I dont think govt will do anything productive, they are killing kids at a pretty good clip just as well as the business men. I think people are generally pretty good, and only a small minority of parents would ever consider sending their kid to a wwasp like facility. Most parents actually advocate for their child, rather than against them.
I believe the only tactic that would produce short term benefits at this point is to shame them, and get publicy out there, since most people don't even know about this. Even a catch phrase for the type of abuse we are talking about would help, so people could remember it as 'an issue' to care about. People care about things these days, even if its the wrong things. I study food production models and a recent study has shown that behind chemical spraying of food, the biggest concern for consumers is how the animals are treated on the farm. This elicits much more emotion than say the topic of, migrant labor human rights. Think about it, consumers care more about how a cow, or goat, or chicken is treated than the human being that is delivering their very food. I thought it was crazy, what kind of crazy peopel did they find for this survey, but it wasn't that at all. If you look into the details, the reason why is because 'animal rights' is such a highly publicized issue these days. Several of the people involved said they had seen videos from peta, toured slaughterhouses, things like that.
Well, what if there was a teen rights organization or something similar like peta. It wouldn't be about telling our war stories, it would be about actively producing results by changing minds, and raising money. That, in my opinion, might actually produce some short term results. Creative marketing can be used against these companies just as easily as they use it to lure the parents in. These demographic of their customer base is relatively well off folks, mostly middle-upper class and upper class. These are the kind of people that use technology, use the internet and might actually care about issues. Teen rights might not be a priority for most people, but that's because they either don't know about what is going on, or assume the common stereotype that the kids are all gangbangers in need of a good ass whoopin'. But seriously, who cares what the general public thinks, we would be trying to hit up the future customers of these places directly. I think most people agree these places are stupid, or are too expensive, but if you could figure out who is the type of person who doesn't dismiss the idea, and the warning signs, you could hit them up before the vultures... or wasps do.
I think the main problem is such an organization takes a lot of sacrifice on the part of the individuals involved, to say the least. I think a core group of ten people or so could do it though. I've seen similar models for other social groups, and it can work. Ten people renting a house doens't cost a lot of money, and frees up a lot of your time. Free time to do things like stage multiple sit-in hunger strikes in front of multiple facilities. And at the homes of the owners of the facilities, or other strategic locations. That might just garner some national media attention. Two people in front of a facility, staging a hunger strike with demands to .. improve living conditions.. allow freedom of communication.. rights... more regulation.. or whatever.. the main idea is the media attention. If there is a tangible demand, then the perception is that the strike will continue on. Of course it would be up to the individuals involved, but even five days would get serious attention. Think if it were several facilities all at once. So if you were ready for a media blitz, had a campaign ready, and organized like peta or something like that, it might create a buzz.
That wwasp documentary was nice, but it would be really nice to see a documentary about the entire industry and its scale in general, and the mechanics and bearacracy and tangents and political connections and all that. Showing people the TB documentary makes people think that is an abberation, but we all know its not.
I think people look at the industry as a whole, and dismiss the bad stories as a small percentage of an otherwise satisfied lot of customers. With the rise of the internet, and networking, its obvious after reading through the alumni of these facilities that the minority is in fact the kids and parents who were satisfied! You'd think this ponzi scheme would have collapsed a long time ago, but I think their customer base just keeps getting larger, in size, ignorance and indignance. It's time to attack the one thing they hold so preciously dear in their hearts, appearance. Ever notice how program parents love to pretend they sent their kid off to a country club school, they always minimize it to their friends. It's time to 'throw paint on their fur coats' and let everyone know of their dirty little secret. I believe it can be done, a small group of dedicated people can do enormous things.
-just a stoned program dropout
