Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Straight, Inc. and Derivatives

Stoughton - A question for "Staff/Old Comers"

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Anonymous:
When I think about the old comers, the staff, the 5th phasers, the robots... I wonder if these people ever feel bad for what they did. All these years later, are they still brainwashed? Do the "restrainers" ever feel bad for doing the restraining? Do the guys who shoved their fist down between the chair and my back ever think about what they were doing?

There can be some excuses made for the behavior at the time, and if I am feeling generous I will say "we'll they were only kids too" or "They had to abuse us or be abused". But when I am not feeling generous I think why didn't anyone who worked in the office, or some 7th stepper ever tell someone what was going on?

I still feel that if I saw particular staff members today I would really want to tell them to fuck off. Some of these guys were 17, 18, 19 years old. They knew what they were doing was wrong. Was it just a power trip?

Any thoughts from former staff/oldcomers? Did you really believe in the program? Or were you just afraid to speak up?

How could you guys do what you did? Why did we all go along? If everyone refused to talk in group - like a strike - there would have been no group.

I just dont understand how kids could treat kids that way...

Anonymous:
after two startovers and a year away from 18 there was no choice but to play their game.

Antigen:

--- Quote ---On 2006-01-23 14:16:00, Anonymous wrote:

How could you guys do what you did? Why did we all go along? If everyone refused to talk in group - like a strike - there would have been no group.

--- End quote ---


How would you go about planning and organizing the strike? That's the problem. It was an intense snitch culture. We all were turned against each other.

And yeah, I do think most of the staff was entirely brainwashed. I'm not sure all of them were. Some were just sadistic fucks who got off on the whole thing (Virgil) But most were.

That book I'm hawking in the banner at the top of the page answers a lot of this. It covers Fred Collins and Rich Bradburry's stories in the context of the Program's roots in Synanon, the Seed, the TOUGHLOVE hategroup and Lifton's research on thought reform techniques. It splains a lot.

Bigot: One fanatically devoted to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and intolerant of those who differ.
Webster's
--- End quote ---

Bird on a Wire:
Can anyone who was involved in any way really separate it into an us vs them scenario? The questions 'how could they...' or 'how could we...' are unanswerable!

Some people were power-hungry, some believed in what they were doing, some BOTH, probably. From newcomer up, no one is blameless, because even if someone spent the whole time not participating, no one really could or did stick up for the fact that everything was obviously fucked up and people were getting hurt left right and centre etc If they tried they were immediately hurt/squelched themselves. I know it happened to me tons of times when I tried to intervene in host homes when people were being unfairly dealt with - and I remembering seeing it in group too - but it was just an excuse for the pack to turn on you and target you for resisting, wasn't it?

We have to think that everyone, from staff all the way through, has their own struggles about all the things that happened. I don't care how brain-washed a person is, or how much they believe in a system, I don't buy that there aren't inner twinges even in the most steadfast supporters, when they think about the humiliations they either did themselves, or saw inflicted on people, or the physical torturous experiences. No one can remove themselves that completely, I hope...

Striking or other forms of rebellion would have been feasible had there been any possibility of secrecy/communications without treachery, or ways of maintaining solidarity. The main trouble was that the strongest features of the programs were their abilities to divide, break down and conquer. Everyone felt alone and out for themselves against this mass of silent minds, each locked in their own hells, and many of us were sure if we tried to stand against it, we would fail and just be forced to stay longer, be targeted and watched more closely etc. Yeah it sucked...

Anonymous:
i was a staff member in stoughton for 1 month and 2 weeks.....i had been out of str8 for 3 1/2 yrs
when i went on.....looking back,it was only a formality.....they never really wanted me there...
i believe they had no choice,mel riddle wanted them to hire me....just about as soon as i was there they were giving me shit and trying to fire or get me to quit.....sylvia koulker and dean"vasaline ass" minstretta worked thier magic on me....wound up finally getting the staff there to "report me"...mind you,i had been finished with str8 for 3 1/2 yrs,for any thing they could!
 i was a good staff member...when i decided to be a staffer,the reason was because i was told that str8 was making changes in thier "treatment....
i wanted to help....you see, i had a really long and hard program.....i thought my experiences in the "old str8",would be of some insight as to how and what to change....boy was i wrong....oh,don't get me wrong,the changes were made as far as the group was concerned,but the inter workings of staff was still like st.pete ....dog eat dog....
the kids loved me in there....i didn't believe in the bs treatment of them.....but i never stood a chance in there because the staff were giving me the "totum pole" ungreased......when i was fired
they let me say my goodbyes to the group....a riot,i kid you not,a riot erupted in the group!..
i felt like robert redford in the movie "brubaker".......and i'm sad to say that my situation ended the same way too....on my way out ,sylvia koulker said to me if i ever set foot on the premises again,they would have me arrested!.....i wasn't even allowed to go to 7 step meetings.....i had no support group,was many miles from my home area and it really disalutioned me......that would wind up being the begining of my fall or downward spiral into my own little hell....a little over a year later i wound up on the streets of boston...not wanting to live or die.....i'm very lucky to be alive...
not all staff were assholes....at least i wasn't
but i was a very unusual situation.....most staff were right off thier phases and onto staff...i wasn't! when i think about it,thats the reason i was fired! i wasn't controllable.....i had been done for a long time! i also gave those kids hope...i was also proof there was life after str8!
that was somthing the staff there didn't want me there because of that!....basically,they wasted my time and enevitably my life....it took a long time to recover...i never fully did though.....hippie

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