Perrigaud,
You say that kids were restrained for carving on themselves or acting out violently.
I don't know about you, but I've never seen anyone carve on themselves outside of the Program. Have you? I know it happens, people don't usually do that sort of thing, except under extreme duress. Very few of the girls (and it was mostly an issue on the girls' side) never did that before entering the Program. Have you been able to talk to any of the girls you went through the program with enough to know when they started carving? If you ask around you might find that your experience is similar to mine in that regard. I know it's not exactly a light or pleasant topic of conversation. Especially around the holidays (which can be hard for some, especially those with past or present family troubles) but, if you're going to think about it, think about it from all angles.
I note another similarity between you and me. I never fought either. Different reasons. I went in w/ the intention of proving that I was already straight enough and nothing they could do to me would make me loose my temper and help them pretend I was an animal. I'd had good training. I was picked on a lot by peers and older brothers and sisters as a kid and my dad had always taught me how to defend myself and how to know when violence is the
only/best way to do that (practically never)
But I saw what happened. Didn't have the same impact on me because my family had been involved w/ the Program for around 10 years. So I wasn't surprised by anything. Didn't even make a big deal about the strip search, so even that had little shock effect.
Take any incident that you can remember of a kid getting restrained and put it in normal context. Pretend the staff are regular public school faculty, and the kids (including the one restrained) are all public school students. Would the same things happen? Would you view it the same?
I mean, if I took someone out of their bed at night, flew them to some secluded place, strip searched them and enforced 'normal' program rules and routines on them, I'd expect to get knocked out somewhere along the line.
What I saw happen, over and over again, were relatively normal kids pushed, prodded and antagonized to the point of losing their temper and then blamed for 'acting out' and even shamed for 'making' us sit on them.
Can you say that any of these restraints that you saw could have happened the way they did out in the real world (where wittnesses have no strong incentive to cover up)
If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.
http://laissezfairebooks.com/product.cfm?op=view&pid=FF7485&aid=10247' target='_new'>Thomas Jefferson