Echo Park Full Text

[Anonymous]

This isn’t how I wanted to share this but I guess it’s how it’s going to be shared. I’m worried about Aleister and wanted to check in with him about this first, because I think some of this information might be big, and the fact that it was *possibly* slipped to me by Aleister makes me worry that he (and possibly I) will be in danger because I’m posting it.

I also had a night that was really upsetting, and that’s why this didn’t get done sooner. Anyway. Thanks to @mkarrett for doing the work on this and for holding off so I could get back home and post myself.

First redacted paragraph:

In those now familiar sun-washed video farewells, the members of The Anoch Institute have and they had made up their own minds. Even the parents of one young woman found among the brainwashed tell us “she was happy, healthy, and acting under her own volition”

But despite claims that the 42 followers were not brainwashed or bullied by The Regent, there is evidence to the contrary. Far from being freely thought-out final acts, the followers are seen by some mental health experts and cule(?) scholars as largely the result of a sustained, calculated and ruthless program of psychological coercion.

I see them as victims of a hoax, said Dr. Louis J. Hammer, a UCLA psychiatrist and cult watcher. “There was treachery here.”

Hammer and others believe that members of “totalist” religious organization are subject to a form of psychological manipulation known as undue influence coercive persuasion or thought reform. And their analysis of The Anoch Institute practices from the insistence that members forsake family to the minute-by-minute schedules they had to keep suggest that the organizations was structured to undermine individuals identities, leaving them to ignore misgivings and do the groups bidding no matter how irrational”

Second redacted paragraph, @mkarrett‘s best guess:

However, the role of “thought reform” in cult behavior is hotly disputed in academic circles. Some scholars challenge the idea of psychological manipulation, arguing that followers are drawn into a cult by its philosophy as are observers of mainstream religions.

The very dubious of the psychological interpretation of the reported suicides, said Richard Hecht, chairman of the religious studies at UC Santa Barbara. A person is attracted to an organization like this because it espouses a “convincing narrative” in which the follower “finds meaning” he says. By implication, a follower is not passively brainwashed but actively “buys into” the message.

Third part which she had a hard time seeing as well:

Its commonly said that Americans too often avoid personal responsibility be claiming to be ????? of welfare reform argue that cutting federal aid breed cycles of defeatist ??? Many obstetricians say they can hardly afford to xray in practice because of malpractice suits in parents blaming their baby’s defects on their doctors.

[Anonymous]

View post on imgur.com

[MelissaModerator]

No sweat @coryphella, I hope this helps! That includes everybody, really. I do want to make a seriously off-stage note here that I purposely redacted the information at the bottom to maintain my work privacy. Thanks for understanding.

Also, the stuff at the bottom of both pages are NOT PUZZLES. I PROMISE.

[Sean (@TheGilded)Moderator]

My work was done separately, based off only the scans. See below for my interpretations of it, which are far less comprehensive.

View post on imgur.com

[MelissaModerator]

We can totally team up our work here! Thanks Sean, nice photo editing black magic whatever you did there.

[DaelaParticipant]

Thank you so much for sharing, Megan, and thank you @mkarrett for working on this.

I can see why the OOA would not want us to have access to this text.

I notice that in the past, they had specifically “42” followers. Are they seeking to gain 42 devout followers among us? I don’t think they have that number yet. I wonder what will happen when they do.

[MelissaModerator]

So as more an observation I want to toss out there:

I know the text basically doesn’t put The Anoch Institute in the the best of light here but one thing I’m struggling with is the authenticity of the article itself? Like, is this an article that was planted by someone who wants to smear campaign against the The Anoch Institute or are we dealing with a person that just wants to shed light on something we SHOULD know?

Also, additional nerd note: I have now brought was in the dark to ALTERNATE LIGHT (source).

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  Melissa. Reason: I can't spell
• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  Melissa.

[DaelaParticipant]

“For Megan, from III” <— I think this indicates that III wanted us to have the UN-blacked-out portion of the article. So I’d imagine that the un-blacked portion is considered legitimate? The rest III probably considers a smear campaign, but he must feel that at least some of it is accurate, if he’s delivering it to us via Megan.

[MelissaModerator]

Good point, @daela.

[_Michael GrayParticipant]

Also, this whole thing with @gatekeeper3 … Based on the chart we have received, I question is if being a Gatekeeper is as high in the OOA as you can go without being divine? Say that we go based off the connecting lines of the chart, the only line that connects to Gatekeepers is Anoch and the blacked out boxes. Do we know if those blacked out boxes are positions of influence and power? Blacked out means they no longer exist and is more like a memorial? So lets assume, these blacked out boxes have no power, then the only one that might have power over the Gatekeepers and is connected is Anoch… but if Anoch is more like the Christian God, how do we know he even exists?? Maybe top seat in this dance hall is owned by the Gatekeepers, and there is no one to stop @gatekeeper3 not even the Oracles. I exclude the Oracles from this argument because of their non-connecting lines. We have already seen him take out a few of the OOA for reasons unknown to us, and now he threatens Aleister? Something is not right in OOA’s house at the present moment. I think we should all take the warning that @gatekeeper4 gave to us very seriously. If the OOA can’t stop Gatekeeper3, what’s to stop him from removing us as well?

[TheBuzParticipant]

We have been told by various sources that GKIII is not like anything the institute has handled before.

[CodyParticipant]

Why assume that the blacked out boxes have no power? If the information or knowledge has been leaked from the “elites” then perhaps these boxes represent the moles or affiliates of the other organizations from where the information to form the Anoch Institute originated. Perhaps there is Is yet other influences that work behind yet another veil or level that we are not able nor allowed to see as of yet.
So much possibility here to just assume and dismiss.

[TheBuzParticipant]

Thanks guys for putting in the leg work!

[111_errorParticipant]

Melissa, your brightening is superb. I tried my own techniques in Photoshop and thought I’d gotten somewhere quite impressive, and have now learned differently. You win this round, Batman.

[MelissaModerator]

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  Melissa.

[MelissaModerator]

….still can’t link gifs up to save me.

[Sean (@TheGilded)Moderator]

Test:

Batman approves

(Right click the image in imgur, select “Copy Image Address” and then post that. Posting to the imgur page itself doesn’t work so good)

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  Sean (@TheGilded).

[111_errorParticipant]

You can also right click to open in new window, keep doing that until you get the version with the file extension, then you don’t get a polaroid border.

[Sean (@TheGilded)Moderator]

Huh, TIL.

I’d post a gif of someone famous, possibly heroic, giving their approval right now, but where would I find such a thing…

[CodyParticipant]

View post on imgur.com

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  Cody.

[CodyParticipant]

Thanks for all your work @mkarrett. Greatly appreciated.

[_Michael GrayParticipant]

@sovereignskies When I say let’s assume, by that I mean for us to take up a hypothetical situation based on what facts we have and theorize a bit. Of course we can’t assume or dismiss anything until we get facts to have proper assumptions. It’s always fun to think of the “What If??” situation, especially within Tension.

[CodyParticipant]

Cool man. Just thought I would throw that out there. When coincidence is totally removed from the equation.. things get pretty intense. Just sayin.
The what if’s are what I live for in life. hahaha.

[MikeParticipant]

Thoughts and things for discussion:

“In those now familiar sun-washed video farewells, the members of The Anoch Institute have and they had made up their own minds” – Could this be referring to videos like the Rosemary video?

“Even the parents of one young woman found among the brainwashed tell us “she was happy, healthy, and acting under her own volition”” – Does this mean there is a video out there that we are meant to find of Tom and Margaret? Maybe that is what Addison left for @reaton and @111error ?

“But despite claims that the 42 followers were not brainwashed or bullied by The Regent” – this is the first time that the Regent has been mentioned. I know he’s posted here and he is @regent7. I wonder if Regent numbers go up, instead of down like the Gatekeepers. That could explain 8/Les Huit to a degree?

“There is evidence to the contrary. Far from being freely thought-out final acts, the followers are seen by some mental health experts and cule(?) scholars as largely the result of a sustained, calculated and ruthless program of psychological coercion.” – Is the evidence only from opinions from experts? Or is there more physical evidence like videos/recordings of people being brainwashed/bullied.

“Hammer and others believe that members of “totalist” religious organization are subject to a form of psychological manipulation known as undue influence coercive persuasion or thought reform.” – Here are some articles about that

“leaving them to ignore misgivings and do the groups bidding no matter how irrational” – Like leaving work to go search for a letter at the park?

“However, the role of “thought reform” in cult behavior is hotly disputed in academic circles.” – Something to keep in mind. It’s not something every expert agrees on

“A person is attracted to an organization like this because it espouses a “convincing narrative” in which the follower “finds meaning” he says. By implication, a follower is not passively brainwashed but actively “buys into” the message.” – Welp, that’s me and a lot of us. Horror? Possible arg? Possible haunt? Puzzles? Yep, I’m in.

“Its commonly said that Americans too often avoid personal responsibility be claiming to be ????? of welfare reform argue that cutting federal aid breed cycles of defeatist ??? Many obstetricians say they can hardly afford to xray in practice because of malpractice suits in parents blaming their baby’s defects on their doctors.” – No idea what this could mean. Possibly a comment on avoiding responsibility? This could be in regards to Addison and how some people care but can’t really do anything or people who ignore it by saying she’s a big girl and can make her own choices. Who knows?

[Sean (@TheGilded)Moderator]

I received an email today, from our dear @ooaguide, that I feel that many of us may benefit from. I was going over it just recently, and I think my analysis into the redacted text is going to take a short break. Text is as follows:

Do not focus on the redacted print, it is of no consequence and will only lead you in the wrong direction. It was blacked so you would focus on that which did matter.

Consider this a friendly hint to redirect your attention where it matters.

Watching,

OOA_GUIDE

[Anonymous]

Hey @atticus360 – What was my “one word” again?
That’s my reaction here.

[Neil KingParticipant]

Great information. Thank you for that. But at the same time WHY is that redacted text there? Aleister said nothing is accidental

[Sean (@TheGilded)Moderator]

I respect your question, but won’t continue focusing on the topic.

Analyze more if you will, but keep in mind both OOA_GUIDE’s final sentence and valediction.

[Neil KingParticipant]

Whatever those redacted said has not effected my commitment to The OOA. It is all interesting conversation because what matters is the perspective it’s coming from. There are always two sides to the story and I picked my side and will continue to further my knowledge of The OOA and keep looking towards enlightenment.

[Anonymous]

Aleister not only said “nothing is random” – and said it about this text in particular – he also told me to share this text with the man at the bar.
I’m not on a side. I’m committed only to figuring out what’s going on. I’m deeply concerned for Aleister and hope that he is ok, and reaches out soon.

[Michael RizzoParticipant]

I don’t know… Aleister, someone who I believe I can trust, said nothing is random. I think that was him saying to read the redacted words. I respect your decision but I feel I must continue to look into what has been silenced from us.

[DietcokekittyParticipant]

it seems that i have missed a lot…..

[Author]

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