Robert J.M. Lifton, a medical doctor and psychiatrist, wrote a book about the use of thought control on UN prisoners taken by the communists during the Korean war. While he does not have PhD from the Union Institute, he has some expertise in the area of cults. Dr. Lifton described eight criteria for thought reform. Let's look at the first, Milieu Control, and apply the criteria to DavidPablo Escobar-Grant's experience in All About Receiving Cash:
"Milieu Control
The first method characteristically used by ideological totalism is milieu control: the control of all communication within a given environment. In such an environment individual autonomy becomes a threat to the group. There is an attempt to manage an individual's inner communication. Milieu control is maintained and expressed by intense group process, continuous psychological pressure, and isolation by geographical distance, unavailability of transportation, or even physical restraint. Often the group creates an increasingly intense sequence of events, such as seminars, lectures and encounters, which makes leaving extremely difficult, both physically and psychologically. Intense milieu control can contribute to a dramatic change of identity which I call "doubling": the formation of a second self which lives side by side with the former one, often for a considerable time. When the milieu control is lifted, elements of the earlier self may be reasserted."
We'll pick up DavidPablo's story as he meets his mother for lunch. Ostensibly, DavidPablo is meeting his mother to get money for school. While this struck me as odd considering DavidPablo's many assertions in this forum that he made a living from dealing drugs, I'll take him at his word. Suddenly, as David is sitting in the restaurant with his mother, who should appear but the Wizard. As DavidPablo describes it, his mother is quite taken with the Wiz, as is David who is captivated by the Wizard's Tiger's Eye ring. DavidPablo is introduced to the Wizard, who then takes his leave.
DavidPablo describes his parent's involvement with acquiring AARC thus: "My stepfather, with the blessing of my mother, got the go ahead from the powerful Rotary Club chapter that he belonged to look into the way adolescents were being treated for substance abuse in our province...The Rotarians wanted to know hwat they could do to help,and my stepfataher, being a highly respected psychologist, was asked to come up with some ideas, and to do some research into what worked.
...on a rare visit to my parent's house, they mentioned that my stepfather had gone to New Jersey, to a treatment facility for teenagers called Kids of Bergen County."
What DavidPablo fails to mention anywhere in the book, is that these same Rotarians determined that Kids worked, and established a Kids franchise in Canada.
http://www.kidsofbergencounty.com/canada11pic.htm No explanation is offered as to how KofCW met it's demise, nor is any mention made anywhere in the book that the Wizard worked under Miller Newton at Kids of Bergen County, training to head Kids of the Canadian West.
Back to our story.
DavidPablo has now had a surprise introduciton to the Wizard. Later, one of DavidPablo's friends contacts him as he has been having flashbacks to some terrible things that happened when he was a kid. DavidPablo calls his mother, who suggests that these flashbacks, which I would have taken as PTSD, are a result of drug use. DavidPablo's mother also suggests going to AARC in the hopes of learning something helpful to his friend.
So DavidPablo's mother is busy instilling two ideas into his head. One, that drugs are the cause of psychological problems in spite of childhood traums, and secondly that the Wizard can solve these problems.
DavidPablo agrees to go to Open Meeting at AARC. Curiously, DavidPablo refers to "waiting for the show to begin". Suddenly music begins to play and the Wiz enters the room, 'walking briskly around, stretching his arms and shoulders. From teh back of the room, a door opened, and a group of young people walked in, in single file." Having been raised a Roman Catholic, the OG masters of religious ceremony, this tableau seemed much more akin to a religious service than any medical treatment with which I am familiar.
"After a few minutes of running commentary, he turned to the young people. Each was instructed to stand up, say how long tehy had ben sober, and list the drugs they had used. ...I thought they must have done some incredibly bad things to end up here, at such young ages." The bad druggies ball is already in play for DavidPablo.
"The Kid would talk abour his or her week,...Mr. Vause would ask one or two of the other kids to get up and give the guy who was earning some feedback. Then one of the peer counsellors would also make a comment. After taht, Mr. Vause would get the parents of the kids up and they would talk about how it felt to see their child doing so well. They would go over and give the kid hugs before returning to their seat. He would also get hugs from his group members."
How is this for milieu control? The inmates are marched in, to music, while the Wizard warms up. They don't sit with their families. They explain to a group that includes, in this case, DavidPablo and his girlfriend, who are not staff, not clients, nor the family of clients, what bad children they have been. All of it is controlled by the Wizard, who then allows the parents to have brief physical contact with the children once the children have complied with the will of the Leader. The children are then rewarded with affection from the other members.
Here is DavidPablo's own description of his impression: "TL and I were very uncomfortable. This was very intimidating, and it was strange to hear people talking so frankly about drug use."
Strange indeed, as these children have no choice in who hears these confessions, and must make the confessions in order to comply with the will of the Leader. So much for confidential medical treatment.
More from DavidPablo on the Wizard's tent-show evangelist antics: "Mr. Vause had so much to say, and he could be very funny, making the room crack up at some of the things the clients had done or said. He was very animated, and paced constantly....After another song, Mr. Vause got right into the rap topic...We watched as first kids, then parents got up to tell hwo bad it was, relating to specific incidents to illustrate their point. The specifics seemed secondary to the feelings involved. He would push the kid, or the parent, trying to get deeper into how they felt. If they got stuck, Mr. Vause would ask the group for help...It was amazing to watch. Often Mr. Vause would say just the right thing, or ask just the right questions, and the targeted person-parent or kid, would become overwhelmed by emotion."
Here's more of David's impressions: "I was stunned by the honesty and the raw power of the emotions. It was overwhelming, and I felt myself slinking deeper into my chair." How David has determined that the stories are honest is not made clear.
