Dave, I'm trying to be the voice of caution. The initial post referred to the listener as a "victim", and several people besides me seemed to be uneasy about subliminal messages, of whose full content the listener might be unaware. "Secretly programmed" is the phrase used in the first post.
Properly done, a subliminal file can be fine. Today I looked at the case for a commercially produced CD made by someone named Stephen Halpern. In the library, no less. The insert says that it uses alpha and theta waves. (Each track on the CD is apparently like elevator music.) Then it lists verbatim the subliminal "affirmations" on the CD. The memorable lines include: "You breathe in life-giving energy and breathe out tensions and toxins."
This commercially produced CD has several features that may be important factors:
1. The music itself would sound non-threatening in a geriatric clinic.
2. All the "affirmations" sound like a New Age get-well card.
3. All the words in all the "affirmations" are there for the reading.
Thus, the manufacturer is triply protected. First, even the "reasonable man" in rural Oklahoma would find the music palatable. Second, the company has disclosed all the subliminal contents, word by word. Third, even if the insert becomes separated from the CD, the subliminal words make vanilla seem pungent.
The foregoing is somewhat different from what some people have in mind. It is in that gray area that the risk may lie--and where the permissible boundaries may vary by jurisdiction.
I did not write down the name of the manufacturer, but the name of the author/composer might lead to a website and perhaps to an individual or company that can give a clearer picture of what is impermissible and what is not.
One aspect that makes topics like this murky is an institution the UK and the US share: what would 12 local people think? It's a long way from Manhattan to Muskogee, Oklahoma; and it's a long way from Islington to Carlisle.
I did spot Preston in Lancashire. A safe distance from Leeds and Liverpool. When this site first started there was a user from Preston or Blackburn. As I recall, he was waiting for his train and typing in a cyber-cafe in or near the Blackpool railroad station. He ended his hurried message with "My God, I have to make
this train, or I'll be in Blackpool
all night!"
I think he made it...we heard from him again. :wink:
A quick serious note. I have been asked several times by one or another new member whether anything was "hidden" in any of the files he planned to download. After consultation with someone much more knowledgeable than I am, I told the worried new member that absolutely nothing was hidden and that he could download the file, take it to a lab, and have it analysed. We will need to be able to provide clear-cut, black-white assurances to such people. The message, however phrased, will have to be equally unequivocal in order to scotch rumors before they start.
davelowe1977 wrote:Sandy, I read with much interest your analysis of the current legal conditions with respect to subliminal files and see your point. Clearly the situation is rather cloudy varying from juristiction to juristiction, not just for the US, but also across the wider world also.
I suppose the essential legal question is: is it illegal to produce a subliminal recording per se, or just illegal to produce a subliminal file where people who listen to it are not aware of the hidden content. In the latter case, we would be in the clear by looping a clear disclaimer over the music I suspect.
There may also be lack of clarity over the intention and purpose of the subliminal message. For example, there is a wide gulf between a file that encourages a sense of wellbeing and a file that promotes murder.
It just seems such a shame that we probably can't proceed with this idea when every attempt at fairplay has been observed, but I fully agree that we could not and should not ask EMG to shoulder the responsibility.
As an aside: a person listing their location as Preston, UK, would almost certainly mean Preston, Lancashire. I note there is a Preston, Connecticut, not, it would seem, a very original name!