Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Updated information:

Grey Faction, Satanic Temple and Lucien Greaves Fact Sheet:
For almost a decade Douglas Misicko using several aliases (including Douglas Mesner and Lucien Greaves) has harassed groups helping child abuse, rape and trauma survivors. He has also harassed groups providing research in support of child abuse, rape and trauma survivors.


In 2013, he and others created a group called the Satanic Temple. One part of this group is called the Grey Faction. The Grey Faction states they “invade” conferences. These conferences are provided to help and educate child abuse, rape and trauma survivors and their helpers.
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/grey-faction-satanic-temple-and-lucien-greaves-fact-sheet/


Exposing Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves – co-founder of the Satanic Temple and Grey Faction presenter

This page was created to let people know the other side of Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves’ work.

In the article: “Mental Health Licensing Board Ignores Complaint Against “Satanic Panic” Conspiracy Counselor” By Doug Mesner (alias of person using alias Lucien Greaves) Daily Kos,

Doug Mesner repeats the same misinformation about Neil Brick and S.M.A.R.T.  This has all been refuted in previous articles:
(see: https://www.change.org/p/protect-child-abuse-survivors-petition-to-stop-attacks-against-child-abuse-and-ritual-abuse-survivors-and-neil-brick
and
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-satanic-temples-grey-faction-online-guest-post/ “Continued bullying, online harassment, name calling and personal attacks are occurring in the comment section under the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post.”)

Interestingly in the comment section under Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves’ article, there are several criticisms:

“If true, the entire diary is going after someone for their disabilities, and trying to get them barred from work because of their disabilities. Flagged.”

“Until you’ve sat with a client and easily (I never used hypnosis) persuaded or asked alter personalities to “come out” and saw the complete transformation of a person to another person in a split second… you can’t fully understand what DID is like.”

“This is creepy and I’m flagging it for confusing weird elaborate accusations that lack suitable citation. If someone is able to defend this and can add some real citations, I will remove my flag.”

“No that the letter you cite verifying that Brick is sane and in remission isn’t linked just quoted….The website process.org claims to be you and writes “In Defense of Neil Brick” and now you write with a petition against him. The website I linked to first that is Brick’s blog in rebuttal to you is from 6 years ago so obviously you’ve been writing this for at least 6 years using the same language and I wonder why. There’s plenty of weird ideas online and on youtube and what I understand from this diary is you want Brick to be ineligible to act as a Licensed Counselor but he was evaluated and passed the eval although you offer no evidence of that part. But you say upthread you will add that part later. You should have waited to publish until you had that to add. That you sneer at me about hyperlinks just adds to the creepiness I feel about what you wrote. Defensiveness doesn’t add to anyone’s validity.”

“It is certainly possible to have dissociative disorders that are not iatrogenic, as I myself had one.”

Doug continues his insults in the comment section below the article:
“hack quack therapists”
“harmful BS hysteria”
“Your comments are dishonest and frustratingly stupid.”

Doug discusses psychiatric diagnoses, yet it is unknown if he has any training at all in diagnosing these or their symptoms.

Other online criticisms of Lucien Greaves and The Satanic Temple;
(Note: All accusations are alleged and only the opinions of the specific websites cited. Please check websites listed for sources.)

Harvard can do better than give a platform to a “Black Mass” promoter who ridicules sex abuse victims http://www.patheos.com/blogs/feastofeden/2014/05/harvard-can-do-better-than-give-a-platform-to-a-black-mass-promoter-who-ridicules-sex-abuse-victims/

“More Internet searching shows Greaves, as Doug Mesner, works….with the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, which was founded by Pamela and Peter Freyd after their adult daughter Jennifer accused her father of rape….One of the organization’s founding members, the late Ralph Underwager, gave a lengthy interview to a pro-pedophilia journal in the 1990s in which he criticized pedophiles for not being “bold enough.” Underwager said,  “Pedophiles can make the assertion that the pursuit of intimacy and love is what they choose. With boldness they can say, ‘I believe this is in fact part of God’s will.”
To be fair, Underwager, when criticized over the interview, said his comments had been taken out of context.”

“All of which is to say that, as a victim of child sexual abuse, I do not think very much of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation or its co-founder Underwager, and so likewise do not think much of Greaves’ association with it or his ridiculing people who claim to have recovered memories of child sex abuse. (Again, he has a long Internet trail, which in this case shows quite a bit of vituperation directed at child sex-abuse victims and those who support them.)”

How to stop the OKC “Black Mass” for now
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/feastofeden/2014/07/how-to-stop-the-black-mass-for-now/

“I wrote about …. previously when expressing concern over Harvard “Black Mass” promoter Greaves:
I am not encouraged by the fact that Greaves is close with registered sex offender …, who, along with his wife, run a Satanic worship center in …..
Look up …..in the national sex offender registry and you will see that he was convicted of sexual battery in 2009. The rap sheet notes that he has satanic tattoos all over his body. The court ruled that he had to remain on the registry for life.
In what appears to be some sort of sick joke, the website of … Satanic “church” features a “rape awareness” page decorated with images of flowers.”

http://www.tinfoilhattime.com/2014/05/20/doug-mesnerlucien-greaves-the-huckster-behind-the-harvard-black-mass-and-similar-shams/

Critiques of Lucien Greaves and the Satanic Temple from former associates:

religion: a master and slave relationship by Shane Bugbee
http://www.shanebugbee.com/?p=2161


“I’ll try to explain why I have such a disdain for The Satanic Temple, a practical joke turned religion and could be cult, and the reasons behind my need to make that disdain public, as there is seldom one reason.”

“Then Doug told me his main motivation for The Satanic Temple was profit, to create a “substantial income”, that was enough for me to want to cease helping in any way, and to question the true intent of this project. While I am all for profit, I want nothing to do with a cult. Because the people The Satanic Temple wants to extract money from are MY people….”

“I recall Doug Mesner telling me the C.I.A. had asked him to write some private reports for them, maybe in my most paranoid state I could run with and ramble about the possibilities there… More likely, The Satanic Temple is just the act of a group of social and career climbers using slick psychological marketing tricks in the tradition of Edward Bernays to meet their ends. But at the least, I think anyone could question and everyone should question the intent of a guy from wealth and without ties to the occult as to why he has decided to fund a Satanic religion while pulling the strings of a guy who has such a brilliant mind, who has studied the science of the mind at one of the top learning facilities in the world, and maybe, just maybe you could come up with the same conclusion I have, that The Satanic Temple has ulterior motives above and beyond helping mankind or making a movie.

A Satanic monument is a mindful person looking into a mirror… religion is a control mechanism.
beware – be aware.”

High Priest Brian Werner resigns from The Satanic Temple
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIN4aZ8IMz0

https://churchofahriman.net/2014/08/13/doug-mesner-aka-lucien-greaves-truth-about-the-satanic-monument/
“The Satanic Temple’s spokes man Doug Mesner aka Lucien Greaves, just stabbed us in the back.  It seems time and time again, we help other Satanists get things going, then all the sudden the knife is sunk in.  Here is another one to add to the list…. Here are some emails between Lucien Greaves and Dastur Adam Daniels”

Articles from https://ritualabuse.us :

The Urban Legends of Those Attacking Ritual Abuse Theories and the False Logic of False Memory Proponents and Their Occultist Supporters – Presentation by Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2016-conference/the-urban-legends-of-those-attacking-ritual-abuse-theories/
“My license to practice therapy has been threatened with filed licensing complaints by people connected to a group called the Grey Faction, a part of the Satanic Temple. My job as a therapist has nothing to do with my advocacy efforts to stop child abuse and I have very clear professional and private boundaries that I maintain to ensure this continues to occur. Yet, the Grey Faction associates keep harassing me and others in the field. Their attacks are factually inaccurate and meritless. Their attempts to silence me have not worked. I have continued to publish research and promote the truth about child abuse, ritual abuse and mind control crimes on the Internet. Their campaign to silence child abuse survivors and rape victims has combined harassment, propaganda and misinformation.”

“I believe that the work of the Grey Faction is meant to purposefully dehumanize and insult ideological opponents, so our ideas are derided and not believed.”

“We can see common threads in attacks against child abuse survivors throughout history. Child abuse survivors have been called crazy, confused, hysterical, delusional and so on in attempts to maintain the status quo of child abuse being covered up in our society. Regardless of what the false memory occultists write, the reality is that they are part of this cover up. Instead of focusing on the factual information I write, I have been attacked personally in an attempt to silence me.”

Reply to the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-satanic-temples-grey-faction-online-guest-post/

“In conclusion, the guest post by the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction criticizes the strong research and theories of ritual abuse survivors and those with years of research, experience and education in the trauma field. (The members of the Grey Faction have unknown credentials and may not have the experience to accurately determine trauma theory and research.) The guest post by the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction presents inaccurate arguments, which are refuted in this article. The Grey Faction claims they are combating pseudoscience with rational inquiry, but this rational inquiry is actually predetermined opinion, bolstered by name calling, ad hominem attacks and insults. There is no real rational inquiry because there is no evidence that all of the facts were looked at neutrally to derive a conclusion. It appears the only facts considered were the ones that back their arguments. In its articles, the Grey Faction hides behind the name of science and rationality, when in reality it appears it is an advocacy organization used to discredit ritual abuse survivors realities’ and their resources.”

Reply to the Grey Faction’s Petition to Revoke the License of Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-grey-factions-petition-to-revoke-the-license-of-neil-brick/

“The petition states that The Allied Board of Health Professionals licensure division, having previously received a complaint…did nothing. The fact is that no violations were found and no disciplinary actions were taken. We believe that this new letter is part of the continued actions of harassment against Neil Brick and those that help child and ritual abuse survivors.”
“The petition states “While we are not privy to records that indicate methods of treatment employed in Neil Brick’s practice.” This is one of the most important parts of the letter. There is no evidence there are any problems with any methods of treatment Neil uses.

Douglas Misicko alias Douglas Mesner update 7 – Radio Interview Rebuttal
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-7-radio-interview-rebuttal/

“Doug Mesner has continued his attacks on Neil Brick and other ritual abuse survivors. He continues his use of name calling and insults against ritual abuse survivors and their helpers. He repeats the same misstatements about the conference we have rebutted in earlier articles on this website. He calls those he has ideological disagreements with as having delusions and paranoia.

In a radio interview…, Mesner states “The organization S.M.A.R.T is run by this little shit named Neil Brick, he’s actually when I first saw him, he’s this staggering little moron with this greasy comb over and thick glasses, and he’s very short and very frail.” Of course, this physical description isn’t true. Mesner paints a false caricature of an ideological opponent to discredit them in the eyes of the reader. This is a dishonest attempt to discredit someone and their ideas. Neil Brick doesn’t stagger, is a genius (test score), doesn’t have thick glasses and is in excellent physical shape now and was at the conference. This fabricated description is part of the false narrative Mesner paints to back up the other false ideas he promotes to incorrectly discredit ritual abuse survivors.

S.M.A.R.T and Neil Brick have repeatedly contested the so-called factual points of his articles and have disproven many of them. Mesner calls Neil Brick’s story delusional, but has no evidence it is, other than Mesner’s own belief system. Of course, this is not evidence of anyone’s delusion, but evidence of Mesner’s disagreement and nothing more.”

“Mesner in essence paints a false picture of ritual abuse survivors and their helpers without any real evidence to try and discredit them. To the best of our knowledge, he has little to no experience dealing with severe abuse survivors and has no training in working with them.”

Douglas Mesner and the Lucien Greaves Satanic Temple Connection
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-mesner-and-the-lucien-greaves-satanic-temple-connection/

“The Satanic Temple’s website stated:  In 2012, Neil Bricke, raised in a multigenerational Satanic Temple tradition of worship, decided, with the blessings of his fellow Satanic devotees, to officially found the Satanic Temple.
SMART believes that this was meant to be an attack on Neil Brick, the founder of SMART.  Neil Brick works to educate the public about the different types of child abuse and their existence.”

“Without any evidence presented, it claims that clients are somehow indoctrinated into believing the horrific things that actually happened to them as children. This is unproven and false. The myth that survivors of severe childhood abuse are somehow encouraged to remember these memories in treatment is also false. There’s no evidence that a patient can be “indoctrinated” into believing a memory of abuse in a normal therapeutic setting.”

“In another article at vice.com (also covered in other Internet articles) about  Satanists turning the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church’s deceased mother  “gay,” the article describes  “Lucien Greaves” performing a “Pink Mass” over the grave of the Westboro Baptist Church founder’s mother. The article states that the Pink Mass is a Satanic ritual performed after death that will turn a deceased person’s straight spirit into a homosexual one.  This event was covered on many other news pages also. The Satanic Temple states it eschews supernaturalism, yet performs rituals over a dead person’s grave. There were also pictures of Lucien Greaves on the Internet of him pulling his penis while rubbing his scrotum on the gravestone. In the state of Mississippi, where this ritual occurred, “Lucien Greaves” was charged by the police with desecration of a grave according to a vice.com article and other articles on the Internet.”

“”Douglas Mesner has continued using insults and attacks against survivors of ritual abuse and the professionals that work with them.  He has followed survivors and survivor advocates around the Internet for the last several years.  Aliases have been used adding additional insults and name calling against survivors.”

Additional Information on Douglas Mesner and SMART:

https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-6-examiner-com-article/
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-5/
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-4/
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-3/
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-2/
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update/
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner/
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/harassment-by-false-memory-proponents/
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-report-from-the-smart-2009-conference/

Please sign this petition to show support for those attacked by Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves:

Petition to Stop Attacks Against Child Abuse and Ritual Abuse Survivors and Neil Brick
https://www.change.org/p/protect-child-abuse-survivors-petition-to-stop-attacks-against-child-abuse-and-ritual-abuse-survivors-and-neil-brick
“Recently vicious online attacks have been published by The Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction and Douglas Mesner/Lucien Greaves.”

Sunday, September 4, 2016

The Urban Legends of Those Attacking Ritual Abuse Theories

The Urban Legends of Those Attacking Ritual Abuse Theories and the False Logic of False Memory Proponents and Their Occultist Supporters – Presentation at the 2016 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference

Second half of the article discusses the Grey Faction, a part of the Satanic Temple and Lucien Greaves/Doug Mesner.

This presentation has been adapted for the Internet. It was presented at the conference by Neil Brick, a survivor of ritual abuse and mind control. His work continues to educate the public about child abuse, trauma and ritual abuse crimes. His child abuse and ritual abuse newsletter S.M.A.R.T. has been published for over 20 years. His articles can be found at http://neilbrick.com

All accusations are alleged. This information is educational and not intended as therapy or treatment. The ideas I discuss here today are only my own or where cited taken from sources.
Reading this information may or may not help your recovery process, so please use caution while reading this. This may be heavy for survivors.

The Urban Legends of Those Attacking Ritual Abuse Theories and the False Logic of False Memory Proponents and Their Occultist Supporters


The vicious attacks, harassment and false logic of those untrained to ascertain recovery and therapeutic techniques continues into recent years from the 1990s. Many of these attacks use the same propaganda techniques, like name calling, insults and repetition as those from the 1980s and 90s. Modern examples will be given and compared to those from prior years.

In the 1980’s and early 1990’s there was a strong backlash against child abuse and ritual abuse survivors.

Media Manipulation by False Memory Proponents

There are two excellent articles that discuss this backlash and how the media was manipulated and turned against child abuse survivors.

Links to two important articles discussing this are at: https://ritualabuse.us/research/

Controlling the Media

1) U-Turn on Memory Lane by Mike Stanton – Columbia Journalism Review – July/August 1997
http://web.archive.org/web/20071216011151/http://backissues.cjrarchives.org/year/97/4/memory.

asp

“Rarely has such a strange and little-understood organization had such a profound effect on media coverage of such a controversial matter. The foundation is an aggressive, well-financed p.r. machine adept at manipulating the press, harassing its critics, and mobilizing a diverse army of psychiatrists, outspoken academics, expert defense witnesses, litigious lawyers, Freud bashers, critics of psychotherapy, and devastated parents. With a budget of $750,000 a year from members and outside supporters, the foundation’s reach far exceeds its actual membership of about 3,000.”

“As controversial memory cases arose around the country, FMSF boosters contacted journalists to pitch the false-memory argument, more and more reporters picked up on the issue, and the foundation became an overnight media darling. The story line that had dominated the press since the 1980s — an underreported toll of sexual abuse, including sympathetic stories of adult survivors resurrecting long-lost memories of it — was quickly turned around. The focus shifted to new tearful victims — respectable, elderly parents who could no longer see their children and grandchildren because of bad therapists who implanted memories…:”


Battle Tactics of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation – Noel Packard – New School for Social Research, N.Y. History Matters Conference April 23-24, 2004 Censorship is also a tactic that FMS Foundation adherents use to silence voices they don’t agree with. Katy Butler, published a critical review of Ofshe’s and Watter’s book, Making Monsters (1994) in the Los Angeles Times. Later the newspaper’s book review editor received a vague threat of a lawsuit from Ofshe’s representative (K. Butler personal communication with Lynn Crook January 28, 2000). Later Butler was asked to write a story for Newsweek examining the uncritical acceptance of Foundation claims and to provide documented cases of recovered memory and traumatic amnesia. Upon learning of this assignment Foundation Advisory Board members Richard Ofshe and Fredrick Crews, as well as Peter and Pamela Freyd, wrote strongly worded letters of complaint to Newsweek which effectively canceled Butler’s assignment (Stanton 1997). Although these censorship activities were reported in Mike Stanton’s article “U-Turn on Memory Lane” (1997) Nevertheless, Newsweek editors confirmed that the FMS Foundation letters helped kill Butler’s article. http://www.newschool.edu/nssr/historymatters/papers/NoelPackard.pdf

Misrepresentation of the data and the harassment of those defending child abuse survivors were two major parts of the false memory movement used against child abuse survivors.

The harassment was meant to scare people from discussing child abuse, ritual abuse and mind control crimes. And this harassment continues today.

We have a page devoted to these tactics:
False memory syndrome proponents tactics – False memory syndrome proponents have done the following to try and ensure that only their point of view is in the public view. Harassing debate opponents, misrepresenting the data in the field and controlling the media. https://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/false-memory-syndrome-proponents-tactics/


Harassment

Confessions of a Whistle-Blower: Lessons Learned Author: Anna C. Salter DOI: 10.1207/s15327019eb0802_2 Published in: Ethics & Behavior, Volume 8, Issue 2 June 1998 , pages 115 – 124 Abstract – In 1988 I began a report on the accuracy of expert testimony in child sexual abuse cases utilizing Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield as a case study (Wakefield & Underwager, 1988). In response, Underwager and Wakefield began a campaign of harassment and intimidation, which included multiple lawsuits; an ethics charge; phony (and secretly taped) phone calls; and ad hominem attacks, including one that I was laundering federal grant monies. The harassment and intimidation failed as the author refused demands to retract. In addition, the lawsuits and ethics charges were dismissed.
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/confessions-of-a-whistle-blower-lessons-learned/
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a918444284

Calof, D.L. (1998). Notes from a practice under siege: Harassment, defamation, and intimidation in the name of science, Ethics and Behavior, 8(2) pp. 161-187. Abstract: I have practiced psychotherapy, family therapy, and hypnotherapy for over 25 years without a single board complaint or lawsuit by a client. For over 3 years, however, a group of proponents of the false memory syndrome (FMS) hypothesis, including members, officials, and supporters of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, Inc., have waged a multimodal campaign of harassment and defamation directed against me, my clinical clients, my staff, my family, and others connected to me. I have neither treated these harassers or their families nor had any professional or personal dealings with any of them; I am not related in any way to the disclosures of memories of sexual abuse in these families. Nonetheless, this group disrupts my professional and personal life and threatens to drive me out of business. In this article, I describe practicing psychotherapy under a state of siege and place the campaign against me in the context of a much broader effort in the FMS movement to denigrate, defame, and harass clinicians, lecturers, writers, and researchers identified with the abuse and trauma treatment communities. http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/notes-from-a-practice-under-siege/

David Calof author note : I should also add that this article covers the first four years of what would become an over 10 year campaign of harassment and the most egregious actions actually took place after this article was published.

Misrepresenting the data in the field

“Since at least 95 percent of child molesters initially deny their abusive behaviors, how can untrained lay people like Pamela Freyd and her staff “document” a real or “unreal” case of “FMS,” as appears to be the case with most of their communications, which usually occur over the telephone or by letter. (p. 76) (Memory and Abuse: Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma By Charles L. Whitfield, Christine Courtois Published by HCI, 1995)
http://books.google.com/books?id=z1LW3u1e04YC

Jennifer J. Freyd, Ph.D., author of “Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse
“Despite this documentation for both traumatic amnesia and essentially accurate delayed recall, memory science is often presented as if it supports the view that traumatic amnesia is very unlikely or perhaps impossible and that a great many, perhaps a majority, maybe even all, recovered memories of abuse are false….Yet no research supports such an implication…and a great deal of research supports the premise that forgetting sexual abuse is fairly common and that recovered memories are sometimes essentially true.” (p. 107)
Science in the Memory Debate – Ethics & Behavior, Volume 8, Issue 2 June 1998 , pages 101 – 113 https://web.archive.org/web/20130225044634/http://fmsf.com/ethics.shtml
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a918444283

“Psychologists Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield have written two books…When a given reference fails to support their viewpoint they simply misstate the conclusion. When they cannot use a quotation out of context from an article, they make unsupported statements, some of which are palpably untrue and others simply unprovable. David L. Chadwick, Book Review, in 261 JAMA 3035 (May 26, 1989)” https://web.archive.org/web/20100315032508/http://vlex.com/vid/underwager-hollida-wakefield-salter-36092881

The myth of panic, called Satanic Panic, a propaganda term that rhymes so people are less likely to forget it. This false concept was developed in the early 1990s.

This concept has been rebutted by Ross E. Cheit, a professor of Political Science and International & Public Affairs at Brown University.in his book:
The Witch-Hunt Narrative http://blogs.brown.edu/rcheit/

This book goes through many of the day care and child abuse cases of the 1990s using primary sources.

The Witch-Hunt Narrative
Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children
Ross E. Cheit
Empirically challenges the view that a series of high-profile cases in the 1980s and early 1990s were hoaxes
Shows how a narrative based on empirically thin evidence became a theory with real social force, and how that theory stood at odds with the reality of child sexual abuse
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-witch-hunt-narrative-9780199931224?cc=us&lang=en&

Yet this book was largely ignored by the mainstream media. But books the continue the dialogue promoting the urban legend of panic continue to get wide spread coverage.

This is the history of the harassment of child abuse survivors in the past.


Now I will discuss the present harassment of those working to expose and present the research of child abuse crimes.

The case study I will use today is my own.

My license to practice therapy has been threatened with filed licensing complaints by people connected to a group called the Grey Faction, a part of the Satanic Temple. My job as a therapist has nothing to do with my advocacy efforts to stop child abuse and I have very clear professional and private boundaries that I maintain to ensure this continues to occur. Yet, the Grey Faction associates keep harassing me and others in the field. Their attacks are factually inaccurate and meritless. Their attempts to silence me have not worked. I have continued to publish research and promote the truth about child abuse, ritual abuse and mind control crimes on the Internet.

Their campaign to silence child abuse survivors and rape victims has combined harassment, propaganda and misinformation.

Harassment:

The Grey Faction has admitted they infiltrated a survivor conference. I believe the person attending lied about why they were at the conference, filmed me without my permission and the Grey Faction put part of the film on the Internet.

Besides the fact that this is highly amoral, they misrepresented what I said and used a variety of propaganda techniques to spin and twist my words and my research.

The video of me is presented in black and white with scary music similar to a horror film. The video falsely portrays my asking people to stop going to their face and using hand signals as paranoia and bullying, yet if you listen to the words, the tone of my voice is calm and quiet. The video discusses the filing of a licensing complaint against me. It discusses and misrepresents my story as a child abuse survivor, where I was forced to hurt others as a child.

The video is in essence pure propaganda. Incredibly, over a thousand people signed a petition written by the Grey Faction to have my license taken away from me, not knowing who I am or the real facts about my research or my job. This is the danger of propaganda and how the media can be misused to hurt others.

The video and the petition against me are both heavily laden with propaganda, misinformation and the misrepresentation of facts.

One fact Lucien Greaves/Doug Mesner (not his real names) repeatedly reports is one where at our 2009 conference one table had clothing that protected against electromagnetic frequencies for health reasons. This got misrepresented as “tin foil hats” and this propaganda has been repeated numerous times by Mesner/Greaves.

One line from his petition states: “Neil Brick continues to propagate debunked and disregarded narratives of concealed occult crimes from the height of the “Satanic Panic.”

I have already shown how there was no panic and these cases were misrepresented by past false memory and now the false memory occultists proponents.

The petition goes on and on misrepresenting my arguments and my research.
We replied to the Grey Faction/Lucien Greaves and their misinformation in depth at:
Reply to the Grey Faction’s Petition to Revoke the License of Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-grey-factions-petition-to-revoke-the-license-of-neil-brick/

“We believe that this new letter is part of the continued actions of harassment against Neil Brick and those that help child and ritual abuse survivors.”

“The petition states Neil Brick has a dangerous state-of-mind and unsubstantiated, delusional beliefs. This is pure conjecture and unproven. There is no real evidence presented anywhere of this and Neil’s evaluation during the filing of the previous complaint found there were no problems at all with Neil’s mental state. Neil’s beliefs are clearly substantiated with research at https://ritualabuse.us The use of the pejorative terms in the petition mentioned above are unproven and are used to mischaracterize Neil Brick and his work.”

“The petition links to several articles at the https://ritualabuse.us website. The petition mischaracterizes the content of these articles. Neil as a child was forced to kill people in a cult. He was brainwashed in this group as a small child. Many well known cults today program their members to join and not leave and to follow them, asking them to commit acts they would not do outside of the cult. This is a well researched topic.”

“The (Grey Faction) petition states “While we are not privy to records that indicate methods of treatment employed in Neil Brick’s practice.” This is one of the most important parts of their petition. There is no evidence there are any problems with any methods of treatment Neil uses.”

“The petition mentions Neil Brick promotes implausible ideas, yet Neil’s ideas are backed by research and journal articles. If the Grey Faction decides to ignore or disbelieve this research, this does not mean Neil’s research is implausible. As previously stated, Neil does not and would never promote his research in his role as a licensed mental health care professional as this would be a clear violation of professional boundaries. In our opinion, this is simply part of a continued pattern of on and offline harassment against Neil Brick and others who are trying to get the research out about child and ritual abuse and trauma.”

This is from our website replying to a guest post by the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction:
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-satanic-temples-grey-faction-online-guest-post/

In conclusion, the guest post by the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction criticizes the strong research and theories of ritual abuse survivors and those with years of research, experience and education in the trauma field. (The members of the Grey Faction have unknown credentials and may not have the experience to accurately determine trauma theory and research.) The guest post by the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction presents inaccurate arguments, which are refuted in this article. The Grey Faction claims they are combating pseudoscience with rational inquiry, but this rational inquiry is actually predetermined opinion, bolstered by name calling, ad hominem attacks and insults. There is no real rational inquiry because there is no evidence that all of the facts were looked at neutrally to derive a conclusion. It appears the only facts considered were the ones that back their arguments. In its articles, the Grey Faction hides behind the name of science and rationality, when in reality it appears it is an advocacy organization used to discredit ritual abuse survivors realities’ and their resources.


Mesner’s work has critiqued D C Hammond’s research of the early 1990’s.

Copy of Hammond's speech:
http://www.empty-memories.nl/science/greenbaum.pdf
http://whale.to/b/greenbaum.html
https://www.youtube.com/   watch?v=9FUersarZuo  (remove spaces to cut and paste and watch video)


Propaganda (1928) by Edward Bernays

“….But when the example of the leader is not at hand and the herd must think for itself, it does so by means of cliches, pat words or images which stand for a whole group of ideas or experiences. Not many years ago, it was only necessary to tag a political candidate with the word interests to stampede millions of people into voting against him, because anything associated with “the interests” seemed necessarily corrupt. Recently the word Bolshevik has performed a similar service for persons who wished to frighten the public away from a line of action.
By playing upon an old cliche, or manipulating a new one, the propagandist can sometimes swing a whole mass of group emotions. In Great Britain, during the war, the evacuation hospitals came in for a considerable amount of criticism because of the summary way in which they handled their wounded. It was assumed by the public that a hospital gives prolonged and conscientious attention to its patients. When the name was changed to evacuation posts the critical reaction vanished. No one expected more than an adequate emergency treatment from an institution so named. The cliche hospital was indelibly associated in the public mind with a certain picture. To persuade the public to discriminate between one type of hospital and another, to dissociate the cliche from the picture it evoked, would have been an impossible task. Instead, a new cliche automatically conditioned the public emotion toward these hospitals.”
http://www.historyisaweapon.org/defcon1/bernprop.html

The Grey Faction uses specific phrases repeated to describe my work and the work of researchers in our field. These include “delusional” “paranoid” and “dangerous state-of-mind.” One common concepts they promote is that our researchers “sell(ing) delusion to the mentally vulnerable.” Of course no one is selling anything, there is no presented evidence anyone is delusional (this is unsubstantiated opinion) and there is no presented evidence anyone is “vulnerable” or being taken advantage of in any way.

Unfortunately, others in our field have joined the Grey Faction in their attacks on me and the belief in mind control techniques. Remember that some of our best researchers, who will be speaking tomorrow at our conference have done years of research backing the validity of the use of cult hand signals and other forms of triggers to access survivors’ programming.

I believe that the work of the Grey Faction is meant to purposefully dehumanize and insult ideological opponents, so our ideas are derided and not believed. This is similar to the political cartoons and caricatures of one hundred years ago, when a political figure may be drawn in a demeaning manner. This is similar to the way dictatorships in history have demeaned their targets to gain public acceptance. These dishonest debate tactics go beyond simple ad hominems into personal insults. This is often seen by those in the comment sections below the articles attacking myself and others in our field.

Also from Bernay:
THE conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.
We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.”

I disagree with Bernay for the need for our society to do this, but this is the society we live in today. This is why it is almost impossible to get our research into the mainstream media, but the occultists and false memory people have no problem getting large amounts of media coverage.

We can see common threads in attacks against child abuse survivors throughout history. Child abuse survivors have been called crazy, confused, hysterical, delusional and so on in attempts to maintain the status quo of child abuse being covered up in our society. Regardless of what the false memory occultists write, the reality is that they are part of this cover up. Instead of focusing on the factual information I write, I have been attacked personally in an attempt to silence me. It has not worked. Historically, when those that harass others win, our society suffers. They will not win. We will.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

How to Avoid Being Mind Controlled at a Conference

How to Avoid Being Mind Controlled at a Conference - Presentation at the 2016 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference - August 2016  

The information in this article was written with the help and research of several survivors and well-known, well-published therapists in the child abuse, ritual abuse and mind control fields over almost a twenty year period. Participants of several ritual abuse conferences helped research the information in this article.  

Article copied with permission from https://ritualabuse.us

The most recent updated version of this information is at: https://survivorship.org/survivorship-articles/how-to-avoid-being-mind-controlled-at-a-conference/ 

The information at the above webpage was reviewed and written by several people at Survivorship. The article below has direct quotes from this page, which will be cited as “Survivorship article.” Parts added by Neil Brick for his presentation will be in parenthesis. 

Please note: The experiences and triggers mentioned below may or may not be forms of programmed mind controlled for all survivors. Different survivors have different types of programming. Some people do not have severe forms of mind control programming, but they may be susceptible to media propaganda, societal forms of mind control and socialization, and cult techniques of mind control. 

This presentation has been adapted for the Internet. It was presented at the conference by Neil Brick, a survivor of ritual abuse and mind control. His work continues to educate the public about child abuse, trauma and ritual abuse crimes. His child abuse and ritual abuse newsletter S.M.A.R.T. has been published for over 20 years. His articles can be found at http://neilbrick.com All accusations are alleged. 

The ideas I discuss here today are solely my own or where cited taken from specific cited sources. The idea for this article originally came from two presentations written for the early S.M.A.R.T. conferences by several people. It was re-written this year by the Survivorship Board of Directors and can be found on their website. I have adapted and changed some of this article for this presentation. 

Survivorship article: 

How to Avoid Being Mind Controlled at a Conference 

This information is for educational value only and is not intended as therapy or treatment. Reading this information may or may not help your recovery process, so please use caution while reading this. This may be heavy for survivors.  

Precautions 

While the Conference organizers are doing everything possible to make this conference safe, we are not able to make guarantees, and attendees should also take their own precautions. Because of the controversial nature of the topics covered in this conference, you might want to take additional precautions. You might want to use an alias at the conference, and put that alias on your conference name tag. Do not give your real name or information about where you live or your contact information to other conference attendees. If a conference presenter asks for such information, ask the conference organizer whether this is permissible. If you find this helpful, bring a small object which you find comforting, and can keep in your hand or pocket to hold on to in order to keep you in the present if you find yourself triggered.” (Please note: We strongly discourage going into child alters at this or any conference. Child alters are easier to access with triggers. Please try to stay in adult alters that are fully aware and cognizant of your surroundings. You can use mindfulness exercises to do this.) 

 “Bringing Support Persons 

We encourage conference attendees to travel in pairs with a safe support person as much as possible at the conference. I am not saying this to scare anyone. I believe this is simply more sensible. That way, if anyone does attempt to trigger you, there will be another person there to help you and tell the other person to leave. If anyone has any trouble with anyone at the conference, please let us know either verbally or on paper during or after the conference. We have tried to make the conference as safe as possible, but it is impossible to make anything totally safe. A safe support person can be an excellent help at a conference. Such a person can help a survivor avoid and process post-traumatic and programming triggers. However, sometimes persons that survivors think are their supports are actually their handlers, persons who report their behavior to the abuser group and make sure they are obedient. Such a person can be a therapist, a spouse, a friend or another survivor. If you knew the support person before you knew you were a survivor, this person could be a handler. It is difficult in early recovery to know if a support person is a handler. Someone in your life may be a handler if seeing that person makes you feel overly dependent, in a trance state or addicted to being with that person. Before you bring a support person to a conference, you need to check with your inside parts to make sure that all parts trust this person and do not believe them to be a handler.  

Observing Others 

It is helpful to know the accessing methods of secretive organizations and/or cults. Following are some known methods. Look for odd hand gestures, such as opening a book, making the shape of a gun with the pointer finger and thumb and "shooting" it, using the cut sign (hand drawn horizontally across the throat), tapping something (a book, the wrist (as in asking for the time), forearm, leg, etc., drawing something in the air (like a letter of the alphabet or an unknown sign)). Winks or facial expressions: winks, or eyes shutting and opening in sequence, or eyebrows, weird grins or bared teeth, snarl (raised upper lip), pout (dropped and protruded lower lip), lopsided smile or grimace (corner of mouth down or up). Though some of these may or may not always signify triggers, it is important to be aware of them.” (Also, a common hand signal is covering one’s mouth, to encourage don’t talk programming.) 

 (I was strongly attacked and criticized publicly for discouraging the use of hand signals during a ritual abuse conference. This was done by people working to discredit the research in our field and to silence the work of many professionals who are helping survivors work through their triggers and programming.)

(Those using dishonest debate tactics, will use the words delusional or paranoid to describe researchers who believe in mind control techniques. Name calling is a propaganda technique used to unfairly discredit a person and their ideas without discussing the reality of their ideas. There is no evidence anyone is delusional or paranoid, simply because they believe in the nefarious use of mind control techniques. The concepts I am talking about here today are scientifically proven by specialists in our field (several of whom are speaking this weekend), whose research is backed by the theories of those in the field of behavioralism and those studying cult mind control.) 

(It is important people learn to not use hand signals and also learn to not trigger other people’s programming in other ways at this conference and in their own lives. This is why we emphasize this concept so strongly at this conference. Understanding this is an important part of recovery from mind control.)

(There are two important reasons for learning about triggers: 1) Other survivors can recover more quickly if their programming is not accessed and re-activated. 2) You can learn about your own triggers. In a safe setting with your own therapist you can learn about the subliminal programming you may have.) 

 (If at any time during the conference you have the sensation of your face getting itchy and then your hands go to your face in a dissociated state, you may possibly have programming to use hand signals. You can work on these trauma memories in a professional setting with a safe professional person to figure out why you do this.) 

The following comes from a petition written to defend survivors. This excerpt explains the logic and research behind the theory of the misuse of hand signals. Hand signals function as post-hypnotic suggestions, as anyone who is familiar with hypnosis will know. You might also remember Pavlov’s dog, who salivated at the sound of a bell. This is basic conditioning, stimulus-response. Child traffickers teach such signals to the children they traffic and they condition these children to respond immediately in particular ways and are used in many cults to control members. More complex conditioning can be done on human beings. It is well known that PTSD flashbacks can be triggered by certain stimuli (like sounds, smells or colors) in veterans, trauma and accident survivors. These PTSD survivors may fully believe they are back in the trauma situation and react as if they are in that situation. The concept of PTSD and PTSD triggers is similar to the programmed triggers we discuss at this conference. The concept of triggers and programmed reactions is scientifically proven through years of behavioral research and research on cults and mind control situations. 
There are several excellent articles at the ritualabuse.us website about this concept, including: An article written by me describing this phenomenon:  

How Cues and Programming Work in Mind Control and Propaganda https://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/how-cues-and-programming-work-in-mind-control-and-propaganda/ 

This article cites the research of Pavlov, Skinner and Sargant (Battle for the Mind: A Physiology of Conversion and Brainwashing). 

Quotes from the “Cues and Programming” article: 

“Programming is similar to this in several ways. A survivor may be tortured repeatedly until an new alter is created. This alter will be given a cue to let them know when to come out, this could be a smell, word, number, sound, color and so on. This cue is either paired with the alter’s creation and is given to the alter to listen for or to look for.” “William Sargant first looked at combat PTSD and compared it to Pavlov’s classical conditioning. He extended Pavlov’s model to explain how people could change their world view suddenly. This was caused by intense trauma, followed by a person’s personality breaking down, followed by the application of new ways of thinking. Pavlov’s dogs during a flood either forgot or reversed their previous training. First, Pavlov’s “equivalent” phase of brain activity or breakdown occurred. Second, Pavlov’s “paradoxical inhibition” occurred where weak stimuli would produce strong responses and strong stimuli would produce weak responses (inappropriate responses). Third, in the “ultraparadoxical” stage, responses changed from positive to negative and vice-versa. Current models of PTSD suggest that PTSD can be understood as learned helplessness, a set of foci in the brain firing repeatedly and inappropriately. Cognitively, a person’s world view is so changed as to become untenable. Pavlov’s observations on animals breaking down under extreme stress could be applied to humans and survivors. 

Pavlov was able to build up and break down behavior patterns in dogs. Pavlov’s work seems to have influenced confession getting and brainwashing techniques. Pavlov’s dogs had four basic temperaments, strong excitatory, lively, calm imperturbable type and melancholic. Each type reacted differently to stress. Pavlov could cause a dog to break down by increasing the intensity of a signal (electricity), delaying the time between the signal and food, confusing them with positive and negative signals interchanged or tampering with its physical condition. If a dog of stable temperament acquires a behavior after extreme stress, it is hard to break this behavior. The could be compared to a person of strong character becoming a one-track minded fanatic. Some survivors may also become fanatics. The implications for survivors of ritual abuse and their symptoms are obvious. Increased trauma could cause dissociation, making a person more susceptible to suggestion. The delay of gratification could also make one more suggestible. Positive and negative signals interchanged, like praise and insults given rapidly may cause a psychological break. Or the lack of sleep, food or drugging can also make one more suggestible. And once a survivor becomes suggestible, they are easier to program or reprogram.” 

(Let’s take a quick break. Lightly tap your feet, feel the chair under you, move around in your chair a bit and become mindful of your surroundings. If you feel dissociated or spacey at all, lightly shake your head or do other mindfulness exercises to stay present. Later you can try to remember what may have caused you to feel dissociated and discuss this with a support person. ) 

To continue with the different types of programming and triggers: 

Survivorship article: 

“Some forms of programming use Christian or New Age religious phrases or dogma to cue people and remind them of their programming. Other that may be used include Disney themes, like Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin, or The Little Mermaid. Any children's stories or movies which were around during your childhood, such as the Wizard of Oz, may have cult meanings. Other more general methods are any form of double-talk or double entendres, or words or phrases with double meanings, off-color jokes, and so on. Any out of place references to morbid, violent, ugly, sexual topics. Disorienting or confusing speakers: such as those who start a sentence on one topic and use an incongruency to finish it." e.g., "My glasses are red [because/and] it's raining outside." When questioned about what s/he means, the speaker may say something like "I'm hungry" (which may be an excuse for the confusion, or may just be another non sequitur). Disorientation increases suggestibility. Disorientation is used in some forms of hypnotic induction. Word plays or sayings, especially those which could refer to political or famous persons.”

(Shock type techniques may be used to mind control people, to get people to remember or believe an idea without thinking logically about it. Skeptical organizations attacking survivors may use this technique. This is a dishonest way to promote one’s ideology. It is done without the recipient person’s consent or knowledge of what is happening. The person often leaves the situation believing the idea presented by the shock type technique without it being logically discussed with them and usually without their intellectual analysis. This often happens in the United States media. People are scared into focusing on an enemy or another fear causing situation and then they forget about the problems with our political leaders and our economic system.) 

Survivorship article: 

Survivors may sometimes be triggered without knowing it. Whole groups of people can be put in a trance and given instructions through cues. Use caution on the telephone. If you feel you are getting hypnotized or spacey on the phone, shake your head hard and excuse yourself from the conversation. Texts and e-mails received during the conference may be designed to make you susceptible to your programming. It is wisest not to take phone calls during the conference unless they are from someone you are completely sure is safe. (There are specific technologies that uses tones and sounds to induce meditative states. When used properly, this technology can help people relax. When not used properly, this technology can be used plant suggestions in people. Large cults in the US use a wide variety of techniques to produce suggestible states and eventually new cult personas. These new personas may work twenty hours a day for the cult for free or cause people to totally change their personal belief systems in a few weeks or less. This is scientifically proven and well documented.)

Survivorship article: 

Attending Presentations 

Some of the presentations might be triggering due to their content. If you feel triggered, please step back and do some self care. To stay present, take deep breaths, touch your clothing, and try to feel the chair you are sitting on and the floor under your feet. Use the small object you brought to let you know where you are. If this is insufficient, take a break but do not go for a walk alone. Tell your safe support person, if you have one, that you are feeling triggered and need to leave with them and go outside. Stand up, making sure your safe support person (if you have one) is leaving with you. Sometimes the safe support person may not know you need to them to be with you. Often perpetrators will corner a person either in the back of a conference room or another room. This may occur when the survivor goes to the bathroom or walks down the hall to another room. Teddy bears and children’s books can bring a survivor into a child state in which he or she is more susceptible to being accessed. For this reason we do not encourage survivors to bring such things to the conference, and we no longer provide them.” 

 (If you feel cornered or uneasy with a person in the hallway or other place away from the conference, quickly walk away from them and come back to the conference area and find me or another volunteer at the conference. It is not rude to walk away and this may greatly help your recovery and help you become aware of being triggered and accessed.) 

Survivorship article:

“Check inside to see which parts of you are upset and why. Inquire internally whether you are having a post-traumatic reaction, in which something reminded you of some past event or person in your own life, or whether programming has been triggered. Try and figure out what the presenter did or said which caused these feelings. Did the presenter use a particular phrase or body movement that was once used as a threat against you or as a signal to deliberately trigger programming? Remember that your perpetrators used common words and gestures and twisted their meaning. It is likely that the presenter used those words or gestures in the regular way, not the cult way, but it is possible that he or she meant to trigger programming. Write down what was triggering and discuss it with your support person or one of the conference organizers. Please report any use of program trigger words or behaviors to the conference organizers, either in person or through a note during or after the conference.  

Dealing with Other Conference Attendees 

Most people are going to act fairly normally, and because programmers/handlers or scouts for secretive organizations or cults are not likely to look any different from most people, it is helpful to be alert to possible signs of attempted accessing. Do not give any personal details about your life to conference attendees, even if you believe you have met them online. Almost every ritual abuse survivor has parts inside who are trained to report on other survivors to the perpetrators. You do not want anyone reporting about you. Don't shake hands or exchange hugs with anyone you don't know. Certain cults use handshakes to remind people of their programming and/or access certain alter states. 
Survivors are in different places in their healing, and their knowledge about programming methods and their ability to recognize such things. There are two ways to catch triggers: one is by your own reactions. If you notice you are suddenly dizzy or foggy, or spaced out, you may be triggered. It is good to know some grounding techniques to use when this begins to happen. Try to remember what just happened around you. The second is by looking for some specific behaviors, odd out of place phrases, or discrepancies between behaviors and words. Pay close attention to hand gestures, winks, taps, etc. 

Most people are probably safe, but it is a good idea to be aware of your surroundings as much as possible. You might want to watch who is around you, who is within your physical space, who brushes shoulders with you, who touches you, who sits next to you, who is near your food, in all areas of the hotel, as well as watch where you drive and what cars are behind or near you. Don’t go off to a secluded area with anyone you don’t know well. One important thing is if you are feeling triggered or dissociated or tired or weak, don’t let people that you don’t know or trust and/or people that aren’t safe ask you to leave the conference room to talk with you. If you see someone you don’t know walking up to you when you are feeling triggered or dissociated you might want to say “excuse me” and quickly walk away from them and find a support person or a conference organizer. Please notify us during or after the conference if you see any of the things, such as deliberate triggering, mentioned in this article. Try to let us know what happened in as much detail as possible.  

Trigger Management Triggers are more than phrases. They can be pictures, sounds, smells, tastes, gestures or touches on the body. The added dangers for triggers for ritual abuse survivors are that triggers can be used to open alter states, or very complex programs. These programs could be used to cause a return to the cult or cause someone to hurt themselves or someone else. 

Triggering can occur in so many forms that it is impossible to delineate them all here. Some signs of triggering may be: feeling like you're looking or walking down a tunnel, feeling "unreal" or invisible, feeling like something bad is about to happen, ominous sense, inability to concentrate, spacing out, blanking, dizziness, fogginess, stomach upset or pain, tingling in arms or legs, twitching on any part of the body, dropping objects, mishearing things or inability to hear (where others appear to hear okay), seeing visual flashes (such as a flash of another object where a chair is), hearing voices in your head, or losing bits of time and not knowing what happened. If you brought a safe support person, let that person know what is happening. Trigger management is one of the keys to recovery. By being able to manage your triggers, you can hopefully keep from being triggered into alter states that could possibly be used to get you to return to the cult. This entails knowing the trigger and the feeling accompanying the trigger, the memory connected to the trigger and the action required of the trigger. 

Working through programming is having the memory in a safe setting with a safe support person and learning the accompanying trigger and subliminal instruction. Trigger management involves learning to recognize the feeling of falling into a deep hypnotic state, snapping out of it, and then trying to figure out why it happened. It also involves learning how not to fall into these states while feeling the “pull” of them. One technique that can be used is: Shake your head side to side (fairly hard) or walk around. Susceptibility to triggers can come from being tired or confused. This is why it is important to try not to be tired or confused in possibly triggering situations. Try to stay awake and alert. Get enough sleep.  

Practicing Trigger Management Techniques. 

Think of a time when you were triggered. It could be a minor triggering event, one that made you feel a little bit scared, or a major event that caused you to switch into a different alter. You may want to start with a more minor triggering event for safety reasons. Practice leaving the room: Pretend you are triggered and need to leave. If you have a safe support person with you, take that person along. Think about the feeling that accompanied the triggering event. This may vary from one trigger to another. Did you begin to feel spacey, like a fog rolling in, or did your ears begin to feel like they were filled with something, so it was difficult to hear? Did you lose a connection to the feelings in your body and your chair? What other feelings or thoughts did you have? Now, think about the physical feelings that accompanied the trigger, while you are writing, think about these questions. Did a different part of you come out? Were you co-conscious with this part, or did you actually lose time? If you switched, either completely or behind the front person, what do you know about the part who came out? Think about what triggered the event in the first place: a sound, smell, picture, word or phrase, a touch or a combination of these senses. 

Safety at Home  

Please remember that your recovery is your own. It is important for survivors to choose their own spiritual systems. Unfortunately, certain religious and healing techniques are used for programming people (to put people into hypnotic states) sometimes and are used on RA/MC survivors. Be wary of those that emphasis that there is only one way to heal. Educate yourself about cults and their techniques also. There are several very good books that can help with this. (Some types of prayer and certain houses of worship are specifically designed to put people into trances. High ceilings, repeated phrases, putting prayers to music, repeating the same phrases, making people feel guilty in spiritual settings are all techniques that can be used to make people more suggestible. Some of the same dynamics may be found at a mall or used car dealership, including the uses of special lighting, high ceilings and other techniques, where the goal is to get people to buy things.) 

Survivorship article: 
Look very closely at the relationships in your life. Does a certain person in your life fit the profile of a handler or an abuser? Can you say something about the profile of a handler or an abuser? Ask inside whether anyone recognizes things the person is doing or saying which indicates they may be one? If they do, find out more about this, work with a safe therapist and if necessary get away from the person, place and/or situation. 

An important part of recovery and not being triggered is to think for yourself. Don’t let others control you or scare you. Scaring you or startling you can put you into a hypnotic state also. Fear can also create hypnotic states. Some people in the survivor movement (from ritual abuse and mind control) appear to have a cult like following. Some speak regularly at conferences, and have lots of books, media support, etc. While this is not indicative of the fact that the person may not be safe, it may be an indicator of this if other factors are in place, especially if numerous allegations are made against the person. 

The important thing is not to have any gurus. To critically analyze everything someone says. This is a learning process. Does the person want to have followers? Are they always overstating their power and connections? Do they have appropriate personal boundaries? How does your “gut” feel when you hear them speak or when you meet them? You might not like someone personally and you may disagree with them from time to time, but how do they really make you feel? Do they encourage you to think for yourself rather than follow them? Or do they tell you there is only one way to heal? Do they try to manipulate you and use you, either financially, sexually or otherwise? Who are they connected with financially, and what conferences do they speak at? A combination of many of these negative factors may indicate an unsafe person. An important thing to realize is that people don’t know they are being brainwashed, because it is subliminal. Often those brainwashed will love and admire their abuser, which is called Stockholm syndrome. 

The important thing is whether the person tells you to think for yourself and find your own answers and whether they really mean this. Speakers at other conferences may prophesy that certain things are going to happen on certain dates. While it is good to be aware of the fact that cult programming can entrain a person to connect a future occurrence with a future date, it is also important to realize that this is only programming. Cults will often move dates up when the expected occurrence does not happen.

Discernment is crucial here. It is also important not to be constantly paranoid, though this can help at times to avoid programming. There are safe people in the world that want to help us. The important thing is figuring out who is safe and who isn’t. Staying present rather than dissociating can really be helpful in this area. 

Make your own decisions. There are good support systems and advice out there, but make sure you make your own decisions. Healthy intelligent change is good. Follow you own path or way and be strong enough to do this. If you do this, you will begin to take control of your own triggers and develop a healthy, trigger management system. Please feel free to let us know how you feel about this topic. 

Our future is up to us. If we keep healing, working hard and getting strong, then the survivor movement as a whole will also get stronger. Once you are strong enough to help others, you might want to do so. By attending a conference which shows the unity of the survivor movement, you are doing this. By being here, you are helping everyone get stronger. 

This information for the Survivorship article was primarily taken from these two articles :  
Safety Management for Conference Attendees https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/conf2002/safety-management-for-conference-attendees/ and  
Trigger Management and Conference Safety Presentation https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/conf1999/trigger-management-and-conference-safety-presentation/ 

 Copyright Neil Brick and SMART c 2016 unless otherwise cited

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Reply to the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post

Reply to the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post.

Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves (both aliases) is the co-founder of the Satanic Temple and one of the presenters for the Grey Faction. This article discusses the continuing attacks and online harassment of Neil Brick and S.M.A.R.T.  by these groups and others.

This article represents the views of the S.M.A.R.T. Newsletter and this website.
Copied with permission from neilbrick.com


Original article is at: Reply to the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-satanic-temples-grey-faction-online-guest-post/

Recently another article attacking S.M.A.R.T., Neil Brick and the child abuse/ritual abuse field appeared on the Internet, called “The Satanic Temple sent observers to a Ritual Abuse survivors’ conference.” The article states it is a guest post and a collaboration produced by The Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction. S.M.A.R.T. has replied to the Grey Faction’s misinformation previously in this article: Rebuttal to the Grey Faction Lucien Greaves presentation about SMART and additional Grey Faction information about Neil Brick https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-grey-faction-lucien-greaves-presentation-about-smart-and-additional-grey-faction-information-about-neil-brick/

The Grey Faction’s views of the ritual abuse field and recovered memory are inaccurate.
 
Accurate scientific information is at:


Proof the Ritual Abuse Exists https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/

Ritual Abuse References http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/

Research   https://ritualabuse.us/research/

Recovered Memories https://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-corroboration-rates/

Please don’t forget to read the conclusion at the end of the article. 

Update: Continued bullying, online harassment, name calling and personal attacks are occurring in the comment section under the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post. New aliases believed to belong to Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves (also aliases) continue these comments. These comments continue to attack Neil Brick for not allowing hands to go to the face which could be hand signals at the conference.

One poster (defending survivors) in the comment section wrote: “Thank you for allowing my clarification of hand signals to be posted on the website. These signals function as post-hypnotic suggestions, as anyone who is familiar with hypnosis will know. You might also remember Pavlov’s dog, who salivated at the sound of a bell. This is basic conditioning, stimulus-response. Child traffickers teach such signals to the children they traffic and they condition these children to respond immediately in particular ways.” 
 
Hand signals are also discussed below.


Yet commenters below the article continue to make fun off and insult Neil Brick for this conference guideline.


The guest post has a video of Neil Brick, recorded without permission at a private conference where video and audio recording is not permitted to protect the anonymity of the attendees, who were rape and trauma victims. It appears the person who recorded the video of Neil Brick misrepresented their reasons for attending the conference and did not tell the truth about their personal information.  The video falsely insults Neil Brick by using the word paranoid to describe his presentation. Neil presents material backed by research during the video. The video discusses the use of hand signals to trigger certain mind states.

It is well known in the scientific field that triggers or certain stimuli can trigger mind states and/or thought patterns.  In the modern era, Pavlov did extensive research on classical conditioning, where a conditioned stimuli produces a conditioned response. His dogs would salivate when they heard a bell without the presence of food. More complex conditioning can be done on human beings.

It is well known that PTSD flashbacks can be triggered by certain stimuli (like sounds, smells or colors) in veterans, trauma and accident survivors. These survivors may totally believe they are back in the trauma situation and react as if they are in that situation. This is similar to the programmed triggers discussed in the conference and their programmed reactions.

An article written by Neil Brick describes this phenomenon: How Cues and Programming Work in Mind Control and Propaganda https://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/how-cues-and-programming-work-in-mind-control-and-propaganda/
“Programming is similar to this in several ways. A survivor may be tortured repeatedly until an new alter is created. This alter will be given a cue to let them know when to come out, this could be a smell, word, number, sound, color and so on. This cue is either paired with the alter’s creation and is given to the alter to listen for or to look for.”


The Grey Faction’s guest post makes other factually inaccurate statements.
The article calls these bizarre, irrational and paranoid claims.  But are they?


1) “Your spouse or your lover is not to be trusted” as they may be used by the cult to control the victim. The reality is that many famous cults use this technique frequently. Some people are used to report back to the cult on their spouse. Others are used to remind people of what will happen if they leave the cult.

2) “using trauma-based mind-control to completely subjugate their victims, begin programming victims at the earliest possible age.” This is very possible. It is well known that very early childhood trauma can destabilize a victim and make them susceptible to attachment, anxiety, mood and trauma disorders.

3) In “the conference there was a….prohibition against touching one’s face.” Touching one’s face can be a triggered just like Pavlov’s dogs hearing a bell or a war veteran hearing a firecracker and having a flashback.

The guest post states: “Researchers have found that the average individual touches her/his face 3.6 times per hour.” It describes that this is a natural, human behavior.


This does not mean touching one’s face cannot be used a conditioned stimuli, just like a firecracker could trigger a flashback in a veteran or a bell could trigger Pavlov’s dogs. Anything can be a conditioned stimuli, including hand signals.


4) The guest post discusses that Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) may be intentionally induced as a means of mind-control. There is scientific evidence this is true. Journal articles and scientific research discussing this phenomenon are at https://ritualabuse.us

5) Cults may look for former members in different social and clinical settings. This has been verified by many trauma survivors. The article states “This served as a way to discredit medical professionals outside of” certain ritual abuse survivor groups. This is not true and no statements were made to this effect at the conference.

6) The guest post stated “Ritual Abuse was presented throughout the conference as the first place to start when investigating any personal ailment, rather than a last option after all avenues of modern medicine are exhausted.” This is totally false. Professionals recommend ruling out medical causes before looking at mental health causes. It is true that trauma may cause certain health symptoms. This is discussed and well researched in the very large study: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/

“Childhood experiences, both positive and negative, have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity.”


7) The guest post states “Therapy is not a quest for truth, and the reality of what may or may not have happened is irrelevant.” The guest post states this is an absurd claim. A doctor may be more concerned about fixing a broken leg than finding out the cause of why it was broken and proving whether this cause is true or not. Another doctor may be more concerned about stopping an infection than finding out the cause.  Therapy is the same. Symptom relief is often the most important goal of therapy. In other words, if a client suffers from depression, the goal is to decrease their depression symptoms. This may or may not entail discussing the symptoms’ causes and it is unlikely there would be an investigation of the reasons why the person is depressed.

8) The guest post states therapy should help “provid(e) mental health consumers with the cognitive tools to distinguish fantasy from reality.” The important question here is what is fantasy, and what is reality. Child abuse skeptics do not believe these ritual abuse crimes exist, and this belief is inaccurate. It would be inappropriate to promote this false skeptical belief.

9) The guest post states: “Whenever someone tried to ask about efforts to catch the cults and bring them to justice, the presenters turned it around by claiming that the cults are too secretive and far reaching to expose and that their primary focus as therapists and ritual abuse survivor advocates is to heal the victim rather than go after the abusers.” How would one go after the abusers if these crimes happened 30 or more years ago? The other problem is getting adequate support to bring perpetrators to justice. It sometimes took decades to bring the Catholic Church, certain Satanic groups and even Bill Cosby to justice, even though there were many victims and some came forward to authorities and were ignored. Of course, bringing the perpetrators to justice would be the best idea, but inaccurate skeptical articles like the guest post make this more difficult.

10) The guest post states; “[one is advised not to] try to understand why these cults do the horrible things they do.” Actually this was discussed at times during the conference.  But more importantly, stopping these crimes and helping the victims of these crimes comes first.

The article repeats Doug Mesner’s (alias Lucien Greaves) claims about a vendor table at the 2009 Connecticut conference selling hats meant to block out electromagnetic signals.  These were sold for health reasons. Doug did not tell conference coordinators he was coming to the 2009 conference to write an article, nor did he state he was a journalist. Since the conference was for rape survivors, the media was not allowed to attend to protect the conference attendees’ anonymity and safety.

S.M.A.R.T. replied to this in our “Douglas Misicko alias Douglas Mesner update 6” article.
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-6-examiner-com-article/

Doug Mesner (alias Lucien Greaves) repeated the fact that one display table out of many at the conference had a hat (as well as many other items) used to protect the wearer from electromagnetism. He took this one thing totally out of proportion to attack the conference. He used this to attack and insult our conference and our work, ignoring the strong research base backing the reality of ritual abuse and the many presentations at our conference verifying the reality of ritual abuse. In the original article, he used the terms “lunacy” and “delusional assertions” to further insult the work of S.M.A.R.T.  Mr. Mesner continues taking facts out of context and using these to disparage Neil Brick and S.M.A.R.T.


The guest post states: “Combating child sexual abuse and human trafficking are unquestionably noble causes.” Yet it appears that the Grey Faction and Doug Mesner spend much more time attacking child abuse survivors and their stories, than combating them.

Ellen Lacter wrote an interesting article a few years ago called “Common Forms of Misinformation and Tactics of Disinformation about Psychotherapy for Trauma Originating in Ritual Abuse and Mind Control” December 18, 2012.
This page on my website seeks to expose a number of common forms of misinformation and tactics of disinformation about psychotherapy for trauma originating in ritual abuse and mind control. Disinformation is distinguished from misinformation in that it is intentionally fraudulent. Misinformation and disinformation about ritual abuse and mind control trauma and psychotherapy to  treat such trauma appear in both paper and electronic media, but are particularly abundant on the Internet on websites of individuals and organizations, bookseller reviews, blogs, newsletters, online encyclopedias, social networking sites, and e-group listservs…..Disclaimer: This page neither cites, quotes, names, nor alludes to any specific paper or electronic articles or statements by individual. Any similarity between examples of misinformation or disinformation used herein and actual articles or other statements is purely coincidental. http://endritualabuse.org/activism/misinfo/


The guest post then goes on to attack Neil Brick. It discussed how a complaint was filed against Neil Brick’s licensure in Massachusetts. This was filed by an out of state party that did not know Neil Brick professionally or personally. An previous online video discusses how the complaint was filed through one of their Grey Faction members and to his licensing board and they dismissed the complaint without prejudice.

The complaint was dismissed and Neil Brick was found fit to practice with sound moral character after a full year of review from several sources. SMART believes these type of complaints may be part of a harassment campaign to silence anti-child abuse advocates and helpers.
The guest post states: Neil Brick “had claimed that he’d committed rape and murder while in an altered state of mind.” Neil Brick does write about being forced as a small child to kill in a cult. This was against his will and many others have written about being forced to kill as children in cults and gangs. It is incorrect to extrapolate this further as an issue of moral character or adult competency. Children are victims forced to do things. We would not blame a child forced to hit another child by an adult.  Nor would we blame or question the grown child now fully grown who was forced to do this.

The guest post discusses Neil Brick’s statement about cult members trying to look normal to find former cult members to possibly victimize. Most criminals and people who want to hurt others want to look normal. A thief would not have a sign stating “thief” on them.  Likewise, one wanting to hurt a cult member or survivor would not want to indicate they are doing this. It makes sense to look for other indicators to check a person out.  This is similar to a person who is a victim of violence as a child checking out a partner thoroughly to make sure they do not become a victim of domestic violence as an adult.

In conclusion, the guest post by the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction criticizes the strong research and theories of ritual abuse survivors and those with years of research, experience and education in the trauma field.  (The members of the Grey Faction have unknown credentials and may not have the experience to accurately determine trauma theory and research.) The guest post by the  Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction presents inaccurate arguments, which are refuted in this article.  The Grey Faction claims they are combating pseudoscience with rational inquiry, but this “rational inquiry” is actually predetermined opinion, bolstered by name calling, ad hominem attacks and insults. There is no real “rational inquiry” because there is no evidence that all of the facts were looked at neutrally to derive a conclusion. It appears the only facts considered were the ones that back their arguments. In its articles, the Grey Faction hides behind the name of science and rationality, when in reality it appears it is an advocacy organization used to discredit ritual abuse survivors realities’ and their resources.


Update:  David Shurter has been repeatedly making factually inaccurate statements about S.M.A.R.T. and Neil Brick, some that are incredibly bizarre in nature.  David Shurter makes the entirely false statement that a survivor was removed from the Survivorship conference.  This is entirely untrue. No survivors were removed from this conference or any Survivorship or S.M.A.R.T. conference.

David Shurter makes another false statement that Survivorship allowed the person who infiltrated the conference and filmed speakers without permission to stay. This is also false.  They were removed from the conference. Sadly, David Shurter states he agrees with Lucien Greaves and the Grey Faction about Neil Brick, a group that has attacked survivors and their supporters. David Shurter makes false statements about the North American Truth and Reconciliation Coalition (NATRC). David Shurter makes the false statement that Neil attacks other survivors’ conferences. This is totally untrue.

The reality is that David Shurter has attacked several survivor organizations viciously and many people in the survivor movement do not trust him at all anymore.

A good article to read about this is: Evolving as a Movement – Taking a Step Forward  http://neilbrick.com/articles/evolving-as-a-movement-taking-a-step-forward/

Survivors that publicly attack other child or ritual abuse advocates are not helping others nor are they helping the movement move forward.  The child abuse “skeptics” watch these attacks, promote and encourage them and benefit from them. Survivor resources are only destroyed more by these attacks.  Certain members of the survivor movement are sent to the movement to disable the movement in different ways. Some are programmed to attack others. Their goals (usually unknown to them) is to fragment the movement and destroy legitimate sources of education and support for survivors.

It appears that this may apply to David Shurter.  David Shurter’s attacks have hurt the survivor movement.  We recommend reading this article to find out more about this. Evolving as a Movement – Taking a Step Forward  http://neilbrick.com/articles/evolving-as-a-movement-taking-a-step-forward/


2017 Update:
David Shurter has continued making false statements about Neil Brick and S.M.A.R.T.  David Shurter writes "he and his group are deperately (sic) trying to associate me with them."  This is absolutely false.  S.M.A.R.T. and Neil Brick have made no efforts whatsoever to contact David Shurter, work with David Shurter in any way or "associate" with David Shurter.  David Shurter closes his post with another insult toward Neil Brick "Brick can kiss my ass- but I don’t want his hairy monkey lips anywhere near me."  David Shurter previously made additional erroneous statements about Neil Brick and his research.  David Shurter stated "MANY secret groups- 20 of them or so are run by a man named Neil Brick- who are telling survivors that they can be mass programmed by hand signals- that bad guys are everywhere, behind every bush."  There is absolutely no truth to this statement by David Shurter either.  Neil nor anyone connected to S.M.A.R.T. has ever stated there are "bad guys everywhere"  nor are there 20 secret groups run by Neil or anyone else he works with.