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Pretty sure they blocked me after I commented, so no screenshot.

The US essentially has no restrictions on what parents can do to their children, or pay to have done to them. These companies will show up at night, and take a child out of their bed at night. They explicitly tell parents not to warn the kid what will happen.

Imagine being woken up in the middle of the night, maybe forced to quickly pack, and then be loaded in a van. You have no idea where you are going or why or who or what is going on. You get taken to a facility which is basically a cult. You might be dumped out in rural Utah, with people that have zero training in wilderness safety, who might punish you by denying you food and water.

Children die in these places all the fucking time. There generally is no state or federal oversight of these facilities - so there aren’t really investigations. These places are havens for child predators.

When I was sexually abused at a similar facility and tried to report it - I was placed on heavy doses of antipsychotics in retaliation. They drugged me unconscious, and then punished me for sleeping during “class.” As an adult, I have involuntary shakes and movements associated with the medical malpractice enacted on me.

These places don’t get investigated, they don’t get shut down. I think Utah is one of the only states with any form of agency that watches over these places. Child protective services won’t go in, health care agencies won’t go in.

Children have no rights in the US. They are the property of their parents, to be disposed of as they wish. And fuckers like this agency are delighted to kidnap children that their parents can’t be assed to parent.

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[-] LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 27 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Guess it’s time to share this again.

GET YOUR FEELINGS OUT

[-] andros_rex@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

I’ve only been able to make it to page 10. People often mock the idea of being “triggered” but fuck, it makes me need my trazadone. I want to print this in full color and leave it everywhere I can.

[-] LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 week ago

Apologies for contributing to that feeling, definitely wasn’t my intention to upset you!

For those who haven’t read it and are unfamiliar with the horrific team abuse industry this comic depicts, it’s quite a fucking journey.

[-] andros_rex@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It’s great - I actually shared it as one of the links in my post. People do need to know what these places look like, and that visceral reaction I have to it hopefully means that it inspires others.

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[-] ZC3rr0r@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago

Thank you for sharing this. Probably one of the hardest reads of my life, it's incredibly powerful and well written so it conveys the horrors of the experience in an almost visceral way.

It also really helped me understand at a much more personal level how these addiction/reeducation camps and cults break people mentally and emotionally.

Sure, you read about these kinds of things happening in the news, but it never hit home for me what that experience is like until reading this.

Thank you.

[-] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 1 week ago

I made it to chapter 60 over the last 90 minutes.

I can’t even describe how angry I feel about that. Expletives don’t fit. I’m not big on death penalty, but I think these people deserve it - more than some who are sentenced to death.

I also am feeling incredibly grateful that my parents didn’t get caught up in the scam.

[-] nothingcorporate@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

I just spent a couple hours reading the first 70 chapters. That is hard to read and impossible to stop reading.

[-] ladel@feddit.uk 3 points 1 week ago

This is so engrossing. I've made it to chapter 77 while "working". What a story.

[-] kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

wtf

is this real? I didn't read past whenvhe was given anti lice to shower, but can you tell me : are yhe parents responsible for this ?

[-] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 2 points 1 week ago
[-] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 3 points 1 week ago

Oh my god he became a drug kingpin

[-] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 2 points 1 week ago

ive been reading this for about 5-6 hours, it's been worth it

[-] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 3 points 1 week ago

Finished it

[-] pixelkitty@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago

Even after countless exposés done on these places there are STILL no serious investigations being done. I’m so sorry that happened to you :(

[-] andros_rex@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Allegand Jones was killed after refusing to undress for a staff member. Youth Villages at Bartlett is still operating.

It’s these southern states. “Parental rights” is always a code for “children are property to be disposed as we wish.”

[-] Quadhammer@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

But if it's a got dam fetus

[-] SARGE@startrek.website 5 points 1 week ago

Well yeah, fetuses are the perfect thing to platform.

They don't make any demands on you.

As far as the US government is concerned at least, they don't require food, water, shelter, or any assistance. It's all on the mother. Not "the PARENTS", mind you. The mother.

Pregnancy complications? Mother's fault. Never mind that she couldn't get Healthcare, food, or shelter for herself. Those things are commie-social-Marxism if we just gave them to her.

And when the fetus pops out as a baby after hopefully 9 months, it's again on the mother to provide. Never mind that she can't afford Healthcare for herself or her child, or food, or daycare so she can work to afford those things, or, or, or...

And if you think otherwise, clearly you are a spawn of Satan and hate America, something something Jesus.

[-] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 week ago

Theres also "grandparents rights" in some places; some people cant keep their own abusive parent away from their kid(s).

[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 week ago

The fact that these places exist and aren't shut down has always really bothered me, horrible stuff

[-] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

the things they can justify with religion should give anyone pause.

[-] GluWu@lemm.ee 11 points 1 week ago

There was a post recently, IIRC one of the kids ran away, the "camp" didn't report it, and the police killed the kid.

There was someone in the comments that defended it, they "worked in the industry". I didn't have the guts to call them out on working in the terrorism industry against children, even though my instance is getting deleted this month.

Fuck this and everyone involved

[-] andros_rex@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

I just found out that my facility claimed another life, within the months I’ve been trying to get the state to investigate it. Not reported anywhere, just personally have been loud enough to have former employees reach out to me.

Fuck anyone involved who doesn’t become a whistleblower.

[-] theblips@lemm.ee 10 points 1 week ago

How is the USA a real country

[-] a4ng3l@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Well considering that North Korea and Russia exist it’s not soooo far fetched. The real surprise is how it has been considered until recently as THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. We were so blind…

[-] Nangijala@feddit.dk 14 points 1 week ago

Tbf, only Americans considered America the best country in the world. The rest of us have seen it as a third world country in denial when it comes to social issues for decades. The only non-americans who think America is the greatest are people who live in scrap metal shacks in countries run by dictators and egotistical assholes who hate welfare and Healthcare.

[-] a4ng3l@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

I wonder how recently « the rest of us » built that opinion because from my 43 years as a European I certainly saw a lot of adulation of USA for as long as I remember. Even the healthcare pov is rather recent… For a long ass time they were certainly seen as our betters.

[-] altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 week ago

Post-WW2 industrial boom + Hollywood + Internet\media presence in US&EU anglosphere due to 300kk+ population.

I think for the persons under 50 this image started to fall apart with 9\11 + Lemon Brothers + the first Trump presidency.

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[-] bassomitron@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Some states absolutely have cracked down on these types of places, as they were notoriously used for conversion therapy, among other terrible purposes. I definitely went to one of these places when I was a rebellious teenager, but I was fortunate in only having to go on the weekends during the day. I was also fortunate that the place had some oversight by my state, as I quickly learned that all their "punishments" could easily be defeated by simply refusing to participate (e.g. refusing to run laps, clean the gym floor with a toothbrush, etc). I lasted maybe 3 weekends there before they kicked me out of their "program."

That was 20+ years ago, and it still kind of blows my mind that those places exist. Therapy and supportive parents will "correct" rebellious behaviors 90+% of the time.

[-] andros_rex@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The funniest thing about my story is that it was kind of the reverse of the regular one. My mom was the wild one who did drugs, and was trying to keep me from noticing.

I wasn’t really “troubled.” I didn’t do drugs, I was a shy weird kid with good grades, never acted up in school - I didn’t learn the word “blowjob” until we watched Why Did I Get Married as part of “group therapy.” My mom just was a munchausen psycho. The actual psychiatric hospitals she sent me to would pick up on that quickly, but these fucking places don’t care, they just want the cash.

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[-] Etterra@discuss.online 10 points 1 week ago

Sounds like you need to report Facebook to the FBI. Oh wait, Zuckerberg paid them off. We'll I guess we're fucked. Still.

[-] frezik@midwest.social 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Even before Zuckerberg, these groups often have a religious coating. US law enforcement lets religious groups do whatever they want until the problem becomes undeniable. Even then, they drag their feet, and Republican politicians look sad while talking about how religious liberty is being destroyed.

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[-] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

Facilities like this need to be burned down and the staff put to the headsmans axe, in fact did you know a shit tonne of them exist in Utah because of course they do.

Fun fact CPS wanted to send me to one as a child, luckily I was both a stubborn and clever little shit and my threat to burn things was taken seriously. My only condition to not burn things was to not go to it.

[-] shaquilleoatmeal@lemm.ee 7 points 1 week ago

I don’t understand why these weren’t outright banned after the first time a kid got murdered at one, let alone the umpteenth time.

[-] Aeri@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

I'm just going to leave this here: https://elan.school/ That's how I learned about this.

I read the whole thing, and it's haunting, there's no way this shit could be made up, the gravity is too insane, and there's also you know, evidence.

[-] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The problem with these services is they get you in the door with these too-good-to-be-true deals, but then you're locked into a bullshit subscription service every month. So you think you're saving a bundle on the kidnapping, but you end up paying out the ass every month for them to KEEP the kid. Enshittification at work once again.

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[-] chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 week ago

https://youtu.be/OwYNZQNQOQY

Behind the Bastards has a series on this featuring Mara Wilson.

[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Zero surprise. IG regularly recommends/sponsors content that genocidal, pseudo-scientific, grifting, fascist, etc. I switched to Pixelfed for regular use.

[-] BakerBagel@midwest.social 2 points 1 week ago

I had IG ahowing me ads for Arab "housekeeping" services where you could pick your "housekeeper". Just straight human trafficking and sex slavery brought to you by the fine folks out in Silicon Valley

[-] JamesBoeing737MAX@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Well, if you are a minority no country is much better.

[-] Ledericas@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago

zuckerborg does need access to young minds.

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Wtf is Elan and why am I only hearing about this now?

Where's the Johbn Oliver episode about this? Still in production?

[-] andros_rex@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Elan was thankfully finally shut down in 2011, so it’s no longer destroying children. Just took four decades!

The big issue, as I campaign to get my own torturers facility closed down, is that they weaponize privacy laws. Both the facilities and the state. They pretend they are protecting children by refusing to investigate. The double speak is fucking insane.

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Good to hear it's been shut down at least.

Both the facilities and the state. They pretend they are protecting children by refusing to investigate. The double speak is fucking insane.

Yeah I know about bureaucratic fuckery as well. It's very different here in Finland, but the insanity of how the system actually works is pretty mindblowing in some cases. The worst part is that no-one believes me though, as "that sort of thing doesn't happen in Finland." In the US you can at least find someone who believes in the right thing, even if most people don't. Like it's big enough that someone will agree with you. Haven't found anyone in Finland yet.

Thanks for those links, I got to read more into this shit. Won't be expecting a John Oliver episode though, if it's not a "hot issue".

Tbh I think they weaponise all laws. Laws really don't matter to them. Well, laws do, justice doesn't. I've found that out. Laws only matter if you have practically limitless funds so you can actually make the argument for your rights. When you don't, there's no fucking justice. So depressing.

[-] Jtotheb@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Realizing the power imbalance inherent in contract law was a major radicalizing force in my life. I believe Hobbesian and Lockean theories of social contracts are still so widely taught in U.S. civics classes (uncertain of their global reach in schools) because it’s important to convince kids early on that people choose to enter into these agreements with larger power structures for their own good. If that view isn’t ingrained deep within your self then you’ll realize how absurd it is to enter into a legally binding contract with a party that has all the power in the relationship. Why would you?! They write the language, they limit your rights, they reserve the right to change the agreement, they reserve the right to terminate the arrangement. Companies, countries, it’s all from the same playbook. If you break it, fines or jail. If they break it, good luck. If it’s not enumerated in the document it doesn’t matter because they fall back on their power to do what they please anyway. It’s wielded as a weapon that forces you to accept the status quo under threat of retaliation. How do you assert your right to anything in this system? Playing along by paying for someone to represent you and asserting your belief in and support of the legal structure that has disenfranchised you, of course. You still don’t even have a seat at the table.

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

How do you assert your right to anything in this system?

Yeah it's just ridiculous. The most ridiculous thing in the recent years has been browsing the web anywhere where the new EU EULA laws apply.

Now it's become less so, but it still for most sites often takes literally 15 minutes to go and click off all the "legitimate interest" bits. Just like straight up wanting to refused everything is taking me longer than it would to load that site on 56k. And that's not even to begin to consider that someone would actually read the hundreds of pages of all this hundreds of different deals. For every fucking website. It's literally impossible to make an informed decision about any of those deals or agreements, because there's just too much fucking info.

I've literally quoted the law at Finnish authorities and tried contacting journalists and politicians, and I'm still yet to find a single person who would be even willing to accept that the cops did something illegal. I don't need for them to change the past, but stop fucking gaslighting me about how the present works when I'm showing you photographic evidence you're ignoring.

Youknow?

Even when literally caught in the act, even when I have black on white about them saying something that is clearly inaccurate, they'll just ignore their mistake. And usually blame me. Even my mom implicitly victim blames me.

Fucking society, being ruined by greedy psychopaths

[-] P1nkman@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

There's two episodes about this on Behind the Bastards. Fucking heartbreaking!

[-] wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

One of my kid's friends got sent to one of these camps. Luckily the parents chose not to have him kidnapped.

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this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
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A Boring Dystopia

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