The Greenbaum Speech

[hava1]

Free, i'd be interested as well to hear PW's response to this one.

I haven't read those books, because i had the impression (from blurbs etc.) that they miss the point, along the lines u had mentioned.

I don't know about the american situation (PW does), but in my case in Israel there is pressure on me to write the story, BUT as fiction. A survivor who reached the stage of being able to publish a best selling novel is posed with a dilema. I don't think that a reliable testimony book is an option, it would not sell, and I don't believe it will make it to the shelves, if there are names there and all. (not screen, but real).

Writing a reliable yet selling account is a tricky one. ITs like either u paint it yellow (with celebs and sex) or science fictionize it (aliens ? etc.), or reduce the depth and create a detective-espionage drama. I can't think of another way, but would be happy to hear.PW's approach, to use the artistic tool is also valid, but again it uses art as a social means to avoid consequences. Artists have some license (although given Lombradi and others, this license is also limited, preferably one should go for the unstable artist nieche).

If I had financial backup I'd write an account, without the emblishments and probably with legal advice - I'd use some intials for names, to avoid defamantion law suits etc.

If u examine the "holocaust account" genre u can find some of the problems there as well, although the question of relibaility is already out of the way. Some writers, at least in Israel were accused of "yellowing" up their accounts, to gain audience. I think only Primo Levy managed to escape the pitfalls and still be a best seller. And he wasn't very happy...namely, his soberness was eventually his downfall as well.

I don't see any problem, on an individual level, if a survivor uses the experience in away that empowers her, with all the "Schticks" of PR and marketting (sex celebs etc.). However, it has damaged the perception of the problem in "serious" circles. BUt again, those circles really have betrayed their calling anyway, the intellectuals, the social activists and critics have persistently turned a blind eye to this problem, although there is ample documentation. PW mentioned in another thread, the problem of the "american progressive" left movement being raided and neutralized by MK slaves, thats a result of a stratetic decision by prominent leaders of those movements not to address this problem. So there is a situation of "betrayal of intellectuals and cultural elite circles" who are also the ones that control the bon ton in the publishing world. They are not there for this social issue, and therefore it leaves only the "yellow tacky" publishing arena...etc.

[Eldritch]

There never seems to be a shortage of people—ready and willing—to tell MK survivors what it was they "really" remember.

To those who feel the need to do that: "Thanks, but no thanks."

I know quite well what I remember (most of my memories are quite clear), and I don't need anyone sifting my personal recollections through their own "reality filter" in order to edit out what their many biases cannot endure, so as to offer me back a pasteurized version of my own memories.

As far as I'm concerned, that is yet another acute injustice, heaped right on top of people who have already been treated with grave injustice.

Unfortunately, some of those "ready and willing helpers" come directly from the survivor community itself.

Fortunately, I've found a group of fellow survivors, some of whom are open minded persons and remarkably unbiased in their approach to the unique and sometimes diverse accounts of others.

But for those survivors who meet up with particular activist types, who may consider it their "duty" to mainstream other persons' accounts into congruence with their own, I feel deep empathy.

[Project Willow]

As far as a survivor movement goes, the first books published of survivor accounts to have decent circulation were 'Trance Formation of America" by Cathy O'Brien and Mark Phillips and "Thanks for the Memories" by Brice Taylor. In these books, the focus on celebrities and politicians was so pervasive that it all but obscured the overall message of human rights violations through mind control and led readers into a circular blind alley of S & M sex and celebrity obsession.

Any thoughts on this and/or ways to undo the damage that may have been done to the survivor movement?

We are up against celebrity culture, a sensationalist media, a public that just does not want to know, or can't understand, and we should just expect outright sabotage. We cannot control who says what, or which story is given prominence in this situation.

I think what we can do as activists is continue to speak out about what we know or believe to be our own experiences. Over time our collective voices should communicate a basic truth. Our strength is in numbers, the more of us who heal, and who are willing to speak out, the better our chances.

Hava, I could write for quite a while on using art as a means to tell the story. When I was active in the SA movement in the late 80's and early nineties, it was extremely effective. MC is another issue altogether. I have not gained any public notoriety as an artist. Yet more people know about the reality of MC, and accept its existence on some level (whatever level they can tolerate) due to my (and others') shows. It is almost always the case that those who most benefit from the work are other survivors and that is a wonderful thing.

What did you mean by: "but again it uses art as a social means to avoid consequences."

Do you mean that because it is "art" the audience has an out, it's just expression and therefore not real, etc?

[hava1]

PW, i mean that the social status of an artist is protecting and also tolerated by the PTB. It you were by chance a lawyer (to name just one) the amount of resistance to your message would be heavier and more violent. I think the artist position is a life insurance in a way and also philosophically, its a good position from which to examine the folly and cruelty of society, at times.