As noted on the AntiPolygraph.org news page, today's Jenny Jones show ("If You Went Astray, I'll Find Out Today") features lie detector "testing." This popular television talk show, which has also used lie detector "tests" in the past, helps to promote popular belief in the validity of both polygraphy and CVSA, as evidenced on the following page from the Jenny Jones website:

http://jennyjones.warnerbros.com/cmp/showstuff/expertzone/poly2_fs.html

You can help set Jenny Jones straight on lie detectors by posting a comment to her through the show's website at:

http://jennyjones.warnerbros.com/cmp/contactus_slfs.html

This show and many others like it prove the depths to which the polygraph industry have pulled the wool over the eyes of the American people.  I believe one of the ways to debunk this charade is to attack the polygraph industry not only through official means but also where the polygraph industries strength lies...in the arena of American popular culture.  As far as I know there hasnt been popular shows (e.g., NOVA, Frontline, 60 minutes, and to a degree Dateline) which have solely focused on the polygraph hoax.  If there has been let me know.  I believe if the American people see these type programs on the air it would help turn things around.  The polygraph industy thrives on anonymity, fear, ignorance, and the 'blind-faith' of the American people.  After exposed to American popular culture the polygraph industry will loose is means of sustenance and slowly decay.  As you know polygraphy is hurting many good honest Americans (e.g., ruining careers and reputations).  I have known many GI-veterans which have served our country with pride and received honorable discharges who after taking a polygraph...were branded unpatriotic, not trustworthy, unstable, using bad judgement, not loyal, and without moral character.  These were outstanding veterans that have laid it on the line and have fought for this country.  What a travesty.  These puny polygraph rats sitting at there desks have hurt these veterans more than any enemy encountered in combat.  Words to live by polygraphers, "Judge not before you judge yourself".  Your day will come.    

Harlot

I have been trying for months, on this site and nopolygraph site, to get people to contact these news intities and have them air a debate, or whatever they want to call, on the polygraph issue. I have written to NBC Dateline and they declined. I e-mailed 60 Minutes and 48 hours but haven't received a reply. However, one letter has no impact. If they got a hundred letters they might take notice. I have been trying, also, to get people to copy the "open letter to all elected and appointed officials" (in the reading room of this site) and send it, along with their comments, to their elected officials both state and federal. This I have, also done. Posting to these websites only reaches us who are against the polygraph. Join the mission and get every one you know to do these things. The number of lettlers determines the impact.

Harlot,

I am not aware of any television program (or even any newspaper article) that has adequately exposed the sheer fraud on which polygraphy depends. By "fraud," I mean the trickery and deceit inherent in the "control" question "test," which Mr. Scalabrini and I have termed "the lie behind the lie detector." The vast majority of the American public (and, indeed, the world public) remains unaware of it.

In 1986, before the Employee Polygraph Protection Act became law, CBS 60 Minutes aired a segment on polygraph "testing." You'll find Leonard Saxe's account of that program quoted on pages 3-4 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.

Former police polygrapher Doug Williams, author of "How to Sting the Polygraph," has appeared on numerous televised news programs, including the CBS 60 Minutes episode referred to above, but I haven't seen them. See his website for more details:

http://www.polygraph.com

I think a Pulitzer Prize might be waiting for the investigative journalist who blows the whistle on polygraphy.

Last modification: George Maschke - 01/15/01 at 14:05:27

TwoBlock,

Very good advice.  Hopefully there will be lots of polygraph victims (and others) that send in letters.  In regards to my situation...(I do feel slightly uncomfortable discussing this, but the anonymity helps) I am in the middle of the long appeals process with a certain government agency.  Since the polygraph is used and trusted by this agency (and has been for a long time)...I dont know what the ramifications would be (actions taken against me) if my position on polygraphs were disclosed by any letters I might happen to write.  I believe there are lots of individuals out there traped in the same situation as I.  I also believe this is a big reason why there are not more people coming forward with testimonials and not sending letters.  Can I send out a letter and still protect my anonymity?        

Harlot

I was once audited because of my letter writing to elected officials about the IRS. I did not let that faze me one bit. I kept it up using another name and a good friend's address. There's more than one way to skin a cat to continue your mission. I learned that during Korea. I apply my military training in civilian life pretty good. There's a lot of ways to stay anom. You can, also, get your friends to do your mailings for you, and so on and so on. That way you are still involved in getting this crap abolished.

Harlot wrote:

Quote:

I dont know what the ramifications would be (actions taken against me) if my position on polygraphs were disclosed by any letters I might happen to write.  I believe there are lots of individuals out there traped in the same situation as I.  I also believe this is a big reason why there are not more people coming forward with testimonials and not sending letters.  Can I send out a letter and still protect my anonymity?

I suspect that many employees and applicants for jobs with federal agencies who are wrongly accused of deception in polygraph screening "tests" fear retaliation if they publicly oppose polygraph policy. And I think those fears are not entirely unjustified.

But I doubt that members of Congress and senior government officials will be prompted to take action based on anonymous letters received. If at all possible, it would be better to write to them with one's real name and address and to follow up with a phone call. If you write a letter to the editor of a newspaper, you can ask that your name be withheld if your letter is published. The technique TwoBlock mentioned (using an assumed name and a trusted friend's address) would at least allow you to receive a response, but if you were to send letters in that way, the recipient might be skeptical.

In your earlier message, you wrote:

Quote:

I believe one of the ways to debunk this charade is to attack the polygraph industry not only through official means but also where the polygraph industries strength lies...in the arena of American popular culture.

I agree with you. So does David T. Lykken, America's most prominent polygraph critic. At page 278 of A Tremor in the Blood: Uses and Abuses of the Lie Detector he writes:

Quote:

...it seems apparent that the truth technology [i.e., lie detector "testing"] must be regarded as a growing menace in American life, a trend to be resisted and, it may be hoped, beaten by measures more dependable and lasting than secreting a tack in one's sock. The 1988 Employee Polygraph Protection Act was an important step in the right direction. Extending that act to cover federal, state, and local government employees should be the next step. I believe, however, that the only safe solution, the only way to truly beat the lie detector, is to demythologize it. If lawyers, employers, judges, legislators, and government bureaucrats knew what you know now about the lie test, then the menace would be manageable. The first purpose of this book is to contribute to that end.

Mr. Scalabrini and I also wrote The Lie Behind the Lie Detector and distribute it gratis via this website to contribute to that end.

One way that polygraph victims can help debunk the polygraph charade without incurring retaliation is to anonymously post and discuss their experiences here on the AntiPolygraph.org site. The Internet has become a productive research tool, and any journalist, lawyer, legislator, or government employee researching polygraphy is likely to find this website.

Those who face polygraph "testing" will increasingly be finding this website, too. The day is coming when so many of those subject to polygraph "testing" will understand "the lie behind the lie detector" that the charade can no longer continue. Everyone can help hasten that day by telling friends, relatives, acquaintances, or colleagues about this site.


Last modification: George Maschke - 01/16/01 at 07:08:33