Re: HoL Questions

[jchokey@leland.Stanford.EDU (James Alexander Chokey)]

In article <m0p0R53-000ADuC@zoodle.robin.de> uli@zoodle.robin.de (Ulrich Grepel) writes:
>     Cloudbusting:
>        This is based on Peter Reich's book "A Book Of Dreams" (you can see
>        this book in the video, in Donald Sutherland's pocket). Peter writes
>        about his experience in his youth, when Wilhelm Reich (his father)
>        got problems with the government due to his questionable actions as a
>        scientist.

	I suspect this would be covered in the FAQ, but the reason he was
arrested was for refusing to appear at an arraignment hearing that resulted
from a lawsuit by the American FDA for selling his "orgone energy accumulators"
across state lines.  The FDA said it was blatant fraud and quackery to sell
these boxes made of aluminum and wood as therapeutic devices; Reich insisted
it was serious science and refused to have anything to do with these "spurious"
legal restrictions on his research and therapy.  Of course, he was quite mad
by then--  this was nearly a decade after he claimed that orgone energy was
not simply the libidinal buildup that resulted from a lack of proper sexual
release, but was also the substance out of which the whole universe was formed.
Interestingly, several well-known people, including Norman Mailer, had 
orgone accumulators.


	--  Jim C. <jchokey@leland.stanford.edu>