Battleangel

A frightening tale (Boston Globe) of abuse from the dark side of the empire. Of the 250 troubled or disabled students at the Rotenberg Center, Massachusetts, half wear electric shock devices (even in the shower!) and most endure some sort of hands-on correction.

Students would receive electric shocks for behaviors including

‘refuse to follow staff directions’, ‘failure to maintain a neat appearance’, ’stopping work for more than 10 seconds’, ‘interrupting others’, ‘nagging’, ‘whispering and/or moving conversation away from staff’, ’slouch in chair’, as well as more intensive behaviors such as physical aggression toward others, property destruction and attempts to hurt/injure self.

Add to this a long list of other medieval so called “behavioral rehearsal lessons” that seem to be just marginally more enlightened that leeches and hacking someone’s limbs off. Even if the report is biased, as Rotenberg officials claim, and that these measures are only a “last resort,” it would still constitute gross misconduct and a sort of backwards idea of the human condition. It frankly reeks of insane asylums and abuse. And makes you think of “Battle Royale” (so far without the exploding necklaces) and such depictions.

And as I would argue, this is an invaluable insight into the endemic abuse that goes on in the US on a daily basis, taking many forms (remember the recent story of anti-psychotics?), but always intertwined with the horrible atrocities the nation instigates abroad (and has been doing since its inception). This is the high price for national unity that is now taking its toll at home.