The United States Government is extremely secretive, putting out very selective information to the public, Americans know that there are things going on behind the scenes, but do they know how far it goes? Do they really know their Government as well as they think they do? The Government does many questionable things, many things that seem so far-fetched its crazy and one of those ideas it the existence or the program MK Ultra. MK Ultra is a mind control program constructed by the United States government. In Anthropologist David H. Prices article, ‘Buying a Piece of Anthropology Part Two: The CIA and Our Tortured Past’ the starts of this program are explained. MK Ultra was started in the late 1950s and was originally started in response to other countries mind control techniques at the time (Price 1.) The project required specific research from over 30 different Universities (1.) MK Ultra has been used by the government to control the minds of innocent Americans for decades, many being big name celebrities that everyone thinks they know.
Sidney Gottlieb was a top tier employee and chemist for the CIA but contrary to popular belief about CIA employees, Gottlieb was a compassionate man. In John Marks paper, "The Search for the Manchurian Candidate the CIA and Mind Control," it is said that Gottlieb had a cherished hobby of folk dancing. “On returning from secret missions overseas, he invariably brought back a new step that he would dance with surprising grace (Marks 40.) He could call out instructions for the most complicated dances without a break in his voice, infecting others with enthusiasm” (Marks 40.) Gottlieb had a lot of drive and spirit for when it came to the things he loved to do, even illegal drugs like LSD.
Dr. Gottlieb was highly trusted in his intellect and abilities. A big part of the foundation for MK-Ultra was LSD. It was universally known that LSD distorted a person’s mind, but the CIA wanted to dig deeper. In the article, “Was It All Just A Hallucination? The CIA's Secret LSD Experiments" written by Brittanny Grant, it is stated that Gottlieb was chosen to be the head of the MK-Ultra project. One of his first actions as head of the program was sending out a message with the intent to inform people about LSD. And how it would be used for MK-Ultra (Grant 12). LSD was the base for the program. Those involved and trusted with access wanted to know is the drug could change a person’s loyalties, and if it did, they would use it to manipulate Soviet spies into giving information against their will (Grant 40). Gottlieb believed that LSD had a future with the program. He began to test the drug and normal people in supposedly natural situations, it started by Gottlieb conducting these tests on his fellow scientists and then on outsiders who were drugged without their consent (Grant 40). MK-Ultra was mostly based on the idea of using “mind control” as what could be called a military advantage for the United states and Gottlieb was very invested in his work and his role in the MK-Ultra project.
While Gottlieb was known for his determination, and intellect, many people saw him as crazy and his work as illegal experimentation. In Brain Musgrove’s. "Red-White-and-Blue Conspiracy" Gottleib’s lab where he would conduct experiments is referred to as, “Dr Gottlieb’s House of Horrors” (Musgrove 26). Throughout the course of the MK-Ultra project possibly tens of thousands of army members and normal US citizens were dosed with drugs, some even dosed with acid (Musgrove 26). The whole MK-Ultra project was based around testing multiple variations of drugs and people and seeing if their minds could be manipulated.
It is very evident that Sidney Gottlieb was very thorough with his work on the MK-Ultra program. His dedication and intellect definitely played a role in that. In Terry Goss’s "The CIA's Secret Quest For Mind Control: Torture, LSD And A 'Poisoner In Chief'" it is stated that Gottlieb’s goal was to find a way to gain control of peoples minds. Gottlieb soon realized that it was a two-part process (Gross 1). First, Gottlieb realized that he had to essentially destroy the subjects mind (this was where a lot of the drugs came into play) (Gross 1). Second, he had to find a way to create and place a “new mind” in the void made by the first step (Gross 1). Dr Sidney Gottlieb put a lot of though and energy into this idea that mind control was obtainable but with that idea, came the cost of many Americans and the mental stability of many nonconcenting people.
Project Mk-Ultra has many conspiracy theories attached to it. The First conspiracy being that many of the people that were tested on during the early days of Mk-Ultra were taken against their will (Mk-Ultra, History.com 1). The program used many psychedelic drugs and different therapies like electroshock therapy (1). While some of the test subjects knew that they were participating in and knew what the testing entailed, many subjects did not, many test subjects didn’t even know even when the hallucinogens started to integrate into the body (1). A scientist that worked on Mk-Ultra was Frank Olson. He decided that he wanted to back out of the project after realizing how inhumane the whole concept was. He attended a CIA retreat in 1953 and there had his drink spiked with LSD (1). When he got back to his hotel he stumbled and fell out a window, ultimately making his death look like the perfect suicide (1). It is still unclear how many test subjects there were and how many were tested on against their will due to the CIA destroying many documents in 1973 (1). In a survey with 25 people, 12 out of the 25 believed this theory to be true. With all this information in mind the theory that the CIA took non-consenting victims in very plausible.
Another very popular theory is that there are many A-list celebrities that are under the control of Mk-Ultra (15 Famous People Who Are Allegedly Controlled By Project Mk-Ultra, Leon Powell 1). One example of a celebrity who is believed to be apart of Mk-Ultra is Amanda Bynes (1). A few years ago, Bynes started to go crazy and was committed into a mental institution (1). Once released she started to tweet many things that pointed towards her being under some type of mind control (1). One of these tweets being, “I will not be brainwashed anymore” and her saying that she had a microchip implanted in her head (1). Another big-name celebrity that is believed to be heavily involved is Beyonce (1). She holds so much power over all the people she influences so it would make sense for her to be someone the CIA wanted to control (1). While she has said the idea of her being controlled is insane many people think that that is exactly what someone who is being controlled by the government would think (1).
"Until she actually comes out and admits that she's been under mind control, which is almost impossible for a victim to even realize, we will have to examine the multitude of clues that would lead us to believe that Beyoncé has undergone Monarch programming. It is highly probable that she is not a queen, but, in fact, a slave." (Powell 1).
With the huge amount of power celebrities hold over those they influence the idea that they are being controlled by the government is not that farfetched. If majority of highly famous people have a certain viewpoint about something majority of those who support that celebrity will blindly agree with them. With how powerful celebrities are today and how much power they hold the idea that the CIA would control their minds in the governments favor is very plausible.
Another theory is that the CIA was planning to use mind control against the Soviet Union during the cold war (The CIA's Appalling Human Experiments With Mind Control History.com Editors). Three days after a speech was given that stated that the Soviet Union was experimenting with mind control project Mk-Ultra was approved (1). These experiments were generally centered around behavior modification (1). The CIA said that LSD could be used to gain control of unwilling bodies (1). The CIA believed that they could use this newfound control to gain information from potential Soviet spies (1). In the same survey mentioned in paragraph one, 13 out of 25 people believed this theory to be true. This conspiracy is not that farfetched. America has always wanted to be the strongest nation and possessing the power to control the minds of their enemies would be a huge step forward.
Project Mk-Ultra had many layers and secrets that went into it. From the tests that the head of the program, Sidney Gotlieb would perform and his idea of “exploring the human mind.” To the many different conspiracies that formed from this program such as how test subjects were obtained and treated, the possibility of current celebrities being under the influence of Mk-Ultra, and if the United Stated government was originally intending for Mk-Ultra to be a big war weapon for them. This program is still influencing society today and it still leaves many people with questions, what do we not know? What’s true? What’s pure fiction? Those are questions that society might never get the answer to so for now people will keep studying conspiracies, questioning information, and searching for the truth.
Works Cited
Grant, Brittanny. "Was It All Just A Hallucination? The CIA's Secret LSD Experiments." ScholarWorks@Arcadia -- The Open Access, Institutional Repository of Arcadia University,scholarworks.arcadia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=senior_theses. Accessed 2015.
Gross, Terry. "The CIA's Secret Quest For Mind Control: Torture, LSD And A 'Poisoner In Chief'." NPR.org, 9 Sept. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/09/09/758989641/the-cias-secret-quest-for-mind-control-torture-lsd-and-a-poisoner-in-chief.
History.com. Editors. (n.d.). The CIA's Appalling Human Experiments With Mind Control. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/mkultra-operation-midnight-climax-cia-lsd-experiments
History.com Editors. (2017, 16). MK-Ultra. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/history-of-mk-ultra
Marks, John. "The Search for the Manchurian Candidate the CIA and Mind Control." Oops! Welcome to Tranquility Internet, Times Books, members.tranquility.net/~rwinkel/stuff/TheSearchfortheManchurianCandidate.pdf. Accessed 1979.
Musgrove, Brian, et al. "Red-White-and-Blue Conspiracy." Welcome to USQ EPrints - USQ EPrints, 2000, eprints.usq.edu.au/14008/1/Musgrove_OV_n158_PV.pd
Price, David H. “Buying a Piece of Anthropology Part Two: The CIA and Our Tortured
Powell, Leon. (2016, November 26). 15 Famous People Who Are Allegedly Controlled By Project MKUltra. Retrieved from https://www.therichest.com/world-entertainment/15-famous-people-who-are-allegedly-controlled-by-project-mkultra/
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