Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Seed Discussion Forum

The Source

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cleveland:
I think we Seed kids tend to think of our experiences as unique. By reading other areas of this site, I've come to find that the Seed has been replicated and has many names. In fact, the whole thinking of the Seed permeates a lot of our self-help culture, especially in business and in seminars.

Well, if you want to be brought up to date, you can read The Source, a magazine that is full of canned testimonials from kids and parents who are involved in one of many locked-down, behaviour modification schools operating all over the world. It's like being at an Open Meeting! The content, language and attitudes are exactly the same!

http://www.thesource4parents.com/

Antigen:
Hey Walley,
   Amazing, isn't it? But these programs didn't come from The Seed. CEDU was established in the mid `60's by a Mel Wasserman. No one seems too sure exactly what his connection was to Synanon, but he was open about basing CEDU on its philosophy.

  The WWASP programs (TeenHelp) go back to CEDU by some documentable connections. I don't remember offhand what they were, but I could look it up or you can ask someone w/ more knowledge about WWASP/CEDU if you're interested. Deborah is pretty good for reliable, verifiable info along those lines.

  Anyway, this is one of the real puzzles remaining. We can be pretty sure that Art didn't really dream up the Program all by himself. Just too damned many similarities to be coincidental. So then where did it come from? My best guess is that John Underwood was the Synanon influence. I don't know this to be fact, but everything fits; his age, his vague past (didn't get to staff from front row like everyone else) and the changes to the program that seemed to coorelate w/ his arrival.

  What do you think?

  Oh, and BTW, if anyone's up for reliving a comedown rap, there's a nice one going on at http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... forum=9&84 Around page 3 or so, a couple of WWASP supporters (possibly current staff or somehing) start to chime in. Interesting stuff!

I don't go lookin' for trouble. I just keep a little in a box should someone come by who is.
--Bill Warbis
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cleveland:
All of these 'program' ideas converge. Perhaps someone like John Underwood (he was always spoken of reverentially, though I never met him) provided the 'missing link' to Synanon. And the changes the Seed underwent, from kind of a hippy hangout with free food for the freaks and AA-type raps, to a full-bore 'behavior mod' program, seems to indicate this type of outside influence. Maybe someday, someone will 'fess up.

I have been trying to put my finger on the essence of all of these programs, and why they are so slippery - you know, seductive, and why people have such a hard time letting them go, being honest (even to themselves) about the experince, years later, and why, even critics have grudging admiration for them. I'm going to doa a separate post for that, at the risk of me being over-exposed on this forum. I have to get it out!

Anonymous:
John U went through the program , just like everyone else.  I really don't think he went to any other program- unless a local one.

Antigen:

--- Quote ---On 2004-12-30 08:39:00, Anonymous wrote:

"John U went through the program , just like everyone else.  I really don't think he went to any other program- unless a local one. "

--- End quote ---


Were you there then?
Black markets will always be with us. But they will recede in importance when our public morality is consistent with our private one.


Eric Schlosser, Reefer Madness
--- End quote ---

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