On 2005-05-12 07:18:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I don't know if anyone has any ideas about how this "connection" might be helpful for our cause, but I thought I'd mention it. Unfortunately, I am no longer "close" to this person, my sibling, because of Straight. And I doubt I would get any help from this person if I were to ask. But that may not be true for some other people.
The situation is that I was in Straight, and my two siblings were in the siblings program. I no longer have a relationship with my parents (mostly because of Straight but also because of other abuse they perpetrated on me). One sibling feels the way I do about Straight (that it was a nightmare and a cult), but the other, the one who is the chief of staff for a congressman, is in denial, and thinks the whole thing was my fault anyway. So this sibling and I do not talk. So I can't approach the person.
However, maybe someone could think of a way to get this person to try to help? I'm pretty sure this person has access to all the congressman and on up, but would probably be very partisan, and anti-Democratic and anti "liberal." The congressman this person is chief of staff for is a Republican. "
I will just say that I think it is not true that Republicans would automatically be pro-program. I don't think being pro- or anti-Straight necessarily goes along party lines. I don't know about your sibling. However, my mom, for example, is supposedly very liberal, but put me in Straight, and thought it was what I needed for a long time, and I still can't get a real answer from her. However, when I told her once about being restrained, she was very upset. She had no idea.
I think people who think they are pro-Straight (or pro-WWASP, etc.) sometimes really just don't know the truth about what was and is hidden from view. They sometimes have just not been educated.
Sorry to hear about your relationship with your sibling. A lot of people here know about Straight messing up families.
I am lucky, my siblings and I are on really good terms. Over a decade ago, something finally came out of my older brother... he really blamed me for Straight and for my parents kicking him out of the house -- as the program told them they had to. He was 18 and living in a friends basement. Sure, he was eighteen, but he felt rejected and abandoned. That was a pattern for him. So this came out and then I could tell him I couldn't help being in there, mom and dad put me in and then I was brainwashed.
Which he saw so clearly when I was in Straight. I am not sure why, I guess they were trying to get him to sign in overage, but I had a brief meeting with him and staff, and he said it right there, "you're brainwashed, look at you!"
So for several years after Straight I guess he still blamed me but then we got to settle that.
Of my younger siblings, the older of the two had a strong spirit and argued openly with staff. The younger one, i think, was affected more than she knows. Supposedly they never saw any of the restraints. But then after Straight she once put her hand over my mouth as was done to me in my brief misbehaving stint. She was just joking around. Needless to say I reacted swift and sure, not violent, I just told her she could not ever do that again.
They were in a siblings meeting when I was restrained. "Do you hear all that noise in the big room?" said staff, "that's your sister. She is getting restrained on the floor right now." Interesting that they would not hide it. So if my siblings knew, my parents must have known. I can't imagine they didn't tell! I just realized that right now typing this. I will ask next time I talk to my brother. But that is so awful, like I said, the older one had some spirit, but my little sister was 11. They were exposed to such violence. I know the older one said Straight had the effect of keeping them in line for years, they knew what they could expect.
So back to your sibling. Is there another person who knows them and the Straight situation that might be able to help? I guess I am kind of thinking that while it could be helpful to have someone in your sibling's position to help out, maybe it is more important for you to be able to reconcile with them.
Just my thoughts... I wish you the best.
