Having lived through the 60's as a teenager, I found the pop music liberating, which is neither good nor bad. The post world war 2 attitude of the "silent era" was strongly conservative and certainly needed a refreshing overhaul by way of a challenge. I for one am grateful for having lived in those years whch helped to open my eyes to question everything and also to discover who I really am.
There's some quote that goes something like this: never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity. AND, the older I get, the more I think it is the opposite. No, scratch that. I think it boils down to follow the money.
Absolutely fascinating reading!
I believe your substack is going to grow by leaps and bounds. I appreciated the links. Somehow you kept me reading past my initial skepticism.
I think another link between artists with military parents is that they are already used to moving a lot. Touring is not as big a deal for them.
Simone, thank you for the note, and apologies for the delayed reply.
You raise an interesting point about that quote. I've found that the deeper you dig into these patterns, the harder it becomes to chalk things up to mere incompetence or coincidence. The odds become infinitesimal.
When putting together pieces like this, I'm trying to thread a delicate needle - providing enough solid documentation to make the case without overwhelming readers with too much detail. The goal is to show that these aren't random coincidences while keeping the narrative clear and digestible. Glad you made it through the whole thing, despite your initial skepticism - that's exactly the kind of careful consideration these topics deserve.
BTW, that's a great observation about military kids and touring - I hadn't considered that angle, but it makes perfect sense.
Many of the groups during this era did not play their own instruments. It wasn't just the Monkees. The Byrd's were backed by professional players, including Glen Campbell. Very few bands toured. They lip synced on programs like Ed Sullivan, Shindig and Hullabaloo. I had a friend who attended high school in Alameda CA with Jim Morrison. I didn't believe him until he showed me the photo in his high school yearbook.
Sigh. So much weaponization of everything. No wonder we’re facing such a medical and spiritual autoimmunity crisis. We’re being primed to either surrender to or fight everything. The confusion keeps us constantly vigilant. And while I have heard bits of what you’ve explained so comprehensively, it’s overwhelming to see all at once.
The trouble becomes that we become resistant to things that could serve us in other nuanced ways because of how ideas like personal growth, art, self-care/acceptance, empowerment, advocacy have been distorted and exploited.
The growth curves are so steep and treacherous, but we try to stay on them…
Your insight about autoimmunity and constant vigilance is profound. These systems are designed to keep us in exactly that state of perpetual anxiety and confusion.
You're right - it's overwhelming to confront the possibility that much of what we considered 'authentic' may have been anything but. But understanding the depth and depravity of the deception, however uncomfortable, is crucial. Only by recognizing how deep the manipulation goes can we begin to reclaim genuine human experience and connection.
The path forward isn't cynicism about everything, but clear-eyed discernment. Difficult as it is, we need to look unflinchingly at the machinery of control to free ourselves from it.
As a boomer born in the late fifties, I'm wondering what and how an actually liberated person undefined by the systemic cultural herding would be like? How, in God's name, would I be different than the person I was manufactured to be?
As if there weren't enough red pills... and now this. Urgh. I'm not sure I can take any more. You've successfully ruined my youth. But this is the price of waking up. Thank you, Joshua. No, that wasn't me being cynical. It's pieces like this (and its predecessor) that start to complete a picture none of us really want to see but we have to anyway. Bring it on.
My mom said something similar when I shared my Beatles research with her. I'll say to you what I told her: still cherish those memories while understanding the bigger picture.
'I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.'
Speaking of Bob Dylan, no one has been able to do any exposés on him. Perhaps he really was the real deal! A genuine talent. He’s one incredible artist that hasn’t been connected to the military or to any psyops.
I would argue that it's not necessarily a matter of being the 'real deal' but more about how and why someone gets big, what purpose they serve, what they know, what they say/don't say.
I've been a huge Bob Dylan fan for as long as I can remember, though nowadays my sense is that you don't get to be Bob unless you're blessed by the controllers.
There are some interesting nuggets in this 60 Minutes Interview some years back...
Finally, I've long been intrigued by this David Bowie tune called A Song for Bob Dylan. I recently listened to the words and now wonder if this was a clue about MK and alters. That might also explain Dylan's many shifts or "characters" through the years. Or, maybe I'm overthinking it and he's just a mercurial artist? It's a great song, either way...
What a joy to converse with somebody with such great taste in music, Joshua! I grew up on the music of Dylan, Bowie and the Beatles, and I know the entire album Hunky Dory by heart.
Song for Bob Dylan is my least favourite song on the album but it’s, as you say, very interesting. Which are the lines that you feel referred to MK ultra?
Thank you so much for sharing those links with me. I’m excited to read what you have to say.
For a while now, I have wanted to research Dylan like Mike Williams has researched the Beatles. But there’s so little to go on of personal detail in Dylan‘s life because he’s so good at hiding private information. And his loved ones loyally don’t speak out.
I have seen that 60 minutes interview a number of times. I wonder why Dylan would talk so openly about the deal he made with the chief commander. Why would he say that on National TV?
He has said a lot of things that aren’t true over the years, weaving his narrative the way he feels at the time. I have wondered whether he was just spinning one more line to Ed Bradley. It was a very strange thing to reveal on a show that is intended for the average Joe Blow.
Josh, proof your "The Celebrity Machine graph. It's missing a word or thought:
The approach perfected through Gloria Steinem - channeling authentic social movements through carefully managed spokespersons - would evolve into today's meticulously crafted (what's missing here) This algorithmic management extends beyond content to talent itself, with platforms increasingly determining not just what succeeds but which voices rise to prominence.
Interesting, with many deeply buried and odd coincidences unearthed and aligned in apparently under-appreciated and telling ways. But if you want to persuade a wider audience you’ve still got work to do, because ultimately it all seems a bit attenuated. So, nice try, but you don’t actually score heavily for pointing out the fact that many entertainment industry stars and lower-visibility stalwarts have strange connections. Taking note of that, even as extensively as you do, doesn’t prove much, nor is it new news. Because the smoke from those fires has been hanging in the air for a very long time. It is understandable how Hollywood and the media biz have generated a legacy that fuels such suspicions. (Here’s one you seem to have missed: the strange demise of Marilyn Monroe.) One huge reason for that is the pervasive undercurrent of nepotism that undergirds much of its unofficial employment policy. That’s been a-feature-not-a-bug since day 1. But nepotism in business hiring is a much broader and more venerable tendency, as you must admit. One thing you seem to be pointing out is the similarity and affinity between people who aspire to dominance-through-influence in both domains: entertainment and government. The connection may seem newsworthy in many particulars, but isn’t that also actually business as usual? To clinch the case you need to expand the frame, consider counterfactuals, and admit the possibility that genuinely organic tendencies and trends exist and may thus mingle with utterly crass commercialization; my favorite example of this phenomenon is the twin-billing of The Monkees and Jimi Hendrix - strange but true, it actually happened. As a tail-end boomer my OG teen culture hero was a scruffy, swarthy working class New Englander with French Canadian and Breton roots. He had no substantial social connections and died of alcoholism in his mid-40s. He was one part lapsed Catholic and 2 parts libertine, with a sublime poetic impulse. His early friends included criminals, bums, and the founder of National Review. He served in the merchant marine during WWII after deciding to quit Columbia and his spot on its football team. His relationships were all kind of tortured or slap-dash affairs, including the friendship with a roguish buddy that became the basis for his best and most influential work. He originally produced that piece in a benzo-fueled marathon, typing like the madman he was on a continuous roll of paper. But he remains one of the most influential figures in 20th century American culture. I’ve looked into him closely several times over the last 45+ years, and have yet to fully grasp what it was that his audience - almost entirely young - responded to in him. The sex? The drugs? The fast cars? The jazz? Jack Kerouac remains a bit of a mystery. As do some others. They vary tremendously but still inspire wonder and hope. So hang in there, and keep working on your thing, and stay free.
I appreciate your thoughtful engagement with the material, Tim.
To clarify - this isn't meant to be comprehensive or persuasive, but rather documentation of ongoing research being shared with some friends and fellow researchers. While I'm considering whether to develop this into a longer-form book or film to make these stories more widely accessible, right now I'm approaching this as a student rather than a teacher - documenting, learning, and connecting with others doing similar research.
Monroe's story, for instance, wasn't overlooked but intentionally set aside as it deserves deeper treatment given its complex intersections with intelligence operations, cultural programming, and policy making. On Hendrix/Monkees - I didn't include it simply because I had nothing meaningful to add to Dave McGowan's thorough coverage.
The nepotism observation is interesting, but I'm specifically tracking unusual patterns like intelligence officers' children entering entertainment rather than following military paths, along with distinct patterns around aristocrats and orphans that merit their own detailed examination.
The documented connections between early Beat experiments with psychedelics and government-sponsored research programs at places like the Menlo Research Institute add another layer to your point about how cultural movements intersect with institutional power. Kerouac himself seemed to sense this by the end of his life, though he interpreted it through a different lens. That both Ginsberg and Kesey were early volunteers for government-sponsored LSD research, before "psychedelic" was even in the lexicon, remains one of the more striking examples of these institutional intersections with the counterculture.
Your insights suggest considerable research experience in these areas. If you're documenting any of your own investigations, I'd be very interested in reading them. Thanks again.
I’m just basing my lines on the motley assortment of anecdotes I’ve stumbled on over the years. It’s all very interesting and strange. I must admit that until learning more about the Ted Kascynski case I was inclined to poo-poo the possibility that domestic influence campaigns could entail such a level of convoluted horror. Then the Gary Webb story clinched perpetual suspicion for me. (Or was it the other way around?) One positive Beat contribution was to decline the casual acceptance of constraining norms, and pushing back against the clandestine control schemes you’ve noted is another way of doing that - thank you. We’ll have our hands full with this stuff going forward - but so will the bad guys, since their opposition is also formidable.
Sorry I missed this earlier, Tim. Really interesting point about Webb and Kaczynski as eye-openers on domestic influence ops. Webb's story especially shows the playbook - deny, discredit, then quietly admit it years later when no one's paying attention anymore. Totally agree about the road ahead. As you said, the opposition to these systems is getting more sophisticated too. The Beats' rejection of social programming feels more relevant than ever. Thanks for the thoughtful exchange.
As noted, the smoke has been hanging in the air for awhile now. But the efforts to keep it there persist - successfully in most cases. I've tracked a few fishy situations that merit more attention only to see the impact of revelations fall flat or run into outright denial. It's enough to induce general cynicism, that's for sure. But I'm glad someone's still digging.
i just learned of your writing this morning from Meryl Nass. quickly catching up as you are now my favorite writer. psychedelics been my focus as liberators and as fairy dust. i could offer you another point of view of Leary. he found out he was being used by a political agenda he despised and tried to turn MKULTRA against them, propagating memes like question authority, think for yourself, which only partly worked.
Thank you for your kind words and for finding my writing through Meryl's share. I'm a big fan of hers, so I'm especially grateful she decided to spotlight my writing.
Your perspective on Leary is interesting. There's certainly some dispute about how witting or unwitting he may have been in the larger agenda - especially when you look at his background. Since learning about his military academy roots and later connections, I've sometimes wondered if he was playing a role not unlike the Leonardo DiCaprio character in 'The Departed' - ostensibly rebelling against the system while potentially serving other interests.
Leary himself created more questions than answers when he said things like: 'Well, I've been an admirer of Aleister Crowley. I think that I'm carrying on much of the work that he started over a hundred years ago...' It's almost impossible to touch some of these topics without wandering into the occult.
Your point about psychedelics functioning as both 'liberators and as fairy dust' is intriguing too. I'm curious about how you see that duality - whether you think they inherently contain both potentials or if their effect depends on context, intention, and who's administering them. It seems as if the relationship between consciousness expansion and social control is certainly a complex one.
Either way, I appreciate you adding this dimension to the conversation. Our comments section is turning into a lovely community of thoughtful people, and I welcome any additional perspectives you'd like to share (on this or anything else).
love the DiCaprio example. that fits. i knew Tim very well over a long time, 15 years. His best friend since grad school, Frank Barron, was my mentor for a long time too. I've still trying to make sense of their roles.. They were recruited early, like a lot of psychologists. They're candid about it. At first it was flattering. "In those days," Tim said to me, "the CIA wasn't all bad." Leary was a hard to manage asset. He used them and they used him. Very hard to capture. I think much the same about Jerry Garcia and John Lennon. The 60s we might say were a period of chemical warfare in the United States, both side using the same drugs with different memes. Basically, i think psychedelic history is a microcosm of the history of religion. Contains the best and the worst of the human experience. Or like sex, unarguably one of the best, most sacred things we do, and then there's the sex industry, human trafficking, etc. I'm delighted to join your community. In just the few articles I've read you cover subjects that concern me greatly, and are frequently long interesting discussions on my public facebook page. I now live in Greece, but I'm probably going to show up at a book signing in Millbrook New York this Spring, a book about Tim's widow, Rosemary, who was also a dear friend of mine. thanks for your many wisdoms. be an honor to meet you. here's a thing i did yesterday.... https://open.spotify.com/episode/60NWquEOmj5kahiINIUaTE?si=ZYj8SvL1T_WcgM2zs18q5g&nd=1&dlsi=5d8bbe11174f4821
One important detail is missing: Hollywood, the entertainment industry, publishing, feminism, the CIA, Mossad, psychology, advertising propaganda, the self-discovery industry, etc., are all jewish.
Probably worthy of a new book with all parts combined.
Absolutely. I was thinking same.
Having lived through the 60's as a teenager, I found the pop music liberating, which is neither good nor bad. The post world war 2 attitude of the "silent era" was strongly conservative and certainly needed a refreshing overhaul by way of a challenge. I for one am grateful for having lived in those years whch helped to open my eyes to question everything and also to discover who I really am.
You're opening my 3rd eye my man.... love this
Amazing effort. Thank you for this well written and understandable piece.
Great post. Thanks for this.
Ok so you know…
Brilliant Josh.
Aww shucks, thanks Pamela.
There's some quote that goes something like this: never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity. AND, the older I get, the more I think it is the opposite. No, scratch that. I think it boils down to follow the money.
Absolutely fascinating reading!
I believe your substack is going to grow by leaps and bounds. I appreciated the links. Somehow you kept me reading past my initial skepticism.
I think another link between artists with military parents is that they are already used to moving a lot. Touring is not as big a deal for them.
Simone, thank you for the note, and apologies for the delayed reply.
You raise an interesting point about that quote. I've found that the deeper you dig into these patterns, the harder it becomes to chalk things up to mere incompetence or coincidence. The odds become infinitesimal.
When putting together pieces like this, I'm trying to thread a delicate needle - providing enough solid documentation to make the case without overwhelming readers with too much detail. The goal is to show that these aren't random coincidences while keeping the narrative clear and digestible. Glad you made it through the whole thing, despite your initial skepticism - that's exactly the kind of careful consideration these topics deserve.
BTW, that's a great observation about military kids and touring - I hadn't considered that angle, but it makes perfect sense.
Many of the groups during this era did not play their own instruments. It wasn't just the Monkees. The Byrd's were backed by professional players, including Glen Campbell. Very few bands toured. They lip synced on programs like Ed Sullivan, Shindig and Hullabaloo. I had a friend who attended high school in Alameda CA with Jim Morrison. I didn't believe him until he showed me the photo in his high school yearbook.
Yep!
See The Wrecking Crew
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrecking_Crew_(music)
Thanks for this! I admire your writing very much by the way.
Thank you for the kind words. I’m glad you’re enjoying the series.
And with a username like that, I can tell you're someone who brings enthusiasm to everything you do 😄
Sigh. So much weaponization of everything. No wonder we’re facing such a medical and spiritual autoimmunity crisis. We’re being primed to either surrender to or fight everything. The confusion keeps us constantly vigilant. And while I have heard bits of what you’ve explained so comprehensively, it’s overwhelming to see all at once.
The trouble becomes that we become resistant to things that could serve us in other nuanced ways because of how ideas like personal growth, art, self-care/acceptance, empowerment, advocacy have been distorted and exploited.
The growth curves are so steep and treacherous, but we try to stay on them…
Your insight about autoimmunity and constant vigilance is profound. These systems are designed to keep us in exactly that state of perpetual anxiety and confusion.
You're right - it's overwhelming to confront the possibility that much of what we considered 'authentic' may have been anything but. But understanding the depth and depravity of the deception, however uncomfortable, is crucial. Only by recognizing how deep the manipulation goes can we begin to reclaim genuine human experience and connection.
The path forward isn't cynicism about everything, but clear-eyed discernment. Difficult as it is, we need to look unflinchingly at the machinery of control to free ourselves from it.
Well said.
As a boomer born in the late fifties, I'm wondering what and how an actually liberated person undefined by the systemic cultural herding would be like? How, in God's name, would I be different than the person I was manufactured to be?
Maybe the Amish had it right all along? :-)
It's more about steering the herd in a particular direction. The hubris is almost incalculable.
As if there weren't enough red pills... and now this. Urgh. I'm not sure I can take any more. You've successfully ruined my youth. But this is the price of waking up. Thank you, Joshua. No, that wasn't me being cynical. It's pieces like this (and its predecessor) that start to complete a picture none of us really want to see but we have to anyway. Bring it on.
My mom said something similar when I shared my Beatles research with her. I'll say to you what I told her: still cherish those memories while understanding the bigger picture.
'I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.'
Speaking of Bob Dylan, no one has been able to do any exposés on him. Perhaps he really was the real deal! A genuine talent. He’s one incredible artist that hasn’t been connected to the military or to any psyops.
I would argue that it's not necessarily a matter of being the 'real deal' but more about how and why someone gets big, what purpose they serve, what they know, what they say/don't say.
I've been a huge Bob Dylan fan for as long as I can remember, though nowadays my sense is that you don't get to be Bob unless you're blessed by the controllers.
There are some interesting nuggets in this 60 Minutes Interview some years back...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om2600gTHyw
And, some curious details in this this thread from a researcher who does solid work...
https://x.com/edward__bernays/status/1488185866325569537?s=12
This piece mentions Bob, but is more about Joan Baez (who has some fascinating connections of her own - I mentioned her in my MK Ultra series)...
https://truthseeker444.blogspot.com/2013/11/dylan-baez-and-social-engineering-of.html
https://stylman.substack.com/p/mkultra-the-hidden-hand-part-2-the
Finally, I've long been intrigued by this David Bowie tune called A Song for Bob Dylan. I recently listened to the words and now wonder if this was a clue about MK and alters. That might also explain Dylan's many shifts or "characters" through the years. Or, maybe I'm overthinking it and he's just a mercurial artist? It's a great song, either way...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v23YSyH3Fe8
https://genius.com/David-bowie-song-for-bob-dylan-lyrics
What a joy to converse with somebody with such great taste in music, Joshua! I grew up on the music of Dylan, Bowie and the Beatles, and I know the entire album Hunky Dory by heart.
Song for Bob Dylan is my least favourite song on the album but it’s, as you say, very interesting. Which are the lines that you feel referred to MK ultra?
Thank you so much for sharing those links with me. I’m excited to read what you have to say.
For a while now, I have wanted to research Dylan like Mike Williams has researched the Beatles. But there’s so little to go on of personal detail in Dylan‘s life because he’s so good at hiding private information. And his loved ones loyally don’t speak out.
I have seen that 60 minutes interview a number of times. I wonder why Dylan would talk so openly about the deal he made with the chief commander. Why would he say that on National TV?
He has said a lot of things that aren’t true over the years, weaving his narrative the way he feels at the time. I have wondered whether he was just spinning one more line to Ed Bradley. It was a very strange thing to reveal on a show that is intended for the average Joe Blow.
So good to find you, Joshua!
Josh, proof your "The Celebrity Machine graph. It's missing a word or thought:
The approach perfected through Gloria Steinem - channeling authentic social movements through carefully managed spokespersons - would evolve into today's meticulously crafted (what's missing here) This algorithmic management extends beyond content to talent itself, with platforms increasingly determining not just what succeeds but which voices rise to prominence.
Should have read: "would evolve into today's meticulously crafted model of celebrity activism."
Fixed, thank you!
some actually read every word... Well done, btw.
Interesting, with many deeply buried and odd coincidences unearthed and aligned in apparently under-appreciated and telling ways. But if you want to persuade a wider audience you’ve still got work to do, because ultimately it all seems a bit attenuated. So, nice try, but you don’t actually score heavily for pointing out the fact that many entertainment industry stars and lower-visibility stalwarts have strange connections. Taking note of that, even as extensively as you do, doesn’t prove much, nor is it new news. Because the smoke from those fires has been hanging in the air for a very long time. It is understandable how Hollywood and the media biz have generated a legacy that fuels such suspicions. (Here’s one you seem to have missed: the strange demise of Marilyn Monroe.) One huge reason for that is the pervasive undercurrent of nepotism that undergirds much of its unofficial employment policy. That’s been a-feature-not-a-bug since day 1. But nepotism in business hiring is a much broader and more venerable tendency, as you must admit. One thing you seem to be pointing out is the similarity and affinity between people who aspire to dominance-through-influence in both domains: entertainment and government. The connection may seem newsworthy in many particulars, but isn’t that also actually business as usual? To clinch the case you need to expand the frame, consider counterfactuals, and admit the possibility that genuinely organic tendencies and trends exist and may thus mingle with utterly crass commercialization; my favorite example of this phenomenon is the twin-billing of The Monkees and Jimi Hendrix - strange but true, it actually happened. As a tail-end boomer my OG teen culture hero was a scruffy, swarthy working class New Englander with French Canadian and Breton roots. He had no substantial social connections and died of alcoholism in his mid-40s. He was one part lapsed Catholic and 2 parts libertine, with a sublime poetic impulse. His early friends included criminals, bums, and the founder of National Review. He served in the merchant marine during WWII after deciding to quit Columbia and his spot on its football team. His relationships were all kind of tortured or slap-dash affairs, including the friendship with a roguish buddy that became the basis for his best and most influential work. He originally produced that piece in a benzo-fueled marathon, typing like the madman he was on a continuous roll of paper. But he remains one of the most influential figures in 20th century American culture. I’ve looked into him closely several times over the last 45+ years, and have yet to fully grasp what it was that his audience - almost entirely young - responded to in him. The sex? The drugs? The fast cars? The jazz? Jack Kerouac remains a bit of a mystery. As do some others. They vary tremendously but still inspire wonder and hope. So hang in there, and keep working on your thing, and stay free.
I appreciate your thoughtful engagement with the material, Tim.
To clarify - this isn't meant to be comprehensive or persuasive, but rather documentation of ongoing research being shared with some friends and fellow researchers. While I'm considering whether to develop this into a longer-form book or film to make these stories more widely accessible, right now I'm approaching this as a student rather than a teacher - documenting, learning, and connecting with others doing similar research.
Monroe's story, for instance, wasn't overlooked but intentionally set aside as it deserves deeper treatment given its complex intersections with intelligence operations, cultural programming, and policy making. On Hendrix/Monkees - I didn't include it simply because I had nothing meaningful to add to Dave McGowan's thorough coverage.
The nepotism observation is interesting, but I'm specifically tracking unusual patterns like intelligence officers' children entering entertainment rather than following military paths, along with distinct patterns around aristocrats and orphans that merit their own detailed examination.
The documented connections between early Beat experiments with psychedelics and government-sponsored research programs at places like the Menlo Research Institute add another layer to your point about how cultural movements intersect with institutional power. Kerouac himself seemed to sense this by the end of his life, though he interpreted it through a different lens. That both Ginsberg and Kesey were early volunteers for government-sponsored LSD research, before "psychedelic" was even in the lexicon, remains one of the more striking examples of these institutional intersections with the counterculture.
Your insights suggest considerable research experience in these areas. If you're documenting any of your own investigations, I'd be very interested in reading them. Thanks again.
I’m just basing my lines on the motley assortment of anecdotes I’ve stumbled on over the years. It’s all very interesting and strange. I must admit that until learning more about the Ted Kascynski case I was inclined to poo-poo the possibility that domestic influence campaigns could entail such a level of convoluted horror. Then the Gary Webb story clinched perpetual suspicion for me. (Or was it the other way around?) One positive Beat contribution was to decline the casual acceptance of constraining norms, and pushing back against the clandestine control schemes you’ve noted is another way of doing that - thank you. We’ll have our hands full with this stuff going forward - but so will the bad guys, since their opposition is also formidable.
Sorry I missed this earlier, Tim. Really interesting point about Webb and Kaczynski as eye-openers on domestic influence ops. Webb's story especially shows the playbook - deny, discredit, then quietly admit it years later when no one's paying attention anymore. Totally agree about the road ahead. As you said, the opposition to these systems is getting more sophisticated too. The Beats' rejection of social programming feels more relevant than ever. Thanks for the thoughtful exchange.
Looks like this guy lifted website of Vigiliant Citizen's work from last 20 yrs. (among others). Next generation comes up, and nobody is the wiser.
As noted, the smoke has been hanging in the air for awhile now. But the efforts to keep it there persist - successfully in most cases. I've tracked a few fishy situations that merit more attention only to see the impact of revelations fall flat or run into outright denial. It's enough to induce general cynicism, that's for sure. But I'm glad someone's still digging.
If you have anything constructive to add to the discussion, you're welcome to do so. Otherwise, kindly take your unfounded accusations elsewhere.
i just learned of your writing this morning from Meryl Nass. quickly catching up as you are now my favorite writer. psychedelics been my focus as liberators and as fairy dust. i could offer you another point of view of Leary. he found out he was being used by a political agenda he despised and tried to turn MKULTRA against them, propagating memes like question authority, think for yourself, which only partly worked.
Thank you for your kind words and for finding my writing through Meryl's share. I'm a big fan of hers, so I'm especially grateful she decided to spotlight my writing.
Your perspective on Leary is interesting. There's certainly some dispute about how witting or unwitting he may have been in the larger agenda - especially when you look at his background. Since learning about his military academy roots and later connections, I've sometimes wondered if he was playing a role not unlike the Leonardo DiCaprio character in 'The Departed' - ostensibly rebelling against the system while potentially serving other interests.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Leary#Early_life_and_education
Leary himself created more questions than answers when he said things like: 'Well, I've been an admirer of Aleister Crowley. I think that I'm carrying on much of the work that he started over a hundred years ago...' It's almost impossible to touch some of these topics without wandering into the occult.
https://x.com/WilliamRamseyIn/status/1893354064831754670
Your point about psychedelics functioning as both 'liberators and as fairy dust' is intriguing too. I'm curious about how you see that duality - whether you think they inherently contain both potentials or if their effect depends on context, intention, and who's administering them. It seems as if the relationship between consciousness expansion and social control is certainly a complex one.
Either way, I appreciate you adding this dimension to the conversation. Our comments section is turning into a lovely community of thoughtful people, and I welcome any additional perspectives you'd like to share (on this or anything else).
love the DiCaprio example. that fits. i knew Tim very well over a long time, 15 years. His best friend since grad school, Frank Barron, was my mentor for a long time too. I've still trying to make sense of their roles.. They were recruited early, like a lot of psychologists. They're candid about it. At first it was flattering. "In those days," Tim said to me, "the CIA wasn't all bad." Leary was a hard to manage asset. He used them and they used him. Very hard to capture. I think much the same about Jerry Garcia and John Lennon. The 60s we might say were a period of chemical warfare in the United States, both side using the same drugs with different memes. Basically, i think psychedelic history is a microcosm of the history of religion. Contains the best and the worst of the human experience. Or like sex, unarguably one of the best, most sacred things we do, and then there's the sex industry, human trafficking, etc. I'm delighted to join your community. In just the few articles I've read you cover subjects that concern me greatly, and are frequently long interesting discussions on my public facebook page. I now live in Greece, but I'm probably going to show up at a book signing in Millbrook New York this Spring, a book about Tim's widow, Rosemary, who was also a dear friend of mine. thanks for your many wisdoms. be an honor to meet you. here's a thing i did yesterday.... https://open.spotify.com/episode/60NWquEOmj5kahiINIUaTE?si=ZYj8SvL1T_WcgM2zs18q5g&nd=1&dlsi=5d8bbe11174f4821
One important detail is missing: Hollywood, the entertainment industry, publishing, feminism, the CIA, Mossad, psychology, advertising propaganda, the self-discovery industry, etc., are all jewish.