Investigators have uncovered more about the motive behind the plot to destroy traditional telepathy: gradually those taught fake mind reading and those never taught anything about it were to meet in the middle, so that everyone could be the same kind of zombie.
“Knowers were told that they should communicate with everyone the same way — talk to them conversationally, what Readers call ‘mindtexting.’ This created a huge problem. An unbelievably huge problem.”
It was a very clever and nasty plan.
“Knowers would mindtext out to other Knowers and get an answer, fine. And if they mindtexted Thinkers (non-telepaths) that were controlled by Knowers, they would get an answer fine.”
But Thinkers couldn’t hear a word of the mindtexting. So whenever Knowers came across Thinkers that weren’t already controlled by Knowers, the Knowers were instructed to telepathically arrest them.
“The crime is called DNR, for Did Not Respond. It’s like something out of a kid’s book. I swear we’re going to find their treehouse next.”
The consequences were rather serious. Arresting these Thinkers was a way to make sure every Thinker was controlled by a Knower.
“Basically they would arrest them, and rough them up telepathically. That meant headaches, body aches, and emotional problems, especially anxiety and restless leg syndrome. It’s often thought to be an inexplicable migraine headache.
“Then they would assign a Knower to control them, stop all the pain, and there you go, the person would become a another Knower asset.”
The plan did not acknowledge that many Readers are not allowed to mindtext. But even if they did, they all expected the Knowers to understand their response.
“You have to answer in Chinese or they arrest you,” said Cat Carrier, a Reader. “It’s not just that they don’t understand other languages. Many of them don’t believe other languages exist.”
Authorities are having difficulty estimating how many Readers and Thinkers* were arrested this way.
“There is a saying, You are screaming at a wall, trying to knock it down, when there is a door,” said Cat. “It’s disgusting that they didn’t explain this. They knew what would happen.”
“They presented the plan as a way to level the great playing field and make everyone the same, but they knew once people pass a certain age, they are the way they are. It was a dirty trick.
“If they had taught them to read they would know how to find the door. And so much pain and suffering would never have happened.”
“I asked this one guy for his name for four days,” said a former Knower. “How frustrating!”
Many Knowers also report raising their voices in an effort to get the Thinkers to respond.
“I thought he was just hard of hearing, so I screamed!” said Disney Octopus. “Of course that drew a crowd of Knowers and we all screamed for a few days.”
Did the suspect like it? “Oh, I don’t know,” said Disney. “I wasn’t really checking that.”
Did she really think the suspect was ignoring her completely for several days? “Well, I mean, I didn’t think about it. I ‘knew” I should arrest him. They tell you if you arrest the wrong person, the person should speak up and explain things, and he didn’t do that. “
How did she expect him to do that? “Oh I guess you’re right, he didn’t even know we exist, so I guess he couldn’t explain it all to us.”
Knowers also arrest Thinkers for being upset, being in pain, thinking things that are insulting or lewd, or being weird.
“The standard protocol if you hurt them for awhile and nothing happens is to hurt someone close to them. A family member or a pet. That’s supposed to flush them out.”
“We’re taught what good and bad people sound like,” said Disney. “I guess they didn’t really bother to teach us that well.”
Frequently Knowers end up screaming at each other. “I was yelling because I heard insults, and my friend was yelling the insults because she heard me,” said Disney. “Inside this child’s mind. She couldn’t hear us, but they said it made her very uncomfortable. It’s hard to tell what’s going on sometimes.”
“The worst in when you can’t stop though,” said Disney. “A few times people explained it to me that there was nothing I needed to do but I just kept hitting the guy. That’s not a good feeling. You realize you aren’t in control of yourself”
Experts agreed. “This is why we teaching mind-reading the way we do,” said Carrier. “You have to know what you are doing, you have to be able to listen, or else you can hurt a lot of people.”
Or be used to hurt them.
* need a good name for these!