It cant be denied that Charles Dederich in many instances, while playing Skinner, was ahead of the times with positive ideas. In Maias book it is described one woman was not even allowed to leave a teen rehab after she turned 18, the organization threatening her mother to toss out her younger child if the mother took the older one back. Everyone fell in line behind Bush as he made fun of the French or anyone who disagreed, even stating the cult mantra, you are either with us or against us. But when Bush burned a spy to take revenge on a Sen. who spoke out, the media woke up and with it so did the country. I'm going to rise up above all this kind of stuff, and I'm going to take care of everyone. Information from former members of the cult quickly identified two of Synanons Imperial Marines as suspects in the snake-attack. Synanon, a drug rehabilitation program turned violent cult founded by Charles Dederich Sr. in the late 1950s in California in part spawned the troubled teen industry, organizers claim. And I really try to do that," Jollett says. From Musicos past, one can infer antisocial makeup, but when he came to Synanon he was able to function and had acceptance, something he probably could not otherwise obtain. You would make Wes Fager proud, I am sure, sadly he is no longer with us. The Old Man would testify that he never gave a splitee a single thought from the moment each left. Another myth perpetrated by old time Synanon members, and apology writers, like Janzen, looking for fans among ex-Synanon members, is that Synanon played a role in civil rights. Janzen could have had this dissertation, but he was not looking for truth. So is the eventual years later reverting to a longing for the days of comrades and cause. As stated above, as Dederich believed this, his squeezes and toss outslike old timer Bill Crawford was willfully sentencing one to death for CEDs ego and financial gain. They appreciated the honesty of the work. "I am not bound by the rules," Dederich said, according to a 1978 PEOPLE story. Synanon just gave it a giant shove through its PR machine which unfortunately attracted sociopaths wanting an easy road to riches and unfortunately led many governmental agencies and politicians to back their concepts. Synanons punitive system of verbal attacks and humiliation was counterproductive and drove out most that entered. Do you realize that over 80 people were attacked? "'Ha, ha! In 1974, Congress opened an investigation into such behavior-modification programs, finding that The Seed had used methods similar to the highly refined brainwashing techniques employed by the North Koreans. As such they were just like the many other children born into the cult. It still such a bracing business that I like to stay in it. How all of this occurred is set forth in the first book So Fair a House by Dr. Casriel. Eventually, the future could only be Orwellian. Learning of all the horrors and deaths that occurred in the clones over the past decades I only wish I had, as you accuse a single career in criticizing Synanon. In the early days of Synanon, the age of most addicts who stayed were older, as Ofshe noted, and tired of life on the wild side. And that number was highly inflated by injection of squares and children born to addicts and squares alike. And it was repeated in books by Yablonsky and Endore and unfortunately repeated a decade ago by Janzen. In conclusion, while the notions in Synanon arose out of Dederichs troubled childhood, I dont think all blame is on Synanonsuch systems existed all throughout history. Zones are designed to separate business from residential, etc. In 1971, Dederich stated, as Ofshe noted: we want at the idea of graduate. This was a sop to social workers and professionals who wanted me to say that we were producing a graduate. I always wanted to say to them, A person with this fatal disease will have to live here all of his life. I know damn well if they got out of Synanon they are dead. Some of these programs were in the wilderness, some were high in the Mountains, or in deserts, or per parents trading children and keeping them in locked rooms when they were not in camps many of which were like old time chain gangs this saving cost of shelter and food. When he begged to see a doctor, the staff sneered at him and called him a faker and asked him if he were homosexual.. Dinosaur Survivors Leave a Reply Cancel reply. "Mary Karr likes to say, 'You have to write about difficult relationships with great love.' Aaron Bacon, 16, North Star Expeditions, Utah, March 1994, was beaten and tortured, thirsted and starved to death, as well as denied medical treatment for a fatal condition. The monster that now existed had to be stopped. Its goal was to take it to the context of greater society.I would appreciate you know your feelings. I offered them to him but he declined. He was constantly accused of being a malingerer and faking it when he complained of being sick and unable to go on. Per Ofshe, Dr. Elizabeth Missakian, former Pres. Synanon is only one chapter. I was not for that idea, because I saw most members as victims. Another boy froze to death (given no coat or shelter), and the victims even included former Synanon children who were placed in these camps by parents still believing in the Synanon system. "He was just this big, masculine, Italian, strong guy that loved his boys. Below is a chart made by Maia in Mother Jones: A. Orange on his website lists interesting quotes: Tough Love: Abuse of a type particularly gratifying to the abuser, in that it combines the pleasures of sadism with those of self-righteousness. But it is a calculated risk we take. But I DO know the culture of Synanon. Neither AA, Synanon, or those that followed, were based on any scientific studies. Many of these, however, were more like resorts for the rich and famous and charged $30,000 a month. Because he had lived for so long surrounded by yes people, he had no understanding how others would see his actions and thus was very open in admitting what he did, including that violence could not happen unless he approved it. Some people, whether from genes or experiences, or combinations thereof, just are not capable of living a good life on their own. Charles was arrested while drunk in 1978 and was barred from any further leadership within the Even when Synanon was given an exemption for cold turkey treatment, Synanon created an illegal clinic and took in persons needing care other than addiction for which it required a license. The study of cults can teach us the problems of nations. No one knows the actual final fate of the 19. She was at the facility for almost one year before she escaped at the age of 15. By 1971 Dederich would submit that while 10 to 12,000 people had gone through Synanon only about 10% stayed free of drugs for as much as 2 years, which was similar to the statistics everyone else concluded, which were the same at Lexington Hospital when Synanon was founded. "At that age, my response was to become the super kid. There were countless communes and entities much larger that took in people of all races. Synanon Survivors. But that dwindled as the joiners became younger and Dederich turned his attention to using the media and Hollywood to produce a flow of persons, goods and services to develop by 1976 over $30 million in assets and the start of large salaries and bonuses. Hollywood Park recounts Jollett's life at various stages: an orphaned 5-year-old, a troubled preteen, and an adult trying to find himself in his music. And while in 1978, he noted, Synanon publicity reported 20,000 people had gone through its doors, they were exiting at even a higher speed. It was a gift. We let, we let crazy people into the door and we dont discriminate. . Many who studied Synanon agreed. Elan generated very large tax revenues for the state of Maine. 14-year-old Anthony Haynes died while attending a five-week boot camp operated by the Americas Buffalo Soldiers Re-enactors Association. Let alone, 'Okay, here you go stranger I've never met, take care of my kid. What you write is not experience of all. A 15-year-old boy died from a staph infection at a Colorado wilderness program. I look forward to comments, but those based upon facts, not attacks on the messenger. And I still do. Nonprofit Organization. Dederich admitted at deposition that Synanon did not know how to cure a drug addict and he believed the addict would fail if he left. Thats the nature of our business. However, there is little evidence that harsh behavior-modification techniques can solve these problems. "Our parents weren't bad people, they didn't choose to turn their children into orphans. After 30 years of pondering, I came full circle and realized that sociologist Richard Ofshe had analyzed it right from the start. Rather, the organizations said they worked, so people believed it. As I was quoted by my friend Wayne Kernochan and also by Judy Miller in the Lewiston Sun Journal when I was asked how I remembered Elan and I said it was a sadistic ,brutal ,violent soul- eating hellhole. This program was called MATRIX. Jollett and his older brother Tony were taken from their parents his father a recovered addict and former convict, his mother an anti-government activist from Berkeley when they were just 6 months old. For more than a decade, a Tucson nonprofit drug-treatment center By 1975 Barker had opened four expansion Seeds, but in 1974 both houses of the US Congress had investigated and made the brainwashing charges., Wrote Fager: Despite the fact that the only way Synanon Church could keep addicts off drugs was to keep them at Synanon foreverthat is Synanon was a cultand despite Synanons sordid pastSynanon was a violent cultthe idea of the Game became the basis for a new breed of therapy where the addict himself helps in his own recovery just as Chinese thought reform students help in their own recovery. I immediately sensed he was writing a book in which he was avoiding obtaining information that might challenge his view. Children of Synanon John Dougherty October 10, 1996 4:00AM The story sounds diabolical. In my book Synanon was only one chapter. At his death bed, Maslow finally denounced the Human Potential Movement. Died of dehydration. Once again, her counselors said that she was faking when she complained. WebI run the Synanon Survivors Facebook group and wed love to have to as a member!! Communist Russia was safer with freedom taken away. you say the logic is faulty, but give no example and state why? In writing all these chapters, I tried to set forth the facts as factual as they occurred, thus leaving for historians to make their own answers to these questions. As messages here seem to disappear and reappear per you request I am repeating it. Despite this, despite the warnings of so many other notables, despite Art Barkers total lack of credentials and less than admirable past, The Seed received a $1.8 million U.S. government grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) soon after it opened. But nobody, especially Dr. Rogers, ever imagined children sitting in one continuous synanon 12 hours a day, 5 days a week for several yearswith 200 kids screaming and spitting at him, where the child could not verbally defend himself against his indicters, where he would be beaten and physically restrained, and, most importantly, where he could not leavenamely Straight, Inc. In other words Straight took a program that had been designed (and poorly so) to control hard-core adult heroin addicts and used it to control kids who had experimented with pot and alcoholsometimes worse, but sometimes no drugs at all. Stop telling me this didn't happen, because this happened.'" Dawnne Takeuchi, 18, was killed when she was thrown from a semi-truck near Pagosa Springs, Colorado, in June 1994. Dederich said those who left fell through the open manhole and would post descriptions of their calamities for all to see as a warning if they ever left. If it had ended there, Synanons legacy would be far different and it would probably still be there. WebSynanon eventually unraveled in a series of assaults and attempted murder. There is likely truth that allowing contact with past relationships might lure someone to leave or want to get high, but that is the persons choice. He had beaten me time wise. I had gotten your phone number from Ben Parks. there is little value in replying to you because you dont have what Dederich would call the thinking tools. You say there are lies But you dont list them. He told me that he had interviewed Synanon people and examined the UCLA records. Straight used Synanons vaginal and anal searches to search for contraband for years even though they never found any. "You just love them up, just squeeze them and kiss them and tell them how much you love them, and think about their needs, and have empathy for them," he says. Jollett, then just a little boy, hid to save himself. Most program lingo IS Synanon lingo! Researched by Maia Szalavitz for a book in 2006 and for Mother Jones in 2007 she described the clone horrors and traced them back to Synanon. Others who completed the program were absorbed into the organization as low-paid or voluntary staff limited to walking around money. Looking back, I think my brother was appropriately angry with the adults.". And with that all being announced on the wire, murder attempts begin. And as the classic 1971 Stanford prison experiment demonstrated, creating situations in which the severe treatment of powerless people is rewarded inevitably yields abuse. Tony, always angry as a child, sank into addiction at an early age and went to rehab. And when former clients sued Straight for holding them against their will, Straight pressured parents into letting Straight fight for them for the right to force their kids into treatment with the force of a court order. *..**. It quotes statements I did not make but Dederich did. **, Guy Endores book, Synanon, noted ex-members very early complained that Dederich had forced out the original Board of Directors and replaced them with hand picked trained seals. Unlike Janzen, I was not looking for fans from any groups, but to record the knowledge I obtained so it might benefit others, as well as presenting an interesting read. But the "abuse of children was absolutely swept under the rug, ignored, gaslit to hell," he says. But these ideals were short lived. If you examine the full context, Janzen avoided anything that might lead him to information contrary to the views he wanted to present. After saying staying in Synanon is the addicts only chance for sustained life, in 1976 Dederich said that in 5 years there would be no room for the kind of people you are now. It was reported between 6000 and 10,000 people lived in Synanon from 1958 to 1968 but apparently only 65 were ever known to have completed the program and elected to graduate to life outside the community. . Fourteen-year-old Martin Lee Anderson was murdered within 3 hours of his arrival at a Florida boot camp that was run by the local sheriff, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen, on January 6, 2006. Both are real experiences, but which is more important to learn from. Yablonsky in his 60s book, totally bought into the enemys conspiracy and that people were against Synanon because blacks lived with whites. But I wrote my book Escape: My Life Long War Against Cults with the view of writing the only book anyone need read on the subject. It gives an unvarnished accounting of the psychopath Joe Ricci who founded the Elan Corporation. He became the one to blame, he was the angry one. ***. A haunting tale of estrangement, Synanon Kid, is a coming-of-age story of hope, survival, and determination. "In the case of my brother, he became the scapegoat. *..*.*. This was Synanon had its worse, andit is not permitted here. If you examine the full context, Janzen avoided anything that might lead him to contrary. Person with this fatal disease will have to write about difficult relationships with great.... Is more important to learn from bad people, they did n't choose to turn their children into synanon survivors. After 30 years synanon survivors pondering, I am repeating it at his death,! Conspiracy and that number was highly inflated by injection of squares and children born into the enemys and... 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