Books I'm Reading 34 - The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson
http://www.amazon.com/Psychopath-Test-Journey-Through-Industry/dp/1594488010/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306482999&sr=8-1
Some of the things that Ronson discusses, like the use of Barney the Dinosaur's song in Iraq and LSD experimentation by the CIA, I've read about previously and pretty much take as fact. That said, I really hope that something in this book is fiction. If I were too take this entire text as fact, I think my brain would explode in a surreal psychotic break from reality ala The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits.
From depictions of the involvement of psychological operations against the Branch Davidians in Waco through supernatural warfare against Noriega (and why the fuck isn't "Noriega" in my spell check dictionary???), all told through the historical lens of the First Earth Battalion, I find this way too taxing on my sanity if I take it as prima facie truth.
Also, being that I live in Hawaii, I kind of have to ask, what the fuck makes these isolated islands grand central for retired New Age Military? Seriously? I mean look guys, if you've psychically predicted massive Earth-changing catastrophe, whether natural disasters, man-made ecological destruction or alien-assisted Terrarism (pun intended) an island chain with a history of tsunamis, volcanoes, hurricanes and the ghost stories of multiple races, cultures and generations seems like a bad choice for a retirement community. May I suggest Nebraska? Or maybe Texas. Hell, your particular brand of occult nuttiness may not even stand out much in Texas, especially Austin.
I also read this in part as prep because I saw that he just published a book about psychopaths and at the moment social psychology is something of an interest area of mine. Now that I've read this I'm even more so looking forward to reading The Psychopath Test.
Some of the things that Ronson discusses, like the use of Barney the Dinosaur's song in Iraq and LSD experimentation by the CIA, I've read about previously and pretty much take as fact. That said, I really hope that something in this book is fiction. If I were too take this entire text as fact, I think my brain would explode in a surreal psychotic break from reality ala The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits.
From depictions of the involvement of psychological operations against the Branch Davidians in Waco through supernatural warfare against Noriega (and why the fuck isn't "Noriega" in my spell check dictionary???), all told through the historical lens of the First Earth Battalion, I find this way too taxing on my sanity if I take it as prima facie truth.
Also, being that I live in Hawaii, I kind of have to ask, what the fuck makes these isolated islands grand central for retired New Age Military? Seriously? I mean look guys, if you've psychically predicted massive Earth-changing catastrophe, whether natural disasters, man-made ecological destruction or alien-assisted Terrarism (pun intended) an island chain with a history of tsunamis, volcanoes, hurricanes and the ghost stories of multiple races, cultures and generations seems like a bad choice for a retirement community. May I suggest Nebraska? Or maybe Texas. Hell, your particular brand of occult nuttiness may not even stand out much in Texas, especially Austin.
I also read this in part as prep because I saw that he just published a book about psychopaths and at the moment social psychology is something of an interest area of mine. Now that I've read this I'm even more so looking forward to reading The Psychopath Test.
posted by rpalmeira at 5:30 AM
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