A trend that I have noticed, and I could be wrong, is that there seems to be a relationship between the effectiveness of the coercive ideology, and the nuts-and-bolts aspects of punishments and restrictions.
When I was there, it was no-tolerance. Everyone pretty much bought into the program, and were happy little brainwashed kids, at least that's how it appeared to me. The restrictions sucked, but people were certainly not on full-times for a month and a half, if memory serves. And if they were, it was an exception as opposed to a norm.
However, when the hypocrisy and the contradictions of the "emotional growth" aspect of the program started to become more evident, and the ideological underpinnings began to crumble upon themselves, (which is what inevitably happens with coercive practices, sooner or later), the punishments and restrictions became more severe and absurd, to counteract the fact that the kids were no longer going to be able to be kept in line by a bunch of cultish bullshit that was showing its age and obsolescence.
I've talked to people in this forum who attended in the mid to late 90s and said that they really never had much of a problem resisting the program's teachings. This was unheard of in my time. Everyone towed the line. We ratted on each other, we laid ourselves bare in raps, we disclosed our worst secrets, and we truly believed that if we didn't run our anger regularly, something bad would happen to our brains. People who didn't get with the program or tried to fake it were nailed, dropped peer groups or sent to wilderness. They were singled out.
I predicted CEDU's demise before I even knew it had been shut down. I came to my own conclusions that the theoretical garbage that was perpetuated there would eventually implode upon itself, and that would be paired with a rise in other, more blatant, physical forms of abuse, until finally, the entire thing would just run itself into the ground.
When I did find out about the closings, and the lawsuits, and the riot, it didn't surprise me in the least. It was still shocking, hearing about the kinds of things that happened there, but there was also that aspect of "Holy crap! I was right!" You would think that I would have felt validated, but it left a very bad, sickening taste in my mouth.
But this is what happens in every cult. It starts out with a coercive ideology that draws people in and makes them conform. Then, eventually, things start to fall apart, and the atmosphere of the cult changes to a much darker and/or more chaotic/disorganized one. Synanon, Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, Branch Dividians, and yes, CEDU.
I can tell you this, when I was there, kids weren't made to sit outside in a tent, regardless of the weather for up to 7 months sometimes (according to a fornits poster). People weren't made to sit out in the cold with no shelter for two days as punishment, they weren't made to cut an entire lawn with their hands, they weren't on full-times for two months, nor were they on bans from half the fucking school for two years. Why? Because the ideology was still working on keeping us complacent and brainwashed. But that kind of mumbo jumbo can't sustain itself forever. Something else has to step in and pick up the slack once that starts to crumble. Once one form of extremism subsides, another one has to replace it. The good news is, in CEDU's case, neither form was able to sustain itself forever. Its contradictions and hypocrisy were instrumental in its undoing.
And thank god for that, eh? Let's hope other places follow suit, with as few casualties as possible. The problem is, the more chinks in the armor, the more kids end up getting hurt in new and brutal ways.
Which brings me back to my reasons for this thread. I want to gain a better understanding of this inversely-proportional relationship between coercive ideology, and more "physical" forms of abuse. i.e. restrictions, full-times, work details, bans. This is why I am curious as to when people were there and what kinds of restrictions they were on. It would also be helpful to know how much of a "programmie" you were while you were there. There's no shame in admitting if you were. I know I was.
