7/5 – Jenna phone call

Damn @kasch first your emails and now maybe your phone!? Someone’s really trying to mess with you lol Interesting that she felt the call was being traced and felt she only had a limited time to speak, that would make sense. So it sounds like maybe you will be hearing from or chosen by The Resistence very soon

Oh wow! Phone tapping? Call tracing? Not cool at all. If the resistance is in fact ramping up for a war, sign me up!

So… starting to think my mysterious caller after the Focus Group may have been Jenna. She seems pretty intent on warning us about what’s going on. She also said on my call she didn’t have much time, so there’s another potential connection.

“Very soon, you will experience first hand the reach that my people have.”

Sounds like The Resistance is running the OSDM playbook here, doesn’t it?

Be careful @kasch.

“Very soon, you will experience first hand the reach that my people have.”

That sounds a lot more like a threat to me than I imagine you took it?

@bcbishop Didn’t Stacey say pretty much this exact thing when introducing The Resistance? That they’ve been studying their tactics and copying them in order to get our attention?

Even “We’re trying to save your sorry asses” can sound like a threat if you’re hearing it whilst stuck in a particular mindframe…

@nothenrygale it’s strange to me that since OSDM seems to have a negative connotation with many here that anyone would be quick to trust a group that uses their former tactics for anything, let alone attention.

Lancaster, PA. So, Jenna’s gone Amish? I suppose that’s a good place to lay low if you want to dodge a bunch of nosy-ass dataminers…

@wanda102 This kinda goes back to the earlier point that even bad people can be right with some things. The Sinclairs generally were not the sort to be trusted, but there were little bits of truth that came from them. Just because you don’t agree with someone doesn’t mean you can’t learn specific things from them. If The Resistance is looking to grab our attention to convey their message, what better way than to use a couple tactics from the thing that’s kept us captivated?

Think of it this way, there’s two chefs making a meal for you. One chef is making food you absolutely love, while the other is making a dish you can’t stand. Even though the end results of their work will be completely different, they’ll still both use many of the same cooking methods and techniques. Same general process for different end goals.

@nothenrygale and what if two chefs use the same preparation methods…and one of those meals would poison you? I am keeping an open mind, but I have reservations about many rushing towards a door that may have nothing behind it.

@nothenrygale @wanda102 I don’t think the chef analogy quite works here. This is more akin to two chefs using questionable or unethical cooking techniques and people being upset at the one who made a meal they didn’t like while dismissing those concerns with the other chef because they made them something they enjoy. How can you be okay with The Resistance using tactics you would rake the OSDM over the coals for using?

@wanda102 Also entirely possible. Also possible both will poison us. Guess we’ll find out when that first bite gets taken.

In that regard, I do believe @meghanmayhem took a bite of what The Resistance has to offer. She’s still alive, with a seemingly newfound confidence.

I’ll have what she’s having.

Regarding @meghanmayhem: that’s not newfound confidence, she always had that. She’s just added a sense of purpose. And I wouldn’t ever begrudge her that. I think we should all find our own organically before scrambling onto a rebellious bandwagon.

Really need to echo @wanda102 here and ask: Why are we acting like we hate the OSDM, or that it’s some nefarious demonic chef?

The postcard that announced this experience to the world said “OSDM presents The Lust Experience.” And what did we do? We came running. So let’s stop pretending that we hate what the OSDM does, or we have issues with the experiment they’re running on us at this exact moment in these very forums.

We all love what the OSDM does. We want it. You can even say, we LUST after it. And when I and others talk about @joycecarlberg as a beacon for transparency and clarity, we don’t just mean she speaks the truth. We mean that she allows us to drop the facade, and just admit the simple truth: We like being here, and we like what they do to us. I am not afraid to admit it, and I don’t need to cloak that love in the feigned hatred of a “resistance.”

Continuing off @bcbishop’s point, the OSDM gets lambasted for collecting all of this data on us, but everyone keeps posting here and everyone immediately joined the Slack that @joycecarlberg provided. I also suspect, if another Tension length questionnaire were presented, everyone would willingly give up plenty of information on themselves. I’m not sure I necessarily trust the OSDM, but I can’t say that they’ve stolen data on me. I’ve given it up willingly. As the letters Joyce provided pointed out, we want what they can give and they need us so they can accomplish their goals.

The Resistance wants to bring that down, and as of now, they haven’t really explained why that is. This also assumes they’re not just another brach of the OSDM to collect even more data on people with a different mindset towards them.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by Sean. Reason: Edited in link to Slack channel

@bcbishop At the start of this, we didn’t really know anything about the OSDM other than they were the mysterious organization above everything that happened last year. This year we’ve learned a lot more about them, their goals, what they’ve been doing with the data they’ve collected, who’s backing the whole thing (The Investors). We’ve seen what they do to people in an attempt to control them. Hell you yourself were a victim to this early on with The System blackmail.

The Resistance has not done any such thing. They’ve hacked a site in order to dilute the data gathering of the OSDM. They brought one of our own to meet with their leader and in-person. They gave us information regarding the attempts to copy us via the email found on Friday. And it’s checked out. While they’re copying the theatrical elements the OSDM used to draw us in, they’ve kept their promise so far. Are they 100% transparent? Of course not, you do that and the OSDM comes barging in guns drawn.

@joycecarlberg gave us empty non-answers. The Resistance gave concrete answers to those who put in the legwork on Friday. There’s ALWAYS a chance I’m misreading things, and this could very well bite me in the ass, but like Taylor I’m a man who goes off of evidence. And with the evidence I’m getting, the OSDM can’t be trusted and The Resistance is looking to blow this thing wide open.

So let’s stop pretending that we hate what the OSDM does

I don’t think anyone’s pretending to hate the murder of almost everyone in the entire OOA compound. Isn’t that what the OSDM is most infamous for?

We love what the Clockmakers do. We hate what the OSDM does. Even Gordon sounds like he hates what the OSDM does. “I will never forget what you made me say and do…” We’ve heard the OSDM harassing Darren on the phone. Even if we’re not considering those compound murders to be real, there is plenty of evidence that the OSDM uses intimidation and threats to get their way. Why defend them?

@daela

Even if we’re not considering those compound murders to be real, there is plenty of evidence that the OSDM uses intimidation and threats to get their way. Why defend them?

Stacey claims that they mimicked the OSDM tactics to lure us to the warehouse on Friday after our little scavenger hunt, and that made me think that The Resistance is possibly forming to counteract the OSDM and maybe that’s their target. I’m still on the fence about it all, but maybe their goal is to get back at the OSDM for the murder massacre and the deceit that they induced. Maybe that is the appeal to many who were so hurt or wronged by the OSDM. But is revenge really the way to go? I’m all for getting justice for those that deserve it and seeking truth, but revenge is such a negative thing, it does not create space for positivity, and it only digs you deeper into your hole of unhappiness.

Let’s see…

1) OSDM/OOA/TheAcronymCouncil continually asks for our trust. (Questionnaires, the unlocking of phones, etc.)
2) We comply.
3) Only to always be dickslapped across the mouth for it later.

I wonder why many of us hesitate to get on board.

So far, the OSDM is like an abusive, gaslighting partner. You keep getting slapped in the face, and they insist that that was the last time they’d slap you… oh but wait, here it comes again. SLAP. Won’t you trust me? SLAP. Take me back, baby, I can change!

Your misguided assumptions about everyone’s motivations are really starting to hack me off @bcbishop. You speak for yourself here and that is all. At the end of Tension, the OSDM (and Samson in particular) tried to show me that I was powerless. I continued with Lust because deep down I knew they were wrong and was willing to wait for an opportunity to prove it. You are free to share your opinion, but don’t state it as gospel truth…

If tactics work, everyone for good and evil, is going to use them from the Salvation army to Exon. Mystery, intruige, a sense of urgency…
I wouldn’t be surprised if both (All three?) Entities start a very close mimic of one another. Regardless, everyone involved seems very good at disruption tactics.

If we never know which way is up, we can never escape.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by Jackie.

Ok, how about this one?

The OSDM is like a thrilling, but toxic relationship. Friends and parents who don’t know what it’s like to experience them first hand think we’re nuts for walking into such an obvious mess. We approach everything with a certain amount of caution, but ultimately dismiss all those hesitations and get on the back of that motorcycle. Every time.

So, I don’t know about evil chefs or actual evil intent at all, for that matter. We hear our BFFs in the Resistance saying the OSDM is no good, but we’re blinded by our obsession with them.

@bcbishop @kevin Speaking for myself – I came back, but not because I couldn’t wait to see who the OSDM would kill next in the name of a false god. I came back to get the answers I couldn’t get last time around, and with the hopes of personally putting a lasting dent in the OSDM this time.

Of course I’d give them my info, they already know enough about me and would no doubt be able to find whatever else they need without my consent – I’ll just save them and myself the time and energy here, and hopefully avoid any personal “out of game” contacts receiving mysterious calls.

I still have a recurring nightmare of my second time in the red room, I still wake up wondering if I could’ve done anything differently to make any change. I know the answer is no, but I can’t shake the What If. But that’s why I’m back.

To my understanding the OSDM/Investors, what have you, haven’t asked us to comply with anything untowards as yet in Lust. We don’t even know if the OSDM as we know it now is the same exact entity that many of you encountered last year.

This isn’t Stockholm Syndrome for me; I am new to this Expereince. I am merely using a critical eye and am not so quick to be carried off by the appeal of a revolution without understanding why I should fight.

Not all those who wander are lost. Similarly, not all those who stay are in the wrong.

Exactly @wanda102 – you need to find your own path and I totally respect your feelings and thoughts which you express eloquently and fairly without judgement or claiming to speak for others ❤

@daela had it right, we DO know why we need to fight. All you have to do is scroll down days, weeks, months. It’s all here. I resent the implication that those supporting the Resistance are band-wagoners getting carried away. Some of us were supporting the Resistance before we knew there was one. And I think my Activity Feed will bear that out.

Keep in mind that we’re all literally operating on nothing but rumors, hope, and our own personal believies. Despite claims to the contrary, none of us possess more insight or clarity than any other participant.

Between us, this is merely a difference in interpretation, @macbethinabathtub. As Stacey said, you wanted there to be a Resistance, and behold, it became manifest.
I say that there appears to be a bandwagon affect because I am concerned for my friends and community as they rush forward to follow a new path. I think we need each other to go through this Experience more than we may realize, and dividing amongst ourselves to fight a battle we don’t yet have a complete picture of is more dangerous to us than anything else.

I’m sorry if my posts offended you, @blondie. The reality is all any of us have right now are opinions of our own, because there are no absolute truths — and we’re all passionate. I hope we all feel free to express our strong opinions loudly, as long as we don’t personally attack others.

The point I was trying to get at was simple. If we accept that the OSDM is behind The Lust Experience, and we are partaking in The Lust Experience, then we are engaging with the OSDM willingly. If we accept that the OSDM was behind The Tension Experience, and we enjoyed the data collection scheme that was The Tension Experience, then we liked the work of the OSDM. QED.

It was an awkward, uncomfortable realization that I had very recently — and I admit I struggled with it. The black-and-white, good vs. evil of “Resistance vs OSDM,” or “OOA vs. BOS” is certainly appealing — just in the way the “save the brainwashed actress” con of Addison Barrow was. But after meeting with @joycecarlberg, I realized there was a third way. One where I could acknowledge what they were doing in the name of data collection, but also admit that I found the way the OSDM was testing and challenging me rewarding. They got what they needed, and I got something I realized I wanted – with eyes wide open. The Lust Experience: Everybody Wins™.

As others have already stated, the concern is that The Resistance is simply the same kind of con Addison Barrow always was. Appealing to our innate sense of right and wrong, our desire to buck authority, our embedded knowledge of cultural tropes, and most importantly — our assumptions. And if it is a con, it is working beyond the OSDM’s wildest dreams.

@macbethinabathtub Precisely. As soon as I saw the need for a resistance I was a supporter before I knew a resistance ever existed. I’ve made no secret of that.

And @nothenrygale? Fuck outta here with that suggestion that my confidance is newfound. In the movement, or in my personality. I got clarity, but my swagger has always been there baby boy.

Hahaha very true @meghanmayhem. “Newfound” may not be the correct word. Maybe “Revitalized confidence”?

Meghan continues to be the same @meghanmayhem that I’ve known for almost 10 years, she just found the box of toys that she’s been looking for this whole time…

The point I was trying to get at was simple. If we accept that the OSDM is behind The Lust Experience, and we are partaking in The Lust Experience, then we are engaging with the OSDM willingly. If we accept that the OSDM was behind The Tension Experience, and we enjoyed the data collection scheme that was The Tension Experience, then we liked the work of the OSDM. QED.

I feel like I already addressed this point, as did @addisonborn.

@bcbishop about this –

As others have already stated, the concern is that The Resistance is simply the same kind of con Addison Barrow always was. Appealing to our innate sense of right and wrong, our desire to buck authority, our embedded knowledge of cultural tropes, and most importantly — our assumptions. And if it is a con, it is working beyond the OSDM’s wildest dreams.

I feel that we’re in the same boat here as we were with late-game BOS, but we can still look at it with the knowledge we gained after being directly affected by that “faction” in the past. There is no black and white, and anyone asking for complete and total loyalty probably has only their own best interests in mind.

OSDM and The Resistance, at this point, are on opposite ends of the spectrum, and I feel many of us (other than @julierei) are somewhere in the middle of the range. I think it’s easiest and most natural to align with whatever choice whose ideals most overlap with our own, even though it’s not and will likely never be a 100% match. But if you want to play in the majors, you have to join a team or you’re just stuck playing pickup games on the farm league.

I don’t believe that anything that Bryan said was meant to attack anyone’s personal motivations, @blondie, and if you’re taking it personally that’s not on him. There are two sets of motivations here – your “in game” motivations and your meta ones. If you truly believed in your IG ones, that they were *real* then you would likely not be here. However you’re acknowledging the fiction of the situation and that you enjoy this – that you realize it’s entertainment that the OSDM is providing, and *that’s* the true reason you’re here. That’s what he’s referring to.

Also it isn’t true that we are all operating on the same level of understanding, @kipsie. While we are all experiencing *this* narrative for the first time together, we all have varying levels of experience with the OSDM, TPTB, the resistance in some form, etc. For a lot of people, Indoctrination *prior* to Ascension got very emotionally heated and because of those months the OSDM has more dirt on some of us than we’d like to acknowledge. One of my first reactions to this resistance being reborn stuff was “are they deliberately trying to reopen old wounds?” I think people are simply speaking from that personal experience, whether others like it or not, it did happen. @joycecarlberg threatened violence at the first sign of drama over this because of what happened last year, not because she’s on some power kick. She’s letting us know that a repeat of last year will not be tolerated.

It’s interesting to point out that not everyone has been a target of the resistance in their recruitment efforts. Why do you think that is? Shouldn’t some rag-tag plucky group of rebels be getting as many people together as they possibly can to fight the evil big bad? Or are they picking and choosing those they feel are the most willing to go along with their agenda? I still have no idea what it is they are resisting.

But if you want to play in the majors, you have to join a team or you’re just stuck playing pickup games on the farm league.

This is a sports metaphor, right?
Those, like jokes, are things I don’t get.

However I’m pretty sure I disagree entirely with this statement.

So if I didn’t believe my IG motivations which are to try and help bring down the OSDM then I wouldn’t be here trying to help bring down the OSDM? My brain hurts…

Shouldn’t some rag-tag plucky group of rebels be getting as many people together as they possibly can to fight the evil big bad? Or are they picking and choosing those they feel are the most willing to go along with their agenda?

Quality over quantity, perhaps?
A large army isn’t very efficient if a handful of the soldiers are running into a wall and shouting that it “Came out of nowhere!”

@meghanmayhem Exactly. Not to mention if they accept everyone they can possibly get, that leaves the door open for someone to join their ranks who seeks to destroy the resistance from the inside.

But we wouldn’t know anything about that, would we?

Hey has anyone seen @thebuz lately?

But if you want to play in the majors, you have to join a team or you’re just stuck playing pickup games on the farm league.
This is a sports metaphor, right?
Those, like jokes, are things I don’t get.
However I’m pretty sure I disagree entirely with this statement.

@coryphella, you’re a treasure. <3

I think @bcbishop and his approach is a good reminder that nothing is keeping us here other than us. It’s all a choice, and we do come running. Joyce is upfront about it. That’s the best news we can get.

Meanwhile, we are receiving certain rewards for our ongoing investment. Like any good transaction, we put value on what we are receiving. They are receiving value for what we are investing. They value what we provide more than we do, and vice versa. Thus the transaction occurs.

We are repeatedly having our boundaries challenged. How about this close? This close? THIS close? How deep inside will we let any of these parties go? There is not necessarily a clear sense of right vs wrong or good vs bad…yet. You want our data? You want to study us? Fine, we say, as long as we get the shadow show in Plato’s Cave. Although some of us expect and hope to be able to turn out heads and eventually be enlightened enough to exit. Some of us expect, based on TENSION, that our reward will significantly outstrip our investment.

What is at risk, ultimately? Making different investments and then not receiving a commensurate return or, worse, exposing ourselves in any manner of speaking and having it used against us in detrimental fashion.

That’s where I’m… struggling isn’t the right word… still contemplating. I’m not sure either side is for me at this moment. But, unless some third options shows up, eventually, I will likely have to choose to continue being involved in any meaningful way. Or exit the game, I suppose. But it’s way less fun to just take your ball and go home.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by Kyle Bown.

Well said @larry. As Joyce put it, we are The investments. We are the risk and the return. And what limits to that risk, what limits each of us have to our willingness to give of ourselves for this experience? I suppose that still remains to be seen.

@bruinbown I definitely don’t think TBTB would want anyone to feel they had to 100% pick some partisan side to move forward. As I think @111error said on the Slack, there were plenty of Indoctrination participants who rode the middle rather than be strictly OOA or BOS. As long as we wind the clock, we’re doing it right. If neither side has won you over, then that’s great because it means you’re paying attention, thinking critically, and following your heart. That’s all any of us can do. Things can change in an instant, and as @wanda102 said, at the end of the day the only side that truly matters is all of us together as One. I hope a time will never come where someone feels they have to arbitrarily pick a side or leave. I honestly don’t think that’s what they’re going for here.

@wanda102 I suspect, given the extreme haunts some of you folks have done, that you are willing to endure a very high level of risk. Then again, emotional capital is what we value the most. We were warned that we “would have our hearts broken”. That suggests a significant investment of emotional capital, but the nature of that investment remains unclear.

If a broken heart is the so-called “reward” for our emotional investment, is that indeed a reward? We can speak from personal experience (and from recent illusory appearance) that it carries a very high price as far as investment. Reward? Again we have to ask if that is something of value. “It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all”.

As a wise young-ish man said to me in the not-so-distant past:

“You are alive, electric and feeling. Even this heartache is beautiful because it means you feel and we don’t get that much anymore do we? Loving someone like that. It’s fucking amazing. You want to die for this woman, you want to scream your love for her in front of strangers, you think on some level that every goddamn thing would finally be okay if you could just have her say out loud that she loved you back. You would have damn the gods because this earth holds more for you then they ever could.

That’s not fucking depression. That’s amazing. That’s natures greatest miracle. Even if she never loves you back, even if she never calls you again, to feel this is magic. I know, you’re strung out, you’re a love sick crack head who needs his next hit, who is probably scheming of ways to call her right now, to see her again, to feel alive and perfect in her presence… I think you have to just accept that you do feel this way. KNOW that it’s going to suck a bit. If she truly felt for you or even if she was scared does it really matter? She’s not reciprocating now… so you can and will keep trying but in the meantime I say enjoy the here and now. Enjoy being in love… as crazy as it fucking sounds, you don’t need her to do that! Once you realize that you can be set free from her a bit, maybe even enough to own it and tell her.”

Put it like that, and there is a reward. One of infinite value.

Thank you for that @macbethinabathtub. I did. It mean to sound like I was actually considering ducking out. The point of this, for me, really is the community. So thank you, again.

Practicing active listening over here as I catch up on the remainder of what I only caught pieces of this weekend. Most of what we know is still redacted and shadowed and frankly, raises more questions then answers. But I do know that I trust @meghanmayhem. She gives it to you straight and has nothing to hide. Her confidence has always been there, you just were too busy trying to attract attention to yourself to notice it. One thing that keeps being pounded into us is to be better listeners. And yet? Anyway,I believe in her and will continue to do so until I’m given a reason not to.

@brianamatopoeia Oh Briana, my sweet sun. I appreciate your trust in me and I am now and shall to continue to always speak truths. Even the shitty ones. <3