On 2004-10-19 14:31:00, Anonymous wrote:
"that isn't the only reason the Seed was against it. It trampled on Art's private little kindom to have other Seed type rehabs out there.
I think that's probably true. As angry as I still am about the whole thing, I don't think Art ever allowed himself to entertain the notion that he was doing anything but good. Remember all the rants against shrinks and schoolpeople (those who didn't sing The Seed's praises, anyway) and other, traditional, rehabs? Then when they set the consent form requirement on his federal funding, he just couldn't bring himself to admit that The Seed was experimental and dangerous.
Well Straight, Inc. fanagled a line into that same funding source. I think Wes has it documented somewhere on thestraights.com. Basically, NIDA ran the money through LEAA and LEAA made grants to Straight.
In other words, no major difference.
No, I wouldn't say there were no major differences. It was essentially the same program and culture.
Straight was more Izod Lacross and less tye-dye. Straight was pro-religion where The Seed was athiest. The only thing we were allowed to read on 2nd phase was The Bible. Oh yeah, the phases were numbered instead of named. But they were the same.
You could get into some deep shit by walking into group or being seen anywhere by another Straightling (and there were always some close by) for failing to maintain a blithe smile on your face. "Your face is hard, just like when you were on front row."
They had a much better business model. Instead of anchoring on a cultive personality, they operated under a corporate plan. That's just a reflection of Sembler's expertise and culture, but it is a
major, very important difference.
Essentially, Art had a pipe dream wherein he played the superhero while Sembler had the expertise and the means to actually garner serious ecconomic and political influence.
I won't say Sembler was in it
just for the money and accolades because his granson wound up in one of the programs formerly known as Straight in either Detroit or Cincinatti (can't remember offhand) just a couple of years ago. I'm sure these people are at least as sincerely convinced in the rightness of what they're doing as Art ever was. Maybe more.
I think there's a misconception about the physical violence at Straight. While I'm pretty sure it was more common than at The Seed, it was by no means as rampant as people seem to think. Remember that Straight was open for around 16 years w/ over 20 locations at it's peak. Those out of control incidents where people got physically injured or tossed around stick in people's minds because that's something anybody can understand. The entire two years I was in Straight, I was only restrained once and marathoned once for around 2 hours. I'm not at all sure that it was significantly more physical or violent than The Seed, though I'm sure we never played no damned softball!
The similarities are far more significant. I was able to watch this going on, even though I didn't fully appreciate what I was seeing till years later, because I already knew the game. So it didn't shock or bother me when my parents stood up and delivered their lines at open meeting. I knew already that my mother was ashamed of me, angry with me and didn't want me back home till I (was broken) started getting straight. And I knew just as certainly that my dad didn't really feel that way, even though he said that he did.
But to the real virgins? The little girl who had smoked pot one time and insisted that she really wasn't a druggie and that she'd be gone after her "two week evaluation" (very fucking funny, huh)? She was absolutely crushed. That was the last thing she had expected to hear from her doting father. You could almost hear her heart break. That's what happened to my very first newcomer. And I was sorely tempted to fill her in a little bit, she was in so much pain! But I knew also that the Program is very, very effective and that, if I took her into my confidence, she might very well have an attack of concience weeks or months later and turn me in.
That's the kind of thing that sticks w/ you; that betrayal, turning family against each other, that isolation in a crowd, pretended love and acceptance... the snitch culture. Those aspects of the Program were carried though unchanged.
But here's something I've wondered about. Awhile back, somone asked me if I was the 'cute little blond kid' at open meetings. I was. And I've often wondered what you guys thought about that. I vaguely remember overhearing conversations among the adults, like maybe my grown brothers, about how messed up it was to take a little kid to open meetings and those endless, smoke filled coffee klatches at Denny's afterward. Didn't you guys think it might be a little messed up? Or did you think like my mom did; that I was one lucky kid to be getting the "gift" of The Seed right from the start?
What kind of humanism expresses its reluctance to sacrifice military casualties by devastating the civilian economy of its adversary for decades to come?
Anonymity Anonymous
Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps.