Straight in the context of U.S. history; please discuss

[Anonymous]

(from http://thestraights.com/reports/sembler ... rights.htm)

"But, next to the treatment by white Americans of American Negroes prior            to 1970 and to the treatment of native Americans throughout America's            history, Straight, Inc. is the biggest violator of human rights and            civil liberties that this country has ever seen."

Please discuss what you think of this statement. Do you agree or disagree? Please state why.

(I have no agenda here, I am just using this quote from an article by Wes Fager at thestraights.com as a springboard for discussion.)

[webcrawler]

I agree with the statement, although I don't think America has improved much beyond the 70s regarding "race relations". People are just not as overt with their agendas and hate these days.

The other point I want to make here is that for so long I thought straight was the most horrific "treatment" center in America that I was not even aware others existed (besides it's spin off of pfc) that were bad. It wasn't until I found this board and started reading the experiences of people in other places that it hit me. straight was not the end all and be all of locking teens away. It wasn't suffient for me to just stuff it all down and move on because now I have a responsibilty to myself and others to speak up about the treatment of teens.

Hell these places are now being broadcast on TV for entertainment purposes (brat camp). The name brat camp alone says it all what this society really thinks about all of us that deviated from the "norm." I can not in good conscience remain quiet.

[Anonymous]

World War 2: Japanese concentration camps in the United States

[Antigen]

Well let's see now:

"But, next to the treatment by white Americans of American Negroes prior to 1970 and to the treatment of native Americans throughout America's history, Straight, Inc. is the biggest violator of human rights and civil liberties that this country has ever seen."

Nope, can't say I agree w/ this statement out of context as it is. But then, imperatives are rarely factually true.

Did Straight kill more people than the mob at Roselawn? No. Did it last as long as Manifest Destiny? No. In fact, on an individual level, it only lasted for most of us till our 18th birthdays.

I think the entire toughlove hate group or troubled parent industry can be seen as a part of an ongoing culture war, not a seperate phenomena.

I think it might be closer to the truth to say "the biggest violator of human rights and civil liberties that this country has never seen." That was the horrible problem with it all. No one saw it, even when it happened right in front of them. We all were labled and damned and no one would believe us. That's got to change.

If life were fair, Dan Quayle would be making a living asking 'Do you want fries with that?'
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6302294274/circlofmiamithem' target='_new'>John Cleese

[wayeast]

I appreciate all that Wes Fager has done to bring the issue of Straight's abuses to light, but I think his statement is completely ungrounded. We were abused at Straight, no way around it, but it wasn't ground-breaking abuse.

Straight does have a place on the darker side of history though, as a symptom of a much bigger problem. Personally, I think that the fear-mongering, anger-filled mania that infected the Straight parents was part of the same disease that eventually took over the Republican Party. They feared they were losing control, and they were willing to do and justify anything in order to get it back. Now those who dissent are seen as trouble-makers who must be ridiculed, humiliated, and intimidated until they shut up, sit up straight, and memorize the new rules.

[Anonymous]

Good point. Have you hugged your journalist today?  :smile:  

Maia Szalavitz, Radley Balko, anyone who sees this child abuse and makes it part of their work to put the story in the media. A kiss and a hug for you.

[Anonymous]

On 2005-08-21 20:04:00, Anonymous wrote:

"World War 2: Japanese concentration camps in the United States "

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/camps.html

American Concentration camps?

[Antigen]

On 2005-08-22 07:53:00, wayeast wrote:

Straight does have a place on the darker side of history though, as a symptom of a much bigger problem. Personally, I think that the fear-mongering, anger-filled mania that infected the Straight parents was part of the same disease that eventually took over the Republican Party. They feared they were losing control, and they were willing to do and justify anything in order to get it back. Now those who dissent are seen as trouble-makers who must be ridiculed, humiliated, and intimidated until they shut up, sit up straight, and memorize the new rules.

Dead on. And it's self perpetuating. The harder they try to nip that dissent in the bud, the harder it is for anyone to stay within the lines. So more and more people are designated as "them". So the imaginary problem seems to be growing, and so they try harder, toughening sanctions, applying zero thought to more and more things till 6yo's are in the headlines for giving a little bag full of clover as a gift to another 6yo.

So what happens next? Is there a way out of this w/o landing up on the shameful end of WWIII?

Necessity never made a good bargain
--Benjamin Franklin Apr. 1734

[Anonymous]

You said:...And it's self perpetuating. The harder they try to nip that dissent in the bud, the harder it is for anyone to stay within the lines. So more and more people are designated as "them". So the imaginary problem seems to be growing, and so they try harder, toughening sanctions, applying zero thought to more and more things till 6yo's are in the headlines for giving a little bag full of clover as a gift to another 6yo...

It's true. When you give extremists what they want, they get more extreme. The competition at Straight was to see who could be tougher on enforcing the rules, until you had things like the Atlanta bathroom incident, or the all-peanut butter diet, or the intake room attitude corrections.

If Bush got his way and tomorrow the U.S. was declared a Christian Corporatocracy, then the Christians would turn on each other in battles over who the "real" Christians were. Businessmen would fight even harder to remove the remaining consumer and employee protections.

[Anonymous]

All in the name of the Holy Bottom Line. What a bunch of asses!

[str8tohell]

We seem to be looking at straight as an individualized issue, it's not. It's part and parcel with the disintigration of the countries codes of morals. Yes, America has committed worse attrocities on the grand scale although rarely towards those who they deemed to be citizens. Until now torture was not state sanctioned, regardless of Bush's denial. Much less the torture of children. It goes hand in hand with the fact that there are over 2 million people behind bars, that veterans are looked at as crazy and no good, and that anybody who is not a good god fearin patriot ought to be taken out back and shot/lynched. Straight will not and should not be seen as a lynch pin in American history but as a symptom of the moral compass of a nation. Wow, I really sound like I hate this place but I do not, I love America and most of the Americans that i know, but its government well.....

[Antigen]

The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.
--H.L. Mencken

Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.
--Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor