Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => Aspen Education Group => Brat Camp => Topic started by: Pete on July 14, 2005, 12:45:00 PM
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Orlando Sentinel:
ABC has perfected the feel-good reality show with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." The network has gone another route with reality recently, with some disastrous results.
Brace yourself for feel-uneasy TV.
"Brat Camp," debuting Wednesday, tracks nine reckless teens whose desperate parents ship them off to a wilderness boot camp to shape up. The goal is laudable, but the program turns voyeuristic and intrusive.
There's no contest among the participants on "Brat Camp." The unruly teens have been sent off to SageWalk, The Wilderness School, in remote Oregon, to be broken of their destructive ways.
The situations are dramatic and shocking. The therapists react thoughtfully but firmly. The teens comport themselves before the camera with chilling ease. Socially awkward Frank and compulsive liar Jada are the dominant figures in the two-hour premiere.
Yet "Brat Camp" operates on the questionable notion that intense, personal therapy can be adapted into entertainment for the masses. This programming for a summer night depends on confused, young lives that might be better off protected from a camera's invasiveness.
The narration often sounds too optimistic for the dire situations. There's a lot more at stake with "Brat Camp" than whether it succeeds in the ratings. It will take years to understand whether the children turned themselves around.
ABC likes to trumpet that its reality programs provide wish fulfillment. Yet you might wish that "Brat Camp," like the recently yanked Austin-set series "Welcome to the Neigh-borhood," hadn't reached the air.
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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In the annals of parent nightmares, this one is near the top: teens who won't behave and, worse, become threats (bodily as well as psychologically) to everyone around them.
What's a parent to do when all else fails? Send the kid to a brat camp, a place far out in the wilderness (so no one will know or see) and get him or her straightened out, at any cost. In this primetime telecast, "Brat Camp," kids get sent packing, as it were, to that very same wilderness and the viewer gets to watch the kids' psychological turnaround -- every painful, seemingly sadistic moment of it (although sometimes caring as well).
As television fodder, this is old stuff: Maury Povich and Montel Williams, for starters, have been doing it for years, albeit in more sensationalistic form. It has great audience appeal, the kind that reality television folk love: the plain old, gladiatorial thrill of watching someone get punished, the rush of that voyeuristic gaze into someone else's distorted life.
The group of kids in this telecast, whose problems range from drug and sex addiction to plain old (but severe) oppositional behavior, get their due. And we're there to see every thrilling moment of it. More signs of the times.
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sex addiction
Would it be called that if they were adult?
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Healthy.
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It's amazing that Fair Housing was going to sue ABC for allowing a bunch of bigots to decide who's worthy enough to live their neighborhood, but there's not one national children's organization speaking out at the very least about this sick show.
If any of these kids make it out of there here are some suggestions:
1) Call CPS on your parents and tell them about how you were forced to go into that place and suffered mental and / or physical abuse. If it takes 10 years or so for the brainwashing to wear off like it did for many of us here, then speak out publicly about your experiences when you finally come to terms of how wrong these places are.
2) If you have ever disclosed substance abuse to this place, file a recipent rights complaint. It's against the law to disclose a client's substance abuse issues w/out their consent. Oh I'm sure they had all the kids sign a long agreement to sign their rights away, but plead that you were coherced. Think about how for the rest of your life potential employers, colleges, professional associations, and mates are going to have an extremely easy time finding out you used substances because your parents allowed all your buisness to be paraded on TV.
Just a little background info from my own exp, I once signed away my freedom in a treatment center as a minor. You see we were all coherced into doing this because we were told we would not be able to ever move up on our phases (treatment level) and we would not have the "priveledge" of speaking to our parents. So if we did not sign the consent for treatment form we would never be able to make it off the first level, talk to our parents, go to school on the outside, or have a chance to go back home before we turned 18.
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Your post tells the whole story and you still don't get it.
People in this country---parents, media types, CPS, whoever---just don't buy the line you're selling that putting limits on a kid is abuse.
It's just a few malcontents like yourself who think that putting a defiant drug abusing kid in a program is abuse.
Oh you may find a scum bag lawyer here and there who will try to trump up a case in certain circumstances but without enough stupid gullible people on the jury, that case is going to go nowhere
Bottom line: reason there is virtually no criticism of Brat Camp (which btw I think should NOT have been televised because these kids deserved privacy in working out their problems) is because the country (except for some posters here apparently) has collectively grown up and is no longer willing to let adolescents run wild and ruin their lives in the name of unguided self-expression
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Well don't you think it ODD that the so called professionals who work there even ALLOWED it to be aired on national TV? That they agreed to this arrangement? I think they, along with the parents, are solely responsible for that. Them even more because they are supposed to know better. The problem with this program, is that if you will read pretty much any professional counselor or psychological organization's code of ethics, they all list things such as: confidentiality, having a say in their therapy, being treated with dignity, being respected, being given the most freedom they can within the confines of therapy. These things are listed in every major professional association, I am sure also the ones those so called professionals on the show are members of. These people are supposed to be professional THERAPISTS. That is not what therapists are supposed to be doing.
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On 2005-07-14 11:04:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Your post tells the whole story and you still don't get it.
People in this country---parents, media types, CPS, whoever---just don't buy the line you're selling that putting limits on a kid is abuse.
It's just a few malcontents like yourself who think that putting a defiant drug abusing kid in a program is abuse.
Oh you may find a scum bag lawyer here and there who will try to trump up a case in certain circumstances but without enough stupid gullible people on the jury, that case is going to go nowhere
Bottom line: reason there is virtually no criticism of Brat Camp (which btw I think should NOT have been televised because these kids deserved privacy in working out their problems) is because the country (except for some posters here apparently) has collectively grown up and is no longer willing to let adolescents run wild and ruin their lives in the name of unguided self-expression"
No, putting limits on a child's behavior is not child abuse. But forcing children to sleep in tents outside in the snow is. And forcing children to march on and on and on, while punishing those who can't keep on going (a common occurance in wilderness programs) is child abuse. Restricting food and water (another widely used practice in programs) is child abuse. Restricting communication between parents and children (which is done in almost all programs) is child abuse.
The reason that there isn't more criticism is because people have been indoctrinated with this stupid "tough love" approach, which basically states that all a "defiant" kid needs is a good beating. But you can't say that out loud, of course. So you do it in other ways: restrict their food and water, make them march for hours and hours, force them to sleep outside despite the extremely low temperatures. And, yes, all that is abusive-- but who gives a damn, right? As long as those little spoiled brats get what's coming to them.
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Oh yeah, and let's not forget -- telling the truth!! Those kids were lied to about what they were getting into, and the counselors just left after they were all devestated. Leaving devestated kids to "process through it" is absurd.
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AND, it seems this place isnt' even licensed by the freaking state. Can you say RED FLAG? http://www.sagewalk.com/links.htm (http://www.sagewalk.com/links.htm). Where is the state of Oregon's health dept on this list?? It's not here because they don't want to follow standard procedure. That's really cool, isn't it.
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On 2005-07-14 11:04:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Your post tells the whole story and you still don't get it.
People in this country---parents, media types, CPS, whoever---just don't buy the line you're selling that putting limits on a kid is abuse.
It's just a few malcontents like yourself who think that putting a defiant drug abusing kid in a program is abuse.
Oh you may find a scum bag lawyer here and there who will try to trump up a case in certain circumstances but without enough stupid gullible people on the jury, that case is going to go nowhere
Bottom line: reason there is virtually no criticism of Brat Camp (which btw I think should NOT have been televised because these kids deserved privacy in working out their problems) is because the country (except for some posters here apparently) has collectively grown up and is no longer willing to let adolescents run wild and ruin their lives in the name of unguided self-expression"
Oh, but you are wrong I do get it. I get that people like you have perverse pleasure in making kids suffer all in the name of treatment.
Chances are the parents are the ones that helped contribute to all the underlying problems that caused the kids to act out.
Treatment should not mentally or phyically harm someone, nor put them at risk. Your right I'm "malcontent". I'm not content with people harming kids. I know you thought you were attacking my intelligence by your snide remark, but you have failed.
I am also not against treatment that is based on a strengths / empowerment based approach and on an out patient basis.
These places are causing more harm. The break them down and build them up approach is not an effective means of beneficial treatment. If you understand anything about brain washing techniques this is a major component.
Sounds like I hit a nerve with you. ***Patting myself on the back***** :wave:
Also there have been numerous studies done on offenders that went through boot camp programs versus jail and prison and it DID NOT lower any recidivism rates. I highly doubt these places for teens have any long term effects of stopping "undesirable" behaviors.
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The credits were "inspiring." And just how does one become CERTIFIED as a restraint specialist?
And just how many kids have died in these programs while being restrained? Made me want to throw up.
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Perhaps we should threaten to boycott ABC's Desperate Housewives to get Brat Camp off the air. Desperate Housewives is their pride and joy. :rofl:
Someone please make a note of the advertisers sponsoring brat camp the next time you watch it.
BTW any therapist that thinks their clients are brats are in the wrong profession. Shame on you for working in a place like this!!!!!!!!!
Regarding the previous post about professional ethics: you are absolutely right!
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One of the screwed up families on Desperate Housewives sent their son to a boot camp.
Did you see the trailer that aired during the program for another series to air on ABC?
Wildfires- missed part of it but something along the lines of a teen girl being sent to a gulag that was a horse ranch. She refered to it as 'prison'.
Now these guys are really clever, the one's with the farms/ranches. They get free labor in addition to tuition. What a sweet, sweet, deal.
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it won't be along long. the show was horrible. of course everyone here found it interesting though.
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***BTW any therapist that thinks their clients are brats are in the wrong profession. Shame on you for working in a place like this!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, when the staff (Glacier) referred to some of the kids as 'punks' and 'brats', I wondered how many people would appreciate their therapist- the person who is supposed to understand that distressed people act in socially inappropriate ways- judging them with a derogatory label. How could you possibly 'help' anyone that you felt so much disdain for?
I also wondered how many thousands of people were watching who would now believe that they knew all there is to know about wilderness and begin to sell the program to any desperate parent who crossed their path.
The war on teens is disgusting and pathetic.
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How stupid were those psudo-names. Even the therapists didn't give their real name. Not a very trusting environment when someone won't even tell you there name. I agree, staff have wised up and finally figured out they might run into us one day, and we DO grow up! :skull:
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The therapists react thoughtfully but firmly.
Therapists, by whose definition? Do they actually have and credentials?
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http://www.sptimes.com/2005/07/12/Flori ... ake_.shtml (http://www.sptimes.com/2005/07/12/Floridian/Unhappy_campers_make_.shtml)
http://www.youthrights.org/forums/archive/ (http://www.youthrights.org/forums/archive/)
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This is the best post in this category. The tough love approach has gone out of control in the hands of power trippers like these sadistic hippy wanna bes. I'm the type who feels that kids need discipline but these camps go waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond that. There's discipline, then there's psychological torture.
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yeah we need to get tough on today's youth, because otherwise they might prove to be smarter and quicker and more intuitive than the rest of us, and they'll take over and we'll all be locked in old folks homes having to listen to their hipping-hopping rock and roll with the baggy pants and the bling, god help us.
Give me a break. Just because the 45-55 babyboomer age group is the largest demographic, doesn't mean the kids don't exist. It's their world too and life is short.
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See the thing is we are smarter, faster, more physically fit, more tech compatable. We are better than they are, and they are scared of that.
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For me, the problem is the assumption that these are "bad" kids that need to be "fixed". Does anyone know what their home life is like or even care? I'm tired of crappy parents who don't know what they're doing, screwing up kids and then sending them away because they're tired of dealing with them. Even if they have some kind of 'breakthough', I doubt it'll last once they have to deal with their home environment. Did anyone from this show make sure they aren't being emotionally/physically abused at home? Doubt it.
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Wednesday, July 20 at 9/8c
After the kids plot their escape and Isaiah runs off, tough new field instructors -- Aspen and Fire Shaper -- are brought in to help regain control. And the kids are taken on a hike through the snow... which turns into a raging blizzard.
Can't wait :???:
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Deborah--aren't you the psych school reject---now giving advice to counseling programs LOL?
Sounds like you're mighty hung up on language honey--so what if the counsellors say "punk" or "brats" maybe some of these kids thinks that's complementery. That's the relative nature of language, something a concrete thinker like you can't get
The population has gone beyond you babe---and from what I hear--- the day after Brat Camp aired there was a flood of calls to two wilderness programs I know of, don't know about the dozens where I don't know anyone.
See maybe the TV program didn't give a full picture of wilderness programs (most TV programs don't give an adequate protrayl of much)---but what was on there was obviously a lot more compelling and interesting and real than the whining and raving and generally complaining that comes out of you and your compatriots here
Brat Camp is going to marginalize this scummy site even further
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Thanks for showing your true colors, you sadistic bitch! Thank god your self isolated little circle of "friends" are the only ones who view this site as marginal.
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On 2005-07-15 10:55:00, Anonymous wrote:
I'm tired of crappy parents who don't know what they're doing, screwing up kids and then sending them away because they're tired of dealing with them.
You seem to assume that the kids must all be legitimately screwed up to begin with. Please google the terms "troubled teen signs" and read over the criteria by which this industry damns a kid to thought reform. You'll find that the "signs" of trouble describe your fairly typical teenager. It's the parents who are troubled. And, judging by broader responses to the program that just the industry buffs who land up here, it looks like only pretty screwed up parents ever fall for it.
Kids are pretty resilient. Even if their home life is not perfect, most people turn out ok. Even those of us who have been through a program manage to shake it off and get our acts together most of the time. The trouble is that the public perception seems to be that we're better off than those who didn't get the "benefit" of treatment. That's such a sad joke to anyone w/ any real basis for an opinion.
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
Anonymity Anonymous (http://fornits.com/anonanon)
return undef() if /coercion/i;
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I suppose it is an issue of perception. I didn?t see punks and brats. I saw teens from broken and/or ?dysfunctional? families who were grieving, who were fearful to the point of rage and/or self destruction, who were confused, hopeless, and helpless ('spoiled'). I saw teens in reaction to possibly never having had their real needs met, to having never been taught anything useful. To refer to them as brats and punks is disrespectful and mocks the real challenges and deficits they have to deal with. It was unethical and wouldn?t fly under any other circumstances.
How might the viewing public have felt and reacted if it had been the parents there and one of the ?staff/counselors? referred to a mom as a hysterical bitch with a shopping addiction? Or one of the fathers as a narcissistic adulterous bastard ? I?m imagining that wouldn?t have gone over real well. The staff with licenses should have them revoked for colluding with this so-called ?therapy?.
If that's not clear enough, how about this scenerio. You're sitting in the therapists office and s/he tells you that you are a selfish bitch and need to get over it. You might not feel like that person has your best interest at heart.
The term was in no way intended to be endearing or complimentary, nothing ?relative? about it. Only in the mind of someone desperately seeking justification. One might expect to hear these terms used by wardens at juvie, but in a 'therapeutic' setting? They have to use derogatory terms in order to justify the austere treatment of these young human beings, both unethical.
How many people were talking about the brats and punks and liars and thieves at the office on Thur? All gathered around the water cooler supporting each other?s sadistic view of the world. Hopefully there was an occasional sane person present to present a different perspective.
And that is why I can say, No, the population hasn?t gone beyond me. In fact, the masses have made little to no movement on this issue. I am not surprised in the least that the phones are ringing off the wall. American generally approved of this form of 'treatment'. And parents are getting more ignorant, and stretched, and lazy, and apathetic. You/they will be capitalizing on that for a while to come, unfortunately. Revel in the sadistic glory honey.
And to add insult to injury, they are tortured, punished, humiliated, and exploited for being who they were conditioned (taught) to be.
FYI, I wasn't a reject. I was on the National Dean's Honor List and dropped out because I grew tired of memorizing and regurgitating useless rhetoric and theories. NOT TO MENTION, I had a son just home from a program who often needed to be 'counseled' til the wee hours of the morning due to the abuse he endured there. The psych industry bundles all his distresses into a nice package called PTSD. He trusted no one, so I became his 'counselor', and he'd tell you that I did a damn fine job. For that alone I should receive an honorary degree. ::deal::
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On 2005-07-15 19:07:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Deborah--aren't you the psych school reject---now giving advice to counseling programs LOL?
Sounds like you're mighty hung up on language honey--so what if the counsellors say "punk" or "brats" maybe some of these kids thinks that's complementery. That's the relative nature of language, something a concrete thinker like you can't get
The population has gone beyond you babe---and from what I hear--- the day after Brat Camp aired there was a flood of calls to two wilderness programs I know of, don't know about the dozens where I don't know anyone.
See maybe the TV program didn't give a full picture of wilderness programs (most TV programs don't give an adequate protrayl of much)---but what was on there was obviously a lot more compelling and interesting and real than the whining and raving and generally complaining that comes out of you and your compatriots here
Brat Camp is going to marginalize this scummy site even further
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It's no surprise that someone that supports this garbage on TV would come here and belittle someone. It's quite disturbing that any parent would put their child in the hands of persons that speak like you.
So what if Deb doesn't have the "credentials" you think she should have. What a low blow to insult someone about lack of a college education. Not everyone has to take that path, nor does it make anyone less intelligent for not going to college. There are many ways for a person to learn and college is just one of the ways. A lot of people these days simply go to college because the job market is so competitve, not because they are trying to grow.
As long as I'm alive I'll keep speaking out about locking kids away. You can call it whining all you want, but I have a conscience and prior experience that makes me qualified to use my voice.
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On 2005-07-15 21:10:00, Deborah wrote:
How many people were talking about the brats and punks and liars and thieves at the office on Thur? All gathered around the water cooler supporting each other?s sadistic view of the world.
Flashback:
In 1993, I was working in an obscure corner of cubeland in Boca Raton, Florida. The Waco story was that day's Blue Dress, OJ trial or Michael Jackson story. I guess, based on documentary evidence, that the date is April 19th.
So, I'm in my office doing my cubeland run around, when I notice that half the office is cheering in the break room like the Dolphins just won the Super Bowl. Everything stops. The Branch Davidian compound has just caught fire. The ATF has had them under seige for untold days already. The people I work w/ day after day are cheering this event like... well, as above, like it's a goddamned football game!
I was digusted! I had been in a cult. As much as I hated it and would enjoy news of some of the leaders' suffering, there were children in there! How could anyone cheer about children being burned out?!
They just don't get it, Deb. I don't know how to explain it. They're not bad people to begin with. But they just don't get it.
Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake when you make it again.
Mark Twain
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I'm curious as to how much the program had to cover up in order to show it on television.
Plus, how much are they intruding on the kids? The kids didn't ask to be there and I really doubt they wanted to talk about their issues in front of even a small group of people, let alone MILLIONS.
This show is awful, was ABC paid off in order to get more parents sucked into this bullshit? I suppose this gives you guys a little bit of sway now..
You can refer to this television program and how awful it was and say that these programs are like this but just a hundred times worse and explain how they were lessening it for the cameras.
Since people have actually viewed it for themselves, the things you have to say to them might have a lot more staying power than just your words alone.
That's the only semi-positive side to this show. What a terrible program! After nice shows like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, I have to really really wonder. I still think it's because the network was paid off...
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On 2005-07-14 11:04:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Your post tells the whole story and you still don't get it.
People in this country---parents, media types, CPS, whoever---just don't buy the line you're selling that putting limits on a kid is abuse.
It's just a few malcontents like yourself who think that putting a defiant drug abusing kid in a program is abuse.
Oh you may find a scum bag lawyer here and there who will try to trump up a case in certain circumstances but without enough stupid gullible people on the jury, that case is going to go nowhere
Bottom line: reason there is virtually no criticism of Brat Camp (which btw I think should NOT have been televised because these kids deserved privacy in working out their problems) is because the country (except for some posters here apparently) has collectively grown up and is no longer willing to let adolescents run wild and ruin their lives in the name of unguided self-expression"
Although everyone has already totally disproved your comments, I had to add in my two cents.
Personally, I feel that enrolling a child into any kind of program is a form of abandonment and thus abuse. If you can't handle your kid, you don't just stick them some place..that's terrible parenting right there.
Teenagers will rebel, they will do things that you don't like, they will feel all the emotions that you do. Just because they are not an adult, doesn't mean they don't feel the same things that you feel.
A defiant, drug-abusing kid is trying to COMMUNICATE something to you! They aren't trying to get you to ship them off and forget about them. They want you to love them, pay attention to them, UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE GOING TROUGH. You were a teenager once, I'm sure you know how hard it is!
And as far as I'm concerned, those "scumbag" lawyers are damned heroes. They don't want to just suck out your money, I think they genuinely want to help. Just because they are a lawyer doesn't make them a rotten scumbag.
Ignoramuses like yourself make me sick. How can you even say those kinds of things without feeling any remorse? You obviously don't understand a thing about this issue or anything about kids.
I really hope that you don't have children yourself, if you do, I hope they get the hell away from you.
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:nworthy: :nworthy:
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
--Philosopher, Blaise Pascal
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Actually, I was heartened by the large amount of criticism I found in the press. Go to Google, choose news at the top, type in Brat Camp, and press Search. Most reviews thought the show disgraceful in that the kids were coerced and they should not be allowed to parade minor's emotional issues out on national TV.
What bothered me was that only a couple of articles mention the abusive industry as a whole and attempt to warn parents away.
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On 2005-07-16 02:39:00, Cidsa wrote:
I really hope that you don't have children yourself, if you do, I hope they get the hell away from you.
Think about that for just a moment. . . .
I hold out the same hope for children cursed w/ sadistic parents like these. My mom was a true, blue Nancy Reagan wannabe. Actually, more than that; she was a dedicated stepcraft practitioner and toughlove martyr a full decade before the Reagan admin. even began.
When I "acted out" (ya' know, by trying to look attractive to the opposite sex, taking an interest in activities that did not include my mother or church... the usual 'signs' of troubled youth) I was NOT trying to gain more attention from my mother! That was the LAST thing I ever wanted, believe me! What I was trying to do was just as you suggest above; I was trying to escape. And that was the unforgivable sin.
Oh, and BTW, according to industry watchers, the entire industry only has around 10k teenagers incarcerated at any one time. So, being generous, lets assume they get their sanctamonious, money grubbing paws on around 60k teenagers over the course of the 6 years between the ages of 12 and 18 (or one generation of teenagers). The total US population of ppl in that age group is roughly 26 million. So only around 1/500 families in this country are gullible enough to buy into this industry. And, evidently, they're delusional enough to sincerely believe they represent the vast majority.
One born every minute...It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
--Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President, author, scientist, architect, educator, and diplomat
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On 2005-07-14 10:17:00, Anonymous wrote:
"sex addiction
Would it be called that if they were adult?"
Children and Teens if have problems such as this it is called sexually reactive.
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Having a libido isnt a disorder. WTF is "sexually reactive"?
There is something feeble and contemptible about a man who cannot face life without the help of comfortable myths.
--Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, educator, mathemetician, and social critic
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Are all wilderness programs co-ed? Is this really where one would/should put their 'sexually addicted' teen.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's all bullshit. But using their own reasoning, it still makes no sense. :???:
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On 2005-07-16 07:04:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Actually, I was heartened by the large amount of criticism I found in the press. Go to Google, choose news at the top, type in Brat Camp, and press Search. Most reviews thought the show disgraceful in that the kids were coerced and they should not be allowed to parade minor's emotional issues out on national TV.
What bothered me was that only a couple of articles mention the abusive industry as a whole and attempt to warn parents away."
I agree. Most of the reviews I read were of morbid curiosity and overall shock and disgust for the entire show's format. I guess that is what brings in the ratings these days... no mention of the industry at large though. I don't many people even know about it. One of those things you don't find out about until you are in it.
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MSNBC.com
?Brat Camp? makes kids face up to their messes
But did they really have to be so literal about it?
COMMENTARY
By Linda Holmes
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 1:26 p.m. ET July 22, 2005
What was ABC to do with the former "Dancing With The Stars" slot? Another frothy, celebrity-filled romp? Perhaps this time John O'Hurley could learn to play the pennywhistle.
No, the spot went to "Brat Camp" (Wednesdays, 9 p.m. ET), which follows nine teenagers sent to a boot-camp program to recover from the sins of youth, from drugs to compulsive lying. Guided by counselors and purified by eating unadorned oats for breakfast, the kids brave November in the Oregon wilderness and learn about getting up early, cleaning up after themselves, and a "no low talking" rule.
In Wednesday's premiere, each camper was introduced with cheesy and unconvincing "candid" debauchery footage. To remind viewers who "Steals From Mom" and who has the "Violent Temper," captions are provided, just as "Pharmaceutical Representative" or "Waiter" is listed under the name of a "Survivor" contestant.
Even for a seasoned reality-show viewer, this "Extreme Makeover: Juvenile Delinquent Edition" premise is squirm-inducing. But perhaps no single moment was stranger than the discovery that someone had failed to use the latrine as directed, instead leaving ? well, a health hazard lurking in the bushes.
The hunt for the culprit led to a somber moment in which all the kids were gathered together to stare at the evidence. Say what you will about accountability and respect ? a bunch of kids forced to form a circle around someone else's "phantom dook," as the counselors labeled it, is ? weird.
The counselors would say their point was made when Jada ("Compulsive Liar") owned up. But still, it was likely not lost on the audience that there was a creepy metaphor in the revelation that maybe standing around in a big circle and staring at other people's messes isn't the healthiest thing any of us could be doing.
Linda Holmes is a writer in Bloomington, Minn.
© 2005 MSNBC Interactive
© 2005 MSNBC.com
URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8586591/ (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8586591/)
Education is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything he learned in school.
--Albert Einstein, Out of My Later Years, 1950
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The counselors would say their point was made when Jada ("Compulsive Liar") owned up. But still, it was likely not lost on the audience that there was a creepy metaphor in the revelation that maybe standing around in a big circle and staring at other people's messes isn't the healthiest thing any of us could be doing.
:roll:
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"NIH Panel Finds that Scare Tactics for Violence Prevention are Harmful -- Good news is that positive approaches show promise"
The NIH study found that these are better alternatives than using scare tactics and the like:
http://www.fftinc.com/model.php (http://www.fftinc.com/model.php)
and
http://www.mstservices.com/text/treatment.html (http://www.mstservices.com/text/treatment.html)
and see this for a list of programs in different states:
http://www.mstservices.com/text/licensed_agencies.htm (http://www.mstservices.com/text/licensed_agencies.htm)
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On 2005-07-23 08:36:00, Antigen wrote:
"The hunt for the culprit led to a somber moment in which all the kids were gathered together to stare at the evidence. Say what you will about accountability and respect ? a bunch of kids forced to form a circle around someone else's "phantom dook," as the counselors labeled it, is ? weird.
The counselors would say their point was made when Jada ("Compulsive Liar") owned up. But still, it was likely not lost on the audience that there was a creepy metaphor in the revelation that maybe standing around in a big circle and staring at other people's messes isn't the healthiest thing any of us could be doing.
Linda Holmes is a writer in Bloomington, Minn.
© 2005 MSNBC Interactive
© 2005 MSNBC.com
URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8586591/ (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8586591/) "
I expected the reviews to be like this. Kind of like, 'what the fuck is this?' kind of review. It was just so weird.
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How do they make the desert animals dig latrines?
Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself
--Jimmy Carter