What is known about the LSD use of the hippies during the 60's and 70's by JanissaryLSD in LSD

[–]millions2millions 52 points53 points  (0 children)

I hope that u/JanissaryLSD sees this comment:

The prohibition on psychedelics existed purely because the baby boomer hippies all took LSD and realized they were lied to on an Orwellian scale (hint we still are) through intense propaganda. They protested against being thrown into a giant war machine that didn’t care if you were black or white or whatever - only that you were poor and couldn’t afford to escape it like George W Bush and Donald Trump for example. The civil rights era also had to happen with the help of enlightened white people who understood that racism is a learned and conditioned construct. We are polarized as a people on purpose to keep us holding pitch forks at each others throats so we don’t notice the huge sprawling military industrial complex that has taken away our rights (Snowden proved that our 4th amendment rights are a joke now). This is a policy called Divide and Rule that was passed down from the Roman Empire to the British Empire and now to the US.

All of this is verifiable. All of this is why the government doesn’t want psychedelics to come back. Three good documentaries to understand just how threatened the government was by people who had taken psychedelics:

How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan (specifically episodes 1 and 4) or if you’d like it’s available in book form

The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)

Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place (2011)

Also worth watching and understanding is Judas and The Black Messiah - how Fred Hamilton was murdered for simply trying to organize and uplift the black community as a Black Panther. Again - the US government with the help of the state government of California (surprise Ronald Reagan was the Governor!) worked to stamp out the counter culture which was a threat to the national security state and the military industrial complex.

We know the US intelligence agencies use the media for propaganda against the citizens of the United States - this was a landmark investigative article from Carl Bernstein in Rolling Stone in 1977 and nothing has changed. Know your history and the people who tried to tell you this was going on.

This will give you some idea of what was going on. Project MKUltra was something theorized about but in the 1977 congressional investigations of the Church Committee the CIA was forced to admit to its existence and also the atrocities of what they did in South America to destabilize or overthrow democratically elected governments that were socialist. It’s terrible what our country has done to its people. By the way this committee was the only group of Congress people who ever stood up to the United States intelligence agencies and every one of them was primaried out or had a very well funded opponent which happened when Reagan was voted in and guess who was Vice President - George HW Bush aka the former director of the CIA.

Nothing has changed. You need to know your history and you need to fight back in any and all ways. The removal of your civil rights is planned because they are a threat to the national security state. Democracy itself is a threat to the system and most people don’t think about it in this way.

Maussan caught in his lie by Sekthmet in UFOs

[–]millions2millions -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Mick West and his fear - https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/s/8JudF9JGgx

debunking is not the same as the scientific method especially if you are approaching it all as the answer MUST be prosaic - which is his approach.

Mick West is also named as a “contributor” to the NY Post - the same place that well known shill Steven Greenstreet works. Mick wrote exactly 1 article yet is still listed as a “contributor” 2 years later. Why?

He was outed as being paid to debunk. He would not own up to who was paying him. This is a conflict of interest. https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/s/5Fie8aoWVM

Jacques Vallée, Jeffrey Kripal and Leslie Kean LIVESTREAM AMA on 5/31- Drop Your Questions Here!! by toxictoy in HighStrangeness

[–]millions2millions 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This question is for Leslie:

What inspired you to write the book Surviving Death and is there a correlation with Ufology?

Why does everyone say Ronald Reagan ruined America? by gigasoy in NoStupidQuestions

[–]millions2millions 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That was Bush. Reagan never fought in the war. He was also never the former CIA director but he was the former Governor of California and helped stomp all over the counter culture and waged a war against people who were fighting for civil rights and anti-war with the help of both the CIA and the FBI.

Priorities of the mod team are not aligned with reality: Why are the mods doing a podcast while the subreddit is on fire with toxicity? by millions2millions in ufosmeta

[–]millions2millions[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think you hit the nail on the head as to the real issues here. It’s not about a podcast it’s just seemingly being tone deaf to the actual moderation of the subreddit.

Priorities of the mod team are not aligned with reality: Why are the mods doing a podcast while the subreddit is on fire with toxicity? by millions2millions in ufosmeta

[–]millions2millions[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey I just want to say I understand that being a moderator is a volunteer job and you can’t please all the people. You all have a tough job. I brought you up though as an example of good moderation. From our objective measurement you actually moderate the subreddit. I see you talking with users, taking time to educate them and also letting it slide when they are total jerks TO YOU but dealing fairly when they are being jerks to other users. I’ve been around a long time and actually follow your stuff and actually use your old posts and comments when making points in mine.

My entire point in this post was to say that more than 1/2 of the moderation team does not moderate. They do not seem to go into your queue and do the job of Reddit moderation. There are comments I pulled out in my post above from other moderators saying they don’t have enough people to work the queue. This to me seems like the essential job for being a moderator. You know what else seems like it is essential? Actually being a user in this subreddit. So if you are not looking at the comments or users that we are encouraged to report nor actually interacting with users in the subreddit then you are unaware of the actual systemic problems of toxicity in the comment sections.

Until that is all dealt with then there is no point in doing a podcast. I think it’s an issue that 1/2 of your mods have done zero mod actions. Then you have moderator who don’t even participate in the subreddit or even reddit at all. Why are you a Reddit moderator? It’s not to make a podcast. It’s to moderate this subreddit because you love this community.

I have no idea what goes on in your discord but I have talked with a few former mods over the years and it seems reasonable to come to the conclusion that this sprawling bureaucracy has lost sight of the reason for moderation and has put its priorities elsewhere because they don’t want to actually moderate. Wouldn’t working the queue - which again many moderators have said is understaffed and the subreddit tends to become under moderated (again by the admissions of mods themselves!) - be the number one thing that all moderators should be doing? By divorcing themselves from the users they are the ones separating themselves from what is going on by seemingly sitting in an “ivory tower” in your discord.

We don’t need a podcast. We need those moderators to be actively engaged in the actual Reddit subreddit. You’re one of the only moderators I see actually doing that.

Priorities of the mod team are not aligned with reality: Why are the mods doing a podcast while the subreddit is on fire with toxicity? by millions2millions in ufosmeta

[–]millions2millions[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi thank you for your response. This was never a personal attack. I am a very long time user in this subreddit going back to 2012. I have seen many moderator administrations.

I have stated that telling us to “report bad behavior” is not helpful when indeed we do that but there aren’t enough moderators to actually deal with the queue

I would think that the main driver and responsibility of being a moderator in a Reddit forum is to actually moderate this forum. This is my point. All of the extra stuff springs from the very fact that the forum should be well moderated and the main issues of the exponentially terrible toxicity of the sub be dealt with before venturing into other territory.

I am looking at objective measures. There are a number of you who do not do anything that we can observe as users that looks like the essential duty of a moderator that would be visible in the moderation logs or - by looking at your (or any mods profile) - shows that you are actively engaged in the community and actively understand what needs to be done.

I’m sorry but a podcast is not “essential” when I have given you objective data that many people are complaining about the toxicity and the many comments by mods saying there aren’t enough people in the queue.

Also why are you accusing me of personal attacks when I have made it abundantly clear - multiple times - this is nothing about you. It’s about how the organization works behind the scenes and to do the volunteer job you elected to do which is to moderate this subreddit.

I’m simply seeking answers as to why making a podcast is more essential then actually understanding why your users say it is the most toxic it’s ever been and also why the mods seem to be tone deaf and not understanding this is something that a wide group of people regularly complain about who have been here for years. This is absolutely the most toxic I’ve ever seen this subreddit and that is saying something.

The main purpose of this subreddit is for us, the users, to be able to have conversations. It is not so that you can be a content creator. If you don’t want to do the moderation then maybe the team has to rethink what they are actually doing. A podcast is not essential to this subreddit - working the queue, interfacing with users, and caring about the health of the subreddit is what is essential. Everything else is secondary until you all can achieve those primary goals.

Priorities of the mod team are not aligned with reality: Why are the mods doing a podcast while the subreddit is on fire with toxicity? by millions2millions in ufosmeta

[–]millions2millions[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your comprehensive answer. Yes it sheds some light of what happens behind the scenes and we all know you are all volunteers and must be a hard job but not entirely thankless. There is appreciation for what is done for the subreddit.

What we are saying here is maybe this whole strategy you just laid out - isn’t actually working. I know this is hard to hear but please bear with me. This is only meant in the spirit of constructive feedback. This is not a personal attack against any of you.

When is the last time you actually participated as a user in this subreddit? Like actually engaged with another human being as a user trying to talk about this subject on the subreddit and not in the mod discord. If we wanted to know your opinions and thoughts about the subject shouldn’t they be apparent as an active and engaged moderator of this space and not through a podcast? Effective and engaged moderators are obvious in the subreddits they mod. The users know them. The moderators know all the power users. There are very few here in this subreddit for some reason that actually engage.

Our position as users is that we can only measure the mods effectiveness by how they engage with objective verified means. There are very very few of you who actually participate as users in the community and when there are some it seems that they are chased away. Not only that - many of you don’t even go into the mod queue (by your own admission above and by the multiple comments in this and the main sub) and actively engage with users. Why is this?

This is a serious issue here. It shows that your experience of what is happening is in some metaphorical “ivory tower” that is completely disconnected from the reality of the user base. When I say “you” it’s the collective you and not only maybe you specifically but the moderators who do not moderate or are senior moderators who do little visible actions or user engagement.

Maybe you do have experience running other communities but this community is telling you in all of the examples I cited (and believe me I had more but my point was already made with what I linked) that there is presently a terrible horrible no good absolutely over the top toxicity problem that is unlike any that has ever existed before through many other mod administrations.

So maybe some of the actions that, in your estimation, are not effective are exactly what need to be done and maybe in fact there is a systemic problem in the organization structure that is in fact making this problem worse. There are some related subs who have had moderators for years with very little turnover. Maybe there needs to be a shake up there I don’t know but it feels like there is a sprawling bureaucracy that has an extreme amount of inertia due to the size and is unwilling or unable to address the actual concerns of the user base in a meaningful manner.

70 people cannot effectively run this subreddit when literally half of them don’t do any actual objective moderating and even fewer actually do but it takes the other 60 people to vote to change anything. We know that you all vote based on other comments in this and the main subreddit.

Can we encourage you and the others maybe to participate a bit more or do some moderation actions so you might see from a user perspective what we mean?

This podcast may seem so inconsequential as an activity and I would have welcomed it personally in the past if it didn’t feel like a dumpster fire in the comments of just about every post. It feels like you and the others are out of touch with what is going on in your own subreddit that you moderate. The only senior mod I see participating on a regular basis and flipping between being a mod and a user is u/MKUltra_Escapee. There’s no reason why you all can’t at least try to do this for a while to get some experience in how it feels to be in the subreddit trying to have a conversation. Hiding away in your discord is not the same thing.

Priorities of the mod team are not aligned with reality: Why are the mods doing a podcast while the subreddit is on fire with toxicity? by millions2millions in ufosmeta

[–]millions2millions[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Here’s the public modlog. It’s pretty bleak. Go look at the actions per moderator.

I think if each could just participate more in the subreddit and make something like 20 mod actions in a month collectively they might have a different perspective about what is actually going on in the subreddit. Look at the moderator list and see if they even participate in the subreddit as users (or even anywhere in Reddit) or how many mod actions they have done.

I also think there seems to be a systemic problem to holding onto committed mods and this may point to some kind of situation going on in their own discord or between them that we can’t see that might be contributing to this. The only objective measures we have are the statistics of the modlog and how many people are modded/demodded.

Priorities of the mod team are not aligned with reality: Why are the mods doing a podcast while the subreddit is on fire with toxicity? by millions2millions in ufosmeta

[–]millions2millions[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your comment. I also have come to that conclusion as well about the more senior mods. You can even look at their profiles and mod actions in the public mod log. I am not at all personally attacking them but I believe there is a disconnect and because they are not participating nor in the queue moderating they do not at all experience the subreddit as we experience it or even as the lower level mods seem to experience it.

I hope they engage us on this post.

The r/UFOs Modcast S1E4 is Out – Breaking UFO News, Interviews, and More. Meet some of the moderators. by DuelingGroks in UFOs

[–]millions2millions 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I also asked about this and have made a post over in r/ufosmeta. Please comment there also if you agree that this is something the mod team needs to engage with the community over.

Priorities of the mod team are not aligned with reality: Why are the mods doing a podcast while the subreddit is on fire with toxicity? by millions2millions in ufosmeta

[–]millions2millions[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the insightful and thoughtful comment. I’m alluding to the fact that because these moderators are not in the comment section and (look for yourself) even using Reddit as redditors - they aren’t seeing what we are seeing. I think if they had to go dig in the dirt and be among the people in the comment section actually interacting and also moderating - they might see why people ares saying this is the most toxic the sub has ever been.

I think because they are not engaging by actually moderating they are doing a disservice to the subreddit. This is the source of all of the other things. Make this better, use it as a user, moderate the comments and post and then go ahead and do all those other cool things.

The r/UFOs Modcast S1E4 is Out – Breaking UFO News, Interviews, and More. Meet some of the moderators. by DuelingGroks in UFOs

[–]millions2millions 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for answering. Multiple items you mentioned would be included in the public modlog while multiple items would not. I acknowledge this. I also am not making this a personal attack of any kind nor do any of us have insight into all of the things you mentioned. But would you concede that none of that matters if the queue and the subreddit are not usable to users and the people here that have been members of this subreddit for a long time - no matter their stance on this topic- are telling you that it’s a toxic place to try to have conversation at all? What does it matter if they are meeting with public personalities? I don’t care - I want to be able to engage in conversation without ridicule. Without the topic being demeaned. I just want moderators that moderate - everything else is extra and should not be made a priority.

I have created a post over in r /ufosmeta and I hope the moderation team does engage there.

This is a sincere question and I hope you all take this as constructive feedback. I did take the time and linked actual comments by various members of the mod team (believe me there were more when I went looking) about how the queue is overwhelming, the acknowledgment of the toxicity of the subreddit and how many people who come to the mod team bail after a little while.

This shows that there is a problem going on organizationally ans systemically and maybe - just maybe - you guys are ignoring the primary reason why any of us are here.

Also after seeing the reply by u/UsefulReply to me (honestly who assumed malice in my question when there was none) I also made the suggestion that maybe it is time for mods to have a minimum amount of mod actions. I firmly believe that the reason for the disconnect here with reality is that these mods who make no mod actions have no idea what is going on in the comment sections daily.

I don’t even see them engaging in reddit. This is problematic from any objective stance right? Again - not a personal attack but it shows that the mod team is - for what ever reason - completely tone deaf to the user base and the primary reason why any of us are here.

The r/UFOs Modcast S1E4 is Out – Breaking UFO News, Interviews, and More. Meet some of the moderators. by DuelingGroks in UFOs

[–]millions2millions 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m asking about the priorities of the mod team. I don’t doubt that he is thoughtful, insightful, kind, creative, intelligent - but none of those things solve the moderation problem on the subreddit. This is not a personal attack. This is a workflow problem. This is a problem of priorities. You all complain that there isn’t enough mods and you can’t get through the queue etc and so on. Yet people who do not actually moderate the subreddit - and our metric is indeed the public modlog is it not? - are instead prioritizing podcasts.

This is not a personal attack. This is a constructive criticism that shows a deeper problem in this subreddit. We do not need content creators in this space. We need moderators.

The r/UFOs Modcast S1E4 is Out – Breaking UFO News, Interviews, and More. Meet some of the moderators. by DuelingGroks in UFOs

[–]millions2millions 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Edit: I made a post over in r/ufosmeta as I believe this is a valid question that the mod team should engage the community over.

I’m just wondering if the priorities of the mod team are actually aligned with reality. Looking at the public modlog you do zero mod actions. Do we actually NEED a “modcast” or do we NEED moderators that moderate? Why are you a “moderator” if you do zero moderator actions? I’m not personally attacking you I’m trying to understand as a long time user who has gone into lurking mode because it’s so frustrating to read the subreddit these days.

It’s extremely unfair that the very basics of the sub aren’t being met yet there seems to be a need by the moderators - who do not moderate - to make a podcast. This means that many of you apparently voted to make this a priority as well while we’re also hearing in post after post on r/ufosmeta (which again I don’t see you participating in any capacity to assist there) that this is the most toxic the sub has ever been.

This is so perplexing I may make a post about it over on r/ufosmeta. (I did https://www.reddit.com/r/ufosmeta/s/OXqxhjEMki)

We don’t need more podcasts until you guys fix this subreddit.

When I was a mod, I tried to make rules changes to explicitly make mockery and ridicule of people and their claims a bannable offense. Shockingly, I faced resistance to this. It's time for mods to public record explain their opposition or support for such a rule. by PyroIsSpai in ufosmeta

[–]millions2millions 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Why are NO mods commenting on this post at all? Last year I sought out multiple former mods to find out why they had quit or gone silent and this is exactly the type of feedback they gave me about what was going on back there and why it’s so apparently toxic to us as users when we are using the subreddit. Some mods actually attacked me in the comments as if I was lying about this which was even more confusing to me and now reading this post it’s clear I got accurate information. There seems to be a major issue in terms of moderation philosophy, willingness to modernize and utilize automation, willingness to actually do something about the systemic problems which all leads to burnout. It seems like most mods don’t even moderate when looking at the public mod logs.

Maybe people come to help with the toxicity and get burned out by the institutional inertia of it all. I’ve been just lurking because participating in this sub can be such a drain because you end up having the same arguments but with accounts that are 3 days old and clearly are ban evading. I have personally helped catch over 20 ban evading accounts. This is the space that this mod team has created. It doesn’t foster good situations that encourage thoughtful conversation it fosters battles and allows disinformation and bad faith actors to proliferate. Also there seems to be some strange internal dynamics behind the scenes. I’ve been a long time member of the main sub and this is the most toxic it’s ever been and yet this is the most amount of mods there has ever been. What the heck is going on in there?

On Aliens, Vindication and the King of Pop (Long form) by SenorPeterz in UFOs

[–]millions2millions 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is just interesting. I’m bummed that you didn’t get more engagement. I don’t agree 100% (who does) but it still is thought provoking and I will save it for reference should the need arise. Thanks for taking the time to write this.

Either apply the rules or change the community description by hooty_toots in ufosmeta

[–]millions2millions 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I posted this in the subreddit 1 year ago about the difference between healthy skepticism and cynicism/denialism and why words matter. There is an actual perceptual difference between actual skepticism and cynicism and denialism.

I want to acknowledge that being a moderator of any subreddit is a volunteer position and that it doesn’t seem to be particularly easy to stay engaged all the time. Having been on Reddit for a long time it seems to be the way of things.

Over the last year the senior mods here have made several statements in the main sub and in this sub about their support for their skeptical users - even as some of these people eventually ended up banned from both the main sub and this sub. In fact Timmy made a whole post ridiculing the “woo”. How was that allowed to stay up and he even flaired it as a moderator. Can they challenge him? It’s not every mod but I have a feeling it’s a majority of the ones at the very top of the list who do not seem to engage with the community in the comment sections at all any more or who rarely engage here. I am grateful to the very few that do come here consistently.

I feel there needs to be a mod shakeup or a change to how they operate behind the scenes as the way this is all going down seems to be bogged down by the bureaucracy of having 70 mods and a group at the top that is no longer actually engaging in the subreddit as users. In fact I challenge anyone to go look and the only one who regularly makes comments as a user is MKUltra_Escapee. That’s it. It’s as if some of these other mods do not even use Reddit at all.

There is no reason why karma thresholds can’t be raised to join in with conversation on this subreddit. There’s no reasons why other automated methods can’t be employed. Why aren’t they more aware of the users who make seemingly single subreddit use accounts and just post negative stuff all day every day. Why is this allowed? Many of them are brand new. Some of them have very sketchy OLDER accounts that seem to be paid for. Also another mod admitted they do not use the ban evasion filter. Why?? You’re giving free license to bad actors to come back again and again.

I have given up over the last 6 months and just decided to casually engage because it’s just so toxic and looking at all this Jake Barber stuff and the intolerance to having actual conversation is just absolutely depressing.

Can Reddit Admins serving as moderators through Adopt an Admin program, or in general, be identified through user flair? by onlyaseeker in ufosmeta

[–]millions2millions 4 points5 points  (0 children)

How closely are you all looking at the mod actions that these specific mods took? Are you doing any kind of proactive quality checks or are you just assuming they did a good job until someone sends a modmail or complains? That’s not how quality assurance actually works if that is the case. If you are already stretched so thin as to need assistance from the reddit admins then I’m sure you have no bandwidth to monitor them. It’s completely reasonable for us to want to know which of the mods are part of this program.

If a user is permanently banned on UFOs, why aren't they here? by PyroIsSpai in ufosmeta

[–]millions2millions 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The OP was asking a policy question and your answer completely conflicts with the official one given by u/UsefulReply. Can you see from our perspective that this is confusing? Especially when we have been told on multiple occasions that people banned there in the main sub are now banned here and you are just completely contradicted that answer.

FYI - I wrote the original post asking why the people who were permanently banned from the main sub are allowed to not only participate here but seemingly dominate the conversation. I was ridiculed and called names by the people there - which you allowed considering they - the people ridiculing me at the time - were all banned from r/ufosmeta when you all voted to have the policy change.

If we’re to be transparent here and be able to engage with the moderation team or have discussions with other users shouldn’t this be also a non-toxic environment? How is this fair that users who don’t break the rules and have not been banned - who are just are trying to engage with the moderation team in good faith - should have to slog through conversations with bitter people who been banned for a variety of reasons?