I agree w/ most of your assessment. But I think you're missing something very important.
On 2004-07-20 07:31:00, GregFL wrote:
"differences between the Seed and The Straight....
4) "professionals" on staff. The Seed didn't really have them as Art refused to let anyone tell him anything and ran the seed as you would expect a rogue cult leader to. the Straight professionalized the model and brought in "the professionals" which lead to additional treatment modalities that didn't really do anything but add additional layers of breaucracy to the model.
For the most part, the "professionals" on staff were hired for their titles. "Dr." Newton had his doctorate in social anthropology out of a correspondence school in Ohio. I was surprised to find that out just a few years ago, as nobody ever questioned that little detail. And why would they? You walk into a drug rehab and this middle aged man introduces himself as Dr. Miller Newton, you naturally enough assume he's a psychologist or something, right?
Same w/ Dr. Burns (education) and Dr. MacDonald (pediatrician) and, I'm sure, a good many others.
I think the objective was essentially the same; to keep the real professionals out. The difference being that Melvin is a whole lot more savvy than Art. Art seemed to really enjoy the "us against them" thing; raging against the world and all that while Mel had a more realistic plan for actually garnering meaningful influence and taking over the world. I think both men were hand picked by Bobby DuPont. Art was too full of himself to do something so subtle so Bobby (or whomever) kicked him to the curb and recruited a more qualified candidate to fill the position.
5) Disguised direction. Here we bring in the cult aspect of the Seed vs the Straight. The straight's mission was purely a drug rehab with the modality lifted from the Seed. They missed somtehing...Arts grand scheme to take over the nations youth and become the beloved all powerfull savior of america's youth. Art's real direction was to build a "seed army" and be the leader. The straight never had such aspirations.
I disagree. Compare what DFAF has actually accomplished to what Art has accomplished over the last three decades. The Semblers are making public policy on the domestic and international levels, controling billions in public funding and have accoplished such a lock on the nation's youth that no school student is safe from random search of their cars, clothing, back-packs and even their bladders. And none of us can escape seeing their propaganda here and there, except to toss out the TV, turn off the radio, drive only on back country roads w/ no billboards and never read a newspaper. These fuckers are EVERYwhere!
8 ) Professionalization of model. The Seed had a us vs the world cult modality. The Straight was primarly a business model which choose to blend into normal society and thusly got itself approved for insurance billing and was able to get the republican party behind their cause.
Again, I think they've done more than blend themselves into society. They've gone a long way toward blending society into their worldview through force of law.
11) Financial empire. Art created a financial empire, funding staff members into business and keeping his finances secret. Cash was brought in like a church. The straight in contrast created a professionalized payment model involving monthly payments and insurance billing that just plain didn't exist at the seed.
Ditto. Art had
some public funding. The Partneship for a Drug Free America has at least hundreds of millions in funding each year and controls, through public mandate, billions more in law enforcement funding, mandatory minimum sentencing (never forget that Jim Wackenhut and other of their cronnies are heavily invested in private prisons and prison services), property forfeiture, DARE, military aid to local law enforcement and the list goes on and on and on.
In Conclusion, The Seed was a bonifide cult disguised as a drug rehab. The Straight was a copy of the Seed, dropping most of the cultic aspect but sharpening the edges, professionalizing the model, and becoming a longer and meaner program.
Which was worse? Depends on your individual experience. Some will swear both were beneficial and others it seems from both places took their lives.....
I think Straight had the same goal w/ more realistic, more professional business plan. They have accomplished much of their often stated objective of turning the whole world into the Program so that we (who were then stuck in group) wouldn't have to send our kids anywhere to get them indoctrinated.
History gives us a kind of chart, and we dare not surrender even a small rushlight in the darkness. The hasty reformer who does not remember the past will find himself condemned to repeat it.
--John Buchan
