This thread could be deep sixed. Fornits was never intended to be pro-program. There are other sites for that. It's not about censorship - it's about specificity. It is gut churning to read the BS promoted by industry trolls with a derailment agenda. It really makes no sense for Whootie and the Suck Fish to reside at this site.
No one cares if you ate cake once a year, sang "O Happy Day", and liked the special gorp offered on Sundays. Those marginal incidences are are not germane to the reality that programs were holistically, systemically, and systematically twisted and fraudulent. I will never forget the persistent, pervasive feeling of anxiety that consumed you 24/7 and the constant hope that while today might be a brainwashing day, perhaps it won't be your "target" day. TBS's were places that never made sense because every directive and exercise is arbitrary. People who are chronically demeaned and expected to live a lie over a period of years do not leave whole. I can forgive my own experience. I cannot forgive what has happened to others.
You could argue all the shit you want about public schools, but at least they existed somewhat along society's proven function/dysfunction.
TBS's forced you to live white in a black world or black in a white world and when you got out, you had no coping skills for the real world. You didn't even have yourself.
What I especially resent is Suck It's trenchant belief that we all deserved to be psychologically abused and disembodied. Most kids I knew at the program were not on the road to jail, death, or insanity. That is part of the myth.
I was not a "bad" kid. My ethics often outweighed the polo wearing honor students who looked good on paper but who were faithless to their friends and public values.
If a kid is truly bad, a TBS is a sociopath's haven.
For sure, there are deeply troubled teens (and adults) out there. Good parenting from the outset is needed. Mentors are needed. Transcendental experiences are needed. Maybe a good program is needed - like art or music or oceanography. You don't dump them down the rabbit hole with no advocacy or recourses.
Sometimes you ride out the storm and let the consequences be natural. Sometimes problems have no answers.