This past weekend with The BOS

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

I was in attendance Sunday night. It was devastating. I’m not the outwardly emotional type but it was all I could do to not openly sob. I watched the periscopes later, but to be there, inches from all these bodies strewn about. It was horrifying. Carnage for the sake of carnage doesn’t bother me, but these bodies felt like my friends, a family I would have done anything to protect. At every turn another was laid out, murdered in the most brutal ways. I approached each of them I could find and honored them with a brief moment of silence. When I found my “fake Sentinel” in a dark corridor, I knelt by his side, held his hand gently and spoke quietly to him. Basically I was thanking him for this gift. A wild ride of adventure, friendship and now very real pain. He was not truly Sentinel, nevertheless this man laid out before me was the visual representation of everything I’d experienced. (I’ll have to explain this a little later.) Make jokes about him as honorary member of Creed and Nickleback simultaneously and I’ll laugh with you because it is seriously funny @thebuz, but make no mistake “he” is not a joke to me. Caring for the idea of “him” does nothing to water down my feelings for “her…”

Sabrina, our Overseer ( @masterlock ), the victim of an unsurmountably cruel hoax. I knew in my heart this was all going to crash down around her. Unfortunately none of us there Sunday night were allowed to approach Sabrina. If we had we would have been immediately expelled. I just hope as she drove away, alone, that she could find some comfort in knowing she is loved. Many of us didn’t follow her because she was the face of the OOA or even because she was the one speaking the words of Anoch. We followed her because she was a nice, normal, kind girl who just happened to get caught up in a nightmare… How could we ever ignore this simple truth? The woman we are assuming is named Michelle, called Sabrina a perfect, pretty, sweet little “trap.” I logically understand what she means, but excuse me while I give you the middle finger Michelle… What you did to her is not a mark on Sabrina’s goodness or her humanity, it’s a sad commentary on yours.

I’m getting pissed off now… Congrats to TBTB for getting this emotional robot to feel things. You win, and thank you and I love you.

I will come back with a transcript and explanation of what exactly happened Saturday at the BOS event. We have audio of Michelle’s exact words thanks to a rather sneaky bastard within our ranks. Well played, Clay. Well played 😉 @tinnose

[TaylorParticipant]

The words that resonated so well for me was when Michelle said that Sabrina represented what we wanted: a sister to save, a lover to protect, a strong leader and so on. I loved hearing stories of why people went back a second time and most involved Sabrina/Addison/The Overseer. @sadako saw The Overseerer as the most powerful person she had ever met; she was her absolute leader. Others, like myself, went back to give our support to Sabrina and empower her to make a change that was needed. Looking at what people saw in her was something magical. She united a community and became the heart of this experience.

And as we entered that final day, I fully empathize with you @electrichippo. I watched the periscope while standing in line, but walking through those halls was something completely different. Seeing people that I talked about for hours, that I cared for, that I wanted to help and be friends with… seeing them all dead was heartbreaking. It was removing the potential from my life. I am still reflecting and processing this experience. I enjoyed the community, the affiliation, that bonded us all together. And that bond is not broken. That still resonates a lot of potential for me.

And to end on the BOS specifically. I joined the BOS on the final day. I had aligned myself with them prior, but I didn’t make my decision until having a long talk with Rizzo the day before. I am a proud member of the BOS, if only for a day. If I had any knowledge of the atrocities that would occur within those halls, I would have done everything in my power to stop it. But I didn’t, we didn’t. Moving forward, BOS/OOA doesn’t matter anymore. We are a community and together we stand as one. I love you all and thank you for such a great and powerful experience.

[LawrenceParticipant]

Having been equally traumatized, I spent my entire Jungian analyst session talking about this. In Jungian depth psychology, Sabrina represented an anima figure (to men), a projection of the qualities we admire most in ourselves, and an animus figure (for women). But isn’t it wonderful that all of us, as kind and compassionate people, wanted what was best for her, and even for all the other denizens inside the OOA? That is what makes me really proud to be a part of this community, and so happy to meet many of you Sunday night. Thanks for being awesome people.

[LawrenceParticipant]

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• This reply was modified 8 years ago by  Lawrence.

[MikeParticipant]

@electrichippo and the rest of BoS – You all know I haven’t been a huge fan of your organization, but I understand you are all real people with real emotions and fight for what you believe in. I think that’s why we’ve had so many…”discussions” on here. We’re not that different, we just fought for different sides. Sometimes we’d chat because of a huge disagreement, sometimes we’d chat to get more people to discuss things, sometimes we’d chat for the sole purpose of pushing buttons, etc. Even though we sometimes didn’t get along on here, I do believe we had a mutual respect for one another.

That respect is here right now. Kim, when Four was murdered, you reached out to me because you knew how much she meant to me. I want to publicly do the same for you (and the rest of BoS) and let you know that I am truly sorry for your/our loss(es). I know the feeling of losing someone like that. We all lost people that meant the world to us this weekend, but, we did gain something. I believe we ALL gained a new enemy and it’s so important, now more than ever, to come together and focus on that/them and focus on healing from what we had witnessed.

Recently, Clayface joined Batman to fight an crazy monster that was attacking Gotham. They put aside their difference to focus on pure evil. Let’s take a cue from that and prepare for what’s to come.

Maybe in the future we can continue our war 😉

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

@mike, thank you for this message. You know I’ll always keep it real. Your forum shenanigans have occasionally made me roll my eyes, but I promise you I’ve never once viewed you as my enemy. You’ve fully committed and supported this experience. I respect that immensely. I respect you. And now I will go look up what the Hell you’re talking about… Clayface and Batman… ???

[creepsocietyParticipant]

Tension Prom king and queen yall ❤️

[BryanParticipant]

Wise words from everyone in this thread. And I don’t think it was any coincidence that Michelle wanted to meet with the BOS ahead of Sunday night’s events.

If we go off the assumption that The OOA and The BOS were all just constructs, designed to push emotional buttons for the ODSM’s data collection needs, than it stands to reason that her meeting was yet another attempt to push buttons. Perhaps even to create some of the distrust we’ve seen pop up on the forums since Sunday.

If Overseer’s final work was to bring everyone together for a common goal, than it seems that Michelle’s may have been to plant the seeds of future strife; to keep the community fragmented and confused in the months before the ODSM can launch their next data-collection initiative. To defeat that requires empathy, patience, and most of all: community.

UPDATE: Thanks to the transcription from @electrichippo below (thanks Kimberly!) it seems to definitely be a prod in the direction of future battles. (It also neatly explains the thematic dissonance I was feeling when the show suddenly became a smartphone-friendly zone.)

Of course, an organization that specializes in data collection encouraging people to embrace technology and social media for the good of “communication” sounds an awful lot like the rhetoric of companies like Google… and makes me immediately suspicious. Be careful, my BOS friends.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by  Bryan. Reason: updated after mtg reveal

[TaylorParticipant]

“Thematic dissonance”. I like that. I’ve spoken with a few friends that the ending did feel very much like the Black Mirror episode “White Bear” in which a character is feeling strong emotion while onlookers stand watching from the comfort of behind their phone, recording. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend it.

And it is clear that Michelle wants data. She wants to see everyone’s reactions. Form connections to these characters and then rip those connections from our hearts. Some of us were invited to witness that gut-wrenching pain first hand. But the ones that weren’t, they had to live vicariously through others. They had to watch periscopes, facebook live video, and pictures that littered the internet following the event. This was all to judge their reactions and their emotions. To see how they would respond in their lives and the forums. I agree with you, Bryan. But I don’t think any wedge she tried to create will last (if it hasn’t dissolved already). We seem united against her and waiting eagerly for the next step in our journey.

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

On Saturday, November 12th, five members of BOS arrived at the OOA parking lot in time to have a brief face to face meeting with the woman we are supposing is named Michelle.

This is an exact transcript of what “Michelle” said as soon as the periscope went dark:

“Now, this isn’t as bad as it looks. This isn’t a trap, but before we begin 3 things: 1) Keep your phones in your pockets, 2) You are now in radio silence. You will not speak about this moment, you will not tweet about this moment, you will not write about this moment until after tomorrow night. Are we understood? And, you will not speak unless I ask you to. You will not breathe unless I ask you to, ok? Now…

We have ourselves a little bad news, good news situation.

Bad news, remember the last time you believed in Santa Claus, it’s kind of like that. So why are you guys BOS? What is it to you?

(One by one we listed our reasons for joining BOS. Michelle was pleased with our responses.)

All of you are completely correct and nothing changes for you, but the bad news is, the original BOS was an invention, created by an organization that I work for, to help us track detractors and test a new variable. Yes, it was a giant rabbit hole that you all fell into beautifully. But the good news, the GREAT news, is that you, every single one of you blew that rabbit hole right the fuck up, and you crawled out through the rubble, yes? and you made the B.O.S. 100% real. An actual free thinking, no bullshit taking resistance. Be Proud! I have never seen them as terrified as they are right now. You call yourselves B.O.S., yes? Own it. Keep doing it. Keep doing your work. It’s yours now. No one else’s.

So now you might ask. What do we do? We scratch each others’ backs and send a message. (mocking voice) … Be present. Technology is a distraction. Isn’t it? A coincidence that their very belief system is intended to isolate their followers from the outside world. So tomorrow, for those of you who were invited, I want you to walk through those doors and you will document every god damned thing you see. You will tweet it, you will snapchat, you will stream it, fuck, you can myspace it, share it with the entire world. Get it out live and bring them the fuck down.”

[AH-layParticipant]

Thanks for sharing @electrichippo I was so glad to be standing next to you while this happened.

[SadakoParticipant]

I want to thank you for being transparent about your meeting with Michelle @electrichippo.

Sadly, there’s not much it does to change my mind personally about the BoS and their role in the events that unfolded on Sunday night. You may not have committed the act yourselves, but you indirectly collaborated with those who did.

Michelle may have used us all at one point or another, but once she lifted the veil of the BoS, you all maintained your allegiance knowing it’s what she wanted.

There’s a lot to process, but one thing I know for sure. The war isn’t over. The battle may have been lost, but the OOA is much bigger than a single compound filled with people. Michelle herself acknowledged to us that her actions were a message to the Clockmakers. She herself told us of the Clockmakers deep faith and belief for Anoch which she renounced. I still believe that everything they during Tension was for the greater good.

I stand by the power I witnessed Sabrina Kern wield during her time as Overseer. Although I am glad to see she’s finally free, it doesn’t change how those of us who are faithful to Anoch will continue to live our lives.

“It does not matter who speaks the words of Anoch, for the words are all that is true.”

The OOA is still here. We may have lost people, but we remain unbroken in spirit.

GLORY BE TO ANOCH ON HIGH!!!

[AH-layParticipant]

Wut?…It still does not make sense to blame us. If you need a scapegoat then go ahead. It won’t be the first time we are wrongly accused. She lifted the veil on the OOA also but you are clearly standing by it too, so…I guess we are in similar positions.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by  AH-lay.

[SadakoParticipant]

I’m not trying to scapegoat BoS. I don’t blame any of you. What happened on Sunday is 100% on Michelle. The problem is that you continue to tow that line knowing your sole purpose serves Michelle’s plans.

How do you expect to take her down if you knowingly remain her pawn?

[AH-layParticipant]

How does our purpose serve her plans? Can you please explain? What do you even think our purpose is?

[Anonymous]

It seems to me that at this point the only thing that’s clear is we were ALL duped. OOA, BOS, all of us. And if we were duped once, we can be again, so I wouldn’t be too quick to believe Michelle’s words about the “real” BOS now.

I think I’m moving from team Fuck Everyone (sorry @mike) to team Rabbit Hole, where I’m not on a side, I’m just on a journey to see how far this goes. There is no OOA, no Anoch, no Addison, no BOS, no Sentinel, and nothing of what any of them stood for that didn’t already exist in the world. This was an idea I had forming back in June with the whole Aleister thing, and it went nowhere, and maybe now is my time to reconsider it – I have no beliefs. I am here to discover what is going on.

[MikeParticipant]

@coryphella – be careful. “Team Rabbit Hole” might have a different connotation in The Lust Experience 😉

[Anonymous]

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

[LawrenceParticipant]

Glory hole be!

[MelissaModerator]

(((shudder))

[MeghanParticipant]

@lmsmedley
This may be one of my new favorite forum quotes.

[creepsocietyParticipant]

Goddamnit it mike hahaha

[LawrenceParticipant]

You gotta commit. It either is or it isn’t. 😉

[CrystalParticipant]

@angenoir Lemme use it in a sentence…

“Meghan! Let that glory hole be…”

[MeghanParticipant]

@blacklotustriad
Shit. This is gonna be a thing, isn’t it?

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by  Meghan.

[MikeParticipant]

Oh…it already is! Who wants to make the new thread for Tension/Lust puns/changes? 😉

[CrystalParticipant]

@angenoir

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[Anonymous]

Team Fuck Everyone wasn’t great to begin with I might mention. 😉

[Author]

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