http://www.elanalum.com/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=27Those who got out and did nothing should be ashamed
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Those who got out and did nothing should be ashamed
Postby TennisPro on Wed Nov 11, 2009 2:59 pm
Let me let everyone in on something: Elan HAS NOT changed.
You were abused and by staying quiet, the abuse has only evolved and continued.
I was told by many people to quit my whining because MY Elan was a tame place by 2001.
-beating up some kid in 'the ring' is tame?
-watching a 16 year old shove a pen into his abdomen is tame?
-having to build a shield to not get spit and semen on my face is tame?
-being emotionally abused on a hourly basis?
-seeing people in the corner for well over a year?
-receiving no REAL education, being cheated out of one?
-finding sharpened shanks in a corner students shoe?
-having my letters read, and at times thrown away, without my knowledge?
-having my every phone call listened to?
I could go on and on and on.
We all suffer from a form of Stockholm Syndrome, Elan know this and uses it to their advantage...
"The Stockholm Syndrome comes into play when a captive cannot escape and is isolated, but is shown token acts of kindness by the captor. It typically takes about three or four days for the psychological shift to take hold. The syndrome explains what happens in hostage-taking situations, but can also be used to understand the behavior of battered spouses, members of religious cults, Holocaust victims, household pets, and perhaps even users of Internet Explorer. I think it may also help explain the popularity of government and of the mass institutionalization of young people.
http://sniggle.net/stock.php"
I got out 10 years ago and believed the same garbage many of you believed, that Elan had FINALLY changed, until I read this:
Here is a comment from a recent article titled Good News: Bad Economy Killing Abusive Teen Programs.
(Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maia-szal ... 62696.html)
................................
"I was a student at the Elan School for 3 years from 2005 to 2008. I am still traumatized by what I went through during my time there. Waking up each day the environment was constant screaming and swearing, by students, but more so by the "staff". I remember as a new student, I was crying when I was told to scrub a garbage can as a punishment for something so minor that I can't even remember the cause. I has stopped cleaning it, and that was when the staff determined that I has to be restrained and dragged to "the corner", isolation in a room to the point when one barely feels human. I tried to fight back, as any normal person would do when one is touched and forcefully grabbed without consent. Instead of just bringing me to the corner, the staff had other students hold me up, my hands and feet restrained, as other students were forced to scream and degrade me. I say forced, because regretfully I have also done the same to other students, and I know that if they refused to participate in this abominable event they too would have been punished. The only way to survive in this setting was to shut down emotionally. This memory haunts me to current day.
This school needs to be shut down, and I am happy if that day is coming near. Even if Elan survives the recession, it should still be closed. However, this could prove to be exceedingly difficult, because the students in the school are pressured not even to think a bad thought about the program, let alone utter it, and will receive punishment if they fail to oblige that rule. I know that while I was at the school investigations were conducted, and students were pressured into lying. Furthermore, a survey was also done, which now appears on the school's website, some questions asking about if we felt comfortable at the school. It was said to be anonymous, but again we felt pressured into lying, staff was supervising, and each of our handwriting could be easily identified.
I hope someone reacts to the atrocity that is the Elan School."
How long are we going to allow these people to get FILTHY rich off of the exploitation and torment of children?
Elan is a cult. Period. It evolved from a cult, and has all the characteristics of a cult.
Here is an email I recently sent someone:
Elan is a cult. This is a fact. Elan evolved from a cult called Synanon, this is another fact. The entire nation is being kept in the dark, to the great advantage of the Elan corporation. The licensing agencies are supposed to be doing their job, but like you, they are not. They are looking for and selectively hearing what they want and the result is CHILDREN as young as 13 being permanently damaged for life.
I call Elan a cult because of the following definition from Google:
–noun
1.
a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.
3. the object of such devotion.
4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.
5. Sociology. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.
6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
7. the members of such a religion or sect.
8. any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.
1. The rites and ceremonies of Elan are instilled from the first footstep as a student onto the complex. Elan's rites and ceremonies in 2009 are the EXACT same as they were in 1970. They altered and deleted some ONLY when it was convenient to them.
2. The students in Elan MUST be the admirers, to utter a breath against the program is heresy, every student will turn on you to prove their allegiance, which lessens their time in Elan, other students vote on your promotions and staff are considered Gods, their power is unchallenged and you learn VERY quickly that you are no longer in America, you are in Elan. This is the most terrifying though imaginable. The fact that you ARE THERE and IT EXIST is enough proof that Elan has the resources to do WHATEVER IT WANTS.
3. You devote your life to Elan, or they take it away forever. If you cannot succeed, they will instill FAILURE into every thing you hold dear.
4. As a group, you punish and degrade anyone who thinks freely against the program.
5. Everything centers around the idea of 'guilt', they make a mockery out of your every thought, they hand you a blank piece of paper and to hand it back blank makes you guilty until proven innocent. Extremely guilty.
6. We are completely under the direction of charismatic leaders, leaders that Elan hand-picks and creates, I know because I was one of them. Many come back to become staff. Marc Rosenberg, the most charismatic staff member, never left.
7. We were truly a sect, we were all followers
8. This is the definition of Elan, even an outsider cannot refute that. I dare you to.
...................................
I can be reached at
jeff.wimbelton@gmail.com, everyone can play a part in this, the recession has Elan down, we can kick them while they are down. It is only fair, that is exactly what they did to us.
TennisPro
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Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 2:15 pm
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Re: Those who got out and did nothing should be ashamed
Postby sandywillette on Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:03 pm
i was there in the late 70's wasnt quite as violent as u r saying, depending on the house u were in i quess
sandywillette
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Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:45 pm
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Re: Those who got out and did nothing should be ashamed
Postby The Doug on Fri Nov 13, 2009 5:34 pm
Well heres a new angle I hadnt considered. Its my fault!
Are you a doctor, a psychologist or just another armchair critic explaining whats "wrong with us"?
Way too many of the latter with so much helpful advice to offer those of us stricken with the Elan virus!
I "got out and did nothing" Should I be ashamed? Fuck no. I was 18, confused and no better off than when I went in. Shit it took 20 years to understand that Elans "treatment" may have been illegal or simply counterproductive. Did I suddenly feel an urge to picket Elans intake building to save the soul of a future resident? Nope.
Here is what I DID do:
I knew exactly when I was leaving Elan. I lived 2.5 hours away, and thought it would be nothing to drive back up and rescue anyone who may have wanted to be rescued. So I laid the ground work for an "escape"
Myself and two friends drove to Elan late at night and went to the dorms of E-3 to "save" three people who signed up:
Bill D from Chicago, Annette P from NH, and Joe D from Boston.
Guess what happened?
Not ONE of them wanted to leave, and nobody who witnessed our attempted extraction wanted to go with us either.
Hmmmm.
As far as your post though, it reminds me of a common problem with abuse in this country: Too many people blame the victim.
Your ideas are not new or any more revealing than those of Kens buddy "Dan Bostdorff" with his quest for dirt to produce another book: He commonly recruited with the comment "If you claim you were not effected by Elan, youre even sicker than you think, or an apologist. Which is it"?
I can only muster up two words in response to his musings, and yours:
1) Bull
2) Shit
-Respectfully,
Doug
(PS- Kidding Ken...Any word form Danno lately? I dont bother with the Elan drama anymore but had to speak up in response to this gem)
The Doug
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Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 4:12 pm
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Re: Those who got out and did nothing should be ashamed
Postby dannyb50 on Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:30 pm
Not to jump on the band wagon of Doug, please explain when the hell do we talk about why we ended up in Elan in the first place. Listen I didn't end up their b/cuz I was having a tremendously fascinating life w/ all kinds of successes. Hey most of us came out of juvenile detention centers, other treatment centers, somekind of diagnostic center, mental health centers,or other types of special schools and let me tell ya' we weren't on the "honor rolls" in these instutions either. I am not condoning, excusing or anything else that can be called abusive that happened there but isn't it a little calling the kettle black. I was freaking ABUSIVE man always that's what scared little guys do at 13,14,15,16,ect. I just didn't like when Vicent Smith and Mike ? jacked my ass up b/cus I wouldn't stop acting inappropriate. First time in my life at that time that I coundn't lie my way out, run my way out, fight my way out or talk my way out. It was over for me. Dude I am not a "VICTIM" I stopped that when i realized I was a mature responsible adult. So yes Elan was a dark place and Elan also was a beacon of light. This world holds both what path are you on. Love and Peace brother. Daniel L.
Bennison Elan 3 & 5 (75' till 77')
dannyb50
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Re: Those who got out and did nothing should be ashamed
Postby TennisPro on Fri Jan 22, 2010 7:31 pm
Wow "The Doug", maybe you have a hard time understanding things, or maybe you just don't like to read.
1st off.....You went back and DID do something, you apparently tried to rescue a few people, good for you. Since you clearly made at least ONE attempt to be part of the solution, my post is not directed at you, but you still want to argue?
2nd off.....If you actually READ what I wrote then you would have a very obvious answer to why the residents did not want to "escape". Had someone driven up to bust me out of Elan, at the time, I would not have gotten in the car either. It is called 'The Stockholm Syndrome".
Hmmmmm.
