Topic: WorldNetDaily
Leave it to conspiracy-obsessed WorldNetDaily to latch onto the loopiest conspiracy theory regarding Christine Blasey Ford's claim of a prep-school assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. And leave it WND to hide behind anonymity in promoting it, as this anonymously written Oct. 1 article does:
Some have wondered why therapist notes made when Christine Blasey Ford purportedly disclosed memories of Brett Kavanaugh allegedly assaulting her when both were teens were not released.
After all, she told Congress and the nation her story last Thursday in apparently convincing fashion, followed by Kavanaugh’s passionate rebuttal.
But there may be a reason for withholding the notes, reported the Gateway Pundit blog.
The therapy sessions may have used hypnosis, which would make any information derived from them inadmissible in court.
Her familiarity with the technique was confirmed in a 2008 research article on self-hypnosis in which she is listed as one of several authors. The article explains how it is used to “retrieve important memories” or “create artificial situations.”
Margot Cleveland, a lawyer and an adjunct professor at Notre Dame, drew attention to the paper in a tweet.
Cleveland defended herself from critics who argued the point of the research was to address depression and “processing difficult emotions.”
“She suffers from anxiety & PTSD-and using an ‘artificial situation’ to process increases risks of false memories as does hypnosis,” Cleveland explained.
As non-conspiratorial media outlets have noted, Ford was one of 11 researchers credited on the research paper, the study is actually about treating depression using hypnosis to create hypothetical situations, and actual mentalists point out that you can't hypnotize yourself into believing a lie.
But WND never reported any of that, or that its main source, Gateway Pundit, has promoted other hoaxes about Ford. The conspiracy is apparently just too good to fact-check.
