Forum Post: Am I?

Someone just suggested a reasonable question with the following:

If you are not suffering from paranoia, your post was brilliant. "They aim at the very heart of freedom and democracy itself."

It provided such a fine opening I thought that instead of responding in the comment section, I would highlight my reply with an entire forum post. It is a perfectly reasonable question:

Am I suffering from paranoia?

I confess - when I left the house after posting that I did leave with an expectation - yes I did. I have this expectation that I will, in some way, be spanked for having said such a thing, let alone, said so publicly.

Yet I insist, I don't much care - but who is to say? Perhaps I am bluffing.

Do you like music? I do. I like music. I like . . .

• this

• and this

• and this

And interestingly enough these are three of the first four songs that played on the radio as I headed down the road.

Do you think music can be emotionally suggestive? I do, I think so. Evocative even. But how can it be used? How can music be used to create an impression in an individual that they are under complete control?

Let us assume . . .

You expect to be punished - perhaps even die. Certainly you will die, we all will. But to die as a form of punishment, as an example to others . . . can we agree that serious contemplation of such a possibility - whether it is to befall self or others and thus form a kind of punishment - will have a tendency to induce negative feelings and reactions. Can we agree on that? Let us agree on that and assume it is so.

Let us then introduce the first song, Hero, by Family of the year. A melodious, sorrowful song, one that aches with a longing for all that could be, all that should be but is not. In a mind burdened by fear, such a melody may stretch that fear out in an ecstasy of anguish tempered by a strange and crazy kind of calm, one that is borne by guitar strings of song.

To contain such a tempest over time one might choose to dial it back, perhaps with this. A love song that is similar in tone and composition, but one with much less of an emotional hook on our subject because it is older, well known, and contains no cues that evoke the new reality we all face today - or that our subject presumes we all face, today. It is a love song, nothing more, and so eases the transition from fevered emotional pitch tempered by calm into something much more manageable.

IF our subject is indeed bluffing, then we will know with this next selection which may or may not be a love song, that is immaterial. What is key is the repetition of the theme fixing to die within the context of our musical construct - which this does very well. At this point if our subject is bluffing, resistance to the message should be apparent. The subject should be distracted quite easily, and a test may be arranged, given that the subject is already in traffic.

Perhaps at the traffic light, a car may pass through and behave in a manner contrary to the normal traffic pattern. If the subject is paused before a left turn signal, one that is short in duration, and if their attention is captured by this odd behavior playing out in the intersection, then they will miss their opportunity to turn left. At that point impatience should set in, and anger, anger tinged by fear, fear in the knowledge that their entire emotional responses have been choreographed, and that missed opportunity has been engineered, all on the basis of their own behavior.

A state of conditioned helplessness may now be suggested, with this - for this is a darkness others do not see, this is a darkness that others cannot see, for to see this darkness one must see from the perspective of the subject, and that is simply impossible.

As it happens,

• You are getting the Point

  • Head Full Of Doubt - Avett Brothers - 11:04AM
  • Windows Are Rolled Down - Amos Lee - 11:00AM
  • Landslide - Fleetwood Mac - 10:56AM
  • Hero - Family Of The Year - 10:53AM

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And no, for those who may be curious, I did not miss the left turn, but I did carefully note the distinct possibility.

I just don't care.

.

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.

So - you know. What do you think . . .

.

Am I suffering from paranoia?

• am I dangerous?

.

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• Part I: Boycott KIA Cars and Target Stores

• Part II: - - - - - - - - - - - Dear Sir - - - - - - - - - - -

• Part III: Is That the Best You Can Do?

• Part IV: Am I?

. z