Thursday, June 7, 2012

Behavioral modification at its finest...

Seems very up there with bloodletting and other medieval practices...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Rotenberg_Educational_Center 

amazing...showing big revenues, lots of lobby, lots of attorney's representing the center supposedly, lots of taxpayer dollars providing the revenues...hmm...sad...

Anyways, one has to wonder in down economy with state's justifying in so many way budget cutting to so many services why there should be a facility potentially costing quite a bit of money with questionable results...I mean apparently in one state the problem is that collective bargaining rights are apparently too much of a costly issue while in another people can't paid well enough to torture kids...if any teacher should lose their jobs, it should likely be at this place for budgetary reasons, and hopefully sooner then later.

Added points here, prisoners can evidently be successfully incarcerated and restrained with respect to their holding, but children neither convicted of any crimes apparently as a 'last hope' can't be provided the same respect with regards to human rights.  After all, this particular facility neither is required mandatory for treatment by any government, local, state, or federal for any student as far as I know, and isn't legally linked in the case to treatment for criminal or felony behavior, nor have the student's to my knowledge ever been convicted generally in their respective past for heinous crimes.  To this end, watched in one case, excerpts of 31 shocks applied through the duration of hours of one particular student that were punished with electric shocks for non compliance in removing a coat.  I mean we are talking a real murderer, a real problem in society there being the social non conformist that he were?  Right?  Another student in the past having died subsequently owing to neglect in medical treatment received, only died as apparently 'teachers' on premise hadn't properly identified that her social non compliance to instructions on premise were owing to a serious medical condition.  She apparently were in significant enough pain owing to her medical condition that she weren't fully responding to the 'teaching' staff, she were tortured.  The next day when she later died, and at least hadn't been given medical treatment appropriately.  This incident took place over a decade ago, and meanwhile the school is still running collecting taxpayer monies with students even testifying before congress, it sounded in defense of the school itself while wearing the electrical shock restraint devices giving such testimony.  Only a in a Mother Jones article a journalist recalled on her last days visiting the premise, that one such electrical shock device were faulty and apparently sending out errant currents, the device hadn't exactly been identified as problem before, but coincidentally appeared to be the case so near to her visiting departure.

Its not that children one would suspect tend to be more powerless, easily suggested and coerced into any number of arrangements that under any other circumstances legal or having been of mature age in making independent decisions, it seems there is illustration of problems often relating to more vulnerable segments of our society, and the proposed solutions in handling such problem.  I'd mention aside from the supposedly more extreme examples of human behavior cited by those one social group of kids attending the school.  Another segment relates to those of physical and mental disabilities.  In this case, voluntary agreements of power of attorney or those of supposedly of better custodial role, neither having lived in the bodies of those subject to pain and torture are empowered to know better and make decisions for the sake of the other's health capacity.  The problem is: if you were of sound mind would you ever likely seek torture as a solution to any number of physiological and neurological health issues that you ever suffered from?  Even if you knew other restraint options applied would seek the infliction of physical pain were the solution to any number of compulsive disorders.  Often times, those that are most vulnerable may be in more difficult positions to adequately understand and communicate with mature understanding their feelings or knowing how to decide for themselves right and wrong in a situation.  Why is that the possibility of torture should still be included if a custodian is permitted some degree of flexibility in error with respect to the welfare of another under their power?  And only this is a for organized as opposed to 'illegal' form of domestic violence in which government, legal systems, and others operating under this are given sanction to impose.  Maybe we think when hearing the word 'disability' we think, 'Oh, yeah, kids that are real problems.'  Maybe we think back to the days of corporal punishment which should seem so steadfast in our culture that we scarcely think of the differences between all other segments of society that have provided little legal recognition to what otherwise would be assault.

The irony is that while someone like I contends with some other segment of society that runs wild often with bad media metaphors...never mind reality and truth here, there is much willful overlooking what should occur elsewhere, much hypocrisy, much double standard.  Only two decades in operation, the place looks worse then the infamy of Alcatraz, and given its per capita profit and expenditures otherwise, looks like any other money pit set up for social political reasons to the better half of biases that have for so long regarding children and the vulnerable.  A grown woman in her thirties having long since left the school needs the device to apparently keep her 'in line' as she needed way back decades ago, and behavioral modification for some may be as temporal as the lack of hunger from a previous meal.  Unfortunately this may relate to some of the problems of this sort of treatment, being forced in line repeatedly may work so long as a drill instructor exists to keep one in line, as to formed life long habits for months or years of pain induced training, as likely maybe a smoker given the same aversion based treatments lasts likely a month or two at times before relapsing as a recidivist into old patterns and ways if not genuinely committed to the sorts of behavioral reform.  Punishment works no doubt, but only when it is constantly applied?

Finally the spiritual dimensions of such a place.  In thirty years if the place were still operational if at that, one suspects so much the tainting of soil and bad karma placed in a place like this where someone inevitably gets burned for the wrong reasons...it could be one of those places later that the paranormal peoples go to for their Halloween gig, only hearing so much the echoes of the past pounding the walls days and nights at times.





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