Forum:"Targeted Individuals"

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Does anyone know of in-depth, skeptical analysis of the "Targeted Individuals" audience cult? TIs comprise an international sociological phenomenon of those who are convinced they are being remotely tortured by microwave devices and high energy radio waves, gangstalked, surveilled, hearing voices planted in their heads, subjected to mind control, and even driven to suicide -- all by governments at the federal and local level. A reasonably good but overly sympathetic piece appeared in the Washington Postsome years ago, but I'm looking for something more skeptical yet sober (more scholarly than snarky).

I'd do an article on this but really need more sources. There isn't an entry here on TIs.-Mona- (talk) 00:21, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

Dunno, but I'd say it sounds like they suffer from a combination of persecution complex and pain.

Feel free to add it to our to do list! Fuzzy. Cat. Potato! (talk/stalk) 06:55, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, and I did try just now. I'm just not that familiar w/ the wiki software. Clicked the "new article" box on To Do page and was told the article is locked and can't be edited. There's shit I can do here and I want to, but I may be inhibited by my wretched understanding of tech and software issues. -Mona- (talk) 16:47, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

I first heard about this in the eighties, via a much-photocopied semi-readable pamphlet. There was a lot of attempted correlation of supposed incidences of electronic mindreading/thought-implantation in Canada, Sweden and Finland. It's also worth bearing in mind that such a belief, if accompanied by other symptoms, is one symptom of paranoid schizophrenia (although not in all cases of the illness). I read an article once that this conspiracy theory makes it harder for doctors to treat schizophrenia - sufferers can point to evidence of it "happening" to other people. This website might help.Bicycle^wheel 18:55, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, yes, I've seen numerous web sites such as that one -- the Intertoobz are suffused with them. While it is the case that some of these "Targeted Individuals" are schizophrenic, probably not the majority of them are. They are like people throughout human history who have believed, e.g., that demons were in their heads, attacking them, causing them pain, messing with their naughty bits & etc. In the last few decades the same sensations have been parsed thru a lens of alien abductions. With the rise of fear of the NSA and knowledge of the CIA's MKUltra, this TI thing has really taken off. It's a movement of (mostly, but not all) otherwise normally functioning people experiencing weirdness and attributing it to the scary phenomenon of the day.-Mona- (talk) 22:40, 14 August 2015 (UTC)