As a US Ambassador, you must be aware of the alleged abuses by POW's of the US. Are humiliation and deprivation tactics like those being alleged appropriate for POW's?
I assume the answer is no.
Wouldn't they be even more inappropriate when used under the pretense of therapy?
If they are inappropriate for POW's, could they be potentially damaging to children?
Did Straight employ tactics of humiliation?
Did Straight ever withhold food, water, sleep, or privacy?In other words did Straight use deprivation as a tool?
Weren't clients of straight, even juveniles supposed to be able to leave at any time?
Did Straight stop them from doing so in any way?
Did staff members advise clients to physically stop other clients from leaving?
Did youths in the program ever physically block exits?
Were clients ever advised that they would be sent to a mental institution or jail if they did not sign themselves into the program?
Did the board of directors sanction these techniques?
Was Straight profitable?
How much money did Straight make?
How much did you make?
Have you used your involvement with Straight to further your career?
You have talked about the 12,000 lives you have saved or turned around. Do you have a list of these people or some specific research or evidence to validate this?
What evidence do you have that the therapeutic techniques employed by Straight were effective?
Has any research been done to determine the success rate?
Wouldn't evaluating which therapies were most effective be vital to ensuring progressively better treatment?
Wouldn't this be important to people concerned about their clients?
Would this be important to running any business?
What attempts were made to investigate this?
What was the basis for Straight's therapeutic techniques?
Are there other groups that have used these techniques within the context of therapy?
If so who?
What were the results?
Were there groups that used these techniques outside the context of therapy?
Who were they?
Is the use of humiliation, deprivation, verbal abuse standard in the treatment of drug addicts?
Is it standard in the treatment of troubled youth?
Standard for behavior modification programs?
Did Straight experiment on it's clients?
Isn't using untried, untested and unknown techniques experimental?
Were parents advised that these were experimental techniques?
Were clients?
Was the board of directors?
Was any research ever done to understand or determine the long term effects of these therapies on Straight clients?
If so what were the results?
What protocols were in place to ensure and/or examine the program's effectiveness 5, 10 or 20 years down the road?
Did you or do you believe that humiliation, deprivation, restraint and verbal abuse are effective therapeutic techniques?
If so how would you justify this to someone who disagreed?
If not, why then would they be permitted in a program that you so proudly helped create?
If you helped create this program, how did they become part of it without your knowledge?
Isn't the thinking really that regardless of how much or how little, these kids (your clients) used drugs and got what they deserved?
Does it really matter how they're treated?
Do you believe the old "any means to an end" adage?
Did you ignore the concerns of people who visited Straight?
Why?
Would it be humiliating to admit that you might have been wrong about the benefits of these tough love tactics?
How would you feel if it turned out that there was more to be known about the treatment of youth than you ever considered, let alone rejected?
How would you feel if it were proved that Straight directly resulted in or contributed to the death, dysfunction, or the shattering of the lives you boast you have saved?
Have you ever considered the possibility that you might be wrong?
Undereducated in respect to this field?
Misled by Miller Newton?
Mislead by your own ego?
If you are truly the philanthropist you claim to be, wouldn't you want to know about the long term benefits, hazards of Straight?If you can boast that you helped save 12,000 lives doesn't that mean that you would have some accountability if it turns out that Straight was destructive?
If Straight contributed to the destruction of many lives, do you feel obligated to aid these former clients in some way?
If you can claim to have saved people, mustn't you take some responsibility for the losses as well?
Being the philanthropist and great citizen that you are, would you contribute to a fund established for former clients who because of their involvement in straight, now require therapy to repair their psyche?
If it turns out that Straight contributed to the destruction of it's clients lives, would you personally establish and drive such a fund?
If Straight is truly proven to have been a destructive force, shouldn't the people who benefited from it the most, be the first to provide financial aid and reparation to those whose lives were affected?
Do you pray Mel? I know you do. So do I. What does God tell you?
Do you listen?
Really listen?
What does your heart tell you when you read these stories?
Have you asked for forgiveness for the pride that cost us all so much?
This might be a good time to ask.
It (the Bible) is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.
--Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain", American author and humorist
