Former Marine Indefinitely Detained In Psychiatric Ward Over 9/11 Facebook Posts
Washington’s Blog
Aug 21, 2012
Former marine Brandon Raub was carted off by the Feds and locked in a psychiatric ward for his Facebook posts questioning the government’s version of 9/11.
Raub isn’t the first person who has suffered this fate. Claire Swinney was also held in a psychiatric ward and called “delusional” for claiming government liability for 9/11. Others have been committed for the same reason over the last decade.
Surely the Feds are right … that kind of talk is crazy, right?
Maybe. But many of the 9/11 Commissioners themselves don’t buy what the government says about 9/11, they say that the government has covered up the state sponsorship of the 9/11 hijackers, and Al Qaeda flying planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon was entirely foreseeable .
Indeed, while they obviously haven’t said that the government was involved, 9/11 Commissioners have said we need further investigation and that the American people should question 9/11. Does that mean they should they be committed to the same psych ward which Mr. Raub and Ms. Swinney enjoyed? Of course not.
Some people believe that 9/11 was wholly unforeseeable. Others believe that government personnel were criminally negligent in letting 9/11 happen, and then obstructed justice to cover it up. See this, this,this, this, and this. Still others believe that rogue government personnel allowed 9/11 to happen, or even played a role in the attacks themselves.
Whatever one believes about 9/11, isn’t our society built on freedom of speech? And if someone has kooky theories, won’t the scientific method and free debate defeat the baseless theories? Isn’t that what modern society is all about?
Raub’s attorney – the head of the non-partisan civil rights law firm The Rutherford Institute – points outthat Raub is being indefinitely detained, and says:
For government officials to not only arrest Brandon Raub for doing nothing more than exercising his First Amendment rights but to actually force him to undergo psychological evaluations and detain him against his will goes against every constitutional principle this country was founded upon. This should be a wake-up call to Americans that the police state is here.”
What Do Mental Health Professionals Say About Those Who Question 9/11?
Many sociologists and mental health professionals say that those who believe the official version without any questioning are the ones suffering from psychological defense mechanisms.
Sociologists say that fear of terrorism has made people blindly accept false justifications for war – including the false claim that Saddam had a hand in 9/11 (when even the 9/11 Commission says he didn’t).
And the following mental health professionals say that questioning the government’s cut-and-dried version of 9/11 is the sane thing to do:
- Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Lester Grinspoon, MD
- Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, as well as Radiology, at Duke University Medical Center D. Lawrence Burk, Jr., MD
- Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of Psychology and Associate Dean of the Graduate School at Rutgers University Barry R. Komisaruk
- Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy, Professor of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine and Distinguished Professor of Global Health in the College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Michael D. Knox
- Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Laura Schafer
- Professor of Psychology, Rutgers University Alan Gilchrist
- Professor Emeritus, Psychology and Neuroscience, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Michael Gabriel
- Former Chief Mental Health Coordinator and Director of Manpower Development and Training, Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, and Lecturer in Psychology, Boston University Herbert Hoffman
- Professor of Psychology, University of Chicago and Northwestern University Jack Sawyer
- Professor of Psychology at University of New Hampshire William Woodward
- Professor of Psychology at University of Essex Philip Cozzolino
- Professor of Psychology at Goddard College Catherine Lowther
- Professor Emeritus of Psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies Ralph Metzner
- Professor of Psychology at Rhodes University Mike Earl-Taylor
- Professor of Psychology at Oxford University Graham Harris
- Professor Emeritus, Psychology, University of Marburg Gert Sommer
- Professor of Psychology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Ralph Hood
- Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Jefferson Medical College. Former Major, U.S. Army Medical Corps, Vietnam Veteran 7 years service, Jon Bjornson, MD
- Ph.D. Clinical Neuropsychologist Richard Welser
- Trauma specialist Danielle Duperret, Ph.D.
- Psychiatrist Carol S. Wolman, MD
- Psychiatrist E. Martin Schotz
- Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Nebraska and licensed Psychologist Ronald Feintech
- PhD in clinical psychology from Texas Tech Michael Green
- PhD in educational psychology Brent Igo
- PhD psychologist Paul Johansson
- PhD psychologist Gail Maudal
- PhD psychologist Robert Hopper
- Ph.D Psychologist Dorothy Lorig
- Psychologist Robert Griffin
There are many other mental health professionals who agree.
Why Are Some Psychologists So Dogmatic?
Russian psychiatrists famously aided Stalin in applying fake insanity diagnoses to political dissenters.
Similarly, American apologists for the powers-that-be are eager to label anyone “taking a cynical stance toward politics, mistrusting authority, endorsing democratic practices, … and displaying an inquisitive, imaginative outlook” as worthy of a trip to the insane asylum. (Those traits may also get one labeled as a potential terrorist.)
But most mental health professionals who assume that those who question 9/11 are crazy are simply victims of the the “Martha Mitchell Effect”:
The process by which a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health clinician mistakes the patient’s perception of real events as delusional and misdiagnoses accordingly.
The authors of a paper on this phenomenon (Bell, V., Halligan, P.W., Ellis, H.D. (2003) Beliefs About Delusions. The Psychologist, 6 (8), 418-422) conclude:
Sometimes, improbable reports are erroneously assumed to be symptoms of mental illness [due to a] failure or inability to verify whether the events have actually taken place, no matter how improbable intuitively they might appear to the busy clinician.
In other words, psychologists who haven’t taken the time to examine for themselves the claims of their patients will tend to label as delusional anything which they “intuitively” feel is improbable.
As such, psychologists and psychiatrists are just as prone to acting out their irrational prejudices as anyone else … unless they take the time to investigate and educate themselves.
Postscript: We do not condone violence. Virtually all those who question the government’s version of 9/11 are peaceful, non-violent folks.
Replies
Supporters Fear Facebook Marine Being ‘Disappeared’
Brandon Raub forcibly transferred to psychiatric facility 3 hours away from legal team, family
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Supporters of Brandon Raub – the man kidnapped by police and committed to a mental institution for his political posts on Facebook – fear the former Marine is being ‘disappeared’ by authorities after he was forcibly transferred to a psychiatric facility more than three hours away from his family and legal team.
Raub, a former veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, was involuntarily detained for psychiatric questioning last week by authorities in Virginia’s Chesterfield County for leaving anti-establishment messages on Facebook which questioned the official story behind 9/11 and referred to corruption within the U.S. government. The FBI claims Raub’s posts were “terrorist in nature.”
Raub is being held against his will despite not being charged with any crime under a state law that allows people to be temporarily committed for a period of 30 days.
Lawyers working for the Rutherford Institute attempted to file an emergency motion to prevent Raub from being transferred to a psychiatric institution more than three hours away from his friends, family, and legal team, but the motion was denied by Special Justice Walter Douglass Stokes.
“(Raub) is being transferred from John Randolph Psychiatric Medical Hospital in Hopewell to the Veterans Hospital in Salem, Va., on the other side of the state,” reports the Rutherford Institute website.
After speaking with Brandon’s brother, Brent Raub, supporter Brian Smith shared concerns amongst those following the case that the former Marine is being ‘disappeared’ by the government as controversy surrounding the incident continues to snowball.
Smith added that if more people don’t come to Raub’s aid in publicizing his mistreatment, authorities are more likely to “make him disappear or to “zombify Brandon”.
Lawyers are continuing their efforts to secure Raub’s release on the basis that his speech is protected under the First Amendment and that his detention was conducted unlawfully.
“This is not how justice in America is supposed to work—with Americans being arrested for doing nothing more than exercising their First Amendment rights, forced to undergo psychological evaluations, detained against their will and isolated from their family, friends and attorneys. This is a scary new chapter in our history,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “Brandon Raub is no different from the majority of Americans who use their private Facebook pages to post a variety of content, ranging from song lyrics and political hyperbole to trash talking their neighbors, friends and government leaders.”
Critics have pointed to Raub’s treatment as an example of how the government is targeting free speech by labeling those who question authority as mentally ill, similar to how secret police in the former Soviet union sent dissidents to psikhushkas to isolate them, discredit their ideas and politically brainwash them.
Raub’s calm and rational response to being kidnapped and committed discredits claims by the government that he represents a danger.
Commenting from hospital, Raub said, “It’s ironic, I was considering re-enlisting, I’ve really enjoyed the six years I spent as a reserve and the two and a half years I spent on active duty.”
“I’ve been very open with the things I’ve had to say on my wall on Facebook. It’s interesting to me that the Government is watching Facebook in the first place. That ought to raise some eyebrows and cause some good American citizens some concern,” he added.
Facebook pages in support of Raub have surged in popularity as the case serves to re-iterate the painful reminder that America is fast turning into a police state where people who express anti-establishment opinions are treated as thought criminals and domestic extremists.
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Dennis Behereandt
The Moral Liberal
August 23, 2012
Watch what you say online because the First Amendment appears to have been revoked.
That’s the only conclusion that can be drawn in the wake of thedetainment of former Marine Brandon J. Raub.
Writing on his Facebook page, Raub registered his discontent with the direction of the country. Some of his postings were provocative. In other postings he questioned the official story about 9/11 and alluded to a future revolution.
For this, Raub was arrested. He is now being held in a psychiatric ward against his will.
Writing for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Michael Paul Williams described the sequence of events leading to Raub’s arrest.
“The Revolution will come for me. Men will be at my door soon to pick me up to lead it,” Brandon J. Raub posted on Facebook last Tuesday.
The Marine Corps veteran from Chesterfield County punctuated that post with a wink emoticon. But two days later, federal and Chesterfield County law enforcement officials arrived at his door.
Raub, 26, was questioned and taken to John Randolph Medical Center in Hopewell, where he was being held for postings that were deemed “terrorist in nature.”
It should not need to be repeated that the First Amendment is one of the foundational protections of the rights of a free people. Traditionally, Americans have been able to define themselves as free by comparing our tradition of protected speech to regimes around the world that persecuted their citizens for speaking out.
In the 1980s, for instance, Americans uniformly deplored police states like that in East Germany at the time where citizens were under constant surveillance and lived in fear of saying anything that might be interpreted as critical of the regime. Similarly, communist China has continued to detain those who, like noted artist Ai Weiwei, are critical of the government.
These things are not supposed to happen in the United States, the “land of the free.”
The trouble is, we are increasingly not free. Consider photographers.
Florida-based photographer and journalist Carlos Miller has been documenting the growing trend of police and other officials confiscating cameras and preventing citizens from recording video and taking photos in an overzealous but widespread abridgment of the First Amendment.
Some of the dozens of examples collected by Miller include:
Carlos Miller’s blog, “Photography is Not a Crime,” contains a depressingly large number of similar examples, all of which demonstrate that governments at multiple levels are increasingly hostile to the First Amendment.
We have, at this point, come to the depressing moment in American history when the American tradition of freedom appears at a crossroads. Sadly, in light of the crackdown on freedom of expression, one wonders if just quoting the Founding Fathers might make one a terrorist in the eyes of government.
For example, Brandon Raub is alleged to have said on Facebook, “Sharpen my axe; I’m here to sever heads.”
Compare to Thomas Jefferson. In 1787, the writer of the Declaration of Independence asked: “…what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.”
Clearly, Jefferson must have been a terrorist. And, indeed, the British thought him one, and that was a badge of honor for our third President.
Or, consider John Adams, our second President, who thought tyrants should be killed. “The right of a nation to kill a tyrant, in cases of necessity, can no more be doubted, than to hang a robber, or kill a flea,” he wrote.
That’s pretty incendiary. Should we now consider the men who, respectively, were the second and third presidents of the United States to be terrorists? That’s absurd, but it appears to be the direction we are headed.
It should be noted that the worst abuses are occurring now, during the administration of Barack Obama, the man who once promised to roll back the excesses of the Bush administration and put in place the most transparent administration in history.
Just the opposite has happened. Whistleblowers are persecuted. The president personally draws up a kill list in the White House, and, in the wake of the Raub detainment, citizens apparently can be detained simply for expressing their opinions.
If this isn’t the America you remember, then it’s time to take appropriate action at the ballot box. The presidency is up for grabs in November and it would seem to be an opportune time to vote for someone other than the current occupant of the White House. But to make real headway in restoring liberty, look to Congress. Those who aid the growth of the police state, who believe that the government is the solution to any and all problems, must be replaced with Senators and Representatives dedicated to returning the nation to its constitutionally limited government scope.
Fail at this, and historians of the future may very well look back at the year 2012 as the year liberty took its last breath in America.
The Moral Liberal Associate Editor, Dennis Behreandt, is the Founder and Editor In Chief of theAmerican Daily Herald. Mr. Behreandt has written hundreds of articles on subjects ranging from natural theology to history and from science and technology to philosophy. His research interests include the period of late antiquity in European history as well as Medieval and Renaissance history.