I never knew this about her. Probably most people didn't. But goddamn does this issue need to be talked about. This is a huge one on the list of 'Things that make me feel insane that they could be going on and the entire world isn't rising up with torches and pitchforks'. Whenever the question is mentioned, 'If you could make the world better by killing someone, who would it be?' I usually answer that I'd look into these troubled teen/gay conversion kidnapping camps, find whatever local authorities are willfully neglecting to prosecute the crimes that go on there, and spill their worthless guts.
For a description of one of the less-horrifying camps I've read about, here's comedian Adam Eget talking about his own experiences in one on Joe Rogan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAv3p5vv5cs
Two words in that article are of paramount importance, "without transparency."
You'll find that almost any program that alleges to people does the exact opposite if it operates without transparency. Wanting opacity is one of the most surefire signs that you should distrust a group that alleges to help people. And wanting transparency is one of the more surefire signs that a group that says it wants to help, really does want to help.
The so-called libertarian position is that state scrutiny of such groups constitute a violation of said group's rights. Yet lack of such scrutiny only incentivizes human rights violations that are a thousand times worse than that.
I think organizations supposedly dedicated to helping people, but who demand total opacity in the name of "MY RIGHTS!!!" are really nothing more than crypto-hooligans.
Shit like capitalism, socialism, fascism, monarchism, etc., might all come with their own forms of exploitation (some worse than others), but at the very least they're concerned with how a society should be run. Hooliganism on the other hand is the desire to exploit in and of itself, without a thought or care as to society.
Toddlers know that "taking feels good" and "being taken from feels bad," but they have no mental ability to see a connection between these two facts! Hooliganism is nothing but a desire to return to that state of being.
I repeat. I think people who scream "MY RIGHTS!!!" in ways that would let them violate the rights of others are nothing more than crypto-hooligans. People like the ones who demand that their treatment centers be totally insulated from outside scrutiny.
Two words in that article are of paramount importance, "without transparency." You'll find that alm
Yeah these places will tell you one thing and do another, it's not about being honest or explaining, it's about mindgames and torture. The cruelty is the point, they say.
A big part of keeping places like this in operation is to control the kids that get sent to them enough that they can not only force them to send home letters or even make phonecalls and sound 'better' and also 'real' but also not beg for help or rescue. But also, they need to make sure the kids are broken enough that when they leave, they won't talk about what happened, and they will act differently. It's sort of like fixing a squeaky wheel by taking the wheel off and making a tricycle. It works, and doesn't sqeuak, but it's fundamentally altered and less than what it once was. Since we're talking about this being done to people, children, that makes it SO MUCH WORSE.
There are a lot of these places, too. The main group I know about is WWASPS. Here's a page done by some of the survivors. http://wwaspsurvivors.com/
They do their best to make sure people can't talk about their trauma, or even admit it was real, so very few people actually speak out after, and then it's usually years or decades after, like with Paris there. I've known a few folks who have opened up to me about having been in one, it's horrifying. They've told me they've met others who survived, but those others still won't talk about it openly.
So, they are somewhat effective at altering people's behavior, but it also breaks people. They might be under control for their parents, but they can't usually function as adults the way they're expected to.
Yeah these places will tell you one thing and do another, it's not about being honest or explaining,
