Semi-random scratchings

I read, I have nasty goosebumps all over my skin.

I also feel sick.

Oh, and very, very, VERY angry that this kind of thing can happen in the so called "Land of the free".

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chiller.livejournal.com

My god, what shit parents poor Zach has. His only choices at this point are to a) simply comply totally and cheerfully with everything, safe in the knowledge that it will end and he can get back to being human once out of there; or b) act in a physically threatening way and get kicked out.

I'd go with a). But his relationship with his 'rents is going to be permanently screwed by this betrayal of trust. :(

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The problem with 'comply[ing] totally and cheerfully' is that they're using tecniques straight out of Brainwashers 101. You remember the thing your mum used to say - "if the wind changes, your face will stick like that"?

When it comes to brainwashing, the same can be true of your mind.

God help Zach.

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chiller.livejournal.com

I think brainwashing works unless you know they're brainwashing you and have the strength to never let yourself forget that. Provided you're thinking: "One day pal, I'll be out of here and wearing my own clothes again, speaking my own words and shagging whoever the hell I want" while you nod and smile at them - they can't change you.

I hope Zach is strong enough to remember who he is throughout the experience.

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I really hope you're right, but everything I've read about the Scientologists, the Moonies and the psycological experiments of Milgram et al post WW2 lead me to believe that resisting such pressure is incredibly difficult.

I wouldn't have been able to do it at the age of 16.

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jayphoenix.livejournal.com

"God help Zach"

Would that be your God or Zach's parent's God?

I hope that you know me well enough to realise that that is NOT a dig at you but at the situation. I have nothing but admiration for how you show/handle your faith, but the more cynical part of me that wants to last out after reading all the information relating to Zach is honing in on the fact that his parents will claim to love God and Jesus, and that they are doing what is best for Zach ... when they are just small-minded, hypocritical, bigoted child-abusers (yes I count what they are doing to their child as abuse).

I wish that they could see God through your eyes my friend, even just for a brief second.

... sometimes I wish that I could as well :)

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Not my journal, not the appropriate place.

Ask on my journal.

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caffeine-fairy.livejournal.com

I can't get the first link to work?

I second the feeling sick.

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misthawk.livejournal.com

I don't think your "Pam's House Blend" link works, hon. Or is it me?

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castorlion.livejournal.com

It's not just you.

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westernind.livejournal.com

Sorry about that. Was in a hurry to get to a meeting and forgot to paste in the URL.

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Marvellous...

It's very hard to read about this and not break Goddards law in the first line of a response.

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Do you remember the UA scenario where we infiltrated the Cult? With the always-opening doors, and the "Baby-watch" isolation techniques? JFS based that on Scientololgy brainwashing practises; that's what this 16-y.o. is being put through. Poor schlub. Hope he makes it out okay.

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Yeah. Just been reading the rules of the cult, ahem, treatment program. Eerily familiar.

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1. No physical violence or physically threatening dialogue. Violation of this rule warrants immediate dismissal from the program.

Dead easy: threaten to kill someone. Get dismissed. Job done.

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That's a variation on my stock "start a fire" response to troublesome locations.

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For based on, read "did a find/replace on the name ..."

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castorlion.livejournal.com

What's Goddard's law?

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"In any internet based disagreement/conversation, the probability of one party likening the other to the Nazis will approach 100% over time"

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A broadly accepted corollary is that the first party to do so loses the argument.

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oldnick.livejournal.com

Godwin's law IIRC.
HTH

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oldnick.livejournal.com

Godwin's IIRC

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Whoops. That'll teach me to read about rockets at the same time as LJ

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stsquad.livejournal.com

Those rules just read like a brainwashers handbook.

Seriously anything that says a person can't speak up to defend their feelings/point of view is straight out of the text book. The isolation principles read as though from "Running a Cult 101".

From:

renniek.livejournal.com

They are sick bastards. Really sick. I hope the poor kid makes it out OK

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clarisinda.livejournal.com

That is very scary indeed :-/ They are just going to cause him huge psychological trauma. But it seems that parents have a right to screw up their children as much as they like, and if it's in the name of religion, all the better :-/

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What makes me mad is how they miss the bits of the bible that don't fit in. How about this one?

You should not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you should love your neighbour as yourself. Leviticus 19:18

At no point does the book of leviticus go on to say "As long as they're not Gay". Gaaaaah!

From:

renniek.livejournal.com

I know very little aout theology, but I always got the impression that homophobics used the destruction of Sodom as "evidence" for homosexuality being a sin. It always perplexes me how anyone who reads about Sodom (where, IIRC, the people raped an angel) can assume that the crime there was the homosexuality, rather than the rape.

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This site answers it better than I can. http://www.religioustolerance.org/bibl_hate1.htm

There is one line "A man should not lie with another man", but I can't remember the exact chapter and verse.

As far as I'm concerned, should anyone want to use that line as justification for homophobia, they have to come to me with proof that they uphold all 613 other laws laid out in the Pentaceuch.

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This all coming from the same set of rules that allows us to sell our children into slavery or execute someone for planting two crops in one field.

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caffeine-fairy.livejournal.com

I read somewhere that the line has been mistranslated, and actually refers to rape - a man should not rape another man - due to the Roman's charming practice of raping all of their male prisoners of war.

Of course the full line is something like "A man should not lie with another man as he lies with a woman - it is distasteful" suggesting that raping the female POWs was just fine by him...

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westernind.livejournal.com

As it was just fine for Lot to offer to hand over his virgin daughters to the mob.

Arguing over niceties of translation is fundamentally (sic) futile; there's too much wrongness built into the core moral framework.

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misthawk.livejournal.com

One opinion of the translation has been "a man should not lay with boys" - implying no one should practice paedophilia.

This would change the issue from being an act between two consenting adults to adults not being allowed to put pressure on children.

Something no one would be against, I feel.

(deleted comment)

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Manly handshakes and (the occasional) clap on the shoulder are okay though, so that's alright ...

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misthawk.livejournal.com

Did you see the Application form and it's Liability Clause??

Not only is someone making a F#$@%*ing mint, but they are taking no legal responsibility for the result.

::deep growl::

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"...8 full weeks of therapeutic programming..."

The programming is therapeutic, so it must be all right...

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Thankfully that waiver is largely inapplicable under English law, seeking as it does to indemnify against negligence.

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Apart from its self-knowledge that it's no substitute for proper mental health professionals, the strange thing is that they accept Zach who obviously doesn't want to "save himself".

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