If the staff members I had experience with were truly "brainwashed", yes that would preclude free will. That's why I put "brainwashed" in quotation marks. I DO NOT believe for one second that the staff members I dealt with were brainwashed. Others may have been, I can't say because I didn't know them. But as a 7th stepper, I hung out with nearly every VA staff member. They laughed about putting "misbehavers" on the peanut butter diet, making 16 year old boys sit in playpens, making girls sit on the guys side and be threatened with rape. They laughed about letting my former newcomer pound her head on the floor until she was nearly unconscious. They openly trashed specific phasers and would toss around ideas of how they were going to "fuck with their heads" in group the next day. And I saw their faces change when they spoke of leading group. They got off on it. It was a power trip, plain and simple. Over a very captive audience. And I know I'm not the only one who saw staff members sitting in the back of group, laughing so hard at kids being insulted and humiliated, that they had to hide their faces behind their clipboards.
It seems to me that truly brainwashed staff would have believed that what was happening was necessary treatment. And why would that be so damnned amusing?
Truly brainwashed staff would have believed in the rules that they crammed down our throats. But these staff members drank, smoked, were screwing each other - not to mention talking shit about phasers by name during off hours.
So, no I can't excuse them under the guise of being brainwashed, since they weren't. But I can admit that they were probably just too simple minded to see that what they were doing was abuse.
Shelby