WesWorld

The Men Who Stare At Goats, By Jon Ronson; Published by Simon & Schuster Publishing, 2004. 256 pages and a few photographs.

I found this book at the airport. I was looking for something for the coming flight, and there it was: a book featuring a white Saanen goat very similar to one of my own, except that this one is being threatened by a half dozen M-16s. I thought, “What the f**k?”, and looked at title: The Men Who Stare at Goats.

Fair enough, I thought; I stare at goats sometimes. This is usually when they’re out grazing and I want to ensure they’re not chomping on a tree. But apparently there were, and maybe still are, guys who stare at goats because they believe they can kill the goat in this way.

So the book turns out to be a convoluted examination of purportedly genuine military and intelligence projects that, frankly, sound insane: killing by staring at the target and willing them to be dead, walking through walls, remote viewing, turning one’s self invisible. Other projects sound less insane, such as the use of LSD, subliminal messages, and pop music as interrogation tools. Case in point: the Barney the Purple Dinosaur theme song (“I love you, you love me, etc.”). When the media caught wind of American forces in the Middle East using it as an interrogation tool, it came off as a joke - but really, after hearing it at 120 decibels for the two hundredth consecutive time, don’t you think you’d spill your guts?

Another chapter deals with a guy who demonstrates, on the author, a little yellow doo-hickey he’s created. It looks perfectly harmless - a misshapen lump of plastic and rubber - but it can be used in all manner of ways to inflict pain if the user knows the human body well enough. This chapter happens to be Val’s favorite; it cracks her right up - plus we agree that her older brother would probably have a great time with one of the little yellow things.

Is this for real? Do I believe it’s factual and correct? I’m not certain - governments can do very strange things when they’re desperate and have a lot of cash to throw around. What I can say is that, whether you believe any of it or not, the book itself is frickin’ hilarous. Heartily endorsed by both Valerie and myself.

Hmm... Gitmo's favorite technique is death metal as very high volumes, so I've heard. I can believe the Barney method, I hate that damned song. Pop music, though? Er, wait... that means the boy bands, right? Never mind.

Sounds like a good book.

Ha!! Barney is old school, try showing those Gitmo detainee's Teletubby re-runs. Thats enough to make you go stark raving Mad!!

The things that you've mentioned seem the less sane ones. There are others mentioned that would be more effective using hormones and pheromones.

The "bee-bomb", spray the enemy troops with pheromones. They don't fight so good when every bee/wasp/hornet around is after them.

Others like creating such a vile stench on the battleground that enemy troops just want to throw up and run away.

I've read somewhere that sound waves can make you lose complete control of bodily functions. What the level of truth behind that is a mystery to me.....

Quoted

Originally posted by thesmilingassassin
I've read somewhere that sound waves can make you lose complete control of bodily functions. What the level of truth behind that is a mystery to me.....

"Mythbusters" put that brakes on that one, mild discomfort was the best they could come up with, the test subject standing in the centre of a stack of speakers that any trash metal band would wet themselves for!!

By pop music, I mean Celine Dion, Matchbox Twenty, and so on. There's a chapter in which a man, briefly detained as a terrorism suspect, tells that author that during his detention, some guy would come in to the room, tell him that he might enjoy the following music, and then start playing one of those CDs. The man would then quickly exit the room and not return until after it ended.

The suspect eventually found himself wondering whether the guy was trying to be courteous, or if he was playing discs with subliminal messaging on it (hence the quick exits).

I think I'll pass on this book.

I was more into psycological warfare....like carpet bombing with ham in muslim areas, or beef on hindu areas...or haggis in most any other location.

(yes I've had haggis..it is not too bad, just what I had too much pepper.)