brian's claims, although Perskin (of SITPRCA) informed me
> that this duo will not be asked back in the future because they failed to
> produce evidence of Operation Monarch. In a personal conversation with me
> (July 12, 1995), Scheflin stated that he had been able to obtain internal
> CIA documents corroborating the existence of mind-control experiments in
the
> 1950s and 1960s. (The documents demonstrate that the CIA conducted
unethical
> experiments to try to create multiple personalities in people for the
> purpose of creating a super spy who could keep vital information submerged
> in an alter personality [Thomas 1990].) But, he said, the paper trail
> completely died out by 1976. According to Scheflin, there are no credible
> reports of mind-control experiments after 1976 and no credible reports of
> any nature on Operation Monarch.
> Catherine Gould gave an advanced workshop in which she described the
> mechanics of cult mind-control, extensively utilizing the mind-as-computer
> model. At one point she puzzled over the idea of cult members catching
AIDS.
> She said that no one can figure out why the offenders are not "dropping
like
> flies, because we know they don't practice safe cult sex." With all the
> blood, cannibalism, and unprotected sex, they ought to be catching a lot
of
> sexually transmitted diseases. Therapist Jerry Mungadze offered a unique
> explanation. He suggested that mind-control programming boosts the immune
> system, making the victim resistant to the HIV virus, and that is why
> children in day care satanic-ritual abuse cases do not have elevated
levels
> of sexually transmitted diseases.
> Well, if they've found a cure for AIDS, why do they bother making money
with
> pornography? Such a cure must be worth several billion dollars! In the
grand
> tradition of conspiracy theories, discrepant information is explained away
> or, as in this case, incorporated into the scheme. Amazingly, this
solution
> to the AIDS conundrum appeared to be taken seriously by most in the room.
> Alternate Views Not Welcome
> Chrystine Oksana lectured on her experiences of recovering memories of
> ritual abuse and her subsequent search for corroboration (see Oksana
1994).
> Oksana stated that she had read some 500 books on the topic of trauma and
> child abuse. For this reason I asked what she thought of the recent study
by
> Linda Meyer Williams (1994). Oksana said she had not heard of it. The
report
> by Williams is a pivotal study that demonstrated that a substantial
minority
> of adults failed to disclose their documented emergency room visits when
> they were children, which ostensibly occurred because they had been
sexually
> abused. The study demonstrated that some people may forget such events.
> There is a mistake in the text of the paper that states the existence of a
> nonsignificant trend such that, as the amount of force used in the
> commission of the abuse increases, recall decreases. The trend in the data
> actually shows that as the amount of force used in the commission of the
> abuse increases recall increases, which is opposite from, and fails to
> support, the theory of repression of traumatic memory (Harrington 1995).
My
> description of this data set visibly angered several in the audience. One
> woman voiced disbelief of what I had said (preferring to believe that
> greater trauma typically was related to nonrecall), while a second woman
> shouted at me twice to read Lenore Terr's Unchained Memories. After a
couple
> more rebuffs, the session ended in a stony silence. Yet another woman
> approached me and bluntly stated that she did not believe what I had said.
I
> told her that I had a signed letter from Williams affirming my
observations.
> This woman shrugged her shoulders and walked away smiling, as if to say th
at
> she still did not believe me. This appears to be an example of the
resistant
> nature of strong beliefs toward discrepant information.
> In the final analysis of the Williams data, the nonsignificant trend of
> force being associated with greater recall is probably a confound wherein
> both greater force and greater recall are associated with older age at
time
> of abuse. Nevertheless, mine was a legitimate question to raise during a
> session on traumatic memory where it was stated that events that are more
> traumatic are more likely to be dissociated from consciousness. The
scalding
> reaction I received from the audience supports the view that group social
> representations are not amenable to contradiction (Guerin, in press), and
> indicates that these are not issues open for discussion.
> Skepticism and Satanism
> The next session featured lawyer John Kiker and therapists Noblitt,
Michael
> Moore, and Jan Maclean on the topic of the travails of being sued. Moore
> described in detail how violated he felt by being sued by former patients.
> Maclean stated you can always believe the stories children tell of being
> abused -- children might make up other things, but they never make up
> traumatic events. I asked the panel what they thought of Steve Ceci's
work.
> There was a moment of dead silence. None of the four panelists had ever
> heard of Ceci, who is one of the top developmental psychologists in the
> country and is well known for his recent experiments demonstrating the
> suggestibility of children. Ceci's "mousetrap" experiments (Ceci 1993;
Ceci
> and Bruck 1995) demonstrated that repeated interviews regarding a false
> traumatic event (getting a finger caught in a mousetrap and being taken to
> the hospital) can result in a portion of children saying (and apparently
> believing) that the fictional traumatic event occurred. After I described
> this experiment, the panelists concluded (without reading Ceci's papers)
> that "these analogue studies" cannot be generalized to the real world.
> It seems incredible that a psychological conference could be constructed
> with a seminar focusing on legal issues and the testimony of children in
> court, without a single person involved ever having heard of Ceci, who has
> contributed so much in this area. Indeed, this was the third day of the
> conference and there had been much talk of children's accusations of
abuse,
> but not one mention of Ceci's research, which was why I felt obliged to
pose
> the question. Often when I attend lectures I ask the speakers what they
> think of criticisms against them.
> Immediately after the session a man connected with the conference demanded
> to know who I was, where I was from, and why I had asked the question. He
> was not satisfied with my answers and became visibly agitated when I tried
> to describe Ceci's experiments in greater detail. He soon gave up and
> informed me in a brusque tone that "everyone here thinks you are a plant."
> Perturbed, I entered the main hallway where I was confronted by Perskin,
who
> asked if I had set out any literature in the bathroom. Apparently, someone
> had set out flyers from the Temple of Set, a satanic church, in the men's
> room!
> Conclusion
> Conspiracy theories have operated in many societies at many times and may
be
> seen from a social-psychological perspective as serving certain functions
> within society. Conspiracy theories may of course represent real
> conspiracies, but they may also act in a manner similar to racist
> stereotyping in which the targeted group is seen as deviant and deeply
> immoral (Moscovici 1987). Conspiracy scholarship is on the one hand
> irrational, while on the other "far more coherent than the real world,
since
> it leaves no room for mistakes, failures, or ambiguities. It is, if not
> wholly rational, at least intensely rationalistic" (Hofstadter 1965, p.
36).
> Conspiracy theories offer individuals well-organized enemies against whom
> the self is defined; this offers them a guiding structure and purpose
(Farr
> 1987).
> I frequently observed a categorical rejection of the possibility that
there
> could be "false" memories of traumatic events, and that anyone who made
such
> claims must be "dirty" or a part of the "backlash," and that such claims
> could be dismissed without serious consideration. There was clearly an
> assumptive worldview or social representation that unified the audience
and
> speakers, deviation from which would brand one as a spy. Actual debate was
> an anathema. The assumptions that united the group often veered toward
> conspiracism, though the particular elements of the conspiratorial plots
> could change from person to person (satanic cults, New World Order, etc.).
> Most, though by no means all, of the therapists appeared to be previously
> unaware of New World Order conspiracy, though some appeared receptive to
> such ideas. Many seemed to be familiar with and believe in the Operation
> Monarch conspiracy, despite the lack of credible evidence for this. Of
> course, belief in conspiracies does not necessarily indicate therapeutic
> incompetence. However, I would be worried if those therapists interviewing
> children who are suspected of being victims of sexual abuse believed that
> the biblical revelation was coming in the form of satanic U.N. troops
> sweeping up children in black helicopters.
> We cannot know what effect these therapists' conspiratorial beliefs may
have
> on their clients. What we can see from these anecdotes is that strong
> beliefs are highly resistant to discrepant input and they do have a
certain
> persuasive power. An indication of the influence of this conference can be
> seen in a quote from Jerry Leonard, a physicist who attended and wrote a
> review of the conference (Leonard 1995), in which he stated:#### I came
away
> with the opinion that cults are far more prevalent, well connected,
> sophisticated and dangerous than I had ever dreamed . . . apparently, this
> type of cult activity is fairly widespread. Police departments have
stumbled
> on well organized nationwide child kidnapping rings. Ted Gunderson . . .
> described one case in which he personally uncovered an elementary school
> which had been built on a system of tunnels through which children were
> taken into neighboring houses . . . to participate in Satanic ritual
abuse.
> . . . It is my personal view that the larger satanic cults are being
> manipulated by the federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies from
> behind the scenes. Leonard informed me that this was his introduction to
> claims of cult child abuse. This testimonial demonstrates the persuasive
> power of the rumors that were put forth at this conference, at least to
> someone who was receptive to hearing them.
> We have no way of knowing the percentage of practicing therapists who are
> represented by this style of thinking. Even if only a very small minority
of
> the therapeutic community is represented, it is troubling to think of the
> effect these therapists may have on their colleagues, to say nothing of
> their clients. The theories presented at this conference may at times find
> wider appeal among more traditional therapists who are searching for
> evidence of cults, and it appears that such theories have enjoyed fairly
> wide popular circulation in the recent past (Victor 1993). Sherrill
Mulhern
> (1991, 1994) has outlined the role played by conspiracy theories both
> historically, and at prestigious gatherings of psychologists. While the
> majority of psychological trauma specialists are not "conspiracists," they
> may at times be influenced by conspiracy claims, such as the claim that
> tunnels existed under the McMartin preschool, because such claims resemble
> or circumstantially support in some way the memories reported by clients.
> The possibility of right-wing racist organizations using the present
> mental-health dilemma for their political gain is something therapists
> working in this area should be aware of. Therapists who only seek what is
> best for their clients may at times be vulnerable to propaganda put out by
> such groups. In the end it is the client, along with the client's family,
> who suffers. Whether motivated by such groups, claims that critics are
> active CIA agents who are engaged in a secret war against the American
> public, or that they are part of a nationwide backlash against belief in
> child abuse, only serve to make some therapists antagonistic to all forms
of
> criticism, regardless of the motives of the critic. This is unfortunate
> because, as trauma therapist and researcher John Briere stated at the 1995
> APA meeting, many of the criticisms have merit, and the field will be made
> better, not worse, because of them.
> Note
> I would like to thank Sherrill Mulhern for comments.
> References
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> About the Author
> Evan Harrington is a graduate student in social psychology at Temple
> University, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
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