"DOCTRINE OVER PERSON
The underlying assumption is that doctrine/ideology is ultimately more valid, true and real than any aspect of actual human character or human experience and one must subject one's experience to that "truth"
The principal role of All About Receiving Cash, as far as AARC parents are concerned, is relieving the parents of the tension associated with having children. All responsibility for the child is taken away by categorizing the child as diseased. The odd thing is that even after attributing all non-compliant behavior, real or imagined, to the disease, the child is characterized as self-centered. So apparently both a tremendous moral failing, and a physical ailment co-exist in the AARC inmate.
DavidPablo Escobar-Grant, scion of AARC's founders, former inmate, former staffer, and former propagandist, describes his failings thus:"It was really important for me, a self-centred addict to hear how I had impacted the lives of people I loved." This is in reference to his mother.
Here is another interesting statement DavidPablo makes about his parents' salesmanship of AARC to the Rotarians:
"My parents stunned the audience when they talked about being an, (sic) average, middle-class family, and what addiction had done to their family for more than a decade."
I don't know if these folks knew they were lying, or if they really considered themselves average, but consider this: DavidPablo explains that his mother and father brought the family to Canada from South Africa when the children were young. The boys had a tremendous amount of difficulty adjusting to the culture change. DavidPablo's father abused alcohol, was a philanderer, a follower of another cult, EST, physically abused the boys, verbally berated DavidPablo's brother, and finally left the family for his mistress, with whom he sired several children. DavidPablo's father left this woman as well. DavidPablo's mother later moved a lay-about free-loader into her children's home. At one point DavidPablo describes coming upon his mother wielding a hammer while menacing her paramour. This fellow eventually went by the wayside, and DavidPablo's mother married AARC's Marclo Polo.
DavidPablo's mother was a driving force, according to DavidPablo, in bringing AARC to Calgary. He describes her so: "Mum and her friend Vicky were into all sorts of activities; Tarot Cards, I Ching, Rebirthing, Regession (looking at past lives), meditation, and a host of others."
Sounds just like every middleclass family I knew.
"Later I resented that Mum was encouraged to spend money that was in short supply on all these retreats and activities. I know now that she was just seeking, trying to find something to fill that spiritual void an help with the pain of my father's betrayal. She was just looking to feel better." All in all, a reasonable and compassionate assessment of an unfortunate person. Unforunately, DavidPablo, and the rest of those at AARC, feel somewhat differently about young people who seek to fill a void or look to feel better.
