Jane’s Story

How our loved ones have been captured and weaponized

Jane is a Christian mom in a purple state. She goes to church every Sunday and votes Democratic, even though she has lots of conservative friends.

One day Jane’s friend sends her a text:

“Jane, you HAVE TO LOOK AT THIS”

It’s a video, ten minutes long, called “Pedogate.” Jane clicks on it.

The video is well-produced and hypnotic. Lush scenes of American life are layered with droning music and dark predictions for the future. Then they start talking about children — 800,000 per year according to the video — who are taken off the streets and tortured. Scenes of child abuse are shown in graphic detail with pictures of Hillary, Soros and Obama combined with dire warnings that they are coming for your kids next.

Jane is traumatized by what she’s seen. The scenes of abuse cause her to dissociate — which is how the mind protects itself from information that is too painful to process. Jane’s mind creates a separate identity to try to understand what she’s seen. She feels like she is “outside her own body” watching from a distance.

When the video is over Jane is in shock. While the claims in the video seem outlandish, she cannot stop thinking about it.

What if it’s real? Even some of it. Jane feels like she can’t just ignore it. She texts her friend back and tells her how horrified she is by what she’s seen.

“Come over. We’ll have some wine. I’ll show you my research.”

That evening, Jane goes to her friend’s house and they spend hours together watching more videos and surfing websites. The depravity and horror of what she sees is shattering — so many children. So many.

But at least Jane is with her friend who encourages her to keep watching.

“I know it’s hard but we have to save the children.”

Save the children. Who could argue with that?

For the next few months, Jane spends hours with her friend every Sunday “researching.” She feels like it’s her responsibility to understand what’s going on and do more.

“Come to our Telegram channel. Do you have the app?”

Now Jane can talk to people just like her all the time — people who are worried about the children. Worried about the corruption. Worried about America. They may have different politics than she does but it doesn’t matter.

This is for the children.

Jane starts to prioritize her research over other things in life. Her friends on Telegram have given her a new purpose, a new goal. Save the children.

Her family notices the change. She seems distant. She seems different.

Jane is angry. Her family and friends just don’t understand. They think all her work and her research is a waste of time. Jane just wants to stop the children suffering. Anyone who isn’t on board with that — well, maybe they’re never going to understand. Maybe they’re on the wrong side.

Jane has thousands of new friends who have woken up to what’s going on. Maybe that’s her real family after all.

Jane starts sending videos to everyone she knows. She wants them to see what she’s seen. She wants them to feel what she felt. Save the children.

Jane’s mom and her brother join her on Telegram. Her sister thinks they’re all crazy and argues with her research. She says Jane’s changed. She says he doesn’t know who Jane is anymore and to stop sending her videos and memes.

Infuriated, Jane sends her sister a text before she blocks her: “I always knew you were a pedo.”

Jane sinks deeper into her new group. They encourage her to disconnect from the non-believers. They love bomb her when she shares the right memes and says the right things. Over time, they convince her that Trump is not the bad guy the libs have been portraying him as after all. Her new family loves him. She loves him too. He wants to save the children.

One day she sees on Telegram that there’s a “wild protest” coming up and everyone’s going. Jane still has some savings left — what could be more important than this?

Jane decides to go, no matter what her sister says. Time to take action. Save the children. Trust the plan.

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Here is some additional context for Jane’s story:

Cognitive Capture: Understanding Jane’s Story