28-08-2009, 06:29 PM
Peter, you're reaction is pretty solid. I don't consider myself an expert on the subject matter (though I have and continue to read about it), and my reaction was one of alarm. What caught my eye was the Wikipedia description posted, as well as a claim by LilyPatTwo that the name Colin Ross, M.D. showed up in the credits of "The United States of Tara".
Given the discussions about the validity of abuse memories, FMSF, the debate about multiple personalities versus disassociative identity disorder, etc. etc., it deserved some scrutiny.
I discovered the TV show sub-topic (I don't watch much TV, and certainly little of Fox) in a thread here: http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board/vi...hp?t=22346
There is follow-up discussion there, and an off-shoot or two. Here are some teasers:
Dollhouse premiere episode 'Ghost' reaches #1 download on iTunes
The premiere episode of Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku, was the #1 downloaded TV show on iTunes on Monday, according to tvbythenumbers.com.
That’s an impressive feat considering the fact that the show is available to view for free at hulu.com and fox.com.
Plus the fact that one could have DVR’d the show, downloaded a torrent or grabbed it from usenet.
There is also a second show discused: "The United States of Tara"
From http://ritualabuse.us [/FONT]
The vast majority of people who exhibit symptoms of DID are not faking. In fact, most persons with DID minimize and try to hide their symptoms.
In January of 2009, Showtime Networks Inc., a CBS Company, launched a new television series - the United States of Tara. Toni Colette, an Oscar nominatee, plays Tara, a woman who suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)....United States of Tara is the first television series ever produced with Dissociative Identity Disorder as its focus. Given this, ISSTD is presented with a unique opportunity to provide education to the public about a misunderstood psychiatric illness. Our mission as an organization is to provide education regarding the dissociative disorders and to promote the effective treatment of clients with these disorders. In response to the United States of Tara, ISSTD will be providing answers to questions about DID, as well as a professional commentary regarding each episode of the show based on our research and clinical experience. In their development of the series, the producers and script writers of United States of Tara have consulted extensively with experts in the dissociative disorders field. We hope that the show, along with our educational efforts, will ultimately facilitate understanding of DID and the struggles and challenges that individuals with DID face in their daily lives. http://www.isst-d.org/education/united_s...mation.htm
[/FONT] Frequently asked questions about Dissociative Disorders - The vast majority of people who exhibit symptoms of DID are not faking. In fact, most persons with DID minimize and try to hide their symptoms. http://www.isst-d.org/education/US-Tara-...orders.htm
United States of Tara - Learn More About D.I.D. - Showtime supports the awareness for Dissociative Identity Disorder with Richard P. Kluft MD http://www.sho.com/site/video/brightcove...6803420001.
In the thread at RI:
Hugh Manatee Wins said:
Tactic:
Got a scandal? Turn its memes into an amusement park ride which further reinforces the participants inclination to obey the carnie for a good time.
Peartreedsaid:
The United States of Tara appears to be setting about to turn Dissociative Disorder or Multiple Personality sufferers into human containers of comedic caricatures as alters. Sort of like a loaded clown car in a circus.
While alter personalities or identities in reality are protective constructs created by unconscious reactions to trauma and abuse, and thus take the form of somewhat damaged, different and diverse individuals within the victim multiple, this particular show appears to be creating, instead, a range of comic neurotics within the wife who will emerge to comedically entertain the audience with extremes in shocking nonconformity.
If this becomes the only popular representation of the DID/MPD victim to inform an otherwise mostly ignorant populace, it will marginalize and denigrate the real victims of mind control splitting, like MK Ultra trauma abuse, to be perceived similarly as zany housewives full of cartoon caricatures.
Marmot says:
“MPD/DID is a national security concern: wouldn't it be nice to have a series in place wherein 'they' can direct and contain the instructing character of the show. The show's didactic intent is quite obvious. The psy-op is the showing of what MPD/DID is.
IMO: USoT is not the the good ole United States of America, although Tara is an American. USoT is the United States of Tara. I'm sure an echoic "Terror" was intentional. But Tara is also identical sounding to Terra---the Latin word for Earth. United States of Earth. Message: America has been broken up and is now a citizen of Earth.
The name of the series--on the surface--is a slick work of psy-ops. If we were to study the depths of the programs I'm sure we'd find more direct evidences of propagendas and other operational intents. One such intent is to show a character that has only four alters, not thousands as there could otherwise be. This is misdirection of DSM-IV proportions.”
Professorpan says:
“The reflexive "if it's a tv show/movie/book about x, it must be psyops!" stuff is tiresome and unproductive. Writers and producers are human beings like us, and many of them are interested/fascinated/appalled/concerned about the same things we are, and those concerns come out in their art. (Of course, if you buy into the CIA OWNZ YER TVZ! thinking, then no need to read further.)
It's also important to remember that a depiction of subject X in popular entertainment may open minds, and not just deceive. A silly tv show may lead someone to inquire more deeply into a marginalized subject. I've seen it happen.”
--
What struck me was something similar... that there is a move afoot to create cultural acceptance of certain things as a maskirovka for the real action... so that when someone says "look over here", the public reaction is to yawn and say that it's just another crazy variation on that crazy TV show they saw. It's also what I smell inside some viral marketing and alternate reality games [see http://z7.invisionfree.com/E_Pluribus_Un...topic=8206 where I am Magmak1], [read the bios of the authors of the paper "Storytelling in new media: The case of alternate reality games"] and it is all resonant with something I've read recently about the purpose of propaganda being not to persuade, but to create confusion and resignation in the minds of the target people.
[Magda: If you want to move this thread, go ahead. I didn't want to color the reaction too soon by putting the question in a category.]
Given the discussions about the validity of abuse memories, FMSF, the debate about multiple personalities versus disassociative identity disorder, etc. etc., it deserved some scrutiny.
I discovered the TV show sub-topic (I don't watch much TV, and certainly little of Fox) in a thread here: http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board/vi...hp?t=22346
There is follow-up discussion there, and an off-shoot or two. Here are some teasers:
Dollhouse premiere episode 'Ghost' reaches #1 download on iTunes
The premiere episode of Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku, was the #1 downloaded TV show on iTunes on Monday, according to tvbythenumbers.com.
That’s an impressive feat considering the fact that the show is available to view for free at hulu.com and fox.com.
Plus the fact that one could have DVR’d the show, downloaded a torrent or grabbed it from usenet.
There is also a second show discused: "The United States of Tara"
From http://ritualabuse.us [/FONT]
The vast majority of people who exhibit symptoms of DID are not faking. In fact, most persons with DID minimize and try to hide their symptoms.
In January of 2009, Showtime Networks Inc., a CBS Company, launched a new television series - the United States of Tara. Toni Colette, an Oscar nominatee, plays Tara, a woman who suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)....United States of Tara is the first television series ever produced with Dissociative Identity Disorder as its focus. Given this, ISSTD is presented with a unique opportunity to provide education to the public about a misunderstood psychiatric illness. Our mission as an organization is to provide education regarding the dissociative disorders and to promote the effective treatment of clients with these disorders. In response to the United States of Tara, ISSTD will be providing answers to questions about DID, as well as a professional commentary regarding each episode of the show based on our research and clinical experience. In their development of the series, the producers and script writers of United States of Tara have consulted extensively with experts in the dissociative disorders field. We hope that the show, along with our educational efforts, will ultimately facilitate understanding of DID and the struggles and challenges that individuals with DID face in their daily lives. http://www.isst-d.org/education/united_s...mation.htm
[/FONT] Frequently asked questions about Dissociative Disorders - The vast majority of people who exhibit symptoms of DID are not faking. In fact, most persons with DID minimize and try to hide their symptoms. http://www.isst-d.org/education/US-Tara-...orders.htm
United States of Tara - Learn More About D.I.D. - Showtime supports the awareness for Dissociative Identity Disorder with Richard P. Kluft MD http://www.sho.com/site/video/brightcove...6803420001.
In the thread at RI:
Hugh Manatee Wins said:
Tactic:
Got a scandal? Turn its memes into an amusement park ride which further reinforces the participants inclination to obey the carnie for a good time.
Peartreedsaid:
The United States of Tara appears to be setting about to turn Dissociative Disorder or Multiple Personality sufferers into human containers of comedic caricatures as alters. Sort of like a loaded clown car in a circus.
While alter personalities or identities in reality are protective constructs created by unconscious reactions to trauma and abuse, and thus take the form of somewhat damaged, different and diverse individuals within the victim multiple, this particular show appears to be creating, instead, a range of comic neurotics within the wife who will emerge to comedically entertain the audience with extremes in shocking nonconformity.
If this becomes the only popular representation of the DID/MPD victim to inform an otherwise mostly ignorant populace, it will marginalize and denigrate the real victims of mind control splitting, like MK Ultra trauma abuse, to be perceived similarly as zany housewives full of cartoon caricatures.
Marmot says:
“MPD/DID is a national security concern: wouldn't it be nice to have a series in place wherein 'they' can direct and contain the instructing character of the show. The show's didactic intent is quite obvious. The psy-op is the showing of what MPD/DID is.
IMO: USoT is not the the good ole United States of America, although Tara is an American. USoT is the United States of Tara. I'm sure an echoic "Terror" was intentional. But Tara is also identical sounding to Terra---the Latin word for Earth. United States of Earth. Message: America has been broken up and is now a citizen of Earth.
The name of the series--on the surface--is a slick work of psy-ops. If we were to study the depths of the programs I'm sure we'd find more direct evidences of propagendas and other operational intents. One such intent is to show a character that has only four alters, not thousands as there could otherwise be. This is misdirection of DSM-IV proportions.”
Professorpan says:
“The reflexive "if it's a tv show/movie/book about x, it must be psyops!" stuff is tiresome and unproductive. Writers and producers are human beings like us, and many of them are interested/fascinated/appalled/concerned about the same things we are, and those concerns come out in their art. (Of course, if you buy into the CIA OWNZ YER TVZ! thinking, then no need to read further.)
It's also important to remember that a depiction of subject X in popular entertainment may open minds, and not just deceive. A silly tv show may lead someone to inquire more deeply into a marginalized subject. I've seen it happen.”
--
What struck me was something similar... that there is a move afoot to create cultural acceptance of certain things as a maskirovka for the real action... so that when someone says "look over here", the public reaction is to yawn and say that it's just another crazy variation on that crazy TV show they saw. It's also what I smell inside some viral marketing and alternate reality games [see http://z7.invisionfree.com/E_Pluribus_Un...topic=8206 where I am Magmak1], [read the bios of the authors of the paper "Storytelling in new media: The case of alternate reality games"] and it is all resonant with something I've read recently about the purpose of propaganda being not to persuade, but to create confusion and resignation in the minds of the target people.
[Magda: If you want to move this thread, go ahead. I didn't want to color the reaction too soon by putting the question in a category.]
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"