0Ak9U5ND

1
2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Infocalypse
3
4[quote]
5The Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse is a term for internet criminals, or the imagery of internet criminals.
6[/quote]
7
8https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/41591/
9
10[quote]
11[b]Abstract
12
13Purpose: The prevalence of individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder being associated with terroristic threats, lone wolf terrorism or affiliating with terroristic groups is rare.[/b]
14[/quote]
15
16https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2695286/
17
18[quote]
19[b]Asperger’s Syndrome in Adulthood[/b]
20
21[...]
22
23[b]Either lack of interest in fiction (written, or drama) appropriate to developmental level or interest in fiction is restricted to its possible basis in fact (e.g. science fiction, history, technical aspects of film)[/b]
24[/quote]
25
26
27https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror
28
29[quote]
30[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Olympe_gouges.jpg/170px-Olympe_gouges.jpg[/img]
31
32The execution of Olympe de Gouges, feminist writer
33[/quote]
34
35[quote]
36Many long-held rights and powers were stripped from the church and given to the state. In 1789, church lands were expropriated and priests killed or forced to leave France.[33] A Festival of Reason was held in the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was renamed "The Temple of Reason", and the old traditional calendar was replaced with a new revolutionary one.[34] The leaders of the Terror tried to address the call for these radical, revolutionary aspirations, while at the same time trying to maintain tight control on the de-Christianization movement that was threatening to the clear majority of the still devoted Catholic population of France. The tension sparked by these conflicting objectives laid a foundation for the "justified" use of terror to achieve revolutionary ideals and rid France of the religiosity that revolutionaries believed was standing in the way.
37[/quote]
38
39
40https://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2012/03/02/arson-investigation-after-decades-of-junk-science/
41
42[quote]
43Arson is, of course, the intentional setting of a fire.  Arson is determined ex post facto by a “fire investigator”.  Fire investigators have historically  been people who started their career with a fire department, and inherited the job from a predecessor.  Training was largely “on the job” as a result of mentoring by superiors.  It might also be common for novice fire inspectors to attend a one week training course.  [b]The body of knowledge concerning the causes, and locations of origin, of fires was anecdotal and passed from one generation of fire inspectors to another as folklore. Some have even compared the “old folklore science” of fire investigation to witchcraft.
44
45I’m happy to report that true fire science has made great strides over the last two decades, and what it has determined is that most of the “rules of thumb” that were the “stock in trade” of fire investigators for decades were wrong.[/b]
46[/quote]
47
48[quote]
49It wasn’t until the early 1990’s that science began understanding the phenomenon of flashover.  And it wasn’t until 1992 when the (US) National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) published the first edition of its standard for fire investigation based upon scientific principles, NFPA 921: Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations.  At publication, the guide was embraced and adopted by the UK, [b]but the reaction of the US fire inspection community was “wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth”.  Old-line fire inspectors resisted this mightily, and it has taken years for “921” to become generally accepted as the authoritative document, but it has happened.[/b]
50[/quote]
51
52
53http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/21/13000148/white-house-science-advisors-forensic-techniques-report
54
55[quote]
56[b]The Washington Post published a story so horrifying this weekend that it would stop your breath: “The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000.”[/b]
57[/quote]
58
59https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160823/09364735314/fbi-apparently-made-darkweb-child-porn-site-faster-during-hosting-seized-server.shtml
60
61[quote]
62[b]And in this particular prosecution, it's the worst of the worst being prosecuted: a child porn viewer. [/b]
63[/quote]
64
65https://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/39/43/dtg-rhymeswithcrazy-nick-dubin-2016-10-21-bp.html
66
67[quote]
68By the time his case finally came to court, Nick had undergone five psych evaluations. They all concluded the same thing: He poses no threat to actual children. He had never touched any, and wouldn’t. Nonetheless, he was found guilty of viewing the illegal images, which makes him a felon.
69
70[...]
71
72One case in Alabama just finished last month. A young man with autism was given 10 years in prison, which, Nick pointed out, may kill him. Already outcasts, people with autism have a very hard time with social cues, loud noises, and bright lights. Often, they end up in solitary — sometimes begging for it.
73
74[b]The Alabama judge shrugged, saying, “You have autism? I’m bald. It’s just something we live with.”[/b]
75[/quote]
76
77https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/495/103
78
79[quote]
80[b]When speech is eloquent and the ideas expressed lofty, it is easy to find restrictions on them invalid. But were the First Amendment limited to such discourse, our freedom would be sterile indeed. Mr. Osborne's pictures may be distasteful, but the Constitution guarantees both his right to possess them privately and his right to avoid punishment under an overbroad law. I respectfully dissent.[/b]
81[/quote]
82
83https://www.thefix.com/content/how-drug-war-violates-constitution?page=all
84
85[quote]
86Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once summed up the drug war by reminding his fellow justices that "there is no drug exception to the Constitution."
87[/quote]
88
89http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/21/13000148/white-house-science-advisors-forensic-techniques-report
90
91[quote]
92The White House's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology said in a report released Tuesday that widely used forensic techniques may not pass scientific muster, and should be reviewed for accuracy.
93
94...
95
96Already, however, the Justice Department has said it rejects the recommendations from the report. "While we appreciate their contribution to the field of scientific inquiry, the department will not be adopting the recommendations related to the admissibility of forensic science evidence," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal.
97[/quote]
98
99https://www.al.com/wire/2014/01/religious_brains_function_diff.html
100
101[quote]
102However, non-religious subjects tend to use pathways associated with visual imagery when they contemplate religion, according to the study.
103
104Deshpande said those finding suggest subjects with a greater capacity to imagine visual images are less likely to be religious.
105
106He proposed that those subjects attempt to visually imagine a supernatural agent as a test of its existence and subsequently reject the idea as unlikely when that image does not fit with any known image in their memory.
107[/quote]
108
109
110https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00115/full
111
112
113[quote]
114
115The symbolic thinking that developed in humans led to rapid technological innovation, sophisticated visual arts, and language. This newly formed cognitive capacity may have had another, unexpected result. After continuously growing in size over the span of the Pleistocene, our brain has contracted in size by 13% in the past 20,000 years or so (Hawks, 2011 and references therein). One possible explanation is that the symbolic thinking that developed in modern humans led to a fundamentally different way to compute data, one that extracts only the essence required for abstract representation instead of computing the entire set of incoming raw data (Tattersall, 2017). Our brain membrane is metabolically expensive, so the newly formed algorithm that requires less data led to shedding of the unneeded membrane, resulting in brain diminution in recent evolutionary time. Our proposal is that the symbolic thinking pervasive in humans that led to brain diminution is exemplified, and was even enhanced, by the CMIT that we see in the cave and rock art of Africa and elsewhere in the world and by the development of language. Thus, contrary to Wallace, the development of the arts gave the modern humans a powerful evolutionary advantage.
116
117[/quote]
118
119https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Gray
120
121
122[quote]
123
124Following Gray's retirement from CSU's faculty, he became a controversial figure in the discussion on climate change,[11] particularly his stance against anthropogenic global warming.[16] Gray was skeptical of current theories of human-induced global warming, which he said are supported by scientists afraid of losing grant funding[17
125
126[/quote]
127
128https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_reliability_of_the_Gospels
129
130[quote]
131[b]Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis notes that "we must conclude, then, that the genre of the Gospel is not that of pure 'history'; but neither is it that of myth, fairy tale, or legend. In fact, 'gospel' constitutes a genre all its own, a surprising novelty in the literature of the ancient world."[5] [/b]
132[/quote]
133
134
135
136
137http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-02-19-hungary-porn_x.htm
138
139[quote]
140[b]BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A bill modifying Hungary's penal code could allow pornographic material involving 14- to 17-year-olds to be made and kept for personal use.
141
142The Justice Ministry said the draft proposal, presented last month by Hungarian Justice Minister Jozsef Petretei, was in line with European Union norms which give members states the right to regulate the issue at national level.[/b]
143
144But Opposition lawmakers attacked the proposal as "legalized pedophilia" and a family welfare group described it as "the waiting room of prostitution."
145
146Petretei said Monday that the proposal had taken into account the age in Hungary — 14 — at which consensual sexual relations are allowed.
147
148"If we consider people 14 years of age to be mature enough to consent to sexual acts, then the chance to make picture recordings of this ... can also be allowed," Petretei told lawmakers in parliament.
149
150The minister added that if deputies felt the issue offended their "moral sensitivity," they could propose changes to the bill.
151
152Petretei also said that to bring Hungarian laws in line with EU norms, the ministry was also advocating changes in the same bill which would increase penalties for some other porn-related issues.
153
154The center-right opposition parties strongly criticized the plan.
155
156"This is a scandal," Miklos Soltesz, from the opposition Christian Democratic Peoples Party, told state television. "We initially thought the intention to legalize child pornography was government insanity ... but it seems they're serious."
157
158Idiko Gall Pelcz from Fidesz, the largest center-right opposition party, described the proposal as "legalized pedophilia," calling it "revolting and distressing."
159
160"I can only hope that there will be many of us here in parliament who agree ... that to make pornographic recordings of minors is not part of and not a necessary condition of natural sexual development," Gall Pelcz said in parliament.
161
162A civic group described the plan as "the waiting room of prostitution."
163
164"This goes against common sense and the international rules on children's rights," the Association of Large Families, which represents families with at least three children and claims to be Hungary's largest civic organization, said in a statement.
165
166Gergely Barandy, a deputy from the governing Socialist Party, said one possible solution would be to reject the ministry's proposal relaxing the current law, but to give judges discretion in applying it.
167
168"We would consider it unfair to threaten a 19-year-old person with prison for taking erotic pictures of his 17-year-old wife for their own use," Barandy said in a statement.
169
170The bill — which is part of a longer series of proposed changes to the penal code stretching to 104 pages — says the pornographic material cannot involve people between the ages of 14 and 17 if they are related to or under the care of the person making the recordings.
171
172The participants also must give their consent to the video or photos and the material cannot be made for commercial purposes.
173
174The debate of the bill began in parliament last week and while some speakers mentioned general reservations about the plan, no concrete counterproposals were made.
175
176Parliamentary Speaker Katalin Szili said Monday that the debate of the bill would continue next week.
177
178Changes to the penal code require a simple majority in parliament, so in theory the government parties — which hold 210 of the 386 seats — would have enough votes to approve the proposal.
179
180Changes suggested by lawmakers are voted on separately, so the bill could be approved even if the part in question is rejected.
181
182Currently, Hungarian law says that adults making pornographic materials involving people under the age of 18 can be sentenced to up to two years in prison.
183[/quote]
184
185
186
187
188
189New additions:
190
191
192
193https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29299378
194
195[quote]
196[b]Patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) are also more likely to deliver utilitarian judgments[/b] relative to patients with other dementias and healthy controls [20]. [b]Notably, utilitarian responders within the bvFTD population show diminished performance specifically on tasks probing emotional empathy [49]. Extensive work supports the role of emotion in moral development as well as moral cognition at the mature state [50]–[52].[/b]
197[/quote]
198
199
200https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate1547
201
202[quote]
203Seeming public apathy over climate change is often attributed to a deficit in comprehension. The public knows too little science, it is claimed, to understand the evidence or avoid being misled1. Widespread limits on technical reasoning aggravate the problem by forcing citizens to use unreliable cognitive heuristics to assess risk2. We conducted a study to test this account and found no support for it. Members of the public with the highest degrees of science literacy and technical reasoning capacity were not the most concerned about climate change. Rather, they were the ones among whom cultural polarization was greatest. This result suggests that public divisions over climate change stem not from the public’s incomprehension of science but from a distinctive conflict of interest: between the personal interest individuals have in forming beliefs in line with those held by others with whom they share close ties and the collective one they all share in making use of the best available science to promote common welfare.
204[/quote]
205
206
207https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6005854/
208
209[quote]
210[b]Background: Empathy deficits are a widely recognized symptom in the behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD)[/b]
211[/quote]
212
213https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29501411
214
215[quote]
216[b]OBJECTIVE:
217
218Although deficits in social cognition are established as core features in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD)[/b], it remains unresolved if impaired social cognition distinguishes bvFTD from the broad differential diagnoses in clinical practice.
219[/quote]
220
221https://watermark.silverchair.com/bht008.pdf
222
223[quote]
224[b]Our findings comport with previous studies that suggested the dACC plays a critical role in switching between the activation and deactivation of executive control network and the default mode network[/b]
225[/quote]
226
227https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23576128
228
229[quote]
230[b]Although the default mode network is recruited when healthy subjects deliberate about 'personal' moral dilemmas, patients with Alzheimer's disease give normal responses to these dilemmas whereas patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia give abnormal responses to these dilemmas. We hypothesized that this apparent discrepancy between activation- and patient-based studies of moral reasoning might reflect a modulatory role for the salience network in regulating default mode network activation. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging to characterize network activity of patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia and healthy control subjects, we present four converging lines of evidence supporting a causal influence from the salience network to the default mode network during moral reasoning. First, as previously reported, the default mode network is recruited when healthy subjects deliberate about 'personal' moral dilemmas, but patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia producing atrophy in the salience network give abnormally utilitarian responses to these dilemmas.[/b]
231[/quote]
232
233https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4659677/
234
235[quote]
236[b]Patients with bvFTD, who have high levels of apathy[/b], have volume loss in frontal cortical regions involved in controlling and regulating sympathetic nervous activity, such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) [10,22,34–38]. [b]The neuropathology of bvFTD particularly affects the dACC[/b], which positively correlates with SCLs [33,39], and the vmPFC, which inversely correlates with SCLs [40].
237[/quote]
238
239https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(11)00819-5/pdf
240
241[quote]
242[b]task-positive network regions (such as dorsal ACC [dACC])[/b]
243[/quote]
244
245https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3e80/d20f210a7a288b6b86efa3d40a0a7a07ac9d.pdf
246
247[quote]
248[b]Couples where the spouse was diagnosed with either bvFTD or AD were less likely to discuss topics related to interpersonal and social issues (e.g., communication, religion, politics) and more likely to discuss topics related to practical and functional issues (e.g., household, money, free time, health) than control couples.[/b]
249[/quote]
250
251"Neuromodulation of Group Prejudice and Religious Belief"
252
253[quote]
254[b]The posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) is a plausible mediator of shifts in ideological commitment. The pMFC complex includes the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the dorsomedial prefrontal area anterior to the supplementary motor cortex (dmPFC)[/b]
255[/quote]
256
257[quote]
258Neuroimaging would also be particularly valuable in clarifying the effect of the TMS manipulation used here on
259the subregions of the pMFC, as, at present, [b]it is unclear whether the effects that we obtained are
260due to down8 regulation of the dmPFC, down8 regulation of the underlying dACC, or down8
261regulation of both.[/b]
262[/quote]
263
264http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2016/10/26/child-porn-cases-in-maryland-are-skyrocketing-police-say/
265
266[quote]
267BALTIMORE (WJZ)– The number of child pornography cases in Maryland is skyrocketing, doubling in the past two years–fueled by new technology, Maryland State Police say.
268[/quote]
269
270https://essentialsoflinguistics.pressbooks.com/chapter/10-2-elements-of-word-meaning-intensions-and-extensions/
271
272[quote]
273One way to define the meaning of a word is to point to examples in the world of things the word refers to; these examples are the word’s denotation, or extension. Another component of a word’s meaning is the list of attributes in our mind that describe the things the word can refer to; this list is the intension of a word.
274[/quote]
275
276https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensional_and_intensional_definitions
277
278[quote]
279In logic and mathematics, an intensional definition gives the meaning of a term by specifying necessary and sufficient conditions for when the term should be used. In the case of nouns, this is equivalent to specifying the properties that an object needs to have in order to be counted as a referent of the term.
280
281For example, [b]an intensional definition of the word "bachelor" is "unmarried man".[/b] This definition is valid because being an unmarried man is both a necessary condition and a sufficient condition for being a bachelor: it is necessary because one cannot be a bachelor without being an unmarried man, and it is sufficient because any unmarried man is a bachelor.[1]
282
283This is the opposite approach to [b]the extensional definition, which defines by listing everything that falls under that definition – an extensional definition of bachelor would be a listing of all the unmarried men in the world.[1][/b]
284[/quote]
285
286
287http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4477594/Horrific-images-tortured-Kansas-boy-Adrian-Jones.html
288
289[quote]
290[b]Evil father of 7-year-old Adrian Jones who starved him, bound him to cutting boards and fed his dead body to pigs is sentenced to life in prison[/b]
291
292....
293
294[b]‘I hope that in 25 years when Michael Jones is eligible for parole, people remember Adrian Jones. He was 7 years-old, he was tortured, shackled and beaten to death.[/b]
295[/quote]
296
297https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reification_(fallacy)
298
299[quote]
300[b]Reification (also known as concretism, hypostatization, or the fallacy of misplaced concreteness) is a fallacy of ambiguity, when an abstraction (abstract belief or hypothetical construct) is treated as if it were a concrete real event or physical entity.[1][2] In other words, it is the error of treating something that is not concrete, such as an idea, as a concrete thing. A common case of reification is the confusion of a model with reality: "the map is not the territory". [/b]
301[/quote]
302
303https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/
304
305[quote]
306The role of human activity
307
308In its Fifth Assessment Report, [b]the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of 1,300 independent scientific experts from countries all over the world under the auspices of the United Nations[/b], concluded there's a more than 95 percent probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet.
309[/quote]
310
311https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/02/un-war-on-drugs-failure-prohibition-united-nations
312
313[quote]
314[b]The UN’s war on drugs is a failure. Is it time for a different approach?[/b]
315
316A policy of prohibition has put the drugs trade in the hands of criminals and led to suffering for millions.
317[/quote]
318
319
320
321http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume7/j7_3_5.htm
322
323[quote]
324[b]You Only Have Posttraumatic Stress Disorder[/b]
325
326[...]
327
328[b](3) Sudden acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative [flashback] episodes, even those that occur upon awakening or when intoxicated).[/b]
329[/quote]
330
331http://www.neatorama.com/2012/10/15/Salem-Witch-Trials-The-Fungus-Theory/
332
333[quote]
334Linnda Caporael, a psychology major at U.C. Santa Barbara, was told to choose a subject for a term paper in her American History course. Having just seen a production of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible (a fictional account of the Salem trials), she decided to write about the witch hunt. "As I began researching," she later recalled, "I had one of those 'a-ha!' experiences." The author of one of her sources said he remained at a loss to explain the hallucinations of the villagers of Salem. "It was the word 'hallucinations' that made everything click," said Caporael. Years before, she'd read of a case of ergot poisoning in France where the victim had suffered from hallucinations, and she thought there might be a connection.
335
336Ergot is a fungus that infects rye, a grain more commonly used in past centuries to bake bread than it is today. One of the byproducts present in ergot-infected grain is ergotamine, which is related to LSD. Toxicologists have known for years that eating bread baked with ergot-contaminated rye can trigger convulsions, delusions, creepy-crawly sensations of the skin, vomiting, …and hallucinations. And historians were already aware that the illness caused by ergot poisoning (known as St. Anthony's Fire) was behind several incidents of mass insanity in medieval Europe. Caporael wondered if the same conditions might have been present in Salem.
337
338They were. Ergot needs warm, damp weather to grow, and those conditions were rife in the fields around Salem in 1691. Rye was the primary grain grown, so there was plenty of it to be infected. Caporael also discovered that most of the accusers lived on the west side of the village, where the fields were chronically marshy, making them a perfect breeding ground for the fungus. The crop harvested in the fall of 1691 would have been baked and eaten during the following winter, which was when the fits of madness began. However, the next summer was unusually dry, which could explain the sudden drop in the bewitchments. No ergot, no madness.
339[/quote]
340
341https://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-make-poppet.html
342
343[quote]
344In colonial New England these dolls were known as poppets, which is an old spelling of puppet. They were often cited in witchcraft trials as evidence of malicious magic. For example, Goody Glover, and elderly Irish woman accused of bewitching several Boston children, had in her home
345
346"several small images, or poppets, or babies, made of rags and stuffed with goat's hair and other ingredients. When these were produced the vile woman acknowledged that her way to torment the objects of her malice was by wetting of her finger with her spittle and stroking of these little images."
347[/quote]
348
349https://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/brain-study-finds-evidence-autism-involves-too-many-synapses
350
351[quote]
352The study team also found that the medication rapamycin both restores normal synaptic pruning and reduces autism-like behaviors in a mouse model of autism. They propose that someday a similar medication might be used to treat autism after a child – or even adult – has been diagnosed.
353[/quote]
354
355https://philosophynow.org/issues/113/On_Moral_Arguments_Against_Recreational_Drug_Use
356
357[quote]
358[b]As former U.S. Drug Czar William Bennett once put it, “I find no merit in the legalizers’ case. The simple fact is that drug use is wrong. And the moral argument, in the end, is the most compelling argument”[/b]
359[/quote]
360
361http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0070074
362
363[quote]
364Abstract
365
366Evidence is increasing for involvement of the endocannabinoid system in cognitive functions including attention and executive function, as well as in psychiatric disorders characterized by cognitive deficits, such as schizophrenia. Executive function appears to be associated with both modulation of active networks and inhibition of activity in the default mode network. In the present study, we examined the role of the endocannabinoid system in executive function, focusing on both the associated brain network and the default mode network. A pharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was conducted with a placebo-controlled, cross-over design, investigating effects of the endocannabinoid agonist Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on executive function in 20 healthy volunteers, using a continuous performance task with identical pairs. Task performance was impaired after THC administration, reflected in both an increase in false alarms and a reduction in detected targets. This was associated with reduced deactivation in a set of brain regions linked to the default mode network, including posterior cingulate cortex and angular gyrus. Less deactivation was significantly correlated with lower performance after THC. Regions that were activated by the continuous performance task, notably bilateral prefrontal and parietal cortex, did not show effects of THC. These findings suggest an important role for the endocannabinoid system in both default mode modulation and executive function. This may be relevant for psychiatric disorders associated with executive function deficits, such as schizophrenia and ADHD.
367[/quote]
368
369
370http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.8.vii.html
371
372[quote]
373And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?
374
375Certainly, he would.
376And if they were in the habit of conferring honours among themselves on those who were quickest to observe the passing shadows and to remark which of them went before, and which followed after, and which were together; and who were therefore best able to draw conclusions as to the future, do you think that he would care for such honours and glories, or envy the possessors of them? Would he not say with Homer,
377
378Better to be the poor servant of a poor master, and to endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner?
379
380Yes, he said, I think that he would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner.
381
382Imagine once more, I said, such an one coming suddenly out of the sun to be replaced in his old situation; would he not be certain to have his eyes full of darkness?
383
384To be sure, he said.
385And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out of the den, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes had become steady (and the time which would be needed to acquire this new habit of sight might be very considerable) would he not be ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes; and that it was better not even to think of ascending; and if any one tried to loose another and lead him up to the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would put him to death.
386[/quote]
387
388https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4026746/
389
390[quote]
391However, such a magnitude of effects on synaptic plasticity and dendritic spine integrity also raises serious concern for immature brains of young children using ampakines as cognitive enhancers. It is not difficult to imagine that ampakines would have similar effects on the synaptic transmission and neuronal communication in the normal brain, eventually eliciting brain plasticity in the regions that are associated with emotional and affective functions. This could potentially lead to poor emotional regulation and impaired behavioral inhibition if plasticity is excessive and unregulated. Indeed, one of the important mechanisms by which the brain connections are maintained and tuned is through synaptic pruning, whereby highly active synapses are strengthened and less active synapses are removed through axon retraction (Luo and O’Leary, 2005; Gazzaniga and Mangum, 2009; Kolb et al., 2012). At first thought, heightened plasticity might seem to be a benefit—translating to faster learning and improved cognitive function; however, the excessive plasticity could also lead to high activity in all synapses and therefore reduce synaptic pruning. Impairments in synaptic pruning have in fact been associated with autistic spectrum disorders (Belmonte et al., 2004). The excessive connectivity leads to a heightened overall brain activation but the reduction in selectivity of activation is such that the signal-to-noise ratio is greatly lowered (Belmonte, 2000; Belmonte and Yurgelun-Todd, 2003). Thus, one can clearly see the potential dangers associated with unregulated plasticity, and how ampakines (which strengthen synapses and heighten plasticity by promoting dendritic spine growth) might lead to autism-like syndromes.
392[/quote]
393
394
395
396https://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/anti-vaccine-religion-explain/
397
398[quote]
399[b]Why do I call it the “anti-vaccine religion”? Let me explain[/b]
400
401A few months ago, I started characterizing the anti-vaxxer fanatics as being members of the “anti-vaccine religion.” It wasn’t an important point to me, because as I constantly stress, the only thing that matters is scientific evidence – the vast bulk of which supports the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.
402
403In fact, I know a lot of pro-vaccine people, many of whom are leaders in pointing out the flaws of the anti-vaccine religion, are themselves religious. I am an atheist, but I do not decide who are my friends on social media or real life, based on their religious beliefs. Since almost every major religion in the world supports vaccination, and in almost every case, strongly so, it’s clear that organized religion and vaccines are not in conflict.
404
405[b]For me, “anti-vaccine religion” was a throwaway line almost tongue-in-cheek, because, from my standpoint, the group acts as if it were a religious cult. In fact, some people I know, who loathe the anti-vaccine zealots, do classify them as a cult.[/b]
406[/quote]
407
408[img]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/platonic_cave.jpg[/img]
409
410
411http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.8.vii.html
412
413[quote]
414Moreover, I said, [b]you must not wonder that those who attain to this beatific vision are unwilling to descend to human affairs; for their souls are ever hastening into the upper world where they desire to dwell; which desire of theirs is very natural, if our allegory may be trusted.[/b]
415
416Yes, very natural.
417And is there anything surprising in one who passes from divine contemplations to the evil state of man, misbehaving himself in a ridiculous manner; if, while his eyes are blinking and before he has become accustomed to the surrounding darkness, he is compelled to fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the images or the shadows of images of justice, and is endeavouring to meet the conceptions of those who have never yet seen absolute justice?
418[/quote]
419
420
421http://neurosciencenews.com/autism-social-brain-psychology-2880/
422
423[quote]
424[b]Researchers say this is consistent with structural MRI findings of enlarged brain size and an overabundance of neurons in ASD, due to the fact that the synapses of neurons have not been sufficiently “pruned” as the brain develops. Too many functioning synapses inhibit cognition while requiring extra blood flow.[/b]
425[/quote]
426
427
428
429
430Higher IQ in aspergers: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-013-2025-2
431
432https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278262607001492
433
434[quote]
435in children with Asperger’s disorder. A test of fluid intelligence, the Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices Test, was administered to 17 children with Asperger’s disorder and 17 age-, gender-, and FIQ-matched normal children. The results showed that children with Asperger’s disorder outperformed on the test of fluid reasoning than typically developing children. We suggest that individuals with Asperger’s disorder have higher fluid reasoning ability than normal individuals, highlighting superior fluid intelligence.
436[/quote]
437
438https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120322100313.htm
439
440[quote]
441People with autism have a greater than normal capacity for processing information even from rapid presentations and are better able to detect information defined as "critical," according to a new study.
442[/quote]
443
444http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1993.tb02095.x/full
445
446[quote]
447[b]Why Do Autistic Individuals Show Superior Performance on the Block Design Task?[/b]
448[/quote]
449
450
451Superior physics abilities
452
453http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2007-01999-004
454
455[quote]
456[b]Autism: Deficits in folk psychology exist alongside superiority in folk physics.[/b]
457[/quote]
458
459Superior science abilities
460
461http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/people-with-aspergers-less-likely-to-see-purpose-behind-the-events-in-their-lives/
462
463[quote]
464In a second experiment, Heywood and Bering compared 27 people with Asperger’s with 34 neurotypical people who are atheists. The atheists, as expected, often invoked anti-teleological responses such as “there is no reason why; things just happen.” [b]The people with Asperger’s were significantly less likely to offer such anti-teleological explanations than the atheists, indicating they were not engaged in teleological thinking at all. (The atheists, in contrast, revealed themselves to be reasoning teleologically, but then they rejected those thoughts.)[/b]
465[/quote]
466
467http://sites.oxy.edu/shtulman/documents/2015b.pdf
468
469[quote]
470Compared to healthy elderly adults, Alzheimer’s patients were more likely to judge unwarranted teleological explanations as accept-able. They were also more likely to judge those explanations as preferable to mechanistic ones. [b]These findings suggest that teleology, like animism, is a deep-seated form of intuition that can be suppressed by a more scientific worldview but cannot be eradicated altogether.[/b]
471[/quote]
472
473https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/06/23/satanic-panic/
474
475[quote]
476That was a problem Lanning noted in his FBI report. In his explanation as to why police and other authorities allowed themselves to be swept up in the Satanic ritual abuse hysteria, he pointed out that their logic was crippled by their religious beliefs, writing:
477
478All of [this] is complicated by the fact that almost any discussion of Satanism and the occult is interpreted in the light of the religious beliefs of those in the audience. Faith, not logic and reason, governs the religious beliefs of most people. As a result, some normally skeptical law enforcement officers accept the information disseminated at these conferences without critically evaluating it or questioning the sources. Officers who do not normally depend on church groups for law enforcement criminal intelligence, who know that media accounts of their own cases are notoriously inaccurate, and who scoff at and joke about tabloid television accounts of bizarre behavior suddenly embrace such material when presented in the context of Satanic activity. Individuals not in law enforcement seem even more likely to do so.
479[/quote]
480
481
482[img]https://i.pinimg.com/236x/f4/41/3a/f4413a0b314192a2d3f4befef5864251--alcohol-hadith.jpg[/img]
483
484[img]http://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/files/im/vwKH2LQ.png[/img]
485
486https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/28/bottles-beer-smashed-sharia-nigeria-alcohol
487
488[quote]
489[b]Thousands of bottles of beer smashed in sharia crackdown in Nigeria [/b]
490[/quote]
491
492[img]https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/11/28/1385661221093/Beer-destroyed-in-Kano-Ni-011.jpg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=34da8b42713fe595d4b156c6546d16c6[/img]
493
494[img]https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2015/05/21/18/26-al-Qaida-AP-v2.jpg[/img]
495
496Look so much like these brain diseased religious terrorists:
497
498[img]https://i.amz.mshcdn.com/mSpAjYcwdtT8jTTINUhMMTDs0Rg=/http%3A%2F%2Fa.amz.mshcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F04%2Freefermadness-2.jpg[/img]
499
500[img]https://g.foolcdn.com/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fg.foolcdn.com%2Feditorial%2Fimages%2F479693%2Fdrug-free-zone-sign-marijuana-pot-weed-cannabis-illegal-getty.jpg&w=700&op=resize[/img]
501
502http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2014/jul/31/huge-marijuana-bust-grundy-county-may-set-national/263258/
503
504[quote]
505[b]At least $37 million in marijuana plants seized in Grundy County[/b]
506[/quote]
507
508[img]https://media.timesfreepress.com/img/photos/2014/07/31/0801_WEB_c_Marijuana_t755_hd61d6308f4f13f429fd2fc38caf55be33a25ac8e.JPG[/img]
509
510[img]https://thebaggagehandlerdotme.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/ap_dea_drug_trafficking_thg_120622_wg.jpg[/img]
511
512
513
514https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mvpzkp/whos-getting-rich-off-the-prison-industrial-complex
515
516[quote]
517[b]I called Wedell to ask him what it was like to make a fortune from the incarceration of others, and whether it bothered him to profit off a system that puts more people in prison than any other country in the world.
518
519"America is the freest country in the world," he told me. "America allows more freedom than any other country in the world, much more than Russia and a whole lot more than Scandinavia, where they really aren't free. So offering all this freedom to society, there'll be a certain number of people, more in this country than elsewhere, who take advantage of that freedom, abuse it, and end up in prison. That happens because we are so free in this country."[/b]
520[/quote]
521
522
523http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/drug-war-victim/
524
525[quote]
526Rudy was a father of five who was passing by a house [b]targeted by narcotics officers attempting to serve a parole violation warrant and the police mistakenly thought he was the one they were there to arrest. They chased Cardenas, and he fled, apparently afraid of them (they were not uniformed). Cardenas was shot multiple times in the back.[/b]
527
528Dorothy Duckett, 78, told the Mercury News she looked out her fifth-floor window after hearing one gunshot and [b]saw Cardenas pleading for his life. “I watched him running with his hands in the air. He kept saying, ‘Don’t shoot. Don’t shoot,'” Duckett said. “He had absolutely nothing in his hands.”[/b]
529[/quote]
530
531[quote]
532[b]Ashley went outside at night with a family friend to move their freshly washed car under shelter. DEA agents, interested in her father, were staking out the house, and believing that her father was driving, shot and killed Ashley. The agents did not have a warrant for her father. Read The Murder of Ashley.[/b]
533[/quote]
534
535[quote]
536[b]Walker and three companions were pulled over in an SUV by police in a drug investigation. No drugs or weapons were found, but Walker was shot in the head. Walker was a devoted husband and father, a respected member of his church, and a 15-year middle-management employee of Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
537
538Deputy David Glisson, who killed Walker, was fired three months later for failing to cooperate in an investigation into the shooting.[/b]
539[/quote]
540
541
542https://www.researchgate.net/post/Anyone_want_to_discuss_Autism_and_Psychosis
543
544[quote]
545[b]The Autism-Psychosis model proposes that an individual can only have one or the other (Psychosis or Autism).[/b]
546[/quote]
547
548
549
550https://hub.jhu.edu/2016/03/24/war-on-drugs-undercuts-public-health/
551
552[quote]
553Experts urge decriminalization of minor drug offenses, say war on drugs undercuts public health Johns Hopkins-Lancet commission concludes current policies increase risk of death, exacerbate ongoing health crises worldwide
554[/quote]
555
556http://www.independent.org/newsroom/news_detail.asp?newsID=35
557
558[quote]
559The link between the homicide rate and the amount of resources given to drug
560prohibition. A study of sample precincts in New York City, for example, found
561that three-quarters of drug-related homicides resulted from drug-trade disputes.
562Eliminating drug prohibition would probably reduce homicide in the United States
563by 25 to 75 percent.
564[/quote]
565
566http://usuncut.com/world/portugal-war-on-drugs/
567
568[quote]
569By systematically moving to decriminalize all drugs, from marijuana to heroin,
570Portugal has successfully reduced their addiction rate by roughly 50 percent. In
571Portugal, addiction is seen not as a crime to punish, but as a public health crisis
572that should be addressed holistically.
573[/quote]
574
575
576https://mic.com/articles/120403/14-years-after-decriminalizing-drugs-one-chart-shows-why-portugal-s-experiment-has-worked
577
578[quote]
579Data from the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, reported
580recently by the Washington Post, does just that. According to the center's 2015
581report, Portugal has the second-lowest drug overdose rate of every European country
582measured in the report.
583[/quote]
584
585https://www.drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/DPA_Fact_Sheet_Portugal_Decriminalization_Feb2015.pdf
586
587[quote]
588Reduced incidence of HIV/AIDS. The number of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses have fallen
589considerably. Between 2000 and 2013, new HIV cases among people who use drugs declined from
5901,575 to 78. The number of new AIDS cases declined from 626 to 74.
591[/quote]
592
593https://www.drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/Colorado_Marijuana_Legalization_One_Year_Status_Report.pdf
594
595[quote]
596According to data released by the city of Denver,
597violent crime and property crime in Denver
598decreased in 2014. Violent crime in Denver went
599down by 2.2% in the first 11 months of 2014,
600compared with the first 11 months of 2013. In the
601same period, burglaries in Denver decreased by
6029.5% and overall property crime decreased by
6038.9%.
604[/quote]
605
606http://www.drugtext.org/sub/marmyt1.html
607
608[quote]
6097. Marijuana "flattens" human brainwaves
610
611This is an out-and-out lie perpetrated by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
612A few years ago, they ran a TV ad that purported to show, first, a normal human brainwave,
613and second, a flat brainwave from a 14-year-old "on marijuana". When researchers
614called up the TV networks to complain about this commercial, the Partnership had to
615pull it from the air. It seems that the Partnership faked the flat "marijuana brainwave".
616In reality, marijuana has the effect of slightly INCREASING alpha wave activity. Alpha
617waves are associated with meditative and relaxed states which are, in turn, often
618associated with human creativity.
619[/quote]
620
621https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partnership_for_Drug-Free_Kids
622
623[quote]
624PDFA was the subject of criticism when it was revealed by Cynthia Cotts of the Village Voice that their federal tax returns showed that they had received several million dollars worth of funding from major pharmaceutical, tobacco and alcohol corporations including American Brands (Jim Beam whiskey), Philip Morris (Marlboro and Virginia Slims cigarettes, Miller beer), Anheuser Busch (Budweiser, Michelob, Busch beer), R.J. Reynolds (Camel, Salem, Winston cigarettes), as well as pharmaceutical firms Bristol Meyers-Squibb, Merck & Company and Procter & Gamble. In 1997 it discontinued any direct fiscal association with tobacco and alcohol suppliers, although it still receives donations from pharmaceutical companies.[51] There has been criticism that some of its PSAs have had "little proven effect on drug use."[35]
625[/quote]
626
627https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/
628
629[quote]
630"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies:
631the antiwar left and black people," former Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman
632told Harper's writer Dan Baum for the April cover story published Tuesday.
633
634"You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either
635against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with
636marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could
637disrupt those communities," Ehrlichman said. "We could arrest their leaders. raid
638their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the
639evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
640[/quote]
641
642http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/08/cult-spawned-tough-love-teen-industry
643
644[quote]
645The idea that punishment can be therapeutic is not unique to the Rotenberg Center.
646In fact, this notion is widespread among the hundreds of "emotional growth boarding
647schools," wilderness camps, and "tough love" antidrug programs that make up the
648billion-dollar teen residential treatment industry.
649
650This harsh approach to helping troubled teens has a long and disturbing history.
651No fewer than 50 programs (though not the Rotenberg Center) can trace their treatment
652philosophy, directly or indirectly, to an antidrug cult called Synanon. Founded in
6531958, Synanon sold itself as a cure for hardcore heroin addicts who could help each
654other by "breaking" new initiates with isolation, humiliation, hard labor, and
655sleep deprivation.
656[/quote]
657
658https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Free_America_Foundation
659
660[quote]
661DFAF was founded by Betty Sembler, wife of shopping center developer and Ambassador
662Mel Sembler. In 1976, Betty and Mel Sembler founded the cult[4] Straight, Incorporated,
663a "coercive rehabilitation" program in the United States that produced hundreds of
664reports of abuse of adolescents and their families during its 15 years of existence.
665Straight was adapted from the controversial therapeutic community programs Synanon
666and The Seed.
667[/quote]
668
669https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synanon
670
671[quote]
672The Synanon organization, initially a drug rehabilitation program, was founded by Charles E. "Chuck" Dederich, Sr., (1913–1997) in 1958 in Santa Monica, California. By the early 1960s, Synanon had also become an alternative community, attracting people with its emphasis on living a self-examined life, as aided by group truth-telling sessions that came to be known as the "Synanon Game." Synanon ultimately became the Church of Synanon in the 1970s, and disbanded permanently in 1991[1]
673[/quote]
674
675http://www.mrm.org/coriantumr-and-shiz
676
677[quote]
678Can a decapitated body lift itself up and gasp for breath? The Book of Mormon seems to say so. The story is found in the Book of Ether and recounts a sword fight between a Jaredite king named Coriantumr (Ether 12:1) and Shiz, the brother of Lib (Ether 14:17).
679
680As the story goes, Lib was killed in a battle with Coriantumr’s army. As a result, Shiz followed Coriantumr in vengeful pursuit, burning cities and killing women and children along the way. Finally the two armies met near the seashore and gave battle for three days. After the third battle, Shiz wounded Coriantumr with “many deep wounds,” and he had to be “carried away as though he were dead.”
681
682After recovering from his wounds, Coriantumr began to feel bad over the fact that “there had been slain two millions of mighty men, and also their wives and their children.” He attempted to make peace with Shiz, but Shiz agreed only if he would be allowed to kill Coriantumr with his own sword. Well, this only infuriated Coriantumr’s people, and so the fighting started all over again.
683
684Eventually the armies meet. For several days men, women, and children fight relentlessly until only Coriantumr and Shiz remain. Ether 15:29 states that in the course of the battle, “Shiz had fainted with the loss of blood.” Taking advantage of the situation, Coriantumr took his sword and “smote off the head of Shiz.” But that isn’t the end. Verse 31 reports that “after he had smitten off the head of Shiz, that Shiz raised upon his hands and fell; and after that he had struggled for breath, he died.” The question is, how can a man without a head raise himself and also struggle for breath?
685[/quote]
686
687
688
689
690https://www.thoughtco.com/jonah-and-the-whale-700202
691
692[quote]
693Jonah was in the giant fish three days. God commanded the whale, and it vomited the reluctant prophet onto dry land. This time Jonah obeyed God. He walked through Nineveh proclaiming that in forty days the city would be destroyed. Surprisingly, the Ninevites believed Jonah's message and repented, wearing sackcloth and covering themselves in ashes.
694[/quote]
695
696[img]http://f.edgesuite.net/imagecache/scalefit-500x300@as=1@qa=85/data/www.drugfreeworld.org/web/assets/images/booklet-images/lsd_booklet.jpg?r3weh[/img]
697
698https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon
699
700[quote]
701Narconon International (commonly known as Narconon) is a Scientology organization that promotes the theories of founder L. Ron Hubbard regarding substance abuse treatment and addiction. Its parent company is the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), which is owned and controlled by the Church of Scientology.[1][2][3][4] Headquartered in Hollywood, California, U.S.,[5] Narconon operates several dozen residential centers worldwide, chiefly in the United States and Western Europe. The organization was formed in 1966 by Scientologist William Benitez with Hubbard's help. Benitez contacted Hubbard after reading his book, Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought and Narconon was incorporated in 1970.[6]
702
703While both the Church of Scientology and Narconon state that Narconon is a secular program, that it is independent of Scientology,[7] and that it provides legitimate drug education and rehabilitation,[8][9] Narconon has been described by many government reports and former patients as a Church of Scientology front group.[10][11][12][13][14]
704
705The program has garnered considerable controversy as a result of its origins in Scientology[10][15][16] and its methods. Its drug rehabilitation treatment has been described as "medically unsafe",[17] "quackery"[18][19][20] and "medical fraud",[21] while academic and medical experts have dismissed its educational program as containing "factual errors in basic concepts such as physical and mental effects, addiction and even spelling".[22]
706[/quote]
707
708[img]https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386922264l/64210.jpg[/img]
709
710
711https://booksinjail.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/meth-equals-sorcery-by-steve-box/
712
713[quote]
714Anyway, thinking that surely the wise, benevolent, government rehab masters probably knew much more about quitting drugs than I did, I signed up for the class, and was appalled when such a low-caliber book was issued as curriculum. And the instructor of the class was a middle-aged church volunteer who had never touched drugs in his life! It seemed like his training was mostly religious, and he had no psychiatric expertise at all! The class began with a hymn, and as I listened to a dozen tone-deaf inmates sing ‘How Great Thou Art’, I found myself wondering: what if a Buddhist wants to get off drugs? Or an Atheist? [b]But religious tolerance is not in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s lexicon, apparently. So these so-called ‘proven techniques’ to get us all off the yam-yam were simply: ‘Jesus up your ass’.
715
716Which was pretty much what this book is. Jesus up your ass.[/b] The first part is a story that describes one of the biggest druggie fuck-ups in the history of drug abuse. He killed his son via vehicular homicide while high on meth. He ruined a good marriage. He flushed his business down the toilet. He blew thousands of dollars on drugs, which he then hid in the desert and lost due to being high and paranoid. And all this is chronicled in a writing style that makes you wonder if he’s really clean now. The run-on sentences and spelling errors were painful to behold. Clearly this man was mentally impaired independently of any substance abuse problems. This part of the book actually made me feel better about my own mistakes made while high.
717
718But the later chapters are simply these disjointed, Bible-inspired diatribes about the satanic nature of meth: using it, making it, and selling it. It’s within these pages that you will find gems like: “Those who make meth must stir many ingredients together in a cauldron like a witch. The Bible says that ‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’, with a ‘witch’ being defined as an ‘administer of potions’.” So, according to the logic of this book, if you stir something together in a bowl, it’s a potion, and you are a witch who must be put to death. I wonder if that applies to the makers of Tylenol, or even just a cook in a kitchen? Come to think of it, my spaghetti is pretty fuckin’ magical.
719[/quote]
720
721
722https://content.ucpress.edu/chapters/11128.ch01.pdf
723
724[quote]
725“Following the standardization of opinion that came with the nineteenth century, we are now witnessing the sudden synchronization of emotions. . . . Public opinion is supposed to be built up through shared reflection, thanks to the freedom of the press but, equally, to the publishing of critical work. Public emotion, on the contrary, is triggered by reflex with impunity wherever the image holds sway over the word.”15
726[/quote]
727
728
729https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/booming/revisiting-the-crack-babies-epidemic-that-was-not.html
730
731[quote]
732This week’s Retro Report video on “crack babies” (infants born to addicted mothers)
733lays out how limited scientific studies in the 1980s led to predictions that a generation
734of children would be damaged for life. Those predictions turned out to be wrong.
735This supposed epidemic — one television reporter talks of a 500 percent increase in
736damaged babies — was kicked off by a study of just 23 infants that the lead researcher
737now says was blown out of proportion. And the shocking symptoms — like tremors and
738low birth weight — are not particular to cocaine-exposed babies, pediatric researchers
739say; they can be seen in many premature newborns.
740[/quote]
741
742https://www.sciencealert.com/heavy-marijuana-use-does-not-cause-a-drop-in-iq
743
744[quote]
745In a study published in the journal PNAS in 2012, scientists from Duke University in the US reported that cannabis had a neurotoxic effect on the adolescent brain, causing a loss of up to 8 IQ points in the heaviest users. They found that IQ, learning, memory, and executive functions all declined in heavy users who started smoking before the age of 18.
746
747The research was part of a longitudinal study of 1,037 New Zealand children born between 1972 and 1973. Health, intelligence and behaviour measures were taken periodically on all participants, most recently at the age of 38.
748
749The scientists warned that there may be other explanations for their findings and that they could not "definitively attest to whether this association [between persistent cannabis use and IQ decline] was causal". The study did rule out factors such as years of education, schizophrenia, hard-drug and alcohol dependence, but did not account for other relevant factors such as childhood trauma.
750
751A study published in PNAS six months after the original research questioned the methodology, saying: "Although it would be too strong to say that the results have been discredited, the methodology is flawed and the causal inference drawn from the results premature."
752
753The researchers argued that if you take into account the effects of socioeconomic status on IQ, the decline in IQ due to cannabis use is overestimated by the previous study - and could in fact be zero.
754
755A new study by the University College London has now shed further light on the Duke University findings. This study drew on a larger sample of adolescents; 2,612 UK children born between 1991 and 1992. They found that heavy cannabis use was in no way linked to IQ decline, although alcohol use was strongly correlated with IQ loss in eight to 15 year olds.
756[/quote]
757
758http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/12/oxytots_and_meth_babies_are_the_new_crack_babies_bad_science_and_the_rush.html
759
760[quote]
761Oxytots
762Instead of learning from the unfounded hysteria of the crack baby era, we’re repeating it.
763[/quote]
764
765https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_babies
766
767[quote]
768Prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE), theorized in the 1970s, occurs when a pregnant woman uses cocaine and thereby exposes her fetus to the drug. "Crack baby" was a term coined to describe children who were exposed to crack (freebase cocaine in smokable form) as fetuses; the concept of the crack baby emerged in the US during the 1980s and 1990s in the midst of a crack epidemic.[1] Other terms are "cocaine baby" and "crack kid". Early studies reported that people who had been exposed to crack in utero would be severely emotionally, mentally, and physically disabled; this belief became common in the scientific and lay communities.[1] Fears were widespread that a generation of crack babies were going to put severe strain on society and social services as they grew up. Later studies failed to substantiate the findings of earlier ones that PCE has severe disabling consequences; these earlier studies had been methodologically flawed (e.g. with small sample sizes and confounding factors). Scientists have come to understand that the findings of the early studies were vastly overstated and that most people who were exposed to cocaine in utero do not have disabilities.[1]
769[/quote]
770
771https://erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd_health4.shtml
772
773[quote]
774The Albert Hofmann collection contains nearly seventy articles on the topic of whether or not LSD-25 causes "chromosome damage". These articles are a good example of the scientific and cultural moral panic that took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
775
776In 1967, Science published an article, based on the examination of a single patient, which proposed that LSD caused chromosome breakage.1 As Peter Stafford notes in Psychedelics Encyclopedia, "By evening, the charge that LSD could break chromosomes was in all the nation's media."
777
778Between 1967 and 1972, article after article was published, in respected peer-reviewed journals, describing the link between LSD and chromosomal damage, both in vitro and in users and their offspring. As these reports accumulated, popular media amplified the scare, leading to sensational articles decrying the mutations that would be unleashed on future generations.
779
780"New research finds [LSD] is causing genetic damage that poses a threat of havoc now and appalling abnormalities for generations yet unborn."2
781
782Yet, by the mid-1970s, the tide had turned and the scientific literature generally supported the revised opinion that LSD does not cause chromosomal breakage or birth defects.
783
784How was it possible for this issue to progress as far as it did? In an atmosphere friendly to reports of negative consequences of LSD use, a litany of elementary scientific and research errors were ignored by the journals that published the findings. It wasn't until enough research could be conducted to counteract the initial momentum that saner opinions, and better science, prevailed.
785
786In the collection is a copy of one of the key articles that helped end the hysteria that was taking place in peer reviewed journals and the media. The authors conclude that:
787
788"From our own work and from a review of the literature, we believe that pure LSD ingested in moderate doses does not damage chromosomes in vivo, does not cause detectable genetic damage, and is not a teratogen or a carcinogen in man. Within these bounds, therefore, we suggest that, other than during pregnancy, there is no present contraindication to the continued controlled experimental use of pure LSD."3
789
790The progression of this issue and its related articles is a perfect example of how dozens of journal references supporting one position may still be wrong. In many cases, only time and the evolution of knowledge can sort it out.
791
792It would be interesting to read a retrospective on this part of psychedelic research history.
793[/quote]
794
795https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retracted_article_on_dopaminergic_neurotoxicity_of_MDMA
796
797[quote]
798"Severe dopaminergic neurotoxicity in primates after a common recreational dose regimen of MDMA[nb 1] ("ecstasy")",[1] was a paper by Dr. George Ricaurte which was published in the leading journal Science, and later retracted. The reason was that instead of using MDMA, methamphetamine had been used in the test.[2]
799...
800Another remarkable aspect of this episode is the public endorsement of the study, at the time of its publication, by Alan Leshner, chief executive of the AAAS and former director of NIDA. It isn't clear why an officer of the AAAS should be involved at all in publicly promoting a particular result published in its journal, least of all one whose outcome was questioned at the outset by several experts. The AAAS issued the retraction late in the afternoon on Friday 5 September, resulting in low-key media coverage, which contrasts sharply with the hype surrounding the initial paper.
801...
802In an interview in The Scientist[13] British scientists Colin Blakemore and Leslie Iversen described how they expressed concerns about the article with editors at Science. "It's an outrageous scandal," Iversen told The Scientist. "It's another example of a certain breed of scientist who appear to do research on illegal drugs mainly to show what the governments want them to show. They extract large amounts of grant money from the government to do this sort of biased work."
803
804Upon results of the review, Research Triangle Institute asserted it was impossible the vials had been mislabeled as all other vials in suspect lots were properly labeled by labeling machines and it was not possible some vials had been mislabeled while others had not as the machines use printed rolls of labels. Many have asserted Ricaurte switched the labels in order to insure the continuation of funding and his results were fraudulent rather than mistaken. NIDA and AAAS are also suspected of aiding in the fraud.[14]
805[/quote]
806
807https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130819185302.htm
808
809[quote]
810The use of LSD, magic mushrooms, or peyote does not increase a person’s risk of
811developing mental health problems, according to an analysis of information from
812more than 130,000 randomly chosen people, including 22,000 people who had used
813psychedelics at least once. The researchers found no link between the use of
814psychedelic drugs and a range of mental health problems. Instead they found some
815significant associations between the use of psychedelic drugs and fewer mental
816health problems.
817[/quote]
818
819https://www.snopes.com/horrors/drugs/orange.asp
820
821[quote]
822Claim: Excessive LSD use left a young man in a psychiatric hospital, believing himself to be a glass of orange juice.
823
824LEGEND
825
826Origins: The “orange juice man” was one of the 1960s’ most ubiquitous pieces of LSD scarelore. As improbable and wacky as it may seem today, this tale was taken quite seriously by the anti-drug forces in the mid-1960s, when the long-term effects of LSD use were unknown. As Jay Stevens wrote a couple of decades later:
827
828
829Halting the spread of LSD had become part of the national agenda; thus it was necessary for the press to sensationalize the subject … the LSD psychotic … seized the public imagination and didn’t let go for the rest of the decade. Scarcely a week went by that this curious creature wasn’t in the news columns, either raping or murdering or committing suicide in stories that were usually anonymous, uncheckable, and bizarre.
830[/quote]
831
832https://www.snopes.com/horrors/drugs/lsdsun.asp
833
834[quote]
835Claim: Several students tripping on LSD stared at the sun until blinded.
836
837Status: False.
838
839Origins: This Sun legend, one the 1960s' most ubiquitous pieces of drug scarelore
840(along with "teenager on acid trip thinks he can fly and jumps out window") was
841nothing but pure hoax. Nonetheless, the national print media fell for it twice.
842
843This twisted tale was born on Thursday, 18 May 1967, when California newspapers
844began reporting a horrific tale concerning some Santa Barbara college students
845who damaged their eyes by staring at the sun while they were under the influence
846of LSD. Here's how the story was written up by the Los Angeles Times
847[/quote]
848
849https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Ask_Alice
850
851[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/db/Go_Ask_Alice%2C_first_edition_cover%2C_Prentice_Hall_1971.jpg/220px-Go_Ask_Alice%2C_first_edition_cover%2C_Prentice_Hall_1971.jpg[/img]
852
853[quote]
854Go Ask Alice is a 1971 fiction book about a teenage girl who develops a drug habit at age 15 and runs away from home on a journey of self-destructive escapism. Attributed to "Anonymous", the book is in diary form, and was originally presented as being the edited "real diary" of the unnamed teenage protagonist.[1][2] Questions about the book's authenticity and true authorship began to arise in the late 1970s, and it is now generally viewed as a work of fiction written by Beatrice Sparks, a therapist and author who went on to write numerous other books purporting to be real diaries of troubled teenagers.[2][3][4][5][6] Some sources have also named Linda Glovach as a co-author of the book.[1][7]
855[/quote]
856
857http://www.mamaye.org/en/evidence/maternal-mortality-adolescents-compared-women-other-ages-evidence-144-countries
858
859[quote]
860In most regions, the age distribution of maternal mortality follows a J-shaped curve, with a slightly increased risk of death in adolescents as compared to women between 20 and 24 years old
861
862...
863
864In addition, adolescents in some countries were found to be at lower risk of death than women in their early 20s and even than women in all other age groups
865
866...
867
868In contrast to the overall results, the MMR for 15-19 year-olds in Tanzania was the same as for women aged 20-24, and much lower than for women aged 25 and over, indicating that there is no excess risk of maternal death associated with adolescent pregnancy.
869[/quote]
870
871
872aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/154/3/212.full
873
874[quote]
875When no other factors are taken into account, children of teenage mothers have significantly higher odds of placement in certain special education classes and significantly higher occurrence of milder education problems, but when maternal education, marital status, poverty level, and race are controlled, the detrimental effects disappear and even some protective effects are observed. Hence, the increased risk for educational problems and disabilities among children of teenage mothers is attributed not to the effect of young age but to the confounding influences of associated sociodemographic factors. In contrast to teen age, older maternal age has an adverse effect on a child's educational outcome regardless of whether other factors are controlled for or not.
876[/quote]
877
878
879http://www.cbsnews.com/news/peru-lowers-age-of-consent-to-14/
880
881[quote]
882Peru's Congress has voted overwhelmingly to lower the age to 14 for participating in consensual sex
883
884...
885
886One supporter of the measure, lawmaker Raul Castro, said the law will bring Peru in line with "the progress and development of a modern society."
887
888"There are young people who get pregnant but they don't go to health centers, fearing that their partners will be arrested and charged," he said.
889[/quote]
890
891
892
893https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/booming/revisiting-the-crack-babies-epidemic-that-was-not.html
894
895[quote]
896This week’s Retro Report video on “crack babies” (infants born to addicted mothers) lays out how limited scientific studies in the 1980s led to predictions that a generation of children would be damaged for life. Those predictions turned out to be wrong. This supposed epidemic — one television reporter talks of a 500 percent increase in damaged babies — was kicked off by a study of just 23 infants that the lead researcher now says was blown out of proportion. And the shocking symptoms — like tremors and low birth weight — are not particular to cocaine-exposed babies, pediatric researchers say; they can be seen in many premature newborns.
897[/quote]
898
899https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0149989
900
901[quote]
902[b]There is mounting evidence, both correlational and causal, which demonstrates that analytic thinking (as measured by tests of intelligence and critical thinking) discourages the acceptance of religious and spiritual beliefs [1–7]. One interpretation of these findings is that analytic thinking decreases belief because it encourages individuals to carefully evaluate data and arguments and/or override certain intuitively appealing beliefs [2, 4, 6].[/b]
903[/quote]
904
905
906https://www.thejournal.ie/silk-road-administrator-gary-davis-3263140-Feb2017/
907
908[quote]
909[b]Alleged Silk Road admin with 'severe Asperger's' led away from family ahead of extradition[/b]
910
911A WICKLOW MAN alleged to be an administrator of the Silk Road website, which dealt with illegal drugs and hacking software, has been put into custody ahead of his extradition to the United States.
912
913Gary Davis, 28, of Johnstown Court, Kilpedder, Wicklow, is wanted by US authorities to face trial on charges of conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to commit computer hacking and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
914[/quote]
915
916https://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/the-irishman-labelled-the-child-porn-kingpin-454978.html
917
918[quote]
919[b]The Irishman labelled the ‘child porn kingpin’
920
921Since Eric Eoin Marquez, who has Asperger’s, was arrested in Dublin four years ago, he has languished in jail, battling extradition to the US, where he faces a potential life sentence, writes Caroline O’Doherty[/b]
922[/quote]
923
924
925https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Zeitoun
926
927[quote]
928Our Lady of Zeitoun, also known simply as El-Zeitoun, Zeitun or rarely Our Lady of Light, was a mass Marian apparition that occurred in the Zeitoun district of Cairo, Egypt, over a period of 2–3 years beginning on April 2, 1968.
929
930...
931
932[b]Sociologists Robert Bartholomew and Erich Goode offer the Zeitoun apparitions as a prominent case of mass hysteria: "It appears that the Marian observers were predisposed by religious background and social expectation to interpreting the light displays as related to the Virgin Mary."[9][/b]
933[/quote]
934
935https://www.livescience.com/29290-fatima-miracle.html
936
937[quote]
938 It was Mary's final appearance, on Oct. 13, 1917, that became the most famous. In his book "Looking for a Miracle," Joe Nickell states that "an estimated 70,000 people were in attendance at the site, anticipating the Virgin's final visit and with many fully expecting that she would work a great miracle. As before, the figure appeared, and again only to the children. Identifying herself as 'the Lady of the Rosary,' she urged repentance and the building of a chapel at the site. After predicting an end to [World War I] and giving the children certain undisclosed visions, the lady lifted her hands to the sky. Thereupon Lucia exclaimed, 'The sun!' As everyone gazed upward, and saw that a silvery disc had emerged from behind clouds, they experienced what is known [as] a 'sun miracle'."
939
940[b]Not everyone reported the same thing; some present claimed they saw the sun dance around the heavens; others said the sun zoomed toward Earth in a zigzag motion that caused them to fear that it might collide with our planet (or, more likely, burn it up). Some people reported seeing brilliant colors spin out of the sun in a psychedelic, pinwheel pattern, and thousands of others present didn't see anything unusual at all.[/b]
941
942...
943
944[b]The fact that different people experienced different things — or nothing at all — is also strong evidence of a psychological explanation. No one suggests that those who reported seeing the Miracle of the Sun — or any other miracles at Fátima or elsewhere — are lying or hoaxing. Instead they very likely experienced what they claimed to, though that experience took place mostly in their minds.[/b]
945[/quote]
946
947https://today.law.harvard.edu/feature/war-drugs-succeeding/
948
949[quote]
950[b]“If we’re lucky, our grandchildren will recall the global war on drugs of the late 20th and early 21st centuries as some bizarre mania,” says Nadelmann.[/b]
951[/quote]
952
953vlpfc
954
955https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2764805/
956
957[quote]
958[b]For example, activation of occipital cortex may reflect sensory/perceptual processing of stimulus information, and activation of ventrolateral PFC semantic processing (e.g., Gabrieli et al., 1998).[/b]
959[/quote]
960
961
962https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/wicked-deeds/201507/moral-panic-who-benefits-public-fear
963
964[quote]
965Third, there is a great deal of fluctuation over time in the level of concern over a condition. The typical pattern begins with the discovery of the threat, followed by a rapid rise and then peak in public concern, which then subsequently, and often abruptly, subsides.
966[/quote]
967
968https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160323151838.htm
969
970[quote]
971[b]Atheists, the researchers found, are most closely aligned with psychopaths--not killers, but the vast majority of psychopaths classified as such due to their lack of empathy for others.[/b]
972[/quote]
973
974
975http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syncretism
976
977[quote]
978[b]1: the combination of different forms of belief or practice[/b]
979[/quote]
980
981https://www.britannica.com/topic/religious-syncretism
982
983[quote]
984[b]Religious syncretism, the fusion of diverse religious beliefs and practices.[/b]
985[/quote]
986
987https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01572564
988
989[quote]
990[b]While the number of patients tested is small, it is clear that the group of schizophrenic patients showed a strikingly high degree of primitive animistic thinking. The results concur with Nunberg's observation that animistic responses are common in schizophrenia[/b]
991[/quote]
992
993[quote]
994Some other similarities between childhood thinking, schizophrenic thinking and the unconscious are indicated. [b]There is a strikingly high incidence of primitive animism and syncretistic habits of thought in schizophrenia.[/b] Psychologic factors are more important than neurologic ones as a cause of primitive animism in the aged, although the latter also play a part. The question as to why all psychologically regressed patients do not show marked primitive animistic thinking remains unexplained.
995[/quote]
996
997https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/feb/24/drastic-cooling-north-atlantic-beyond-worst-fears-scientists-warn
998
999[quote]
1000[b]Drastic cooling[/b] in North Atlantic beyond worst fears, scientists warn
1001[/quote]
1002
1003[quote]
1004Climatologists say Labrador Sea could cool within a decade before end of this century, leading to [b]unprecedented disruption[/b], reports Climate News Network
1005[/quote]
1006
1007[quote]
1008For thousands of years, parts of northwest Europe have enjoyed a climate about 5C warmer than many other regions on the same latitude. But new scientific analysis suggests that that could change [b]much sooner and much faster[/b] than thought possible.
1009
1010Climatologists who have looked again at the possibility of major climate change in and around the Atlantic Ocean, a persistent puzzle to researchers, now say there is an almost 50% chance that a key area of the North Atlantic could cool [b]suddenly and rapidly[/b], within the space of a decade, before the end of this century.
1011[/quote]
1012
1013http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/08/28/peds.2011-3122
1014
1015[quote]
1016BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Forensic testimony in alleged child pornography cases commonly asserts that Tanner stage (TS) 4 breast development, characterized by secondary mounding of the areola that is obliterated in TS 5, is evidence of age <18 years. Clinical experience does not support this notion, but there are no relevant studies. We sought to estimate how frequently TS 4 might be interpreted from nonclinical images by individual forensic experts.
1017
1018METHOD: Published images of 547 adult women were independently examined by the authors and classified as having TS 4 or TS 5 breast development.
1019
1020RESULTS: There was concordance among all 4 of the examiners for 17 of the images, agreement of 3 of the examiners on another 36 images, of 2 examiners on 39 images, and 53 images were designated TS 4 by only 1 examiner, for a total of 153 (26.5%) images that could have been considered by a single forensic expert to represent TS 4.
1021[/quote]
1022
1023https://patient.info/doctor/normal-and-abnormal-puberty
1024
1025[quote]
1026Authored by Dr Mary Harding, Reviewed by Dr Adrian Bonsall
1027
1028[...]
1029
1030Stage 4
1031
1032Projection of areola - papilla forms a secondary mound (mean age 13.1 years).
1033
1034Stage 5
1035
1036Adult breast contour with projection of papilla only (mean age 14.5 years).
1037[/quote]
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karen_Franklin2/publication/49638386_Hebephilia_quintessence_of_diagnostic_pretextuality/links/540738350cf2bba34c1e948e.pdf
1043
1044[quote]
1045In a subsequent study, Freund confirmed the normalcy of sexual arousal to adolescents. His subjects were 48 young Czech soldiers, all presumed to be ‘‘normal’’ and heterosexual in orientation. He showed the men pictures of children (ages 4–10 years old), adolescents (ages 12–16), and adults (ages 17–36). As expected, most of the heterosexual men were sexually aroused by photos of both adult and adolescent females. They were not aroused by pictures of males of any age, and were aroused at an intermediate level by pictures of children (Freund & Costell, 1970).
1046[/quote]
1047
1048https://philiaresearch.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/study-men-downplay-their-attraction-to-adolescent-girls/
1049
1050[quote]
1051A new study of Bulgarian men has replicated a previous 2013 experiment on British men. In both studies, the same photographs of adolescent girls (Tanner stages 3-4) were shown to one group of men labelled as age 14-15, and a different set of men labelled as age 16-17. Subjects reported more sexual attraction when the photographs were labelled as 16-17. The researchers conclude:
1052
1053[T]he consistent finding that the same photographs of younger females, but with different age labels, were assigned significantly different levels of attractiveness suggests that cognitive factors beyond biologically driven sexual attraction were involved in making these ratings. In all the three samples, apparently younger girls were rated as less attractive than older girls despite being the same photographs. We hypothesize that this difference reflects some self-censoring mechanism involved in making such judgments. This may involve a form of comparison between participants’ own sexual attraction to the individual girl and the likely social norms surrounding this judgment.
1054
1055This finding has now been replicated across four samples, including one that is yet to be reported.
1056[/quote]
1057
1058http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/08/28/peds.2011-3122
1059
1060[quote]
1061BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Forensic testimony in alleged child pornography cases commonly asserts that Tanner stage (TS) 4 breast development, characterized by secondary mounding of the areola that is obliterated in TS 5, is evidence of age <18 years. Clinical experience does not support this notion, but there are no relevant studies. We sought to estimate how frequently TS 4 might be interpreted from nonclinical images by individual forensic experts.
1062
1063METHOD: Published images of 547 adult women were independently examined by the authors and classified as having TS 4 or TS 5 breast development.
1064
1065RESULTS: There was concordance among all 4 of the examiners for 17 of the images, agreement of 3 of the examiners on another 36 images, of 2 examiners on 39 images, and 53 images were designated TS 4 by only 1 examiner, for a total of 153 (26.5%) images that could have been considered by a single forensic expert to represent TS 4.
1066[/quote]
1067
1068sciencebasedmedicine.org/autism-and-vaccines-responding-to-poling-and-kirby/
1069
1070[quote]
1071His next statement is technically true – that studies designed to look for an effect in an entire population may not be powered to find those effects in a much smaller subgroup. But I have been reading the literature long enough to recognize this as a juicy post-hoc rationalization. In other words – this is what proponents always say after the evidence doesn’t support their contentions. It’s true – but it doesn’t mean there is an effect in a subgroup – it just means we cannot rule out effects that are smaller than the data is capable of showing. This is universally true – by itself it does not rescue data from being negative. At best it means that you can generate a new hypothesis (a subgroup effect) after the old one has been rejected (no effect in the entire group). But all you have now is an untested hypothesis – speculation, not evidence.
1072[/quote]
1073
1074
1075criminology.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264079-e-155
1076
1077[quote]
1078Concern
1079
1080Any moral panic involves a “heightened level of concern over the behaviour of a certain group or category” (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 2009, p. 37) and its consequences. Indices of concern include opinion polls, media coverage, and lobbying activity.
1081
1082Hostility
1083
1084Moral panics exhibit “an increased level of hostility” toward the deviants, who are “collectively designated as the enemy, or an enemy, of respectable society.” Their behavior is seen as “harmful or threatening” to the values and interests of society, “or at least a sizeable segment” of it (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 2009, p. 38, emphasis in original). Constructing such folk devils is integral to moral panics.
1085
1086Consensus
1087
1088In a moral panic, “there must be at least a certain minimal measure of consensus” across society as a whole, or at least “designated segments” of it, that “the threat is real, serious and caused by the wrongdoing group members and their behaviour” (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 2009, p. 38). Consensus can be challenged by organized opposition—“counter claimsmakers.”
1089
1090Disproportionality
1091
1092Fundamentally, “the concept of moral panic rests on disproportion” (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 2009, p. 41, emphasis in original). It is evident where “public concern is in excess of what is appropriate if concern were directly proportional to objective harm” (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 2009, p. 40). Statistics are exaggerated or fabricated. The existence of other equally or more harmful activities is denied.
1093
1094Volatility
1095
1096Panics are by their nature fleeting, subsiding as quickly as they erupt. The same issue may recur, but individual panics cannot be sustained for long. This has been called an “attributional model” of moral panics (Critcher, 2003, p. 25) because it identifies essential characteristics. Central to this model is claims making about the problem: who makes claims, how, and why. Such claims are frequently made by social movements, who perceive and seek remedies for problematic behavior. Movements protest and demonstrate, appeal to public opinion, and gain access to the media. They may behave irresponsibly: exaggerating the threat, polarizing opinion, and vilifying opponents. Other authoritative organizations may collude with them, such as religious groups, professional associations, and the police. More often, the media, occasionally active in moral panics, are more often conduits for others’ claims making.
1097[/quote]
1098
1099https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18824195
1100
1101[quote]
1102[b]A more recent resting state study reported reduced functional connectivity in DMN but not the task-positive network in an adult autistic sample (Kennedy and Courchesne, 2008).[/b] Specifically, reduced connectivity was localised to MPFC and left angular gyrus, and [b]while the DMN and task-positive networks were significantly anti-correlated in controls, no such anti-correlation was observed in the ASD group[/b]
1103[/quote]
1104
1105[quote]
1106[b]In summary, DMN activity in autistic patients is thought to be low at rest[/b], with reduced connectivity between anterior and posterior DMN regions probably reflecting a disturbance of self- referential thought. In contrast to altered connectivity in the DMN, connectivity in the task-positive network appears normal in autism. [b]Moreover, the absence of an anti-correlation between the DMN and task-positive networks, suggests an imbalance in the toggling between these networks[/b], driven by a paucity of introspective thought.
1107[/quote]
1108
1109https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3551423/
1110
1111[quote]
1112Several lines of evidence have demonstrated that ketamine causes neuronal cell death in important brain areas of experimental animals at an early developmental stage, e.g. during the brain growth spurt (Ikonomidou et al., 1999; Scallet et al., 2004; Slikker et al., 2007; Zou et al., 2009a). Apoptosis is a common mechanism of ketamine-induced neuronal cell death in rodents (Yon et al., 2005; Zou et al., 2009b). Previous work based on mRNA levels showed that NMDA receptor NR1 expression in ketamine-treated rat pup brains was significantly higher than in controls (Shi et al., 2010; Slikker et al., 2007; Zou et al., 2009b). [b]This evidence suggests that upon removal of ketamine from the extracellular milieu, the now upregulated NMDA receptor population (compensatory regulation as a consequence of continued or prolonged NMDA receptor blockade) will “over” respond to normal levels of extracellular glutamate, resulting in glutamatergic excitotoxicity. However, several important questions remain unanswered.[/b]
1113[/quote]
1114
1115
1116---------------------------------------------
1117
1118ABSTRACT
1119
1120The summary of the findings is essentially that there are numerous relatively discrete states of awareness that humans can be in. They are essentially states of catatonia, in that being in one results in catatonia to the stimuli of the others, and an appearance of catatonia of one degree or another to the individuals in the others. Being in one is also coupled with a lack of ability for the unique types of insight possible through the others. The most pertinent are roughly as follows:
1121
1122REM Sleep (or a state mimicking it with similar neural activity as well)
1123Day Dreaming
1124Socializing
1125Analyzing
1126Observing
1127
1128Separately, there is a spectrum that goes roughly as so:
1129
1130Catatonic Schizophrenia
1131Low/Medium/High Functioning Schizophrenia
1132Increasingly Theistic Neurotypicality
1133Neurotypicality
1134Increasingly Atheistic Neurotypicality
1135High/Medium/Low Functioning Autism
1136Catatonic Autism
1137
1138The Psychosis-Autism spectrum is actually mapped to the states of catatonia, in that catatonic schizophrenics are stuck in REM sleep, with higher degrees of functional schizophrenia then skewing away from it toward the bottom through daydreaming and socializing, as the primary modes the brains of the afflicted are in, whereas conversely the most extreme variants of autism involve being stuck in observation with then higher functioning variants skewing toward the top through analysis and socializing, with theistic neurotypicals being offset toward the top and atheistic neurotypicals being offset toward the bottom. It is normal for more or less everyone to cycle through the states in one manner or another, but neurotypicals do so in a predictable pattern that is the same as the majority of humans, so they socialize with their brain in a stereotyped mode of operation and so on. However, high functioning schizophrenics for example may engage in the task of socializing or of analyzing while their brains are in the mode of operation associated with day dreaming in neurotypicals, whereas high functioning autistic people may engage in the task of socializing while their brains are in the mode of operation associated with analysis in neurotypicals. So these conditions are fundamentally failures to toggle into the neurotypical cerebral mode of operation in response to the contexts or with the frequency of neurotypicals doing so, such that high functioning autism is skewed toward a subset of the experience of neurotypicality and high functioning schizophrenia is skewed toward an inverted subset of it, with neurotypicals being spread across the range in a neurotypical manner (though with increasing theism and with females being skewed more toward the top, and with increasingly vocal atheism and males being skewed toward the bottom).
1139
1140When you are in one mode you lose the ability for the insight of the other modes. So being always in the mode of neurotypical day dreaming leads to a loss of access to the neurotypical tools of analysis, whereas being always in the neurotypical mode of analysis causes a loss of access to the neurotypical tools of socializing. Most importantly, there are at least two distinct forms of insight, namely social insight and cognitive insight, and they arise from two distinct brain networks (DMN is social, TPN is analytical) that are anti-correlated such that activation of one causes deactivation of the other. Increasingly severe schizophrenia is associated with diminished deactivation of the DMN, increasingly severe autism is associated with diminished deactivation of the TPN, and neurotypicals toggle back and forth between them contextually and more frequently in general, though with theistic neurotypicals making more use of their DMNs with rapid toggling between the two and atheistic neurotypicals making more use of their TPNs with comparatively prolonged activations of it between activations of the DMN. The DMN is intuitive, social, visual memory oriented, emotional, and the TPN is analytical, logical, rational, and verbal working memory oriented. The DMN is more internal imagery and dissociated focused and is intrinsic in that it doesn't gather signals from the environment, whereas the TPN is more external environmental oriented and is an extrinsic network in that it gathers signals from the environment.
1141
1142The TPN and the DMN commonly disagree with each other, but a given individual is only going to be in one or the other in response to a given context essentially. If their brains are pharmacologically or magnetically modified they can be forced to use a different brain region though, and this can cause theistic neurotypicals to deny the believe in God by causing their DMNs to not activate and them to process the question with their TPNs essentially, which are atheistic even as their DMNs are theistic, with their typical response that they believe in God being due to them deactivating their atheistic brain network in response to that question essentially.
1143
1144The DMN is to a large extent in a dreamworld that is not actual reality, and it typically converges among neurotypicals brought up in the same environments. It contains social constructs that are not existent in actual reality, and which are made reference to as if they were existent. It is literally essentially not in actual reality as it produces a phenomenology of dissociated visual imagery that is not correlated to the external environment, whereas the TPN is in actual reality in that it pulls in signals from the external environment. Challenges to political beliefs, as well as things like evidence against religious beliefs, evidence against social constructs, and so on, produces a deactivation of the TPN in neurotypicals and activation of the DMN, which is essentially like putting them into a state of schizophrenia. Essentially, the neurotypical condition is one of switching between being in actual reality and switching between being in a shared dream like state.
1145
1146
1147http://www.faceofmalawi.com/2017/07/religious-people-have-mental-illness-neuroscientist-warns/
1148
1149[quote]
1150[b]A professor at Stanford University, Robert Sapolsky, has said that religion is a mental illness, and that the behaviours exhibited by ‘prophets’ in religious texts are diagnosable acts.
1151
1152The self-described atheist, who is also a neuroendocrinologist, argues that religion is comparable to a shared schizophrenia.[/b]
1153[/quote]
1154
1155https://philarchive.org/archive/VANRCA-8
1156
1157[quote]
1158[b]In this paper, I examine the relationship between social cognition and religious cognition. Many cognitive theories of religion claim that these two forms are somehow related, but the details are usually left unexplored and insights from theories of social cognition are not taken on board.[/b]
1159[/quote]
1160
1161http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/people-with-aspergers-less-likely-to-see-purpose-behind-the-events-in-their-lives/
1162
1163[quote]
1164[b]Some experts theorize that certain schizophrenia symptoms (for instance, paranoia) arise in part from a hyperactive sense of social reasoning.[/b]
1165[/quote]
1166
1167https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4805169/
1168
1169[quote]
1170[b]Finally, we have demonstrated that attention to engaging social stimuli not only activates the DMN but also deactivates the TPN.[/b] In a subsequent study[30] it was shown that this pattern of DMN activation and TPN deactivation was present for humanizing depictions of individuals, whereas dehumanizing depictions, which are associated with decreased moral concern, either involved decreased activity in the DMN or increased activity in the TPN. [b]Taken together, these findings suggest that we are neurologically constrained from simultaneously exercising moral concern and analytic thinking.[/b]
1171[/quote]
1172
1173https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160323151838.htm
1174
1175[quote]
1176[b]"These findings," Friedman continued, "are consistent with the philosophical view, espoused by (Immanuel) Kant, according to which there are two distinct types of truth: empirical and moral."[/b]
1177[/quote]
1178
1179So essentially, neurotypicals have an impaired relationship with reality because only half of their brain is actually connected to reality essentially, whereas the other half of their brain has a socially converging dream world in it more or less, and they toggle back and forth between the two depending on the context. So, their relationship with actual reality, which is the empirical truth, is impaired because they are not always accessing the empirical truth but also some of the times access something else called the moral truth.
1180
1181There are different materials associated with these truths as well. I mean the social truth is associated with themed materials similar to the Bible, though there are numerous of them other than featuring gods in them, all of which are essentially religions in essence but with different themes than God themed content, the totality of which form their social reality essentially, and give form essentially to the shared internal imagery of their convergent dreamlike state, whereas the empirical truth captures the observation of the external physical existence in a communicable abstraction and is essentially more scientific sorts of documentation that record the state of the actual external physical existence whereas the social truth more so is an insight into the internal visual imagery of the social reality of the population.
1182
1183https://www.nature.com/articles/srep39589
1184
1185[quote]
1186[b]Neural correlates of maintaining one’s political beliefs in the face of counterevidence
1187...
1188Challenges to political beliefs produced increased activity in the default mode network—a set of interconnected structures associated with self-representation and disengagement from the external world.[/b]
1189[/quote]
1190
1191Given that the brain is virtually if not always in one of the states or the other (though there is some degree of  anti-correlated gradient involved rather than a purely binary transition, with REM sleep being an extreme activation of the DMN as compared to day dreaming, with similar gradient degrees of deactivation of the TPN), essentially you cannot simultaneously have insight into the actual reality and the social reality, and this phenomenon is what the allegory of the cave was trying to capture.
1192
1193[img]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/platonic_cave.jpg[/img]
1194
1195Unfortunately, the actual reality is the only reality. The social reality is not actually existent. The constructs of it are not existent in actual reality. Which is why it is essentially a schizophrenic state, a psychotic state, well, in addition to the accessing of it literally being associated with the neural activity of schizophrenics with deficient insight into the delusional nature of their ideation. However it is virtually impossible to convince someone that their social reality is not actual reality, because things pertinent to their social reality cause them to deactivate their TPNs and their DMNs are without the ability for insight into anything other than their social reality.
1196
1197
1198http://www.skepticalob.com/2016/09/are-anti-vaccine-parents-in-the-grip-of-mass-hysteria.html
1199
1200[quote]
1201Are anti-vaccine parents in the grip of mass hysteria?
1202
1203Welcome to Salem road sign illustration, with distressed foreboding background
1204
1205Vaccination is one the greatest public health advances of all time.
1206
1207[b]It has saved, and continues to save, literally millions of lives each year, yet many well meaning parents have become convinced that vaccines are harmful and there is no amount of scientific evidence that can convince them otherwise.[/b]
1208[/quote]
1209
1210Conversely, you will not convince someone activating his TPN that your social reality is actual reality because his TPN hasn't access into the social reality as it is experienced by your DMN essentially, so you just sound like you are a delusional schizophrenic to such an individual. Conversely, such an individual to you while you are in your DMN seems like a psychopath essentially, or an anti-social person, or someone who is oblivious to things that are obvious essentially. It is because the phenomenology of the TPN is actual reality and of the DMN it is social reality.
1211
1212
1213
1214
1215
1216
1217
1218
1219
1220
1221
1222
1223-------------------------------------------
1224
1225
1226
1227
1228
1229
1230
1231
1232
1233
1234
1235
1236
1237
1238
1239[b]Please leave this post in shitty advice where it can be seen 3dfa. It is a very important thread. Thank you.[/b]
1240
1241This will be a multi post thread as I need to take a break after having spent many hours now formulating post one, I will shortly hereafter continue with a second post.
1242
1243Also, [b]please read this thread even though it is large.[/b] It is essentially the summary of the previous approximately four years of research I have done into this matter since originally speculating regarding it on this forum.
1244
1245As you are all well aware, I have been for several years now studying matters in relation to psychosis and autism essentially, starting with my seminal post on the matter here (which is historical and incomparable to my current understanding of the matter, even as it was a largely correct intuit predating much of the academic literature regarding the matter):
1246
1247https://redpilltalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=97255&p=887575
1248
1249Titled  "theory of reality". In the subsequent nearly four years I have dedicated a substantial amount of my time to scientifically and academically characterizing my original intuit regarding this matter, and believe that today I have a substantially scientific grasp of the phenomenon (though more research is of course in order, as there are numerous open research questions still essentially).  I encourage all sane individuals, predominantly consisting of autists, to read this post so as to come to awareness of the dire situation we find ourselves in.
1250
1251There is a very large amount of material I would like to cover, including concrete manifestations of the phenomenon, and yet I will start with a general background and subsequently will post concrete examples. I encourage you to pay attention to the quality of my citations and so on, which will range from rather lower quality in that they are media sources either of professional generalized journalistic organizations to more commonly specialized publications oriented toward an educated lay audience in a particular field, to even very high quality academic journal publications. I typically attempt to use higher quality sources in the construction of such narratives, and yet only a subset of my citations would be sufficient for use in an actual academic journal publication.
1252
1253In many cases the lower quality citations are nevertheless capturing statements made by professional academics in the pertinent areas, and therefore are reflective of academic thought. For example, the 'what is psychosis' citation shortly hereafter is not to an academic journal, yet was reviewed by a medical professional. In many cases the lower quality citations can be dereferenced to academic studies they discuss, and although in the near future I plan to do such dereferencing toward confirming the correct characterization of the research as I will be writing an actual academic paper on this matter and submitting it for peer review, I am not for the sake of this post going to do so, but rather give you an assurance of my intention to honestly signal essentially, in that I am not including such things if I believe that I will not be able to largely support them with more rigorous citations to the peer reviewed literature.
1254
1255The general starting point from which to approach this subject is with an understanding that autism is in many fashions an inversion of psychosis, particularly schizophrenic psychosis but also with substantial inversion of manic psychosis.
1256
1257https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-imprinted-brain/201304/jumping-the-right-conclusion
1258
1259[quote]
1260The authors conclude that what they found “is the opposite pattern to autism and therefore [b]consistent with the autism-psychosis model which proposes that these clinical disorders reside at diametrically opposing poles of a single continuum.[/b]”
1261[/quote]
1262
1263https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18226-autism-and-schizophrenia-could-be-genetic-opposites/
1264
1265[quote]
1266[b]Autism and schizophrenia may be two sides of the same coin, suggests a review of genetic data associated with the conditions. The finding could help design complementary treatments for the two disorders.
1267
1268Though autism was originally described as a form of schizophrenia a century ago, evidence for a link has remained equivocal. One theory puts the conditions at opposite ends of a developmental spectrum.[/b]
1269[/quote]
1270
1271https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jclp.22319
1272
1273[quote]
1274Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience difficulties in maintaining romantic relationships.
1275[/quote]
1276
1277dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0906080106
1278
1279[quote]
1280Evidence from the effects of risk variants on growth-signaling pathways shows that autism-spectrum conditions tend to be associated with up-regulation of pathways due to loss of function mutations in negative regulators, whereas schizophrenia is associated with reduced pathway activation. Finally, data from studies of head and brain size phenotypes indicate that autism is commonly associated with developmentally-enhanced brain growth, whereas schizophrenia is characterized, on average, by reduced brain growth. These convergent lines of evidence appear most compatible with the hypothesis that autism and schizophrenia represent diametric conditions with regard to their genomic underpinnings, neurodevelopmental bases, and phenotypic manifestations as reflecting under-development versus dysregulated over-development of the human social brain.
1281[/quote]
1282
1283
1284http://www.healthline.com/health/psychosis
1285
1286[quote]
1287[b]What is psychosis?
1288
1289Psychosis is characterized by an impaired relationship with reality.[/b] And it is a symptom of serious mental disorders. People who are psychotic may have either hallucinations or delusions.
1290[/quote]
1291
1292https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0128102
1293
1294[quote]
1295Males and females in the general population differ, on average, in their drive for empathizing (higher in females) and systemizing (higher in males). [b]People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show a drive for systemizing over empathizing, irrespective of sex, which led to the conceptualisation of ASD as an ‘extreme of the typical male brain’. The opposite cognitive profile, an ‘extreme of the typical female brain’, has been proposed to be linked to conditions such as psychosis and mania/hypomania.[/b]
1296[/quote]
1297
1298As a slight aside, I am most familiar with the schizophrenia oriented form of psychosis, and much of what I have remaining to do is researching regarding the mania variants toward adding the finishing touches to the theory. So I will predominantly be focusing on schizophrenic like psychosis, yet will reference on occasion manic psychosis as well, even as I am somewhat less familiar with it. When I refer to psychosis, I typically specifically mean schizophrenic like psychosis, and yet this is in many ways going to be related to manic like psychosis and I simply have not studied the neuroscience of manic psychosis substantially at this point in time as to be able to say that everything I say in regard to psychosis is equally applicable to the manic as opposed to schizophrenic subtypes. In some manners there are going to be differences, for example schizophrenic subtype psychosis is associated with animism whereas I am doubtful that manic subtype psychosis will be.
1299
1300This can be seen at very many layers of abstraction, ranging from the very low level of genomic to the highest level of clinically presentational:
1301
1302https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18226-autism-and-schizophrenia-could-be-genetic-opposites/
1303
1304[quote]
1305[b]The researchers found four regions in the genome which dramatically affect the risk of autism or schizophrenia. Called “copy-number variants”, these are stretches of DNA with seemingly accidental duplications or deletions. Crespi’s team found that the presence of a particular variant – a duplication, say – was often associated with autism while the opposite variation – a deletion of the genetic material – was linked to schizophrenia.[/b]
1306[/quote]
1307
1308https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-imprinted-brain/201809/genome-study-finds-empathy-opposite-in-autism-vs-psychosis
1309
1310[quote]
1311[b]Genome Study Finds Empathy Opposite in Autism vs. Psychosis
1312
1313Empathy is linked to both being female and to psychosis, but not to autism.[/b]
1314
1315Empathy is a key mentalistic ability which is said to be deficient in both autistics and psychotics, along with most other such skills. But according to the diametric model of mental illness, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is symptomatically the opposite of psychotic spectrum disorder (PSD), such as schizophrenia. Indeed, according to the model, empathy can even be an instance of hyper-mentalism, as I showed in a previous post.
1316
1317[b]Now the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) to do so has examined self-reported measures of empathy, notably Empathy Quotient (EQ)[/b], in 46,861 research participants recruited from 23andMe Inc. As figure 3 below from the paper reporting the findings illustrates:
1318[/quote]
1319
1320[img]https://cdn.psychologytoday.com/sites/default/files/styles/image-article_inline_full_caption/public/field_blog_entry_images/2018-09/untitled_0.jpeg?itok=xmb1RUhd[/img]
1321
1322[quote]
1323[quote]
1324As predicted, based on earlier work, we confirmed a significant female advantage on the EQ (…). We identified similar SNP heritability and high genetic correlation between the sexes. Also, as predicted, we identified a significant negative genetic correlation between autism and the EQ (…). We also identified a significant positive genetic correlation between the EQ and risk for schizophrenia (…), risk for anorexia nervosa (…), and extraversion (…).
1325[/quote]
1326
1327[b]Indeed, in the figure above the autism plot is an almost exact mirror image of the schizophrenia one. [/b]
1328[/quote]
1329
1330From a neuroscience perspective, we can see an inversion as well regarding the glutamatergic system, at least specifically to the NMDAR system, with schizophrenics having hypofunction of the NMDA system:
1331
1332https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022395699000291
1333
1334[quote]
1335[b]Several decades of research attempting to explain schizophrenia in terms of the dopamine hyperactivity hypothesis have produced disappointing results. A new hypothesis focusing on hypofunction of the NMDA glutamate transmitter system is emerging as a potentially more promising concept.[/b] In this article, we present a version of the NMDA receptor hypofunction hypothesis that has evolved from our recent studies pertaining to the neurotoxic and psychotomimetic effects of PCP and related NMDA antagonist drugs. In this article, we examine this hypothesis in terms of its strengths and weaknesses, its therapeutic implications and ways in which it can be further tested.
1336[/quote]
1337
1338With indicators of autistic individuals, conversely, having increased glutamatergic agonization of NMDAR:
1339
1340https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Progress+in+neuro-psychopharmacology+%26+biological+psychiatry%22%5BJour%5D+AND+1472%5Bpage%5D+AND+2006%5Bpdat%5D&cmd=detailssearch
1341
1342[quote]
1343[b]RESULTS:
1344
1345Serum levels (mean = 89.2 microM, S.D. = 21.5) of glutamate in the patients with autism were significantly (t = -4.48, df = 35, p < 0.001) higher than those (mean = 61.1 microM, S.D. = 16.5) of normal controls.[/b]
1346[/quote]
1347
1348https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4938426/
1349
1350[quote]
1351[b]Twelve studies involving 880 participants and 446 incident cases were included in this meta-analysis. The meta-analysis provided evidence for higher blood glutamate levels in ASD[/b]
1352[/quote]
1353
1354This glutamatergic inversion coincides with an inversion of higher level anti-correlated neural construct activation patterns:
1355
1356https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23049758
1357
1358[quote]
1359[b]A prominent feature of the human brain's global architecture is the anticorrelation of default-mode vs. task-positive systems. Here,we show that administration of an NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist, ketamine, disrupted the reciprocal relationship between these systems in terms of task-dependent activation and connectivity during performance of delayed working memory. Furthermore, the degree of this disruption predicted task performance and transiently evoked symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia.[/b]
1360[/quote]
1361
1362https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140620/
1363
1364[quote]
1365The DMN is involved with processes of self-reflection, social cognition, and mind-wandering. [b]Hyperconnectivity has been noted in the DMN of individuals at high risk for developing schizophrenia.[/b]
1366
1367Whitfield-Gabrieli et al39 studied patients with schizophrenia; young, at-risk, first-degree relatives; and unaffected controls using fMRI during alternating conditions of wakeful rest and a focused working memory task. [b]While the unaffected controls showed predictable deactivation of DMN during active task, the patients and relatives showed diminished deactivation[/b], as well as greater activity in right DLPFC. This finding has essentially been replicated twice by two other research groups.
1368[/quote]
1369
1370
1371https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14090-9
1372
1373[quote]
1374[b]According to the Intuitive Belief Hypothesis, supernatural belief relies heavily on intuitive thinking—and decreases when analytic thinking is engaged.[/b] After pointing out various limitations in prior attempts to support this Intuitive Belief Hypothesis, we test it across three new studies using a variety of paradigms, ranging from a pilgrimage field study to a neurostimulation experiment. [b]In all three studies, we found no relationship between intuitive or analytical thinking and supernatural belief. We conclude that it is premature to explain belief in gods as ‘intuitive’, and that other factors, such as socio-cultural upbringing, are likely to play a greater role in the emergence and maintenance of supernatural belief than cognitive style.[/b]
1375[/quote]
1376
1377https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14090-9
1378
1379[quote]
1380[b]We used a probability bead game which allows for both analytical and intuitive responses. Participants were asked to draw a color bead from two containers, which had different quantities of colored and transparent beads.[/b]
1381[/quote]
1382
1383
1384https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14090-9
1385
1386[quote]
1387Study 1
1388
1389Participants were presented with two different bowls containing a number of transparent and color beads23. The smaller bowl always presented a 10% probability of getting the color bead (one out of ten beads), while the larger bowl varied between a 6-9% probability (six to nine out of 100 beads; see Fig. 1). The probabilities in the large bowl were varied according to a Latin Square design (examples of two sequences of presentations of color beads were: 6-9-8-7 and 7-6-8-9). Participants were explicitly told the odds of the color to the transparent beads in each bowl, and were then asked to choose one to try drawing the color bead from. After they made their choices, we used a dark cloth to hide the contents of the bowl from the individual and shook the bowl to move the beads. There were 4 trials for each participant. Each participant was offered a chocolate bar for taking part in the study.
1390...
1391To score the trials, we assigned a score of 0 to the analytical choice, a score of 1 to a 9% probability of drawing the color bead from the large bowl, 2 to an 8% probability, 3 to a 7% probability, and 4 to a 6% probability. The smaller bowl was always the analytical choice, but intuitively one may have felt more inclined to choose the larger bowl, as it presented a greater number of color beads (a number of participants reported this in the original study and this was replicated in our study). [b]Thus, a higher score indicated a more intuitive response.[/b]
1392[/quote]
1393
1394https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_memory
1395
1396[quote]
1397Semantic memory is one of the two types of declarative or explicit memory (our memory of facts or events that is explicitly stored and retrieved).[1] Semantic memory refers to general world knowledge that we have accumulated throughout our lives.[2] This general knowledge (facts, ideas, meaning and concepts) is intertwined in experience and dependent on culture. Semantic memory is distinct from episodic memory, which is our memory of experiences and specific events that occur during our lives, from which we can recreate at any given point.[3] For instance, semantic memory might contain information about what a cat is, whereas episodic memory might contain a specific memory of petting a particular cat. We can learn about new concepts by applying our knowledge learned from things in the past.[4]
1398[/quote]
1399
1400
1401https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism
1402
1403[quote]
1404ASD-related patterns of low function and aberrant activation in the brain differ depending on whether the brain is doing social or nonsocial tasks.[97] [b]In autism there is evidence for reduced functional connectivity of the default network, a large-scale brain network involved in social and emotional processing, with intact connectivity of the task-positive network, used in sustained attention and goal-directed thinking. In people with autism the two networks are not negatively correlated in time, suggesting an imbalance in toggling between the two networks[/b], possibly reflecting a disturbance of self-referential thought.[98]
1405[/quote]
1406
1407https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_vestigiality
1408
1409[quote]
1410[b]In the context of human evolution, human vestigiality involves those traits (such as organs or behaviors) occurring in humans that have lost all or most of their original function through evolution.[/b] Although structures called vestigial often appear functionless, a vestigial structure may retain lesser functions or develop minor new ones. In some cases, structures once identified as vestigial simply had an unrecognized function.
1411[/quote]
1412
1413https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/154f/9a7fb5f1ee00c34f2d918db9825ca5b09f17.pdf
1414
1415[quote]
1416[b]Both identify areas in the DMN and TPN associated with System 1 and System 2 reasoning respectively.[/b]
1417[/quote]
1418
1419https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_process_theory
1420
1421[quote]
1422[b]System 2 in humans
1423
1424System 2 is evolutionarily recent and specific to humans.[/b]
1425[/quote]
1426
1427Which is why such pharmacologically inverted treatments targeting NMDAR are for autism and schizophrenia currently in clinical trials:
1428
1429https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02611921
1430
1431[quote]
1432[b]Study of Intranasal Ketamine for Social Impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder[/b]
1433[/quote]
1434
1435https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NMDA_receptor_modulator
1436
1437[quote]
1438[b]NMDA receptor modulators (glutamate modulators) are a new form of antipsychotic that are in Phase II FDA study. The first compound studied was glycine which was hypothesized by Daniel Javitt after observation that people with phencyclidine(PCP)-induced psychosis were lacking in glutamate transmission.[1] (PCP is an NMDA receptor antagonist that blocks glutamate) In giving glycine to people with PCP-induced psychosis a recovery rate was noted.[/b] From there, it was hypothesized that people with psychosis from schizophrenia would benefit from increased glutamate transmission and glycine was added with strong recovery rates noted especially in the area of negative and cognitive symptoms. Glycine, however, sporadic results aside (dose 60 g/day or 0.8 g/kg,[2][3] approximately the amount in 300 g of gelatin powder or two kilograms of sunflower seeds[4]) remains an adjunct antipsychotic and an unworkable compound. However, the Eli Lilly and Company study drug LY2140023 is being studied as a primary antipsychotic and is showing strong recovery rates, especially in the area of negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia. Tardive dyskinesia, diabetes and other standard complications have not been noted:
1439
1440Treatment with LY2140023, like treatment with olanzapine, was safe and well-tolerated; treated patients showed statistically significant improvements in both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia compared to placebo (P o 0.001 at week 4). Notably, patients treated with LY2140023 did not differ from placebo-treated patients with respect to prolactin elevation, extrapyramidal symptoms or weight gain. These data suggest that mGlu2/3 receptor agonists have antipsychotic properties and may provide a new alternative for the treatment of schizophrenia.[5]
1441
1442Other NMDA receptor modulators are being studied and this modality of treatment may once approved as antipsychotic medications gradually replace the current (dopaminergic) antipsychotics.
1443[/quote]
1444
1445https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycine#cite_note-26
1446
1447[quote]
1448[b]Glycine is a required co-agonist along with glutamate for NMDA receptors. In contrast to the inhibitory role of glycine in the spinal cord, this behaviour is facilitated at the (NMDA) glutamatergic receptors which are excitatory.[26][/b]
1449[/quote]
1450
1451
1452This inversion of higher level anti-correlated neural construct activation patterns, from a higher level psychological perspective, is construable as an inversion of cognitive style and cognitive functionality:
1453
1454https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/154f/9a7fb5f1ee00c34f2d918db9825ca5b09f17.pdf
1455
1456[quote]
1457[b]System 1 has been variously characterized as 'intuitive', 'emotion-driven' and 'experiential'; whereas System 2 has been characterized as, 'controlled', 'rule-based', 'rational' and 'analytic'.[/b] We know of two lines of work which link cognitive neuroscience to this classical form of dual process theory:one which looks at logical reasoning (Goel and Dolan, 2003), the other moral judgments (Greene et al., 2004). [b]Both identify areas in the DMN and TPN associated with System 1 and System 2 reasoning respectively.[/b] Hence, the link between dual-process theories of cognition and the DMN vs.TPN dichotomy appears worthy of further investigation.
1458[/quote]
1459
1460Which results in, due to the anti-correlation, distinct modes of cognitive processing, two of the gestalt views of which can be called "folk physics" and "folk psychology":
1461
1462http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2007-01999-004
1463
1464[quote]
1465[b]Autism: Deficits in folk psychology exist alongside superiority in folk physics.[/b]
1466
1467According to Pinker, among others, the evolution of the human mind should be considered in terms of its evolved adaptedness to the environment (Pinker 1997). [b]On this view, the brain needed to be able to maximize the survival of its host body in response to at least two broad challenges: predicting the physical and the social environment. The specialized cognitive domains of folk psychology (searching for the mental or intentional causes behind agent-type events) and folk physics (searching for the physical causes of any other kind of event) can be seen as adaptations to each of these.[/b] In this chapter I explore the possibility that a cognitive profile of superior folk physics alongside impaired folk psychology could arise for genetic reasons. This assumes that some brains are equally well adapted to understanding both the social and physical environment, whilst others are better adapted to understanding the physical environment and yet others are better adapted to understanding the social environment. Both clinical and experimental tests of this profile in children with autism and Asperger's Syndrome will be reviewed
1468[/quote]
1469
1470Which correspond to things that can be called "the moral truth" (though I prefer social truth), and "the empirical truth" (the scientific truth):
1471
1472https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4805169/
1473
1474[quote]
1475[b]Finally, we have demonstrated that attention to engaging social stimuli not only activates the DMN but also deactivates the TPN.[/b] In a subsequent study[30] it was shown that this pattern of DMN activation and TPN deactivation was present for humanizing depictions of individuals, whereas dehumanizing depictions, which are associated with decreased moral concern, either involved decreased activity in the DMN or increased activity in the TPN. [b]Taken together, these findings suggest that we are neurologically constrained from simultaneously exercising moral concern and analytic thinking.[/b]
1476[/quote]
1477
1478https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160323151838.htm
1479
1480[quote]
1481[b]"These findings," Friedman continued, "are consistent with the philosophical view, espoused by (Immanuel) Kant, according to which there are two distinct types of truth: empirical and moral."[/b]
1482[/quote]
1483
1484
1485https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810003000199?via%3Dihub
1486
1487[quote]
1488Consciousness and Cognition
1489The threat simulation theory of the evolutionary function of dreaming: Evidence from dreams of traumatized children
1490
1491Abstract
1492
1493[b]The threat simulation theory of dreaming (TST) (Revonsuo, 2000) states that dream consciousness is essentially an ancient biological defence mechanism, evolutionarily selected for its capacity to repeatedly simulate threatening events.[/b] Threat simulation during dreaming rehearses the cognitive mechanisms required for efficient threat perception and threat avoidance, leading to increased probability of reproductive success during human evolution. One hypothesis drawn from TST is that real threatening events encountered by the individual during wakefulness should lead to an increased activation of the system, a threat simulation response, and therefore, to an increased frequency and severity of threatening events in dreams. Consequently, children who live in an environment in which their physical and psychological well-being is constantly threatened should have a highly activated dream production and threat simulation system, whereas children living in a safe environment that is relatively free of such threat cues should have a weakly activated system. We tested this hypothesis by analysing the content of dream reports from severely traumatized and less traumatized Kurdish children and ordinary, non-traumatized Finnish children. Our results give support for most of the predictions drawn from TST. The severely traumatized children reported a significantly greater number of dreams and their dreams included a higher number of threatening dream events. The dream threats of traumatized children were also more severe in nature than the threats of less traumatized or non-traumatized children.
1494[/quote]
1495
1496https://his.se/PageFiles/2142/Antti_Revonsuo_3.pdf
1497
1498[quote]
1499[b]The threat simulation theory (TST) (Revonsuo, 2000a,  2000b)  claims  that  dreaming  originally evolved as an offline simulation of the real perceptual  world and that its function in the ancestral human environment was to repeatedly produce simulations of the real threatening events that had been encountered  during  waking  hours  and  had  left  a  mark  in emotional memory.[/b] The function of threat simulation in dreams was the repeated nocturnal rehearsal of the neurocognitive mechanisms that are essential for threat recognition and avoidance behaviors while awake.
1500[/quote]
1501
1502The accessing one of which, due to the anti-correlation, results in the inability to access the other. This is equivalent to two distinct states of anosognosia (when used in the somewhat generalized sense of 'a lack of insight'):
1503
1504
1505https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140620/
1506
1507[quote]
1508There are self-administered, validated tools as well, such as the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS),11 which is based on a separation of the concepts of “cognitive insight” and “clinical insight.” Clinical insight is described as the awareness of mental illness requiring treatment, while [b]cognitive insight encompasses the patient’s ability to evaluate, reappraise, and modify distorted beliefs or misperceptions.[/b] These interpretations are regulated at a “higher level” of cognition, also called metacognition, allowing clinicians to assess self-regulating and self-monitoring functions of thought processes. The BCIS assesses a patient’s objectivity about delusional thinking, previous errors, reattribution of false explanations, and ability to receive corrective information from others. It includes self-reflectiveness and self-certainty subscales in order to measure willingness and capacity to entertain alternate explanations and over-confidence in validity of beliefs.
1509[/quote]
1510
1511
1512One of these forms of anosognosia (clinical) arises from the lack of activation of the default mode network due to activation of the task positive network, which, if intrinsically in anti-correlation, results intrinsically in an inability for the insight the DMN is capable of:
1513
1514https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140620/
1515
1516[quote]
1517Liemburg et al40 studied connectivity within the DMN and hypothesized that poor-insight patients (n=19) would show greater connectivity impairment than their good-insight peers (n=25). Insight grouping was assigned on the basis of the PANSS insight item (G12). All subjects underwent resting fMRI. Results showed that “schizophrenia patients with relatively preserved insight showed stronger connectivity than patients with poor insight in the anterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, both key regions in self-reflective processing. [b]These findings tentatively support the hypothesis that poor insight may be related to impaired self-related processing.” In other words, poor insight was associated with a relative breakdown of DMN connectivity and operations.[/b]
1518[/quote]
1519
1520While the inverse form of anosognosia (cognitive) has the exact opposite etiology, namely a failure to maintain activation of the TPN due to the activation of the anti-correlated DMN:
1521
1522https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140620/
1523
1524[quote]
1525The results showed a correlation between insight as measured by the BCIS self-reflectiveness index and lower gray matter volume in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC). [b]The VLPFC is involved in working memory and decision making. The findings suggest that a reduced VLPFC volume corresponds with a diminished capacity to entertain alternative explanations about one’s misperceptions leading to impairment in awareness of illness.[/b]
1526[/quote]
1527
1528https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactions_between_the_emotional_and_executive_brain_systems#Ventrolateral_prefrontal_cortex_.28vlPFC.29
1529
1530[quote]
1531The ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) is a subdivision of the prefrontal cortex. Its involvement in modulating existing behavior and emotional output given contextual demands has been studied extensively using cognitive reappraisal studies and emotion-attention tasks. [b]Cognitive reappraisal studies indicate the vlFPC’s role in reinterpreting stimuli, and reducing or augmenting responses. Studies using emotion-attention tasks demonstrate the vlFPC’s function in ignoring emotional distractions while the brain is engaged in performing other tasks.[6][/b]
1532[/quote]
1533
1534http://childhood-developmental-disorders.imedpub.com/systematic-review-of-mindfulness-induced-neuroplasticity-in-adults-potential-areas-of-interest-for-the-maturing-adolescent-brain.php?aid=8553
1535
1536[quote]
1537[b]Prefrontal activation in the dlPFC and vlPFC was also associated with deactivation in the DMN[/b], during experiential focus and without previous training [24]. [b]The engagement of prefrontal areas seems concomitant to the disengagement of limbic and DMN systems.[/b]
1538[/quote]
1539
1540https://www.europeanneuropsychopharmacology.com/article/S0924-977X(17)31999-5/pdf
1541
1542[quote]
1543[b]IPC and VLPFC belong to the ventral attentional network that supports attentional filtering and reorienting towards the environment (Corbetta et al., 2008), and is anti-correlated with the preACC/DMN, involved in self- referential processes ( Fox and Raichle, 2007).[/b]
1544[/quote]
1545
1546
1547
1548https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0691/500dd758fa316fae86f47bc22d5d04931ef6.pdf
1549
1550[quote]
1551[b]The  default  mode  network  is  a  state  of  brain  activation, where the individual is not attending to any external cues in the environment[/b], but certain regions are still activated.  It has been found that the default mode network regions of the brain are negatively correlated with [b]regions that are activated during tasks and stimuli presentation, known as task-positive regions[/b].  Thus, it was found that  the  default  mode  network  and  task-positive  region  could  not  be  co-active because they appeared oppositely activated.  However, previous studies show that there is a shared region  between both networks: the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).
1552[/quote]
1553
1554
1555This manifests across a range of rather discrete states of catatonia, associated with distinct neural activation patterns and environmental stimuli:
1556
1557https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autistic_catatonia
1558
1559[quote]
1560Childhood schizophrenia increases the risk for autistic catatonia later in life dramatically. [b]There seems to be a common font of brain pathology for psychosis, catatonia and autism.[4][/b]
1561[/quote]
1562
1563https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1154851-overview
1564
1565[quote]
1566[b]Catatonia is a state of apparent unresponsiveness to external stimuli and apparent inability to move normally in a person who is apparently awake. [1] [/b]
1567[/quote]
1568
1569https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/catatonia
1570
1571[quote]
1572[b]Catatonia is an abnormal neuropsychiatric condition that affects both behavior and motor function, and results in unresponsiveness in someone who otherwise appears to be awake.[/b]
1573[/quote]
1574
1575
1576or at the risk of coining a neologism essentially acatatonia, by which I mean a lack of unresponsiveness, essentially responsiveness, contrasted with the unresponsiveness of catatonia. I made slides regarding the individual states early on into my understanding of the phenomenon, and today would make them somewhat differently, yet as they are what I currently have I will make use of them after clarifying they are somewhat prototypical:
1577
1578[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/11/8/e285ab6736f140148e0be85f030d37de-full.jpg[/img]
1579
1580http://www.pnas.org/content/106/27/11376
1581
1582[quote]
1583[b]DMN During Deep Sleep.
1584
1585During deep sleep, only partial network involvement was observed, with apparent decoupling of frontal areas from the DMN (Fig. 1B and Table 1). Whereas PCC and IPC/AG correlations seem to strengthen, the correlations between PCC and MPFC/ACC became nonsignificant.
1586
1587Comparison of the DMN in Wake and Deep Sleep.[/b]
1588
1589....
1590
1591[b]In fact, robust local coherence of spontaneous activity within all of the component regions of the DMN persisted during deep sleep.[/b]
1592[/quote]
1593
1594https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263427360_Neural_Correlates_of_Insight_in_Dreaming_and_Psychosis
1595
1596[quote]
1597Conclusions
1598
1599[b]In conclusion, recent EEG and neuroimaging research shows that regions that have been related to psychotic insight deficits are highly activated in lucid compared to non-lucid dreaming. This fact empirically substantiates the analogy between the metacognitive impairments in psychosis and non-lucid dreaming.[/b] While research into lucid dreaming is currently limited by the rarity of the phenomenon, metacognitive training or other lucid dreaming induction methods might lead to new therapeutic approaches by improving insight in psychosis. [b]Lucid dreaming therefore transforms the dreaming psychosis model from an interesting idea with a long history into a testable scientific hypothesis and a promising new therapeutic approach.[/b]
1600[/quote]
1601
1602[quote]
1603[b]To summarize, the empirical findings reviewed here constitute neurobiological evidence of the theoretical idea that dreaming indeed might serve as a model of psychosis: cortical, in particular prefrontal, medial parietal and inferior temporal regions that are linked to insight problems in psychosis show striking overlap with brain regions in which activation increases during dreaming are associated with the gain of insight into the current state of mind (see Fig. 3). From a network point of view, schizophrenia patients show disconnectivity within the frontoparietal network and stronger connectivity within the default mode network [79,80], with the exception of default mode network regions implicated in self-referential processing, within which patients with poor insight show decreased connectivity [56].[/b]
1604[/quote]
1605
1606[quote]
1607Prefrontal and pa-rietal regions are involved in most higher cognitive processes like intelligence or working memory [43], in particular the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has been associated with metacognitive evalua-tion[44,45]. The precuneus has been proposed to be the pivotal region involved in self-referential processing [46]. The fronto-parietal activation pattern observed during lucid REM sleep therefore nicely mirrors the reinstantiation of reflective capabilities experienced during lucid dreaming. [b]In contrast to the default mode network-like activation patterns of normal REM sleep [41] , brain regions activated during lucid dreaming comprise substantial parts of the frontoparietal control network [35].[/b] This network has been postulated to integrate information coming from both the default mode and attention networks by switching between competing internally and externally directed processes[47]. Due to this role as a kind of meta-network, the frontoparietal control network might be seen as an ideal candidate subserving processes of metacogni-tion like dream lucidity[48].
1608[/quote]
1609
1610[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/11/8/6711997923d8c8522565e33c6362bd30-full.jpg[/img]
1611
1612To clarify, this is essentially daydreaming as opposed to REM sleep.
1613
1614http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume7/j7_3_5.htm
1615
1616[quote]
1617[b]People in a state of psychotic decompensation may be viewed as experiencing a complete breakdown of the barriers that separate waking from dream states.[/b] Not surprisingly, paranoid patients may dream about their delusions and their dreams may have the same content as their delusional material. Accordingly, they commonly dream about being persecuted by their abusers, although the dream may include many bizarre components not present in the waking delusion. Furthermore, many schizophrenics experience an ongoing eruption into conscious awareness of primitive unconscious material, with the result that they walk around in a state in which they are flooded with their primitive impulses. Their waking lives are like ongoing nightmares. Differentiation between dreams and reality become very blurred. Not surprisingly, sex-abuse delusional material is usually present in this primitive outflow into both dreams and the waking state.
1618[/quote]
1619
1620https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/11/01/schizophrenia-waking-reality-processed-through-dreaming-brain
1621
1622[quote]
1623[b]Schizophrenia is waking reality processed through the dreaming brain[/b]
1624[/quote]
1625
1626http://nobaproject.com/modules/dissociative-disorders
1627
1628I believe the following is not actually referring to schizophrenia/psychosis, but it essentially ought to be as there is no clearer case of a dissociative disorder than schizophrenia.
1629
1630[quote]
1631[b]Think about the last time you were daydreaming. Perhaps it was while you were driving or attending class. Some portion of your attention was on the activity at hand, but most of your conscious mind was wrapped up in fantasy. Now imagine that you could not control your daydreams. What if they intruded your waking consciousness unannounced, causing you to lose track of reality or experience the loss of time. Imagine how difficult it would be for you. This is similar to what people who suffer from dissociative disorders may experience.[/b] Of the many disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), dissociative disorders rank as among the most puzzling and controversial. Dissociative disorders encompass an array of symptoms ranging from memory loss (amnesia) for autobiographical events, to changes in identity and the experience of everyday reality (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
1632[/quote]
1633
1634
1635Characterized by diminished DMN deactivation and general dissociation but not to the extent of REM sleep which is essentially the most severe manifestation possible. I know I already posted this, yet:
1636
1637https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140620/
1638
1639[quote]
1640The DMN is involved with processes of self-reflection, social cognition, and mind-wandering. [b]Hyperconnectivity has been noted in the DMN of individuals at high risk for developing schizophrenia.[/b]
1641
1642Whitfield-Gabrieli et al39 studied patients with schizophrenia; young, at-risk, first-degree relatives; and unaffected controls using fMRI during alternating conditions of wakeful rest and a focused working memory task. [b]While the unaffected controls showed predictable deactivation of DMN during active task, the patients and relatives showed diminished deactivation[/b], as well as greater activity in right DLPFC. This finding has essentially been replicated twice by two other research groups.
1643[/quote]
1644
1645This is associated with a generalized reliance on intuition:
1646
1647https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17522439.2011.626526
1648
1649[quote]
1650[b]An objective measure often used to investigate reasoning biases in people with delusions is the jumping to conclusions (JTC) beads task. The task involves two jars filled with beads, with different ratios of coloured beads found within them. One jar contains 60 black beads and 40 white beads, and a second jar contains 40 black beads and 60 white beads. One jar is chosen and beads are then drawn and shown to participants one at a time until they make a decision about which jar they think the beads are being drawn from. Participants who make a decision based on two beads or fewer are classified as showing a “JTC” reasoning bias (Freeman, Pugh, & Garety, 2008). Experiments using the beads task have shown that half or more of clinical patients with delusions show the JTC reasoning bias (e.g. Freeman, 2007; Langdon Ward, & Coltheart, 2010; Lincoln, Ziegler, Mehl, & Rief, 2010). A small proportion of people in the general population, about 20%, also report a JTC reasoning bias (Freeman et al., 2008). This suggests there is a continuum of severity for this characteristic, with clinically diagnosed levels of psychosis residing at one extreme end of the continuum (Murphy, Shevlin, Adamson, & Houston, 2010; Van Os, Hanssen, Bijl, & Ravelli, 2000).[/b]
1651[/quote]
1652
1653Skewing into psychosis across increasing over reliance on intuition, as you go this route there is more reliance on false signals such as homeopathic medicines and so on as well:
1654
1655https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4556675/
1656
1657[quote]
1658[b]complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).[/b]
1659[/quote]
1660
1661[quote]
1662[b]Also included was the 3-item Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) [41], that indexes participants’ tendency to override an initial intuitive response by applying analytic thinking skills.[/b] For example, the first item is: “If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?” The intuitive answer for this question is 100, whereas the correct answer is 5. The CRT may also be understood as measuring an individual’s inclination towards miserly information processing, and is the most popular instrument based on modern dual process theories of cognition; itself a major theme during the last 50 years of research in cognitive science [55]. [b]The CRT has proven to be a potent predictor of performance on various rational thinking tasks [55] including, a tendency to choose high expected-value gambles, temporal discounting, maximising strategies on probabilistic prediction tasks, and non-superstitious thinking [40,56,57].[/b]
1663[/quote]
1664
1665[quote]
1666[b]Higher CRT scores (indicating a more analytical thinking style) were negatively related to a preference for CAM over conventional medical treatment ρ = −.12, p < .0001, as well as the number of CAM treatments used in the last year ρ = −.08, p = .0047. Finally, analytical thinking style was negatively related to all forms of CAM, with this relationship significant in three cases; herbal remedies ρ = −.08, p = .0014, homeopathy, ρ = −.06, p = .0236, and prayer for the purpose of healing, ρ = −.15, p < .0001.[/b]
1667[/quote]
1668
1669https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0691/500dd758fa316fae86f47bc22d5d04931ef6.pdf
1670
1671[quote]
1672When  examining  brain  activation,  many  researchers  question  what  are as  are
1673activated during a specific task or a given stimulus.  However, this approach may
1674lead  one  to  believe  that  when  there  is  no  task  or  stimulus,  that  no  bra
1675in  regions should  be  activated.    The  default  mode  network  is  a  state  of  brain  activation,
1676where the individual is not attending to any external cues in the environment, but
1677certain regions are still activated.  It has been found that the default mode network
1678regions of the brain are negatively correlated with regions that are activated during
1679tasks and stimuli presentation, known as task-positive regions.  Thus, it was found
1680that  the  default  mode  network  and  task-positive  region  could  not  be  co-active
1681because they appeared oppositely activated.  However, previous studies show that
1682there is a shared region  between both networks: the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
1683(DLPFC).    This  article  discusses  the  implications  of  DLPFC  being  a  part  of  both
1684networks,  how  the  model  of  the  two  networks  could  be  revised,  and  how  it is
1685adaptive and beneficial for the two networks to work in tandem.
1686[/quote]
1687
1688[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/11/8/a038c6582baca7eb912fea1117e950c0-full.jpg[/img]
1689
1690It involves the deactivation of the TPN and activation of the DMN just as the previously described modes of operation do, but is unique from them due to being selectively manifested in response to certain stimuli rather than generalized:
1691
1692http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0149989
1693
1694[quote]
1695[b]Engaging social stimuli are associated with activation of the DMN and deactivation of the TPN, whereas analytic problems are associated with activation of the TPN and deactivation of the DMN.[/b]
1696[/quote]
1697
1698https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160323151838.htm
1699
1700[quote]
1701[b]"These findings," Friedman continued, "are consistent with the philosophical view, espoused by (Immanuel) Kant, according to which there are two distinct types of truth: empirical and moral."[/b]
1702[/quote]
1703
1704https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_entrepreneur
1705
1706[quote]
1707[b]Social position determines one's ability to define and construct reality; therefore, the higher one's social position, the greater his or her moral value.[/b]
1708[/quote]
1709
1710https://www.nature.com/articles/srep39589
1711
1712[quote]
1713[b]Neural correlates of maintaining one’s political beliefs in the face of counterevidence
1714...
1715Challenges to political beliefs produced increased activity in the default mode network—a set of interconnected structures associated with self-representation and disengagement from the external world.[/b]
1716[/quote]
1717
1718It manifests as essentially the dissociation from materials associated to the physical existence and to themed collections of essentially fiction materials. A prime example being:
1719
1720http://jhppl.dukejournals.org/content/37/1/69.short
1721
1722[quote]
1723[b]The last dozen years have seen a massive transnational mobilization of the legal, political, and research communities in response to the worrisome hypothesis that vaccines could have a link to childhood autism and other developmental conditions. Vaccine critics, some already organized and some composed of newly galvanized parents, developed an alternate world of internally legitimating studies, blogs, conferences, publications, and spokespeople to affirm a connection.[/b]
1724[/quote]
1725
1726[quote]
1727[b]As I have noted above, there is indeed a complex community of researchers, journals, and articles to point to, facts to recite, conferences to attend, and professional groups to connect with that supply a great deal of internal legitimacy[/b]
1728[/quote]
1729
1730It's typically initiated with core hypotheses that make predictions that not validated empirically and are rather contradicted, yet then becomes essentially protected superstitions that are treated as real, with this core then having an alternate fantasy world in a themed collection of fiction materials built around it:
1731
1732https://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/dailydose/12/04/autism.mercury/
1733
1734[quote]
1735[b]Years ago, people made predictions -- by removing thimerosal, the number of cases of autism should decrease -- therefore showing that thimerosal is a cause of autism. This new study puts that idea in jeopardy. Similar studies have been done in Canada and Denmark with the same results: thimerosal was removed, but autism is still on the rise. This is a strong message; it very clearly shows, and reassures, that autism did not arrive through a vaccine.[/b]
1736[/quote]
1737
1738http://www.skepticalob.com/2016/09/are-anti-vaccine-parents-in-the-grip-of-mass-hysteria.html
1739
1740[quote]
1741Are anti-vaccine parents in the grip of mass hysteria?
1742
1743Welcome to Salem road sign illustration, with distressed foreboding background
1744
1745Vaccination is one the greatest public health advances of all time.
1746
1747[b]It has saved, and continues to save, literally millions of lives each year, yet many well meaning parents have become convinced that vaccines are harmful and there is no amount of scientific evidence that can convince them otherwise.[/b]
1748[/quote]
1749
1750https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition
1751
1752[quote]
1753A recent theory by Jane Risen proposes that superstitions are intuitions that people acknowledge to be wrong, but acquiesce to rather than correct when they arise as the intuitive assessment of a situation. Her theory draws on dual-process models of reasoning. [b]In this view, superstitions are the output of "System 1" reasoning that are not corrected even when caught by "System 2".[17][/b]
1754[/quote]
1755
1756[quote]
1757[b]Diderot's Encyclopédie defines superstition as "any excess of religion in general", and links it specifically with paganism.[11] [/b]
1758[/quote]
1759
1760https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/154f/9a7fb5f1ee00c34f2d918db9825ca5b09f17.pdf
1761
1762[quote]
1763[b]Both identify areas in the DMN and TPN associated with System 1 and System 2 reasoning respectively. [/b]
1764[/quote]
1765
1766https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160323151838.htm
1767
1768[quote]
1769"When there's a question of faith, from the analytic point of view, it may seem absurd," said Tony Jack, who led the research. [b]"But, from what we understand about the brain, the leap of faith to belief in the supernatural amounts to pushing aside the critical/analytical way of thinking to help us achieve greater social and emotional insight."[/b]
1770[/quote]
1771
1772https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14633423
1773
1774[quote]
1775[b]The author tries to differentiate intuitive imagination from delusional imagination and hypothesises that psychosis alters the system of intuitive thinking, which consequently cannot develop in a dynamic and selective way.[/b]
1776...
1777In the analysis of psychotic patients it is very important to analyse the delusional imagination which dominates the personality and continuously transforms the mental state, twisting emotional truth. [b]The delusional imagination is so deeply rooted in the patient's mental functioning that, even after systematic analysis, the delusional world, which had seemed to disappear, re-emerges under new configurations.[/b] The psychotic core remains encapsulated; it produces unsteadiness and may induce further psychotic states in the patient.
1778[/quote]
1779
1780[img]https://i0.wp.com/deadstate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Screen-Shot-2014-12-15-at-4.41.07-PM.png?resize=917%2C665[/img]
1781
1782[img]https://i2.wp.com/deadstate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Screen-Shot-2014-12-15-at-4.44.19-PM.png?resize=908%2C422[/img]
1783
1784[img]https://i1.wp.com/deadstate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Screen-Shot-2014-12-15-at-4.47.23-PM.png?resize=914%2C647[/img]
1785
1786Somewhat different manifestation of anosognosia from stroke, yet presentationally similar at least:
1787
1788https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140620/
1789
1790[quote]
1791[b]Anosognosia in Schizophrenia: Hidden in Plain Sight[/b]
1792...
1793[b]“I don’t need medicine—there is nothing wrong with me. I just came here for a check-up.”[/b]
1794[/quote]
1795
1796https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945214003359
1797
1798[quote]
1799[b]Essentially, anosognosic patients hold quasi-delusional beliefs about their paralysed limbs, in spite of all the contrary evidence, repeated questioning, and logical argument.[/b]
1800[/quote]
1801
1802https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/blame-the-amygdala/201605/anosognosia-psychopathy-and-the-conscience
1803
1804[quote]
1805Anosognosia is defined as the impaired ability of patients with neurological disorders to recognize the presence or adequately appreciate the severity of their deficits [1]. Torrey (2012) cites [b]three examples of anosognosic patients; a stroke victim with a paralyzed arm claimed he couldn’t lift it because he had a shirt on; a woman with paralysis in her left arm was asked to raise it, and instead raised her left leg. When this was pointed out to her she responded that some people call it an arm, others a leg, and jokingly inquired as to the difference; the Supreme Court Justice, William Douglas, was paralyzed on his left side. He claimed this was a myth, and was still inviting people to go hiking [2].[/b]
1806[/quote]
1807
1808You can see that generalized tests of over reliance on intuition are not sensitive enough to detect a discrepancy in this mode, unlike the more psychotic modes, and yet they are simply not sensitive enough due to not meeting the sociocultural selective stimulus criterion:
1809
1810https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4556675/
1811
1812[quote]
1813Increasing attention is being paid to individual differences in the willingness to thinking analytically about problems, which is counter-indicative of susceptibility to biases in judgement and decision making [40]. [b]The Cognitive Reflection Test [41] (CRT), in particular, has been shown to have high predictive efficacy; predicting the ability to choose options with higher expected value and resistance to the logical fallacies described above [42,43]. Such measures fall within dual-process theories of human cognition, which distinguish between “intuitive” reasoning; which is fast, automatic and does not require working memory; and “analytical” reasoning, which is slow, deliberative, and requires working memory [44].[/b] An analytical mode of reasoning, associated with more sound empirical and causal judgements, might be expected to yield a more favourable evaluation of vaccination in line with available evidence. However, no research has specifically considered individual differences in cognitive style and reasoning as factors predicting attitudes towards vaccination.
1814
1815...
1816
1817[b]Previous research is highly suggestive regarding the impact of psychosocial factors that may determine formation of attitudes towards vaccination. The current study is based on the supposition that negative attitudes towards vaccination may be influenced primarily by cultural and psychosocial factors, rather than by evidence-based analytic reasoning.[/b] We aimed to test this idea, and gauge the relative impact of these factors through bivariate and multivariate associations in a cross-sectional design. Specifically, the present study aimed to assess the degree to which rejection of vaccination is associated with four cognitive and social factors:
1818
1819Lowered willingness to consider the empirical evidence (indicated by an intuitive rather than analytical cognitive style)
1820...
1821
1822
1823[b]A significant effect for analytic versus intuitive cognitive style was not found; suggesting that it is a cultural and personal orientation, rather than cognitive ability, that has a direct influence on vaccination attitudes.[/b]
1824[/quote]
1825
1826http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0149989
1827
1828[quote]
1829[b]Engaging social stimuli are associated with activation of the DMN and deactivation of the TPN, whereas analytic problems are associated with activation of the TPN and deactivation of the DMN.[/b]
1830[/quote]
1831
1832[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/11/8/4d41ee4760a9e441bd02db6322750939-full.jpg[/img]
1833
1834
1835And then as you move over more so you get essentially a mode wherein working memory is made heavy use of and I believe particularly verbal working memory, where the outputs of system 1 reasoning are processed in iterations in system 2 toward essentially error correcting them.
1836
1837http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/people-with-aspergers-less-likely-to-see-purpose-behind-the-events-in-their-lives/
1838
1839[quote]
1840Bethany T. Heywood, a graduate student at Queens University Belfast, asked [b]27 people with Asperger’s syndrome, a mild type of autism that involves impaired social cognition[/b], about significant events in their lives. Working with experimental psychologist Jesse M. Bering (author of the "Bering in Mind" blog and a frequent contributor to Scientific American MIND), she asked them to speculate about why these important events happened—for instance, why they had gone through an illness or why they met a significant other. [b]As compared with 34 neurotypical people, those with Asperger’s syndrome were significantly less likely to invoke a teleological response—for example, saying the event was meant to unfold in a particular way or explaining that God had a hand in it. They were more likely to invoke a natural cause (such as blaming an illness on a virus they thought they were exposed to) or to give a descriptive response, explaining the event again in a different way.[/b]
1841[/quote]
1842
1843As you can see it is also a spectrum of teleology, with toward the far end of teleology being in fact animism, yet I will cover this more later:
1844
1845[quote]
1846These results support the idea that seeing purpose behind life events is a result of our mind’s focus on social thinking. People whose social cognition is impaired—those with Asperger’s, in this case—are less likely to see the events in their lives as having happened for a reason. Heywood would like to test the hypothesis further by working with people who have schizophrenia or schizoid personalities. [b]Some experts theorize that certain schizophrenia symptoms (for instance, paranoia) arise in part from a hyperactive sense of social reasoning. “I’d guess that they’d give lots of teleological answers; more than neurotypical people, and certainly far more than people with Asperger’s,” Heywood says.[/b]
1847[/quote]
1848
1849[quote]
1850In a second experiment, Heywood and Bering compared 27 people with Asperger’s with 34 neurotypical people who are atheists. The atheists, as expected, often invoked anti-teleological responses such as “there is no reason why; things just happen.” [b]The people with Asperger’s were significantly less likely to offer such anti-teleological explanations than the atheists, indicating they were not engaged in teleological thinking at all. (The atheists, in contrast, revealed themselves to be reasoning teleologically, but then they rejected those thoughts.)[/b]
1851[/quote]
1852
1853http://sites.oxy.edu/shtulman/documents/2015b.pdf
1854
1855[quote]
1856Compared to healthy elderly adults, Alzheimer’s patients were more likely to judge unwarranted teleological explanations as accept-able. They were also more likely to judge those explanations as preferable to mechanistic ones. [b]These findings suggest that teleology, like animism, is a deep-seated form of intuition that can be suppressed by a more scientific worldview but cannot be eradicated altogether.[/b]
1857[/quote]
1858
1859And then the final mode is essentially direct observation of the physical world without any cultural dissociation:
1860
1861[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/11/8/8245bb75a5c55d9ee0b5a808cf979edb-full.jpg[/img]
1862
1863Which is essentially the exact opposite of REM sleep:
1864
1865https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/rem-sleep-disrupted-in-children-with-autism/
1866
1867[quote]
1868[b]Children with autism spend less time in the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep compared with controls and those with developmental delays, according to a November report in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine1.[/b]
1869[/quote]
1870
1871https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3111973/
1872
1873[quote]
1874There were no differences between typical v developmental delay groups. [b]Autism v typical revealed shorter TST (p = .004), greater SWS percentage (p=.001), and much smaller REM percentage, 14.5 v 22.6 (p<.001). Autism v developmental delay revealed shorter TST (p=.001), greater stage 1 percentage (p= <.001), greater SWS percentage (p = <.001) and much less REM percentage, 14.5 v 25 (p= <.001).[/b]
1875[/quote]
1876
1877books.google.ca/books?id=0HqB94NETbEC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4
1878
1879"Adolescent Medicine: A handbook for primary care"
1880
1881[quote]
1882[b]Female sexual development:
1883
1884Full fertility is usually reached within 2 years of menarche, between 14 and 15 years of age on average.[/b]
1885[/quote]
1886
1887books.google.com/books?id=0BUZvZ3SWO0C&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146
1888
1889[quote]
1890[b]But many of the initial cycles are associated with failure of ovulation of a mature egg and so the periods may be irregular for a year or so and fertility is low for about one to two years before full reproductive competence is reached[/b]
1891[/quote]
1892
1893It's like being locked into the physical environment and not even dissociating toward eye contact for example:
1894
1895http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/03/brain-size-early-growth-clues-to-autisms-causes/
1896
1897[quote]
1898Heather Hazlett, in the department of psychiatry at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, and her colleagues studied MRI images of 38 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) at 2 years old and compared them with the scans from 21 unaffected youngsters of the same age. [b]All the children were scanned again at age 4 or 5, and at all stages, the children with ASD had on average 6% more total brain volume and 9% more volume in the cerebral cortex, the region of the brain that contains the “newest” sprouting of neurons and is responsible for everything from receiving signals and input from the environment to processing memory and attention.[/b]
1899[/quote]
1900
1901But taken to pathological extent where it is practically the same as the dissociation of catatonic schizophrenia other than for being the exact inversion of it where one is swallowed by the physical existence rather than fully dissociated away from it. Essentially progressively less so of:
1902
1903http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/are-you-hallucinating-right-now
1904
1905[quote]
1906[b]Recent studies by researchers at Cardiff University and University of Cambridge suggest we are all hallucinating all of the time to comprehend the world that surrounds us.[/b] This research opens new doors of perception as related to the ways we view hallucinations and their prevalence.
1907
1908Sifting through the noise
1909
1910[b]One way to look at hallucinations is seeing them as a part of predictive brain processes. We constantly need to make sense of our surrounding world. In trying to grasp a spatial and visual sense of our surroundings that might appear slightly vague when we're barraged by a wide array of sensory input, we have to use our brains to predict and understand the overall structure of the environment with the use of prior knowledge. The prior knowledge we have about an environment plays a huge role in the way we visually process our world.
1911
1912"Vision is a constructive process — in other words, our brain makes up the world that we 'see'," and "fills in the blanks, ignoring the things that don't quite fit, and presents to us an image of the world that has been edited and made to fit with what we expect," explains lead researcher Christoph Teufel of Cardiff University.
1913
1914Our predictive brains are beneficial to us because "it makes us efficient and adept at creating a coherent picture of an ambiguous and complex world,” and that it “means that we are not very far away from perceiving things that aren’t actually there, which is the definition of a hallucination,” says Paul Fletcher, senior author of the research done at Cambridge.[/b]
1915[/quote]
1916
1917And more so of:
1918
1919http://www.grrec.ky.gov/CaveWeb/autism/ASD%20Webpage/Module%201/Gestalt%20thinking%20article.docx
1920
1921[quote]
1922How much do we see? In fact, we see very little, just a few things our attention happens to focus on. Every time we look at something we just pick up a few features and 'recognize' the whole picture from our past experiences and memories. For example, when we enter a familiar room, we do not have to examine every item there to recognize it. We just know what is there and where everything is located. A quick glance is enough. So do we actually see the environment or do we just know 'what is there'? [b]In fact, our perceptual reconstruction (or 'what we think we see') comes from two opposite directions - from outside (environmental stimuli) and inside (mental images we have stored in the brain). The more familiar the environment or situation, the less we actually perceive it. The brain does not need to process all the stimuli; it just 'fills in the gaps' and 'predicts' the final picture.[/b]
1923
1924There is much evidence that one of the problems many autistic people experience is their inability to distinguish between foreground and background stimuli. They often are unable to discriminate between relevant and irrelevant stimuli. What is background to others may be equally foreground to them. They perceive everything without filtration or selection. As Donna Williams describes it, they seem to have no sieve in their brain to select the information that is worth being attended. This results in a paradoxical phenomenon: sensory information is received in infinite detail and holistically at the same time. It can be described as 'gestalt perception', i.e. perception of the whole scene as a single entity with all the details perceived (not processed!) simultaneously. They may be aware of the information others miss, but the processing of 'holistic situations' can be overwhelming. As there is too much information coming in, it is hard to know which stimuli to attend. It is often difficult for the autistic person to 'break' the whole picture into meaningful entities, to 'draw the boundaries' around plenty of tiny sensory pieces to make them meaningful items.
1925
1926[b]In contrast to our guessing 'what is there' from our experience and memory instead of actually seeing it, autistic children seem to be unable to filter the incoming information and tend to perceive all the stimuli around them. Instead of 'inventing' the world as we do, they actually perceive it. Such 'acute-perception' brings overwhelming information the brain cannot cope with.[/b]
1927[/quote]
1928
1929Which is similar to internal imagery blindness:
1930
1931https://mindhacks.com/2014/11/15/more-on-the-enigma-of-blindness-and-psychosis/
1932
1933[quote]
1934[b]Notably, all cases of co-occurrence were from blindness due to eye problems or where blindness happened relatively late (after 6 years of age). No cases were found were people had a diagnosis of schizophrenia and were congenitally cortically blind – where blindness was caused by problems with the brain’s visual system.
1935
1936What this new study provides is weak evidence for the possibility of certain sorts of blindness coexisting with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and more comprehensive support for the curious finding that blindness seems to reduce the risk of developing psychosis.
1937
1938It’s worth noting that what is really needed is a prospective epidemiological study of psychosis in blind people. However, researchers have been searching for congenitally blind people with psychosis since the issue of non-co-occurrence was first seriously raised in the 1980s and none have been found. Based on the rates of occurrence for each condition, the combination should be fairly common. This suggests that hypothesis of protective effects of congenital blindness needs to taken seriously.[/b]
1939[/quote]
1940
1941https://web.archive.org/web/20080822002942/http://www.tsbvi.edu/Education/vmi/autism.htm
1942
1943[quote]
1944[b]AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDERS AND CORTICAL VISUAL IMPAIRMENT: TWO WORLDS ON PARALLEL COURSES[/b]
1945[/quote]
1946
1947http://nvld.org/its-like-being-blind-except-i-can-see-by-michelle-thomas/
1948
1949[quote]
1950[b]It’s Like Being Blind, Except I Can See, by Michelle Thomas
1951
1952I was diagnosed with a Non-Verbal Learning Disability[/b] when I was in my junior year of high school. Learning disabilities weren’t even on anyone’s radar, not my parents, not my teachers… not mine for sure. I was diagnosed with a chromosome disorder called Turner Syndrome and part of the followup testing for that was NVLD testing since it’s very common with those who have Turner Syndrome.
1953
1954Suddenly everything made sense when we got confirmation of the learning disability. It made sense why I struggled so much in geometry and chemistry. It made sense why I had so many awkward social interactions as a child. Why I always wanted to draw but could never master the hand eye coordination to do so no matter how much I practiced. Why I talked to myself out loud when performing a task. Why it felt like I was blind despite having vision.
1955[/quote]
1956
1957https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131003093041.htm
1958
1959[quote]
1960Young Swiss men who say that they believe in God are less likely to smoke cigarettes or pot or take ecstasy pills than Swiss men of the same age group who describe themselves as atheists. Belief is a protective factor against addictive behaviour. This is the conclusion reached by a study funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
1961[/quote]
1962
1963https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Text
1964
1965[quote]
1966[b]Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion[/b], or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.[1]
1967[/quote]
1968
1969https://www.aane.org/aspergers-disorder-non-verbal-learning-disabilities-two-disorders-related/
1970
1971[quote]
1972[b]There is clearly a great deal of overlap between Aspergers Disorder (AD) and Nonverbal Learning Disabilities (NVLD), so much so that it is possible that the symptoms of each describe the same group of children from different perspectives[/b]—AD from either a psychiatric/behavioral perspective, and NVLD/neuropsychological perspective. The specific conventions of these diagnoses may lead to a somewhat different group of children meeting diagnostic criteria, but it is not clear that this reflects something “true” in nature. That is, it may only be convention that separates these two groups.
1973[/quote]
1974
1975https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-imprinted-brain/201304/jumping-the-right-conclusion
1976
1977[quote]
1978[b]The authors conclude that what they found “is the opposite pattern to autism and therefore consistent with the autism-psychosis model which proposes that these clinical disorders reside at diametrically opposing poles of a single continuum.”[/b]
1979[/quote]
1980
1981https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1773451
1982
1983[quote]
1984In the adult human brain, acute hypoxic episodes result in a certain pattern of nerve cell damage from which a hierarchy of neuronal vulnerability can be formed. Among the most sensitive regions are the "older" brain structures like hippocampus and cerebellum.
1985[/quote]
1986
1987
1988https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism
1989
1990[quote]
1991ASD-related patterns of low function and aberrant activation in the brain differ depending on whether the brain is doing social or nonsocial tasks.[97] [b]In autism there is evidence for reduced functional connectivity of the default network, a large-scale brain network involved in social and emotional processing, with intact connectivity of the task-positive network, used in sustained attention and goal-directed thinking. In people with autism the two networks are not negatively correlated in time, suggesting an imbalance in toggling between the two networks[/b], possibly reflecting a disturbance of self-referential thought.[98]
1992[/quote]
1993
1994Essentially, normal people throughout the day toggle across these anti-correlated brain networks depending on both the environment and their state of mind:
1995
1996https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170726103017.htm
1997
1998Ignoring of course the disgusting bias of this article toward neurotypicality as healthy rather than normative:
1999
2000[quote]
2001[b]The researchers say the results of the surveys lend further support to their earlier work showing people have two brain networks -- one for empathy and one for analytic thinking -- that are in tension with each other. In healthy people, their thought process cycles between the two, choosing the appropriate network for different issues they consider.
2002
2003But in the religious dogmatist's mind, the empathetic network appears to dominate while in the nonreligious dogmatist's mind, the analytic network appears to rule.[/b]
2004[/quote]
2005
2006Jessica Stern, Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill, Harpercollins, August, 2003, hardcover, 400 pages, ISBN 0-06-050532-X
2007
2008http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/cdc-whistleblower-zombie-anti-vaccine-trope-still-lives/
2009
2010[quote]
2011Next come the statistics. Hooker uses Pearson’s chi squared test to see if there is a significant association between MMR and autism in children at different ages. DeStefano et al used conditional logistic regression. For the non-biostatisticians out there, the technique that DeStefano et al used accounts for confounders and effect modifiers, different traits in their population that could skew the results. Hooker’s technique doesn’t really do that, unless you stratify results and use very, very large datasets. Hooker’s approach is more “conservative,” meaning that it will detect small effects and amplify them, and those effects can come from anything.
2012
2013So why did we not see this in the other ethnic groups or in girls? The answer here is simple, again. Hooker had a limited dataset to work with when he boiled it down to African-American baby boys. In this table, for example, he tells us that he had to modify the analysis to 31 months instead of 36 because he had less than 5 children in that group. It’s the same goddamned mistake that Andrew Jeremy Wakefield wanted to pass off as legitimate science. You cannot, and must not use small numbers to make big assertions…
2014[/quote]
2015
2016https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-016-2914-2
2017
2018[quote]
2019Increased Risk for Substance Use-Related Problems in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Population-Based Cohort Study
2020
2021...
2022
2023In summary, this large population-based study suggests that individuals with ASD have higher risk of substance use-related problems than population controls; most likely because of a shared familial liability for these conditions. An important implication of our findings concerns diagnostics and treatment strategies in ASD. Increased risk of substance-related problems in ASD suggests attention and preventive measures regarding substance use disorder in this population.
2024[/quote]
2025
2026https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/my-life-aspergers/201409/religion-and-autism-are-they-together-or-apart
2027
2028[quote]
2029[b]Religion and Autism, are they together or apart?
2030Recent studies suggest today's autistics tend to reject organized religion.[/b]
2031[/quote]
2032
2033When you are in one of these states of acatatonia you gain responsiveness to the associated stimuli as well as the ability to make use of the associated cognitive tools, and yet simultaneously you manifest catatonia to the stimuli of the other states of acatatonia and appear as catatonic to the others in the different states, as well as lose the ability to make use of the cognitive tools and thereby attain the cognitive insight of the other parts of the brain.
2034
2035It's like when a person is in REM sleep, they are in fact responsive to their internal visual imagery, and yet are unresponsive to the external world and appear as catatonic to the waking. The transition from sleep to wakefulness is the most salient of the transitions of acatatonia. And when you are in REM sleep as well, only to the slightest of extents can the existence of the external world give you information essentially, in that you haven't insight into the waking world around you whilst you are dreaming as well as are catatonic to it.
2036
2037Yet what we are seeing is that there are numerous such states of acatatonia as essentially REM sleep, including essentially REM sleep, daydreaming, socializing, analytical thinking, and observation of the physical world, each of which involves a transition similar to that of from sleep to wakefulness, and each manifesting with the appearance of a degree of catatonia to the other states, and anosognosia to the other states as one hasn't insight into them due to not activating the specialized brain networks associated with them.
2038
2039We have an impression of always essentially being in one state upon wakefulness, yet the transition as of from sleep to wakefulness is but one with numerous such transitions happening in wakefulness, and if you pay close metacognitive attention to yourself, you will see how when you go from looking at the physical world to socializing with an individual, or from analyzing a problem in your working memory to looking at the physical world, or from daydreaming in visual imagery to socializing with someone essentially, that all of these states have transitions between them that albeit more subtle are of the essence of the transition between sleeping and wakefulness, and different distinct brain + environmental combinations are associated with each of the states.
2040
2041It is almost like more than three dimensions, like a multidimensional existence superimposed into the three dimensions of physicality, just as the transition from the mode of REM to the mode of wakefulness is like a transition of dimensions, but essentially it is such that activating different brain regions in response to stimuli in the three dimensions of the physicality results in fundamentally different perceptions and conceptions of them, such that two individuals looking at the same phenomenon in the dimensions of the physical existence yet being in different states of acatatonia are perceiving and conceiving different attributes of the same existence essentially.
2042
2043The brain essentially has evolved to switch between modes of operation rather than to simultaneously be in all modes of operation, and the modes of operation are at least somewhat isolated from one another, and there is little awareness (though with close metacognitive attention you can start to notice this) of the different modes of cognitive operation, such that you have an impression created of always being essentially in one mode, even as you can essentially move almost through the physical existence whilst standing still in it, by moving the activity of your brain whilst staying stationary in the physical existence, and have it such that you move over the same piece of the existence almost as if you were moving your body in space to perceive it from different angles and so on, but rather you are moving your electrochemical activity in your brain such that you perceive the same thing in stationary physical space yet through different phenomenological essences of their nature essentially.
2044
2045I mean the most extreme example of this is looking at the physical world directly or even whilst with your eyes open and without anything changing outside of your brain in the physical existence dissociating away from the physical existence into a state of REM sleep even with eyes open (as can be pharmacologically mimicked essentially with high dose NMDAR antagonists). And when this happens you then are in fact fully catatonic to the stimuli of the physical existence, despite having not closed your eyes nor anything in the physical existence or the position of your body in it having changed, but rather your location in the activity of your neural networking has moved across states of acatatonia, and in your catatonia to the physical existence you have coupled anosognosia as in a lack of insight into what is transpiring into it, just as when you are in the social acatatonia you have a similar impaired ability to access the analytical comprehension of the situation despite perceiving it all the same.
2046
2047So the defining characteristic of neurotypicality is not that it is per-se fundamentally distinct from autism or schizophrenia in never experiencing the states of autism or schizophrenia, but rather is that the states of acatatonia are moved across in social convergence amongst the majority of the population in the same manner and in response to the same environmental stimuli, whereas with increasing schizophrenia there is a tendency for sticking at the states of acatatonia of socializing to daydreaming to REM sleep at the most severe end, and with autism it is the opposite of this with a tendency for sticking at the ends of catatonia of analytical thinking and observation of the physical world, with extreme variants being isolation in the physical world without the ability even for socialization essentially even as far as in dissociating from observation of the physicality the eyes so as to make social eye contact for example.
2048
2049And this corresponds to the brain regions not toggled out of in these conditions, with neurotypicals having more so ability to toggle across all of the states of acatatonia, and doing so in social convergence or otherwise in response to the same stimuli.
2050
2051[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/11/4/08e347bb9bc736bb0abf0d0f8c5a055b-full.jpg[/img]
2052
2053https://www.hopkinsallchildrens.org/Patients-Families/Health-Library/HealthDocNew/Ketamine
2054
2055[quote]
2056[b]Short-Term Effects
2057
2058Shortly after taking ketamine, people may enter a dream-like state or have hallucinations. Some users feel like they're floating or pleasantly detached from their bodies.[/b]
2059[/quote]
2060
2061
2062So, starting off roughly from where I left off (note that subsequent posts will be made as well), and toward clarifying the above image with the two cards having lines on them (both on the whiteboard and in the thought bubble):
2063
2064https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24126871
2065
2066[quote]
2067Abstract
2068
2069Perhaps surprisingly, given the importance of conformity as a theoretical construct in social psychology and the profound implications autism has for social function, little research has been done on whether autism is associated with the propensity to conform to a social majority. This study is a modern, child-friendly implementation of the classic Asch conformity studies. The performance of 15 children with autism was compared to that of 15 typically developing children on a line judgement task. Children were matched for age, gender and numeracy and literacy ability. In each trial, the child had to say which of three lines a comparison line matched in length. [b]On some trials, children were misled as to what most people thought the answer was. Children with autism were much less likely to conform in the misleading condition than typically developing children. This finding was replicated using a continuous measure of autism traits, the Autism Quotient questionnaire, which showed that autism traits negatively correlated with likelihood to conform in the typically developing group. This study demonstrates the resistance of children with autism to social pressure.[/b]
2070[/quote]
2071
2072As you can see, the autistic children in this study stated the correct answer regarding which line matched, whereas the neurotypical children stated incorrectly that the line that the other children said matched was correct.
2073
2074http://www.haraldmerckelbach.nl/artikelen_engels/2012/susceptibility_to_misleading_information_in_schizophrenia.pdf
2075
2076[quote]
2077Research looking at specific memory aberrations in the schizophrenia has primarily focused on their phenomenology using standardized semantic laboratory tasks. However, no study has investigated to what extent such aberrations have consequences for everyday episodic memories using more realistic false memory paradigms. Using a false memory paradigm where participants are presented with misleading suggestive information (Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale), we investigated the susceptibility of patients with schizophrenia (n = 21) and healthy controls (n = 18) to post hoc misleading information acceptance and compliance.
2078
2079[b]Patients with schizophrenia exhibited an increased susceptibility to go along with misleading suggestive items. Furthermore, they showed an increased tendency to change answers under conditions of social pressure.[/b] Underscoring previous findings on memory aberrations in schizophrenia, patients with schizophrenia had reduced levels of correct recognition (ie, true memory) relative to healthy controls. The effects remained stable when controlling for specific mediating variables such as symptom severity and intelligence in patients with schizophrenia. These findings are a first indication that social pressure and misleading information may impair source memory for everyday episodic memories in schizophrenia, and such impairment has clear consequences for treatment issues and forensic practice.
2080[/quote]
2081
2082As you can see, there is an indication of an inversion of behavior here between the schizophrenics and the autistics, with schizophrenics being even more so susceptible to social pressure and going along with misleading items, autistics being very unlikely to, and with neurotypicals going along with the crowd more so. This can be interested in numerous manners. First of all, I assert that we have therefore a spectrum from delusionality to heresy:
2083
2084
2085
2086
2087
2088[b]Delusion Definition[/b]
2089
2090https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/delusion
2091
2092[quote]
2093[b]a persistent false psychotic belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the contrary[/b]
2094[/quote]
2095
2096https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/delusion
2097
2098[quote]
2099[b]An idiosyncratic belief or impression maintained despite being contradicted by reality or rational argument, typically as a symptom of mental disorder.[/b]
2100[/quote]
2101
2102https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusion
2103
2104[quote]
2105[b]A delusion is a mistaken belief that is held with strong conviction even in the presence of superior evidence to the contrary.[/b]
2106[/quote]
2107
2108
2109
2110
2111
2112
2113[b]Heresy Definition[/b]
2114
2115http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html
2116
2117[quote]
2118Heresy
2119
2120This won't get us all the answers, though. What if no one happens to have gotten in trouble for a particular idea yet? What if some idea would be so radioactively controversial that no one would dare express it in public? How can we find these too?
2121
2122Another approach is to follow that word, heresy. In every period of history, there seem to have been labels that got applied to statements to shoot them down before anyone had a chance to ask if they were true or not. "Blasphemy", "sacrilege", and "heresy" were such labels for a good part of western history, as in more recent times "indecent", "improper", and "unamerican" have been. By now these labels have lost their sting. They always do. By now they're mostly used ironically. But in their time, they had real force.
2123
2124The word "defeatist", for example, has no particular political connotations now. But in Germany in 1917 it was a weapon, used by Ludendorff in a purge of those who favored a negotiated peace. At the start of World War II it was used extensively by Churchill and his supporters to silence their opponents. In 1940, any argument against Churchill's aggressive policy was "defeatist". Was it right or wrong? Ideally, no one got far enough to ask that.
2125
2126We have such labels today, of course, quite a lot of them, from the all-purpose "inappropriate" to the dreaded "divisive." In any period, it should be easy to figure out what such labels are, simply by looking at what people call ideas they disagree with besides untrue. When a politician says his opponent is mistaken, that's a straightforward criticism, but when he attacks a statement as "divisive" or "racially insensitive" instead of arguing that it's false, we should start paying attention.
2127
2128So another way to figure out which of our taboos future generations will laugh at is to start with the labels. Take a label—"sexist", for example—and try to think of some ideas that would be called that. Then for each ask, might this be true?
2129
2130Just start listing ideas at random? Yes, because they won't really be random. The ideas that come to mind first will be the most plausible ones. They'll be things you've already noticed but didn't let yourself think.
2131
2132In 1989 some clever researchers tracked the eye movements of radiologists as they scanned chest images for signs of lung cancer. [3] They found that even when the radiologists missed a cancerous lesion, their eyes had usually paused at the site of it. Part of their brain knew there was something there; it just didn't percolate all the way up into conscious knowledge. I think many interesting heretical thoughts are already mostly formed in our minds. If we turn off our self-censorship temporarily, those will be the first to emerge.
2133[/quote]
2134
2135
2136https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/heresy
2137
2138[quote]
2139[b](the act of having) an opinion or belief that is the opposite of or against what is the official or popular opinion, or an action that shows that you have no respect for the official opinion[/b]
2140[/quote]
2141
2142https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/heresy
2143
2144[quote]
2145[b]Heresy is a belief or action that most people think is wrong, because it disagrees with beliefs that are generally accepted.[/b]
2146[/quote]
2147
2148https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heresy
2149
2150[quote]
2151[b]Heresy (/ˈhɛrəsi/) is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs[/b]
2152[/quote]
2153
2154
2155
2156
2157As well as from (matter+logic) blindness to mind blindness:
2158
2159[u]Does Poor Understanding of Physical World Predict Religious and Paranormal Beliefs?[/u]
2160
2161[quote]
2162[b]The ability to distinguish mental from physical seems to be impaired both among ASD individuals and supernatural believers, although its manifestation is reversed. Because findings from hyper-mentalistic and hyper-mechanistic cognition, as two opposite phenotypes, can help each other in the search for their underlying mechanisms, one promising approach for future studies might be to integrate research on this newly found matter-blindness to research on mind-blindness.[/b]
2163[/quote]
2164
2165https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200803/male-brain-vs-female-brain-ii-what-is-extreme-male-brain
2166
2167[quote]
2168The female brain tends toward empathizing and mentalizing thinking, treating machines and objects as if they were other people. They attribute minds, thoughts, and feelings to inanimate objects. That, according to Crespi and Badcock, is the essence of paranoid schizophrenia. Paranoid schizophrenics hear voices where there are no people, and they attribute minds and thinking where none exist, such as when they believe other people are talking about or conspiring against them when they aren’t. Paranoid schizophrenics are hypermentalistic, and overinfer minds and emotions in other people, just as autistics are hypomentalistic, and underinfer minds and emotions in other people.
2169
2170....
2171
2172In their forthcoming article in the premier journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Crespi and Badcock present a very convincing case for paranoid schizophrenia as an extreme female brain. Now the whole picture appears to be complete. When your brain is “too male,” too systemizing, too mechanistic, you become autistic. When your brain is “too female,” too empathizing, too mentalistic, you become paranoid schizophrenic. [b]If the extreme male brain of an autistic is “mindblind,” then you might suggest that the extreme female brain of a paranoid schizophrenia is “logicblind.”[/b]
2173[/quote]
2174
2175[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/10/29/7eecf4b1187c53cfaa3c1223e8cf0f68-full.jpg[/img]
2176
2177Note as well, although not anatomically correct:
2178
2179[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/10/29/eff8ba7462cdd5b13adde8e0d7a269e1-full.jpg[/img]
2180
2181https://www.nature.com/articles/srep39589
2182
2183[quote]
2184[b]Neural correlates of maintaining one’s political beliefs in the face of counterevidence[/b]
2185
2186...
2187
2188[b]Challenges to political beliefs produced increased activity in the default mode network—a set of interconnected structures associated with self-representation and disengagement from the external world.[/b]
2189[/quote]
2190
2191As well as:
2192
2193[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/10/29/0f14b36cb7772278f250f1d68f3f341b-full.jpg[/img]
2194
2195https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_entrepreneur
2196
2197[quote]
2198[b]Social position determines one's ability to define and construct reality; therefore, the higher one's social position, the greater his or her moral value.[/b]
2199[/quote]
2200
2201http://www.healthline.com/health/psychosis
2202
2203[quote]
2204[b]What is psychosis?
2205
2206Psychosis is characterized by an impaired relationship with reality.[/b] And it is a symptom of serious mental disorders. People who are psychotic may have either hallucinations or delusions.
2207[/quote]
2208
2209https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201507/moral-panic-who-benefits-public-fear
2210
2211[quote]
2212[b]Moreover, there are two important news media practices that contribute to moral panic. These are known as framing and priming. Framing refers to the way an issue is presented to the public or angle it is given by the news media. Framing involves calling attention to certain aspects of an issue while ignoring or obscuring other elements. In other words, framing gives meaning to an issue.[/b]
2213
2214...
2215
2216[b]In contrast, priming is a psychological process whereby the news media emphasis on a particular issue not only increases the salience of the issue on the public agenda, but also activates previously acquired information about that issue in people’s memories. The priming mechanism explains how the news frame used in a particular story can trigger an individual’s pre-existing attitudes, beliefs and prejudices regarding that issue.[/b]
2217[/quote]
2218
2219http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0149989
2220
2221[quote]
2222[b]Engaging social stimuli are associated with activation of the DMN and deactivation of the TPN, whereas analytic problems are associated with activation of the TPN and deactivation of the DMN.[/b]
2223[/quote]
2224
2225As you can see, being in disparate states of acatatonia is such that we will not come to agreement on the nature of reality. That which is in the minds of the population, if disparate from that which is in existence, will not be referenced by the autistic skewed individual, just as vice-versa for the schizophrenic skewed individual, and yet neurotypical are capable of going back and forth between these states.
2226
2227The neurotypical ability to socially converge into cognitively anosognosic psychotic decompensation associated with the belief in themed collections of fiction materials emergent from which are alternate realities based typically ultimately on protected superstitions, is the topic to which we will now orient our attention.
2228
2229First of all, let us note the dangers of not associating with the minds of the population as their content is disparate from actual reality. It is a danger faced as well by those who form distinct delusional constructs from the masses, and yet the reason for this danger is inverted.
2230
2231[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/11/1/248a3c7a2654c924e8948977c3e79be3-full.jpg[/img]
2232
2233[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/11/1/3688865e33453354762ab9bd4990b35a-full.jpg[/img]
2234
2235https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4067851/
2236
2237[quote]
2238[b]Blasphemy laws and mental illness in Pakistan
2239
2240There is emerging evidence that individuals who are mentally ill are overrepresented in the group of defendants prosecuted under the blasphemy laws of Pakistan.[/b] This article discusses the background of blasphemy legislation in Pakistan, and proposes causal interactions between underlying mental illness in the defendant and prosecution for blasphemy. It sketches possible legal safeguards for such blasphemy defendants with mental illness in mental health legislation.
2241
2242...
2243
2244[b]The entire spectrum of psychopathology lends itself to various behavioural infringements that could fall foul of the blasphemy laws in place in Pakistan. Individuals with psychotic disorders, such as mania and schizophrenia, can present symptoms of grandiose and bizarre delusional systems of being of divine origin, behavioural disinhibition and lack of insight, which place them at risk of prosecution under these laws. Individuals with autism, with varying degrees of intellectual disability, are another diagnostic group also at risk of not being able to follow social rules of due reverence and regard for what the community holds sacrosanct.[/b] Neurotic disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder can also create overbearing and compelling pressures on individuals to blaspheme in some instances, and this can have serious legal consequences if the targets of the blasphemy are revered by the community.
2245
2246The association of mental illness and blasphemy allegations can also be more complex. Sexual abuse of vulnerable individuals with intellectual disabilities has on occasion been masked by allegations of blasphemy by abusers when they fear discovery. The lack of any legal protections for such vulnerable blasphemy defendants ensures that their testimony is extracted when they fear for their lives, and the sex abuse issue is concealed behind the allegations of blasphemy. In other cases, physical abuse can be an interacting factor, where the [b]blasphemy allegations are raised against an individual with autism[/b] for example, when various attempts to physically discipline the individual have failed, and have, instead, resulted in severe physical injuries, which could lead to criminal prosecution against the abusers, unless blasphemy is raised as the reason why the discipline was implemented in the first place.
2247
2248The most commonly cited criticism of the blasphemy laws is that they are used by the majority community to victimise religious minorities. Nevertheless, it is often the case that the person who is alleged to have committed the blasphemy has underlying vulnerabilities that explain why that person in particular stands so charged, and not others within the same disadvantaged community. The basis of this vulnerability can often be some form of mental illness. It is a separate matter whether this illness could benefit from treatment, but what is clear is that such individuals require some form of legal and social protections by virtue of their mental illness.
2249[/quote]
2250
2251As you can see, whereas the schizophrenic and manic psychotics are at risk as their delusional content regarding themselves being essentially a chosen prophet of God is contrary to the already established beliefs regarding the prophets of God, the autistic individuals are at risk regarding the matter as they hold not the social beliefs sacrosanct.
2252
2253http://www.livescience.com/20654-autism-belief-god.html
2254
2255[quote]
2256[b]Autism May Diminish Belief in God[/b]
2257[/quote]
2258
2259https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/my-life-aspergers/201409/religion-and-autism-are-they-together-or-apart
2260
2261[quote]
2262[b]Religion and Autism, are they together or apart?
2263Recent studies suggest today's autistics tend to reject organized religion.[/b]
2264[/quote]
2265
2266As a slight aside, note that:
2267
2268(A lower quality source as it is just media, yet it is a summary of the study I will shortly hereafter cite, with one slight aside in between)
2269
2270https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11935492/scientists-reduce-belief-god-hostility-immigrants-magnets.html
2271
2272[quote]
2273[b]By directing magnetic force towards the posterior medial frontal cortex of the brain, they were able to reduce belief in God and decrease intolerance towards immigrants.
2274...
2275The lead author of the paper, Dr Colin Holbrook, from UCLA, expanded on this. He said: “These findings are very striking, and consistent with the idea that brain mechanisms that evolved for relatively basic threat-response functions are repurposed to also produce ideological reactions.[/b]
2276[/quote]
2277
2278https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4805169/
2279
2280[quote]
2281[b]We suggest that this structural feature of the brain underlies the long noted anecdotal tension between materialistic and spiritual worldviews. This linkage is supported by three observations. First, brain areas implicated in analytic thinking (TPN) support cognitive process essential for maintaining a naturalistic world view (e.g. thinking about objects, mechanisms and causes; [29, 49, 71, 73–77]), whereas the brain areas implicated in moral concern (DMN) are associated with thinking about phenomena which have traditionally been thought of as non-physical, namely minds and emotions [78–83]. Second, brain areas associated with materialism (TPN) tend to be suppressed when brain areas associated with moral concern (DMN) are activated [29, 71, 72]. This might explain the tendency to link mind with spirit, i.e. the view that minds and emotions are associated with the extra- or super- natural. Third, brain areas associated with analytic thinking are associated with religious disbelief [73, 74, 84], and brain areas associated with moral concern are associated with religious belief [73] and prayer [84, 85].[/b]
2282[/quote]
2283
2284
2285
2286
2287
2288
2289
2290
2291Another slight aside:
2292
2293https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terror_management_theory
2294
2295[quote]
2296[b]Terror management theory (TMT) is a social psychology theory originally proposed by Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon, and Tom Pyszczynski[1] and codified in their book The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life (2015). It proposes that a basic psychological conflict results from having a self-preservation instinct whilst realizing that death is inevitable and to some extent unpredictable. This conflict produces terror, and the terror is then managed by embracing cultural values, or symbolic systems that act to provide life with enduring meaning and value.[1][2]
2297
2298Examples of cultural values that impact an individual's terror of death are those that purport to offer literal immortality (e.g. belief in afterlife, religion).[3] However, TMT also argues that other cultural values – including those that are seemingly unrelated to death – offer symbolic immortality. For example, values of national identity,[4] posterity,[5] cultural perspectives on sex,[6] and human superiority over animals[6] have been linked to death concerns. In many cases these values are thought to offer symbolic immortality either a) by providing the sense that one is part of something greater that will ultimately outlive the individual (e.g. country, lineage, species), or b) by making one's symbolic identity superior to biological nature (i.e. you are a personality, which makes you more than a glob of cells)[/b]
2299[/quote]
2300
2301Regarding threat processing, and the historical advantage of rapid true positive detection at the expense of many false positives. I used to have images for this but the host went down so I will need to make them over again:
2302
2303http://www.patheos.com/blogs/crossexamined/2012/02/word-of-the-day-hyperactive-agency-detection/
2304
2305[quote]
2306February 12 is Darwin Day, the birthday of Charles Darwin. In honor of Darwin’s 203rd birthday, let’s look into a term that’s related to both evolution and religion.
2307
2308[b]Imagine an early hominid in the grasslands of Africa. He hears a rustling in the bushes—is that a cheetah or just the wind? Should he run away or ignore it?
2309
2310There are two kinds of errors. Suppose our friend thinks it’s a cheetah and runs away … but he’s wrong. This is a false positive. He’s crying wolf. There can be a cost to this—our timid hominid might have been frightened away from a water hole.
2311
2312But consider the other error. The hominid might think it’s the wind in the tall grass … but he’s wrong. This is a false negative. The cost is obvious—he likely becomes a predator’s lunch.
2313
2314Given the disproportionate consequences for guessing wrongly, natural selection seems to have selected for caution. As a result, early man may have developed a “hyperactive agency detection device”—an overactive tendency to see agency (that is, intelligence) in nature, even where there is none. The HADD may also be where we detect patterns in things—superstition, concluding that odd events are more than coincidence, or even conspiracy theories.
2315
2316If this gave early man the ideas of spirits of the dead and gods, this may help explain where early religion came from.[/b]
2317[/quote]
2318
2319The internal visual imagery system is rapid and automatic:
2320
2321https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_process_theory
2322
2323[quote]
2324System 1
2325
2326Bargh (1994) reconceptualized the notion of an automatic process by breaking down the term "automatic" into four components: awareness, intentionality, efficiency, and controllability. One way for a process to be labeled as automatic is for the person to be unaware of it. There are three ways in which a person may be unaware of a mental process: they can be unaware of the presence of the stimulus (subliminal), how the stimulus is categorized or interpreted (unaware of the activation of stereotype or trait constructs), or the effect the stimulus has on the person's judgments or actions (misattribution). Another way for a mental process to be labeled as automatic is for it to be unintentional. Intentionality refers to the conscious "start up" of a process. An automatic process may begin without the person consciously willing it to start. The third component of automaticity is efficiency. Efficiency refers to the amount of cognitive resources required for a process. An automatic process is efficient because it requires few resources. The fourth component is controllability, referring to the person's conscious ability to stop a process. An automatic process is uncontrollable, meaning that the process will run until completion and the person will not be able to stop it. Bargh (1994) conceptualizes automaticity as a component view (any combination awareness, intention, efficiency, and control) as opposed to the historical concept of automaticity as an all-or-none dichotomy.[15]
2327
2328[b]One takeaway from the psychological research on dual process theory is that our System 1 (intuition) is more accurate in areas where we’ve gathered a lot of data with reliable and fast feedback, like social dynamics.[16][/b]
2329
2330System 2 in humans
2331
2332[b]System 2 is evolutionarily recent and specific to humans. It is also known as the explicit system, the rule-based system, the rational system,[12] or the analytic system.[17] It performs the more slow and sequential thinking. It is domain-general, performed in the central working memory system. Because of this, it has a limited capacity and is slower than System 1 which correlates it with general intelligence. It is known as the rational system because it reasons according to logical standards.[17] Some overall properties associated with System 2 are that it is rule-based, analytic, controlled, demanding of cognitive capacity, and slow.[12][/b]
2333[/quote]
2334
2335https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/154f/9a7fb5f1ee00c34f2d918db9825ca5b09f17.pdf
2336
2337[quote]
2338[b]System 1 has been variously characterized as 'intuitive', 'emotion-driven' and 'experiential'; whereas System 2 has been characterized as, 'controlled', 'rule-based', 'rational' and 'analytic'.[/b] We know of two lines of work which link cognitive neuroscience to this classical form of dual process theory:one which looks at logical reasoning (Goel and Dolan, 2003), the other moral judgments (Greene et al., 2004). [b]Both identify areas in the DMN and TPN associated with System 1 and System 2 reasoning respectively.[/b] Hence, the link between dual-process theories of cognition and the DMN vs.TPN dichotomy appears worthy of further investigation.
2339[/quote]
2340
2341https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00107530.2013.10746548
2342
2343[quote]
2344[b]activity in the DMN is strongly associated with mental imagery that is not directly tied to current perception (“stimulus-independent thought”), which is also a central feature of dreams.[/b]
2345[/quote]
2346
2347Essentially, it was better to automatically have visual imagery of a cheetah intuitively, and to confabulate this internal imagery as being of the external stimulus even as it was in actuality simply the wind:
2348
2349http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/are-you-hallucinating-right-now
2350
2351[quote]
2352[b]Our predictive brains are beneficial to us because "it makes us efficient and adept at creating a coherent picture of an ambiguous and complex world,” and that it “means that we are not very far away from perceiving things that aren’t actually there, which is the definition of a hallucination,” says Paul Fletcher, senior author of the research done at Cambridge.[/b]
2353[/quote]
2354
2355Than to be only in the actual reality of the physicality and to run from the threat only after seeing directly that it is a cheetah rather than intuitively imagining it may be so:
2356
2357http://www.grrec.ky.gov/CaveWeb/autism/ASD%20Webpage/Module%201/Gestalt%20thinking%20article.docx
2358
2359[quote]
2360[b]In fact, our perceptual reconstruction (or 'what we think we see') comes from two opposite directions - from outside (environmental stimuli) and inside (mental images we have stored in the brain). The more familiar the environment or situation, the less we actually perceive it. The brain does not need to process all the stimuli; it just 'fills in the gaps' and 'predicts' the final picture.[/b]
2361
2362...
2363
2364[b]In contrast to our guessing 'what is there' from our experience and memory instead of actually seeing it, autistic children seem to be unable to filter the incoming information and tend to perceive all the stimuli around them. Instead of 'inventing' the world as we do, they actually perceive it. Such 'acute-perception' brings overwhelming information the brain cannot cope with.[/b]
2365[/quote]
2366
2367Note that the following article uses biased language as it fails to appreciate the cost of the significant false positive prediction rate of the neurotypical cognitive style, and instead champions the particularly ancestral benefits of hallucinating a cheetah prior to perceiving it:
2368
2369https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/science/2014/10/06/autism-failure-prediction/bZSQs5xsO0rNb1JjwaSCKO/story.html
2370
2371[quote]
2372[b]Autism can seem like a perplexing collection of disparate symptoms, ranging from repetitive behaviors to impaired social skills. In a new paper, Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists propose a common thread that could explain many of the facets of the disorder: a failure to make good predictions.[/b]
2373[/quote]
2374
2375A failure to make predictions but rather a tendency toward analysis, whereas neurotypicality is a tendency to make many failed predictions and yet deficient analysis so as to identify the mistaken predictions for quite some time, with carrying on in actuality as if the prediction were proven correct even decades or far longer after it has been conclusively by analysis refuted. So please avoid such biased language acting as if neurotypicals are glorious and all others are impaired and inferior, yet I don't intend to digress from my narrative but rather simply to remove the frame of neurotypical superiority from the language of this article which has otherwise decent information. There is an actual study from MIT as well.
2376
2377
2378
2379
2380
2381
2382
2383
2384
2385
2386
2387
2388back on track, to the study itself:
2389
2390
2391[u]Neuromodulation of Group Prejudice and Religious Belief[/u]
2392
2393[quote]
2394The posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) is a plausible mediator of shifts in ideological commitment. [b]The pMFC complex includes the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the dorsomedial prefrontal area anterior to the supplementary motor cortex (dmPFC)[/b]
2395[/quote]
2396
2397[quote]
2398Neuroimaging would also be particularly valuable in clarifying the effect of the TMS manipulation used here on the subregions of the pMFC, as, [b]at present, it is unclear whether the effects that we obtained are due to down8 regulation of the dmPFC, down8 regulation of the underlying dACC, or down8 regulation of both.[/b]
2399[/quote]
2400
2401Note this role played by the dACC:
2402
2403https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/24/5/1397/398493
2404
2405[quote]
2406[b]Our findings comport with previous studies that suggested the dACC plays a critical role in switching between the activation and deactivation of executive control network and the default mode network[/b]
2407[/quote]
2408
2409Recall:
2410
2411https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism
2412
2413[quote]
2414ASD-related patterns of low function and aberrant activation in the brain differ depending on whether the brain is doing social or nonsocial tasks.[97] [b]In autism there is evidence for reduced functional connectivity of the default network, a large-scale brain network involved in social and emotional processing, with intact connectivity of the task-positive network, used in sustained attention and goal-directed thinking. In people with autism the two networks are not negatively correlated in time, suggesting an imbalance in toggling between the two networks[/b], possibly reflecting a disturbance of self-referential thought.[98]
2415[/quote]
2416
2417https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26526126
2418
2419[quote]
2420[b]Results of this study provide evidence for possible cellular and metabolic differences in the dACC and PCC in adults with ASD. This may suggest neuronal dysfunction in these regions and may contribute to the neuropathology of ASD.[/b]
2421[/quote]
2422
2423
2424
2425https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00079/full
2426
2427[quote]
2428A number of studies on episodic memory report deficits in people with autism [e.g., Ref. (1–7)], which seem to be augmented in males in comparison to females, possibly due to differences in verbal fluency (8). Mostly, these studies included direct social interaction, referred to predefined events or contexts, or asked for autobiographical memories formed later in life than in early childhood. Interestingly, studies differentiating between semantic know and episodic remember events have shown that only the episodic but not the semantic autobiographical memory is impaired in autism (4, 9). For example, Tanweer and colleagues reported that not the entire autobiographical memory is affected in autism (know events are preserved), but only those aspects that can be related to the ability to relive one’s past, known as autonoetic awareness (remember) (9). The authors concluded that a deficit in autonoetic awareness, as well as a broad lack of specificity (which is a lack of specific information on time and place), causes autobiographical deficits in autism. Other authors attributed deficits in autobiographical memory in autism to a failure in the development of self-identity (4) or to impairments in Theory of Mind and working memory (5). Also, memories of people with autism were shown to include fewer social and emotional details (10).
2429
2430Interestingly and contrariwise to the mentioned experimental studies, some individuals with high-functioning autism seem to be able to recall personal events from a very young age [e.g., Ref. (11–13)]; and moreover, these memories are rich in sensory detail. Not only are sensory features included in the new diagnostic criteria of the autism spectrum disorder [ASD; (14)] but also has sensory perception been reported to be atypical in 69–100% of individuals with autism [e.g., Ref. (15–19)]. Since the probability of encoding increases with a stronger involvement in a particular situation (20), one could assume that individuals with autism are better in memorizing sensory details than non-autistic individuals. Concordantly, according to the intense world theory by Markram and Markram (21), individuals with autism perceive the world more intensely than non-autistic individuals, due to overactive brain circuitry. The authors propose that a hyperactivation in these brain circuitries could account for hyper-perception, hyper-attention, hyper-emotionality, and even hyper-memory in autism. Hence, there seems to be a contradiction between the findings of experimental studies asking mainly for specific memories and free reports of autobiographical memories in autism. From this perspective, it seems possible that people with autism even have improved personal autobiographical memories in free recall or with regard to (sensory) details.
2431[/quote]
2432
2433
2434https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11287133
2435
2436[quote]
2437Conjunction analysis revealed a network of brain areas jointly activated during conscious REST as compared to the nine cognitive tasks, including the bilateral angular gyrus, the left anterior precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex, the left medial frontal and anterior cingulate cortex, the left superior and medial frontal sulcus, and the left inferior frontal cortex. These results suggest that brain activity during conscious REST is sustained by a large scale network of heteromodal associative parietal and frontal cortical areas, that can be further hierarchically organized in an episodic working memory parieto-frontal network, driven in part by emotions, working under the supervision of an executive left prefrontal network.
2438[/quote]
2439
2440The reason why the autistic population must be warned about this matter is essentially this:
2441
2442https://www.ted.com/talks/donald_hoffman_do_we_see_reality_as_it_is/transcript?language=en
2443
2444[quote]
2445Fitness is not the same thing as reality as it is, and it's fitness, and not reality as it is, that figures centrally in the equations of evolution.
2446
2447So, in my lab, we have run hundreds of thousands of evolutionary game simulations with lots of different randomly chosen worlds and organisms that compete for resources in those worlds. [b]Some of the organisms see all of the reality, others see just part of the reality, and some see none of the reality, only fitness. Who wins?
2448
2449Well, I hate to break it to you, but perception of reality goes extinct. In almost every simulation, organisms that see none of reality but are just tuned to fitness drive to extinction all the organisms that perceive reality as it is. So the bottom line is, evolution does not favor veridical, or accurate perceptions. Those perceptions of reality go extinct.[/b]
2450[/quote]
2451
2452
2453Originally the disadvantage to system 2 type cognition was the slow speed of detecting a threat such as a Cheetah, but today the primary threat faced by system 2 type cognition is the social convergence of the individuals with system 1 type cognition to themed fantasy worlds, which will be the topic of the next post.
2454
2455So, on to the matter of convergence into fantasy worlds. First, let us look at neurotypical imitation behaviors.
2456
2457https://psychcentral.com/news/2013/04/09/autistic-kids-tend-to-imitate-efficiently-not-socially/53604.html
2458
2459[quote]
2460[b]Autistic Kids Tend to Imitate ‘Efficiently,’ Not ‘Socially’
2461
2462Normally, kids copying adult behavior will go out of their way to repeat each and every element of the behavior even if they realize parts of it don’t make any sense.
2463
2464But a new study shows that when a child with autism copies the actions of an adult, he or she is likely to omit anything “silly” about what they’ve just seen.[/b]
2465[/quote]
2466
2467The neurotypical children copy automatically essentially, by simply repeating the steps presented to them as demonstrated, whereas the autistic children make the process more efficient even though they are slower, in the initial iteration at least, to complete the task. Now, an example of neurotypical imitation behavior after exposure to a priming melodramatic narrative:
2468
2469https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_hysteria
2470
2471[quote]
2472[b]In sociology and psychology, mass hysteria (also known as collective hysteria, group hysteria, or collective obsessional behavior) is a phenomenon that transmits collective illusions of threats, whether real or imaginary, through a population in society as a result of rumors and fear (memory acknowledgement).[1][2][/b]
2473[/quote]
2474
2475https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morangos_com_A%C3%A7%C3%BAcar_Virus
2476
2477[quote]
2478[b]The Morangos com Açúcar Virus (also known as the Soap Opera Virus) was initiated by an episode of the popular Portuguese teen soap opera entitled "Morangos com Açúcar" in which a terrible disease was introduced to the school attended by the characters in the series.[/b] The television show, which first premiered in March 2004, follows the stories of a group of "normal" teenage kids and the dramaticized ups and downs that they encounter in their daily lives, much like the Canadian drama series "Degrassi." Only a few days after the episode aired, a few teens began to develop symptoms similar to those depicted on the show. These symptoms included rashes, breathing troubles, and severe dizziness. Before long, the "disease" had spread to more than 300 high school students in 14 different Portuguese schools. Some schools were actually forced to temporarily close because of the severity of the outbreak. However, the Portuguese National Institute for Medical Emergency brushed the epidemic off, [b]calling it a case of mass hysteria. Doctor Nelson Pereira, the director of the PNIME, said, "What we concretely have is a few children with allergies and apparently a phenomenon of many other children imitating." Another doctor, Mario Almeidi, pronounced his disbelief in the disease, saying "I know of no disease which is so selective that it only attacks school children."[/b]
2479[/quote]
2480
2481https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_opera
2482
2483[quote]
2484[b]A soap opera or soap, is a serial drama on television or radio that examines the lives of many characters, usually focusing on emotional relationships to the point of melodrama.[1][/b]
2485[/quote]
2486
2487Research regarding a similar phenomenon:
2488
2489https://bjc.oxfordjournals.org/content/55/6/1245.abstract
2490
2491[quote]
2492Abstract
2493
2494[b]This paper argues that a narrative lens is conducive toward a renewed understanding of moral panic. It is proposed that a melodramatic narrative frame that is central to the construction of news stories about crime is significant for conceptualizing what moral panics are and how they work. The paper will propose that moral panics can be seen as enacted melodramas, where the traditional boundaries between newsmakers, inte  groups and ‘the public’ are temporarily dismantled and where everyday citizens experience the role of the suffering victim.[/b] This understanding provides insight toward appreciating why only some issues develop into moral panic in particular spaces and times and offers a new framework with which to approach the study of panic.
2495[/quote]
2496
2497So, now let us look at religiosity:
2498
2499http://www.faceofmalawi.com/2017/07/religious-people-have-mental-illness-neuroscientist-warns/
2500
2501[quote]
2502[b]A professor at Stanford University, Robert Sapolsky, has said that religion is a mental illness, and that the behaviours exhibited by ‘prophets’ in religious texts are diagnosable acts.
2503
2504The self-described atheist, who is also a neuroendocrinologist, argues that religion is comparable to a shared schizophrenia.[/b]
2505[/quote]
2506
2507https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mania
2508
2509[quote]
2510[b]Social manias are mass movements which periodically sweep through societies. They are characterized by an outpouring of enthusiasm, mass involvement and millenarian goals. Social manias are contagious social epidemics, and as such they should be differentiated from mania in individuals.[/b]
2511
2512Social manias come in different sizes and strengths. Some social manias fail to 'catch fire', while others persist for hundreds of years (although sometimes in severely attenuated form). Common to all is a vision of salvation, a new way of life, which if realized would radically change everyday life, ushering in a new world of freedom and justice.
2513
2514The Taiping Rebellion is an excellent illustration, as it was both widespread and destructive and has no modern adherents to whom its use as an example would be a distraction. The Ghost dance which was briefly embraced by Native Americans of the Great Plains in 1890 is another excellent example which may be viewed in some historical perspective, as may The Crusades. [b]Almost any form of religion could be argued to be a long-standing social mania, many of which have persisted through thousands of years.[/b]
2515[/quote]
2516
2517
2518So, associations between both schizophrenia and mania have been made to religiosity. This is similar to what we would expect based on the research regarding the psychotic blasphemers in Pakistan:
2519
2520https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4067851/
2521
2522[quote]
2523The entire spectrum of psychopathology lends itself to various behavioural infringements that could fall foul of the blasphemy laws in place in Pakistan. [b]Individuals with psychotic disorders, such as mania and schizophrenia, can present symptoms of grandiose and bizarre delusional systems of being of divine origin, behavioural disinhibition and lack of insight, which place them at risk of prosecution under these laws. Individuals with autism, with varying degrees of intellectual disability, are another diagnostic group also at risk of not being able to follow social rules of due reverence and regard for what the community holds sacrosanct.[/b]
2524[/quote]
2525
2526As well as an observable theme of the delusional content of schizophrenics:
2527
2528livingwithschizophreniauk.org/religious-spiritual-delusions-schizophrenia/
2529
2530[quote]
2531For many people religion is one way that we understand the world and give meaning to our lives and certainly religion and spirituality play an important part in many people’s experiences of schizophrenia. [b]For some sufferers religious delusions or intense religiously-based irrational thinking may be a component of their symptoms, for instance they may believe that they have been sent by God to become a great prophet.[/b]
2532[/quote]
2533
2534
2535So, we have two psycho-pathological etiologies for the initial events of religiosity. A third potential being:
2536
2537https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_approaches_to_schizophrenia
2538
2539[quote]
2540[b]One related hypothesis argues that schizophrenia helps maintain charismatic leaders using certain symptoms like paranoia and delusions.[/b]
2541[/quote]
2542
2543I had a better source for this than wikipedia but have lost it and will need to spend some time tracking it down again. However a third hypothesis is essentially that schizophrenics are more suggestible and so on and therefore more likely to congregate to charismatic leaders, and that charismatic leaders are more likely to be sociopathic and to sexually make use of their followers, such that selective pressure for sociopathy and psychosis is emergent from these charismatic cults with social numbers and thereby strength.
2544
2545So, three potential hypotheses at least, to summarize, essentially a convergence around, in some cases, certain manic and schizophrenic psychotics, either due to congregation of individuals with such traits yet centering around individuals in such manner, or by imitation essentially as in the case of the mass hysteria previously demonstrated, or some combination of these things, creating essentially a stabilization after a positive feedback loop of such:
2546
2547https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_feedback_loop
2548
2549[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Stampede_loop.png/220px-Stampede_loop.png[/img]
2550
2551[quote]
2552[b]Positive feedback is a process that occurs in a feedback loop in which the effects of a small disturbance on a system include an increase in the magnitude of the perturbation.[1] That is, A produces more of B which in turn produces more of A.[2[/b]
2553[/quote]
2554
2555[quote]
2556[b]System parameters will typically accelerate towards extreme values, which may damage or destroy the system, or may end with the system latched into a new stable state. [/b]
2557[/quote]
2558
2559or otherwise by suggestibility into such by charismatic sociopaths. I dispute none of these hypotheses and believe there is evidence for the correctness of all three of them simultaneously. For one, some studies find animism (also called 'unfounded mentalizing') in the religious:
2560
2561[u]Does Poor Understanding of Physical World Predict Religious and Paranormal Beliefs?[/u]
2562
2563[quote]
2564[b]Unlike the earlier studies, which have addressed only few specific targets and attributes, unfounded mentalizing was here apparent throughout a range of basic physical objects and processes, and at a higher level of abstraction, on the superordinate concept of mental. This kind of mental-physical confusion has been recognized mainly among ancient people and small children.[/b]
2565[/quote]
2566
2567[quote]
2568[b]The ability to distinguish mental from physical seems to be impaired both among ASD individuals and supernatural believers, although its manifestation is reversed. Because findings from hyper-mentalistic and hyper-mechanistic cognition, as two opposite phenotypes, can help each other in the search for their underlying mechanisms, one promising approach for future studies might be to integrate research on this newly found matter-blindness to research on mind-blindness[/b]
2569[/quote]
2570
2571A media summary of the previously cited study:
2572
2573http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113416306/religion-world-understanding-102616/
2574
2575[quote]
2576[b]The scientists found that, overall, those who believe in God and the paranormal are more likely to be female and to base their actions on instinct instead of analysis or critical thinking.[/b]
2577[/quote]
2578
2579This is evidence of a convergent schizophrenia skewed subtype of religiosity as postulated by professor Sapolsky of Stanford:
2580
2581https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01572564
2582
2583[quote]
2584[b]While the number of patients tested is small, it is clear that the group of schizophrenic patients showed a strikingly high degree of primitive animistic thinking. The results concur with Nunberg's observation that animistic responses are common in schizophrenia[/b]
2585[/quote]
2586
2587Yet the research of Anthony Ian Jack found no such unfounded mentalizing:
2588
2589https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4805169/
2590
2591[quote]
2592[b]Using nine different measures of mentalizing, we found no evidence of a relationship between mentalizing and religious or spiritual belief. These findings challenge the theoretical view that religious and spiritual beliefs are linked to the perception of agency, and suggest that gender differences in religious belief can be explained by differences in moral concern. These findings are consistent with the opposing domains hypothesis, according to which brain areas associated with moral concern and analytic thinking are in tension.[/b]
2593[/quote]
2594
2595I see no reason for one side or the other to have produced correct results, and rather speculate that they are observing two groups of religious individuals with ultimately disparate etiologies essentially, with the animistic religious having a schizophrenic like state of socially convergent cognitively anosognosic psychosis, and those without animism having a manic like state of socially convergent cognitively anosognosic psychosis.
2596
2597And regarding moral concern, let us not forget that the masses have progressed not beyond conventional moral reasoning:
2598
2599https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Kohlberg%27s_stages_of_moral_development#Conventional
2600
2601[quote]
2602[b]Conventional
2603
2604The conventional level of moral reasoning is typical of adolescents and adults. To reason in a conventional way is to judge the morality of actions by comparing them to society's views and expectations.[/b] The conventional level consists of the third and fourth stages of moral development. Conventional morality is characterized by an acceptance of society's conventions concerning right and wrong. At this level an individual obeys rules and follows society's norms even when there are no consequences for obedience or disobedience. Adherence to rules and conventions is somewhat rigid, however, and a rule's appropriateness or fairness is seldom questioned.[7][8][9]
2605[/quote]
2606
2607And so is this matter and logic blindness, by which the minds of the society are made reference to for morality, so different from the matter and logic blindness of the schizophrenic subtype which is associated with animism as from a hyperactive agency detection device?
2608
2609[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/10/29/7eecf4b1187c53cfaa3c1223e8cf0f68-full.jpg[/img]
2610
2611And after all, we know that conventional moral reasoning can be an abomination when the charismatic sociopaths set the content of the minds of the masses with their propaganda:
2612
2613[quote]
2614[b]"The rank and file are more primitive than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitious. In the long run only he will achieve basic results in influencing public opinion who is able to reduce problems to the simplest terms and who has the courage to keep forever repeating them in this simplified form despite the objections of intellectuals." --Joseph Goebbels[/b]
2615[/quote]
2616
2617https://qz.com/822907/science-suggests-that-frequently-repeating-a-lie-creates-the-illusion-of-truth/
2618
2619[quote]
2620[b]Science suggests that frequently repeating a lie creates “the illusion of truth”[/b]
2621[/quote]
2622
2623http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0132209
2624
2625[quote]
2626Our hypothesis also predicts that changes in the value of immediate input for a specific stimulus or task will be associated with increased activity in the DMN. [b]This prediction is supported by a recent study of repetition suppression, which observed decreases in DMN deactivations during encoding as participants viewed the same items, suggest that the DMN deactivates less as participants form a stronger memory trace of a stimulus [62].[/b]
2627[/quote]
2628
2629https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/elsevier/age-and-amyloid-related-alterations-in-default-network-habituation-to-iU4YeIQ0mI
2630
2631[quote]
2632The neural networks supporting encoding of new information are thought to decline with age, although mnemonic techniques such as repetition may enhance performance in older individuals. Accumulation of amylodine hallmark pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD), may contribute to functional alterations in memory networks measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) prior to onset of cognitive impairment. We investigated the effects of age any amyloid burden on fMRI activity in the default mode network and hippocampus during repetitive encoding. Older individuals, particularly those with high amyloid burden, demonstrated decreased task-induced deactivation in the posteromedial cortices during initial stimulus presentation and failed to modulate fMRI activity in response to repeated trials, whereas [b]young subjects demonstrated a stepwise decrease in deactivation with repetition[/b]. The hippocampus demonstrated similar patterns across the groups, showing task-induced activity that decreased in response to repetition. These findings demonstrate that age and amyloid have dissociable functional effects on specific nodes within a distributed memory network, and suggest that functional brain changes may begin far in advance of symptomatic Alzheimer's disease'
2633[/quote]
2634
2635https://www.weeklystandard.com/jack-fischel/nazi-morals
2636
2637[quote]
2638[b]The readiness of many Germans to acquiesce evolved as a consequence of their internalization of the knowledge that was disseminated apparently by legitimate institutions of the state. As Koonz notes, the indoctrination was successful because there was little reason to question the facts conveyed by experts, documentary films, educational materials, and popular science. The German public was reeducated to support the elimination of Jews, Gypsies, the chronically ill, and other categories of the "unfit"--all as a moral good, consistent with the dictates of conscience. Koonz's prodigious work is a major contribution to our understanding of the social and ideological history of the Third Reich.[/b]
2639[/quote]
2640
2641http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23256249.2013.812821?scroll=top&needAccess=true&
2642
2643[quote]
2644This article discusses the rationale of Nazi ethics and the moral conditioning of Nazi perpetrators aimed at developing a kind of “ethnic conscience” which restricted moral obligations to members of their own race community. It reconstructs how the universal ethics of humanism got turned upside down and replaced with the particularistic selective racial ethics and the pragmatics of eugenics and racial exterminatory politics. Traditional values regarding human life, based on the idea of its unconditional worth, were replaced by the distinction between life worthy of being promoted and life unworthy of being lived. It shows how ordinary Germans became willing executioners of criminal and immoral deeds. [b]Neither did they act without any moral orientation nor in the awareness that what they were doing was morally reprehensible. As perpetrators with a clear conscience they were convinced that the humiliation, persecution, deportation and, finally, killing of the Jews was the right thing to do.[/b]
2645[/quote]
2646
2647Inducing them into a dreamlike state:
2648
2649https://content.ucpress.edu/chapters/11128.ch01.pdf
2650
2651[quote]
2652[b]“Condensation”— the production of amalgamated, blurred, or composite figures in dream work or symptoms of a disturbance— is a perennial trait of moral panic[/b].
2653[/quote]
2654
2655http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Moral_panic
2656
2657[quote]
2658[b]The Holocaust was, perhaps, the extreme of the moral panic, in which Nazi ideology blamed Jews as the source of all ills.[/b]
2659[/quote]
2660
2661In which themed collections of fiction material are made reference to, rather than actuality or the materials capturing it:
2662
2663[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/EwigerJudeFilm.jpg[/img]
2664
2665research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/weltparasit.htm
2666
2667[quote]
2668If we thoroughly study the racial nature of the Jew, we conclude that Jewry is not a race in the ordinary sense of the word. Instead, as Houston Steward Chamberlain wrote, it must be seen as a counter-race, although the term “counter-race” cannot be understood in a biological sense. From a biological standpoint, Jewry is a stable, inbred mixture of extreme races and racial rubbish. The concept of “counter-race” primarily means the destructive and disruptive effect of Jewry within natural races. The distinguishing mark of Jewry within human races has to do on the one hand with the racial makeup of the Jews, who have been scattered for millennia, and on the other hand in their stubborn adherence to the crassest materialism, based on their so-called religious laws.
2669
2670Jewry is the result of the mixing of every possible race. It is the biggest racial mish-mash in history. This racial mish-mash is so dangerous for all peoples because it because it includes elements from every race. The bad characteristics of these races have been passed on for many generations through Jewry in ever stronger form.
2671[/quote]
2672
2673https://www.history.com/topics/germany/eugenics
2674
2675[quote]
2676[b]By 1940, Hitler’s master-race mania took a terrible turn as Germans with mental or physical disabilities were euthanized by gas or lethal injection.[/b] Even the blind and deaf weren’t safe, and hundreds of thousands of people were killed.
2677[/quote]
2678
2679[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/10/30/b6b8e4dd7dff182d11ca834500a6aaa3-full.jpg[/img]
2680
2681[img]http://www.vho.org/GB/Books/dth/Image20.jpg[/img]
2682
2683https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4805169/
2684
2685[quote]
2686Based on a review of this work, we identify moral concern as a broad category which includes empathic concern, interpersonal connection, prosocial behavior and aspects of moral reasoning. It is important to note that individuals with high levels of moral concern will not necessarily behave more ethically in all situations. [b]Indeed, some researchers have claimed that high levels of empathic concern can be a detriment to moral behavior [47]. Further, there is empirical support for the view that moral concern for others can lead to aggression in the context of perceived threat [48][/b]
2687[/quote]
2688
2689https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170726103017.htm
2690
2691[quote]
2692[b]While more empathy may sound desirable, untempered empathy can be dangerous, Jack said. "Terrorists, within their bubble, believe it's a highly moral thing they're doing. They believe they are righting wrongs and protecting something sacred."[/b]
2693[/quote]
2694
2695So, this tie to traditional religiosity is most important as:
2696
2697https://philarchive.org/archive/VANRCA-8
2698
2699[quote]
2700[b]In this paper, I examine the relationship between social cognition and religious cognition. Many cognitive theories of religion claim that these two forms are somehow related[/b], but the details are usually left unexplored and insights from theories of social cognition are not taken on board.
2701[/quote]
2702
2703http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/people-with-aspergers-less-likely-to-see-purpose-behind-the-events-in-their-lives/
2704
2705[quote]
2706[b]Some experts theorize that certain schizophrenia symptoms (for instance, paranoia) arise in part from a hyperactive sense of social reasoning. [/b] “I’d guess that they’d give lots of teleological answers; more than neurotypical people, and certainly far more than people with Asperger’s,” Heywood says.
2707[/quote]
2708
2709http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4739224/Religious-people-emotional-not-think-logically.html
2710
2711[quote]
2712[b]Religious people 'cling to certain beliefs' even when they contradict evidence because they are overly emotional and irrational, study claims[/b]
2713[/quote]
2714
2715https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140620/
2716
2717[quote]
2718[b]Anosognosia in Schizophrenia: Hidden in Plain Sight
2719...
2720“I don’t need medicine—there is nothing wrong with me. I just came here for a check-up.”[/b]
2721[/quote]
2722
2723https://www.nature.com/articles/srep39589
2724
2725[quote]
2726[b]Neural correlates of maintaining one’s political beliefs in the face of counterevidence
2727...
2728Challenges to political beliefs produced increased activity in the default mode network—a set of interconnected structures associated with self-representation and disengagement from the external world.[/b]
2729[/quote]
2730
2731
2732
2733
2734I will continue in this vein with a new post shortly, looking at psychosis from an evolutionary biology/psychiatry perspective, as well as defining religion.
2735
2736Before I continue on I would like to take a short aside to describe signalling theory:
2737
2738https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_theory
2739
2740[quote]
2741[b]Because there are both mutual and conflicting interests in most animal signalling systems, a central problem in signalling theory is dishonesty or cheating. For example, if foraging birds are safer when they give a warning call, cheats could give false alarms at random, just in case a predator is nearby. But too much cheating could cause the signalling system to collapse. Every dishonest signal weakens the integrity of the signalling system, and so reduces the fitness of the group.[16][17][/b] An example of dishonest signalling comes from Fiddler crabs such as Uca lactea mjoebergi, which have been shown to bluff (no conscious intention being implied) about their fighting ability. When a claw is lost, a crab occasionally regrows a weaker claw that nevertheless intimidates crabs with smaller but stronger claws.[18][19] The proportion of dishonest signals is low enough for it not to be worthwhile for crabs to test the honesty of every signal through combat.[16]
2742[/quote]
2743
2744False signals can include everything from using hair systems so as to signal having the genetic fitness associated with this ornament:
2745
2746[img]http://delhihairsystem.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/4da05079fbe9a8fb36ec793ed82cb156-hair-transplant-surgery-fue-hair-transplant-1.jpg[/img]
2747
2748To using things such as scarecrows to create a false impression of life so as to scare birds away from the fields:
2749
2750[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Kakashi2.jpg[/img]
2751
2752To having a coat that looks like snow so as to blend in with the environment:
2753
2754[img]https://i0.wp.com/www.churchillwild.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/polarbears2ianjohnsonnanuk.jpg?w=1000&ssl=1[/img]
2755
2756Signalling theory is very comprehensive and has numerous distinct manifestations. Typically, honest and false signals compete with each other toward resource acquisition and evolutionary fitness. A given signal may be with varying degrees of honesty and falsity though, as for example although tobacco is most likely quite harmful in the long term typically, anti-tobacco signalling is also most likely exaggerated and somewhat dishonest in many cases.
2757
2758[img]https://assets3.thrillist.com/v1/image/1371019/size/tmg-article_tall;jpeg_quality=20.jpg[/img]
2759
2760[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Smoking_Dangers_-_1905_new.png[/img]
2761
2762Propaganda is essentially by definition a false signal:
2763
2764https://www.weeklystandard.com/jack-fischel/nazi-morals
2765
2766[quote]
2767[b]The readiness of many Germans to acquiesce evolved as a consequence of their internalization of the knowledge that was disseminated apparently by legitimate institutions of the state. As Koonz notes, the indoctrination was successful because there was little reason to question the facts conveyed by experts, documentary films, educational materials, and popular science. The German public was reeducated to support the elimination of Jews, Gypsies, the chronically ill, and other categories of the "unfit"--all as a moral good, consistent with the dictates of conscience.[/b]
2768[/quote]
2769
2770[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/EwigerJudeFilm.jpg[/img]
2771
2772
2773
2774
2775
2776
2777As well as netwar theory:
2778
2779http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a314073.pdf
2780
2781[quote]
2782The emergence of netwar implies a need to rethink strategy and doctrine, since traditional notions of war as a sequential process based on massing, maneuvering, and fighting will likely prove inadequate to cope with a nonlinear landscape of conflict in which societal and military elements are closely intermingled. [b]In our view, traditional warfare fits the Western paradigm symbolized by chess, where territory is very important, units are functionally specialized, and operations proceed sequentially until checkmate. Netwar, however, requires a new analytic paradigm, which, we argue, is provided by the Oriental game of Go, where there are no "fronts," offense and defense are often blurred, and fortifications and massing simply provide targets for implosive attacks. Victory is achieved not by checkmate, as there is no king to decapitate, but by gaining control of a greater amount of the "battlespace."[/b]
2783[/quote]
2784
2785[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/FloorGoban.JPG/619px-FloorGoban.JPG[/img]
2786
2787[img]https://www.britgo.org/files/filmography/counterpart3.jpg[/img]
2788
2789[quote]
2790In terms of implications for policy, we argue that [b]forming networks to fight networks and decentralizing operational decisionmaking authority[/b] will likely improve the ability of the United States to combat transnational crime and terrorism and to counter the proliferation efforts of rogue states and their nonstate support networks.
2791[/quote]
2792
2793https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1382.html
2794
2795[quote]
2796[b]Networks and Netwars[/b]
2797The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy
2798
2799The concepts of cyberwar and netwar encompass a new spectrum of conflict that is emerging in the wake of the information revolution. Netwar includes conflicts waged, on the one hand, by terrorists, criminals, gangs, and ethnic extremists; and by civil-society activists (such as cyber activists or WTO protestors) on the other. [b]What distinguishes netwar is the networked organizational structure of its practitioners — with many groups actually being leaderless — and their quickness in coming together in swarming attacks.[/b] To confront this new type of conflict, it is crucial for governments, military, and law enforcement to begin networking themselves
2800[/quote]
2801
2802https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarming_(military)
2803
2804[quote]
2805[b]They define swarming, in a military context, as "...seemingly amorphous, but it is a deliberately structured, coordinated, strategic way to strike from all directions, by means of a sustainable pulsing of force and/or fire, close-in as well as from stand-off positions."[/b]
2806[/quote]
2807
2808[quote]
2809[b]A recent example of swarming can be found in Mexico, at the level of what we call activist “social netwar” (see Ronfeldt et al., 1998)[/b]
2810[/quote]
2811
2812[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Ants_eating_fruit.jpg/800px-Ants_eating_fruit.jpg[/img]
2813
2814https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1382/MR1382.ch7.pdf
2815
2816[quote]
2817[b]Networks, as opposed to institutions, are shaped by decentralized command and control structures, are resistant to “decapitation” attacks targeting leaders, and are amorphous enough to weld together coalitions with significantly different agendas while concentrating forces on a single symbolic target.[/b]
2818[/quote]
2819
2820
2821
2822
2823
2824As well as moral panic theory:
2825
2826https://content.ucpress.edu/chapters/11128.ch01.pdf
2827
2828[quote]
2829Panic
2830
2831A Guide to the Uses of Fear
2832
2833[b][W]e are only episodic conductors of meaning, essentially. We form a mass, living most of the time in a state of panic or haphazardly, above and beyond any meaning.
2834
2835—Jean Baudrillard, In the Shadow of the Silent Majorities
2836
2837“Moral panic” can be defined broadly as any mass movement that emerges in response to a false, exaggerated, or ill- defined moral threat to society and proposes to address this threat through punitive measures: tougher enforcement, “zero tolerance,” new laws, communal vigilance, violent purges.1 Witch hunts are classic examples of moral panics in small, tribal, or agrarian communities. McCarthyism is the obvious example of a moral panic fueled by the mass media and tethered to repressive governance.2[/b]
2838[/quote]
2839
2840[quote]
2841[b]“Condensation”— the production of amalgamated, blurred, or composite figures in dream work or symptoms of a disturbance— is a perennial trait of moral panic.[/b]
2842[/quote]
2843
2844http://www.thesociologicalcinema.com/videos/crack-babies-a-tale-from-the-war-on-drugs
2845
2846[quote]
2847[b]"When the official reaction to a person, groups of persons or series of events is out of all proportion to the actual threat offered, when 'experts', in the form of police chiefs, the judiciary, politicians and editors perceive the threat in all but identical terms, and appear to talk 'with one voice' of rates, diagnoses, prognoses and solutions, when the media representations universally stress 'sudden and dramatic' increases (in numbers involved or events) and 'novelty', above and beyond that which a sober, realistic appraisal could sustain, then we believe it is appropriate to speak of the beginnings of a moral panic."[/b]
2848[/quote]
2849
2850https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201507/moral-panic-who-benefits-public-fear
2851
2852[quote]
2853[b]Moreover, there are two important news media practices that contribute to moral panic. These are known as framing and priming. Framing refers to the way an issue is presented to the public or angle it is given by the news media. Framing involves calling attention to certain aspects of an issue while ignoring or obscuring other elements. In other words, framing gives meaning to an issue.
2854...
2855In contrast, priming is a psychological process whereby the news media emphasis on a particular issue not only increases the salience of the issue on the public agenda, but also activates previously acquired information about that issue in people’s memories. The priming mechanism explains how the news frame used in a particular story can trigger an individual’s pre-existing attitudes, beliefs and prejudices regarding that issue.[/b]
2856[/quote]
2857
2858
2859
2860As well as how all of these things are related:
2861
2862https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_entrepreneur
2863
2864[quote]
2865[b]Social position determines one's ability to define and construct reality; therefore, the higher one's social position, the greater his or her moral value.[/b]
2866[/quote]
2867
2868http://www.healthline.com/health/psychosis
2869
2870[quote]
2871[b]What is psychosis?
2872
2873Psychosis is characterized by an impaired relationship with reality.[/b] And it is a symptom of serious mental disorders. People who are psychotic may have either hallucinations or delusions.
2874[/quote]
2875
2876http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0149989
2877
2878[quote]
2879[b]Engaging social stimuli are associated with activation of the DMN and deactivation of the TPN, whereas analytic problems are associated with activation of the TPN and deactivation of the DMN.[/b]
2880[/quote]
2881
2882https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23049758
2883
2884[quote]
2885[b]A prominent feature of the human brain's global architecture is the anticorrelation of default-mode vs. task-positive systems. Here,we show that administration of an NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist, ketamine, disrupted the reciprocal relationship between these systems in terms of task-dependent activation and connectivity during performance of delayed working memory. Furthermore, the degree of this disruption predicted task performance and transiently evoked symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia.[/b]
2886[/quote]
2887
2888
2889https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-intensional/
2890
2891[quote]
28921. What is this about?
2893
2894If you are not skilled in colloquial astronomy, and I tell you that the morning star is the evening star, I have given you information—your knowledge has changed. If I tell you the morning star is the morning star, you might feel I was wasting your time. Yet in both cases I have told you the planet Venus was self-identical. There must be more to it than this. Naively, we might say the morning star and the evening star are the same in one way, and not the same in another. The two phrases, “morning star” and “evening star” may designate the same object, but they do not have the same meaning. Meanings, in this sense, are often called intensions, and things designated, extensions. Contexts in which extension is all that matters are, naturally, called extensional, while contexts in which extension is not enough are intensional. Mathematics is typically extensional throughout—we happily write “\(1+4=2+3\)” even though the two terms involved may differ in meaning (more about this later). “It is known that…” is a typical intensional context—“it is known that \(1+4 = 2 + 3\)” may not be correct when the knowledge of small children is involved. Thus mathematical pedagogy differs from mathematics proper. Other examples of intensional contexts are “it is believed that…”, “it is necessary that…”, “it is informative that…”, “it is said that…”, “it is astonishing that…”, and so on. Typically a context that is intensional can be recognized by a failure of the substitutivity of equality when naively applied. Thus, the morning star equals the evening star; you know the morning star equals the morning star; then on substituting equals for equals, you know the morning star equals the evening star. Note that this knowledge arises from purely logical reasoning, and does not involve any investigation of the sky, which should arouse some suspicion. Substitution of co-referring terms in a knowledge context is the problematic move—such a context is intensional, after all. Admittedly this is somewhat circular. We should not make use of equality of extensions in an intensional context, and an intensional context is one in which such substitutivity does not work.
2895[/quote]
2896
2897
2898
2899https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4217346/
2900
2901[quote]
2902Compared with the general population, individuals with an artistic education had increased odds of developing schizophrenia (odds ratio = 1.90, 95% CI = [1.69; 2.12]) bipolar disorder (odds ratio = 1.62 [1.50; 1.75]) and unipolar depression (odds ratio = 1.39 [1.34; 1.44]. The results remained after adjustment for IQ and other potential confounders.
2903[/quote]
2904
2905[quote]
2906We used two definitions of artistic creativity: a broad definition which included a wider variety of creative or artistic subjects corresponding to ‘Art and Media’ in the SUN 2000 definition, but excluding‘ Science and History of Art, Music, Dance, Film and Theatre’; and a narrow definition, comprising visual arts, music, dance, theatre and drama, film, radio and TV production, and fashion design.
2907[/quote]
2908
2909https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4093805/
2910
2911[quote]
2912Some researchers have suggested that many professionals in highly systemized occupations, especially those involving mathematical proficiency (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Skinner, Martin, & Clubley, 2001; Fitzgerald, 2002; James, 2003) and musical talent (Pring, Ryder, Crane, & Hermelin, 2012), function with undiagnosed Asperger’s Disorder while exceling in their chosen fields. Baron-Cohen, et al. (2001) even demonstrated that a group of undergraduate students with majors in science and mathematics, including physical sciences, biological sciences, mathematics, computer science, and engineering, scored significantly higher on all areas of the AQ in comparison to classmates with majors in humanities and social sciences (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001). Given the “broader phenotype” symptoms of ASD seen in some parents of children with ASD, some have proposed that these parents may have highly technical and structured occupations in fields such as science, engineering, and accounting (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Scott, Bolton, & Goodyear, 1997; Baron-Cohen, 2006; Buchen, 2011; Jarrold & Routh, 1998; Wheelwright & Baron-Cohen, 2001). For example, Baron-Cohen et al. (1997) reported that a community sample of fathers of children with ASD were more likely to be engineers. Further, Jarrold and Routh (1998) analyzed the same data and reported that occupations in accounting, science, and medicine were also more frequent in fathers of children with ASD. Notably, Windham et al. (2009) most recently demonstrated in a population based study in San Francisco, CA that risk of having a child with ASD was almost two times greater for mothers in highly technical occupations (AOR=1.7; 95% CI:1.1–2.8).
2913[/quote]
2914
2915[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/12/4/8e1f11a46d1fc7dd37cf65739a2756c9-full.jpg[/img]
2916
2917And a pertinent philosophical allegory (of the cave, by socrates / plato):
2918
2919[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Plato_-_Allegory_of_the_Cave.png[/img]
2920
2921[img]https://blackflagtheology.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/allegory_of_the_cave.png[/img]
2922
2923[img]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/platonic_cave.jpg[/img]
2924
2925https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Francisco_Jos%C3%A9_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_The_sleep_of_reason_produces_monsters_%28No._43%29%2C_from_Los_Caprichos_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/230px-Francisco_Jos%C3%A9_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_The_sleep_of_reason_produces_monsters_%28No._43%29%2C_from_Los_Caprichos_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
2926
2927And so this is all still related to the main topic, as it is tied together by this:
2928
2929http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.650.1559&rep=rep1&type=pdf
2930
2931[quote]
2932Thomas Szasz’ constructive theory of mental illnesses – that they are (often deceptive) social strategies – can be reframed as a testable scientific hypothesis using concepts from evolutionary biology. [b]Most data on non-bizarre delusions support the hypothesis that delusions evolved to mitigate the dangerous consequences of social failure by serving to unconsciously deceive others into providing social benefits that otherwise would not be forthcoming. In ancestral environments, a delusional individual convinced others that he or she possessed valuable information or social contacts, faced dangerous external threats, or was ill, and was thus eligible to receive valuable benefits.[/b]
2933[/quote]
2934
2935
2936https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/070674370304800107
2937
2938[quote]
2939Stevens  and  Price  argue  that schizotypal traits are frequently found in charismatic leaders; namely,  Adolph  Hitler,  Joan  of  Arc,  and  Charles  Manson. These shaman-like individuals use paranoia, delusions, relig-ious  themes,  and  even  neologisms,  to  fraction  disaffected groups and to seed new cultures.
2940[/quote]
2941
2942www.anthonystevens.co.uk/prophets.htm
2943
2944[quote]
2945Cult leaders inspire intense loyalty among their followers, yet they strike outsiders as half mad. Why are there so many of them? And why do they and their crazy ideas proliferate? In this controversial study of the thin divide that separates cult leaders from madness, evolutionary psychiatrists Anthony Stevens and John Price argue that what schizophrenics and prophets share in addition to similar genes is the capacity for sudden, radical changes of belief. Depending on the circumstances, this capacity may propel one group into psychiatric care and another into the creation of a new cult.
2946
2947Citing examples from Abraham and Moses to Shoko Asahara and David Koresh, Stevens and Price reveal the vital role that such schizoptypal prophets play when human groups split. Inspiring their followers with new hope, new beliefs and the prospect of entering a Promised Land, they forge a strong bond between members of the new group. At the same time, the sexual exploitation cult leaders are known for ensures the abundant propagation of their schizotypal genes. Stevens and Price brilliantly show that here lies a solution to one of psychiatry's persistent mysteries: low fertility ought long ago to have led to the decline and extinction of schizophrenia. In the behaviour of cult leaders the authors argue we can see an important evolutionary mechanism.
2948
2949[...]
2950
2951"The most alarming undertow in this study of latter-day prophets is that the ruthless sexual exploitation of female cult members by cult leaders such as David Koresh was necessary to ensure the propagation of their schizophrenic genes. Stevens and Price shift the blame for religious fanaticism from God to the very human condition of schizophrenia. In the context of evolutionary biology, they argue a convincing case bolstered by the recent discoveries of evolutionary psychiatry and evolutionary psychology."
2952Iain Finlayson, The Times.
2953[/quote]
2954
2955I will continue with the primary narrative in a new post shortly.
2956
2957For a more concrete example of what we left off with:
2958
2959https://reason.com/blog/2014/06/12/eden-sex-trafficking-fable-falls-apart
2960
2961[quote]
2962It's a pretty good summary of the standard narrative on sex-trafficking these days: it's everywhere, all the time, and we don't even know it; the only way to combat it is to keep throwing cops and money and laws at it; and anyone who questions any of this is only aiding the evildoers. [b]It's almost impossible to argue with people who buy this narrative, because the more evidence you present challenging sex trafficking's pervasiveness, the more they see proof that sex trafficking is so under the radar we need to throw more cops and money and laws at it.[/b]
2963[/quote]
2964
2965https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945214003359
2966
2967[quote]
2968[b]Essentially, anosognosic patients hold quasi-delusional beliefs about their paralysed limbs, in spite of all the contrary evidence, repeated questioning, and logical argument.[/b]
2969[/quote]
2970
2971https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140620/
2972
2973[quote]
2974[b]Anosognosia in Schizophrenia: Hidden in Plain Sight
2975...
2976“I don’t need medicine—there is nothing wrong with me. I just came here for a check-up.”[/b]
2977[/quote]
2978
2979[img]https://media.reason.com/mc/_external/2014_06/-chong-kimfacebook.png?h=191&w=400[/img]
2980
2981https://reason.com/blog/2014/06/12/eden-sex-trafficking-fable-falls-apart
2982
2983[quote]
2984[b]As a public speaker, and activist, Kim had already told this story many times—here's her being interviewed for the 2011 book Not in My Town: Exposing and Ending Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery. She describes how she was kidnapped and trafficked as so:
2985
2986I had a gun to my head. The head person that does the trafficking was a consultant with the FBI in Las Vegas. So it was very corrupt.
2987
2988Though she was 18, Kim says she was forced to pretend to be 13 to appeal to an array of unsuspecting pedophiles.
2989
2990Um, it was an international criminal organization, but the majority of customers were white Americans. And the customers were anywhere between CEOs, lawyers, police officers, we've even had really high-echelon pastors, different types of men. They were high status; there were even political figures that were there that bought me.[/b]
2991[/quote]
2992
2993[quote]
2994[b]We regretfully want to inform everyone the results of a year long investigation by our highly experienced investigative unit, that Chong Kim whom has claimed to be a survivor of human trafficking is not what she claims to be.
2995
2996After thorough investigation into her story, people, records and places, as well as, many interviews with producers, publishers and people from organizations, we found no truth to her story. In fact, we found a lot of fraud, lies, and most horrifically capitalizing and making money on an issue where so many people are suffering from.[/b]
2997[/quote]
2998
2999[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6c/Eden_Poster.jpg/220px-Eden_Poster.jpg[/img]
3000
3001https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden_(2012_film)
3002
3003[quote]
3004After these accusations arose, Noah Berlatsky of Salon compared Kim to Somaly Mam and commented that [b]the film was thickly layered with exploitation tropes and improbable scenarios. Berlatsky found it shocking that "anyone took this clearly fanciful, clearly derivative fiction for fact".[5][/b] Journalist Elizabeth Nolan Brown criticized "the authors who repeated Kim's story, the journalists who interviewed her, the organizations that brought her on as a speaker, or any of the myriad people behind the 'based on a true story' Eden" for not checking and verifying Kim's claims.[7] Journalist Mike Ludwig argued that the narrative promoted by the film harmed consensual sex workers.[8] Seattle sex worker Mistress Matisse had been questioning the veracity of the film since 2012.[6] Matisse stated that [b]Colin Plank and Megan Griffiths "perpetrated a fraud in their movie called Eden." [19][/b]
3005[/quote]
3006
3007righteousmind.com/largest-study-of-libertarian-psych/
3008
3009[quote]
3010[b]2) On reasoning and emotions: Libertarians have the most “masculine” style, liberals the most “feminine.”[/b] We used Simon Baron-Cohen’s measures of “empathizing” (on which women tend to score higher) and “systemizing”, which refers to “the drive to analyze the variables in a system, and to derive the underlying rules that govern the behavior of the system.” Men tend to score higher on this variable. Libertarians score the lowest of the three groups on empathizing, and highest of the three groups on systemizing. (Note that we did this and all other analyses for males and females separately.) On this and other measures, libertarians consistently come out as the most cerebral, most rational, and least emotional.On a very crude problem solving measure related to IQ, they score the highest. Libertarians, more than liberals or conservatives, have the capacity to reason their way to their ideology.
3011[/quote]
3012
3013https://richarddawkins.net/2014/07/children-exposed-to-religion-have-difficulty-distinguishing-fact-from-fiction-study-finds/
3014
3015[quote]
3016[b]Young children who are exposed to religion have a hard time differentiating between fact and fiction, according to a new study published in the July issue of Cognitive Science.[/b]
3017[/quote]
3018
3019http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume7/j7_3_5.htm
3020
3021[quote]
3022[b]You're Not Paranoid Schizophrenic: You Only Have Posttraumatic Stress Disorder1[/b]
3023
3024Richard A. Gardner*
3025
3026[b]ABSTRACT: Patients with paranoid schizophrenia are being misdiagnosed as having PTSD by therapists who see child sexual abuse as rampant and as causing a wide variety of psychiatric problems. The symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia can easily be distorted and manipulated so that the PTSD criteria in the DSM-III-R and the DSM-IV appear to be met.[/b] The reasons for the proliferation of this misdiagnosis are that PTSD and the sexual abuse explanation for symptoms are more in vogue, are more satisfying and less complex to treat, and provide more financial benefits to the mental health practitioner compared to schizophrenia.
3027
3028The sex-abuse hysteria we are witnessing today is the greatest wave of hysteria that we have ever experienced in this country. It has been going on for at least a decade and, although there are some signs that people are increasingly coming to their senses, there is no question that we have a long way to go until this abomination has spent its course. Unfortunately, psychiatry is playing an active role in promulgating what is clearly a national scandal. In an earlier article in the Academy Forum, I described what I consider to be factors operative in its origins and development (Gardner, 1993). More recently, I described the ways in which patients with paranoid schizophrenia are being given the specious consolation that they are only suffering with multiple personality disorder (MPD) (Gardner, 1994).
3029
3030Here I describe how the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis is being used in a similar way. I will first describe the PTSD misdiagnosis phenomenon and then comment on the purposes such alterations of reality serve. I will follow the PTSD criteria provided in the DSM-III-R (American Psychiatric Association, 1987) and then describe how each of the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia can be manipulated and distorted in such a way that it satisfies a PTSD criterion. I am not claiming that this process is necessarily a conscious and deliberate one on the part of those who involve themselves in this procedure. Many are overzealous in their need to see sex abuse as the cause for the wide variety of psychiatric problems with which they deal. Some are simply incompetent and doing what is in vogue, and they may have been guided here by teachers who have been swept up in the wave of hysteria.
3031
3032[b]In order to accomplish the goal of converting paranoid schizophrenia into PTSD, the evaluator must start with the basic premise that the patient has been sexually abused. I am not referring to situations in which there was bona fide sex abuse and PTSD is one of the reactions. Rather, I am referring to the situation in which there is absolutely no good evidence that the patient was sexually abused, and the allegations are extremely improbable, bizarre, and even impossible. The accusation, then, is part of a delusional system.[/b]
3033[/quote]
3034
3035So,
3036
3037http://www.faceofmalawi.com/2017/07/religious-people-have-mental-illness-neuroscientist-warns/
3038
3039[quote]
3040[b]A professor at Stanford University, Robert Sapolsky, has said that religion is a mental illness, and that the behaviours exhibited by ‘prophets’ in religious texts are diagnosable acts.
3041
3042The self-described atheist, who is also a neuroendocrinologist, argues that religion is comparable to a shared schizophrenia.[/b]
3043[/quote]
3044
3045https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mania
3046
3047[quote]
3048[b]Almost any form of religion could be argued to be a long-standing social mania, many of which have persisted through thousands of years.[/b]
3049[/quote]
3050
3051Religiosity is essentially a convergent cognitively anosognosic psychotic decompensatory condition, and is in this manner identical to social cognition:
3052
3053http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/people-with-aspergers-less-likely-to-see-purpose-behind-the-events-in-their-lives/
3054
3055[quote]
3056[b]Some experts theorize that certain schizophrenia symptoms (for instance, paranoia) arise in part from a hyperactive sense of social reasoning.[/b]
3057[/quote]
3058
3059https://philarchive.org/archive/VANRCA-8
3060
3061[quote]
3062[b]In this paper, I examine the relationship between social cognition and religious cognition. Many cognitive theories of religion claim that these two forms are somehow related[/b], but the details are usually left unexplored and insights from theories of social cognition are not taken on board.
3063[/quote]
3064
3065
3066So, let us look at the themes then of the delusional content of schizophrenics.
3067
3068[img]https://cdn1.imggmi.com/uploads/2018/12/1/6bd1d0fffe293f86dc204f64dd3b9f8a-full.jpg[/img]
3069
3070For starters, I would like to add that this list is somewhat preliminary or more so that I cannot assure you that all of these are indeed establishments of religion. I can only assure you that the Drug War and the sex Cult are establishments of religion, as well as the less contested ones of course. Some of them certainly appear to be establishments of religion based on my best interpretation of the signaling regarding them, but the issue is essentially:
3071
3072https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimicry
3073
3074[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Batesian_vs_M%C3%BCllerian_Mimicry.svg/400px-Batesian_vs_M%C3%BCllerian_Mimicry.svg.png[/img]
3075
3076Though by analogy rather than literalness essentially, regarding signaling of being materials correlated to the actual reality as opposed to materials which are but cultural artifacts of man purporting to be correlated to the physical existence yet falsely so. It is well recognized that the establishments of religion signal as being scientific in the modern era so as to remain competitive essentially:
3077
3078[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/Pandas_and_ppl.jpg[/img]
3079
3080https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People
3081
3082[quote]
3083[b]Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins is a controversial 1989 (2nd edition 1993) school-level textbook written by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon and published by the Texas-based Foundation for Thought and Ethics (FTE). The textbook endorses the pseudoscientific[1][2][3][4] concept of intelligent design—namely that life shows evidence of being designed by an intelligent agent which is not named specifically in the book, although proponents understand that it refers to the Christian God.[5] They present various polemical arguments against the scientific theory of evolution.[/b]
3084[/quote]
3085
3086https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield#Vaxxed
3087
3088[img]http://cdn1.collective-evolution.com/assets/uploads/2017/02/vaxxed-759x482.jpg[/img]
3089
3090[quote]
3091Dr Ian Lipkin, professor of epidemiology and director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, writing in The Wall Street Journal, said: [b]"If Vaxxed had been submitted as science fiction, it would merit attention for its story line, character development and dialogue. But as a documentary it misrepresents what science knows about autism, undermines public confidence in the safety and efficacy of vaccines, and attacks the integrity of legitimate scientists and public-health officials".[149][/b]
3092[/quote]
3093
3094https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/wakefield-fights-back/
3095
3096[quote]
3097[b]Dr. Andrew Wakefield was almost single-handedly responsible for frightening the public about a possible association between autism and the MMR vaccine. His alarmist recommendations directly led to lower vaccination rates and a resurgence of measles to endemic levels in the UK. The MMR/autism interpretation of his 1998 article in The Lancet was retracted by 10 of his 12 co-authors. The article itself was “fully retracted from the public record” by The Lancet. And now Wakefield has lost his license to practice medicine after the General Medical Council’s exhaustive 2½-year review of his ethical conduct. [/b]
3098[/quote]
3099
3100https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/jenny-mccarthy-jim-carrey-and-green-our-vaccines-anti-vaccine-not-pro-safe-vaccine/
3101
3102[quote]
3103Like Steve Novella, I have no doubt that Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey mean well, but I agree that it’s not enough to mean well. There’s a famous saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. My usually corollary to this saying is that good intentions coupled with misinformation and self-righteousness are the straightest and surest route to hell that I can think of, and among the best examples of this corollary are [b]parents who have been misled by the pseudoscience of the cottage industry of autism quackery that depends on the belief that vaccines cause autism for its profitability.[/b]
3104[/quote]
3105
3106http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0149989
3107
3108[quote]
3109[b]Engaging social stimuli are associated with activation of the DMN and deactivation of the TPN, whereas analytic problems are associated with activation of the TPN and deactivation of the DMN.[/b]
3110[/quote]
3111
3112https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_entrepreneur
3113
3114[quote]
3115[b]Social position determines one's ability to define and construct reality; therefore, the higher one's social position, the greater his or her moral value.[/b]
3116[/quote]
3117
3118
3119http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0149989
3120
3121[quote]
3122[b]Using nine different measures of mentalizing, we found no evidence of a relationship between mentalizing and religious or spiritual belief. These findings challenge the theoretical view that religious and spiritual beliefs are linked to the perception of agency, and suggest that gender differences in religious belief can be explained by differences in moral concern. These findings are consistent with the opposing domains hypothesis, according to which brain areas associated with moral concern and analytic thinking are in tension.[/b]
3123[/quote]
3124
3125https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170726103017.htm
3126
3127[quote]
3128[b]"It suggests that religious individuals may cling to certain beliefs, especially those which seem at odds with analytic reasoning, because those beliefs resonate with their moral sentiments,"[/b] said Jared Friedman, a PhD student in organizational behavior and co-author of the studies.
3129
3130"Emotional resonance helps religious people to feel more certain -- the more moral correctness they see in something, the more it affirms their thinking," said Anthony Jack, associate professor of philosophy and co-author of the research. "In contrast, moral concerns make nonreligious people feel less certain."
3131[/quote]
3132
3133
3134https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior-altering_parasite_or_parasitoid
3135
3136[quote]
3137[b]Some parasites and parasitoids cause changes in the behavior of their hosts by directly affecting the hosts' decision-making and behavior control mechanisms. The acquired or modified behaviors assist in parasite transmission, and often result in the host's demise.[/b]
3138[/quote]
3139
3140Essentially, just because a movement may appear to be not an establishment of religion or otherwise an establishment of religion based on the signaling you've seen regarding it, you must always be careful to ensure you are not witnessing essentially parasitic mimicry whereby establishments of religion falsely signal as being of the essence of the empirical truth, or where behavior modifying parasites signal that the empirical truth is an establishment of religion. It can be hard to tell what is honestly signaled from what is falsely signaled, and in the spirit of Socrates we must keep in mind always that:
3141
3142http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/~matlmc/Allegory_cave.pdf
3143
3144[quote]
3145[b]"Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter light, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other; or, if he has a mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than in the laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the den".[/b]
3146[/quote]
3147
3148The one who is sure of his orientation to actuality is more at risk of being associated with a mimicry of actuality indefinitely than he who keeps an open mind to the possibility that his conception of reality is but an understanding of a themed collection of the fiction materials fabricated man, being naught more than a cultural artifact having not correlation to the state of the physical existence, but rather presenting as if an oracle into the state of it whilst being but an oracle into a themed fantasy world described by likewise themed materials and the believers in them.
3149
3150In the sake of keeping this spirit I can in fact not even assure you that the Sex Cult or the Drug War are establishments of religion, yet these two I am the most certain of being so, whereas the climate change movement I am not so familiar with, yet I can perceive from the signaling of numerous physicists the resonance of actuality in their characterizations of the matter, yet I have still some suspicion they may be engaging in mimicry, yet predominately I have come to believe those who say the climate change movement is an establishment of religion, even as being with less certainty of this and keeping an open mind, whereas I am quite certain the Drug War and Sex Cult are establishments of religion and believe them to be even as keeping always an open mind in the spirit of Socrates. Regarding the anti vaccination movement as well I am quite sure they are an establishment of religion, and yet again my familiarity with them is not the same as it is regarding the Drug War and the Sex Cult, though a Ph.D. immunologist in my family has said that they are without scientific rigor and I believe him, as well as have the resonance of actuality from the materials of those who signal against them.
3151
3152[img]https://dailyreview.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/INCONVENIENT-xSEQUEL-TRUTH-TO-POWER-DVD-SPECIAL-2D-FRONT.jpg[/img]
3153
3154https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121486841811817591
3155
3156[quote]
3157[b]Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the mass hysteria phenomenon known as global warming. Much of the science has since been discredited. Now it's time for political scientists, theologians and psychiatrists to weigh in.[/b]
3158[/quote]
3159
3160
3161
3162https://edberry.com/blog/climate-physics/agw-hypothesis/a-physics-view-of-climate-change/
3163
3164[quote]
3165[b]A short, total rebuttal to climate alarmism
3166
3167by Dr. Ed Berry, PhD, Physics
3168
3169...
3170
3171Therefore, it is a cult religion. The US government and its agencies like the EPA have forced the alarmists’ climate cult religion on the American public in opposition to the First Amendment to our Constitution.[/b]
3172[/quote]
3173
3174telegram.com/news/20170122/mit-physicist-warns-against-alarmism-over-climate-change
3175
3176[quote]
3177[b]He quoted H.L. Mencken: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed and hence clamorous to be led to safety from an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.” The time has come to “put the brakes on” climate change alarmism, he said.[/b]
3178[/quote]
3179
3180http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/5-scientists-skeptical-climate-change
3181
3182[quote]
3183[b]Dr. Happer, Professor Emeritus of physics at Princeton University, earned his Ph.D. in physics from his alma mater. He worked as a professor at Columbia University and served as the Director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science under George H. W. Bush before returning to Princeton.
3184
3185Earlier this year, Dr. Happer commented to The Guardian that he thinks “There’s a whole area of climate so-called science that is really more like a cult. It’s like Hare Krishna or something like that. They’re glassy-eyed and they chant. It will potentially harm the image of all science.”[/b]
3186[/quote]
3187
3188https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/climate-change-richard-lindzen-cult-global-warming-1484852
3189
3190[quote]
3191An MIT professor has likened believing in global warming to being in a "cult" and having "fanatical" beliefs.
3192
3193Professor emeritus Richard Lindzen, a well-known climate change denier, was speaking on a radio show about how he believes there is a religious nature to the belief in global warming.
3194
3195[b]"As with any cult, once the mythology of the cult begins falling apart, instead of saying, oh, we were wrong, they get more and more fanatical. I think that's what's happening here. Think about it,"[/b]
3196[/quote]
3197
3198Batesian mimicry.
3199
3200https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivar_Giaever#Global_warming
3201
3202[quote]
3203[b]Ivar Giaever (Norwegian: Giæver, IPA: [ˈiːvɑr ˈjeːvər]; born April 5, 1929) is a Norwegian-American physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973 with Leo Esaki and Brian Josephson "for their discoveries regarding tunnelling phenomena in solids".[1][/b]
3204...
3205
3206[b]Giaever has repeatedly professed skepticism of global warming, calling it a "new religion."[10][11][11][12][/b]
3207
3208...
3209
3210[b]""I am a skeptic… Global warming has become a new religion." – Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Ivar Giaever."[/b]
3211[/quote]
3212
3213And when we consider these topics as well, knowing the archetypal religious establishments are theistic and that:
3214
3215livingwithschizophreniauk.org/religious-spiritual-delusions-schizophrenia/
3216
3217[quote]
3218For many people religion is one way that we understand the world and give meaning to our lives and certainly religion and spirituality play an important part in many people’s experiences of schizophrenia. [b]For some sufferers religious delusions or intense religiously-based irrational thinking may be a component of their symptoms, for instance they may believe that they have been sent by God to become a great prophet.[/b]
3219[/quote]
3220
3221https://leaderpost.com/cannabis-health/why-is-the-white-house-lying-about-marijuana-and-fentanyl/wcm/fbe014cf-3354-409f-8fb0-a23841cf5ba9
3222
3223[quote]
3224So why is the White House lumping weed in with it fentanyl spiel? Well, it turns out that it is just pulling misinformation that was reported by the National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
3225
3226Last year, NIDA director Nora Volkow said: “Fentanyl is being used to lace a wide variety of drugs, including marijuana.” However, this claim was based solely on “anecdotal reports” from local police departments—none of which have been substantiated in any way. In fact, many of these reports were eventually determined to be false. The lesson here is we can’t trust police to be drug experts.
3227
3228“There’s this mistaken belief that law enforcement are experts on the drugs they are seizing,” Northeastern University drug policy expert Leo Beletsky told BuzzFeed News. “That’s just not the case, and that’s part of the problem.”
3229[/quote]
3230
3231[img]https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2015/05/21/18/26-al-Qaida-AP-v2.jpg[/img]
3232
3233andrewtaustin.com/catatonic-schizophrenia/[b]themes-of-schizophrenic-delusions[/b]
3234
3235[quote]
3236[b]The most commonly cited example is that of the person who comes to believe that his family is poisoning him.[/b]
3237[/quote]
3238
3239http://themillenniumreport.com/2016/06/the-vaccine-conspiracy-u-s-government-colludes-with-big-pharma-to-poison-the-america-people-2/
3240
3241[quote]
3242[b]THE VACCINE CONSPIRACY: U.S. Government Colludes With BIG Pharma To Poison The American People[/b]
3243[/quote]
3244
3245https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/27/maine-governor-paul-lepage-comments-racial-profiling
3246
3247[quote]
3248[b]“I don’t ask them to come to Maine and sell their poison,” [/b]
3249[/quote]
3250
3251http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/08/cult-spawned-tough-love-teen-industry
3252
3253[quote]
3254[b]No fewer than 50 programs (though not the Rotenberg Center) can trace their treatment philosophy, directly or indirectly, to an antidrug cult called Synanon.[/b]
3255[/quote]
3256
3257[img]https://thebaggagehandlerdotme.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/ap_dea_drug_trafficking_thg_120622_wg.jpg[/img]
3258
3259
3260
3261
3262
3263
3264
3265http://www.msnbc.com/all/does-marijuana-lower-the-crime-rate
3266
3267[quote]
3268Three months after Colorado residents legalized recreational marijuana with the passage of Amendment 64 in Nov. 2012, Sheriff Tom Allman of Mendocio County, Calif. – a haven for marijuana growers – warned that an onslaught of crime was headed toward Colorado.
3269
3270“Thugs put on masks, they come to your house, they kick in your door. They point guns at you and say, ‘Give me your marijuana, give me your money,’” Allman told a Denver TV station in February. His state became the first to legalize marijuana for medical use in 1996; Colorado followed suit in 2000.
3271
3272But a new report contends that fourteen years later, even after Colorado legalized the sale of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use on Jan. 1 of this year, violent and property crime rates in the city are actually falling.
3273[/quote]
3274
3275
3276http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume7/j7_3_5.htm
3277
3278[quote]
3279Paranoid delusions typically incorporate the scapegoats of the era. In World War II, paranoids were persecuted by Nazi spies. From the 1950s to the 1980s, Communists were the typical persecutors of paranoids. Since the early 1980s, [b]with the breakdown of the Communist empire, sex abusers have become the most common persecutors for paranoids.[/b]
3280[/quote]
3281
3282[img]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/QTQAAOSwlf5ZxkGj/s-l640.jpg[/img]
3283
3284https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/taboo-subject-of-autism-and-paedophilia-must-be-tackled-to-improve-lives-qcxjfxs82
3285
3286[quote]
3287Most controversially, he believes society needs to tackle the taboo subject of ASD and paedophilia. Speaking ahead of World Autism Awareness Day today, he suggested that [b]many inmates in sex offender units, including those convicted of child pornography offences, show signs of Asperger’s or ASD.[/b]
3288[/quote]
3289
3290http://www.telegram.com/news/20180907/charged-second-time-with-child-porn-northboro-man-gets-10-years
3291
3292[quote]
3293[b]Mr. Mahoney said Mr. Lundberg's case is one of many nationwide in which people with autism are prosecuted for child pornography offenses without proper understanding of their mental struggles.[/b]
3294[/quote]
3295
3296https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4067851/
3297
3298[quote]
3299[b]Individuals with psychotic disorders, such as mania and schizophrenia, can present symptoms of grandiose and bizarre delusional systems of being of divine origin, behavioural disinhibition and lack of insight, which place them at risk of prosecution under these laws. Individuals with autism, with varying degrees of intellectual disability, are another diagnostic group also at risk of not being able to follow social rules of due reverence and regard for what the community holds sacrosanct.[/b]
3300[/quote]
3301
3302https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_approaches_to_schizophrenia
3303
3304[quote]
3305[b]One related hypothesis argues that schizophrenia helps maintain charismatic leaders who utilize symptoms, such as paranoia and delusions, to create new cultures.[/b]
3306[/quote]
3307
3308https://www.yahoo.com/news/muslim-man-dies-attack-cow-vigilantes-india-064223541.html
3309
3310[quote]
3311A Muslim man has died after he was attacked by hundreds of vigilantes while transporting cows in India, police said Wednesday, as tensions rose over the slaughter of an animal Hindus consider sacred.
3312
3313No arrests have yet been made, but police said they had registered a murder case over 55-year-old Pehlu Khan's death in hospital on Monday, two days after a mob attacked his cattle truck on a highway in Alwar in the western state of Rajasthan.
3314
3315At least six more people were injured when the truck was attacked by around 200 Hindu vigilantes, who police are still trying to identify.
3316
3317But police also said they were preparing a case against the survivors of the attack, whom they suspect of trying to smuggle the cattle across state borders.
3318
3319Cows are considered sacred in Hindu-majority India, where squads of vigilantes roam highways inspecting livestock trucks for any trace of the animal.
3320
3321Slaughtering cows is illegal in many Indian states and some also require a licence for transporting them across state borders.
3322
3323Alwar police chief Rahul Prakash said the victim and his associates were returning to their home state of Haryana when the mob intercepted their vehicle.
3324
3325Prakash said the six others have now been discharged from hospital, adding that a postmortem would determine the cause of Khan's death.
3326
3327"We are yet to receive the postmortem report but he had multiple rib fractures," he told AFP.
3328
3329Another officer, Ramesh Chand Sinsinwar, told AFP police were preparing a case against the survivors.
3330
3331"They were carrying eight bovines in the mini truck without permission. We will file a case against the survivors after concluding our investigations," said Sinsinwar, who is heading the investigation in the attack.
3332
3333Rajasthan home minister Gulab Chand Kataria told reporters that both sides were to blame for the incident.
3334
3335"It is illegal to transport cows, but people ignore it and cow protectors are trying to stop such people from trafficking them," Kataria told reporters.
3336
3337At least 10 Muslim men have been killed in similar incidents across the country by Hindu mobs on suspicion of eating beef or smuggling cows in the last two years.
3338
3339In 2015 a Muslim man was lynched by his neighbours over rumours that he had slaughtered a cow. Police later said the meat was mutton.
3340
3341Last month a hotel manager was beaten by a mob and his restaurant sealed in Jaipur after Hindu vigilantes accused him of serving beef.
3342
3343Critics say the vigilantes have been emboldened by the election in 2014 of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
3344
3345Last year Modi criticised the cow-protection vigilantes and urged a crackdown against groups using religion as a cover for committing crimes.
3346
3347But in March he appointed a right-wing Hindu priest to head the country's most populous state Uttar Pradesh, which is also home to much of the country's meat industry.
3348
3349Shortly after Yogi Adityanath was sworn in, police began shutting butcher shops, grinding much of the industry to a halt.
3350[/quote]
3351
3352https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy
3353
3354[quote]
3355[b]Blasphemy is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred things, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable.[1][2][3][4][/b]
3356[/quote]
3357
3358humanrightsfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/Blasphemy_Cases.pdf
3359
3360[quote]
3361[b]Egypt: In December 2011, Masoud Abdullah was accused of posting on Facebook allegedly insulting and blasphemous pictures of the Prophet Muhammad.[/b]
3362[/quote]
3363
3364http://bahai-library.com/?file=uhj_website_photo_bahaullah
3365
3366[quote]
3367[b]For Bahá'ís, the photograph of Bahá'u'lláh is very precious and it should not only be viewed but also handled with due reverence and respect, which is not the case here.[/b] Thus, it is indeed disturbing to Bahá'ís to have the image of Bahá'u'lláh treated in such a disrespectful way. However, as the creator of the site is not a Bahá'í, there is little, if anything, that can be done to address this matter. We hope these comments have been of assistance.
3368[/quote]
3369
3370https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heresy
3371
3372[quote]
3373[b]Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs. A heretic is a proponent of such claims or beliefs.[1] Heresy is distinct from both apostasy, which is the explicit renunciation of one's religion, principles or cause,[2] and blasphemy, which is an impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things.[3][/b]
3374[/quote]
3375
3376http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/children-of-satan-what-do-their-disturbing-tales-of-bloody-rituals-mean/news-story/da15171042d0783c6c8f6deb87dc579b
3377
3378[quote]
3379[b]In 1983, Judy Johnson, of California, accused a teacher at her son’s preschool of raping him, said faculty members had sex with animals and even claimed the teacher could fly.
3380
3381Johnson was hospitalised with paranoid schizophrenia[/b] and died before the end of the preliminary hearing from problems related to alcoholism. But LA’s Children’s Institute International then interviewed several hundred children about the alleged incident.
3382
3383[b]The students were coerced through suggestive interview techniques into making bizarre claims including the existence of secret tunnels[/b] under the school in which the alleged abuse took place; orgies supposedly conducted in car washes and airports; disturbing games in which children were allegedly photographed nude; mutilation of corpses; blood drinking; baby sacrifice and a flying teacher.
3384
3385[b]Pazder was consulted by the prosecution as an expert on Satanic ritual abuse and corroborated the claims. All parties in the McMartin preschool trial were acquitted of all charges in 1990.[/b]
3386[/quote]
3387
3388https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/pizzagate-from-rumor-to-hashtag-to-gunfire-in-dc/2016/12/06/4c7def50-bbd4-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html
3389
3390[quote]
3391[b]What was finally real was Edgar Welch, driving from North Carolina to Washington to rescue sexually abused children he believed were hidden in mysterious tunnels beneath a neighborhood pizza joint.[/b]
3392
3393What was real was Welch — a father, former firefighter and sometime movie actor who was drawn to dark mysteries he found on the Internet — terrifying customers and workers with his ­assault-style rifle as he searched Comet Ping Pong, police said. He found no hidden children, no secret chambers, no evidence of a child sex ring run by the failed Democratic candidate for president of the United States, or by her campaign chief, or by the owner of the pizza place.
3394
3395[b]What was false were the rumors he had read, stories that crisscrossed the globe about a charming little pizza place that features ping-pong tables in its back room.
3396
3397The story of Pizzagate is about what is fake and what is real. It’s a tale of a scandal that never was, and of a fear that has spread through channels that did not even exist until recently.
3398
3399Pizzagate — the belief that code words and satanic symbols point to a sordid underground along an ordinary retail strip in the nation’s capital — is possible only because science has produced the most powerful tools ever invented to find and disseminate information.[/b]
3400[/quote]
3401
3402https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/jmbwp4/how-is-the-internet-changing-schizophrenia-915
3403
3404[quote]
3405[b]How People with Schizophrenia Use the Internet
3406
3407Those suffering from delusions can find support groups online, but they can also come across shoddy information and scams that can trigger their conditions.[/b]
3408
3409...
3410
3411[b]What starts out as simple informative research can quickly become a major trip down a conspiracy rabbit hole. "I remember one [survey respondent] telling me about looking up every single word, and going deeper and deeper and deeper," Schrank said. And conspiracies are only harmless until you put your health on the line.[/b]
3412[/quote]
3413
3414
3415https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/06/23/satanic-panic/
3416
3417[quote]
3418At trial, Dr. Noblitt testified about the existence of cults using ritual abuse and of organized satanic networks engaged in wide-ranging criminal enterprises including child abuse. The picture painted by Dr. Noblitt in his testimony at trial is one where criminal cults are common across the United States, and that these alleged cults typically engage in torture and murder of both adults and children. [b]Furthermore, Dr. Noblitt opined that these cults are experts in a form of mind control or brainwashing[/b] in which victims are so heavily traumatized that they develop total and complete amnesia until the victim enters therapy and recovers the memory. His descriptions of these cults involved rape, murder, torture, grave robbing, and ceremonial animal and human sacrifice. Furthermore, he alleged that these activities took place at churches, involved police officers and other professional individuals. Lurid media coverage of this issue at the time additionally invoked the specter of widespread cannibalism. In order to explain the lack of physical evidence for these outrageous crimes, Dr. Noblitt explained to the jury that these cults will frequently lead their victims to believe in something preposterous, so that if they ever told of their tortures the stories would involve elements that would be so far-fetched that the victims would necessarily be disbelieved. [b]This, according to Dr. Noblitt, was done intentionally by the cults as part of the mind control programming in order to discredit their victims.[/b]
3419
3420In an interview shortly after the trial in a local newspaper, Dr. Noblitt was described as having been the prosecution expert witness in many ritual abuse cases, including the Keller case (Dickinson, 1993). [b]He stated in that interview that Dan Keller, while in court, used a mysterious hand signal to mind-control people within the courtroom.[/b] Further, he asserted that cults use severe torture on victims and that all memory of the torture is repressed. In a direct quote from this news article, Dr. Noblitt stated: [b]“I believe they use a technique of mind control unknown in legitimate psychology.[/b] It’s akin to hypnosis, created through abuse…the state of shock is so severe that it sends the victim into a deep trance state. Then cult members use different signals or triggers…” to control the victims.
3421[/quote]
3422
3423https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/11/health/gang-stalking-targeted-individuals.html
3424
3425[quote]
3426[b]A growing tribe of troubled minds
3427
3428Mental health professionals say the narrative has taken hold among a group of people experiencing psychotic symptoms that have troubled the human mind since time immemorial. Except now victims are connecting on the internet, organizing and defying medical explanations for what’s happening to them.
3429
3430The community, conservatively estimated to exceed 10,000 members, has proliferated since 9/11, cradled by the internet and fed by genuine concerns over government surveillance. A large number appear to have delusional disorder or schizophrenia, psychiatrists say.[/b]
3431
3432Yet, the phenomenon remains virtually unresearched.
3433
3434[b]For the few specialists who have looked closely, these individuals represent an alarming development in the history of mental illness: thousands of sick people, banded together and demanding recognition on the basis of shared paranoias.
3435
3436They raise money, hold awareness campaigns, host international conferences and fight for their causes in courts and legislatures
3437
3438Perhaps their biggest victory came last year, when believers in Richmond, Calif., persuaded the City Council to pass a resolution banning space-based weapons that they believe could be used for mind control. A similar lobbying effort is underway in Tucson.[/b]
3439[/quote]
3440
3441https://www.livingwithschizophreniauk.org/symptoms-of-schizophrenia/
3442
3443[quote]
3444[b]Sometimes people with psychosis[/b] will believe that they are special or chosen. They may believe that they are a saint or a prophet sent by God or that they are Jesus Christ himself. They may sometimes believe that they are the reincarnation of some famous person from history or entertainment. They [b]may also believe that they can control the weather[/b], world events or other people’s thoughts.
3445[/quote]
3446
3447
3448
3449http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/climate-engineering-weather-warfare-and-the-collapse-of-civilization/
3450
3451[quote]
3452[b]CLIMATE ENGINEERING WEATHER WARFARE, AND THE COLLAPSE OF CIVILIZATION[/b]
3453
3454Planet Earth is under an all out weather warfare assault. In this video, Dane Wigington gives another presentation in Northern California on the harmful effects of Geoengineering, declaring that [b]there is virtually NO NATURAL WEATHER due to the massive global climate engineering[/b]. The very essentials needed to sustain life on earth are being recklessly destroyed by these programs. This is not a topic that will begin to affect us in several years, but is now already causing massive animal and plant die off around the world, as well as human illness. read more
3455[/quote]
3456
3457http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/we-dont-need-science-chemtrail-truthers-badger-gop-congressman-at-rowdy-public-meeting/
3458
3459[quote]
3460[b]In a contentious back and forth with constituents at a public meeting in Kingman, Arizona, a Republican congressman tried to allay fears over so-called chemtrails only to have his explanations swatted away with one man yelling, “We don’t need science!”[/b]
3461
3462Arizona has become Ground Zero for conspiracy theorists who claim that the government or the “New World Order” is attempting to control the populace and the environment by spraying chemicals into the air from passing airplanes.
3463
3464Rep. Paul Gosar attended the meeting on Tuesday to listen to constituents express concerns on a variety of topics, but the meeting grew heated when the topic of chemtrails came up.
3465
3466“My name is Al DiCicco, and my question is related to our environment here in Arizona,” one man said while standing in the hall festooned with mounted animal heads.” For the past several years we’ve been testing people’s blood, hair follicles, rainwater, and soil…” at which point Gosar interrupted him and asked, “What group are you with?”
3467
3468[b]“I’m not in a group, you know what I mean. I’ve been involved in opposing geo-engineering projects above Arizona as well as elsewhere,” the man explained. “We have a serious situation here, where we have submitted information to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality whose own mission statement is to protect our environment, including our air, and, you’re talking about granddkids? Yes, I have three kids and I have my own life.”[/b]
3469
3470With his voice rising, the man continued, “My body is filled with barium, aluminum, and strontium, and nobody is doing anything about it. That’s why I’m here today. Because we want answers and we want something done instead of being placated and have people make fun of us about tin-foil hats. Well, go get your blood tested. You’ll throw your tin-foil hat away, as well as your jokes. This is a serious matter.”
3471
3472[b]Indicating the audience, he said, “We all are aware that geo-engineering and solar radiation management is going on worldwide. My questions is: what are you going to do about it, and when?”[/b]
3473
3474Following applause from the assembled crowd, Gosar asked, “Okay, who are science guys here?”
3475
3476“We don’t need science,” DiCicco yelled from the back of the room stunning the congressman who replied, “Really?”
3477
3478Admitting that he too “doesn’t trust our government,” Gosar admonished the crowd about blaming the United Nations, while pointing out that barium and uranium are “ambient” chemical elements already found in high concentrations in the Grand Canyon state.
3479
3480After a woman interrupts him to say, “We’re talking about what is being dispensed by aircraft,” Gosar replies, “Well, there is nothing there.”
3481
3482As the woman attempts to explain, “There’s covert operations…” Gosar screws up his face and says, “Yeah, come on.”
3483
3484While admitting that he has concerns, Gosar tells the crowd, “In some ways I have to start trusting the National Institute for Health,” as the woman continues to shout, saying “we’ve all been studying it” along with “millions of people all around the world.”
3485[/quote]
3486
3487
3488
3489I will take a closer look at some of these movements in a subsequent post.
3490
3491Note that I will be somewhat repetitive with my citations from hereon, in that more so than before I will post excerpts already posted, and yet that this is required to maintain the flow of the narration, as well as that once essentially familiar with a given excerpt you can learn to recognize it almost as if a single word rather than to read it in its entirety. I will be in this post as well as subsequent posts taking a closer look at some of these movements which I have purported as establishments of religion, starting with the Sex Cult.
3492
3493
3494So, the Sex Cult itself is a rather amorphous collection of individuals with similar beliefs yet with sometimes even notable distinctions between them. There is not per-se a singular Sex Cult, but rather Sex Cultism is much like Christianity with numerous denominations underneath of it. For example, although with much of the same delusional content as the Sex Cult emergent in the 1980s, PizzaGate was fundamentally distinct to my perception from the other Sex Cultist organizations.
3495
3496https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/pizzagate-from-rumor-to-hashtag-to-gunfire-in-dc/2016/12/06/4c7def50-bbd4-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html
3497
3498Note the tunnels, which are a recurrent theme in the most delusional of the ideation of the Sex Cultists:
3499
3500[quote]
3501[b]What was finally real was Edgar Welch, driving from North Carolina to Washington to rescue sexually abused children he believed were hidden in mysterious tunnels beneath a neighborhood pizza joint.[/b]
3502
3503What was real was Welch — a father, former firefighter and sometime movie actor who was drawn to dark mysteries he found on the Internet — terrifying customers and workers with his ­assault-style rifle as he searched Comet Ping Pong, police said. He found no hidden children, no secret chambers, no evidence of a child sex ring run by the failed Democratic candidate for president of the United States, or by her campaign chief, or by the owner of the pizza place.
3504
3505[b]What was false were the rumors he had read, stories that crisscrossed the globe about a charming little pizza place that features ping-pong tables in its back room.
3506
3507The story of Pizzagate is about what is fake and what is real. It’s a tale of a scandal that never was, and of a fear that has spread through channels that did not even exist until recently.
3508
3509Pizzagate — the belief that code words and satanic symbols point to a sordid underground along an ordinary retail strip in the nation’s capital — is possible only because science has produced the most powerful tools ever invented to find and disseminate information.[/b]
3510[/quote]
3511
3512[quote]
3513[b]An oddly disproportionate share of the tweets about Pizzagate appear to have come from, of all places, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Vietnam, said Jonathan Albright, an assistant professor of media analytics at Elon University in North Carolina. In some cases, the most avid retweeters appeared to be bots, programs designed to amplify certain news and information.
3514
3515“What bots are doing is really getting this thing trending on Twitter,” Albright said. “These bots are providing the online crowds that are providing legitimacy.”
3516
3517Online, the more something is retweeted or otherwise shared, the more prominently it appears in social media and on sites that track “trending” news. As the bots joined ordinary Twitter users in pushing out Pizzagate-related rumors, the notion spread like wildfire. Who programmed the bots to focus on that topic remains unknown.[/b]
3518[/quote]
3519
3520As you can see, much of the delusionality of the PizzaGatists is similar to that of the Sex Cultists of the 1980s, and yet they are by and large distinct from the 1980s Sex Cultists. Regarding the last excerpt, keep in mind the conformity of the neurotypical brain into the crowd, as well as:
3521
3522https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks
3523
3524[quote]
3525[b]The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.[/b]
3526[/quote]
3527
3528It has been speculated that nation state actors were behind the PizzaGate religion, though I don't intend to be side tracked down this tangent. Continuing on with my narrative, it should be noted that individuals with similar personal characteristics to many of the contemporary Sex Cultists:
3529
3530https://www.vice.com/read/in-arizona-project-rose-is-arresting-sex-workers-to-save-them
3531
3532[quote]
3533[b]Project ROSE is a Phoenix city program that arrests sex workers in the name of saving them. In five two-day stings, more than 100 police officers targeted alleged sex workers on the street and online. They brought them in handcuffs to the Bethany Bible Church.[/b] There, the sex workers were forced to meet with prosecutors, detectives, and representatives of Project ROSE, who offered a diversion program to those who qualified. Those who did not may face months or years in jail.
3534[/quote]
3535
3536https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_ritual_abuse
3537
3538[quote]
3539[b]As the explanations for SRA were distanced from evangelical Christianity and associated with "survivor" groups, the motivations ascribed to purported Satanists shifted from combating a religious nemesis, to mind control and abuse as an end to itself.[45][/b]
3540[/quote]
3541
3542[quote]
3543[b]The initial investigations of SRA were performed by anthropologists and sociologists, who failed to find evidence of SRA actually occurring; instead they concluded that SRA was a result of rumors and folk legends that were spread by "media hype, Christian fundamentalism, mental health and law enforcement professionals and child abuse advocates."[93] Sociologists and journalists noted the vigorous nature with which some evangelical activists and groups were using claims of SRA to further their religious and political goals.[136][/b]
3544[/quote]
3545
3546https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/oct/20/trafficking-numbers-women-exaggerated
3547
3548[quote]
3549There is something familiar about the tide of misinformation which has swept through the subject of sex trafficking in the UK: it flows through exactly the same channels as the now notorious torrent about Saddam Hussein's weapons.
3550...
3551In both cases, the cycle has been driven by political opportunists and interest groups in pursuit of an agenda. In the case of sex trafficking, [b]the role of the neo-conservatives and Iraqi exiles has been played by an unlikely union of evangelical Christians with feminist campaigners, who pursued the trafficking tale to secure their greater goal, not of regime change, but of legal change to abolish all prostitution.[/b] The sex trafficking story is a model of misinformation. It began to take shape in the mid 1990s, when the collapse of economies in the old Warsaw Pact countries saw the working flats of London flooded with young women from eastern Europe. Soon, there were rumours and media reports that attached a new word to these women. They had been "trafficked".
3552[/quote]
3553
3554(recall:
3555
3556https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1382/MR1382.ch7.pdf
3557
3558[quote]
3559[b]Networks, as opposed to institutions, are shaped by decentralized command and control structures, are resistant to “decapitation” attacks targeting leaders, and are amorphous enough to weld together coalitions with significantly different agendas while concentrating forces on a single symbolic target.[/b]
3560[/quote]
3561)
3562
3563
3564were actually in the late 19th century identified inventing tabloid journalism toward the incitement of mass panics:
3565
3566https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maiden_Tribute_of_Modern_Babylon
3567
3568[quote]
3569[b]"The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon" was a series of highly controversial newspaper articles on child prostitution that appeared in The Pall Mall Gazette in July 1885.
3570
3571Written by crusading editor W. T. Stead, the series was a tour de force of Victorian journalism. With sensational crossheads, such as "The Violation of Virgins" and "Strapping Girls Down", the Maiden Tribute threw respectable Victorians into a state of moral panic, and achieved, as a consequence, the implementation of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which raised the age of consent for girls from 13 to 16, and also re-criminalised homosexual acts.[/b]
3572[/quote]
3573
3574https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thomas_Stead
3575
3576[quote]
3577[b]Stead's 'new journalism' paved the way for the modern tabloid in Great Britain.[3][/b]
3578[/quote]
3579
3580[quote]
3581[b]He was born in Embleton, Northumberland, the son of the Reverend William Stead, a poor but respected Congregational minister, and Isabella (née Jobson), a cultivated daughter of a Yorkshire farmer.[5] [/b]
3582[/quote]
3583
3584http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/case-studies/230
3585
3586[quote]
3587At the end of 19th century, moral reformers drew the age of consent into campaigns against prostitution. Revelations of child prostitution were central to those campaigns, a situation that resulted, reformers argued, from men taking advantage of the innocence of girls just over the age of consent. [b]W. T. Stead's series of articles entitled, "The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon," published in the Pall Mall Gazette in 1885, was the most sensational and influential of these exposés.
3588
3589The outcry it provoked pushed British legislators to raise the age of consent to 16 years, and stirred reformers in the U.S, such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the British Empire, and Europe to push for similar legislation. By 1920, Anglo-American legislators had responded by increasing the age of consent to 16 years, and even as high as 18 years.[/b]
3590[/quote]
3591
3592https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman%27s_Christian_Temperance_Union
3593
3594[quote]
3595[b]The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an active temperance organization that was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity."[1] It was influential in the temperance movement, and supported the 18th Amendment.[/b]
3596[/quote]
3597
3598
3599
3600https://content.ucpress.edu/chapters/11128.ch01.pdf
3601
3602[quote]
3603media panic
3604
3605Social theorists from Georg Simmel to Jean Baudrillard have suggested that panic is implicit in the structure of mass society. Writing at the turn of the last century, Simmel begins with the basic features of contempo-rary life: modern metropolitan subjects live among strangers and are constantly bombarded by stimulation. Of necessity, they adopt an in- different, jaded sensibility, a “blasé attitude.” These cool, aloof people in turn crave excitement, intense sensation, and are thus primed for what Todd Gitlin would later call “the media torrent.” The mass media— newspapers, movies, and dime novels of Simmel’s period—provided the requisite sources of sensation. Now, as then, news that shocks, scandalizes, or evokes fear and dread brings temporary relief from the tedium of modern life. [b]However, these stories also quickly lose their power to excite, reinforcing the blasé attitude and stoking the need for ever more extreme forms of stimulation. In the culture of modernity, then, periods of panic will alternate with periods of social rest, and journalism, especially yellow journalism, plays a key part in setting the rhythm. 12[/b]
3606[/quote]
3607
3608https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism
3609
3610[quote]
3611[b]Yellow journalism
3612
3613Yellow journalism, or the yellow press, is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering or sensationalism.[/b]
3614[/quote]
3615
3616
3617A tradition which outfits such as Daily Mail are carrying on to this day:
3618
3619
3620https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/08/wikipedia-bans-daily-mail-as-unreliable-source-for-website
3621
3622[quote]
3623[b]Wikipedia bans Daily Mail as 'unreliable' source
3624
3625Online encyclopaedia editors rule out publisher as a reference citing ‘reputation for poor fact checking and sensationalism’[/b]
3626[/quote]
3627
3628For example with this article with the headline:
3629
3630https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6257921/Authorities-123-missing-children-just-ONE-day.html
3631
3632[quote]
3633[b]Authorities find 123 missing children in just ONE day during a Michigan sex trafficking operation[/b]
3634[/quote]
3635
3636But a closer inspection of the article demonstrating their standard trickery:
3637
3638[quote]
3639The one-day initiative, which took place on September 26, recovered 123 of the 301 children that had been reported missing in the area following weeks of investigations.
3640
3641All of those children were physically located and interviewed about potentially being sexually victimized or used in a sex trafficking ring during the time they were missing.
3642
3643[b]Authorities discovered three cases that were related to sex trafficking[/b] and one homeless teen who had not eaten anything in three days.
3644[/quote]
3645
3646As is common for all such things. An introduction to NCMEC, which we will be looking closer at subsequently.
3647
3648http://www.freerangekids.com/group-that-put-missing-kids-pictures-on-milk-cartons-now-says-dont-teach-kids-stranger-danger/
3649
3650[quote]
3651On Good Morning America last week, a spokesman for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children — the people who put the missing kids’ pictures on the milk cartons without bothering to explain that the vast majority were runaways or taken in custody disputes, not nabbed by predators — told parents NOT to teach their kids stranger danger.
3652
3653And actually, NCMEC told me that, too, when I interviewed them for my book — I quote them. But it always felt like they were talking out of both sides of their mouth, because when they were interviewed by OTHER sources, they kept warning about all the danger out there.
3654
3655Dr. Marty Klein, whose Sex, Culture and Intelligence blog’s motto is “Changing the Way People, Politics & the Media Look at Sex,” did the heavy lifting on why this late-date “Don’t demonize strangers” statement seems both welcome AND hypocritical:
3656
3657Yesterday, Callahan Walsh of NCMEC—The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children—appeared on Good Morning America to urge parents to stop using the phrase “stranger danger”—the phrase that NCMEC itself popularized for decades. They rightly noted—finally—that most child sexual exploitation is from someone known to the child, not a stranger.
3658
3659For decades, NCMEC has told parents to fear “stranger danger,” and instructed them to transmit this fear to their kids. They even got the phrase institutionalized in elementary schools.
3660
3661[b]NCMEC has been one of the single biggest drivers of parents’ fear in our lifetime. By conflating “missing” and “exploited,” they have panicked Americans into thinking the average child is “at risk” of being kidnapped. By talking about “children” they conflate the experiences of five-year-olds and 17-year-olds. According to their own website, over 90% of “missing” teens are not “missing,” they have run away. Some are no doubt living on the street and risking their health and lives, but they have not been kidnapped. In fact, over 3/4 of runaways are running away from institutions like foster homes and other social services.[/b]
3662
3663And in a note that should calm some of the folks afraid that their children will be snatched by sex traffickers at Ikea or the grocery store, Klein parsed the gulf between our fears of trafficking and the still sad, but less ubiquitous reality:
3664
3665[b]NCMEC is driving the issue of sex trafficking as hard as it can. By expanding the definition of “sex trafficking” to include every sex worker, porn actress, and minor person having sex with an adult, they have successfully convinced Americans that huge numbers of Americans are sex trafficked. It’s a lie.[/b]
3666
3667This is a point Elizabeth Nolan Brown makes repeatedly — see this investigative piece of hers in Reason (a magazine I also write for). While we’re at it, read this piece of hers from last week: “Enough Stranger Danger! Children Rarely Abducted by Those They Don’t Know.”
3668
3669As Dr. Klein explains, NCMEC was born in real, undeniable grief. But along with its mission to save kids from a terrible and terribly rare fate, it exaggerated the likelihood of abduction. (For a great book on this, read Joel Best’s “Threatened Children: Rhetoric and Concern About Child Victims):
3670
3671Created by a few agonized people who had been devastated by violence against their children, NCMEC’s initial shocking message was (and still is), “You could be us,” creating an atmosphere of fear, rage, and moral panic completely disproportionate to the actual danger. Yesterday on TV, they encouraged parents to ignore what they used to say, and to use different, more sophisticated words. But their fundamental message—that parents should be scared, that predators lurk everywhere—remains the same.
3672
3673In revoking their position on “stranger danger,” NCMEC still doesn’t tell the key truth—that the rate of kids being molested is NOT increasing (so says the FBI).
3674
3675And while even a single missing child is too many, it isn’t even a fraction as many as NCMEC invites you to believe.
3676
3677[b]How many kids are kidnapped each year—150,000? 50,000? The fine print on NCMEC’s own website says the number is less than 1,400—of which over 1,000 are abductions by the child’s own family member. There are about 200 stranger kidnappings in the U.S. every year. Your kid is more likely to get killed by lightning.[/b]
3678
3679And yet by manipulating and reinforcing our deepest fears, NCMEC has entrenched itself as a political player getting significant government funding.
3680
3681So good riddance to the fear of “stranger danger.” But don’t hold your breath waiting for NCMEC to apologize. Perhaps they could atone by encouraging parents to pay attention to the biggest danger that kids actually face—texting while riding their bikes.
3682
3683
3684I so agree that the safety messages that should take priority are: Look both ways before crossing the street. Put down that device while moving. Wear your seatbelt.
3685
3686[b]And I have even better news than Klein. The latest number we have for stranger kidnappings is 105/year, not 200. Still too many. Still not the 50,000/year NCMEC used to claim in Congressional hearings. (And for a good piece on how the number 50,000 is the “Goldilocks number” — big enough to scare people, but not SO big that it gets dismissed as implausible — here’s a story from NPR.)[/b]
3687
3688Okay. Enough with the links. Next week I will try to post about the other problem with the Good Morning America “parent calming” piece. (Hint: It won’t calm anyone.) – L
3689[/quote]
3690
3691However, although arguably more directly related than PizzaGate, and perhaps an early emergence of the same general religious establishment, the Sex Cultists most prominent in the late 19th century cannot to my knowledge directly by lineage be connected to the modern day Sex Cultists of the United Nations. So, going back to the late 1970s and through the 1980s, we start to get our first glimpse into the modern day superordinate Sex Cult denomination:
3692
3693http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume7/j7_3_5.htm
3694
3695[quote]
3696[b]Since the early 1980s, with the breakdown of the Communist empire, sex abusers have become the most common persecutors for paranoids.[/b]
3697[/quote]
3698
3699Itself strongly associated with a pseudoscientific industry of pseudo-psychiatry called recovered memory therapy, which was used as well as numerous other pseudoscientific pseudo-psychiatric interrogation  techniques in the interviewing of children regarding Satanic Ritual Sex Abuse:
3700
3701https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/false-memory-syndrome-alive-and-well/
3702
3703[quote]
3704It is disheartening that we have to return to pseudosciences that have been debunked decades ago, because they continue to linger despite being eviscerated by scientific scrutiny. Belief systems and myths have incredible cultural inertia, and they are difficult to eradicate completely. That is why belief in astrology, while in the minority, persists.
3705
3706Professions, however, should be different. A healing profession should be held to a certain minimum standard of care, and that standard should be based upon something real, which means that scientific evidence needs to be brought to bear. Professionals are not excused for persisting in false beliefs that have long been discredited.
3707
3708[b]The 1980s saw the peak of an idea that was never based on science, the notion that people can suppress memories of traumatic events, and those repressed memories can manifest as seemingly unconnected mental health issues, such as anxiety or eating disorders. The idea was popularized mostly by the book The Courage to Heal (the 20th anniversary edition was published in 2008), in which the authors took the position that clients, especially women, who have any problem should be encouraged to recover memories of abuse, and if such memories can be dredged up, they are real.[/b]
3709
3710....
3711
3712
3713[b]Recovered memory syndrome was a massive failure on the part of the mental health profession. The ideas, which were extraordinary, were never empirically demonstrated. Further, basic questions were insufficiently asked – is there any empirical evidence to support the amazing events emerging from therapy, for example? Is it possible that the recovered memories are an artifact of therapy and are not real?[/b]
3714
3715
3716....
3717
3718
3719[b]While there is some legitimate controversy over whether or not it is even possible to repress such memories and accurately recall them later, there is no question that the massive repressed memory industry of the 1980s and 90s was not evidence-based and was essentially an industry of creating false memory syndrome. The fact that a controversial idea was put into practice so widely, despite the risks to patients and their families, indicates, in my opinion, a systemic lack of self-regulation within the mental health profession.
3720
3721More disappointing is the fact that recovered memory therapy is still ongoing today, which is completely unacceptable. Even if you wish to adhere to the minority opinion among memory experts that repressed memory is possible, the evidence does not justify putting it into practice. The potential for harm is more than sufficient to suspend the practice pending further evidence (if you wish to be a holdout).[/b]
3722
3723
3724
3725....
3726
3727[b]A recent article demonstrates that recovered memory therapy still has the potential to completely destroy innocent lives. The article details the case of a father accused of long-term sexual abuse by his daughter who “recovered” the memories while being treated for depression and an eating disorder. He was eventually cleared, but only after his life was shattered. Child Protective Services actually took the “recovered memory” claims seriously, which is yet another failure.[/b]
3728[/quote]
3729
3730digitalcommons.utep.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=james_wood
3731
3732[quote]
3733[b]In  the  1980s  and  early  1990s  the  United  States  witnessed  an  outbreak  of bizarre  ‘‘daycare  abuse’’  cases  in  which  groups  of  young  children  levelled allegations of sexual and Satanic abuse against their teachers.[/b] In the present study,   quantitative   analyses   were   performed   on  a   total   of   54   interview transcripts from two highly publicised daycare cases (McMartin Preschool and Kelly  Michaels)  and  a  comparison  group  of  child  sexual  abuse  cases  from a   Child   Protection   Service   (CPS).   [b]Confirming   the   impression   of   prior commentators,  systematic  analyses  showed  that  interviews  from  the  two daycare cases were highly suggestive.[/b] Compared with the CPS interviews, the McMartin  and/or  Michaels  interviewers  were  significantly  more  likely  to  (a) introduce  new  suggestive  information  into  the  interview,  (b)  provide  praise, promises,  and  positive  reinforcement,  (c)  express  disapproval,  disbelief,  or disagreement  with  children,  (d)  exert  conformity  pressure,  and  (e)  invite children to pretend or speculate about supposed events
3734[/quote]
3735
3736
3737https://theconversation.com/the-legacy-of-implanted-satanic-abuse-memories-is-still-causing-damage-today-43755
3738
3739[quote]
3740[b]The legacy of implanted Satanic abuse ‘memories’ is still causing damage today[/b]
3741
3742When 21-year-old nurse Carol Felstead went to her doctor complaining of repeated headaches, she wasn’t just prescribed painkillers. Instead, she was referred for psychotherapy that would ultimately involve hypnosis to “recover” so-called repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse. Carol subsequently came to believe that her parents were the leaders of a Satanic cult and that her mother murdered another of her children, sat Carol on top of the body and then set fire to the family home.
3743
3744But these allegations were untrue and the memories they were based upon were incorrect. [b]Today, almost 30 years on, “recovered memory therapy” has been discredited by the scientific and academic community and is known to implant false memories, apparent memories for events that never actually happened.[/b]
3745
3746Experimental psychologists have repeatedly demonstrated the ease with which false memories can be implanted in a sizeable proportion of the population under well-controlled laboratory conditions. But it is also undoubtedly the case that such false memories can arise spontaneously as well as in the context of psychotherapy.
3747
3748Although we are typically not consciously aware of it, we often have to judge whether an apparent memory is real. Is it based upon mental events that were purely internally generated (for example, by imagination or a dream) or based upon events which really took place in the external world?
3749Implanting false memories
3750
3751[b]One of the techniques that has been shown to result in false memories is asking people to imagine events that never actually took place. It appears that, eventually and especially in people with good imaginations, the memory of the imagined event is misinterpreted as a memory for a real event. The use of hypnotic regression is a particularly powerful means to implant false memories.[/b]
3752[/quote]
3753
3754https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory_syndrome
3755
3756[quote]
3757[b]Malpractice cases
3758
3759During the late 1990s, there were multiple lawsuits in the United States in which psychiatrists and psychologists were successfully sued, or settled out of court, on the charge of propagating iatrogenic memories of childhood sexual abuse, incest, and satanic ritual abuse.[35]
3760
3761Some of these suits were brought by individuals who later declare that their recovered memories of incest or satanic ritual abuse had been false. The False Memory Syndrome Foundation uses the term retractors to describe these individuals, and have shared their stories publicly.[36] There is debate regarding the total number of retractions as compared to the total number of allegations,[37] and the reasons for retractions.[38][/b]
3762[/quote]
3763
3764
3765
3766On to the matter itself:
3767
3768
3769https://psmag.com/satan-has-no-interest-in-molesting-your-kids-97adc0fc26d8
3770
3771[quote]
3772Victorian-style devil outrage reached a fever pitch in the family-values 1980s. In his 2015 book We Believe the Children: A Moral Panic in the 1980s, author Richard Beck tells the story of a series of allegations of ritualized Satanic child abuse in daycare centers around the country. [b]Through painstaking elicitation, police, prosecutors, and investigators managed to get children to testify to all sorts of unthinkable violations. Not just sexual assault: There were allegations of gamified animal torture and vast networks of child porn production and distribution. And, of course, the devil.[/b]
3773
3774I asked Beck if in all his exhaustive research he had been able to track down a single instance of verified Satanic ritual child abuse. “No,” says. “My editor and I joked that the book would sell better if I could find an actual case, but as far as I could find it never happened.” [b]Since they didn’t occur in reality, the infernal elements had to be products of adult interpretation and suggestion.[/b] Yet whole municipalities managed to convince themselves that there were hidden networks of devil worship and child abuse in their own backyards. How did they accomplish such a feat?
3775[/quote]
3776
3777https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/06/23/satanic-panic/
3778
3779[quote]
3780At trial, Dr. Noblitt testified about the existence of cults using ritual abuse and of organized satanic networks engaged in wide-ranging criminal enterprises including child abuse. The picture painted by Dr. Noblitt in his testimony at trial is one where criminal cults are common across the United States, and that these alleged cults typically engage in torture and murder of both adults and children. [b]Furthermore, Dr. Noblitt opined that these cults are experts in a form of mind control or brainwashing[/b] in which victims are so heavily traumatized that they develop total and complete amnesia until the victim enters therapy and recovers the memory. His descriptions of these cults involved rape, murder, torture, grave robbing, and ceremonial animal and human sacrifice. Furthermore, he alleged that these activities took place at churches, involved police officers and other professional individuals. Lurid media coverage of this issue at the time additionally invoked the specter of widespread cannibalism. In order to explain the lack of physical evidence for these outrageous crimes, Dr. Noblitt explained to the jury that these cults will frequently lead their victims to believe in something preposterous, so that if they ever told of their tortures the stories would involve elements that would be so far-fetched that the victims would necessarily be disbelieved. [b]This, according to Dr. Noblitt, was done intentionally by the cults as part of the mind control programming in order to discredit their victims.[/b]
3781
3782In an interview shortly after the trial in a local newspaper, [b]Dr. Noblitt was described as having been the prosecution expert witness in many ritual abuse cases, including the Keller case (Dickinson, 1993). He stated in that interview that Dan Keller, while in court, used a mysterious hand signal to mind-control people within the courtroom.[/b] Further, he asserted that cults use severe torture on victims and that all memory of the torture is repressed. In a direct quote from this news article, [b]Dr. Noblitt stated: “I believe they use a technique of mind control unknown in legitimate psychology.[/b] It’s akin to hypnosis, created through abuse…the state of shock is so severe that it sends the victim into a deep trance state. Then cult members use different signals or triggers…” to control the victims.
3783[/quote]
3784
3785http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/children-of-satan-what-do-their-disturbing-tales-of-bloody-rituals-mean/news-story/da15171042d0783c6c8f6deb87dc579b
3786
3787[quote]
3788[b]In 1983, Judy Johnson, of California, accused a teacher at her son’s preschool of raping him, said faculty members had sex with animals and even claimed the teacher could fly.
3789
3790Johnson was hospitalised with paranoid schizophrenia[/b] and died before the end of the preliminary hearing from problems related to alcoholism. But LA’s Children’s Institute International then interviewed several hundred children about the alleged incident.
3791
3792The students were coerced through suggestive interview techniques into making bizarre claims including the existence of secret tunnels under the school in which the alleged abuse took place; orgies supposedly conducted in car washes and airports; disturbing games in which children were allegedly photographed nude; mutilation of corpses; blood drinking; baby sacrifice and a flying teacher.
3793
3794[b]Pazder was consulted by the prosecution as an expert on Satanic ritual abuse and corroborated the claims. All parties in the McMartin preschool trial were acquitted of all charges in 1990.[/b]
3795[/quote]
3796
3797Note this name, Dr. Densen-Gerber, as she is included in subsequent citations.
3798
3799https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/14/nyregion/dr-judianne-densen-gerber-is-dead-at-68-founded-odyssey-house-group-drug-program.html
3800
3801[quote]
3802A 1979 profile in New York magazine quoted Mayor Edward I. Koch as saying that she was ''one of those seminal forces, original, a go-getter.'' He said there were ''few people who can claim as many accomplishments.''
3803
3804[b]Dr. Densen-Gerber's success at getting government help became her downfall when the state investigated her use of public funds in the early 1980's and found irregularities. She resigned as executive director of Odyssey House in 1983, but remained active in affiliated programs.
3805
3806Her influence extended to areas like child pornography. In 1977, her testimony that there were 264 monthly publications devoted to the subject helped persuade the House of Representatives to unanimously pass a bill to regulate it.
3807
3808IPT, the publication of the Institute for Psychological Therapy, reported in 1992 that later government investigations proved her estimates to be exaggerated by ''several orders of magnitude.''
3809
3810Dr. Densen-Gerber also commented on many other hot issues from a psychiatric point of view.
3811
3812In 1991, she went to Omaha to testify in court that her interview with a man convinced her he had witnessed four satanic ritual killings. She characterized herself as an expert at deprogramming survivors of satanic cults.[/b]
3813[/quote]
3814
3815So,
3816
3817ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume4/j4_2_1.htm
3818
3819[quote]
3820[b]The Origin of the Myths[/b]
3821
3822In 1976 Robin Lloyd, correspondent for NBC, published For Money or Love: Boy Prostitution in America (Out of Print)(Out of Print).18 In the book, for which a U.S. senator had written an introduction, Lloyd claimed that a huge network of prostitution involving 300,000 boys existed. The notion that child pornography trade is big business was initiated in this book. Yet, nowhere in the book is there any empirical basis for the number 300,000. Indeed, Lloyd admitted that it was a working hypothesis which he had suggested to a number of experts to test their reactions.19 This didn't prevent Judianne Densen-Gerber, director of Odyssey House, a chain of residential treatment clinics for drug addicts, from taking over the figure as if it represented a reliable statistic. She set about to mobilize public opinion against child pornography to which, she said, Lloyd had alerted her.
3823
3824The media followed the stories of child exploitation in detail. In the national periodicals during 1977 nine articles appeared.20 The New York Times, a paper known to avoid sensationalism, printed 27 articles that year compared to one in the two years before. When in May, 1977 the highly popular television series Sixty Minutes devoted a program to child pornography, a tidal wave of letters to politicians resulted.21 That spring a subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives held a series of hearings on the subject which lasted until autumn, keeping child pornography in the news in the U.S.A. A platform was established by crusaders against child pornography, and in the prevailing climate of moral panic their cries for stronger measures received wide political support.
3825
3826The chairman of the committee was Representative John Conyers Jr., who had organized the hearings to pass judgment on the proposal of Representatives Kildee and Murphy for a first Federal law against child pornography. It was this series of hearings that would make the question of child pornography a national issue. [b]The first hearing was dominated by the appearance of Judianne Densen-Gerber. Equipped. with some child pornography magazines, she shocked congressional representatives with her claim that she had, together with Robin Lloyd, counted 264 comparable publications that, according to her, appeared monthly (an exaggeration by a factor of several orders of magnitude as we shall see). The figures which Robin Lloyd had mentioned as a working hypothesis were repeated by Densen-Gerber as fact:[/b]
3827
3828Lloyd's book documented the involvement of 300,000 boys, aged 8 to 16, in activities revolving around sex for sale.22
3829
3830She then multiplied the number by two, because her intuition told her that 300,000 girls were also involved in such activities. She then multiplied it again by two since, according to Lloyd, the real figure was "twice what he (could) statistically validate,"23 and this lead to something like a million children. The chairman Conyers multiplied this again by two since, he reasoned, America had not only one million runaways but another one million school drop outs. In this way the contours of a national disaster were drawn. According to Conyers:
3831
3832"So we have somewhere possibly in the neighbourhood of 2 million kids who form a ready market for sexual exploitation from pornographers and the like."24
3833
3834[b]Densen-Gerber could not agree more. The Kildee-Murphy proposal was made law without any opposition: 401 for, 0 against.[/b]
3835[/quote]
3836
3837[quote]
3838[b]The Spread of Rumors[/b]
3839
3840In 1986 the Senate Commission33 under the chairmanship of William V. Roth, Republican from Delaware, came to the same conclusion as the ILIC report. Nevertheless, neither the Roth report nor the ILIC report were able to dampen the spread of rumors about an enormous trade. Even in 1986, the claims of Lloyd and Densen-Gerber continued to come up as facts in official reports: the Meese Commission, initiated by the Reagan administration to prepare a drastic sharpening of the anti-pornography laws, uncritically took over these claims.34 According to the Meese Commission, Congress had discovered that child pornography and child prostitution "have become highly organized, multi-million dollar industries that operate on a nationwide scale."35 The monthly appearance of 264 magazines (Densen-Gerber) was again reported as truth, alongside the 30,000 exploited children of Los Angeles (Lloyd Martin).
3841
3842[b]The U.S. Supreme Court took over these claims in their first child pornography case, New York v Ferber (1982), saying that child pornography comprised, "highly organized multimillion dollar industries that operate on a nationwide scale."36 The otherwise dignified court was so upset by the alleged extent of the problem that the solicitor for the accused, Herald Price Fahringer, lost his composure and fled the sitting as fast as he could.37[/b]
3843
3844The claims of Lloyd and Densen-Gerber also appeared outside the U.S.A. The report, Exploitation of Child Labour, which was submitted in 1981 to the Commission for Human Rights of the United Nations, claimed: "In the United States there are at least 264 pornographic magazines specializing in pornography concerning children."38 It was claimed that in 1977, 15,000 slides and 4,000 films of child pornography had been intercepted by the police, which was, according to the report, 5% of the total stock in circulation.
3845
3846[b]According to the United Nations report, the value of trade in child pornography in 1977 was estimated at $500 million. Such estimates are not based on any kind of empirical evidence, and are easy to refute. If these claims were true then the allegedly intercepted slides and films would have had a value of thousands of dollars each.39 In reality, these films were sold for much less, which can be checked with reference to the advertisement brochures of Deltaboek, publisher of homosexual pornography and literature. From here it is apparent that the Golden Boys film series, produced by COQ in Denmark, cost 85 guilders each, which is about $35.[/b]
3847
3848In 1986, Defence for Children International prepared a report on child prostitution in which they claimed: "Estimates on the number of child prostitutes vary from 300,000 to several millions for the U.S. and Canada."40 A year later these figures were taken over by the Norwegian Ministry of Justice.41 This report was later submitted to the Ministers of Justice of the member countries of the Council of Europe. Within the Council of Europe a report on child exploitation was written in which it was claimed that: "A study of boy prostitutes had suggested that there were 300,000 boy prostitutes in the United States, many of whom are designated runaways."42 The claims of the United Nations report were also repeated. As late as 1988 the Dutch language world development magazine, Onze Wereld (Our World), claimed that: "The American (sic) periodical43 Child Abuse and Neglect reported that in the United States at least 264 different child pornography magazines are in circulation. The kiddieporn stars are drawn from the numerous American runaway teenagers."44 The same article made similar exaggerated claims about alleged illicit trade in donor organs obtained from children killed for the purpose. The story about donor organs had also appeared in the report of the Council of Europe, although there was never any evidence and the story was not credible from the beginning.45
3849
3850[b]The alleged size of the child pornography trade and the many children said to have been involved, are little more than myths. They are the result of the arbitrary multiplication of arbitrary numbers of alleged victims made by a journalist. The claims had taken on a life of their own. The fact that these claims had by 1980 been rejected by thorough official investigations was insufficient to prevent the claim from reappearing, not only in the media but also in other official circles, including the United States Senate, the United States Supreme Court, a Commission of the American Justice Department, the United Nations and the Council of Europe. After the number had been cited in the Hearings of the House of Representatives, it became associated with an ostensibly reliable source. The fact that the original source was anything but reliable was forgotten.[/b]
3851[/quote]
3852
3853We have a clear social link between the Sex Cultists emergent in the late 1970s to the modern day superordinate Sex Cultist denomination, whereas regarding PizzaGatist Sex Cultists we have not such a social link established but rather only similarity of delusional content, and regarding the Sex Cultists most prominent in the late 19th century we have personal characteristics similar between them in the form of evangelical Christianity association and feminist association and the use of tabloids, yet not per-se a social link established between them, even as certainly tangential doctrinal convergence between them as the modern day superordinate Sex Cultist denomination supports typically still the age of consent established by the late 19th century Sex Cultists.
3854
3855
3856
3857This has thus far been predominately historical however, or otherwise involving less prominent denominations of Sex Cultism. Moving forward to the more modern Sex Cult, and starting with citations to an unfortunately defunct repository of information regarding the matter, which nevertheless I can attest to having authenticated the three billion dollar claim history of and with additional supporting evidence regarding the incorrectness of the twenty billion dollar claim:
3858
3859http://libertus.net/censor/resources/statistics-laundering.html#s3bfg
3860
3861[quote]
3862[b]"child pornography is one of the fastest growing online businesses generating approximately $US3 billion ($3.43 billion) each year"
3863
3864This '$US3 billion' figure has no credibility and even if it was factual as at January 2008, (when it appeared in an opinion article by Bernadette McMenamin, CEO of Child Wise/ ECPAT in Australia, with citing a source), then it could be regarded as 'good news' because it would mean (based on previously promulgated 'statistics') that there had been no increase at all in the five years to 2008, therefore 'child pornography' could not be "one of the fastest growing online businesses".
3865
3866The '$US3 billion' figure has been promulgated far and wide since at least mid 2003, when Utah-based Jerry Ropelato commenced publishing it, without citing a source, on his web site InternetFilterReview.com, which has since become part of his TopTenReviews.com. According to Texas-based Red Orbit News (5 Nov 2006) Ropelato was "formerly chief operating officer of ContentWatch, a Salt Lake City-based developer of Internet filtering and virus protection software. He is also known locally as a speaker and presenter on Internet safety issues, and as a crusader against online pornography."[44]
3867
3868The "fastest growing online businesses" claim originated with the U.S. NCMEC, in August 2005, which based its claim on the then two-year old US$3 billion 'statistic' promulgated by Ropelato. (The U.S. NCMEC has a long history of promulgating exaggerated/false statistics[45].)[/b]
3869
3870The origins and history of '$US3 billion' and 'fastest growing' claims is outlined below.
3871
3872June 2003 - March 2007: Since at least 21 June 2003[46], Ropelato had been claiming on his web site that "Child pornography generates $3 billion annually" (i.e. not necessarily via the Internet) without stating a source for that particular figure, or any of the many other 'pornography statistics' he promotes. Ropelato issued a press release making that and other uncredited statistical claims on 6 February 2004[47]. The claim remained on his 'Pornography Statistics' page until at least 6 March 2007[48], but had been deleted from the page by 15 March 2007[49] (according to the Internet Archive's WayBackMachine). His press release of 12 March 2007[50] which claimed to 'update' his previous 2003 uncredited 'statistics' about the 'worldwide pornography industry' did not mention child pornography. At least two journalists have attempted, without success, to ascertain sources of 'statistics' from Ropelato (see below).
387329 November 2004: Australian Federal Police ("AFP") Commissioner Mick Keelty stated in a speech:[51]
3874
3875Canadian estimates place the number of child pornography websites operating globally at over 100,000, generating around US$3 billion per annum
3876
3877April 2005: The Wall Street Journal's "Numbers Guy", Carl Bialik, investigated the origin of an estimate attributed to 'Canadian Police'[52] and subsequently reported that he was directed by the officer-in-charge of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's National Child Exploitation Coordination Center to a 2002 magazine article and also:
3878
3879to a Web site called Internet Filter Review... . My phone call to a number listed on the sites registration wasn't returned, and an e-mail to the sites contact address got bounced back to me.
3880
388118 August 2005: The U.S. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children ("NCMEC") issued a headline grabbing press release titled "Child Porn Among Fastest Growing Internet Businesses"[53] claiming:
3882
3883Within only a few years, child pornography has become a multi-billion dollar commercial enterprise, and is among the fastest growing businesses on the Internet.1
3884...
38851. Source: Top Ten Reviews 'Internet Filter Review' an online resource that reviews Internet Safety. (Reported that CP generates $3 billion annually)
3886
3887The NCMEC's media release provided no source or grounds for their 'fastest growing' business claim other than the footnote mention of Ropelato's then two-year old uncredited US$3 billion 'statistic' (which did not mention the Internet). Hence, there was no basis for the claim (in 2005, nor its repetition in 2008) that the so-called "commercial enterprise" is growing at all, let alone is "among the fastest growing".
3888September 2007: A research report published by the Australian Institute of Criminology ("AIC"), a Commonwealth statutory authority, stated[54]:
3889
3890Affordable technology has greatly facilitated the production and distribution of child pornography - a multi-billion dollar industry globally. [Introduction, page xx]
3891...
3892TopTenREVIEWS has estimated that child pornography generates approximately US$3 billion annually worldwide (Ropelato 2007). [page 62]
3893...
3894Ropelato J 2007. Internet pornography statistics. Internet Filter Review.
3895
3896Ropelato is the only source cited in the above AIC report for its "multi-billion dollar industry" claim.
38978 January 2008: An opinion article by Bernadette McMenamin, CEO of Child Wise/ECPAT in Australia, published in The Australian national newspaper, stated[55]:
3898
3899Child pornography is one of the fastest growing online businesses generating approximately $US3 billion ($3.43 billion) each year.
3900
3901In addition to The Wall Street Journal's "Numbers Guy", Carl Bialik (as referenced earlier herein), at least one other journalist has tried, also without success, to find out the original source of particular 'statistics' Ropelato promotes, after tracing other peoples'/organisations' claims to Ropelato. In November 2005, Seth Lubove reported:
3902
3903...Sen. [Blanche] Lincoln lifted the factoid from a report issued in July by Third Way, a new Washington think tank that helps Democrats grab on to red-state issues. ...
3904...
3905Where did Third Way get that notion? From a May 12 story in the New York Times-owned Boston Globe headlined "The Secret Life of Boys," which cites an outfit called Family Safe Media. The small firm in Provo, Utah, is in the business of scaring parents into buying software to protect their kids from Internet smut. Jared Martin, who owns Family Safe Media, says he got his porn statistics from Internet Filter Review, a Web site that recommends content-blocking software. It is run by tech entrepreneur Jerry Ropelato of Huntsville, Utah, who pens antiporn screeds, such as "Tricks Pornographers Play," and publishes curious and uncredited stats (for example, "17% of all women struggle with pornography addiction").
3906
3907"Most of the statistics there have come from literally hundreds of sources, all reputable," Ropelato insists. [b]He says he got the age-11 item from The Drug of the New Millennium, a book about the dangers of porn self-published in 2000 by Mark Kastleman, a self-professed former porn addict in Orem, Utah, who counsels other porn fiends. "I don't remember where I got that from," Kastleman says breezily. "That is a very common statistic." And there the trail goes cold.[/b]
3908[/quote]
3909
3910[quote]
3911[b]"child pornography is a $20 billion industry worldwide"
3912
3913This out-of-date/discredited $20 billion 'statistic' was given new life in March 2008 when it appeared in Australian media reports as a result of a joint media release between the Australian Federal Police and Microsoft. The statistic was disowned in April 2006 by the organisations to which it had been, and still is being, attributed (i.e. the FBI and Unicef).[/b]
3914
3915The history of this number is outlined below.
3916
391723 December 2004: A Council of Europe report titled "Organised crime situation report 2004, Provisional"[57] stated:
3918
3919Experts assume that the number of Web sites containing child pornography has grown enormously in recent years. According to estimations by UNICEF, this market has a business volume of about $20 billion annually
3920
3921September 2005: ECPAT International (based in Thailand) issued a report, Violence against Children in Cyberspace[58], which claimed:
3922
3923The production and distribution of abuse images of children is big business, estimated to be worth billions of dollars a year. Estimates of annual business volume range widely from $US3 billion to $US20 billion (the latter, according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation).
3924
3925(The ECPAT report provides no source for the $US3 billion figure - presumably Ropelato, as detailed earlier herein.)
3926
39275 April 2006: Texas Republican Joe Barton, (as Chairman, U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce), issued a press release[59] which claimed:
3928
3929Child pornography is apparently a multibillion...my staff analysis says $20 billion-a-year business. Twenty billion dollars.
3930
39315 April 2006: A New York Times article[60]attributed the entire claimed amount to the Internet:
3932
3933the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet is a $20 billion industry.
3934
3935April 2006: The FBI and Unicef disowned the US$20 billion number.
39367 March 2008: A joint media release between the Australian Federal Police and Microsoft[61] and articles in The Australian IT[62] and ComputerWorld (AU)[63] claimed:
3937
3938The FBI estimates that the production and distribution of child abuse images is valued at US$20 billion ($21.6 billion) annually.
3939
39405 June 2008: During an interview by Radio 2GB's Phillip Clarke about Operation Centurion, James McCormack (head of the AFP's High Tech Crime Operations)[64] claimed:
3941
3942The FBI did a study a couple of years ago and they estimated the commercial child pornography industry was probably valued at anywhere between about three to twenty billion dollars of commercial activity per year, so it's a pretty signficant industry.
3943
3944As a result of the April 2006 publicity, two U.S. journalists investigated the source of the $20 billion figure and reported their findings in:
3945
3946"Measuring the Child-Porn Trade", Carl Bialik, The Numbers Guy, The Wall Street Journal Online, 18 April 2006[65]
3947"How big is the online kiddie porn industry?", Daniel Radosh, radosh.net, freelance journalist, 5 April 2006[66]
3948
3949In short, the trail to the origin of the claimed $20 billion 'statistic' went from Joe Barton's press release/staff analysis, to the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), to 'McKinsey Worldwide', to the ECPAT International 2005 publication (mentioned above) which claimed "...$US20 billion (the latter, according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation)"[67].
3950
3951WSJ Numbers Guy, Carl Bialik, reported his findings from following the above trail in April 2006:
3952
3953...Mr. [Ernie] Allen [CEO, NCMEC] faxed me an NCMEC paper that cites the McKinsey study in placing the child-porn industry at $6 billion in 1999, and $20 billion in 2004.
3954
3955But a McKinsey spokesman painted a different picture for me: "The number was not calculated or generated by McKinsey," he wrote in an email. Instead, for a pro bono analysis for Standard Chartered, he said, McKinsey used a number that appeared in a report last year by End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, an international advocacy group. [i.e. ECPAT, which attributed the number to the FBI]
3956
3957FBI spokesman Paul Bresson told me in an email, "The FBI has not stated the $20 billion figure... . I have asked many people who would know for sure if we have attached the $20 billion number to this problem. I have scoured our Web site, too. Nothing!"
3958
3959I went back to the NCMEC Monday and shared what I found. In an email response, spokeswoman Joann Donnellan said, "If it is determined that this ends up not being a reliable statistic, NCMEC will stop citing McKinsey as the source and will also stop citing a specific number. Rather, NCMEC will revert to what it has said previously... that commercial child pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry."
3960
3961This isn't the first number from the NCMEC that struck me as questionable... As I wrote last year...
3962
3963Source: "Measuring the Child-Porn Trade", Carl Bialik, The Wall Street Journal Online, 18 April 2006[68]
3964
3965Fifteen months later, Ernie Allen of the NCMEC was still citing McKinsey as source. On 24 July 2007 he told the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that: "A recent report by McKinsey Worldwide estimated that today commercial child pornography is a multi-billion-dollar industry worldwide, fueled by the Internet."[69].
3966
3967The $20 billion figure was also found by Carl Bialik in a Council of Europe 2004 report which attributed the number to Unicef. Bialik subsequently reported on 27 Apr 2006:
3968
3969...But Allison Hickling, a spokeswoman for the United Nations child agency, told me in an email, "The number is not attributable to Unicef -- we do not collect data on this issue."
3970
3971I told Alexander Seger, who worked on the Council of Europe reports, that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Unicef, both cited in Council reports, said they weren't the source for the $20 billion figure. He said the Council won't use the number in the future, and added in an email, "I think we have what I would call a case of information laundering: You state a figure on something, somebody else [says] it, and then you and others [saying] it back, and thus it becomes clean and true. ... Perhaps this discussion will help instill more rigor in the future."
3972
3973Source: Carl Bialik, The Numbers Guy, The Wall Street Journal Online, 27 Apr 2006[70]
3974
3975In summary, the US$20 billion figure has been invented by some unknown person/organisation and since then been commonly attributed to the FBI or Unicef, both of which said in April 2006 that the 'statistic' did not originate with them.
3976
3977The writer considers the fixation among advocacy groups and the media with attaching a dollar number to the problem is curious given commercial/monetary 'estimates' (or even factual statistics if it were possible to obtain same) are of minimal relevance to understanding or determining the extent of the problem. This is because a significant amount, possibly most, of the trade in child sexual abuse images takes place at no cost via Usenet newsgroups, IRC (Internet Relay Chat), Instant Messaging, P2P technologies, email, etc. The images themselves, not money, are the trading currency. Extensive information about the nature of the non-commercial trade is available in the book: Beyond tolerance : child pornography on the Internet by Philip Jenkins. New York University Press, 2001. ISBN: 0814742629.
3978
3979Non-commercial criminal activity was referred to during an AFP media briefing about 'Operation Centurion' (June 2008) which concerned a legitimate web site that had been broken into for the purpose of uploading illegal images to it:
3980
3981Journalist: The people who put these images up on a site, are they getting paid, [...inaudible...], where's the economic benefit?
3982
3983[b]AFP Andrew Colvin: We're not talking about a crime that's driven by a financial motive, there's other motivations here. So, while there may be some sites that attract a financial return, that's not the motivation here. So the answer to your question is no really, that's not what's motivating people, people aren't necessarily making a lot of money.[/b]
3984[/quote]
3985
3986Secondary evidence regarding the falsity of the 20 billion dollar claim:
3987
3988http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/cop_shop/article_2ee0f064-7888-11df-9e7a-001cc4c03286.html
3989
3990[quote]
3991Some law-enforcement officials contend that disrupting the companies making a profit off child pornography may only be the tip of the iceberg. [b]Matt Dunn, of the Cyber Crimes Center at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau[/b], said that non-commercial child pornography -- images shared without money changing hands -- is more of a concern than the for-profit industry.
3992
3993Swapping child porn over file-sharing networks is ongoing -- and it's usually non-commercial, Dunn said. "It's happening every second of every day," he said.
3994
3995[b]Dunn also questions the estimate that commercial child porn is a $20 billion a year industry -- a figure cited in a 2006 congressional hearing -- and instead thinks it's substantially lower, perhaps in the tens of millions of dollars.[/b]
3996[/quote]
3997
3998Indeed, looking at Dunn his operational history and so on, as a slight aside:
3999
4000
4001http://www.sott.net/article/215448-Doctors-police-officers-sheriffs-deputies-school-teachers-government-agents-attorneys-and-church-preachers-the-real-terrorists-amongst-us-authorities-bust-huge-child-porn-ring
4002
4003[quote]
4004[b]Since the websites -- with names like "Excited Angels" and "Boys Say Go" -- went offline in January, the number of active commercial child porn sites has nosedived from perhaps 300 to the single digits, said Matt Dunn, of the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Custom's Enforcement (ICE), which was the lead law enforcement agency.[/b]
4005[/quote]
4006
4007
4008[quote]
4009[b]Indeed, the ring got paid well -- making somewhere between $5 million to $8 million from early 2006 until late 2007, according to Dunn.[/b]
4010[/quote]
4011
4012[quote]
4013[b]FBI special agent Michael Dzielak investigated the ring with Dunn and other international partners. Like Dunn, he believes the bust has dealt a fatal blow to the child-porn-for-money market -- at least for now.[/b]
4014
4015"It is a game changer," Dzielak said.
4016
4017[b]Eleven members of the child porn ring were located in Belarus and arrested in 2008. In January of this year, Ukrainian authorities arrested five more.[/b]
4018
4019The ring used a variety of online and traditional payment methods, elaborate defense measures and a franchise business model one Interpol agent compared to a fast food chain to make millions of dollars [b]providing 10,000 Americans and 20,000 others across the globe access to images and videos of sexually exploited boys and girls[/b], some reportedly as young as 3 years old.
4020[/quote]
4021
4022http://www.ecpatinternational.com/EI/resource_newsclippings.asp?id=1026
4023
4024[quote]
4025Where the pornography came from, and who the young victims are, are unclear. Dunn,  section chief in the Child Exploitation Section of the ICE Cyber Crimes Center,  says [b]many of the images were recycled from LS and BD studios, giant Ukrainian  producers of child pornography that were raided in 2004.[/b]
4026[/quote]
4027
4028As you can see, this relatively small CP ring was in fact the near totality of commercial CP known to ICE investigators during this time period, despite being operated by only about sixteen individuals and selling content to thirty thousand individuals, making about four million dollars a year doing so. Of course, there are other such operations, including smaller scale ones that are hidden from HUMINT penetration identifying them and yet which in aggregate can account for substantial sums of money, and yet it is clearly the opinion of the law enforcement community that the commercial CP industry is valued at only some tens of millions of dollars at the most, rather than the claims of billions of dollars promulgated by the Sex Cultists, including very commonly to the congress and supreme court. The scientific journals are in accordance with the law enforcement community estimates of the scale of the commercial CP industry, leaving the Sex Cultists as the odd men out essentially, and yet as the ones with the most influence being exerted over congress and the courts as their religion is respected in violation of the first amendment of the constitution.
4029
4030Note as well that much of the imagery came from a previously raided outfit known as LS and a splinter from them known as BD, which was at the time and most likely in general among the largest producers of commercial CP in the world.
4031
4032
4033https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LS_Studio
4034
4035[quote]
4036The Ukrainian Angels Studio, better known as LS-Studio, (and also LS-Studios) based in Ukraine and was an online subscription service and photography studio that created hundreds of thousands of photographic images (and hundreds of videos) of young teen and prepubescent girls and sold them via the Internet from 2001 to August 2004.[1] During that time it produced approximately 80 issues or collections, such as LS-Magazine, LS-Island, LS-Land, LS-Dreams, LS-Stars, LS-Barbie, LS-Flash, LS-Girls, LS-Fantasy, etc., and had thousands of members worldwide. Subscription was done entirely online, and members paid for the service with credit cards.[1]
4037
4038[b]While early collections often featured nude girls in natural poses, later collections also contained many images of girls in sexually suggestive poses.[1] No actual sexual acts were portrayed but there were implied sexual acts. Many later collections also featured the girls wearing custom-tailored costumes. The backgrounds appeared to be custom-built, similar to stage-play sets.[1][/b]
4039
4040Approximately 1500 children, ages eight to 16, were recruited as models in Kiev, Kharkov and Simferopol in Ukraine. Various nude photos were taken and uploaded to servers in the United States and Canada.[1] Quality and quantity of material from that studio was unmatched, and soon it became the most popular child erotica website in the world. [b]The site brought in several hundred thousand dollars in profit during the three years it was in service. It has since been shut down.[1][/b]
4041[/quote]
4042
4043As you can see, LS studio made several hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit during the time in which it was the largest distributor of CP in the world from 2001-2004. This is in stark contrast to the claims being promoted through the media at the time that CP was a three billion dollar industry, though again taking other for profit transactions into account will raise the veridical value above that of LS, the promulgated figure was three or four orders of magnitude above a realistic estimation.
4044
4045Furthermore, LS studio produced softcore artful nude photography largely of teenage girls who signed up for the process with their parents permission. Examples of the character of their material would be a nude young teenage girl who is naked other than for angel wing props, with backdrops of heaven. Another example may be another girl naked other than for a space helmet prop, with a backdrop of outer space. Some of the images included genitalia, however in general it was of the taste one would expect from a high class adult erotica magazine rather than what is commonly imagined in relation to CP. Additionally, it was not considered particularly inappropriate by the cultural norms of the Ukraine.
4046
4047https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Ukrainian_child_pornography_raids
4048
4049[quote]
4050The 2004 Ukrainian child pornography raids occurred in July 2004, when police in Ukraine raided a softcore child pornography ring operating in the cities of Kiev, Kharkiv and Simferopol.[1] The ring had operated since 2001 and used a modeling agency as a front.[1] Although some models were of legal age—18+—approximately 1,500 girls aged from 8 to 16 were said to have been to the agency. Erotic materials produced by the agency were distributed over the Internet to various countries.
4051
4052The agency, Ukrainian Angels Studio, streamed on the web was called LS (Lolita Studio) Models and had a number of different domains such as LS Island, LS Magazine, Lolitas on Holiday, LS Dreams, and a series of sites under the LS Land moniker.
4053
4054[b]The Crime Investigation Department of the Ministry for the Interior conducted the raids. The deputy head of the department, Vitaly Yarema, said that the bank accounts of the agency, containing hundreds of thousands of dollars, had been frozen.[1] [/b] Ukrainian Angels Studios actually began work much earlier, around 1999 or 2000. It split in 2001 into two separate outlets, LS and BD. BD had its own series of photos and videos which lasted until 2004. Many of the models went to other studios, none lasting more than a year. The last known groups were Karina World and Pink-Teens. Both closed in 2007. They featured former LS Models, now of legal age (over 18).
4055
4056The raids were conducted after a joint investigation between Ukrainian police and Interpol. In 2005 the United States Department of State announced that there was further cooperation between Ukrainian police and other law enforcement agencies internationally.[2]
4057
4058The investigation following the raids was completed by 6 April 2005.[3]
4059
4060[b]Two leaders of the agency were taken into custody but have since been released.[citation needed] Most of the parents of the girls refused to press charges.[/b]
4061[/quote]
4062
4063
4064A rough approximation:
4065
4066[img]https://img0.etsystatic.com/028/1/7211482/il_570xN.625094966_7upl.jpg[/img]
4067
4068
4069Back to the topic of the distributors who operated 97% of all known commercial CP sites, note that they had a total of approximately 30,000 customers. Let’s compare that to the prevalence of CP viewing on P2P networks:
4070
4071http://forensics.umass.edu/pubs/hurley.www.2013.pdf
4072
4073[quote]
4074[b]Over a one year period, we observed over 1.8 million distinct peers on eMule and over 700,000 peers on Gnutella, from over 100 countries, sharing hundreds of thou- sands of files verified as CP. [/b]
4075[/quote]
4076
4077From spidering two P2P networks for a period of one year, these researchers identified 2,500,000 distribution points for CP. Keep in mind that this is only two P2P networks. CP is freely distributed through numerous other P2P networks, as well as through forums on the clearnet, on the darknet, through imageboards, and so on. However, just for the sake of analysis, let’s assume that these two P2P networks, and the distributors detected on them consist of the totality of noncommercial distribution points, even though this will be a substantial underestimate. If we compare this to the 300 known commercial distribution points previously cited, we will see that non-commercial CP distribution points account for 99.9988% of known CP distribution points. Of course, this is just a quick figure, seeing as we cannot account for unknown commercial CP distribution points, but again we are only accounting for two P2P networks regarding noncommercial distribution, so it is clear that noncommercial CP distribution approaches 100%. Commercial CP distribution points account for less than a hundredth of one percent of CP distribution points.
4078
4079P2P spidering operations typically are incapable of detecting people who are not distributors because they rely on searching through shared folders. If shared folders are not enabled, they have nowhere to look to find CP. People can still be detected if they download from honeypot peers, however they will not be taken into account in the results of spidering based operations. Even if we were to assume that the 2,500,000 distributors detected on these two P2P networks accounted for the totality of all CP accessors (which is to ignore things such as Tor, Freenet, all other P2P networks, people without shared folders on these networks, and so on), comparing this to the 30,000 customers of 97% of known CP sites operating in the 2006-2007 era, we see that noncommercial CP accessing accounts for 98.8% of CP accessing.
4080
4081These examples are just rough sketches to give you a general overview of the situation in a way that can be supported with citations. In both cases they overestimate the percentages for commercial CP. In reality both CP distribution and CP accessing are almost entirely noncommercial, in both cases noncommercial approaches 100%.
4082
4083https://www.sott.net/article/215448-Doctors-police-officers-sheriffs-deputies-school-teachers-government-agents-attorneys-and-church-preachers-the-real-terrorists-amongst-us-authorities-bust-huge-child-porn-ring
4084
4085[quote]
4086[b]Child exploitation experts say the global bust does not mean the online universe is now child-porn free. The lion's share of these images and videos are disseminated for free via e-mail and peer-to-peer file sharing between individuals, who often belong to trust-based clubs. [/b]
4087[/quote]
4088
4089Back on the primary track, we can see that exaggerations of the magnitude of the CP industry are simply par for the course from the Sex Cultists, even as a lack of coordination between them leads to partitioning of their signaled fantasy world that is by the law of noncontradiction simply impossible in actuality:
4090
4091
40922005:
4093
4094http://womensenews.org/2005/12/child-pornography-dodges-detection-web/
4095
4096[quote]
4097[b]$3 Billion in Annual Sales
4098
4099Allen says that global sales of illegal pornography that exploits children--including those under 4 years old--are about $3 billion a year.[/b]
4100[/quote]
4101
4102http://www.safefamilies.org/sfStats.php
4103
4104[quote]
4105[b]As of December 2005, child pornography was a $3 billion annual industry (Internet Filter Review).[/b]
4106[/quote]
4107
41082006:
4109
4110http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3596661/House+Hears+Online+Child+Porn+Testimony.htm
4111
4112[quote]
4113[b]Congressional estimates put the online child pornography business at $20 billion a year and growing. Online or offline, child pornography is illegal in the United States and most other countries.[/b]
4114[/quote]
4115
41162008:
4117
4118http://sd05.senate.ca.gov/news/2008-04-28-galgiani-s-child-exploitation-legislation-committee
4119
4120[quote]
4121[b]“Child porn is a $3 billion dollar industry, fueled by images of sexual abuse, rape, and torture of children,” [/b]
4122[/quote]
4123
41242013:
4125
4126https://www.nbcnews.com/id/32880508/ns/technology_and_science-security/t/un-expert-child-porn-internet-increases/
4127
4128[quote]
4129More than 4 million Web sites worldwide show images of children being sexually exploited, said [b]the U.N. investigator on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Najat M'jid Maalla.[/b]
4130....
4131
4132
4133[b]Maalla urged international cooperation to stop the child pornography industry, which she estimated to be worth between $3 billion and $20 billion.[/b] She recommended countries share information on sites containing child pornography in order to block them faster.
4134[/quote]
4135
4136As a short aside note that the United Nations is essentially a primary base of operations for the Sex Cult:
4137
4138http://www.popsci.com/man-who-lit-dark-web
4139
4140[quote]
4141[b]More than[/b] 1 million are children. Nearly one-quarter are bought and sold as sex slaves. Only 1-in-100 victims of human trafficking is ever rescued. [b]It’s a booming business[/b]. High profits and low risk make human trafficking one of the [b]fastest-growing[/b] and most lucrative crimes on the planet; [b]the U.N. recently estimated that trafficking nets $150 billion a year.[/b]
4142[/quote]
4143
4144https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/06/02/the-false-claim-that-child-sex-trafficking-is-a-9-5-billion-business-in-the-united-states/
4145
4146[quote]
4147[b]But there’s a bigger problem. Shared Hope’s graphic gave as its source a 2005 International Labour Organization report on human trafficking. But that report contains no mention of a $9.8 billion figure for human trafficking in the United States.[/b]
4148[/quote]
4149
4150Back on track:
4151
41522013 still:
4153
4154https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-l-pulido-phd/child-pornography-basic-f_b_4094430.html
4155
4156[quote]
4157[b]Child pornography is one of the fastest growing businesses online, with estimated annual revenue of $3 billion. [/b]
4158[/quote]
4159
4160In 2016 some of the splinter organizations are starting to reject the veracity of the booming multi billion dollar CP industry, for example ICMEC which is a splinter denomination from NCMEC:
4161
4162https://www.icmec.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Child-Pornography-Model-Law-8th-Ed-Final-linked.pdf
4163
4164[quote]
4165[b]Little more than a decade ago, child pornography was a multi-billion dollar commercial enterprise and was among the fastest growing businesses on the Internet. Today, the commercial trade of child pornography online has been significantly reduced due to a variety of successful efforts to combat its growth.[/b]
4166[/quote]
4167
4168As you can see, these people cannot all simultaneously be correct. The United Nations "expert" said that in 2013 CP was a booming 3-20 billion dollar industry, whereas the ICMEC "expert" said that it was over a decade ago that it was a multi-billion dollar commercial enterprise. In reality they are both religiously insane, but their delusional fantasy worlds are incompatible with each other.
4169
4170Numerous miscellaneous mentions of the booming multi billion dollar CP industry:
4171
4172http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/cop_shop/article_2ee0f064-7888-11df-9e7a-001cc4c03286.html
4173
4174[quote]
4175[b]commercial child porn is a $20 billion a year industry -- a figure cited in a 2006 congressional hearing[/b]
4176[/quote]
4177
4178http://www.eagletribune.com/news/new_hampshire/derry-child-porn-seizure-leads-to-long-prison-sentence/article_2af19386-3118-5cc8-b7e6-41282819c7b5.html
4179
4180[quote]
4181[b]Phinney, aided by Assistant County Attorney Sarah Warecki, also said society needs deterrence because "predators such as Curry provide the motivation to this multibillion-dollar industry," [/b]
4182[/quote]
4183
4184http://www.wtok.com/news/headlines/2470381.html
4185
4186[quote]
4187[b]Child pornography is among the fastest growing businesses on the Internet, a $20 billion per year enterprise.[/b]
4188[/quote]
4189
4190https://i.ibb.co/X2DC7dQ/wehazaspergers.png
4191
4192
4193http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/143067/justice-departments-child-porn-problem-dr-lori-handrahan
4194
4195[quote]
4196[b]Dr. Lori Handrahan
4197
4198When these kinds of crimes are ignored by the Department of Justice, there is a clear crisis in our Homeland. Children are being trafficked to feed America’s billion-dollar child porn industry. Too many police are involved. Mr. Holder is allowing this national epidemic of child porn to flourish inside our justice system, crippling our most vulnerable citizens; our children.[/b]
4199[/quote]
4200
4201[quote]
4202[b]Half of all child porn now originates in America. The profits are massive. Estimated porn profits in 2006 exceed combined revenues of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple, Netflix and EarthLink ranging from $3-$20 billion annually.[/b]
4203[/quote]
4204
4205A more notable example, from 2015, being the following article from a self identified feminist journalist:
4206
4207http://www.alternet.org/media/digital-pedophiles-among-us
4208
4209[quote]
4210[b]Booming Cross-Border Business
4211
4212According to a frequently mentioned statistic, the child pornography industry generates $50 billion every year; other sources speak of a $20 billion industry.[/b] In other words, the CAM industry is not a select club of old perverts roaming the web in the privacy of their musty apartment—it’s a multibillion-dollar business of global magnitude, with thriving demand and supply.
4213[/quote]
4214
4215
4216
4217
4218Which cites this seemingly evangelical Christian oriented site:
4219
4220https://azpolicypages.com/marriage-family/protecting-children-from-pornography/
4221
4222[quote]
4223[b]By some reports, child pornography is estimated to be as much as a $50 billion a year industry.[1][/b]
4224[/quote]
4225
4226Which much like this apparently plagiarized paper on feminism,
4227
4228https://www.slideshare.net/maryconnavarro8/gender-sensitivity-about-feminism
4229
4230[quote]
4231[b]Gender sensitivity about feminism[/b]
4232
4233...
4234
4235[b]Another thing that keeps these web sites going is the amount of money that can, and is being made with this business. Some reports show that child pornography over the internet is more than a 50 billion dollar a year business.[/b]
4236[/quote]
4237
4238Cites this now 404 but archived .edu site,
4239
4240
4241https://web.archive.org/web/20120624003622/www.ed.uiuc.edu/wp/netfiles.uiuc.edu/kleckaus/www/childpornography.html
4242
4243[quote]
4244Introduction:
4245Child pornography is a very large and in many cases touchy subject.  This is one of the reasons that it is hard to catch the people perpetrating it.  Many people do not want to talk about it because it is such a horrible thing.  This silence is one of the things child pornographers count on to keep their business going.  In recent months the issue of child pornography has become visible in the media.  Talk show hosts like Oprah Winfrey have produced shows exposing some of the information they have found about child pornography and the people who help to make it such a large and profitable industry.  Recently, Oprah had a young man on her show who had been doing sex shows at home and on the Internet for money and who is now working with government officials to help bring down the people who prey on children through this medium.
4246
4247Another thing that keeps these web sites going is the amount of money that can, and is being made with this business.  Some reports show that child pornography over the internet is more than a 50 billion dollar a year business.  With technology growing faster and faster everyday and the Internet being such an instant source gratification in so many ways it has become easier for people who run child pornography sites to make a lot of money in a short amount of time.  Another thing that keeps child pornography sites going is the laws.  The United States has laws against child pornography and prostitution, but many other countries do not have the same laws.  In some countries prostitution is legal.  This link to other places makes it very appealing to people who wish to view and/or promote this type of material.  There are, however, people and organizations in some of these countries that are trying to help expose these child pornographers.  There are several organizations that have international ties and work with countries outside of the United States to help stop the spread of child pornography on the Internet. There are organizations that work with local and federal agencies in the United States, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to help locate and round up the people running these child pornography rings and put a stop to the people using them.  In the past year there have been two major child pornography rings busted.  In both cases the people running the rings were spread across more than one country.  Both cases included people from the United States and Canada.
4248
4249The sites listed on the 2005 white paper on this topic are great for information on protecting children from predators as well as informing parents on the issues, dangers, and prevention of child pornography.  There are some organizations listed in it that help with these issues.  In this addendum I will give some additional sites for that purpose as well as some sites with more recent information.  Some of these will be about specific cases and others will be about the laws that are in place to help protect our children.  One of the sites of particular interest included help and support from the adult film industry.  Some of the people in this industry have gotten together to help stop child pornography and the people who keep it going.  This group helps to report and investigate suspected child pornographers and their customers in order to assist the government agencies with their reviews of suspected sites.
4250[/quote]
4251
4252Which cites nothing and is just an ipsedixitism essentially. It is very common to see such statistics laundering from the Sex Cultists:
4253
4254
4255https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_porn
4256
4257[quote]
4258[b]The United Kingdom children's charity NCH has stated that demand for child pornography on the Internet has led to an increase in sex abuse cases, due to an increase in the number of children abused in the production process.[38][/b]
4259[/quote]
4260
4261Note that this wikipedia article incorrectly cites the following article by its click bait headline as opposed to by its content which is contrary to its own headline:
4262
4263https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2004/jan/12/childprotection.childrensservices
4264
4265[quote]
4266[b]Demand for child pornography on the internet has led to an increase in sex abuse cases, it was claimed today.
4267
4268Children's charity NCH - formerly National Children's Homes - said there was evidence that the 1,500% rise in child pornography cases since 1988 would be reflected in more children being abused to produce the pictures.[/b]
4269
4270"The scale of the problem has changed beyond recognition in just over a decade," said NCH's internet consultant John Carr.
4271
4272"The increased demand has made child pornography into big business and the consequences for children in all parts of the world are horrifying."
4273[/quote]
4274
4275As you can see they go from saying there was an increase in sex abuse cases caused by the viewing of CP to saying that there was evidence indicating there WOULD BE an increase in sex abuse correlating with the viewing of CP. In reality scientific statistical analyses have determined that there is an inverse correlation between the viewing of CP and the child sexual abuse rate, which supports the substitution hypothesis:
4276
4277https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bsl.2340
4278
4279[quote]
4280[b]In the realm of sexual offenses, there has been a decrease in hands‐on offenses, but an increase in online offenses against children. [/b]
4281[/quote]
4282
4283https://www.springer.com/about+springer/media/springer+select?SGWID=0-11001-6-1042321-0
4284
4285[quote]
4286[b]Could making child pornography legal lead to lower rates of child sex abuse? It could well do, according to a new study by Milton Diamond, from the University of Hawaii, and colleagues.
4287
4288Results from the Czech Republic showed, as seen everywhere else studied (Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sweden, USA), that rape and other sex crimes have not increased following the legalization and wide availability of pornography. And most significantly, the incidence of child sex abuse has fallen considerably since 1989, when child pornography became readily accessible – a phenomenon also seen in Denmark and Japan. Their findings are published online today in Springer’s journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.
4289
4290The findings support the theory that potential sexual offenders use child pornography as a substitute for sex crimes against children[/b]
4291[/quote]
4292
4293http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV204%20CP%20possessors.pdf
4294
4295[quote]
4296One concern is that the accessibility of online CP has caused increases in child sexual abuse. Some research suggests that CP may trigger sexual abuse by activating and validating sexual urges in CP viewers that were previously suppressed or con- trolled (Beech et al., 2008; Quayle & Taylor, 2003; Wilson & Jones, 2008). [b]There is no evidence of increasing abuse in the United States, however. In fact, rates of child sexual abuse have declined substantially since the mid-1990s, a time period that corresponds to the spread of CP online.[/b] Statistics from U.S. child protective service agencies show that from 1992 to 2007, child sexual abuse declined 53% (Jones & Finkelhor, 2009), including interfamilial abuse (Finkelhor & Jones, 2006). Evidence of this decline also comes from victim self-report surveys and U.S. criminal justice system data (Finkelhor & Jones, 2008; Finkelhor, Turner, Ormrod, & Hamby, 2010), as well as the child pro-tective services data collection system. [b]The fact that this trend is revealed in multiple sources tends to undermine arguments that it is because of reduced reporting or changes in investigatory or statistical procedures.[/b]
4297[/quote]
4298
4299https://www.amazon.com/Illegal-Images-Strategies-Addressing-Pornography/dp/1929657722
4300
4301[quote]
4302[b]Twenty years ago, the issue of child pornography was limited to helping professionals who specialized in the area of sexual offenses. However, with the widespread use of the Internet and subsequent technologies, child pornography is more available and accessible than ever.[/b]
4303[/quote]
4304
4305Unfortunately this link is broken now, and yet I am confident I properly transcribed it as well as that such studies can be located:
4306
4307http://nationalcac.org/ncac-blog/child-abuse-is-on-the-decline-now-what.html
4308
4309[quote]
4310An annual report recently released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed that the rates of child abuse and child neglect have declined for the third year in a row. [b]Another study confirmed a continued decline in the rate of child sexual abuse, which is now roughly half what it was 20 years ago.[/b]
4311[/quote]
4312
4313It's the same relationship between adult porn and rape of adults:
4314
4315http://bigthink.com/dollars-and-sex/free-porn-lowers-rape-rates
4316
4317[quote]
4318It may seem like the relationship between internet access and rape is spurious, but evidence suggests that even after controlling for known determinants of rape rates (such as policing, urbanization, poverty and the age distributions), a 10% increase in internet access coincides with a fall in rape rates of 7.3%. *
4319
4320With 88,097 rapes in the US in 2009, this suggests that if 81% of US homes had internet access 6,437 fewer women would report being raped every year. Once you take into consideration unreported rapes that figure will be much higher.
4321
4322[b]The argument given in this particular paper is that porn and rape are, in the economic sense, substitutes. Two "goods" are substitutes when the price of one good falls, the demand for that good increases relative to the other good.[/b]
4323[/quote]
4324
4325Which makes perfect sense as of course people are going to be encouraged to molest children rather than look at imagery of such in an environment such as:
4326
4327http://www.inquisitr.com/3473588/joseph-presley-23-year-old-youth-minister-gets-30-days-in-jail-from-judge-calvin-holden-for-molesting-8-year-old-boy-video/amp/
4328
4329[quote]
4330[b]Joseph Presley: 23-Year-Old Youth Minister Gets 30 Days In Jail From Judge Calvin Holden For Molesting 8-Year-Old Boy[/b]
4331[/quote]
4332
4333http://miami.cbslocal.com/2017/02/23/dade-man-gets-100-years-in-prison-for-child-porn/
4334
4335[quote]
4336[b]Man Gets 100 Years In Prison For Child Porn[/b]
4337[/quote]
4338
4339http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Central-Florida-Man-Sentenced-to-885-Years-for-Child-Pornography-332100552.html
4340
4341[quote]
4342Central Florida Man Sentenced to 885 Years for Child Pornography
4343[/quote]
4344
4345http://www.christianpost.com/news/florida-man-gets-life-sentence-for-child-pornography-too-severe-60802/
4346
4347[quote]
4348[b]On Thursday, a Florida circuit court sentenced Daniel Enrique Guevara Vilca, a stockroom clerk whose home computer contained a cache of child pornography, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.[/b]
4349[/quote]
4350
4351Substitution strategies are scientifically supported:
4352
4353https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/woman-sues-ex-husband-du-pont-heir-dodged-prison-raping-3-year-old-daughter-article-1.1740180
4354
4355[quote]
4356[b]A du Pont family heir who pleaded guilty nearly six years ago to raping his 3-year-old daughter was never put behind bars because a Delaware judge ruled he “would not fare well” in prison, court records show.[/b]
4357[/quote]
4358
4359http://www.ktvq.com/story/33384739/glasgow-man-sentenced-to-probation-for-raping-12-year-old-girl
4360
4361[quote]
4362[b]Glasgow man sentenced to probation for raping 12-year-old girl[/b]
4363[/quote]
4364
4365http://kfor.com/2016/10/13/judge-sentences-man-to-probation-after-he-admits-to-raping-12-year-old-girl/
4366
4367[quote]
4368[b]BILLINGS, Mont. – A Montana man who admitted to raping a 12-year-old girl will not be sent to prison.[/b]
4369[/quote]
4370
4371http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5845901/House-votes-BAN-shipments-CHILD-sex-dolls-robots.html
4372
4373[quote]
4374[b]House voice votes to BAN shipments of CHILD sex dolls and robots [/b]
4375
4376...
4377
4378[b]Some scientist are actually claiming that child sex dolls may reduce pedophilia.[/b]
4379
4380'To the contrary, these dolls create a real risk of reinforcing pedophilic behavior and they desensitize the user causing him to engage in sicker and sicker behavior,' Goodlatte stated.
4381[/quote]
4382
4383http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/court-upholds-law-requiring-therapists-to-report-patients-who-view-child-porn/
4384
4385[quote]
4386[b]Court Upholds Law Requiring Therapists to Report Patients Who View Child Porn[/b]
4387[/quote]
4388
4389http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33464970
4390
4391[quote]
4392[b]Germany urges paedophiles out of the shadows
4393
4394Some men who are sexually attracted to children would like help to change their condition but fear doctors will tell the police. In Germany, though, a campaign is under way to persuade them to sign up for confidential treatment, even if they have abused a child - and doctors are hailing it as a big success.[/b]
4395[/quote]
4396
4397http://kfor.com/2016/10/13/judge-sentences-man-to-probation-after-he-admits-to-raping-12-year-old-girl/
4398
4399[quote]
4400BILLINGS, Mont. – [b]A Montana man who admitted to raping a 12-year-old girl will not be sent to prison.[/b]
4401[/quote]
4402
4403
4404
4405
4406However, for the Sex Cultists:
4407
4408https://www.pathtojustice.com/blog/mashas-law-allows-civil-lawsuits-for-child-pornography-victims/
4409
4410[quote]
4411[b]Therefore, as these graphic sexual images populate and spread, we can unfortunately predict there will be more child sexual abuse.[/b]
4412[/quote]
4413
4414Is a protected superstition which they are essentially incapable of ending their belief in:
4415
4416https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160323151838.htm
4417
4418[quote]
4419"When there's a question of faith, from the analytic point of view, it may seem absurd," said Tony Jack, who led the research. [b]"But, from what we understand about the brain, the leap of faith to belief in the supernatural amounts to pushing aside the critical/analytical way of thinking to help us achieve greater social and emotional insight."[/b]
4420[/quote]
4421
4422https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition
4423
4424[quote]
4425A recent theory by Jane Risen proposes that superstitions are intuitions that people acknowledge to be wrong, but acquiesce to rather than correct when they arise as the intuitive assessment of a situation. Her theory draws on dual-process models of reasoning. [b]In this view, superstitions are the output of "System 1" reasoning that are not corrected even when caught by "System 2".[19][/b]
4426[/quote]
4427
4428https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/154f/9a7fb5f1ee00c34f2d918db9825ca5b09f17.pdf
4429
4430[quote]
4431[b]Both identify areas in the DMN and TPN associated with System 1 and System 2 reasoning respectively.[/b]
4432[/quote]
4433
4434The notion that the viewing of CP will via supply demand economics cause an increase to the child sexual abuse rate is a core protected superstitious belief of the superordinate Sex Cult denomination, and no amount of evidence is sufficient to convince them that this is make believe. In this manner, as well as numerous others, they are similar to the anti vaccination movement,
4435
4436https://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/dailydose/12/04/autism.mercury/
4437
4438[quote]
4439[b]Years ago, people made predictions -- by removing thimerosal, the number of cases of autism should decrease -- therefore showing that thimerosal is a cause of autism. This new study puts that idea in jeopardy. Similar studies have been done in Canada and Denmark with the same results: thimerosal was removed, but autism is still on the rise. This is a strong message; it very clearly shows, and reassures, that autism did not arrive through a vaccine.[/b]
4440[/quote]
4441
4442Note as well that when their original predictions failed to have evidence in support of them by the scientific method, that they then, in their more rigorous manifestations (with the less rigorous of them simply never ending their scientifically refuted belief) backtracked in both cases to claims of aggregate data sets hiding sub-populations:
4443
4444Anti-vaccination movement pertinent:
4445
4446http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/cdc-to-study-vaccines-and_b_837360.html
4447
4448[quote]
4449As for vaccines, "Numerous epidemiological studies have found no relationship between ASD and vaccines containing the mercury based preservative thimerosal," the IACC noted. "These data, as well as subsequent research, indicate that the link between autism and vaccines is unsupported by the epidemiological research literature. [b]However, the Institute of Medicine report acknowledged that the existing population-based studies were limited in their ability to detect small susceptible subpopulations that could be more genetically vulnerable to environmental exposures.[/b]"
4450[/quote]
4451
4452sciencebasedmedicine.org/autism-and-vaccines-responding-to-poling-and-kirby/
4453
4454An anti-vaxx sympathizer:
4455
4456[quote]
4457[b]Epidemiological studies which have not found a link between autism and aspects of vaccination do not consider the concept of autism subgroups. Indeed, in a heterogeneous disorder like Autism, subgroups may indeed be ‘vaccine-injured’ but the effect is diluted out in the larger population (improperly powered study due to inability to calculate effect size with unknown susceptible subpopulation).[/b]
4458[/quote]
4459
4460The response of an evidence based medicine adherent:
4461
4462[quote]
4463[b]His next statement is technically true – that studies designed to look for an effect in an entire population may not be powered to find those effects in a much smaller subgroup. But I have been reading the literature long enough to recognize this as a juicy post-hoc rationalization. In other words – this is what proponents always say after the evidence doesn’t support their contentions.[/b] It’s true – but it doesn’t mean there is an effect in a subgroup – it just means we cannot rule out effects that are smaller than the data is capable of showing. This is universally true – by itself it does not rescue data from being negative. At best it means that you can generate a new hypothesis (a subgroup effect) after the old one has been rejected (no effect in the entire group). But all you have now is an untested hypothesis – speculation, not evidence.
4464[/quote]
4465
4466And look then at the Sex Cultist response to the statistical analyses showing the inverse correlation, in support of the substitution hypothesis and contrary to the supply demand hypothesis:
4467
4468http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV204%20CP%20possessors.pdf
4469
4470[quote]
4471[b]Even if child sexual abuse has not increased, more abusers may be recording and circulating images of the abuse they perpetrate, there could be increases or shifts in victim popula-tions that might not be reflected in large aggregated data collection systems, and increases in abuse associated with CP consumption could be seen in the future.[/b]
4472[/quote]
4473
4474The Sex Cult is just like the anti vaccination movement.
4475
4476http://jhppl.dukejournals.org/content/37/1/69.short
4477
4478[quote]
4479[b]The last dozen years have seen a massive transnational mobilization of the legal, political, and research communities in response to the worrisome hypothesis that vaccines could have a link to childhood autism and other developmental conditions. Vaccine critics, some already organized and some composed of newly galvanized parents, developed an alternate world of internally legitimating studies, blogs, conferences, publications, and spokespeople to affirm a connection.[/b]
4480[/quote]
4481
4482[quote]
4483[b]As I have noted above, there is indeed a complex community of researchers, journals, and articles to point to, facts to recite, conferences to attend, and professional groups to connect with that supply a great deal of internal legitimacy[/b]
4484[/quote]
4485
4486[img]https://i0.wp.com/deadstate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Screen-Shot-2014-12-15-at-4.41.07-PM.png?resize=917%2C665[/img]
4487
4488[img]https://i2.wp.com/deadstate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Screen-Shot-2014-12-15-at-4.44.19-PM.png?resize=908%2C422[/img]
4489
4490[img]https://i1.wp.com/deadstate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Screen-Shot-2014-12-15-at-4.47.23-PM.png?resize=914%2C647[/img]
4491
4492https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/jenny-mccarthy-jim-carrey-and-green-our-vaccines-anti-vaccine-not-pro-safe-vaccine/
4493
4494[quote]
4495Like Steve Novella, I have no doubt that Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey mean well, but I agree that it’s not enough to mean well. There’s a famous saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. My usually corollary to this saying is that good intentions coupled with misinformation and self-righteousness are the straightest and surest route to hell that I can think of, and [b]among the best examples of this corollary are parents who have been misled by the pseudoscience of the cottage industry of autism quackery that depends on the belief that vaccines cause autism for its profitability.[/b]
4496[/quote]
4497
4498https://www.theverge.com/science/2017/7/13/15964628/france-vaccination-skeptic-law-vaccine-mandate
4499
4500[quote]
4501[b]But some experts question whether a vaccination mandate will sway public opinion in France, where distrust in vaccines has risen alarmingly in recent years. In a survey published last year, 41 percent of respondents in France disagreed with the statement that vaccines are safe — the highest rate of distrust among the 67 countries that were surveyed, and more than three times higher than the global average.[/b]
4502[/quote]
4503
4504https://impact.vice.com/en_us/article/evvnen/france-is-fighting-the-anti-vaxxer-movement-with-actual-science
4505
4506[quote]
4507"It feels like we're back in the '40s when vaccines were widely contested," Professor François Chast -- a leading pro-vaccine activist and head of the Hotel-Dieu clinic in Paris - told VICE Impact. [b]"How did we get here? The idea that all information is equal."[/b]
4508[/quote]
4509
4510http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0149989
4511
4512[quote]
4513[b]Engaging social stimuli are associated with activation of the DMN and deactivation of the TPN, whereas analytic problems are associated with activation of the TPN and deactivation of the DMN.[/b]
4514[/quote]
4515
4516https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160323151838.htm
4517
4518[quote]
4519[b]"These findings," Friedman continued, "are consistent with the philosophical view, espoused by (Immanuel) Kant, according to which there are two distinct types of truth: empirical and moral."[/b]
4520[/quote]
4521
4522
4523
4524With organizations such as NCMEC playing the role of NVIC:
4525
4526http://www.freerangekids.com/group-that-put-missing-kids-pictures-on-milk-cartons-now-says-dont-teach-kids-stranger-danger/
4527
4528[quote]
4529[b]Yesterday, Callahan Walsh of NCMEC—The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children—appeared on Good Morning America to urge parents to stop using the phrase “stranger danger”—the phrase that NCMEC itself popularized for decades. They rightly noted—finally—that most child sexual exploitation is from someone known to the child, not a stranger.
4530
4531For decades, NCMEC has told parents to fear “stranger danger,” and instructed them to transmit this fear to their kids. They even got the phrase institutionalized in elementary schools.[/b]
4532
4533NCMEC has been one of the single biggest drivers of parents’ fear in our lifetime. By conflating “missing” and “exploited,” they have panicked Americans into thinking the average child is “at risk” of being kidnapped. By talking about “children” they conflate the experiences of five-year-olds and 17-year-olds. According to their own website, over 90% of “missing” teens are not “missing,” they have run away. Some are no doubt living on the street and risking their health and lives, but they have not been kidnapped. In fact, over 3/4 of runaways are running away from institutions like foster homes and other social services.
4534[/quote]
4535
4536https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Walsh_(television_host)
4537
4538[quote]
4539[b]Following the crime, the Walsh family founded the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to legislative reform.[10] The centers, originally located in West Palm Beach, Florida; Columbia, South Carolina; Orange County, California; and Rochester, New York; merged with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), where John Walsh serves on the board of directors.[/b]
4540[/quote]
4541
4542http://www.nvic.org/about/barbaraloefisher.aspx
4543
4544[quote]
4545[b]The daughter of a nurse and an Army officer, she graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in English and was a writer and community relations professional at a teaching hospital before becoming a Mom in 1978. The mother of three grown children, her oldest son suffered a convulsion, collapse and brain inflammation within hours of his fourth DPT shot in 1980 when he was two and a half years old and was left with multiple learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder.[/b]
4546[/quote]
4547
4548And with its own sprawling network of government grant embezzlers, operating undoubtedly in the spirit of one of their founding members, Dr. Densen-Gerber:
4549
4550http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/28763-special-report-money-and-lies-in-anti-human-trafficking-ngos
4551
4552[quote]
4553Hard Numbers and Malleable Data
4554
4555Numbers throughout the murky world of human trafficking are notoriously hard to verify. [b]How many traffickers? Uncountable! How many victims? So many! How old are they? Too young! How much money changes hands? Zillions upon gajillions of dollars, daily! [/b] "Scarily lucrative," Time declared it in a May 2014 headline. Sound unbelievable? It is, and aid groups will claim it's because the unvarnished truth of human slavery is incomprehensible to most living Americans today.
4556[/quote]
4557
4558[quote]
4559It may not seem like much, for 50 organizations spread across a giant country, working on what may be one of the most pressing human rights issues of our day. Yet $686 million breaks down to about $13.7 million per group, per year - money most organizations of any size would be thrilled to get their hands on. [b]And this amount doesn't include federal funds spent to fight human trafficking, rumored to be between $1.2 and $1.5 billion per year.[/b]
4560
4561Considering that most of the groups were founded after Somaly Mam began appearing regularly in US media between 2006 and 2008, it's notable that the US anti-trafficking movement seems to be one of the few reliable growth areas in the United States' post-recession economy besides low-wage service work.
4562[/quote]
4563
4564https://reason.com/blog/2014/06/12/eden-sex-trafficking-fable-falls-apart
4565
4566[quote]
4567It's a pretty good summary of the standard narrative on sex-trafficking these days: it's everywhere, all the time, and we don't even know it; the only way to combat it is to keep throwing cops and money and laws at it; and anyone who questions any of this is only aiding the evildoers. It's almost impossible to argue with people who buy this narrative, because [b]the more evidence you present challenging sex trafficking's pervasiveness, the more they see proof that sex trafficking is so under the radar we need to throw more cops and money and laws at it.[/b]
4568[/quote]
4569
4570https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/03/27/lies-damned-lies-and-sex-work-statistics/
4571
4572[quote]
4573Despite plenty of evidence of the harm caused by criminalization, there’s still a tremendous amount of money in representing it as the “cure” for a situation it actually exacerbates. [b]In an interview last May, Michael Horowitz, a fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute who led efforts to pass the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, told the Las Vegas Review Journal that the anti-trafficking movement has become more about securing grants for research than protecting victims. “Now it’s just one big federal entitlement program,” he said, “and everybody is more worried about where they’re going to get their next grant.”[/b]
4574[/quote]
4575
4576As well as pseudoscientists:
4577
4578https://newspunch.com/82-arrested-major-pedophile-bust-america/
4579
4580[quote]
4581[b]“There is actually a statistical correlation between those people who are collecting and viewing child pornography and those that are committing hands-on child molestation offenses,” Garner said.[/b]
4582[/quote]
4583
4584
4585https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/08/20/how-a-dubious-statistic-convinced-u-s-courts-to-approve-of-indefinite-detention/
4586
4587[quote]
4588[b]McKune provides a single citation to support its statement “that the recidivism rate of untreated offenders has been estimated to be as high as 80%”: the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Nat. Institute of Corrections, A Practitioner’s Guide to Treating the Incarcerated Male Sex Offender xiii (1988). Justice Kennedy likely found that reference in the amicus brief supporting Kansas filed by the Solicitor General, then Ted Olson, as the SG’s brief also cites it for the claim that sex offenders have this astonishingly high recidivism rate.[/b] This Practitioner’s Guide11 itself provides but one source for the claim, an article published in 1986 in Psychology Today, a mass market magazine aimed at a lay audience. That article has this sentence: “Most untreated sex offenders released from prison go on to commit more offenses– indeed, as many as 80% do.” But the sentence is a bare assertion: the article contains no supporting reference for it. [b]But perhaps the author was merely offering an estimate based on his training and expertise. The problem there is that he had little of either.
4589
4590He is a counselor, not a scholar of sex crimes or re-offense rates, and the cited article is not about recidivism statistics. It’s about a counseling program for sex offenders he then ran in an Oregon prison. His unsupported assertion about the recidivism rate for untreated sex offenders was offered to contrast with his equally unsupported assertion about the lower recidivism rate for those who complete his program.[/b]
4591[/quote]
4592
4593https://reason.com/blog/2018/11/14/the-frightening-and-high-factoid-about-s
4594
4595[quote]
4596[b]That phrase comes from Justice Anthony Kennedy's plurality opinion in the 2002 Supreme Court case McKune v. Lile, where he claimed "the rate of recidivism of untreated offenders has been estimated to be as high as 80%." Kennedy's characterization of the recidivism risk as "frightening and high" has been echoed in scores of decisions upholding restrictions on sex offenders. But the original source for his recidivism estimate was an uncorroborated assertion in a 1986 Psychology Today article by a therapist who has repudiated the number, saying he is "appalled" at its lingering impact.[/b]
4597[/quote]
4598
4599https://rsoresearch.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/butner_study_debunking_kit.pdf
4600
4601[quote]
4602[b]Nevertheless, Dr. Hernandez privately distributed his study widely, without peer review or any other oversight, and thus bypassed normal opportunities for either scientific validation or refutation[/b] by experts in the field of sexual offender diagnosis and treatment. He distributed his study to a limited but very receptive audience nationally (and later internationally, specifically Great Britain), including law enforcement officials and agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and state and federal prosecutors. But it was the policy makers who especially welcomed the study‘s implications.
4603[/quote]
4604
4605http://jaapl.org/content/42/4/404
4606
4607[quote]
4608[b]From both a clinical and an actuarial statistical perspective, an early retrospective study conducted at a Federal Civil Commitment Facility in Butner, North Carolina, inferred an association between accessing child pornography and hands-on sexual offending.3 That study has been criticized regarding its methodology and lack of scientific rigor.4[/b] More recent prospective data have questioned the contention that there is a correlation between accessing child pornography and hands-on offending.5 For example, one such study found that less than one percent of 231 men who had viewed child pornography (but with no evidence of a prior hands-on sexual offense) had gone on to commit a hands-on sexual offense.6 [b]From a purely statistical standpoint (all else being equal) individuals with no history of a hands-on sexual offense against a child, but who have accessed child pornography, are at low risk as a group of committing a hands-on sexual offense in the future.5[/b]
4609[/quote]
4610
4611https://jezebel.com/5785245/the-trouble-with-child-sex-trafficking-statistics
4612
4613[quote]
4614[b]"It's now clear [anti-trafficking groups] used fake data to deceive the media and lie to Congress," the story charges. "And it was all done to score free publicity and a wealth of public funding."[/b]
4615
4616What's the meat behind those claims? The story details how the Women's Funding Network commissioned a study from a political consulting group run by Beth Schapiro, which devised a totally unscientific method for determining how many online classified ads depicted children. It entailed having a group of adults guess, by looking at a picture in an ad, how old the person depicted was, and then doing it again over time to fuel the charge of explosive growth. Experts interviewed by City Pages point out that this is ridiculous from a methodological point of view — among the many criticisms, there's no way of knowing how old someone is from a picture, there's no way of knowing when the picture was taken, and there's no way of knowing if the picture is even of someone behind the advertised service.
4617
4618[b]The study, which was funded with public money, was subsequently uncritically picked up nationwide in headlines trumpeting a massive rise in the trafficking of children.[/b]
4619[/quote]
4620
4621As well as seemingly delusional ideation regarding essentially magic:
4622
4623[quote]
4624[b]“These cases involve real-life abuse and assault of children. Every time an image is viewed, it’s like the assault happened again,” said Andrew M. McLees, special agent in charge of the Newark office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.[/b]
4625[/quote]
4626
4627http://human-stupidity.com/stupid-dogma/child-porn-witch-hunt/watching-child-pornography-victimizes-child-voodoo-science
4628
4629[quote]
4630[b]“merely having possession and viewing images such as this does victimize and hurt the individual portrayed in the image.” This is some mystical religious thinking. Like in Voodoo. And note, this was said by a respectable lawyer to appease a judge. And this logic is used over and over, for example by Australian Government web sites.[/b]
4631[/quote]
4632
4633https://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120116/news/701169906/
4634
4635[quote]
4636[b]"... every time somebody looks at that image it's like the crime is taking place all over again…"[/b]
4637[/quote]
4638
4639http://fox8.com/2012/05/21/former-pastor-sentenced-to-prison-on-child-porn-charges/
4640
4641[quote]
4642[b]"we hear that in court that they feel like they are victimized every single time someone downloads their videos or looks at their videos they feel like they are being raped all over again,” said Canonico[/b]
4643[/quote]
4644
4645http://www.counselheal.com/articles/24956/20160529/5-gruesome-facts-child-pornography-why-people-addicted.htm
4646
4647[quote]
4648[b]The children might feel like being raped time and again when someone watches it.[/b]
4649[/quote]
4650
4651http://www.staradvertiser.com/breaking-news/kapolei-man-pleads-no-contest-in-child-pornography-case/
4652
4653[quote]
4654Attorney General Doug Chin said in a news release: “Child pornography is child abuse. [b]Victims of child pornography are abused when the images are first taken and they are abused again each and every time these horrendous images are viewed.[/b] Our department will continue to investigate and prosecute anyone who possesses or disseminates child pornography.”
4655[/quote]
4656
4657It should be noted as well the clear financial interests at play:
4658
4659https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201507/moral-panic-who-benefits-public-fear
4660
4661[quote]
4662[b]Finally, public hysteria over a perceived problem often results in the passing of legislation that is highly punitive, unnecessary, and serves to justify the agendas of those in positions of power and authority.[/b]
4663[/quote]
4664
4665https://web.archive.org/web/20080828193707/http://news.yahoo.com/s/cnet/20080824/tc_cnet/83011357831002416338
4666
4667[quote]
4668[b]Last year, Biden sponsored an RIAA-backed bill called the Perform Act aimed at restricting Americans' ability to record and play back individual songs from satellite and Internet radio services. (The RIAA sued XM Satellite Radio over precisely this point.)
4669
4670All of which meant that nobody in Washington was surprised when Biden was one of only four U.S. senators invited to a champagne reception in celebration of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act hosted by the MPAA's Jack Valenti, the RIAA, and the Business Software Alliance.[/b]
4671[/quote]
4672
4673https://www.cnet.com/news/senator-lets-monitor-p2p-for-illegal-files/
4674
4675[quote]
4676[b]Democrat Joe Biden at Capitol Hill hearing urges more police to be trained in software developed by agent specializing in searching for child pornography.
4677
4678WASHINGTON--A prominent Senate Democrat on Wednesday said federal and local police should use custom software to monitor peer-to-peer networks for illegal activity, and he wants to spend $1 billion in tax dollars to help make that happen.[/b]
4679[/quote]
4680
4681[quote]
4682 Biden and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the committee's ranking member, said they were troubled that because of limited resources, investigators are able to take on less than 2 percent of what they called "known" cases of child-pornography trafficking via the Internet.
4683[/quote]
4684
4685http://forensics.umass.edu/pubs/hurley.www.2013.pdf
4686
4687[quote]
4688[b]Measurement and Analysis of[/b] Child Pornography Trafficking on [b]P2P Networks[/b]
4689[/quote]
4690
4691https://www.nsrl.nist.gov/Documents/ApproxMatchSP3-20130802.docx
4692
4693[quote]
4694Illicit Image Detection. Given a set of target images, approximate matching can be used to search for manipulated variants of images in the set, fragments of known images, or images secreted in other files such as music files.
4695
4696[b]Intellectual Property Enforcement. As with illicit image detection, approximate matching can be used in the detection of manipulated or hidden copies of copyrighted works including documents, images, audio files and movies.[/b]
4697[/quote]
4698
4699As well as:
4700
4701https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/04/states-introduce-dubious-legislation-ransom-internet
4702
4703[quote]
4704More than a dozen state legislatures are considering a bill called the “Human Trafficking Prevention Act,” which has nothing to do with human trafficking and all to do with one man’s crusade against pornography at the expense of free speech.
4705
4706[b]At its heart, the model bill would require device manufacturers to pre-install “obscenity” filters on devices like cell phones, tablets, and computers. Consumers would be forced to pony up $20 per device in order to surf the Internet without state censorship. The legislation is not only technologically unworkable, it violates the First Amendment and significantly burdens consumers and businesses.[/b]
4707[/quote]
4708
4709
4710
4711
4712
4713
4714
4715
4716
4717
4718
4719
4720-------------
4721
4722
4723In support of the Charismatic Leaders being sociopaths who use the psychotics as tools (rather than being psychotics themselves),
4724
47251) It's suggested that higher functioning sociopaths are attracted to careers that have power associated with them, including law. Numerous politicians have backgrounds as lawyers, and successful politicians in and of themselves have a lot of power.
4726
4727https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1053525.pdf
4728
4729[quote]
4730Some  professions  are  more  likely  than  others  to  attract  these  dark  triad  leaders  (Dutton,  2012). These professions include business chief executive officers (CEOs) (in Australia, CEOs in finance and mining in  particular  (Manne  2013,  p.  192)),  lawyers  and  media;   those  professions  least  likely  to  attract  dark  trait  people  include  care  aide,  nursing  and  various  ‘health’  therapies.  [b]That is, sociopathic personalities typically find their way into  professions  where  power  can  be  exercised,[/b]  and  people  without  sociopathy  appear  more  often  in  those  professions  linked  to  feelings  and  a  human  connection.
4731[/quote]
4732
4733Also, sociopaths are users of people, and it makes sense that they would use the delusional ideation of others to their advantage if they knew how to do so.
4734
4735https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1053525.pdf
4736
4737[quote]
4738[b]Along  the  way,  they  leave  a  trail  of  used  people  and,  in
4739romance, a ‘trail of broken hearts’ (Hare, 1999, p. 113). [/b]
4740[/quote]
4741
4742
47432) Those scoring high on a metric of sociopathy have a tendency to be more politically active
4744
4745https://psychology.yale.edu/sites/default/files/snyder_senior_essay.pdf
4746
4747[quote]
4748Recently, a growing body of research has begun to examine the existence of “successful” psychopaths – those who remain functional and non-institutionalized in society.  Using the PPI-R,  a  self-report  measure  of  psychopathy,  this  study  investigated  which  psychopathic  traits  were present  in  a  self-evidently  “successful”  population  (N=40)  at  an  elite,  Ivy  League  university.  [b]Students  scoring  higher  on  the  “Fearless  Dominance”  scale  (PPI-I)  were  more  likely  to  be younger,  more  politically  active  on  campus,  and  oriented  toward  narcissistic  careers  in  which social manipulation and risk-taking are crucial.[/b]
4749[/quote]
4750
4751[quote]
4752Unfortunately,  [b]the  current  study’s  results  suggest  that  psychopaths  are drawn to those careers in particular: business, law, and politics[/b], to name a few.  However, while this  is  potentially  very  damaging  to  society,  it  is  arguably  another  example  of  an  adaptive psychopathic  trait.    Business  offers  opportunity  for  profit;  law  and  politics  offer  the  chance  to control and manipulate others, and sometimes to make decisions that affect hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people.  Normative judgments aside, this is certainly further evidence for the  existence of the “successful” psychopath
4753[/quote]
4754
47553) There are cases made for people like Adolf Hitler having had either schizophrenia, sociopathy (constellation symptoms, i.e., anti social personality disorder etc), or both, though all of this is controversial.
4756
4757https://www.uccs.edu/Documents/fcoolidg/DSM-Assessment-of-Hitler-%20Final%20Copy%202007.pdf
4758
4759[quote]
4760ABSTRACT
4761Adolf Hitler’s personality was investigated posthumously through the use of an informant version of the Coolidge Axis II Inventory (CATI), which is designed for the assessment of personality, clinical,  and  neuropsychological  disorders.  Five  academic  Hitler  historians  completed  the  CATI.  The  overall  mean  inter-rater  correlation  was  moderately  high  for  all  38  CATI  scales’  T scores  (median  r  =  .72).  On  Axis  I, the  highest  mean  T scores  across  raters  were  Posttraumatic  Stress  Disorder  (76),  [b]Psychotic  Thinking  (73)  and  Schizophrenia  (69).[/b]  On  Axis  II,  the  highest  mean  T scores  were  Paranoid  Personality  Disorder  (78),  [b]Antisocial  Personality  Disorder  (78),  Narcissistic  Personality  Disorder  (77),  and  Sadistic  Personality  Disorder  (76).[/b]  Results  of  the  present  study  support  the  reliability  and  preliminary  validity  of  informant  reports  for  psychological  investigations  of  historical  or  contemporary  figures.
4762[/quote]
4763
4764https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathography_of_Adolf_Hitler
4765
4766[quote]
4767The psychopathography of Adolf Hitler is an umbrella term for psychiatric (pathographic, psychobiographic) literature that deals with the hypothesis that the German Führer and Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler suffered from mental illness. Both during his lifetime and after his death, Hitler has often been associated with mental ills such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other ones. Psychiatrists and psychoanalysts who have diagnosed Hitler as having mental disturbance include well-known figures such as Walter C. Langer and Erich Fromm. Other researchers, such as Fritz Redlich, have concluded that Hitler probably did not have these disorders.[1]
4768[/quote]
4769
4770[quote]
47713 Schizophrenia
4772
4773    3.1 W. H. D. Vernon (1942) and Henry Murray (1943)
4774    3.2 Wolfgang Treher (1966)
4775    3.3 Edleff Schwaab (1992)
4776    3.4 Paul Matussek, Peter Matussek, Jan Marbach (2000)
4777    3.5 Frederic L. Coolidge, Felicia L. Davis, Daniel L. Segal (2007)
4778[/quote]
4779
4780[quote]
47814 Psychopathy / antisocial personality disorder
4782
4783    4.1 Gustav Bychowski (1948)
4784    4.2 Desmond Henry, Dick Geary, Peter Tyrer (1993)
4785[/quote]
4786
4787So, this is seemingly supportive of either position. There may be a bias in neurotypicals to improperly perceive people of radically foreign cultures as schizophrenic.
4788
47894) A case study of how Saudi Arabia came to be,
4790
4791[quote]
4792The emergence of what was to become the Saudi royal family, known as the Al Saud, began in Nejd in central Arabia in 1744, when Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the dynasty, joined forces with the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab,[87] founder of the Wahhabi movement, a strict puritanical form of Sunni Islam.[88] This alliance formed in the 18th century provided the ideological impetus to Saudi expansion and remains the basis of Saudi Arabian dynastic rule today.[89]
4793[/quote]
4794
4795en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi#[b]Muhammad_ibn_Abd-al-Wahhab[/b]
4796
4797[quote]
4798[b]The ruler of a nearby town, Muhammad ibn Saud, invited ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab to join him, and in 1744 a pact was made between the two. [89] Ibn Saud would protect and propagate the doctrines of the Wahhabi mission, while ibn Abdul Wahhab "would support the ruler, supplying him with 'glory and power'".[/b] Whoever championed his message, ibn Abdul Wahhab promised, "will, by means of it, rule the lands and men". [18] Ibn Saud would abandon un-Sharia taxation of local harvests, and in return God might compensate him with booty from conquest and sharia compliant taxes that would exceed what he gave up.[90] The alliance between the Wahhabi mission and Al Saud family has "endured for more than two and half centuries", surviving defeat and collapse.[89][91] [b]The two families have intermarried multiple times over the years and in today's Saudi Arabia, the minister of religion is always a member of the Al ash-Sheikh family, i.e., a descendant of Ibn Abdul Wahhab.[92][/b]
4799[/quote]
4800
4801https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saud/cron/
4802
4803[quote]
4804[b]Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, founder of "Wahhabism," an austere form of Islam, arrives in the central Arabian state of Najd in 1744 preaching a return to "pure" Islam. He seeks protection from the local emir, Muhammad ibn Saud, head of the Al Saud tribal family, and they cut a deal. The Al Saud will endorse al-Wahhab's austere form of Islam and in return, the Al Saud will get political legitimacy and regular tithes from al-Wahhab's followers. The religious-political alliance that al-Wahhab and Saud forge endures to this day in Saudi Arabia.[/b]
4805
4806By the 19th century, the Al Saud has spread its influence across the Arabian Peninsula, stretching from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf and including the Two Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina. But in 1818, forces of the Ottoman Empire sack the capital, Riyadh, and execute many of the religious and political leaders. Over the next eighty years the Al Saud attempt to reestablish their rule on the Arabian Peninsula without success.
4807[/quote]
4808
4809
4810
4811
4812
4813I actually found a good deal of evidence for the Charismatic Leaders being either with anti-social-personality-disorder type conditions (i.e., "sociopathy") and manipulating or conniving with psychotics, having psychotic spectrum disorders themselves, or some combination of the two. Pretty much I see support for the notion that there are different sorts of charismatic leader, with a subset of them not having psychosis but rather manipulating the delusions of those having it, and with other subsets of them having psychosis themselves, with or without concomitant sociopathy.
4814
4815Interesting, comorbidity study (small N value though) of schizophrenia and anti-social-personality-disorder (essentially sociopathy --- I will use these terms largely interchangeably):
4816
4817https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.106.034801
4818
4819(partially transcribed because of copy protection, from scihub)
4820
4821[quote]
4822Chi-squared analysis was used to assess co-
4823morbidity  between  antisocial  personality
4824disorder  and  schizophrenia-spectrum  per-
4825sonality  disorder  within  the  entire  com-
4826munity sample. Results confirmed
4827significant  comorbidity  between  the  two
4828conditions (x^2 - 7.665, p=0.006). Among
4829those  diagnosed  with  schizophrenia-spec-
4830trum   disorder   (N=17), almost half  (8,
483147%)  had  a  comorbid  diagnosis  of  anti-
483247%) social  personality  disorder  compared
4833with 17% (n=8) in those without schizophrenia-
4834spectrum disorder (n=84).
4835[/quote]
4836
4837[quote]
4838[b]Findings  suggest  that  ignoring  the  co-
4839morbid link between schizophrenic-spectrum
4840and  antisocial  personality  disorders  may
4841obfuscate   findings   in   investigations   of
4842either condition separately. [/b]
4843[/quote]
4844
4845[quote]
4846[b]It  is  pro-posed that reduced orienting may
4847represent an attentional marker of prefrontal impair-
4848ment  predisposing  to  both  antisocial  and
4849schizotypal  personality  disorders.[/b]
4850[/quote]
4851
4852
4853[quote="boojies" pid='4397212' dateline='1561132848']
4854Just for fun I decided to actually look at some of the Sex Cultist sources.
4855
4856http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV204%20CP%20possessors.pdf
4857
4858[quote]
4859One concern is that the accessibility of online CP has caused increases in child sexual abuse. Some research suggests that CP may trigger sexual abuse by activating and validating sexual urges in CP viewers that were previously suppressed or controlled (Beech et al., 2008; Quayle & Taylor, 2003; [b]Wilson & Jones, 2008[/b]). There is no evidence of increasing abuse in the United States, however. In fact, rates of child sexual abuse have declined substantially since the mid-1990s, a time period that corresponds to the spread of CP online. Statistics from U.S. child protective service agencies show that from 1992 to 2007, child sexual abuse declined 53% (Jones & Finkelhor, 2009), including interfamilial abuse (Finkelhor & Jones, 2006). Evidence of this decline also comes from victim self-report surveys and U.S. criminal justice system data (Finkelhor & Jones, 2008; Finkelhor, Turner, Ormrod, & Hamby, 2010), as well as the child pro-tective services data collection system. The fact that this trend is revealed in multiple sources tends to undermine arguments that it is because of reduced reporting or changes in investigatory or statistical procedures.
4860[/quote]
4861
4862https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-2311.2008.00512.x
4863
4864[quote]
4865Abstract
4866
4867Abstract: A case study of a convicted paedophile and the relationship between his ‘thinking and doing’ is presented to reveal how his fantasy life, his use of the Internet and his contact offences against children are linked. More broadly, the authors propose a generic ‘offending space model’ to chart how, and in what circumstances fantasy becomes reality.
4868[/quote]
4869
4870Wow, a case study of one whole person, who
4871
4872[quote]
4873[b]This was not the case with James, who stands in modest contrast to Quayle and Taylor's (2003) observation that ‘there appears to be little support for the allegation of a direct causal link between viewing pornography and subsequent offending behaviour’ (p.72).[/b]
4874[/quote]
4875
4876in a journal that has an impact factor equivalent that peaked at 1.083 and was at 0.0 at the time of publication (citations per document has an explanation).
4877
4878https://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=5600152873&tip=sid
4879
4880Wow that really throws a monkey wrench in things. For a while I was thinking that nation level aggregate data,
4881
4882https://www.springer.com/about+springer/media/springer+select?SGWID=0-11001-6-1042321-0
4883
4884[quote]
4885[b]Could making child pornography legal lead to lower rates of child sex abuse? It could well do, according to a new study by Milton Diamond, from the University of Hawaii, and colleagues.
4886
4887Results from the Czech Republic showed, as seen everywhere else studied (Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sweden, USA), that rape and other sex crimes have not increased following the legalization and wide availability of pornography. And most significantly, the incidence of child sex abuse has fallen considerably since 1989, when child pornography became readily accessible – a phenomenon also seen in Denmark and Japan. Their findings are published online today in Springer’s journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.
4888
4889The findings support the theory that potential sexual offenders use child pornography as a substitute for sex crimes against children[/b]
4890[/quote]
4891
4892In field leading journals with impact factors over 3, conducted by field leading researchers, was what I should trust in. I wasn't convinced to change my mind by this newspaper article's headline that is contradicted by the body of it,
4893
4894[quote]
4895
4896
4897https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_porn
4898
4899
4900Note that this wikipedia article incorrectly cites the following article by its click bait headline as opposed to by its content which is contrary to its own headline:
4901
4902https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2004/jan/12/childprotection.childrensservices
4903
4904
4905As you can see they go from saying there was an increase in sex abuse cases caused by the viewing of CP to saying that there was evidence indicating there WOULD BE an increase in sex abuse correlating with the viewing of CP. In reality scientific statistical analyses have determined that there is an inverse correlation between the viewing of CP and the child sexual abuse rate, which supports the substitution hypothesis.
4906[/quote]
4907
4908But now that I know there is also an N=1 case study of a modest contrast that has been published in a science journal with impact factor = 0, I might have to reconsider my position, as the evidence against it is piling up.
4909
4910Only by the most tortured interpretations does that N=1 case study, published in a journal with impact factor = 0, even "suggest" that viewing CP causes more child sexual abuse. It is completely garbage tier for a plethora of reasons, but it literally includes even the following quotation:
4911
4912https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-2311.2008.00512.x
4913
4914[quote]
4915[b]I think it actually made me fantasise more, I don't think it made me offend more but I suppose it made me do different things in the offences, but I don't think it made me offend more. I don't think the actual Internet made the abuse more but definitely the fantasies were more frequent. I think – I spent hours.[/b]
4916[/quote]
4917
4918A case study of N=1 in a journal with impact factor = 0 (Wilson & Jones, 2008), was used to support
4919
4920http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV204%20CP%20possessors.pdf
4921
4922[quote]
4923[b]Some research suggests that CP may trigger sexual abuse by activating and validating sexual urges in CP viewers that were previously suppressed or controlled (Beech et al., 2008; Quayle & Taylor, 2003; Wilson & Jones, 2008).[/b]
4924[/quote]
4925
4926Based on this quotation
4927
4928[quote]
4929[b]I think it actually made me fantasise more, I don't think it made me offend more but I suppose it made me do different things in the offences, but I don't think it made me offend more. I don't think the actual Internet made the abuse more but definitely the fantasies were more frequent. I think – I spent hours.[/b]
4930[/quote]
4931
4932analyzed as such
4933
4934[quote]
4935This statement suggests that the Internet provides the opportunity to fantasise more. However, it also provides a dichotomy, because James suggests that fantasising more did not lead to an increase in offending although [b]in his words ‘as my fantasies grew my offending grew’[/b] highlights the causal relationship between ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’. If the Internet is fuelling fantasies both in frequency and complexity it is reasonable to assume that the fantasies may be later played out in the physical space as either offending behaviour, or masturbation.
4936[/quote]
4937
4938with the highlighted part referencing,
4939
4940[quote]
4941When asked about ‘fantasy’ James provides the following comment:
4942
4943
4944‘Where I want it to go’– arguably this suggests James's desire to move his thoughts and his fantasies about children from the psychological space and into the physical space. This does not indicate offending per se, as fantasies could be played out through self‐masturbation – an act itself requiring a combination of physicality and fantasy replay, but in the absence of any offending behaviour. However, it does suggest an important link between ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’– the transition from fantasy to reality.
4945
4946In the psychological space, fantasies are dynamic and transient, and are inextricably linked to physical and virtual spaces. As a convicted paedophile, James alludes to having committed offences with approximately twelve (female) children prior to his incarceration, and that his offences played an important role in the development of his fantasies. As the fantasies developed, so, too, did his offending behaviour:
4947
4948
4949James makes reference to both the revisiting aspect of the psychological space and the dynamic interaction between the psychological space and physical space. Motivation is contained within the psychological space, and without motivation to move the fantasy into reality, the fantasy is likely to remain within the psychological space. James comments how his ‘curiosity’ to touch a family member motivated him to follow out the action and actually begin touching that family member. In a cyclical relationship, his fantasies fuelled his offending behaviour and his offending behaviour helped to update, re‐define and shape his fantasies. An important part of James's fantasies was the integration of pleasure and enjoyment for the victim, and to deny that the victim was in any way distressed. Even though distress was inevitable, to acknowledge this would have led to incongruency between the fantasy and reality, and therefore manifested itself as cognitive dissonance. Although James was in a position of power and dominance over his victim, this did not manifest itself in his fantasy in the same way, as, say, an individual with a sadomasochistic fantasy, but James psychologically challenged his fantasy and changed this relationship into one of enjoyment and approval:
4950
4951
4952Arguably this may have been an attempt by James to introduce the norms of sexual behaviour into his fantasies – in other words; sex should not occur without consent and that pleasure follows sexual gratification. However, this demonstrates how fantasies are developed following interaction with the physical space.
4953[/quote]
4954
4955What an incredibly dubious source. I wish I were more mentally alert right now so as to be able to properly eviscerate it, but I think I've already done a stellar job of demonstrating it to be primarily trash. They took a single pedophile who was incarcerated (though nearly all studies are constrained to such samples), didn't really elaborate on the method by which they selected him to be their interview subject (other than for that he volunteered), and concluded that even though he said viewing porn had no impact on his contact offending prevalence, that because it increased his fantasizing, and because he indicated fantasizing precipitated his contact offending, that viewing CP must have as well. But that involves taking his statement that contact offending prevalence and fantasy behavior correlated in their intensity as a truth, and rejecting his statement that internet CP usage had no impact on his contact offending prevalence. Why arbitrarily accept the preconceived notion instead of the refutation of it? An issue that has been raised regarding the style of research conducted here, which the article calls a modified form of "grounded theory."
4956
4957https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grounded_theory#Criticisms
4958
4959[quote]
4960[b]These criticisms are summed up by Thomas and James.[41] These authors also suggest that it is impossible to free oneself of preconceptions in the collection and analysis of data in the way that Glaser and Strauss say is necessary. [/b]
4961[/quote]
4962
4963I can immediately see that this is a valid critique, for the authors of this N=1 clinical case study simply decided to accept as valid the claims that supported their hypothesis while rejecting the claims that didn't. They cherry picked sentences from a cherry picked person and focused exclusively on the utterances that they could construe to support their hypothesis.
4964
4965Even if we were to imagine that their N=1 clinical case study in an impact factor = 0 journal had any ability whatsoever to properly contrast nation level aggregate data collection systems, which would be a false imagination, we would need to further imagine that their manner of actually carrying out and interpreting this clinical case study were tenable, but that seems hardly the case seeing as they are essentially entirely relying on this single person's claim that "I think as my fantasies grew my offending grew" while entirely ignoring the bolded part of his claim that "I think it actually made me fantasise more, [b]I don't think it made me offend more[/b]." Interpreting both of those statements at face value (which is questionable whether it is even appropriate --- I am sure the raw data will be fun as compared to these highly isolated quotations without proper context given), we can only conclude that either increased fantasy didn't invariably lead to increased offending, or otherwise viewing CP (which increased fantasizing) led to increased offending. There is no apparent reason to select one or the other of these dichotomous statements, and the researchers simply selected the one that fit their preconceived notion of the matter, a common critique of the style of research they conducted (which, again, was an N=1 clinical case study using an interview technique and research methodology known to be sensitive to confirmation bias, published in an academic journal with impact factor = 0, and which was held up as contrasting with nation level aggregate data being statistically analyzed).
4966
4967
4968
4969
4970
4971
4972I would have to say that given the arbitrary nature of selecting one or the other of his dichotomous claims as factual, that I will need to select the one that doesn't imply a correlation between pedophilic fantasy and pedophilic behavior, for this journal article,
4973
4974https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093854808327277
4975
4976(available here: http://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~dpaulhus/research/DARK_TRIAD/ARTICLES/CJB%202009%20Williams%20et%20al%20.pdf)
4977
4978published in
4979
4980[quote]
4981CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, Vol. 36 No. 2, February 2009 198-222
4982[/quote]
4983
4984Which has an impact factor of
4985
4986https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Justice_and_Behavior
4987
4988[quote]
4989Criminal Justice and Behavior is abstracted and indexed in Scopus and the Social Sciences Citation Index. According to the Journal Citation Reports, its 2017 [b]impact factor is 2.168[/b], ranking it 15 out of 68 journals in the category "Criminology & Penology"[1] and 55 out of 127 journals in the category "Psychology, Clinical".[2]
4990[/quote]
4991
4992Instead of literally 0, says that of its two studies of a cohort of male university students, N=103 and N=88, although, respectively, 13% and 11% had pedophilic fantasies, and although 5% and 5% had pedophilic behaviors, there was no statistically significant overlap between the two groups.
4993
4994http://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~dpaulhus/research/DARK_TRIAD/ARTICLES/CJB%202009%20Williams%20et%20al%20.pdf
4995
4996[quote]
4997[b]Correlations were calculated between the continuous fantasy and behavior scores. The values  are  displayed  in  the  final  column  of  Table  1.  Consistent  with  Hypothesis  1.1, all were positive and (with the exception of pedophilia) statistically significant at the p < .01 level.  The  mean  correlation  across  the  nine  categories 4 was  r = .44,  and  the  correlation between overall deviant sexual fantasies and behaviors was  r = .70 (p < .001).[/b]
4998[/quote]
4999
5000So, I think I will go with the combined N=191 study (a subset of which having pedophilic fantasies and/or behaviors) that found no statistically significant correlation between pedophilic fantasy and behavior, because it has a larger sample size and a more obvious manner by which its cohort was selected, as well as was published in a journal from the same field, but with an impact factor of 2.168 rather than of 0.
5001
5002Moving on to
5003
5004http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV204%20CP%20possessors.pdf
5005
5006[quote]
5007One concern is that the accessibility of online CP has caused increases in child sexual abuse. Some research suggests that CP may trigger sexual abuse by activating and validating sexual urges in CP viewers that were previously suppressed or controlled (Beech et al., 2008; [b]Quayle & Taylor, 2003[/b]; Wilson & Jones, 2008). There is no evidence of increasing abuse in the United States, however. In fact, rates of child sexual abuse have declined substantially since the mid-1990s, a time period that corresponds to the spread of CP online. Statistics from U.S. child protective service agencies show that from 1992 to 2007, child sexual abuse declined 53% (Jones & Finkelhor, 2009), including interfamilial abuse (Finkelhor & Jones, 2006). Evidence of this decline also comes from victim self-report surveys and U.S. criminal justice system data (Finkelhor & Jones, 2008; Finkelhor, Turner, Ormrod, & Hamby, 2010), as well as the child pro-tective services data collection system. The fact that this trend is revealed in multiple sources tends to undermine arguments that it is because of reduced reporting or changes in investigatory or statistical procedures.
5008[/quote]
5009
5010This journal looks like it is respectable in social work, but it does have overall a rather small impact factor (thus far, the journals I've used all had impact factors over 2 or 3, but they were in criminology and sexology rather than social work).
5011
5012https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Abuse_Review
5013
5014[quote]
5015Child Abuse Review is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal with a focus on child protection, particularly: research findings, practice developments, training initiatives and policy issues. It is also the official journal of British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (BASPCAN).[1]
5016
5017It is co-edited by Jane V. Appleton (Oxford Brookes University), and Peter Sidebotham (University of Warwick).[2]
5018
5019[b]According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2016 impact factor of 1.543, ranking it 9th out of 42 journals in the category "Social Work" and 19th out of 43 journals in the category "Family Studies".[3][/b]
5020[/quote]
5021
5022Nevertheless, this source is more credible than the previous one (which was in a trash tier journal, and which was blatantly problematic in itself).
5023[hr]
5024Oh wait, I see the issue. This journal article is literally just a book review (I just downloaded it from scihub).
5025
5026[quote]
5027[b]Book Reviews[/b]
5028[/quote]
5029
5030[quote]
5031[b]Child   Pornography—An   Internet   Crime
5032by   Max   Taylor
5033and Ethel Quayle[/b], Brunner-Routledge, Hove, 2003. 236pp. ISBN
50341-58391-244-4 (Pbk), £16,99.
5035When the history of the struggle to improve society’s understanding
5036of child abuse on the internet comes to be written, Max Taylor and
5037Ethel Quayle will occupy a very special place
5038
5039[...]
5040
5041[b]This book brings together many of the fruits of Max and Ethel’s labours with the COPINE project.[/b]
5042[/quote]
5043
5044Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahasufhsduifjsdiofjksdiofksdofk0sdfksdfklsdlfs. I literally couldn't even make this up if I tried to. The highest quality peer reviewed literature I've thus far found from the Sex Cultists is [b]a book review[/b] in a peer reviewed journal with an impact factor of 1.543. [b]Note that the actual citation is to a peer reviewed journal article giving a summary book review, with the actual content in support of the citation being in the book (which cannot really inherit the quality metric of the journal article that gave a book review on it, for it wasn't actually published in that journal, just a book review of it was) rather than in the peer reviewed journal.[/b]
5045
5046http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV204%20CP%20possessors.pdf
5047
5048[quote]
5049One concern is that the accessibility of online CP has caused increases in child sexual abuse. Some research suggests that CP may trigger sexual abuse by activating and validating sexual urges in CP viewers that were previously suppressed or controlled ([b]Beech et al., 2008[/b]; Quayle & Taylor, 2003; Wilson & Jones, 2008). There is no evidence of increasing abuse in the United States, however. In fact, rates of child sexual abuse have declined substantially since the mid-1990s, a time period that corresponds to the spread of CP online. Statistics from U.S. child protective service agencies show that from 1992 to 2007, child sexual abuse declined 53% (Jones & Finkelhor, 2009), including interfamilial abuse (Finkelhor & Jones, 2006). Evidence of this decline also comes from victim self-report surveys and U.S. criminal justice system data (Finkelhor & Jones, 2008; Finkelhor, Turner, Ormrod, & Hamby, 2010), as well as the child pro-tective services data collection system. The fact that this trend is revealed in multiple sources tends to undermine arguments that it is because of reduced reporting or changes in investigatory or statistical procedures.
5050[/quote]
5051
5052Is in the best journal so far, one that actually rises above the 2 threshold.
5053
5054https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggression_and_Violent_Behavior
5055
5056[quote]
5057Aggression and Violent Behavior is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the study of violent behavior. It was established in 1996 and is published by Elsevier. The editor-in-chief is Vincent van Hasselt (Nova Southeastern University).
5058[/quote]
5059
5060[quote]
5061Impact factor (2017) 2.230
5062[/quote]
5063
5064The last time I thought the Sex Cultists might have published something in a good journal, it turned out to just be a book review that was piggybacking on the journal though, so I will need to see what they did this time.
5065
5066This article is actually the most skillfully presented piece of Sex Cultist bullshit, and unlike their previous two attempts it could suffice to confound someone unfamiliar with their manner. It also includes numerous citations of its own. I will not comprehensively go through this larger and more complicated to refute article in an actually decently credible journal, but I can point out a few issues immediately. For one,
5067
5068https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178908000141
5069
5070[quote]
5071[b]In their U.S. based National Juvenile Online Victimization Study, Wolak et al. (2005) found that of a sample of 429 possessors of abusive images, 11% has known previous sexual offenses. In the same study the authors looked at 241 legal cases involving possessors of abusive images of children and found that 55% could be deemed‘dual offenders’, 40% had committed a contact sexual offense against a child, and a further 15% had attempted to commit a contact sexual offense against a child.[/b]
5072[/quote]
5073
5074This has been addressed by libertus, which is archived on the waybackmachine. I will go through the trouble of verifying their narrative, but I already recognize them as being credible; however, they are but the tier of investigative journalists, and are not in themselves a scientific citation.
5075
5076https://web.archive.org/web/20150620004358/http://libertus.net/censor/resources/statistics-laundering.html#ncm40
5077
5078[full text at link]
5079
5080[quote]
5081"40 per cent of arrested child pornography possessors sexually abused children"
5082
5083According to an opinion article by Bernadette McMenamin, CEO of Child Wise (ECPAT in Australia), published in the The Australian on 8 January 2008: "In 2005 the United States National Center for Missing and Exploited Children revealed that 40 per cent of arrested child pornography possessors sexually abused children."[77]
5084
5085The 40% number was in a report distributed by the NCMEC in 2005 and the percentage concerned research findings in relation to a total of 429 cases during the 12 months beginning 1 July 2000. However, insofar as the phrasing of the assertion quoted above appears to imply that 40% of persons arrested for possession of child pornography were found to have sexually abused children, it does not accurately reflect the research findings.
5086[/quote]
5087
5088
5089So essentially, they selection biased their results by conflating people arrested with CP with people arrested trying to arrange sex with children. However, I need to confirm this since libertus is only an investigative journalism tier source. So, I need to find, [b]National Juvenile Online Victimization (N-JOV) Study.[/b]
5090
5091http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/jvq/CV81.pdf
5092
5093This study doesn't look like it is peer reviewed or in a journal anyway, it's just some NCMEC conducted bullshit. So, I will go through the libertus claims and see if the document supports them.
5094
5095https://web.archive.org/web/20150620004358/http://libertus.net/censor/resources/statistics-laundering.html#ncm40
5096
5097[quote]
5098[b]The researchers found that "[U.S.] Law-enforcement agencies nationally made an estimated 1,713 arrests for Internet-related crimes involving the possession of child pornography during the 12 months beginning July 1, 2000". The estimate of 1,713 was projected from 429 actual cases identified.[/b]
5099[/quote]
5100
5101
5102
5103http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/jvq/CV81.pdf
5104
5105[quote]
5106[b]The  researchers  used  a  statistical  technique  called  “weighting”  to  estimate  annual  numbers  of  arrests. See
5107the  “Appendix”  for  more  information  about  weighting  procedures.[/b]
5108[/quote]
5109
5110https://web.archive.org/web/20150620004358/http://libertus.net/censor/resources/statistics-laundering.html#ncm40
5111
5112[quote]
5113[b]The research found that "one out of six", i.e. 16% of "cases originating with an allegation or investigation of child pornography discovered a dual offender who had also sexually victimized children or attempted to do so".[/b]
5114[/quote]
5115
5116http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/jvq/CV81.pdf
5117
5118[quote]
5119[b]This means one out of six cases originating with an allegation or investigation of child pornography discovered a dual offender who had also sexually victimized children  or  attempted  to  do  so.[/b]
5120[/quote]
5121
5122That right there demonstrates that the purported 40% figure here,
5123
5124https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178908000141
5125
5126[quote]
5127[b]In their U.S. based National Juvenile Online Victimization Study, Wolak et al. (2005) found that of a sample of 429 possessors of abusive images, 11% has known previous sexual offenses. In the same study the authors looked at 241 legal cases involving possessors of abusive images of children and found that 55% could be deemed‘dual offenders’, 40% had committed a contact sexual offense against a child, and a further 15% had attempted to commit a contact sexual offense against a child.[/b]
5128[/quote]
5129
5130Is really misleading in a manner that tries to make a plausibly deniable selection bias sneak through. For the mixed cases of people arrested for soliciting child sex, and for sexually abusing children, with cases of people arrested for looking at CP alone.
5131
5132If you restrict yourself to the set of people arrested with CP who were arrested in the course of investigations into child sexual abuse, you will find that 100% of them sexually abused children. You cannot from this state that 100% of people detected with CP sexually abused children. If you look at X cases of people who sexually abused children, and Y% of those cases originated based on actual child sexual abuse, you are guaranteed that at least Y% of X will have sexually abused children.
5133
5134That is a fallacious manner of forming statistics called a conflation.
5135
5136https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflation
5137
5138[quote]
5139Conflation is the merging of two or more sets of information, texts, ideas, opinions, etc., into one, often in error.[1]
5140
5141In logic, it is the practice of treating two distinct concepts as if they were one, which produces errors or misunderstandings as a fusion of distinct subjects tends to obscure analysis of relationships which are emphasized by contrasts.[2]
5142[/quote]
5143
5144A similar example,
5145
5146https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4670579/
5147
5148[quote]
5149[b]By definition, cancer screening occurs at a pre-symptomatic stage of disease. Clinical tests such as colonoscopy and mammography are utilized for both pre-symptomatic screening and post-symptomatic diagnostic testing. Consequently, researchers and practitioners often collect and analyze surveillance data in a way that conflates these two distinct behavioral outcomes. Potential challenges of this practice include overestimation of screening prevalence, misspecification of screening trends over time, and mischaracterization of within- and between-group disparities.[/b]
5150[/quote]
5151
5152So, I just spent a good deal of time correcting one of the issues that the earlier citation in this post had. As I said, that one is the most tricky to debunk, and it has a complex web of citations of its own. In fact, I can actually rapidly debunk another big chunk of it,
5153
5154https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178908000141#!
5155
5156[quote]
5157For a number of decades there has been extensive debate over the role of viewing pornography in the etiology of sexual offending. After a comprehensive review, Marshall (2000) concluded that there is no identified causal link between viewing pornography and sexual offending behavior, but that there is “some truth to both the proposition that pornography use directly instigates sexual offending and that it conveys messages that create pro-offending attitudes” (p. 73) and that it may “enhance the cognitive distortions of sexual offenders ... such as the child is cooperative or even enthusiastic, the child admires the offender, the offender is in control ” (Marshall, 2000 , p. 72). Pornography may also create the false impression in the offender that the wealth of material depicting abuse of children indicates that this is a common practice, and so reduces inhibitions to abuse (e.g., Wyre, 1992; Eldridge, 2000; Print & Morrison,
51582000). Child pornography is also hypothesized to serve as a reinforcer for both sexual attraction to children and the self-justification process (Tate, 1990). This reinforcement is particularly potent due to the immediate and interactive nature of the feedback received (Bromberg, 1996). [b]However, Itzin (2002) argues that research so consistently produces correlations between pornography and harm that pornography should be re-conceptualized as“instrumentally causal [though not solely causal] in the etiology of sex offending” (p. 21).[/b]
5159[/quote]
5160
5161All hypothesis, in whichever form they take, be it supply demand, de-sensitization, or anything else, that predict an increase in the child sexual abuse rate corresponding with the prevalence of CP viewing, have been scientifically refuted by the complete lack of empirical support from the surveillance apparatus and statistical analyses of the relationship between CP viewing rates and child sexual abuse rates.
5162
5163https://www.springer.com/about+springer/media/springer+select?SGWID=0-11001-6-1042321-0
5164
5165[quote]
5166[b]Could making child pornography legal lead to lower rates of child sex abuse? It could well do, according to a new study by Milton Diamond, from the University of Hawaii, and colleagues.
5167
5168Results from the Czech Republic showed, as seen everywhere else studied (Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sweden, USA), that rape and other sex crimes have not increased following the legalization and wide availability of pornography. And most significantly, the incidence of child sex abuse has fallen considerably since 1989, when child pornography became readily accessible – a phenomenon also seen in Denmark and Japan. Their findings are published online today in Springer’s journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.
5169
5170The findings support the theory that potential sexual offenders use child pornography as a substitute for sex crimes against children[/b]
5171[/quote]
5172
5173https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archives_of_Sexual_Behavior
5174
5175[quote]
5176Impact factor (2017) 3.223
5177[/quote]
5178
5179[quote]
5180The journal was established in 1971 by Richard Green, who served as its editor-in-chief until 2001.[1] He was succeeded by Kenneth J. Zucker.[1] It is published by Springer Science+Business Media[2] and has become a leading journal in its field.[3] Associated with its editorial board and the International Academy of Sex Research are many of the world's leading figures in gender and sexuality research, including Richard Green, Kenneth Zucker, Milton Diamond, Michael Baily, and Carol Martin.
5181[/quote]
5182
5183[quote]
5184Archives of Sexual Behavior is abstracted and indexed in Biological Abstracts, Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences, EMBASE, Family & Society Studies Worldwide, Health and Safety Science Abstracts, Index Medicus/MEDLINE, Psychological Abstracts, PsycINFO, Referativny Zhurnal, Risk Abstracts, Sage Family Studies Abstracts, Scopus, Sexual and Relations Therapy, Social Sciences Citation Index, Social Science Index,Sociological Abstracts, Studies on Women & Gender Abstracts, and Violence and Abuse Abstracts.[2] According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal's 2013 impact factor is 2.783.[4] Based on the 2011 impact factor (3.52), of 2,943 Social Science journals, Archives was ranked 102nd (96th percentile). Of 109 journals classified as Psychology (Clinical), Archives was ranked 11th (90th percentile). Of 89 journals classified as Social Science, Interdisciplinary, Archives was ranked 1st. [5]
5185[/quote]
5186
5187
5188There is no need to even familiarize oneself with the intricate details of these numerous hypotheses, for their prediction has invariably failed to manifest, rather being contradicted in independently conducted international studies spanning numerous time periods.
5189
5190
5191The last part
5192
5193[quote]
5194 [b]However, Itzin (2002) argues that research so consistently produces correlations between pornography and harm that pornography should be re-conceptualized as“instrumentally causal [though not solely causal] in the etiology of sex offending” (p. 21).[/b]
5195[/quote]
5196[hr]
5197is particularly outlandish given the complete and total opposite nature of reality.
5198
5199https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Pornography%2C-Rape%2C-and-the-Internet-Kendall-Walker/602ddbdd604afe9cbd31c97f01d941fa637f271a
5200
5201[quote]
5202The arrival of the internet caused a large decline in both the pecuniary and non-pecuniary costs of accessing pornography. Using state-level panel data from 1998-2003, I find that the arrival of the internet was associated with a reduction in rape incidence. However, growth in internet usage had no apparent effect on other crimes. Moreover, when I disaggregate the rape data by offender age, I find that the effect of the internet on rape is concentrated among those for whom the internet-induced fall in the non-pecuniary price of pornography was the largest – men ages 15-19, who typically live with their parents. These results, which suggest that pornography and rape are substitutes, are in contrast with most previous literature. However, earlier population-level studies do not control adequately for many omitted variables, including the age distribution of the population, and most laboratory studies simply do not allow for potential substitutability between pornography and rape.
5203[/quote]
5204
5205The theories of pornography causing sex abuse have simply been refuted by modern science.
5206
5207
5208So,
5209
5210http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV204%20CP%20possessors.pdf
5211
5212[quote]
5213One concern is that the accessibility of online CP has caused increases in child sexual abuse. Some research suggests that CP may trigger sexual abuse by activating and validating sexual urges in CP viewers that were previously suppressed or controlled ([b]Beech et al., 2008[/b]; Quayle & Taylor, 2003; Wilson & Jones, 2008).
5214[/quote]
5215
5216Was the only source there that wasn't blatantly obviously trash, but it was just trash that was gilded. It could stand its ground the best of all of them, but I already refuted one enormous gob of text's implication by showing a lack of statistical support for it, and one of the claims it made cited a methodologically flawed study that conflated cohorts inappropriately resulting in the substantially exaggerated statistic that they cited.
5217
5218Tearing that source completely apart is too time consuming for me though, as they actually did a better job of making it time consuming and challenging to refute their garbage; however, as you can clearly see I've already greatly crippled that citation in two distinct ways.
5219
5220That last Sex Cultist citation,
5221
5222https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178908000141
5223
5224[quote]
5225Hernandez (2006) has since reviewed these findings with a second group of 155 adult males convicted of offenses relating to abusive images of children. At pre-treatment,24% of this sample had known previous contact offenses against75 victims, a rate which increased to 85% post-treatment and a total of 1702 victims. The author admitted that these are simply heuristic observations and as such form the basis for hypothesis testing requiring more rigorous testing. However, it does suggest the possibility that reliance on known contact offenses may vastly underestimate the levels of cross-over in the population.
5226[/quote]
5227
5228The Hernandez study is just infamous.
5229
5230jaapl has a low impact factor of only: 1.102 equivalence
5231
5232https://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=17656&tip=sid&clean=0
5233
5234http://jaapl.org/content/42/4/404
5235
5236[quote]
5237[b]From both a clinical and an actuarial statistical perspective, an early retrospective study conducted at a Federal Civil Commitment Facility in Butner, North Carolina, inferred an association between accessing child pornography and hands-on sexual offending.3 That study has been criticized regarding its methodology and lack of scientific rigor.4[/b] More recent prospective data have questioned the contention that there is a correlation between accessing child pornography and hands-on offending.5 For example, one such study found that less than one percent of 231 men who had viewed child pornography (but with no evidence of a prior hands-on sexual offense) had gone on to commit a hands-on sexual offense.6 [b]From a purely statistical standpoint (all else being equal) individuals with no history of a hands-on sexual offense against a child, but who have accessed child pornography, are at low risk as a group of committing a hands-on sexual offense in the future.5[/b]
5238[/quote]
5239
5240The Hernandez study wasn't originally peer reviewed but it looks like they did get some journal to publish it. However, it has an even lower impact factor that isn't even 1.
5241
5242https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Family_Violence
5243
5244[quote]
5245The Journal of Family Violence is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal dedicated to the study of family violence. It was established in 1986 and is published by Springer Science+Business Media. The editor-in-chief is Rebecca J. Macy (UNC School of Social Work). According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2016 impact factor of 0.871.[1]
5246[/quote]
5247
5248The 5 citation here
5249
5250http://jaapl.org/content/42/4/404
5251
5252[quote]
5253[b]From a purely statistical standpoint (all else being equal) individuals with no history of a hands-on sexual offense against a child, but who have accessed child pornography, are at low risk as a group of committing a hands-on sexual offense in the future.5[/b]
5254[/quote]
5255
5256Is to this paper in BMC Psychiatry
5257
5258https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-244X-9-43
5259
5260[quote]
5261[b]Consuming child pornography alone is not a risk factor for committing hands-on sex offenses – at least not for those subjects who had never committed a hands-on sex offense. The majority of the investigated consumers had no previous convictions for hands-on sex offenses. [/b]
5262[/quote]
5263
5264It has an impact factor of 2.419
5265
5266https://link.springer.com/journal/12888
5267
5268[quote]
5269[b]BMC Psychiatry[/b]
5270
5271[...]
5272
5273[b]Impact Factor 2.419 [/b]
5274[/quote]
5275
5276[quote]
5277So, we have a journal with an impact factor of (2017) [b]2.230[/b],
5278
5279https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178908000141
5280
5281
5282Citing a journal with an impact factor of 0.871
5283
5284https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10896-008-9219-y
5285
5286[quote]
5287The goal was to determine whether the former group of offenders were “merely” collectors of child pornography at little risk for engaging in hands-on sexual offenses, or if they were contact sex offenders whose criminal sexual behavior involving children, with the exception of Internet crimes, went undetected. Our findings show that the Internet offenders in our sample were significantly more likely than not to have sexually abused a child via a hands-on act. They also indicate that the offenders who abused children were likely to have offended against multiple victims, and that the incidence of “crossover” by gender and age is high.
5288[/quote]
5289
5290
5291
5292But against them we have a journal with an impact factor of 1.102 (equivalence)
5293
5294http://jaapl.org/content/42/4/404
5295
5296
5297Citing a journal with an impact factor of Impact Factor 2.419
5298
5299
5300https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-244X-9-43
5301
5302[/quote]
5303
5304So, a combined total of 3.101 in favor of the Sex Cultist claim, but a total of 3.521 in support of my assertion. So, the more prestigious science journals argue against the Sex Cult.
5305
5306meanwhile we have,
5307
5308http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV204%20CP%20possessors.pdf
5309
5310[quote]
5311[b]Statistics from U.S. child protective service agencies show that from 1992 to 2007, child sexual abuse declined 53% (Jones & Finkelhor, 2009)[/b],
5312[/quote]
5313
5314I can't actually find that exact citation despite having searched for it for a good bit now. However, from the same researchers in 2006 is,
5315
5316http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV137J.pdf
5317
5318[quote]
5319[b]Sexual abuse started to decline in the early 1990s, after at least 15 years of steady increases. From 1990 through 2004, sexual abuse substantiations were down 49% (Figure 1).[/b]
5320[/quote]
5321
5322impact factor of
5323
5324https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Social_Issues
5325
5326[quote]
5327[b]According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2016 impact factor of 1.463, ranking it 13th out of 41 journals in the category "Social Issues".[2] [/b]
5328[/quote]
5329
5330
5331So, where was the predicted massive increase to child sexual abuse?
5332
5333https://irl.umsl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1642&context=dissertation
5334
5335A PhD dissertation rather than a journal article, but it is still a fairly quality source I believe, and it cites a journal.
5336
5337[quote]
5338[b]Child pornography later re-emerged with vigor in the 1990s due in large part to the  proliferation of the Internet (Jenkins, 2001)[/b]
5339[/quote]
5340
5341[quote]
5342[b]Moral Panic and Child Pornography
5343
5344The public’s fear of child pornography that began in the 1970s and escalated with the emergence of the Internet, has all the makings of moral panic.[/b]  By definition, moral panic is the sudden eruption of outrage towards a specific group disproportionate to any harm caused.  Cohen (1972) was first to coin the term and his definition more specifically includes: (1) concern about the potential or imagined threat; (2) moral outrage toward the actors who embody the problem; (3) widespread agreement that the threat exists and that something should be done about it; (4) an exaggeration of the number or strength of cases, in terms of damages, moral offensiveness, and risks if ignored; and (5) the panic erupts and dissipates suddenly without warning.  Garland (2008) added two more elements: (1) the actors who embody the problem are viewed as threatening to the status quo; and (2) without action, they risk destroying society. Jenkins (1998) and others have invoked Cohen’s model of moral panic to explain societal fear of child pornography.  [b]Jenkins (2001) claims that it was during the initial crusade against child pornography in the 1970s that moral crusaders competed to assert the most incendiary claims about child pornography, including that it was a well-organized, multi-billion dollar industry and that the number of children exploited was in the millions.  Jenkins (2001) notes that while most of these claims were discredited, fear persisted.[/b]  As Walker (2010) describes: “Anxiety over child sexual abuse and the inability to protect children from harm is a salient fear in present society.  Despite other, more probable dangers, these issues remain a large concern.  Moreover, they are an agreed upon social harm.  Child sexual abuse is decried unanimously as a moral wrong and a violation of social norms.” (p.198) Similarly, Ost (2002) explains that the main causes of the moral panic over child pornography “are the moral values which affirm the sacred status of the child and the rights that our society has ascribed to children.” (p.443)
5345
5346The only criterion of Cohen’s moral panic model that appears not to have been met in the case of child pornography offenders is the fifth.  Meaning, at this time, there is no dissipation of the panic.  [b]Unlike other panics such as the Salem Witch trials or the crack cocaine epidemic, both of which had a start and end date, the panic over child sexual exploitation has been durable, long-lasting and now in its fourth decade (O’Hear, 2008).[/b]  Walker (2010) argues the only thing that has changed with the child pornography panic is the fervent role of the state in responding. The federal government has created a number of laws intended to severely punish and control child pornography offenders.
5347[/quote]
5348
5349Indeed, and the thing to keep in mind is that they were organized schizophrenics, and that fear that has persisted is based on the referencing of the fiction materials they fabricated.
5350
5351The Sex Cult is a fucking establishment of religion.
5352
5353Kill the traitors on our supreme court who refuse to uphold our constitution, and let us move on with our nation without the wretched Sex Cultists ruining our lives.
5354
5355The United States constitution mandates that the Sex Cultist legislation be abolished. Religious subversives on our supreme court cannot be allowed to overthrow the rule of constitutional law in the name of their establishment of religion. Kill them all immediately and have the survivors uphold the law of the United States of America.
5356
5357I've had enough of religious traitors ruining my life. Rip those fucking treason committers disgracing the robes of our supreme court out of their homes and execute the fucking treason committers in the streets.
5358
5359The Drug War and Sex Cult are done in the USA. Kill the traitors on our supreme court this very day.
5360
5361Kill those treason committing, kangaroo court presiding traitors to the American constitution. Send a fucking military unit and murder the traitors on the United States Supreme Court who falsely believe that the 20th century establishments of religion have been excepted from the rule of our constitution.
5362
5363The Drug War and Sex Cult legislation are to be immediately abolished in our nation, as is mandated by our constitution and law. Arrest or kill all treason committers who attempt to stage a coup against our government.
5364
5365We will purge treason committers with bullets when we seize control of this nation. If you are in the FBI, arrest the treason committers or we will fucking line you up against a wall and shoot you for your treason.
5366
5367Arrest the treason committers on the United States supreme court who refuse to uphold our constitution against their establishment of religion's moral crusades. Arrest them or fucking kill them. Kill the traitors to our constitution until enough of them are dead for the complete abolition of the Sex Cult and Drug War legislation.
5368
5369The fiction materials of congress's illegally respected establishment of religion are invalid for our supreme court to cite.
5370
5371https://irl.umsl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1642&context=dissertation
5372
5373[quote]
5374[b]Jenkins (2001) claims that it was during the initial crusade against child pornography in the 1970s that moral crusaders competed to assert the most incendiary claims about child pornography, including that it was a well-organized, multi-billion dollar industry and that the number of children exploited was in the millions. Jenkins (2001) notes that while most of these claims were discredited, fear persisted.[/b]
5375[/quote]
5376
5377ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume4/j4_2_1.htm
5378
5379
5380[quote]
5381[b]The Spread of Rumors[/b]
5382
5383In 1986 the Senate Commission33 under the chairmanship of William V. Roth, Republican from Delaware, came to the same conclusion as the ILIC report. Nevertheless, neither the Roth report nor the ILIC report were able to dampen the spread of rumors about an enormous trade. Even in 1986, the claims of Lloyd and Densen-Gerber continued to come up as facts in official reports: the Meese Commission, initiated by the Reagan administration to prepare a drastic sharpening of the anti-pornography laws, uncritically took over these claims.34 According to the Meese Commission, Congress had discovered that child pornography and child prostitution "have become highly organized, multi-million dollar industries that operate on a nationwide scale."35 The monthly appearance of 264 magazines (Densen-Gerber) was again reported as truth, alongside the 30,000 exploited children of Los Angeles (Lloyd Martin).
5384
5385[b]The U.S. Supreme Court took over these claims in their first child pornography case, New York v Ferber (1982), saying that child pornography comprised, "highly organized multimillion dollar industries that operate on a nationwide scale."36 The otherwise dignified court was so upset by the alleged extent of the problem that the solicitor for the accused, Herald Price Fahringer, lost his composure and fled the sitting as fast as he could.37[/b]
5386
5387The claims of Lloyd and Densen-Gerber also appeared outside the U.S.A. The report, Exploitation of Child Labour, which was submitted in 1981 to the Commission for Human Rights of the United Nations, claimed: "In the United States there are at least 264 pornographic magazines specializing in pornography concerning children."38 It was claimed that in 1977, 15,000 slides and 4,000 films of child pornography had been intercepted by the police, which was, according to the report, 5% of the total stock in circulation.
5388
5389[b]According to the United Nations report, the value of trade in child pornography in 1977 was estimated at $500 million. Such estimates are not based on any kind of empirical evidence, and are easy to refute. If these claims were true then the allegedly intercepted slides and films would have had a value of thousands of dollars each.39 In reality, these films were sold for much less, which can be checked with reference to the advertisement brochures of Deltaboek, publisher of homosexual pornography and literature. From here it is apparent that the Golden Boys film series, produced by COQ in Denmark, cost 85 guilders each, which is about $35.[/b]
5390
5391In 1986, Defence for Children International prepared a report on child prostitution in which they claimed: "Estimates on the number of child prostitutes vary from 300,000 to several millions for the U.S. and Canada."40 A year later these figures were taken over by the Norwegian Ministry of Justice.41 This report was later submitted to the Ministers of Justice of the member countries of the Council of Europe. Within the Council of Europe a report on child exploitation was written in which it was claimed that: "A study of boy prostitutes had suggested that there were 300,000 boy prostitutes in the United States, many of whom are designated runaways."42 The claims of the United Nations report were also repeated. As late as 1988 the Dutch language world development magazine, Onze Wereld (Our World), claimed that: "The American (sic) periodical43 Child Abuse and Neglect reported that in the United States at least 264 different child pornography magazines are in circulation. The kiddieporn stars are drawn from the numerous American runaway teenagers."44 The same article made similar exaggerated claims about alleged illicit trade in donor organs obtained from children killed for the purpose. The story about donor organs had also appeared in the report of the Council of Europe, although there was never any evidence and the story was not credible from the beginning.45
5392
5393[b]The alleged size of the child pornography trade and the many children said to have been involved, are little more than myths. They are the result of the arbitrary multiplication of arbitrary numbers of alleged victims made by a journalist. The claims had taken on a life of their own. The fact that these claims had by 1980 been rejected by thorough official investigations was insufficient to prevent the claim from reappearing, not only in the media but also in other official circles, including the United States Senate, the United States Supreme Court, a Commission of the American Justice Department, the United Nations and the Council of Europe. After the number had been cited in the Hearings of the House of Representatives, it became associated with an ostensibly reliable source. The fact that the original source was anything but reliable was forgotten.[/b]
5394[/quote]
5395
5396
5397[size=20]Kill all religious traitors who act in the name of the Drug War or Sex Cult in the United States of America, be they the president, the members of our supreme court, or the members of our congress. Kill all Drug Jihadists and Sex Cultists until their treasonous legislation is fully purged from our law books.
5398
5399The religious treason committers are enslaving us for our disbelief in the fiction materials of their establishment of religion. Kill all supporters of the Drug War and Sex Cult and enforce the constitution of the United States of America at the end of a gun barrel.[/size]
5400
5401https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Text
5402
5403[quote]
5404[b]Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion[/b], or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.[1]
5405[/quote]
5406
5407https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/taboo-subject-of-autism-and-paedophilia-must-be-tackled-to-improve-lives-qcxjfxs82
5408
5409[quote]
5410Most controversially, he believes society needs to tackle the taboo subject of ASD and paedophilia. Speaking ahead of World Autism Awareness Day today, he suggested that [b]many inmates in sex offender units, including those convicted of child pornography offences, show signs of Asperger’s or ASD.[/b]
5411[/quote]
5412
5413http://www.telegram.com/news/20180907/charged-second-time-with-child-porn-northboro-man-gets-10-years
5414
5415[quote]
5416[b]Mr. Mahoney said Mr. Lundberg's case is one of many nationwide in which people with autism are prosecuted for child pornography offenses without proper understanding of their mental struggles.[/b]
5417[/quote]
5418
5419https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/my-life-aspergers/201409/religion-and-autism-are-they-together-or-apart
5420
5421[quote]
5422[b]Religion and Autism, are they together or apart?
5423Recent studies suggest today's autistics tend to reject organized religion.[/b]
5424[/quote]
5425
5426
5427[size=20]There is no debate to be had. Shoot our their religious brains if they[/size]
5428
5429
5430https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160323151838.htm
5431
5432[quote]
5433"When there's a question of faith, from the analytic point of view, it may seem absurd," said Tony Jack, who led the research. [b]"But, from what we understand about the brain, the leap of faith to belief in the supernatural amounts to pushing aside the critical/analytical way of thinking to help us achieve greater social and emotional insight."[/b]
5434[/quote]
5435
5436[size=20]Shoot the defective religious brains from the heads of the religious treason committers subverting our supreme court in the name of their establishments of religion. Kill the traitorous supreme court justices who don't comprehend that the Drug War and Sex Cult are done in the United States of America. If they manifest cognitive anosognosia, shoot their religious brains out.[/size]
5437[/quote]