On 2006-02-21 23:02:00, Str8survivorVA wrote:
"OK. Listen up playaaas. This is 4 real.
I initially backed away from this forum for a while for a couple of reasons. But this particular post struck a cord with me that I believe deserves further discussion/exploration.
First, though, the couple of reasons that I, as a Straight Survivor, became reluctant to share further posts on this forum:
1) The initial group of people who had shown me support when I first discovered this forum has somehow transformed into a different group of (primarily ?anonymous?) people who were more interested in insulting one another, rather than advocating the support and camaraderie that I had initially experienced when first posting to this forum when I first ?Woke Up? last year. It had seemingly degraded into a group of persons whose answer to the healing we seek was to ?smoke more pot? rather than discuss/share the problems which, in truth, could only be addressed by an understanding of the facts to form the basis for the beginning to a resolution to the ordeal that we had been through and that others are, to this day continuing to endure?.
I think you are painting with a rather broad brush here. Granted, there are plenty of kooks and downright assholes here, but there can also be useful insights and perspectives to be gained, it just requires a bit of sifting to get to. A bit of caution as to who to trust is also in order, as many of those kooks and assholes seem to enjoy playing "group", or maybe that is the only way they know how to interact with others.
As far as the advice to "smoke more pot", I certainly advocate it, but not as a mere "alcohol substitute". Marijuana is one of the best medications for the treatment of PTSD, and it's use also has the benefit of helping to "short-circuit" Straight programming because to use it is to violate the entire foundation of Straight's fucked up philosophy. While much of the pro-marijuana banter can seem childish, or downright stupid at times, if you can "snort between the lines", so to speak, you will find that many survivors of Straight, Inc. use it as a medicinal tool to help them cope with the experience. I don't think you are being snobbish or hypocritical in the slightest in regards to your comments about marijuana vs. alcohol, I think you may be a little mistaken about your belief that smoking marijuana has no benefits for Straight victims and survivors. Discussing the facts and gaining an understanding of the ordeal is of great importance, I agree, but the use of marijuana for coping with PTSD is a very valuable tool. To simply dismiss it as "druggie bullshit" is to fall prey to more of Straight's programming and conditioning, I recommend the use of marijuana for Straight survivors not only for it's inherent medicinal qualities, but also as a means of defying Straight, Inc.'s programming, and doing so on a
conscious level---NOT from some notion of "powerless inevitability", but as a means of asserting one's separation from Straight's indoctrination.
2) When I have posted political type of comments that allude to the bigger picture of what we have been through with Str8, I am inundated with feedback that my posts are irrelevant and have no place on this forum. I have become discouraged by this, and would have liked to have thought that more of those on this forum would see this connection and be inclined to look into it and see the FACTS for what they really are
Again, this is where the sifting through shit becomes important. There are some really deranged people on these forums, and often their paranoia gets in the way of useful, meaningful discussion and conversation. However, "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you." A lot of interesting theories as to the extent of Straight's influence and purpose have been thrown around, many of which seem to be well-grounded in fact, not merely figments of paranoid imaginations.
FACT: Straight was the continuation of a government experiment on behavior modification techniques. The ?rehabilitation? of ?troubled teens? was the perfect alibi for the furtherance/funding of these studies. Good for funding, good for politics, good for votes, good for gov?t research. Period.
We (Straight Survivors) are the fallout of this (well funded) experiment. While Maia Szalavitz?s book does a good job of accurately documenting the atrocities that occurred when we were imprisoned there, the story of the aftermath is still left to be told.
I agree that only half of the story is beginning to be told, the aftermath of Straight, and the psychological, emotional, and all-too-often physical damage lingers in many of us, long after the abuse factory shut down. Too many times I have seen the destructive effects of Straight, many, many years after the last MI was written or the last rules rap attended. Abusive situations such as the one we were in leave various traumas and suffering for numerous reasons in addition to the day-to-day mental (and physical) tortures. The fact that we were told it was "therapeutic" has caused many of us to have a distrust of anything remotely resembling mental health treatment, and since most of us were placed their by our parents, and many betrayed by siblings during the ordeal, relationships and issues of misplaced or ill-placed trust often occur. Add thias to the constant belittling of and assault on our sense of self-worth, and it's pretty amazing that we have survived at all. Many did not. That speaks volumes in and of itself. Straight was an all-too-real quack "therapy" for an imaginary "disease", the "cure" being far worse than the "illness" ever could have been, sort of like cutting off a hand to get rid of a hangnail.
I think you have hit the nail on the head with these observations, and I hope you will continue to contribute to the forum with your insights and perspectives on the ordeal that was/is Straight, Inc.
