Author Topic: Questions about Arthur R. Barker and the Seed  (Read 3430 times)

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Offline starry-eyed pirate

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Questions about Arthur R. Barker and the Seed
« on: January 03, 2011, 01:55:38 AM »
I am curious about Art Barker.  I don't really know too much about him.  I was in $tr8 in the mid 80s and am trying to trace the various lines of influence.  I wonder how far he was into his AA recovery when he founded the Seed.  I wonder how a man like Barker secures a 1 million dollar start-up grant from congress.  What became of him after the Seed closed ??  As far as I know the Seed only operated for 6 years or something like that.  What do you know about him ??  I am interested in knowing more about Art Barker and the roots of the Seed.

Thankyou.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2011, 12:16:59 PM by starry-eyed pirate »
If you would have justice in this world, then begin to see that a human being is not a means to some end.  People are not commodities.  When human beings are just to one another government becomes obsolete and real freedom is born; SPIRITUAL ANARCHY.

Offline none-ya

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Re: Questions about Arthur F. Barker and the Seed
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2011, 02:15:12 AM »
The old bastard is fuckin' dead.Never to be held accountable for the crimes commited by himslf and countless others in his name.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline starry-eyed pirate

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Re: Questions about Arthur F. Barker and the Seed
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2011, 06:30:09 PM »
'Ey none-ya, do you know how long the Seed ran for ??  How many programs there were ??  and where they were ?? curious.  I know there was a Ft. Lauderdale Seed, St Pete and one in Cleveland too, whatcha got ??
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
If you would have justice in this world, then begin to see that a human being is not a means to some end.  People are not commodities.  When human beings are just to one another government becomes obsolete and real freedom is born; SPIRITUAL ANARCHY.

Offline none-ya

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Re: Questions about Arthur F. Barker and the Seed
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2011, 06:50:53 PM »
Quote from: "starry-eyed pirate"
'Ey none-ya, do you know how long the Seed ran for ??  How many programs there were ??  and where they were ?? curious.  I know there was a Ft. Lauderdale Seed and one in Cleveland too, whatcha got ??


You know all that stuff is here in a bunch of pretty old posts. But let's see. Started in ft lauderdale 71-72
St. petersburg late 72 And I beleive they ran a second location in Dade (miami). Barker had a falling out with the state(i guess they cut off the $$). The leftovers of the St.pete program morphed into straight. That godamn morgan yacht building. Barker (i think) cut and ran to Cleavland. Again I'm not sure of the dates. There are people here who know a lot more of the hisotrical particulars than i do. Here is an old link to a guy who was gonna' write a book about the seed, but I don't think it ever happened.
http://www.insidersview.info/theseed.htm
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Offline starry-eyed pirate

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Re: Questions about Arthur F. Barker and the Seed
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2011, 12:06:47 AM »
Thanks none-ya.  I red the link.  A pretty well thought out piece and interesting to compare with my own experience in $tr8 in the 80s.  Not much new information on Barker though.  I wonder about him.  I wonder how he acquired his funding from congress, whether or not he ever met Robert DuPont or had a connection to the Narco Farm and who the first Seedlings were.

I noticed an article in Mother Jones by Maia Szalavitz in which a flow chart of the various splinters off a Synanon shows the Phoenix House as the direct predecessor to the Seed.  I wonder if Art Barker had any connection to the Phoenix House before he founded the Seed or what she based that on.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
If you would have justice in this world, then begin to see that a human being is not a means to some end.  People are not commodities.  When human beings are just to one another government becomes obsolete and real freedom is born; SPIRITUAL ANARCHY.

Offline Ursus

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Re: Questions about Arthur F. Barker and the Seed
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2011, 02:17:00 AM »
Most all of the old Seed newspaper articles that I've read, which touch upon what Barker's methodologies were derived from, mention the terms "peer pressure" and "love."

Sometimes peer pressure is further defined as "positive peer pressure," and sometimes even further differentiated as being the antidote to "negative peer pressure." The negative peer pressure is characterized as being derived from that incentive to fit in with one's pals which supposedly got all these kids to become immersed in the drug culture in the first place.

This theme of substituting a "positive" milieu for a "negative" one, and using peers in a form of group therapy as the crowbar, is what Guided Group Interaction is based on.

In fact, I did come across one article which specifically mentioned that Art Barker's methodology was based on "guided group interaction," as well as some other methods including AA/12-Step, but that article has now disappeared from Google's archive (I've made note of the date and newspaper; hopefully it may return to circulation).
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline Ursus

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Re: Questions about Arthur F. Barker and the Seed
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2011, 02:30:34 AM »
Guided Group Interaction was primarily developed by psychologist Lloyd McCorkle while he was director of a military prison (Fort Knox, Kentucky) in the mid 1940s. This prison was specifically for enlisted men who had committed crimes or gone AWOL, but who were still considered fit enough to be "rehabilitated" and returned to service. A substantial part of their rehabilitation was based on GGI group therapy.

After the war, McCorkle became a prison warden in New Jersey and introduced GGI into certain prisons of their system in the late 1940s. Later, he went on to introduce it into the juvenile system, starting with the founding of the Highfields Residential Treatment Center in 1950.

By the 1960s, GGI and its spinoffs were in quite a few places all over the country. Note that by this time it was mostly still in the juvie system, its private contractors and institutions of that ilk.

In 1967, Florida recruited an out of stater to head up and rehab their juvenile system. The egregious abuses of Marianna and other such institutions had gone beyond the pale. They picked Oliver Keller, who was then head of the Illinois juvie system, to close Marianna for good. Keller also had lots of academic training under his belt in the new psychological methods of behavior modification, then considered to be a kinder, gentler means of turning kids' lives around. GGI was one of those methodologies.
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Offline Ursus

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Re: Questions about Arthur F. Barker and the Seed
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2011, 02:47:27 AM »
Personally, I kinda doubt that Lloyd McCorkle was some evil genius who cooked up Guided Group Interaction completely on his own. That's think tank material. However, he put said concepts into an operational format, gave them a name, and put them into practice. He also published his findings, guaranteeing his place in all this.

Fwiw, two GGI spinoffs / descendants you might more easily recognize:

    William Glasser's
Reality Therapy, and
Harry Vorrath & Larry Brendtro's Positive Peer Culture.[/list]
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Offline none-ya

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Re: Questions about Arthur R. Barker and the Seed
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2011, 01:20:50 PM »
Quote
Ursas wrote;
". The egregious abuses of Marianna and other such institutions had gone beyond the pale"


What is it with this state?
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/marianna/
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Offline seamus

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Re: Questions about Arthur R. Barker and the Seed
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2011, 05:13:04 PM »
no shit....id just as soon stick my head in fire as live in florida again.I only miss the seafood. :nods:
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Offline Antigen

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Re: Questions about Arthur R. Barker and the Seed
« Reply #10 on: January 26, 2011, 07:36:39 PM »
I only have time to skim this thread, so forgive me if I'm repeating anything.

The Seed started out on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale, expanded to St. Pete, Cleveland, briefely to New York and Miami. After the Ervin report on the Federal Role in Behavior Modification and Art's refusal to play anything less than the God role in his cult, they lost the Federal funding. They didn't shut down, though, and he didn't scoot to Cleveland. They just quit taking minors for awhile till the heat was off and retracted into a small, reclusive but extremely lucrative cult back in Ft. Lauderdale till around 2000 or so. At that time, an event occurred which, according to 'old timers', has come to be known as "The Rap From Hell", during which the Libbi and Art factions had it out for the final time, tore the blanket and disincorporated The Seed, Inc.

Ask GregFL for more details. Also, if you happen across a full color Seed logo, please pass it along!

Thanks,
Ginger
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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