Now this is disturbing

[OverLordd]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7868829/

through that link you will be taken to a msnbc news page on a program for history that lets children, young children, "live" slavery, basicly they become slaves... This is really really sick... For some reson it reminds me of a justified WWASP, it seems like this will cause more tramma to more children.

Nothing is denied to well-directed labor, and nothing is ever to be
attained without it.
--Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)

[Anonymous]

"The 50 children, only one of whom is black, were experiencing the cruelties inflicted upon slaves who tried to escape north through the Underground Railroad.

?Slaves had to go through that every day and I only did it for an hour,? said 11-year-old Nicole Wallis, who was so frightened that she left the living history program halfway through.

The reenactment at the YMCA?s Camp Cosby, about 45 miles east of Birmingham, is one of several nationwide, but uniquely intense. Camp counselors attempt to give a realistic perspective about slavery to fourth- and fifth-grade students by dressing as slave traders, bounty hunters and abolitionist and sending students on a risky journey through the dense woods surrounding the camp."

This is just weird. Why do whites find it necessary to punish themselves for slavery, even today? None of those children owned a slave, yet they are taught to be ashamed of their own ancestary, and 'feel sorry' for the blacks. I think this in turn causes racism. It's all so ridiculous. This country needs to get past the black-white thing, it's meaningless unless you keep teaching kids that it defines them and their history.

Similar programs, however, have met with opposition. Civil rights groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference have protested Civil War reenactments and slave auctions, saying they trivialize black history.

Precisely!

[Nihilanthic]

I really really dont like how the psychological mind games are entering into the mainstream here. This is kind of like that blue eyes/brown eyes bullshit.

Even if the idea you try to implant into someone is a good one (egalitarianism, and that bigotry is bad) using a psychological mindgame to cause regression via helplessness, guilt, the usual litany of negative feelings, IS NOT OKAY! I wish I could know why people are so fucking set on using these methods  with american children :sad:

The more BORING a child is, the more the parents,
when showing off the child, receive adulation for
being GOOD PARENTS -- because they have a TAME
CHILD-CREATURE in their house.
--Frank Zappa

[Anonymous]

On 2005-06-22 02:36:00, Nihilanthic wrote:

"I really really dont like how the psychological mind games are entering into the mainstream here. This is kind of like that blue eyes/brown eyes bullshit.



Even if the idea you try to implant into someone is a good one (egalitarianism, and that bigotry is bad) using a psychological mindgame to cause regression via helplessness, guilt, the usual litany of negative feelings, IS NOT OKAY! I wish I could know why people are so fucking set on using these methods  with american children :sad:

The more BORING a child is, the more the parents,
when showing off the child, receive adulation for
being GOOD PARENTS -- because they have a TAME
CHILD-CREATURE in their house.
--Frank Zappa

"

 parents use brainwashing to train there kids if you think about it... really there is no harm in what some of the schools do. most of the kids go home to successful lives. MOST, not all.

[Antigen]

On 2005-06-22 11:02:00, Anonymous wrote:



 parents use brainwashing to train there kids if you think about it... really there is no harm in what some of the schools do. most of the kids go home to successful lives. MOST, not all. "

Ok, first off, we're not talking about your program right now. We're talking about a different type of experience altogether that may, incidentally, entail some of the same kinds of damaging effects.

Second, MOST people who I've met who have been through your type of programs do not attibute their success at life to the Program. Many of us feel we were made stronger, tougher (trial by fire). Friend of mine mentioned just yesterday how adept he is at working a crowd and how that's helped him in his stage performance. No heckler on this fucking planet is a fair match for a Straight vet!

But there is GREAT harm in what these "schools" do! Those behavior modifying techniques, based on a million subtle and not so subtle hints and gestures and tied to crucial love, affection, approval, support... that's some dangerous stuff! That's emotional TNT! Handle w/ care!

The difference between loving discipline and guidance in a family or community and the forced regimen of the Program is exactly the difference between romance and rape; it all hinges on consent.

Theology: The effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.
--H. L. Mencken, American publisher

[Anonymous]

wow I agree completely.  Like these kids, eleven years old, have any idea what exactly's going on, let alone any say in their involvement.  Used at the expense of experimental teaching procedures.  It also completely misrepresents slavery to the kids.  To condense hundreds of years of history into one hour-  it might even cause some kids to avoid studying the history all together because it brings back the traumatic experience.

Best quote of the article-

"Similar programs, however, have met with opposition. Civil rights groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference have protested Civil War reenactments and slave auctions, saying they trivialize black history."

[Nihilanthic]

When the NAACP doesnt like what youre doing to white kids regarding teaching them about slavery[/b], you have  fucked up to a degree I had previously thought not possible!

War is God?s way of teaching Americans geography.

--Ambrose Bierce (died 1914)