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Psychologists Weigh In On 9/11
#1
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Psychologists Weigh In On 9/11

A new article in U.S. News & World Report quotes a couple of psychologists, one sociologist and one historian to argue that people who question the government's version of 9/11 are prone to false thinking.

Initially, remember that, while there are many honorable psychologists and psychiatrists, psychologists helped to create the U.S. torture program, and actively participated in it.

Also, psychologists - such as Freud's nephew Edward Bernays - have been central to propaganda efforts for a century (see this, this and this).

Moreover, many mental health professionals have concluded that the official version of 9/11 is false, and that those who believe the official version suffer from emotional problems or defense mechanisms. For example:

* Psychiatrist Carol S. Wolman, MD

* Psychiatrist E. Martin Schotz

* Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, as well as Radiology, at Duke University Medical Center D. Lawrence Burk, Jr., MD

* Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of Psychology and Associate Dean of the Graduate School at Ruters University Barry R. Komisaruk

* Professor of Psychology at University of New Hampshire William Woodward

* Professor of Psychology at University of Essex Philip Cozzolino

* Professor of Psychology at Goddard College Catherine Lowther

* Professor Emeritus of Psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies Ralph Metzner

* Professor of Psychology at Rhodes University Mike Earl-Taylor

* Retired Professor of Psychology at Oxford University Graham Harris

* Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Nebraska and licensed Psychologist Ronald Feintech

* Ph.D. Clinical Neuropsychologist Richard Welser

Finally, it should be obvious that the opinions of mental health professionals are only as sound as their knowledge. For example, a mental health professional in 1640 would likely have labeled Galileo crazy for saying that the Earth orbits around the Sun.

More importantly, a German psychologist who heard from a patient in 1933 - when Hitler started consolidating power in Germany - that Hitler was a dangerous fascist who would launch a world war, try to take over the world and kill millions would likely be labeled as delusional.

Just as with any field, the opinions of mental health professional are only as good as their knowledge.

Indeed, even the 9/11 Commissioners themselves now say that they don't believe the government's version of 9/11. For example:

* The Commission's co-chairs said that the CIA (and likely the White House) "obstructed our investigation"

* Indeed, they said that the 9/11 Commissioners knew that military officials misrepresented the facts to the Commission, and the Commission considered recommending criminal charges for such false statements (free subscription required)

* 9/11 Commissioner Bob Kerrey said that "There are ample reasons to suspect that there may be some alternative to what we outlined in our version . . . We didn't have access . . . ."

* 9/11 Commissioner Timothy Roemer said "We were extremely frustrated with the false statements we were getting"

* 9/11 Commissioner Max Cleland resigned from the Commission, stating: "It is a national scandal"; "This investigation is now compromised"; and "One of these days we will have to get the full story because the 9-11 issue is so important to America. But this White House wants to cover it up"

* The Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission (John Farmer) - who led the 9/11 staff's inquiry - said "At some level of the government, at some point in time...there was an agreement not to tell the truth about what happened". He also said "I was shocked at how different the truth was from the way it was described .... The tapes told a radically different story from what had been told to us and the public for two years.... This is not spin. This is not true."

Given that even the 9/11 Commissioners themselves no longer believe the government's version of 9/11, is a mental health professional who believes the official version really saying that the entire 9/11 Commission is delusional?

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/05/p...n-911.html
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"
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#2
In Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media , the idiot lackey, Elaine Showalter, claimed everything from Dissociative Identity Disorder to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to Gulf War Syndrome was a media-driven manifestation of Victorian hysteria.

The medical definition of paranoia is so useful to Them:

Quote:The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV), the diagnostic standard for mental health professionals in the United States, lists the following symptoms for paranoid personality disorder:
suspicious; unfounded suspicions; believes others are plotting against him/her
preoccupied with unsupported doubts about friends or associates
reluctant to confide in others due to a fear that information may be used against him/her
reads negative meanings into innocuous remarks
bears grudges
perceives attacks on his/her reputation that are not clear to others, and is quick to counterattack
maintains unfounded suspicions regarding the fidelity of a spouse or significant other

I prefer Thomas Pynchon's version scattered throughout Gravity's Rainbow:

Quote:Proverbs for Paranoids:
You may never get to touch the Master, but you can tickle his creatures.
The innocence of the creatures is in inverse proportion to the immorality of the Master.
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.
You hide, they seek.
Paranoids are not paranoid because they're paranoid, but because they keep putting themselves, fucking idiots, deliberately into paranoid situations.
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."

Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon

"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
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#3
Jan Klimkowski Wrote:In Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media , the idiot lackey, Elaine Showalter, claimed everything from Dissociative Identity Disorder to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to Gulf War Syndrome was a media-driven manifestation of Victorian hysteria.

This sounds similar to the CIA-driven False Memory Syndrome Foundation set up sell the denial of organized child abuse (oh, it couldn't posssibly be true, those children were tricked or manipulated). Sometimes the name or the symptoms or the cause are debatable or subject to further research and investigation, but certain realities cannot be dismissed.

We've moved too deeply into Cartesian left-brain-only proof and have moved way too far away from right-brain, sensory, intuitive, embodied knowledge, and we have only begun to understand the way the mind/body/spirit works as a unit that cannot be subdivided or understood on the basis of limited perspective. There is knowledge, and then there is gnosis.
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"
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#4
DPF has a thread on the FMSF here.

http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/....php?t=122

Do feel free to revive it...
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."

Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon

"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
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#5
Jan Klimkowski Wrote:DPF has a thread on the FMSF here.

http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/....php?t=122

Do feel free to revive it...


I didn't think I was breaking new ground here... I and others at E Pluribus Unum http://z7.invisionfree.com/E_Pluribus_Un...hp?act=idx want to invite you all over for lunch sometime. :eating: Most of my old research on those kinds of topics remains buried in somewhat-defunct hard drives but the synapses upstairs have its essence recorded.
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"
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#6
Thursday, May 28, 2009

Conspiracies and the Martha Mitchell Effect



John Mitchell was the Attorney-General during the Nixon administration.
His wife - Martha Mitchell - told her psychologist that top White House officials were engaged in illegal activities. Her psychologist labeled these claims as caused by mental illness.


Ultimately, however, the relevant facts of the Watergate scandal vindicated her.


In fact, psychologists have now given a label - the "Martha Mitchell Effect" - to "the process by which a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health clinician mistakes the patient's perception of real events as delusional and misdiagnoses accordingly".


The authors of a paper on this phenomenon ( Bell, V., Halligan, P.W., Ellis, H.D. (2003) Beliefs About Delusions. The Psychologist, 6 (8), 418-422) conclude:
Sometimes, improbable reports are erroneously assumed to be symptoms of mental illness [due to a] failure or inability to verify whether the events have actually taken place, no matter how improbable intuitively they might appear to the busy clinician.
In other words, psychologists who haven't taken the time to examine for themselves the claims of their patients will tend to label as delusional anything which they "intuitively" feel is improbable.

Many psychologists - just as Martha Mitchell's - will tend to assume any claim of conspiracy is improbable. However, conspiracies are actually common occurences which are well-recognized by the law.


Psychologists are even more apt to label government conspiracies as improbable. However, as Martha Mitchell's psychologist learned, they do happen. Watergate, for example, was a conspiracy.


Psychologists who have attempted to label as delusional those who raise the possibility of government conspiracies do not have even a basic understanding of the Martha Mitchell Effect, or have not examined whether or not there is any factual basis for their patient's claims.


Obviously, some people are delusional, and see conspiracies where none exist. But it is equally true that when millions of scientists, military leaders, historians, legal scholars, intelligence officials and other rational people say the government is lying, psychologists who dismiss similar claims by their patients are falling prey to the Martha Mitchell Effect. They are too busy and/or arrogant to actually examine their assumptions as to whether or not the claims which feel improbable to them are true.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/05/c...ffect.html

"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"
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#7
Here's the original article from US News and World Report

"The Inner Worlds of Conspiracy Believers"
Posted May 26, 2009

By Bruce Bower, Science News [sic]

Shortly after terrorist attacks destroyed the World Trade Center and mangled the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, conspiracy theories blossomed about secret and malevolent government plots behind the tragic events. A report scheduled to appear in an upcoming Applied Cognitive Psychology offers a preliminary psychological profile of people who believe in 9/11 conspiracies.

A team led by psychologist Viren Swami of the University of Westminster in London identified several traits associated with subscribing to 9/11 conspiracies, at least among British citizens. These characteristics consist of backing one or more conspiracy theories unrelated to 9/11, frequently talking about 9/11 conspiracy beliefs with likeminded friends and others, taking a cynical stance toward politics, mistrusting authority, endorsing democratic practices, feeling generally suspicious toward others and displaying an inquisitive, imaginative outlook.

“Often, the proof offered as evidence for a conspiracy is not specific to one incident or issue, but is used to justify a general pattern of conspiracy ideas,” Swami says.

His conclusion echoes a 1994 proposal by sociologist Ted Goertzel of Rutgers–Camden in New Jersey. After conducting random telephone interviews of 347 New Jersey residents, Goertzel proposed that each of a person’s convictions about secret plots serves as evidence for other conspiracy beliefs, bypassing any need for confirming evidence.

A belief that the government is covering up its involvement in the 9/11 attacks thus feeds the idea that the government is also hiding evidence of extraterrestrial contacts or that John F. Kennedy was not killed by a lone gunman.

Goertzel says the new study provides an intriguing but partial look at the inner workings of conspiracy thinking. Such convictions critically depend on what he calls “selective skepticism.” Conspiracy believers are highly doubtful about information from the government or other sources they consider suspect. But, without criticism, believers accept any source that supports their preconceived views, he says.

“Arguments advanced by conspiracy theorists tell you more about the believer than about the event,” Goertzel says.

Swami’s finding that 9/11 conspiracy believers frequently spoke with likeminded individuals supports the notion that “conspiracy thinkers constitute a community of believers,” remarks historian Robert Goldberg of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Goldberg has studied various conspiracy theories in the United States.

Conspiracy thinkers share an optimistic conviction that they can find “the truth,” spread it to the masses and foster social change, Goldberg asserts.

Over the past 50 years, researchers and observers of social dynamics have traced beliefs in conspiracy theories to feelings of powerlessness, attempts to bolster self-esteem and diminished faith in government. Some conspiracy beliefs — such as the widespread conviction among blacks that the U.S. government concocted HIV/AIDS as a genocidal plot — gain strength from actual events, such as the once-secret Tuskegee experiments in which black men with syphilis were denied treatment.

Swami and his colleagues administered a battery of questionnaires to 257 British adults, including a condensed version of a standard personality test. Participants came from a variety of ethnic, religious and social backgrounds representative of the British population.

Most participants expressed either no support or weak support for 16 conspiracy beliefs about 9/11. These beliefs included: “The World Trade Center towers were brought down by a controlled demolition” and, “Individuals within the U.S. government knew of the impending attacks and purposely failed to act on that knowledge.”

Much as Swami’s team suspected, beliefs in 9/11 conspiracy theories were stronger among individuals whose personalities combined suspicion and antagonism toward others with intellectual curiosity and an active imagination.

A related, unpublished survey of more than 1,000 British adults found that 9/11 conspiracy believers not only often subscribed to a variety of well-known conspiracy theories, but also frequently agreed with an invented conspiracy. Christopher French of Goldsmiths, University of London, and Patrick Leman of Royal Holloway, University of London, both psychologists, asked volunteers about eight common conspiracy theories and one that researchers made up: “The government is using mobile phone technology to track everyone all the time.”

The study, still unpublished, shows that conspiracy believers displayed a greater propensity than nonbelievers to jump to conclusions based on limited evidence.

“It seems likely that conspiratorial beliefs serve a similar psychological function to superstitious, paranormal and, more controversially, religious beliefs, as they help some people to gain a sense of control over an unpredictable world,” French says.

Swami now plans to investigate attitudes of British volunteers to conspiracy theories about the July 7, 2005, terrorist bombings in London.

http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2...evers.html
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"
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#8
Ed Jewett Wrote:Thursday, May 28, 2009

Conspiracies and the Martha Mitchell Effect



John Mitchell was the Attorney-General during the Nixon administration.
His wife - Martha Mitchell - told her psychologist that top White House officials were engaged in illegal activities. Her psychologist labeled these claims as caused by mental illness.


Ultimately, however, the relevant facts of the Watergate scandal vindicated her.


In fact, psychologists have now given a label - the "Martha Mitchell Effect" - to "the process by which a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health clinician mistakes the patient's perception of real events as delusional and misdiagnoses accordingly"....

Well, I'm glad they have a name for it and these poor delusional psychologists and psychiatrists can be treated for it. Confusedtupido:

It can be very stressful to be involved in conspiracies, especially the unwitting ones like wives, with the threat of public exposure and and criminal charges or even assassination for knowing 'too much'. No wonder many end up seeing a psychiatrist.

Quote:These characteristics consist of backing one or more conspiracy theories unrelated to 9/11, frequently talking about 9/11 conspiracy beliefs with likeminded friends and others, taking a cynical stance toward politics, mistrusting authority, endorsing democratic practices, feeling generally suspicious toward others and displaying an inquisitive, imaginative outlook.

Wow, they sound so......normal. They have friends that they talk to, they are cynical about politics, they have an inquisitive and imaginative outlook and they endorse democratic principle. Mmmmm.... definitely pathological. They are not asleep or sheep and they think and question. Very dangerous. After all, politicians always behave in the interest of society and always tell the truth and authority never abuses its power. As we can see through history there are no such things as conspiracies. Ceasar died of natural causes on the way to the forum and the Watergate burglars just couldn't find their own rooms in the hotel and the Mafia is just a self-help and support group for Italian men.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx

"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.

“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
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#9
I'm Convinced... Email this entry | Print this entry
[Image: to_post_off.gif] Aug 8 2006, 02:19 PM

Is there any Reality Behind Those 9/11 Conspiracy Theories?


No, I don’t think so.

After all the reading and research I’ve done, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is in my best interests (and those of my country) to:

· fully embrace the findings of the Warren Commission (that bullet, after all, did take a sharp left hand turn);
· to bury forever the findings of the Frank Church investigations of the CIA (alongside Frank Olson);
· to ignore the fact that the same people show up in the background on 11/22/63, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and 9/11;
· to ignore the fact that the riot which stopped the Florida recount in the 2000 Presidential race was the work of Republican operatives; and
· to understand and accept fully that the CIA, the NSA and the military-industrial complex know what is best for me.

I’ve completely obliterated from memory, with the help of repetitive brain-washing:

· the fact that there were more bullet holes left behind in the Ambassador Hotel than Sirhan’s gun could have carried;
· the fact that those on the balcony with MLK pointed to a location quite different from the one in which the lone shooter was holed up;
· the fact that the National Reconnaissance Office was evacuated on the morning of 9/11 (all those spy satellites must have seen something);
· the fact that US Army psy-ops specialists were employed at CNN;
· the fact that two of the four flights on 9/11 weren’t scheduled to fly that day;
· the fact that the local medical examiner who responded to the crash site in Shanksville said there was no work for him to do when he got there;
· the fact that the NTSB has yet to produce a report which they are bound by law to produce (laws, after all, don’t mean a thing anymore);
· the fact that the anthrax involved in the post-9/11 anthrax scares is traceable only to the US bioweapons program and could only have been handled by as few as 12 people;
· decades of evidence and indication that elements of the US government have been involved in illegal drug trafficking.


I’ve decided that the numerous officials from foreign governments who have said from Day One that the 19 hijackers could not have done it without help from within the US government are enemies of our state, including the former Air Defence Minister from Canada, and several high-ranking members of the US military, including the Lt. Col. in charge of Reagan's Star Wars and a highly-decorated Marine combat veteran who served as the former Asst. SecDef under Reagan.

I’ve decided that the numerous FBI officials who’ve come forth to indicate that their pre-9/11 investigations of al-Qaeda were stopped in their tracks by their superiors are just “disgruntled former employees”.

I’ve concluded:

That the actions of the Secret Service to protect our President on 9/11 at the Booker School showed that they were as stunned as the rest of us. I mean, they are professionals, right? As their EOC had warning as early as 7:30 AM of a hijack plan, they surely must have known that “Angel” was not next.

That combat aircraft could have been towed to the Pentagon faster than they actually arrived via air is simply an indication that someone forgot where they left the keys.

The fact that two of the hijackers were seen aboard Jack Abramhoff’s floating gambling casino simply means that they were blowing off some steam before they got ready for “the big wedding”.

The fact that the “incompetents” in charge that day were all promoted is just evidence of how highly we value governmental incompetence.

The fact that over a billion dollars were removed from the WTC that morning, and there are trillions unaccounted for in the Pentagon, is just another example of poor accounting practices.

The fact that an obscure lawyer named Chertoff and others in the Administration nixed investigation and media coverage of PTECH software was just an example of making sure our tax dollars were spent wisely (the fact that there’s a secret “back door” into top Federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies just indicates how open the Bush administration wants to be with the world).

That three buildings, for the first time in history, suddenly decided to give up the ghost is just the emergence of the newly-discovered “Sudden Building Collapse Syndrome”.

The fact that the top four officials in charge of the US military on the morning of 9/11 can’t fully or coherently account for their whereabouts or actions is simply an indication that they don’t use DayTimers in their work.

The fact that a CIA psy ops agent was installed as the Executive Editor of Popular Mechanics just six weeks before they published the truthiness about 9/11 conspiracy theories is simply an indication that the US government wants to be sure that we are fully informed about these matters. (The fact that much of the research was done by a fellow named Chertoff is just another one of those silly coincidences.)

The fact that the 9/11 Commission described in great detail the collapse of the building containing the offices of the Secret Service, the CIA, the SEC, and the NYC OEM shows how thorough a job they did in investigation. (It’s in the 9/11 Commission report somewhere, isn’t it?)

The fact that the 9/11 Commission didn’t get underway with its work for over 400 days is simply an indication that they wanted to sure that everything was in proper order before they began their work.

The fact that the 9/11 Commission failed to investigate funding mechanisms or connections to international drug operations was simply an indication that they were tightly focused on their work.

That Carolyn Betts’ tabulation of the many crimes that were committed on 9/11 are of no interest to anyone whatsoever.

That David Ray Griffin, Peter Dale Scott, Michael Ruppert, and Webster Tarpley were just motivated by money when they write what they write. There couldn’t possibly be anything there that could bother “my beautiful mind”.


So, for me, the 9/11 matter is closed. They found all that evidence for the 19 hijackers in the luggage they left behind in Boston and, after all, the 9/11 Commission said it was so, and who am I doubt the wisdom of those who have done business with Rice and bin Laden? After all, it’s simply a matter of a little incompetence and a few coincidences, isn’t it?

So I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m crazy. After all, Bill O’Reilly told me I was.

A psychiatrist has prescribed a 40-day respite of solitude in a remote location away from “those crazy people on the Internet” where I can live in fear of the islamofascists and a virus from chickens, thanking God (with checks sent to Jerry Falwell) that the US government is here to protect me. She has assured me that my mind, like a parachute, will work best when the harnesses and cords that make it work are disconnected.

After my 40-day respite, I’ve agreed to be checked into an institute indefinitely. (Reservations have been made for me through Kellogg, Brown and Root.)

(I mean, everybody’s gotta learn some time, right?)

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/f...7&&st=270#
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"
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#10
Listen to what nurse Ratchett has to say and keep taking those pills Ed. You are making marvelous progress there. It will all be over soon and you'll never have to think for your self again. :nurse::marchmellow:
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx

"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.

“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
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