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William S. Burroughs on Electronic Mind Control
Black Magic Mind War
By William Burroughs
Crawdaddy, July, 1976
Now anyone who has lived for any time in countries like
I recommend to your attention a book called The Mind Masters by John Rossman, a Signet New American Library paperback. This is
ostensibly a fantastic science fiction novel, interesting more for its content
than for its style, that may well contain some real
inside information. The story concerns a researcher who has, to put it mildly,
been disillusioned by his work on Project Pandora, an American psychic training
center run by a Colonel Pickett, who is strongly
reminiscent of the mad General Ripper in Doctor Strangelove, right down to the
cigar. Only he is unloosing psychic warfare rather than nuclear bombs, having
convinced himself that this form of warfare is more effective and more easily
controlled for elitist objectives. The disillusioned researcher,
After he is taken to Mero's
secret headquarters ... he recalls for Britt how the CIA, while making an
electronic sweep of the
"And what will the future look like if such groups actually exist and if
they do combine and take over? An elitist world state very much along the lines
laid down by the NAZIS. At the top would be a
theocracy trained in PSYCHIC CONTROL TECHNIQUES IMPLEMENTED BY COMPUTERIZED
ELECTRONIC DEVICES THAT WOULD RENDER OPPOSITION PSYCHOLOGICALLY AND
PHYSIOLOGICALLY IMPOSSIBLE. Entry to this privileged class would
be permitted only to those whose dedication to the world state was
absolute and unquestioning. In short, you don't get in
by merit or ability but by being an ALL-AROUND 100 PERCENT SHIT. Under this ruling elite of power addicts would be an anonymous
service collective of functionaries, managers and bureaucrats. And below them the slave workers. There would be no place
for dissent or independent research. The troublesome artist would
be eliminated or absorbed. The elite lives
happily ever after, at the top of a control state that makes 1984 seem cozy and nostalgic.