Creepy, evil, literally shocking "educational center&qu

[skrelk]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.....nal_Center

That was brought to my attention by an article on MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22347088/

So, apparently in Massachusetts, this place which is for so-called difficult, or "emotionally disturbed"(couldn't that tag be applied to anyone?) kids, uses shocks to essentially turn them into robots. Chilling.

Apaprently they apply electrodes to these kids, and shock them when they do something they don't like.

[quote=Wikipedia]Some parents of difficult children are highly supportive of the center's practices, especially as they can use the GED on home visits. Said one mother, "[All I have to do is show it to my son and...] he'll automatically comply to whatever my signal command may be, whether it is 'Put on your seatbelt,' or 'Hand me that apple,' or 'Sit appropriately and eat your food,'... It's made him a human being, a civilized human being."[/quote] A human being? I doubt it. A robot, maybe.[/quote]
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hmm

[Kovacs]

That's similar to the kind of techniques you use to train animals - punish them if they do something bad and eventually they learn not to do it.

Sounds kind of mean, but the shocks won't be anything lethal I expect, otherwise it would have been closed down.

Personally, I don't think this would be that effective. If these people are emotionally disturbed or suffering from behavioral problems, then I don't think something like this would affect them much. Crazy people always tend to have a higher pain threshold simply because of the way their brain works. I'm not saying these people are crazy, but I expect their brain does not work as it should either. You can't just cure a neurological condition such as ADHD with a few electric shocks.
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I Love Rebecca More Than Anything In The World <3
Yo Amo A Rebecca Más Que Nada En El Mundo <3

[skrelk]

Er, these are humans. Not animals.

Also, this has the ability to turn these people into robots.

Besides, a behavioral problem could mean a lot. A guys kid could be an independently thinking, atheist, or punk, or whatever, and be sent here, and shocked/behaviorally modified into losing all individualism.

That's wrong.
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hmm

[Kovacs]

[skrelk]

I think there's a biological or neurological, or psychological aspect of the human brain that simply causes rational to cease in such situations.
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hmm

[Kovacs]

[skrelk]

True. Still, it's wrong to shock as punishment. It's the epitome of cruel and unusual punishment.


And besides, I recall reading part of a book about punk. This was done to a few of them.
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hmm

[Kovacs]

[skrelk]

I think theres probably nothing worse than a parent who has such a desire to control their kid, or perhaps is so codependent as you describe that they feel the need to have their kid tortured into submission.
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hmm

[Kovacs]

I don't think it's that they have such a desire to control their kid as much as it is that they want their child to grow up as a decent human being and want them to behave for their own safety. No matter how badly your child behaves, you would always love them and want them to be safe.
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I Love Rebecca More Than Anything In The World <3
Yo Amo A Rebecca Más Que Nada En El Mundo <3

[clpo13]

Didn't shock therapy go out of style after the 1950s?

There's a difference between modifying someone's behavior to make them less dangerous and modifying someone's behavior to make them come on command.
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"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." --Thomas Jefferson

[img:cd1c8454aa]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y57/clpo13/anothersig1.jpg[/img:cd1c8454aa]

[skrelk]

Kovacs: I don't think anyone has the right to declare that someone's behavior is "bad".

You referred to love. This reminds me. This is fairly remniscent of the Ministry of Love from 1984. I recall shocks being used to condition people in that book.




clpo13: Thank you. I also thought shock therapy was declared primitive and out of style. But, I guess, Society will always be determined to control.
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hmm

[Xtreme]

Hm. People go to jail generally - philosophically speaking, anyway - to protect OTHERS from them. For the most part anyway. Not just to "teach them a lesson." Of course this is an intended end, too, but I wouldn't say it's always the primary intended end.

More pertinently...

Using shock therapy is negative feedback. Any psychologist worth his salt understands that positive feedback is far more useful in the long term - in both accomplishing the goal at hand and at helping the individual become emotionally stable. Any good leader or teacher understands that extreme or constant negative feedback will only get so far and will eventually probably come back to haunt you.

Negative feedback isn't totally useless, but it has it's place - and it's a small place indeed, relatively speaking. Shocking kids for getting out of line all day is simply counterintuitive; it's a short term, easy solution that only complicates and convolutes the true long-term issues.

[spock]

[Kovacs]