Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => Elan School => Topic started by: Ursus on August 20, 2007, 04:02:06 AM
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The Cult That Spawned the Tough-Love Teen Industry (http://http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/how_a_cult_spawned_the_tough_love_teen_industry.html)
By Maia Szalavitz
August 20, 2007
The idea that punishment can be therapeutic is not unique to the Rotenberg Center. In fact, this notion is widespread among the hundreds of "emotional growth boarding schools," wilderness camps, and "tough love" antidrug programs that make up the billion-dollar teen residential treatment industry.
This harsh approach to helping troubled teens has a long and disturbing history. No fewer than 50 programs (though not the Rotenberg Center) can trace their treatment philosophy, directly or indirectly, to an antidrug cult called Synanon. Founded in 1958, Synanon sold itself as a cure for hardcore heroin addicts who could help each other by "breaking" new initiates with isolation, humiliation, hard labor, and sleep deprivation.
Today, troubled-teen programs use Synanon-like tactics, advertising themselves to parents as solutions for everything from poor study habits to substance misuse. However, there is little evidence that harsh behavior-modification techniques can solve these problems. Studies found that Synanon's "encounter groups" could produce lasting psychological harm and that only 10 to 15 percent of the addicts who participated in them recovered. And as the classic 1971 Stanford prison experiment demonstrated, creating situations in which the severe treatment of powerless people is rewarded inevitably yields abuse. This is especially true when punishment is viewed as a healing process. Synanon was discredited in the late 1970s and 1980s as its violent record was exposed. (The group is now remembered for an incident in which a member placed a live rattlesnake—rattle removed—in the mailbox of a lawyer who'd successfully sued it.) Yet by the time Synanon shut down in 1991, its model had already been widely copied.
In 1971, the federal government gave a grant to a Florida organization called The Seed, which applied Synanon's methods to teenagers, even those only suspected of trying drugs. In 1974, Congress opened an investigation into such behavior-modification programs, finding that The Seed had used methods "similar to the highly refined brainwashing techniques employed by the North Koreans."
The bad publicity led some supporters of The Seed to create a copycat organization under a different name. Straight Inc. was cofounded by Mel Sembler, a Bush family friend who would become the gop's 2000 finance chair and who heads Lewis "Scooter" Libby's legal defense fund. By the mid-'80s, Straight was operating in seven states. First lady Nancy Reagan declared it her favorite antidrug program. As with The Seed, abuse was omnipresent—including beatings and kidnapping of adult participants. Facing seven-figure legal judgments, it closed in 1993.
But loopholes in state laws and a lack of federal oversight allowed shuttered programs to simply change their names and reopen, often with the same staff, in the same state—even in the same building. Straight spin-offs like the Pathway Family Center are still in business.
Confrontation and humiliation are also used by religious programs such as Escuela Caribe in the Dominican Republic and myriad "emotional growth boarding schools" affiliated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs (wwasp), such as Tranquility Bay in Jamaica. wwasp's president told me that the organization "took a little bit of what Synanon [did]." Lobbying by well-connected supporters such as wwasp founder Robert Lichfield (who, like Sembler, is a fundraiser for Republican presidential aspirant Mitt Romney) has kept state regulators at bay and blocked federal regulation entirely.
By the '90s, tough love had spawned military-style boot camps and wilderness programs that thrust kids into extreme survival scenarios. At least three dozen teens have died in these programs, often because staff see medical complaints as malingering. This May, a 15-year-old boy died from a staph infection at a Colorado wilderness program. His family claims his pleas for help were ignored. In his final letter to his mother, he wrote, "They found my weakness and I want to go home."
(http://http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/how_a_cult_spawned_the_tough_love_teen_industry_630x738.gif)
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You know what kills me Ursus? (Did you go to Elan or to one of the other places like it?) Is that we all know the danger of these so called "Behavioral Mod" joints and the news of how bad they truly are is finally trickling out to the public (AFTER so many have died and/or suffered at the hands of the staff and/or students that "run" these joints) YET they are still filling up with students daily. Hell, hourly. Better yet, as we speak.
It kills me. It really does. Parents seem to think that these reports and places like "Fornits" are filled with crap written by bitter, drugged out ex-students. So, they disregard our stern but oh-so true warnings and send little Johnny away. Then before you know it little Johnny is telling the tales we all told only now Momma realizes they are NOT tales but reek of the cold, bitter truth!
So now a dilema is at hand, take little J home and possibly have a even more "damaged" kid on your hands filled with more resentment than when you put him in or leave him there thinking that YOUR kid is smarter, stronger, different than the freaks (like us) and that the good will seep in and the bad will somehow avoid his fragile ego and sense of well being. These delicate years (in a boys life especially) can't be fucked with. You fuck with kids already troubled in their adolescence and you will have YEARS of damage to un-do on top of what was already damaged to begin with!
It's JUST like Prison, Jail whatever you wanna call it. You know it sucks big time yet you keep doing shit to end up there. When you get out 9x out of 10 you usually go right back to the same old crap UNLESS something drastic went down to change your behavior. You know it's bad and hear horror stories about how rotten it is 24/7 yet ppl KEEP going back, willingly at that! It is not like you are just picked up out of the blue and slammed in the pokie for being a good citizen, working hard, raising a family, playing fetch with Fido or rolling a ball of yarn around with Meow-Meow. Nope, you were usually being a grade A asshole so you end up where you belonged to "protect" the good, law abiding citizens and yourself from yourself (believe it or not).
No matter how much bad we hear or even experience personally we still go to these joints (and go back). No one wants to think it will happen to their kid or relative until it does happen. Then they are wracked with grief and crying on the news and trying to get a law named after their loved one protecting others in their loved ones (former) posistion. IF they had listened to the warnings to begin with they would not be blubbering on the 6:00 pm news about how cruel life is while your funny lookin mug is plastered all over the nightly news.
So people need to learn the hard way. Be it the victim or the victimizer (in this case the parents/guardians that send their kids away to these joints to be abused on their dime).
Even if little Johnny does not die from dehydration or a blood clot or a spider bite he will most likely end up suffering for YEARS afterwards. The mental suffering you feel from these joints is intense, deep and incurable. THAT is precisely why so many have ended up snortin coke, drinkin, shootin up, poppin pills, killing themselves, killing others, harming animals and/or kids. It is serious what goes down after you leave. If you graduate you seem to fare a tad bit better but not by much. I know of Elan grads that have commited suicide, od'd, Etc.
Sad thing is that there are troubled kids sprouting up everywhere and the answer to the issues their parents face is un known. It is a bad place to be and I don't envy it at all. I feel for the parents that agonize over these decisions for they are not easy ones to make. You don't want to see your kid suffer and waste a potentially good life nor do you want to send your kid to Elan. What to do?
If you figure it out, anyone out there. Please tell us all right away. Better yet patent that shit cuz you'll be the next Anthony Robbins or Deepak Chopra (They BOTH made over 10 million last year ALONE).
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It is the twisting of the mind that seems to do the worst damage in the long run. Somehow pure brutal incarceration, barring attendant trauma, usually doesn't quite seem to fuck you up as much long term. It is what it is, and it is pretty clear about that.
But when they mess with your mind... when bad is good and good is bad, when ratting on your friends for petty shit becomes doing their souls a favor... when characterizing kids who underwent trauma as having been responsible for not only their own suffering, but also for the suffering of everyone around them... when kids are coerced and bullied into reliving The Lord of The Flies... and everyone is accusing everyone of everything and the chips finally fall just where "they" want them to fall...
There were "winners" and there were "losers," but guess what? It was just a game. The winners graduated, the losers got expelled or ran away, but after a few years, everybody found out: it was all just a game. Let's all play psychotherapy, anyone can do it. A "fun" little experiment on the part of the powers that were at that point in time, and yet winning or losing in that little experiment bore little relation to who you were as a person, as a human being, or anything else that really matters in life...
But how much time did it take before the brainwashing wore off? Before people woke up and tried to put their lives back together? Sometimes it took quite a long time. And sometimes the job was done incompletely, cuz you know, that shit went down during our adolescence, when your concept of self is being formed, and you're confused about a lot of things, and feeling your way blindly at best. Myself, I'm still working on finding my way home...
I found the interview with Matthew Israel (http://http://wwf.fornits.com/viewtopic.php?t=22884) (the man who founded the Judge Rotenberg Center) quite illuminating. Jennifer Gonnerman would sometimes deflect his focus on "inconsequentials" so he was taken off-guard, and ended up revealing quite a lot when she poked around for the juicy stuff. I gained a lot of insight, I guess, into what stuff was going on at the time, the "cultural climate," if you will, when he founded the Behavior Research Institute in Rhode Island in 1971 (which later became the Judge Rotenberg Center due to a certain Judge's ruling in his favor in a lawsuit brought against the place)... which is, if I'm not mistaken, kind of around the same time that Joe Ricci founded Elan, and a bit after the time Joe Gauld founded Hyde (which is where I went, Java.gurl, in answer to your question).
Something about that time, I'm not sure what it was, created a hotbed for these types of places. There were a lot of new ideas floating around about the human psyche, and people tried mucking around with that, for whatever reasons, and I am sure that there were many, perhaps some of them were even good-intentioned. I guess some people thought they could apply these ideas to solving some of the "problems of the day," e.g., straightening up the errant and wayward youth and turning them into productive citizens. It would seem that the idea that one's teenage years are, by definition, turbulent times fraught with stress and filled with a modicum of experimentation, had not yet been accepted as not necessarily a bad thing. Apparently it still isn't. Anyway, a lot of lines were crossed, there was a lot of disrespect paid to people's autonomy, and a lot of people got hurt in the process. And still are...
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AARC in Calgary, Canada is a direct descendent of Straight. The Executive Director of AARC, F. Dean Vause, worked at Kids Inc. Vause was involved in the attempt to establish Kids of the Canadian West, which was nixed due to bad publicity surrounding Kids in New Jersey/New York. AARC implemented the confrontational practises from Straight, the oldcomer newcomer hierarchy, and the use of host homes to house the inmates. Vause and his supporters repeatedly disavow the connection to Kids, but it must be pointed out that the original peer cousellors, another Straight trait, were former prisoners of Kids.
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Actually java.gurl, elan was forced to merge houses together due to lack of students a few years back. It was the negative media attention that spawned from the skakel trial that had back fired on elan. Once parents heard about the past abuse ie, the ring and deprived of sleep ect, elan slowly saw a dramatic loss in admissions and parents were even pulling their kids out of the program.
Not sure if the houses that merged due to lack of admissions is still in play as of current, but the negative media attention exposing the truth about what went on did have a devastating effect on the school.
And I am sure sites like this and others also could've played a role in making parents aware what goes on behind the close doors of these places.
It seems like these days in this generation parents are more concerned for the welfare of their children and really think twice and or throughly look into these treatment centers with a white glove. I had came across sites on the web in the past where concerned parents asked alot of questions about treatment programs and seek out every bit of info they can before shipping their kids off to one of these places.
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Artie.....Is this what done????
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Isn't that just too funny. You ignore the freak for a week or so and chat with someone else and the freak must get lonely because the freak has no one to talk to and decides to yet *bait and provoke*.
Wasn't it the freak that said " He'll leave us alone as long as we leave him alone?"
Last I recall I wasn't even mentioning IT'S name, nor even hinting at talking about him.
I also don't recall children being smacked around at Elan. I guess that was the freaks thing back in the days. Now that it was brought up, I don't recall ever hearing about children being smacked around at Elan.
The freak just proved once agian why he is a troll at this forum, He's got no friends to talk to on the net, and most likely has been rejected by every member at every site he has trolled.
What I can't seem to figure out is, no one here even attempts to talk to the freak, yet the freak continues to troll this forum. That is just like a troll, to bait and provoke so the troll can be once again in the spotlight and have some people to respond to him. Man Oh man! It must suck to be you freak.
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It seems like these days in this generation parents are more concerned for the welfare of their children and really think twice and or throughly look into these treatment centers with a white glove. I had came across sites on the web in the past where concerned parents asked alot of questions about treatment programs and seek out every bit of info they can before shipping their kids off to one of these places.
Hmm... If you check out what's going on elsewhere on fornits, seems like the business of torturing teens is doing just fine. Too fine. Elan Reporter's observations re. the effect that the Skakel trial had on potential Elan candidates is probably right on, however... for a short period of time. After a while that effect wears off.
I think Elan just hasn't been promoting itself aggressively enough. They still have the old hacks at the helm, and they're using pretty much the same tired old sales spiel in the same old venues. All these other programs have jacked up the hard sell to compete, pimp themselves out to educational consultants, go trolling for kids just out of college who "want to make a difference" for teaching personnel, or find some other gimmick to make their particular program bigger, better, or more appealing to some parent at a loss... Could be horsies, organic vegetables, room with a view, or a misguided sense of elitism in some of these cases, ha ha! Boring videos on the website, with students clearly under the gun or brainwashed, just ain't gonna cut it in this business anymore.
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I think Dave should tell the truth more often,instead of the hate that he spews. he would prob find that accepting responsibility for his actions will take him much farther in life
I am sure BP has a comment ...
My comment is to have a good day.unite against your agressor and knock off this other crap
That's a very common emotion that happens in the dating scene Scart. The former lover goes from love to hate in the snap of a finger. Not really sure how deep of an impact it has amongst the same sex dating scene, but from your expressions of behavior it seems to engulf your entire attention and take away what ever percentage of man hood you had and talk behind the lover that dumped your ass like a bad habit's back. Last I checked no one was talking to you in this thread, nor even talking about you, And here you come along injecting your daily poision into a thread that has nothing to do about you.
Just so you know it's spelled *Aggressor*. 2 G's, not 1.
So what's this about uniting Scart? I think you have been at the wrong forum for a long time pal. I think you would feel right at home at the elan school forum @ elanschool.com. Or maybe you already are there as one of the helpers??? Hmmm??
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I think I should tell the truth more often,instead of the hate that I spew. I would prob find that accepting responsibility for my actions will take me much farther in life
I am sure BP has a comment ...
My comment is to have a good day.unite against your agressor and knock off this other crap
You are correct.... I have taken the liberty of making corrections to your post to reflect the way it should read.
Ad I too say.... Have a nice day!!!
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This article (The Cult That Spawned the Tough-Love Teen Industry (http://http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/how_a_cult_spawned_the_tough_love_teen_industry.html), by Maia Szalavitz, August 20, 2007) has been kicking up a real storm on MotherJones. I've posted the responses from the Comments section here:
http://wwf.fornits.com/viewtopic.php?t=22874&start=22 (http://wwf.fornits.com/viewtopic.php?t=22874&start=22)
Someone from Elan just now put their two cents in.
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Now theres a giant leap toward honesty. Scart just admitted that he is whacked, He quoted what he and BP wrote and admitted he was whacked. Good for you Scart, now that's a perfect start in the right direction.
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This article (The Cult That Spawned the Tough-Love Teen Industry (http://http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/how_a_cult_spawned_the_tough_love_teen_industry.html), by Maia Szalavitz, August 20, 2007) has been kicking up a real storm on MotherJones. I've posted the responses from the Comments section here:
http://wwf.fornits.com/viewtopic.php?t=22874&start=22 (http://wwf.fornits.com/viewtopic.php?t=22874&start=22)
Someone from Elan just now put their two cents in.
HHMmmm... I seem to be discussing this with myself...
Here is the response from someone who identifies themself as a former Elan student. Anyone know this chick? It may not even be her real name... there are no constraints to identifying yourself as you please, when posting to MotherJones.
I was in Elan in the late 70's and I endeured all the mental and emotional abuse they dished out. I was initially sent to Elan because I continuously ran away from home, a place where I was molested at age 11, by a family friend, and never had any emotional parental support - life was so bad at home, my Parents divorced while I was in Elan. After a year and one week, I was released for a "Family Visit" .. my "Family" was no longer a "Family". My father picked me up from the airport and brought me home to meet his new "Girlfriend" which he ultimately married. I ran away for the "last time" before they could ship me back to ELAN. I have never ever been accepted into that "New Family". I have been ostersized from my family and although I am not perfect ... I know that the emotional and mental abuse I endeured at Elan has effected me long term. I still have very low self esteem and I still find myself in very abusive relationships. I have never known what it is like to truly be loved and supported. I will never forget Elan or the horrifying emotional abuse I went through. I am highly AGAINST these types of "Programs" .. they are nothing more than ABUSIVE!
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I'm following your post!!!
I just don't have anything to add, sorry :cry:
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What do you mean by "There were no "anti-elan" people during my stay"? I was at Hyde during this same general time period, maybe a bit earlier. "Anti-Hyde" people, such that there were, were all on work-crew and more or less clean-shaved (their heads). Well, the young ladies had it pretty seriously chopped, not quite the quarter-inch stubble some of the guys had. I guess it was supposed to help you re-examine your self-image. Burying your former self-concept was accomplished by digging 6x6x6 ft pits and then refilling them. And sure, the school got a lot of landscaping done for free at the expense of the in-house malcontents.
But the worst was the grilling and focus in seminars and school meetings, when you had the entire school community focused on you and putting their two cents in. If you were shy and not very popular, your character flaws were discussed at length with great cruelty. The blind leading the blind, nobody there had any training in therapy, etc. Lord of the Flies was a most prescient book, in my humble opinion. It described "the Hyde experience" to a tee, probably pretty well describes a lot of these places here on fornits...
We had a chronic masturbator too. Sometimes he couldn't even get to his responsibilities, classwork on time, he was so busy doing his business. Someone found the coat he always wore in the lost and found... the pockets had been removed. Hyde did nothing to address this issue with appropriate therapeutic invention. It was considered a character flaw, and he was punished for it. Again and again.
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Eliscu2, it sounds like your whole family got fucked over by Elan, in one way or another...
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(Yes he was a pain in the ass,but watching him defy,get beaten and come back for more was truly entertaining. )
Why would that be entertaining to you?
Did it ever occur to you that the reason he defied elan was because elan was defieable? When I was there almost everyone of my peers defied elan and either tried to split, or split, or when they turned 18 signed out. Yes there were a handful that had no choice but conform to the program as they had no other options.
Someone that defies the program is saying (I want out). There is nothing entertaining about someone who defies the program then gets beaten for it. I'm not sure what you really mean by beaten back in the 70's era, but as far as I know no one was beaten in elan in the 80's unless placed in the boxing ring.
I've seen my share of corner people that expressed how they did not want to be at elan and they truly made that known. They were being held as hostages by elan for not conforming to the program.
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Marty had us kids shoveling snow in shorts and shoes w/ou laces from one pile to another and back again.
Why is this picture just so friggin' familiar to me!? We had to do it with dirt piles; the distance the stuff had to be lugged (there and back) was idiosyncratically proportional to the degree of your offense, or how much of a hard head you were about it. Or how much the relevant staff hated you, or how much you pissed them off. Sometimes we had to do it with wood piles. I'm sure somebody or other had to do it with snow. Don't know about the lack of shoelaces, however.
Note that Joe Gauld was a rabid Hawk, and who would probably have disowned his own son if he had refused to enlist in the Vietnam War, a fact that he discusses in his book "Character First..." Actually, he talks about his wife, Blanche, saying that to their son, and how proud he was of his wife's courage and high ethical convictions. As it turned out, historical timing spared this family that decision. Nevertheless, shortly before my time, there was a faculty member who was forced to resign due to his anti-Vietnam War philosophy.
I don't think Joe Ricci was a rabid Hawk, but I don't really know that for a fact. Was he? Are these punishments and means of controlling kids' behaviors and psyche's a primarily conservative bent, or do they defy political roots and definition?
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Several times I had seen Marty,Joe Rodrigas,and even Joe Ricci, manhandle,smack him with a briefcase on the head,and hit him in the head from behind.
Oh, and there was a girl at Hyde during my time who Joe Gauld smacked in the face so hard her glasses went flying into the dirt. Is this shit from a military school paradigm?
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I dont mind telling/reading a story. But I really dont want to conversate about it all the time. Its a time in my life that I have mixed memories about. Mostly all bad,except for some of the people I have remained close with.
Monday morning,Robert Oconnor will be burried in Me. He has been maybe my closest fiend for the better part of 30 years. I am crushed by his death. I loved him like a brother,and always will. I pray that his wife Wendy heals from this devastating wound that we share. She has been a good friend. We love her as well.
From my perspective,God got himself the most loyal friend that I ever knew.
A
What happened to Robert O'Conner?
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Art,what happened to Robert? What the fuck? PM me if you don't want to make it public. That's fucked up.
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Never mind Art,I googled him and got the info.That really sucks.If I had known sooner I would go to the funeral.
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Ursus, I nearly ended up in Hyde instead of ELan back in "91" I had a pal there named...I forgot his name..OOPS! To many drugs I guess. He seemed to like it.
I got a call from my DCF worker after spending the last year of my life in and out of these horrid teenage homeless shelters after my Auntie turned me over to the state of Ct. when I did not clean my room good enough and talked on the phone in my room to much (true story) And she told me that there was a "great" place in Maine that the kids "loved" and that they "asked" to go there.
They "skied, waterskied, sailed, rode horses, swam, lived in cute little cabins in the woods, cross country skied, rode bikes, had fun, had friends and surrogate parents that loved them there, were treated kind and were understood" I was also told I could read and write all I wanted and there were a few short groups a day to attend before night school. Lots of free time to chill and reflect.
I assumed it was like this Hyde joint my pal was at so I said "YES".
When I pulled up after a 8 hour long ride in the crappy snow all I saw was trailors and ELan 3. I was in shock! Tired and in shick. I snuck off smoked a cig and 1/2 a joint and went into Elan 1 and was like where is my cabin? And they laughed at me and were like this is not a resort, your not in Oz anymore Dorthy. I was furious and RAN out the door after the caseworker screaming at her that she deceived me and to take me home NOW! She said in a week if I felt the same I could go home. Liar. Whore. Lying whore.
Well, I was there from Feb 91-Sept 93. I had like 10000000 3 houses, 10000000 1 house GM's, 1000000000 HM's, 23000000000000 VR's, Etc....
The place was truly fucked! In a group once Marc told some tall, lanky, dorky kid named Sean (who was a goofy, cool dork type kid) that he gets blowjobs when he goes home and drinks beer while Sean was here in Elan jerking off in the mens dorms. I was so disgusted I left the fucking group. I got a stern VR/TT from Marc and a LE of GI'ing mops. I hated that LE.
That place was wacked. Thinking about it leaves me speechless at times. I liked what someone posted about it being like "Lord of the Flies".
I loved that book and said the same thing when I was there. I actually called it a lot of unflattering things.
I saw kids with obvious mental issues get raked over the coals, like Susan norris and Sean Dykstra. Those poor kids were so tapped upstairs and tortured by Elan's ignorance. I talked to them in depth when they were in my house and they were nice kids but had lived lives of hell before Elan. They needed help. Medical and psychiatric.
Elan let kids down. Some kids did OK there and that amazed me. How did they do it? Were they less fucked than I? Less emotional? Less sensitive? I took everything in around me and let it afffect me. Everyones emotions affected me a lot. That was bad when I was there but showed I was human. Maybe to human and they fed off of me like vultures.
When my friend died after she split Tanya M. told me I should of died in her place cuz she was better than I. Telling that to me a 15 yo and a kid who was over emotional was like putting a gun in my hand and telling me to kill my worthless self. That night I took like 50 assorted pills and all I did was barf all night! I am glad now I was OK but when I told my dad what happened I was home shortly after that. They blacked out the negative things I wrote in my letters to him. Actually blacked it out! So he did not know the real deal.
They do a job on parents btw. They tell them your a liar, user, loser, manipualtor, suicidal,Etc.
I think the 70's-80's crew like Eliscu, Ursus, Artie, X Rez, Etc. saw a evil side of Elan we did not see. It must of been REAL bad back then for you all! How did you guys do it?
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(In a group once Marc told some tall, lanky, dorky kid named Sean (who was a goofy, cool dork type kid) that he gets blowjobs when he goes home and drinks beer )
I think Marc was a little too high when he made that statement. Marc had a nasty dope habit and most likely was giving head to get free dope. He has to be the biggest hypocrit to walk through the doors of elan.
Just by looking at the guy one could tell he was using. Then he would have the balls to slam some teen for using and abusing before coming to elan, yet this strung out, malnurished , track marked poor excuse of a person would be doing dope while working at elan.
I've seen Marc numerous times throughout my stay go into the unoccupied buildings which were empty through the windows of the house I was in. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out why he went into these unoccupied buildings. The guy would wear long sleve shirts in the middle of summer (to hide the track marks). I once seen Marc wear a short sleve shirt and he had alot of bruises all over his arms. The suken eyeballs and boney body was also a dead give away. Why elan hired this man I will never know. What really got under my skin was when he would call people junkies and losers for using cocaine, pot, ect. There is nothing more in the world that I despise then a hypocrit.
But that was only the icing on the cake. There was so much corruption going on at elan between the staff it was pathetic! I just want to know how do these so called (directors & staff) wake up, look in the mirror and live with themselves. They were in a position where they were suppose to counsel teens gone bad yet were just as dishonest with themselves as an elan resident.
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But that was only the icing on the cake. There was so much corruption going on at elan between the staff it was pathetic! I just want to know how do these so called (directors & staff) wake up, look in the mirror and live with themselves. They were in a position where they were suppose to counsel teens gone bad yet were just as dishonest with themselves as an elan resident.
More dishonest than an Elan resident. They were supposed to know better, serve as an example. The kids are just working out the fucked up things in adolescence, and whatever other shit was foisted upon them by life, before they worked out a better way to deal with it...
But that's just it: these places are inherently fucked up. The starting principle is fucked up, the directors who buy into that principle are fucked up, the staff who try to put that principle in practice get fucked up by it, and the kids who go there, if they weren't already fucked up, get fucked up by it before they leave.
Poison enough for everyone to go around.
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Ursus, I nearly ended up in Hyde instead of ELan back in "91" I had a pal there named...I forgot his name..OOPS! To many drugs I guess. He seemed to like it.
There are many Hyde somnambulists who never wake up. But they have bad dreams, for the rest of their lives, and don't know why...
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Poison enough for everyone to go around.
Very well said
if I may ad
the torture,the abuse,the crimes committed, were a long, long time ago. At the rate of their "success" from my peer group.there will be noone left to tell the horrible stories. to warn others of the criminals that are ELAN School.
So I will just keep posting the truth
You were one of those criminals scart. You aren't fooling anyone here.
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Poison enough for everyone to go around.
Very well said
if I may ad
the torture,the abuse,the crimes committed, were a long, long time ago. At the rate of their "success" from my peer group.there will be noone left to tell the horrible stories. to warn others of the criminals that are ELAN School.
So I will just keep posting the truth
You were one of those criminals scart. You aren't fooling anyone here.
That may not be so fair. Sorry, ER, but I gotta to say it. These places always recruit from the ranks of the already abused to staff their joints. Think about it: a lot of the brainwashing has already been done. And, in the case of in-house recruitment, there are built-in loyalty factors, not to mention gratitude-for-the-opportunity, that they bank on. They reward the former kid with affirmation that he's "made it;" he's actually responsible for "making a difference" in the lives of kids who used to be just like him...
Art has even bigger battle than most of us, who were just occupying the "kid" slot in the aforementioned equation. The fact that he is still coming around here, still supporting the concept that Elan is destructive, not to mention that he continues to do so in the face of all the flack he receives... Well, you gotta hand it to him.
He may not be perfect, but he's still here. For that matter, none of us are too perfect, come to think of it.
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These places always recruit from the ranks of the already abused to staff their joints. Think about it: a lot of the brainwashing has already been done. And, in the case of in-house recruitment, there are built-in loyalty factors, not to mention gratitude-for-the-opportunity, that they bank on. They reward the former kid with affirmation that he's "made it;" he's actually responsible for "making a difference" in the lives of kids who used to be just like him...
You know Ursus... This is the same way it was when I was in Straight, as you moved off of your phases and "7-Stepped (graduated)" you became a member of what they call the 7-Step society where you never actually get away from from them. During the last phase (5th phase) of stay there, staff would recruit people to become staff trainees once they graduated and become 7-Steppers.
These are the type of people I really feel sorry for as the brain washing went deep. In some people too deep as they stay in denial of the harm they caused and wanted to believe that their efforts were nothing but honorable. But truth be known they were carrying out abuse...... Compare it to guys in Nam burning villages and killing women and babies, just because you are told to do something by someone in authority don't make it right. It takes a sick person not to be able to admit that they done wrong.
And hey Artie... I am willing to make a wager that you will strike at Reporter or myself without us provoking you. I have looked at the posts that you put up and you either ride on someones shirt tail or come out sideways with something, especially at Reporter. I've got $5.00 that says you lash out first.
(http://http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n86/SharzHaven/FiveDollarBill.jpg)
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BP, you are going to be a very wealthy man...
All those $5 bills are gonna ad up rather quickly. :rofl: :rofl:
To answer your question about Scart lashing out, you hit the nail right on the head. He has been doing it for years. I purposely sat idle for over a week and waited to see what he would do, and sure enough after having said nothing to or about him he lases out sideways comments about me, you, and others. It will never end, in a way I kinda feel sorry for the guy being that he has no one in life to call a friend or even to talk to. This also has been noted before by the moderators. One said he was *Baiting & provoking* the other was siad *the Arthur Warshawsky show*. What can you say? He enjoys being center of attention.
On another note I do have to take my hat off to Scart for actually having a conversation about elan and telling it how it was. That was a surprising effort for once. And sorry to hear about the death of your (Friend Robert) was it? Or was that acquaintance?
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provoking/lashing out
You win Bp=big pussy
I want my $5.00[/color]
(http://http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n86/SharzHaven/FiveDollarBill.jpg)
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provoking/lashing out
You win Bp=big pussy
Obviously you havent done your reading. I have long been an advocate of closing these programs. I have spoken to Dept of Ed in Me,Il,and just about anyone else who would listen. I have 4-5 MB file of info and emails and conversations with others. I personally spoke with a number of these "referal sources" for teen treatment. i have been telling the truth about Elan long before Dave kaczorowski started in on this capmaign of harrassment that you have joined. I used to be pretty easy going here at Fornits.
That has all changed. In the last year or so,I started giving back what has been so freely given to me.
Guess what?
Here's a heart felt FUCK YOU to both of you.
why dont you take some of your vile, nasty verbage,and use your "skills" to EVERYONE's advantage. Call your local State Senator and tell him/her what you have been through. Tell the truth about your experiences in an adult manner,with adult language..
Beat them at their own game. The truth can never be challeneged. Its the right thing to do for those still suffering in these hell holes.
Call your perspective state and local Dept of Ed. Tell the truth.
You may just find that 1 kid does not have to go through what we have.
Or
Keep doing what your doing.Diluting the purpose of Fornits into a personal playground/toilet for your own selfishness. Fill these forums with hate,and fill your head with ego.You dont have to like me.I actually prefer you dont. I trully prefer not to have any contact with you or dave. BUT.. I will continue on my path. Hopefully some good will come from it.
Artie.... I do not wish to discredit you for any good you may have possibly done in speaking against ( The teen torture industry ), however my problem has to do with what you so freely give out to Reporter ( whom you call Dave.... How do you know it's Dave??? ).
When I first stated coming to the Elan forum I would see you sling all kinds of shit at Reporter, even when he had not said anything. My original first post to you was basically me just messing with you, however when you sided up with ToeFag and what ever the miserable bitch's name was, that's when it became a mission for me.
I am willing to quit shooting you with insults only if you can leave Reporter alone.... No insults, no referrences to any horseshit that may provoke him. And if he does crack on you, you've got to ignore him.
You claim that your postings had meaningful stuff in them and you were pretty laid back. Show me ( You've done it before, so it should be no problem ). If you can do this, you can see another side of me that Ursus and Froderick has seen and knows.
Truth be known Artie..... I'm a pretty good guy.
The ball is now in your court.... Think about it.
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Toetag now posts on some MySpace group for Grove School (CT), another shitpit in this industry. Did he go there as well? Wasn't looking for him, was checking out the site due to a link provided by Covergaard re. kidney failure death there (or something similar), but lo and behold, there was Toetag's MySpace icon as one of the members... Small world, ha ha!!
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Lets get along folks
::cheers::
.... And then there was peace ::dove::
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Oh my BP, you seem to have caused Scartie to throw a tantrum.
Scart only wishes he knew what my name was, truth and reality he will never know what my name is. The name *Dave* is like the 6 or 7th name he has called me since coming to this forum.
My moniker has been here since early- mid 05, thats about 2 1/2 years. Not only can Scartie NOT spell, but he can't add worth shit!
You know why you are so full of shit Scartie? That's because you lie and make up stories and like to make threats you can't follow through on. There is a person who post here at this site who does know my real name, and also knows the geographical area where I live as well, and I have been corresponding on/off with this person for well over 2 1/2 years via email.
The names I have been called by Scart are names he got from some guest book somewhere and ASSumes I am them. Scartie has no clue nor proof who I am, Scartie would'nt even know where to begin that is why he was asking around to learn html and someone told him the word and term *ping*. Well Scartie then thought that if he used this term *ping* it would make him look computer literate and savy. Scartie also claims I went to a webpage where he was able to in laymens terms *hack into my pc*. Then there is this almost guarnteed win where Scartie says my isp is comcast. Considering comcast is the nations #1 internet provider, Scartie's chances of guessing my isp are excellent. But Scartie is wrong on that wild guess as well. Close but wrong.
Onto Scartie *Fecal problems*. Scartie is the one who speakes of fecal matter and what not. And BP you know why that is...Using other people as a scape goat for ones problems is a sign of tramatic experience to ones self. Need I say more?
If you archive Scarties moniker you will find what would fit in the file of *terroristic threats* which were made by him.
Scartie started in a handful of us for making fun of the staff and directors that worked at elan, we were having a fun time until old fat ass showed up.
Scartie says> BP= Big Pussy. What are you fuckin 6? I betcha BP does get pussy, something you haven't seen in a very long time. Oh thats right, that is by choice huh Scarte? After your failed marriage you jumped ship and became a fudge packer.
Keep on lieing loser boy and guessing. You haven't a clue.
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Art, really, leave it alone!! How much do you hate yourself?? I don't even mention you in my posts, but you are acting absurd. Why do you come back here to take so much abuse? Do you really think it accomplishes anything? Maybe you were provoked a year ago or whatever, but nobody's provoking you now. Just stop the sideways comments, cheap shots and comebacks. That way we can get back to the hi-yuh and other important Mongo-Indian matters. It's almost like you look forward to hearing this stuff about you. BP was right, just drop it already.
Fornits was a joke from the beginning anyway.
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The insults and personal attacks don't really faze me. And I rather like the fecal focus and poop jokes seeing as how I'm classic anal retentive and OCD about a lot of things. Elan Reporter is right on when he says, "Using other people as a scape goat for ones problems is a sign of tramatic experience to ones self." ...which, I must say, would rather seem to apply to more than just one entity of the present company reading this.
I think it is a kind of release and way of coping/healing from the trauma dealt us, but one should keep in mind the bigger picture, i.e., where exactly in the food chain the major focus really should be on. All things considered, I don't think Art made it very far up that food chain regardless of how brainwashed he might have been at the time. And yup, he did make staff, but he's not staff now; nowadays he's still on the forum here, and from what I've read, his recent posts about Elan have not been particularly complimentary. I would hope people were big enough to allow someone the space to evolve their take on all that crap, particularly if it's in a more humanistic direction. Doesn't mean ya gotta like them or agree with every little point they make.
But yeah, also, Art: knock it off. Go have a cup of coffee before you post your replies.
This post get's the sanity award, to my mind:
Just stop the sideways comments, cheap shots and comebacks. That way we can get back to the hi-yuh and other important Mongo-Indian matters.
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It's really odd that with some people, they resist change for the better. I read once that you can not graft a new idea onto a closed mind, and this just goes to show that this statement is more true in the here and now than it will ever be.
Why is it that people get into a rut and are just plain unwilling to show their true potential?? All I can say is that I done my part and gave a person the opportunity to back up what they are saying. In other words letting their feet match their mouth.
I guess that shows that some people are doomed to negativity and has nothing to offer except for their pessimistic outlook on life. The situations in life do not make us the people we are, the people we are makes our situations.
And hey Artie..... Just to let you know, I am still going to lay off of you for a while even though you are unwilling to act like a man and do the same and contribute something positive to the forum.
(*** This might make me a bigger and better man than you. ***)
I look forward to seeing some of your future post of how bad Elan actually was, how you it affected you, and what we can do today to stop the abuse.
Oh and Artie.... Had a good day.
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Where the frigin bejesus is Marty!!! Ruthie Newton told me that you young idiot fornits-cators were in the middle of an uprising here... she was right!! I tell you, if I had you younguns over at my place, I'd teach you a thing or two about accountability, hah!! I am The Educator, I know all about character, I'm the expert at teaching the young, fragile souls of our youth... I coax the emergence of the butterfly of adulthood, from the chrysallis of their childhood, by whatever means it takes, each according to their own unique potential...
It would appear that some of your unique potentials require some smacking around, certainly at least work-crew and 5:30's... Doesn't Marty have some campus construction jobs that need completion? Surely the most recent incarnation of The Tepee needs to be re-adorned with some fresh boys underpants, eh? Har-de-har-de-HAR-HAR-HAR!!!
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Where the frigin bejesus is Marty!!!
It would appear that some of your unique potentials require some smacking around, certainly at least work-crew and 5:30's... Doesn't Marty have some campus construction jobs that need completion? Surely the most recent incarnation of The Tepee needs to be re-adorned with some fresh boys underpants, eh? Har-de-har-de-HAR-HAR-HAR!!!
I think Marty is becoming a bit of a Fornits celebrity as we're getting all these new visitors. The legend of the Kruglik is growing. First, an appearance on "The Simple Life," then running for mayor and now this!
TCK, you owe us big-time for your new high profile. Perhaps you can remodel your tepee soon and upgrade your firepit and poopy hole. Dare to dream, TCK. Dare to dream.
Oh... and Marty, if you're reading this...
Hi-yuh hi-yuh hi yuh yuh yuh.
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****I have asked a number of times for the plenty of fish thing to be removed. Havent even been on that site in years.***
Is that so Scartie? Then who changed that revolting picture of you without a shirt on?? Huh? huh? Maybe the little internet dust bunnies that come out at night? You lie like a rug you fat fuck, You ought to be ashamed of yourself Scart. And further more your profile was changed less then a year ago. Lies, lies, lies....
Go much down some more poop, sausage tits, you're nothing but a failure at the game of life.
When everyone ignores you for more then a week , you start up again with your sideways comments. I guess you get off on people insulting you because you have no friends in real life to talk to. You really do have your priorities all fucked up and way out of place.
:cry2: :cry2: :cry2: :cry2: :cry2: Big fuckin baby!
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Listen, Marty...
::deal:: ...Let me show you some wilderness property you might be interested in investing in... We've already got 'bout 700 acres of back water marsh material over near Eustis, Maine, but we're aiming to buy more. Lichfield's recent financial contributions to the Republican Party have given us tremendous hope that we can make Maine the next great Character Development destination. Tourists have always been great suckers for the pristine, unspoiled wilderness that Maine has to offer. We'd just like to expand of their interpretation of that, Har! Har! Perhaps we could go in on something together...
Oh, and Hi-yuh hi-yuh hi yuh yuh yuh to you, where ever you are. Appreciate the salutation!
Joe Almighty, The Educator
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Hey Urs, What is "Binnis"? And how does a bear do them or do it or...Ah hell you get the point!?
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Where the frigin bejesus is Marty!!!
It would appear that some of your unique potentials require some smacking around, certainly at least work-crew and 5:30's... Doesn't Marty have some campus construction jobs that need completion? Surely the most recent incarnation of The Tepee needs to be re-adorned with some fresh boys underpants, eh? Har-de-har-de-HAR-HAR-HAR!!!
I think Marty is becoming a bit of a Fornits celebrity as we're getting all these new visitors. The legend of the Kruglik is growing. First, an appearance on "The Simple Life," then running for mayor and now this!
TCK, you owe us big-time for your new high profile. Perhaps you can remodel your tepee soon and upgrade your firepit and poopy hole. Dare to dream, TCK. Dare to dream.
Oh... and Marty, if you're reading this...
Hi-yuh hi-yuh hi yuh yuh yuh.
Just like Marc came on Fornits a few years back to "set us all straight" about his role in Elan and how much he "stuck up for us" by NOT allowing ppl to spit in our faces during GM's (what a stand up dude huh?) Maybe..Just maybe if we all pray hard enough Marty WILL come here too!
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Hey Urs, What is "Binnis"? And how does a bear do them or do it or...Ah hell you get the point!?
Ha Ha!! "Binnis" is "business." Doing one's business is... taking a crap. Also, 'tis a play on the colloquial phrase "Does a bear shit in the woods?" meaning, "of course, that is self-explanatory..." or "duh, that should be obvious!"
Ya know, I did tell y'all that I like poop jokes!! :rofl:
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Synanon connection,,, I am glad that someone posted the diagram of how all these abusive treatment centers are connected. It is the same diagram that Wes Fager had during his talk at the first conference about abusive treatment centers hosted by Dr. Arnold Trebach, wayback in 2001, in Maryland.
It was a very imfromative and healing conference. It was an awaking to learn that elan was not even an original idea of ricci's but a stolen concept based on the daddy of all cults.
It is apperent that elan was simply a tool to make money for ricci and his henchmen. Whether or not people suceeded upon leaving elan did not matter to these men. If you were not damaged by elan you were lucky. Many people were not so lucky ,,,some ended up in prison,,, some ended up being emotional cripples,,,and some ended up dead for simply having come in contact with elan.
During my time there in the early 70's there were many junkies in there . Mixing hardcore drug addicts with children , not a good thing. I will not forget what Jerry G. said after marty kruglik's graphic one man act play about all things related to shooting dope,,, from scoring ,locating a place to shoot,cooking, tying off, registaring and booting, and what the effect was like . Personally as a young kid I had no idea why this intense glamourization of heroin was a positive thing for the addicts cause it made them scworm and very uneasy and of course what Jerry said was just nuts. A drug so powerful.
Simply put elan was an unoriginal idea that was incoporated (literaly) to make money off of families in crises. Whether or not it (elan) actually helped was the last thing on the owners and operators of this corporation. It was how many can we get (residents) and how much can we make. It suckered the states who sent their charges there. All for the love of money. And the Damage that it did ,,, just screams from these forums. elan was a very dangerous place . ricci found a way to incorporate a cult and not a very good one at that. Synanon the mother of them all ,,,no pun intended.
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Felice ,good article on the confontational atack therapies. There was a gov of Maine Angus something. I sent him an e mail back when the Skakel thing was going on (his trial) It went as far as some fellow going out there to do an (i believe ) announced inspection.
That would be akin to warning the taliban that you are going to search a cave for weapons.
I agree and have talked about it many times long ago on this forum that elan could and should be brought up on charge of running a continuing criminal enterprise. I think that if you have made dirty money on abusing children for so very many years that the state of Maine owes it to the victims of elan at least an attempt at closure,,,shutting the doors of elan if you will.
Somewhere along the way those people you mentioned Diamond ect. either don't know what went on in elan , or have been brainwashed themselves that abusing people (when I was there it was adults as well as children)is good for them.
You mentioned ed droll (whatever) elan's lawyer in my opinion thats the fox thats guarding the perverable hen house.His job is to protect elan and I guess he has been doing a very good job, in my humble opinion again he should be disbarred and put in prison with the rest of them for helping run a continuing criminal enterprise.
I mean if a judge at the Skakel trial read the book Duck in a Raincoat. The author Maura Curley and the publisher of that book Dan Dostdorf have not been charged with slander and libel ,I mean wtf ,why is that place still open. The duck book came out many many years ago. I encourage any and every person to read it. I imagine that the publisher and author did recieve a lot of threats,,, no doubt about that , after all that was what elan was really good at threatening human beings ,albeit some of those threats absolutely oof the wall.
I have children. I love my children. I would not subject my children to anything like elan. I strongly urge parents to find an alternative if they are considering sending their children to elan. I also urge parents to read the Duck in a Raincoat By Maura Curley it will let them know what elan has gotten away with in the past, what is there to keep this stuff from happening to your children in the future.
A dangerous relic from the past indeed , that still exists.
All for the love of money ,,,,that mean green