From: Randall Randall (randall@randallsquared.com)
Date: Sat Jul 05 2003 - 16:55:38 MDT
On Saturday, July 5, 2003, at 03:49 PM, Lee Corbin wrote:
[first quoting from the article]
> I didn't think this could be true, but it transpired this was not
> even
> exceptional. 'Oh no,' says Kay. 'The record is actually held by a
> female.' On
> and off, she spent 18 months lying on her face.
>
> Now, ahem, I have always been of agreeable disposition---there is not,
> truth be told, much of the rebel in me, and I sincerely do admire those
> who are ready to stand up against the whole world whenever. But isn't
> *this* pathological? Doesn't it seem to indicate that there really is
> something deeply, deeply, serious wrong with this girl?
Let me get this straight. You're aware that people who are sent here
have committed nothing except resisting being told what to do? One
person was sent here for having the wrong boyfriend. But because
there's a punishment, you apparently believe that the punished person
*must* have done something wrong? That's exactly the reaction that
this place tries to brainwash teenagers into.
> How in the hell could she lay there hour after hour, day after day,
> without saying, "Just how stupid could it be for me to have gotten
> myself into this situation? Exactly what was so important that this
> had to happen?"
How in the hell could they punish her with solitary confinement for
'hour after hour, day after day, without saying, "Just how stupid could
it be for[...]' us to kidnap and punish this woman for being someone
other than who we, her tormentors, want her to be? Why would you blame
the victim, here, Lee? Do victims of other crimes also bring it all on
themselves?
> (This is not the same as a great martyr standing up for his God, or a
> political dissident refusing to divulge the names of other dissidents.)
No, it's simple kidnap and torture. No political principles, just an
ordinary crime.
> Even this article, which was written from the perspective of someone
> who finds everything about this to be somewhat abhorrent, admitted
> that in some cases, the resulting people and their parents are quite
> happy about the eventual outcome. Deep waters here, IMO.
I would imagine (though I'm not a psychologist or doctor) that this
is equivalent to "Stockholm syndrome". If you allow the process to
continue to completion, you get a model serf. If you rescue the
individual halfway through, you get an angry victim who'd love to
press charges. In a free society, rescuing these people halfway
through would be a fine business opportunity.
-- Randall Randall <randall@randallsquared.com> "Not only can money buy happiness, it isn't even particularly expensive any more." -- Spike Jones
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