PENI, this culture war has been simmering and smouldering for generations now. I don't have a problem w/ ppl who have a problem w/ authority. I think ppl who are entirely credulous to any authority that presents are a lot more frightening.
But I'm nowhere near as worried about it as I used to be. I've made it a point to become as familiar as I can w/ ppl who have been through these programs. Why? Because, when I first decided to closely examin the issue, I just assumed that a lot of my former fellow captives had stayed w/ the cult and gone on to careers in law enforcement, corrections, military and social services. (most frightening words in the English language being "I'm from the government and I'm here to help")
But what I've found is that it's extremely rare to find anyone who's been through one of these types of programs and who hasn't snapped out of it after, at most, a couple of years. While there's plenty of long term damage, there are very few among us who would support or encourage this type of treatment of their own kids or anyone's kids, for that matter. Up till now, we the Program vets, only represent, at most, around 1% of our age group.
Now, with all the free advertising on primetime teevee, I think we'll see a whole lot more involvement in the industry. There's no denying that advertising works. They can expect around 1% return on that immediately. But what will the long term results be? I don't know of any reason to believe they'll be any different from what we've seen over the last couple of generations. That is to say there will probably be a persistant but very small contingency of true believers, but the overwhelming majority will be decidedly opposed to these methods. There's just not enough money in the world to keep after that magnitude of bad PR.
Actually, it may even go worse for them than prior generations. Up till now, they've marketed in the same way as Amway or Herbalife or any other pyramid scheme. They generally avoid publicity, except where they get to closely control access and content. So they're essentially preaching to the choir. Brat Camp puts and end to that, placing the issue squarely before the entire public. The 1% who currently make up the industry will have a much harder time convincing themselves that they're in the majority.
I know that doesn't help you much in your current situation. But, looking on the bright side, when your kid is grown and past this, the issue will be a bit better understood by his peers.
We did not inherit this land from our ancestors, we borrow it form our children.
http://www.civilization.ca/aborig/haida/hapindxe.html' target='_new'>Haida
