Month: October 2009

A 55,000-Word Blog Post

Damon Linker questions the quality of books written within over the course of a few months:

What Beast Books is proposing, and what Klein is promoting, is (in Truman Capote’s words) the reduction of writing to typing. The typing might be clever, and witty, and informed, and politically useful. But in most cases, it will also be hurried and harried, merely echoing or negating the conventional wisdom of the moment, not placing it in a wider context or viewing it from a broader perspective. And that will be a incalculable loss to our culture.

It's not the amount of time that's taken in writing a book that matters, it seems to me. Some masterpieces have been written very quickly. It's the motivation. If your primary motivation is to hit the hot button, to rush a book to market around a newsy meme, then you are unlikely to produce anything that lasts. I miss the days when books were written because an author simply had something to say and took her time to say it well.

Sensory Deprivation And Interrogation

Padillagoggles

Here’s a new study of the effects of as little as 15 minutes of sensory deprivation on the brain:

After spending 15 minutes deprived of sight and sound, each person completed a test called the “Psychotomimetic States Inventory,” which measures psychosis-like experiences and was originally developed to study recreational drug users.

Among the nine participants who scored high on the first survey, five reported having hallucinations of faces during the sensory deprivation, and six reported seeing other objects or shapes that weren’t there. Four also noted an unusually heightened sense of smell, and two sensed an “evil presence” in the room. Almost all reported that they had “experienced something very special or important” during the experiment…

The researchers were not altogether surprised by such dramatic results from only 15 minutes of sensory deprivation.

Although few scientists are studying sensory deprivation today, a small body of research from the 1950s and 1960s supports the idea that a lack of sensory input can lead to symptoms of psychosis.

“Sensory deprivation is a naturalistic analogue to drugs like ketamine and cannabis for acting as a psychosis-inducing context,” Mason wrote, “particularly for those prone to psychosis.”

This is what Bush and Cheney did to prisoners for days and weeks at a time. Jose Padilla was kept blindfolded and without sound even for routine dental trips. This is what it did to him:

“During questioning, [Padilla] often exhibits facial tics, unusual eye movements and contortions of his body,” Mr. Patel said. “The contortions are particularly poignant since he is usually manacled and bound by a belly chain when he has meetings with counsel.”

This was the basis for the Bush administration’s intelligence. Feel safer?

“I Refuse To Consent”

An open letter from movie director Paul Haggis to Super Adventure Club spokesman, Tommy Davis, who walked off ABC's Nightline set when asked to respond to questions about the doctrines of the Super Adventure Club. It's occasioned by the sect's public opposition to marriage equality in the Prop 8 fight but clearly resonates more deeply. Money quote:

I was online doing research and chanced upon an interview clip with you on CNN. The interview lasted maybe ten minutes – it was just you and the newscaster. And in it I saw you deny the church’s policy of disconnection. You said straight-out there was no such policy, that it did not exist. I was shocked. We all know this policy exists. I didn’t have to search for verification – I didn’t have to look any further than my own home.

You might recall that my wife was ordered to disconnect from her parents because of something absolutely trivial they supposedly did twenty-five years ago when they resigned from the church.

This is a lovely retired couple, never said a negative word about Scientology to me or anyone else I know – hardly raving maniacs or enemies of the church. In fact it was they who introduced my wife to Scientology.

Although it caused her terrible personal pain, my wife broke off all contact with them. I refused to do so. I’ve never been good at following orders, especially when I find them morally reprehensible.

For a year and a half, despite her protestations, my wife did not speak to her parents and they had limited access to their grandchild. It was a terrible time.

That’s not ancient history, Tommy. It was a year ago.

And you could laugh at the question as if it was a joke? You could publicly state that it doesn’t exist?

To see you lie so easily, I am afraid I had to ask myself: what else are you lying about?