Positive Mind-Control?

AntiCultControversies : Message: Can Mind Control Be Good?:

In his website, Hassan states that mind control is not always bad (http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/faq/#1 ):

""Mind control" techniques are not necessarily bad. Although I typically use the term "mind control" when describing unethical and abusive social influence, many of the techniques can be used ethically to promote positive spiritual and personal growth."

I think his statement that mind control techniques are not always bad is very confusing.

Then he goes on to say that spiritual practices can be ethical or unethical:

"For example, prayer can be used ethically or it can be used destructively as a tool of manipulation and coercion. Praying with a person aloud, and asking "God's blessing to help direct and guide him" (in an "open-ended" way) is just fine. Praying with a person, and asking God to "keep this person from making the mistake of leaving the group's workshop and returning to Satan's world" is unethical.

There may be some idea there. saying, for example, "You have to follow God's voice" would be OK. But saying in substance "You have to follow God's voice and I am that voice" would already be objectionable, even if we don't label it mind-control.

Meditation techniques can be used to build awareness and self control, or it can be used as a way of "thought-stopping"-undermining independent thinking and reality-testing. For example, if a person is having doubts and questions about a leader's behavior, and meditates to get rid of "negativity", it might stop the person from taking necessary action.

There are thousands of different "mind control" techniques which can be used for positive benefit. Some these techniques include: prayer, meditation, chants, singing songs, visualizations, affirmations, positive self-talk, breathing techniques, hypnosis, "speaking in tongues", ecstatic dancing, music."

So, as far as I understand, he considers all the spiritual practices to be mind-controlling, but sometimes this "mind control" is "ethical." I think it is another example of his stretching the term "mind control."

I agree. Why call it mind-control at all? It isn't really useful to understand the cult phenomenon, or at least it is questionable, and it isn't useful to understand spiritual practices. Not only Hassan stretches what he includes under cults and mind-control to the point it loses its meaning, if it ever had any, but to use it to designe something else in addition really just make it totally meaningless.

I think that between real freedom of mind (not Hassan's "freedom of mind") and mind control there is a big "gray zone." It is somewhat like in black and white television. Even though it was called "black and white," there were many gradations of the gray color there. The standard testing table for TV sets, used in the USSR and Russia, had 10 gradations. It means that a TV set was expected to display not only black and white, but also 8 shades of the gray color. Mind control is "black." Freedom of mind is "white." And there are many things between them.

Probably, Hassan considers that mind control and freedom of mind are the two alternatives. And probably, he includes the whole "gray zone" into "mind control." I do not think this is correct.

I think that what he means to say is that the same technique could be either beneficial or detrimental depending on the context. I would agree with that. I just don't see indeed why refer to both as "mind-control". It already is dubious a term when used in relation to cults, and it becomes even weaker when used to refer to any spiritual technique.

Or is there really something like "positive mind-control" vs. "negative mind-control"? Positive mind-control being me controling my mind, and negative mind-control being others controling it?

Scientologists Move in to Nashville

News briefs - News/Features:

"The church of Scientology has purchased a building right off campus – and a group called Anonymous really doesn’t like it. Donning “V for Vendetta” masks and offering cake to passers-by, the group (a national anti-scientology organization) gathered in front of the scientology center to protest this Valentine’s Day, donning masks to prevent retaliation from what they view as a shady, secretive cult. The center is located in the old Falls School business center, a historical building purchased by Scientologists last June for $6 million, which will probably become an “ideal org” – that is, the place from which Nashville scientology will form a “New Civilazation (sic) in Nashville,” to quote their website, nashvilleideal.org. Whatever the Scientologists are up to in there, at least they aren’t the ones standing on street corners, wearing creepy masks and offering cake to strangers."

Related blog entries: -NashvilleOrg-

Operation Chaniversary Monumental Flop

On Feb. 14 I read and blogged about an article that seemed to indicate that the last Feb. 7 was not the date of the one year anniversary of 2008 but that this fabulous event would take place on Valentine day, Feb. 14.

Yesterday, there wasn't a single peep in the news about that formidable event. I thought, it's Monday, let's wait another day. Today - the same. If there is something fabulous about that event it that it is fabulously ignored by the press at large. Except for one mention, and even that article ends by the quote of the day:

"Whatever the Scientologists are up to in there, at least they aren’t the ones standing on street corners, wearing creepy masks and offering cake to strangers."

Well done Shallonymous. You have made tremendous progress in the way the press perceives your action in just one year!

News briefs - News/Features

Quote of the Day: Creepy Masks and Caek

News briefs - News/Features:

"Whatever the Scientologists are up to in there, at least they aren’t the ones standing on street corners, wearing creepy masks and offering cake to strangers."

The Power of Words and Ideas

Words alone are able to make us believe the most incredible things. Is that mind-control? In an literal sense, maybe. In the anti-cult sense, of course not. Monica is right to point out that context is important too (feedback from the outside world), and this is where Freedom of Speech really kicks in and why ban of any form is ultimately detrimental. Words and ideas are best fought through more words and ideas, not by less. In the increasing debunking of myths like cult mind-control and hypnosis, we ought to realize the mere power of words and ideas on their own.

AntiCultControversies : Message: RE: [AntiCultControversies] Re: Debunking Hypnosis Myths:

[...] I can remember the first time I began to question that was back in the 1990s when I was working with some people who were in a small no-name cult where seven people were living in a house with a woman who claimed to be an alien "walk-in" and had gained complete control over her followers. She had them believing that they were destined to save the world and also had them believing that they were all sexually abused as children and had murdered people (this was proven false when one of the people allegedly "murdered" turned up in town alive and well a few days later not having had any contact with group members). I had in-depth conversations with two of the members and she didn't seem to be using any form of hypnosis with them. The more credible explanation was that they spent all their time together with little feedback from the outside world and lost all perspective on other points of view. If the assertion is made that all cults use mind control, it only takes one exception to refute it, but there seem to be many more than just one.

The possibility that gets ignored is that maybe people can become suggestible in situations that do not use hypnosis and that no special "trance state" is necessary. There are more ordinary social influence factors that could be going on that could be having much more powerful effects than hypnosis.

[...] I doubt anyone would then conclude that books in and of themselves are dangerous and keep people away from them. There are clearly many different variables operating in these situations. Hypnosis might be one variable, but it doesn't seem to be a necessary one for even a dramatic conversion.

Honest Abe Tops New Presidential Survey

(off-topic)

I have read some time ago articles about striking historical and even mathematical similarities between Lincoln and Kennedy. I guess these can be found nowadays on the net too. Like most people I have a deep admiration for Kennedy's unique charisma. A similar article trying to draw parallels between Lincoln and Obama didn't quite convince me, though.

W. Bush ended near the bottom of the ranking, of course, where he belongs. The criminal idiot was recorded saying ""There is no such thing as short-term history. I don't think you can possibly get the full breadth of an administration until time has passed.""

He is right - over time I believe he'll be ranked very last.

Lincoln wins: Honest Abe tops new presidential survey - CNN.com

Pakistan Agrees to Enforce Islamic Law in Swat Valley

This is something I am of two minds about.

One the one hand the crimes of Bush have led me to have some sympathy for the opposition, and thus for Muslims fighting that form of abject "civilized" violence (although I object to violence in doing that too). On the other hand I really am not discontent to see things like the Taliban society, and its barbaric practices, being removed from power (albeit my beef with Bush is really Iraq, not so much Afghanistan).

Now Pakistan is making concessions to some areas who wish to apply the Sharia. On the one hand, I have some sympathy for that position, for the reason above, and think it is smart and somewhat fair to let people choose their own way of life. On the other hand, I have to agree that such a concession is going to feed the motivation of those who use violence to impose their Muslim (or otherwise) societies.

Pakistan Agrees to Enforce Islamic Law in Swat Valley - washingtonpost.com

The Pakistani government, desperate to restore peace to a Taliban-infested valley once known as the "Switzerland of Pakistan," agreed Monday to enforce strict Islamic law in the surrounding district near the Afghan border, conceding to a long-standing demand by local Islamist leaders who in turn pledged to ask the fighters to lay down their arms.

In announcing the agreement, Pakistani officials asserted that the adoption of Sharia law would bring swift and fair justice to the Swat Valley, where people have long complained of legal corruption and delays. They said the new system would have "nothing in common" with the draconian rule of the Taliban militia that ran Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, during which thieves' hands were amputated and adulterers were stoned to death.

"There was a vacuum . . . in the legal system. The people demanded this and they deserve it," said Amir Haider Khan Hoti, chief minister of the North-West Frontier Province. The new system will include an appeals process, something the Afghan Taliban justice system did not allow for.

[...] But Pakistani critics blasted the deal as a dangerous concession to extremist insurgents who have terrified inhabitants of the valley for months, sending thousands fleeing to safer areas. They have bombed girls' schools, beheaded policemen, whipped criminals in public squares and assassinated activists from the secular Awami National Party that governs the North-West Frontier Province.

The critics expressed fear that this victory might spur the insurgents to push harder for the imposition of Islamic law in other areas, taking advantage of a promise by the Pakistani army to pull back from the surrounding area if peace is restored.

[...] Leaders of the Awami National Party here said they also supported the agreement even though their own views are more secular and they have been targeted by insurgent attacks. They said the government does not have sufficient force to defeat the Taliban and foreign fighters based in the autonomous tribal areas along the Afghan border. So, they said, it needs to negotiate with local militant groups in nearby areas like Swat to isolate the renegade hard-liners in the tribal sanctuaries.

"I have agreed to put my personal hardships behind me for the sake of peace," said Wajid Ali Khan, a provincial official from Swat who said he was put on a Taliban hit list, and whose brother was assassinated because of his Awami affiliation. "We have addressed the core issue, which was Nizam-e-Adl [Sharia law system], so now the fighting and other activities should stop."[...]

The Associated Press: Pakistan inks truce deal with militants in NW area:

Monday's peace agreement applies to the Malakand region, which includes the former tourist destination of the Swat Valley, where extremists have gained sway by beheading people, burning girls schools and attacking security forces since a similar agreement broke down in August.

U.S. officials complained the earlier accord allowed militants to regroup and rearm and urged Pakistan's government to concentrate on military solutions to the insurgency in the rugged frontier region, where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding.

[...] "It is hard to view this as anything other than a negative development," a senior Defense Department official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of relations with Pakistan and because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

[...] Speaking in India, President Barack Obama's special envoy for the region, Richard Holbrooke, did not directly address Pakistan's peace effort in Malakand. But he said the rise of the Taliban in Swat was a reminder that the U.S., Pakistan and India face an "an enemy which poses direct threats to our leadership, our capitals and our people."

[...]"This is simply a great surrender, a surrender to a handful of forces who work through rough justice and brute force," said Athar Minallah, a lawyer and civil rights activist. "Who will be accountable for those hundreds of people who have been massacred in Swat? And they go and recognize these forces as a political force. This is pathetic.

[...] Several war-weary residents interviewed in the Swat area welcomed the announcement.

"We just want to see an end to this bloody fighting," said Fazal Wadood, a teacher. "We do not mind what way it comes. It is no problem if it comes through the Islamic system."

[...] Hoti said the laws, which allow for Muslim clerics to advise judges when hearing cases and the setting up of an Islamic appeals court, would ensure a much speedier and fairer justice system than the current system, which dates back to British colonial times.

The rules do not ban female education or contain other strict interpretations of Shariah that have been demanded by many members of the Taliban in Pakistan — restrictions imposed by Afghanistan's Taliban regime that was ousted by the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001.

Note: knowing that the insurgents bombed and burned girls' school, it is a bit hard to believe that no ban on female education will actually be implemented...

The accord does not involve the tribally ruled regions adjacent to the Afghan border, where the United States has been targeting suspected militants with missile strikes fired from drones believed launched from neighboring Afghanistan.

[...] The Obama administration has signaled it will continue such attacks, which U.S. officials say have killed several top al-Qaida leaders. Pakistani leaders have voiced strong objections, saying the strikes undercut support for their own war against militants.

Muslim Cults

AntiCultControversies : Message: Muslim Cults:

"Recently, I met two people who left Sufi cults in an Internet group for ex-members of cults. As far as I understand, both are Western people. Both complain that they are unable to find any information about Sufi cults in Internet."

There's something I find rather disturbing with Islam in general. Initially Mohamed promoted a soft Islam. It did not take root very well. It's only when he started to promote the hardcore Islam, that actually used violence, that it started to spread.

Isn't that somewhat disturbing? Today, we see still see much of that happening, and not just through terrorism. Under the Sharia, leaving the Muslim faith is punished by death. How's that for a rather drastic form of disconnection? And many of the rules and penalties under the Sharia would make all the alleged "crimes" of Scientology mere child play...

I do not mean to say that Islam should be condemned as such. I have met and read from many peaceful and bright individuals who were using it as a path to God, sometimes in more peaceful and moderate ways than some Buddhist monks. Nevertheless, I find the condoning of violence in an Islam context disturbing - and sadly, it often seems to work... I guess anons would need more than just masks to protect themselves if they were to protest a Muslim cult. Much easier to just attack soft targets...

Un-Hypnosing Oneself

AntiCultControversies : Message: Re: Debunking Hypnosis Myths

[...] For a long time, I thought that the cult where I was involved, used hypnosis because the way how Hassan writes about hypnotic techniques in cults makes an impression that all the cults use hypnosis.

People in cults just believe things, for whatever reason. The above is an example, even if applied to the anti-cult cult.

[...] However, I could not understand why sermons in benign Christian churches are not hypnotic and how to find the difference between hypnotic sermons and non-hypnotic sermons.

That's where the cognitive dissonance kicks in, and people starts to question their belief.

If... then... why?...

Probably, the answer was very simple - in the cult where I was, there were no hypnotic methods used in sermons.

Occam razor - the more one questions, the more those who still cling to their belief have to resort to increasingly complicated and conspiracy-like theories. Until one gets back to the very simple explanation: it just wasn't true to start with. It was just a myth...

Probably, the most "mysterious" among spiritual practices used in Bible-based groups is speaking in tongues. Even though I have a personal experience of speaking in tongues, I cannot fully explain it
in the terms of psychology. I can just say that it is a special kind of prayer to God. By the way, my experience of speaking in tongues has nothing to do with the Bible-based cult where I was involved and I do not think it was mind-controlling.

What speaking in tongue does is to disconnect one with his usual thinking pattern. It's actually a good thing, used in context. It's a bit Zen-like, except Zen uses a softer technique: questions that have no answers, to try and achieve the same thing. It short-circuit our thinking pattern and makes room for something else to enter our cluttered mind.

I would not say that speaking in tongue is my kind of thing, but I experienced something similar in Osho meditations. There's dancing, then lecturing, then for a few minutes you just speak gibberish, after that there's a gong and absolute silence. The speaking gibberish does improve the silent meditation that follows, in that it disconnects the habitual thought- pattern. That's the idea... and I would agree with Lema Nal that it isn't "mind-control" in the anti-cult sense of the term. Nor is it "hypnosis". Even that extreme isn't mind-control...

Resistance to Indoctrination

AntiCultControversies : Message: RE: [AntiCultControversies] Re: Debunking Hypnosis Myths:

"Do they become indoctrinated? Recent evidence says no, college students are rarely influenced by theirprofessors to change their position on important issues. This is contrary to what was previously thought where accusations were being made that 'liberal' professors were converting conservative students."

You would be surprised at how resistant people are to indoctrination and their ability to retain critical thinking skill in the mid of heavy propaganda. That's what happened in the Soviet Union, and more particularly in its satellite countries. People basically knew that the TV propaganda and other propaganda outlet were basically bogus. They just feared speaking about it, that's all. There was a joke in Hungary back in Communist time that went like "There is only one Communist in the whole country - it's just that nobody know who it is...".

Many Entries

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have only one blog entry. Today there will be a deluge of them :-( Not that there are many news. On the contrary it's rather quiet on the news front, but I went through my daily reading routine and just marked plenty for comments. Comments will therefore be very short for most of them.

A Journey into Scientology

Inside view on Scientology, followed by hundreds of anons/critics attacks

New Statesman - A journey into Scientology:

[...] In 1950 I read the book: DIANETICS: The Modern Science of Mental Health, and was fascinated by the way in which that research related to the world around me, and how I could directly put it into practice in my life, to help myself and others. [...]

Miracle-like experiences brought by Scientology to my brother and my wife I shall describe in a later post, but for myself the main results of my study of Hubbard’s works have been twofold

Firstly, I now have an unassailable good natured and cheerful certainty in myself. A quiet confidence that nothing can really trouble me for more than a short time because I know that I will quickly find a solution. I find that that certainty and self-confidence play themselves out in my life.

Secondly, because I personally feel at peace with myself, I am able to observe and give attention to the plight of our communities and the individuals within those communities, and this has resulted in a daily desire to help others in a wide variety of ways.

Sometimes the help is financial, but mainly it is hands on: making full use of the various skills I have learnt in Scientology. Helping addicts recover from drugs or alcohol. Helping the recently bereaved recover from their loss. Helping those in physical pain understand and overcome it. Helping those in fear or other painful emotion deal with it and recover. [...]"

Is the London CoS Still There?

More than 10 years ago a poster in ARS called Roland claimed that after some TV footage on Scientology, the CoS in London will soon vanish. I used to regularly post the question in ARS "Is the London CoS still there?"

I guess it still is...

And for all their boasting about "destroying the CoS", and more than one year of protests, Shallonymous did not manage to close down even a single mission. Quite on the contrary, new ones open, and the CoS is busy buying expensive historical buildings around the world.

Scientology has seen more formidable enemies than Shallonyous. As for the Internet influence, critics would have to do way better than promoting myths if they want to have any kind of long-term impact as well. Stopping their hypocretical bans on dissenters and stopping their attack against them as "cult apologists" would be a good start.

bts2free on Marty Rathbun - alt.religion.scientology | Google Groups:

"R. Hill

chuckbeatty77 @aol.com wrote:
>> ....snip...

>> It's nearly over

> I doubt it.

> Let's see who's right on that one.

> Remember this exchange, in 2020, let's see who was right.

Yeah. That was more than 20 years ago, 1984:

'Scientology: A collapsing empire?'
http://www.xenu-directory.net/news/images/thecompiler-newspaper_jan-jun-84-4.pdf#page=8

After Snow White, at a time of landscape trials (Latey, Armstrong/Breckenridge, and shortly thereafter, Wollersheim, then a few years after, TIME in 1991, etc.)

However, nowadays, information travels in a very low-viscosity medium, unforeseen by Hubbard: teh internet. Bad time for scams, but I wouldn't dare saying 'it's over.' I wish to be proven wrong any time though.

--
Ray."

Weak Excuses for Moderation of Discussion Forums

Spam and "trolls" are very easy to deal with in an unmoderated forum, and at least it is left to the individual to decide what he considers spam and troll, and not for someone to decide it for them and make decisions that affect the whole group, something that actually is often abused to suppress viewpoints they don't like. In this sense I agree with Andrew Robertson below.

These moderated forums like ESMB, MBCB, XSO or WHYWEPROTEST show the very cultic side of the Scientology haters - alt.religion.scientology | Google Groups

-quote-
I disagree, Barbara. ARS is an example of an unmonitored forum - do you honestly think it is better, with all its antipsych spam and trolling, an environment for the discussion of CoS?
-unquote-

In my view this newsgroup is a much more interesting forum for discussion of Scientology than any of the nannyish message boards of dubious longevity.

Spammers and trolls? They're at an all time low on a.r.s at present and were always easy to handle.

But, I suppose it's a matter of personal choice. Some prefer the genteel up-market bar with no dust on the skirting boards, the friendly bar tender and the smartly dressed clientèle, whilst others feel more at home in the tavern down by the docks with sawdust on the floor, where a wrong word will get you a punch in the head. But in the a.r.s.tavern you can punch them back with no fear of being thrown out.

Meditation and Hypnosis

3rd party account on Steve Hassan's take on hypnosis. A lot of unwarranted assertions and amalgames from Hassan, but also a distinction between thought-stopping meditation and thought-stopping "mind-control".

AntiCultControversies : Message: Re: Debunking Hypnosis Myths

I did not have a lot of time to actually read Hassan's web site but when I checked it some years ago he seemed to already make a distinction between "real" spiritual approaches and "mind-control" ones.

Now I don't agree with the concept "mind-control" as such, but I think that to at least make this distinction is a positive point. Many anti-cultists just file meditation and other thought-stopping techniques as just brainwashing, mind-control or hypnosis:

"Practicing meditation to shut down thinking, chanting a phrase repetitively for hours, or reciting affirmations are all powerful ways to promote spiritual growth. But they can also be used unethically, as methods for mind control indoctrination."

"When you're in a trance and someone with an ulterior motive or hidden agenda tries to indoctrinate you, you're that much more susceptible. In this very special state of relaxation, messages can easily take root in your subconscious."

There may be some truth in that, which is why in Scientology auditing, great care is taken not to "evaluate" for the pre-clear. It does not mean that it amounts to hypnosis, it means that if you indeed are in a state of relaxation and trust, you may be more suggestible.

Note that deprogrammers are doing the exact contrary. They make loads and loads of "evaluations" and suggestions. Of course the kidnapped person may not be in state of "relaxation", but he may be in a state of shock, which would increase suggestibility as well.

Without necessarily using kidnapping, or any "trance" state for that matter, anti-cultists just make a lot of evaluations and suggestions - that the person is under mind-control, that he has been dupped, etc...

You don't really need to be in a special state for suggestions to work. It could just be done in a normal waking state.

I remember riding from San Diego to Los Angeles with Ted Patrick and he showed me on the way an "Exxon" gas station. He said: "You see that sign? That's suggestion". There's some truth in that. It's just as simple.

I also remember reading L. Ron Hubbard's definition of brainwashing (I believe it's in the tech dictionary). It said brainwashing is to bring the person to see the possibility of something being true, and then, through loads of evaluations and invalidations, force him to believe that it is.

This is exactly what deprogrammers do. They tell the person what to think and in the process use countless put-down to bring the person to doubt of himself and accept deprogrammers authority as true. Since there is some truth in the claim Scientology and other groups are "cults", when the person sees that truth, he swallows all the rest of the suggestions being made to him, and thus becomes basically indoctrinate in yet another us-vs-them viewpoint. He becomes a true anti-cultist.

It's all suggestion, but no need to use hypnosis to explain it.

Krishnamurti also has a take on that. To some people telling him that being quiet and still and without thought could make the person open to suggestions or other attacks, he said something like "precisely, which is why you also need to be vigilant". Krishnamurti advises people to be still and vigilant, not simply being still, but at the same time being awake, aware... in such a state you'll just catch up any suggestions as they happen, and just the awareness of them would make you free of their power on you.

"4. Thought-stopping techniques (to shut down "reality testing" by stopping "negative" thoughts and allowing only "good" thoughts); rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking, constructive criticism."

Again, this is a mis-conception. The whole idea of being without thought is to be rid of prejudices and fixed idea. Being still and awake, allows you to "see" whatever argument for what it is. Quite on the contrary, it is true critical thinking.

This being said, it may be true that some groups use this concept to get people to avoid looking at all, by tagging any criticism and questioning as something negative or of the devil. It's a misconception too, a corruption of the original meaning. While anti-cultists are right to point this out, they are wrong to make, on this basis, assumptions and assertions that aren't true either, as above. Both sides basically share the same misconception, though in different ways.

However, it again has little to do with hypnosis. It's just what human people tend to do. One of the many illusions one can fall into.

"Denial, rationalization, justification, wishful thinking"

Cultish characteristics, shared by cultists and anti-cultists alike. Just read any "critical" forum and the reaction of most anti-cultists to dissenters to see how it works.

In my opinion, Hassan's concept of hypnosis is too stretched. In addition, he writes that most cults use hypnosis. I wonder whether cults use hypnosis at all and how often. It seems that this is one more point of misunderstanding caused by Hassan's mind control theory.

The point is that you do not need to use hypnosis at all to explain what happens in cultic groups. Quite on the contrary, it just muddles the water, and uses loaded concepts based on fear. I don't think any group uses hypnosis as such, and even the mere concept of "hypnosis" and "trance" has been questioned.

The irony is that "hypnosis" is itself a suggestion! In that, it joins together with "mind-control", brainwashing", and "subliminal influence", as I wrote on my subliminal influence page:

"What is the difference between subliminal persuation, mind-control and brainwashing? Basically, nothing. They all three are a way of saying that there exist some kind of magical process able to influence other people’s mind against their will, and they all three have been used to instill irrational fear and prejudice towards unpopular groups. Even though evidence to support any of these three myths have been quite thoroughly debunked, they keep having a potent effect in the mind of an uninformed public who tend to believe such a magical process exists, works, and is being used against unsuspecting victims."