An Investigation: The Tethered Program
On unity, division, and the destruction of words
Art is revolution.
When the powers at be scream and point fingers, it’s because there is fear in their souls.
Art is revolution.
When the institutions begin to crumble, it’s because power begins to be stripped away from those who never deserved it.
Art is revolution.
When things are hidden from the public, when lies are delivered to their faces, when anger erupts—it’s because power is being shifted.
“The revolution is about to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.” - Kendrick Lamar
But, as many of you are asking… The Archive also questions: who is the wrong guy?
The wrong guy is on stage preaching unity. The wrong guy is whistleblowing. The wrong guy is informing the public. The wrong guy is, ironically, right.
Part One: DECLASSIFYING THE TRUTH
“ᴡʜᴏ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ. ᴡʜᴏ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀᴇꜱᴇɴᴛ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ.”
Hidden under our feet is another. The Archive has been researching them from a distance. They are out of the public eye, built to be in the shadows.
The Archive has come to the conclusion that they are government entities.
It may come as no surprise to you that the government hides things from the general public. Half of this is to not cause mass hysteria. The other half is to keep their authoritative power in order.
At their core, these institutions are deeply human. They don’t always feel that way. In some cases, they feel too disconnected to be human. In other cases, they feel too powerful. In the worse cases, they feel too morally lost to be part of humanity.
But the hidden system underneath us is nothing new.
On August 25, 1967, the FBI sent a letter across the country to various FBI Headquarters. The letter announced a new counterintelligence program to control hate-type organizations. Coined COINTELPRO, the program’s main mission was to monitor and disrupt groups that threatened national security.
The FBI specifically targeted white nationalists, communist parties, socialist parties, Puerto Rican independence groups, anti-war activists…
The Archive wants to focus on the FBI’s involvement in eliminating “white hate” groups. According to their mission, this meant any group pushing for unity and advocating for civil rights specifically within the black community.
This was part of the letter that was sent out that day:
The purpose of this new counterintelligence endeavor is to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of black nationalist, hate-type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership, and supporters, and to counter their propensity for violence and civil disorder. […] When an opportunity is apparent to disrupt or neutralize black nationalist, hate-type organizations through the cooperation of established local news media contacts or through such contact with sources available to the Beat of Government, in every instance careful attention must be given to the proposal to insure the targeted group is disrupted, ridiculed, or discredited through the publicity and not merely publicized.
By working with local news, the FBI could easily manipulate the narrative and keep these “hate groups” in order. This was a time of civil unrest, with groups across the nation fighting for desegregation and equality.
Notice how carefully chosen these words are.
Expose. Disrupt. Discredit.
In Orwellian Newspeak, this is peace. This is slavery. This is strength. Otherwise known as war, freedom, and ignorance.
Perhaps that is not enough to prove to you about the society beneath us. After all, a secret hidden system is hard to believe.
Another case is the Pentagon Papers. In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg leaked a 7,000-page report to The New York Times about how four different administrations lied to Congress and the public about the U.S. involvement with the Vietnam War.
We were in an unwinnable war, one that the government continued to escalate and continued to sacrifice U.S. citizen lives for.
But again, perhaps four different administrations lying to the faces of the public is not enough. That was a war. We are talking about an entire societal system completely under the United States here.
In 2013, ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents about how the U.S. and other international governments had total global surveillance. In this case, the U.S. government was specifically surveilling its citizens as well.
This is The Party. This is Big Brother.
And now, The Archive is here to bring you the next scandal of the United States: The Tethered.
Part Two: THEY ARE DANGEROUS
“ᴡʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ ᴀ ꜰɪɴɢᴇʀ ᴀᴛ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ ᴇʟꜱᴇ, ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛɪɴɢ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ.”
A common thread in all of these cases comes from the government’s inability of reflection, and thus its inability to accept responsibility. The human part of the institution cannot even think to comprehend failure, especially in the eyes of the people.
Instead, they deflect blame onto those who act in rebellion.
When the FBI was under COINTELPRO, they surveilled civil rights activists. The most iconic of these, who ironically has his own national holiday, is Martin Luther King Jr.
Despite his efforts in preaching peace, King was still identified as a target by the FBI. He was influential to the point of becoming a threat. As noted by the files:
Prevent the rise of a "messiah" who could unify, and electrify, the militant black nationalist movement. […] King could be a very real contender for this position should he abandon his supposed "obedience" to 'White, liberal doctrines" (nonviolence) and embrace black nationalism.
King represented everything the FBI feared: loss of control. He did not bring divide. He brought unity. And once one brings unity, they bring consciousness. But you cannot bring consciousness without unity.
As Winston Smith would write in his diary: “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”
That is why The Archive is exposing the Tethered today. We must bring unity.
Our source did not wish to remain anonymous, but she also is an underground American, so she remains anonymous. The Archive will call her by her Tethered name, Red.
She, too, is a target of the United States.
But is she as targeted as MLK Jr you may ask? And how much of a threat was he really?
Remember what King said:
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
That was much too risky. The FBI did not like the words of revolt. To “rise” is to rebel. And so, they wrote King a letter enticing him to kill himself for his “fraudulent” behavior, blackmailing him to either die or see his infidelity released to the nation.
Red also speaks of such rebellion, though for her Tethered brothers and sisters. However, The Archive fears this release may result in Red’s demise.
In the cases of Ellsberg and Snowden, both were charged under the Espionage Act.
Ellsberg, however, was later dismissed of any charges as the court ruled in favor of the press. Due to government misconduct, Ellsberg’s initial “treacherous” whistleblowing was cleanly reorganized.
Snowden was not as lucky, considering he is still debated as a traitor to the United States. He now lives in exile as a Russian citizen due to his status.
So, would Red also be in exile? Or would she be pardoned in her attempts of enacting freedom? The Archive fears she may find less than freedom.
But we shall act in George Orwell’s most famous quote: “Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.”
Part Three: THE WRONG GUY
“ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴏᴜʟ ʀᴇᴍᴀɪɴꜱ ᴏɴᴇ, ꜱʜᴀʀᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴛᴡᴏ.”
The Archive’s research into the Tethered started with interviewing Red. Red, to the Archive’s understanding, is the self-proclaimed leader of the Tethered.
Below is taken directly from that interview:
[REDACTED]: How would you describe the Tethered to the people of the United States? What do you want them to know?
RED: We're human too, you know. Eyes, teeth, hands, blood. Exactly like you.
[REDACTED]: And what makes you the “Tethered”? Why do you think they hid you?
RED: I believe they figured out how to make a copy of the body, but not the soul. The soul remains one, shared by two. They created the Tethered so they could use them to control the ones above. Like puppets. But they failed, and they abandoned the Tethered.
[REDACTED]: And what made you want to expose this?
RED: I saw God and he showed me my path. The Tethered saw that I was different, that I would deliver them from this misery. I found my faith and I began to prepare. It took years to plan. Everything had to be perfect.
[REDACTED]: And is this “perfect”?
RED: [SHE SMILES] I needed to make a statement that the whole world would see. It's our time now.
In our conversations with Red, we came to the conclusion that she will be treated as any other whistleblower.
She will be written into history incorrectly.
Red will suffer the same fate as King, Ellsberg, Snowden, and any other person who dared to challenge the institution of power. Red will become enemy number one.
The Archive is aware that Red understands this risk.
The Archive is also aware that these figures, rather they be in revolution or whistleblowing, have been presented as the “wrong” people. They are the wrong guy.
Red is the wrong guy.
Revolutionists, artists, activists, and those who simply go against the institution’s power are the wrong guys.
There are no political parties. Only power. And once that power is threatened, the narrative begins to bend to their will.
But Red, like all the others, is special.
In 1986, Adelaide Thomas entered a funhouse on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Inside the mirror maze, she encountered a doppelgänger of herself. The traumatic incident was said to make her go mute.
But if we were to tell you that Red, our whistleblower, was actually the one that went into the funhouse that day, would you believe us?
Because Adelaide did not encounter Red that day. Red encountered Adelaide.
She was forced to live out the next years of her life underground with the Tethered, witnessing how differently they were treated compared to her above counterparts.
But you see, Red does not seek revenge. She seeks justice. Adelaide is a Tethered rebelling against her secret life. Red is an American rebelling for truth. The seed to both their suffering was planted by a government loss in power and control.
Conclusion
We are stronger than we think.
The Archive wants to remind our readers that division is control. Unity is rebellion.
Big Brother does not act to protect our peace. They operate in power.
And as Red releases the Tethered onto the country, The Archive can only leave you with one thing:
“It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
If you believe in The Archive’s work, you can support further investigations here.