the timboucher experience

Jennifer brought up what I think is a good argument in my post about the most played-out conspiracy theories. To paraphrase: there are a bunch of people who claim that ritual abuse, satanic sacrifice and a whole bunch of other dastardly stuff is committed by members of secret societies. These claims are usually targeted at groups like the Freemasons and the OTO.

Now, I’m not interested in arguing that such claims are impossible or that there’s no possibility of truth in them. Nor am I interested in trying to tell survivors what they did or didn’t experience. That’s not my intent at all. But I do think it’s worth applying a critical eye to them.

Jennifer brought up one of the most common problems in this line of inquiry. When Masons or OTO members try to counter these accusations, conspiracy theorists quickly resort to the defense that only “high-level” members know about these secret nefarious activities, and that they are hidden from view of ordinary members who are subject to “brain-washing.” Now, I’ve never had any involvement with the Masons, OTO, the Rotary Club, Sam’s Club or BMG Music Club (actually, I did sign up for the free CD’s - but that was a while ago), but I know that average members of these groups are by and large very ordinary good people. Not the type of people liable to be brainwashed and not the type of people to be hoodwinked into joining an evil organization.

But it’s only the “higher-ups” who are doing the bad stuff, and they keep it totally secret, right? If that’s the case, then how did little old you find out about it? Doesn’t that strike you as odd that you would know more about the super-secret inner workings of an organization than people who are actually members of that organization?

Here’s the other potential problem I see with pinning such crimes onto a particular group. Say your information comes straight from a ritual abuse survivor. I’m in no position to discredit what somebody claims to have personally experienced. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t or shouldn’t look at their interpretation of their experiences. There seems to be a growing trend to try to trace these ritual abuse events to groups influenced by the writings of Aleister Crowley. There was a lively debate recently on the Rigorous Intuition Forum, wherein one member was suggesting “Thelemic Fundamentalists” as the source of many of these heinous crimes. The “evidence” seems to rest almost entirely on quotes from Crowley taken out of context about blood sacrifices, etc. None of these people seem to realize that such writings as Crowley’s are publicly available, or that the occult practices he described exist in traditions the world over. Just because somebody puts on a robe and utters incantations doesn’t mean they are a satanist or member of the OTO. Just because a group of people get together in a hall to have a meeting doesn’t mean they are Freemasons. And if by some stroke of fate they are Satanists, OTO, Freemasons or Sam’s Club members, that doesn’t mean all people in these groups commit such acts, or that the entire organization is built around suppressing knowledge of these activities. Ahem… unless they’re the Catholic Church, that is. (Hehe. Sorry, I couldn’t resist - but this happens to be a true allegation)

It’s one thing to want to try to find out what’s really happening and bring the perpetrators to justice. I’m all for that. But it’s quite another to grab hold of a group or a belief system and accuse them simply because you don’t agree with their philosophical underpinnings or understand their arcane rituals. In more cases than not, that seems to be what’s happening here - that combined with a lot of sloppy thinking and jumping to conclusions. That, or I could be totally wrong. First person to call me a disinformation agent wins a cookie!

• McMartin Psychologist Used in Jackson Case
• National Institute of Health Article on UFO Ritual Abuse Etc
• Manchurian Candidate Movie Connection
• The real-life world of death investigation
• Arid rituals