"Schizophrenic" posters, propaganda, and the suspension of disbelief

Giving it a name doesn't explain it. And what most people think they know about how to treat it is probably misinformed.

Let us assume our hypothetical recurring board character, the obviously or admittedly diagnosed schizophrenic, is well cared for and safe. Why not, with that axiom attended to, take as a hypothesis at least that he is not in this state by natural means, but induced ones? Certainly it's been done before -- that's a matter of record, as we all know here.

We are, in Western culture, caged inside an endlessly droning propaganda machine which we must actively work to resist and reject in perpetuity and with perspicacity. That's the point of ATS -- between, beneath, and bracketed by the lines.

Much of this propaganda is shame-based, because it works like a self-fueling car. All you have to do is persuade two generations that just to be associated with an idea, or type of person, is horrifically embarrassing, and will cause them to experience everything from gentle mocking to brutal rejection, even directed from the people they love.

By the third generation, as with the myth of engagement diamonds, the propaganda will become invisible and understood to be "common sense".

"Conspiracy theory", for example, is a very clever, wicked bit of shamed-based propaganda, and its power has played no small part in how we've reached the point where simply doing original research is considered suspicious behavior.

What the military-industrial complex (embodied in that case by the former CIA) is willing to admit to having done is so incredible, no one would believe it if the records had not been released. These cowboys were dosing prostitutes with acid in their drinks just to see what happened.

There's no romance to the game -- that's movie stuff. The sad truth is, most Western people, given a bit of petty authority and a lot of resources, just do what the heck ever they think seems like fun at the time. Including mess with people in ways the victim can never, ever, ever possibly convey to the world because it just all sounds so funny -- and because if we question even for a moment whether there's any grain of truth to it, people might think we're stupid.

Even a dog cringes if you insult its intelligence. Mammals are colony creatures. We live in hierarchies, and we're intrinsically wired to respond to social pressure.

So maybe we can all agree that reading the DSM is, like the Bible, now something anybody can do despite the best efforts of the denizens of its ivory tower, restrain ourselves to jokes only if they are really very funny, and think about, pretend, imagine...what if there's something to it? What might it be? And whatever that is, what might it mean?

I'm not schzophrenic.

I'm paranoid delusional.

You're talking about me, arent you..

oO

So the slow introduction of disinfo and psyops is geared to make us schizophrenic and post things on ATS for what? To further the "Wacky Conspiracy Theorist" idea and keep the rest of the people who don't dabble in research past what is spoon fed to them in line and busy keeping the machine making widgets and profits? I say douse yourself like people of yore who steadily gave themselves poison in the hopes that natural resistance would help them in that certainty they themselves might be poisoned. Take it a "Schizophrenic" step further and sum all your countless lives as a human on this planet toiling for a chance to sip a cool drink under a shady tree in a rain storm, yeah thats a death reference. Release from bonds. Are we so poluted as to birth one day so immune to all possible poisons that we may finally see for ourselves what is going on and when that day comes the evil will come to us an say "we do it because we love you". We are fortyfying you, or we are "fulfilling a contract" like the Law of One people say.
Occam's Razor I say like the comedian Chris Rock says "What ever happened to crazy?" about these Controlers of our destiny. Hard is the fall and forever the new found sorrow onto them.

reply to post by sepermeru


I'm not sure what your point is. I think your trying to get there, but you have trouble just saying it. So you talk in circles about other things. Has someone diagnosed you and you disagree? You sound a bit too intelligent and coherent in most of the writing, but are bringing in disjointed ideas and talking about mental illness. I'm not sure what to make of it. This is not part of a college experiment is it?


V

Being exposed to propaganda will not make you schizoid. Schizophrenia is a terrible disease, I was married to a sufferer for 23 years. It is a sad sad thing.

The carrot at the end of the string, suspended, forever unreachable...sisyphitic rock, groundhog repeats...split mind/thought - they're yours for the riding of...your game...as it should be...Propaganda...let's plant a seed in the soil of your game, see how it grows gnarled and knotted - or beautiful and unique...

There's no secret in this...there's a Contract we implicitly make (forgetting the reason why)...or constantly re-membering/re-minding ourselves of (diagnosis...bamboozled)...

Survival (if you want to be that dramatic) is walking a tightrope of your own 'suspension' (because surely, you are not imagining your experience)...or are you? Have you always? Is the 'wake' a dream, and the 'dream' awake?

Some things are self-evident, but never on an objective level (wouldn't work that way!)...hence, split mind (from the outside - looking in)...but much of what we do, think, say is split this way...most hide the bamboozlement, some with violence, anger, alcool, altering substance (legal and ill-eagle)...they're the ones cutting their noses to spite their face, and crying that they have no nose!

From the inside - looking out...everything's either coming towards you, or going away from you - (you're in that jar!)...subjective!...but you make yourself, the object - experiencing subjectively...how split-minded does that sound? If you realise (make real) that, this is what you are doing...you can play with it...

Å99

I'm not exactly sure what your trying to say in your origional post but the media won't create schizophreania (overindulgance with). The only way it could do that is if there was already a genetic predisposition along with perhaps an ongoing high stress and chaotic environment. Even then it may only present as schizoid personality disorder.

Or maybe your saying some people present like a paranoid schizophrenic by needing to dig for truths, and question the status quo. As long as that person is able to restabalize emotions, emotions and thoughts remain integrated, and they can communicate coherently they are just searching for answers. Suspicious does not equate to a disease. If it's schizophrenia you will know it. Although on a continuum, it presents as something outside of our own frame of reference so it is easily distinguishable if you pay attention over time.

reply to post by sepermeru


Only a Schizophrenic can tell you what it is like.... not the other way round.

Reading stuff on the net I'm sure can enhance Schizophrenia (if that person is far gone) but if it is not so bad, that person can eliminate the absurdity of one argument/problem/question etc etc...

At the moment there is a lot of # going on in the World which is in he News on a daily basis which could definately make a Schizophrenic go crazy (If they are far gone).

reply to post by sepermeru


Great post, s & f for you..

I've seen a number of those whom I would term 'highly-functioning schizophrenics' if I were to use the official lingo, who actively post about their experiences, and I have enjoyed discourse with several - I am convinced that in a number of cases, they might well be victims of psychotronic or drug-induced dissociative states.

Others, seem less functional and more prone to outlandish delusion, which is sad because it means they haven't been initiated into how this all works. Many could be helped if they could simply be focused onto singular Truth concerning their condition. Trouble is, natural or unnatural, schizophrenia-type symptoms are truly discernible only on a case-by-case basis, and often sufferers will need direct, real world intervention before they can see how to address their condition.

I believe in spiritual realities as well as technological and organic realities, so in my world I see that there are likely at least three distinct categories in which persons can be afflicted with 'schizophrenic' symptoms. To be afflicted with more than one type is the nightmare that some cannot escape without miraculous intervention.


ETA - The whole situation is made worse by ignorant #heads who jest at the expense of those suffering from some form of mental illness.

reply to post by winofiend


The very fact that you got so many stars for a cruel joke is indicative that this site is overrun with imbeciles.

I dislike you intensely for the way you post, having seen it all over the site. We on ATS have a real problem, in that you post in a derogatory fashion, mocking and insulting left, right & centre, and yet you get away with it. Why haven't you been banned?

Store up 'bad karma' much?

No, I wasn't saying that propaganda can induce psychosis. It can certainly bring on delusions, but almost anything can given the right circumstances, including plain bad luck.

My point was to suggest that to identify a set of traits, bundle them together and give them a name, and then any time this appears to say we have understood anything because we have successfully observed the traits and recalled the name, is to unwittingly, reflexively bow to the pressures of social-shaming based propaganda. The person's experiences may very well be the product of a neurological atypicality, but how do we know for sure? Isn't that a more interesting question -- isn't, in fact, almost any question more interesting -- than "how many times can we cancel out a sincerely kind post with some flippant disregard"?

We treat our schizophrenics on this board like "conspiracy theorists" are treated everywhere else. Is everyone here well on top of their mental health? Endless pages of threads are devoted to the most wonderfully mad ideas anyone could have, but it's as if there is never an outside far enough to run out of people stuck in it. Every ideologically-based community which struggles for basic respect from the larger society inevitably turns upon its own members in order to enforce mammalian hierarchies. Without outsiders, how are we to know if we are insiders?

This too causes us to be preoccupied with questions of identity and motivation. Whether a person is shilling, trolling, concealing personal details, posting from inside a locked ward, openly supporting the administration as if that makes any sense -- an argument always stands or falls on its own merits, not those of the presenter. One does not evaluate the quality of a book's contents based on the condition of the particular edition in one's hands.

And if you know there is a group of people with particular traits, you can call them whatever you want, you still have no reason to think they're not trying to communicate something important, whether it's simply that human beings come in all kinds of braining, or that they have been the victim of the perfect crime. I'm drawing no conclusions, nor am I intending to imply any I haven't stated plainly. The phenomenon called schizophrenia takes many forms, some of which are devastating, and many of which are probably the result of a combination of genetic predisposition and severe trauma.

On the other hand, if a guy comes up to you looking like he just spent a few months wandering the desert and tries to tell you something but you can't understand his language, announcing he's a "nomad" and walking away is at very least passing up the chance to think about much more interesting narrative possibilities.

A lot of emphasis is placed here on providing personal anecdotes, disclaiming associations and motivations, "making points" -- what I'm trying to do is simply have a conversation about how to deconstruct encounters with identified or admitted schizophrenics through the lens which focuses on disinformation.