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Some people criticized Holocaust survivors for not resisting (I am not equating you with such critics, btw). They didn't realize that initially, the victims wer

Some people criticized Holocaust survivors for not resisting (I am not equating you with such critics, btw). They didn't realize that initially, the victims were hoodwinked into thinking they were being relocated, and when they learned the truth, they were weakened and disoriented by being crammed into a train cattle-car without food or water for some days. In the camps, the people were systematically starved and beaten to maintain their helplessness. Even so, some did try to rebel and were killed. The people who heard whispers about what had happened couldn't believe it - it was too vile to contemplate. The parallels between that unspeakable crime and this story are: - People who have become marginalized (our society does not exactly honor the elderly, except - sometimes - relatives). - Preying on unsuspecting people with their guards down. - State-sanctioned abuse (if unintentional) in the name of protection. - Victims who lacked the mental capacity and physical stamina to understand what was happening and to resist. - "Somebody else's problem"; disinterest in the plight of the marginalized people who some see as less than human. - Trust in authority figures.

pa7ch 9y ago
To add to this, past the initial elder-knapping, it looks like they drugged the elders to keep them from rebelling/attending court dates. From the article: >During Rennie North’s first year at Lakeview Terrace, she gained sixty pounds. Parks had switched the Norths’ insurance, for reasons she never explained, and Rennie began seeing new doctors, who prescribed Valium, Prozac, the sedative Temazepam, Oxycodone, and Fentanyl. The doses steadily increased.
JohnicBoom 9y ago
Same thing in Soviet Russia. I am reading The Gulag Archipelago, and in it, Solzhenitsyn says about the mindset of one who is facing unjust arrest by the authorities: "...But as for you, you are obviously innocent! You still believe that the Organs [of state security] are humanely logical institutions: they will set things straight and let you out. Why, then, should you run away? And how can you resist right then? After all, you'll only make your situation worse; you'll make it more difficult for them to sort out the mistake. And it isn't just that you don't put up any resistance; you even walk down the stairs on tiptoe, as you are ordered to do, so your neighbors won't hear. At what exact point, then, should one resist? When one's belt is taken away? When one is ordered to face into a corner? When one crosses the threshold of one's home? An arrest consists of a series of incidental irrelevancies, of a multitude of things that do not matter, and there seems no point in arguing about any one of them individually - especially at a time when the thoughts of the person arrested are wrapped tightly around the big question: 'What for?' - and yet all these incidental irrelevancies taken together implacably constitute the arrest." I think same kind of thoughts go through peoples' heads in all manner of less serious circumstances. They might know it doesn't feel right or that it's wrong, but they feel that surely someone will help them correct the mistake. And if they just go along for now, they'll be in better standing when they finally find the right time to raise their objection.

pa7ch 9y ago

To add to this, past the initial elder-knapping, it looks like they drugged the elders to keep them from rebelling/attending court dates. From the article: >During Rennie North’s first year at Lakeview Terrace, she gained sixty pounds. Parks had switched the Norths’ insurance, for reasons she never explained, and Rennie began seeing new doctors, who prescribed Valium, Prozac, the sedative Temazepam, Oxycodone, and Fentanyl. The doses steadily increased.

JohnicBoom 9y ago

Same thing in Soviet Russia. I am reading The Gulag Archipelago, and in it, Solzhenitsyn says about the mindset of one who is facing unjust arrest by the authorities: "...But as for you, you are obviously innocent! You still believe that the Organs [of state security] are humanely logical institutions: they will set things straight and let you out. Why, then, should you run away? And how can you resist right then? After all, you'll only make your situation worse; you'll make it more difficult for them to sort out the mistake. And it isn't just that you don't put up any resistance; you even walk down the stairs on tiptoe, as you are ordered to do, so your neighbors won't hear. At what exact point, then, should one resist? When one's belt is taken away? When one is ordered to face into a corner? When one crosses the threshold of one's home? An arrest consists of a series of incidental irrelevancies, of a multitude of things that do not matter, and there seems no point in arguing about any one of them individually - especially at a time when the thoughts of the person arrested are wrapped tightly around the big question: 'What for?' - and yet all these incidental irrelevancies taken together implacably constitute the arrest." I think same kind of thoughts go through peoples' heads in all manner of less serious circumstances. They might know it doesn't feel right or that it's wrong, but they feel that surely someone will help them correct the mistake. And if they just go along for now, they'll be in better standing when they finally find the right time to raise their objection.