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Is anyone else disturbed at the sheer number of people in this thread alone who are coming out about being forcibly sent to one of these camps? And I'm thinkin

Is anyone else disturbed at the sheer number of people in this thread alone who are coming out about being forcibly sent to one of these camps? And I'm thinking that statistically HN's demographic probably swings more towards nerdy, well-behaved white boys from two-parent families who are middle-class or above. Not necessarily who I would have thought would have been at harm from this scam. So, if the demographic I believe is least at risk is coming out in such numbers, how many kids are really being taken like this? I'm scared this problem is even bigger than the few media stories are making it out to be.

hef19898 5y ago
Now that I come think of it, wouldn't that demographic actually be the target one? I mean you need to be affluent to send a kid to such a place. You, as in the parents, are under some social pressure to retain your social standing, you even have some lofty goals for your kids. You might be working, and travelling, a lot, so you're not around that much. After all, we are talking about private programs here. The poorer folks are usually victims of the state sponsored, and sometimes enforced against the parents will, programs. Which are as bad as those private ones. This is, of course, just a theory. In the end, so, I think that the number of abuse victims, pick any kind of abuse, is orders of magnitude higher then we all think.
- kingcharles 5y ago
  You might be right on all those points. If you look at interactions with the justice system it is skewed towards poorer demographics, but as you say, those are not the target of the scam as they lack the significant funds required to pay. And in poor communities it is expected that your kids will get into trouble, sometimes even celebrated or encouraged by the parents (especially if gang membership is involved), so I can see that the middle-class or above are the ones that would be easily shamed into signing up.
barsonme 5y ago
I come from a regular middle class background. Like, where your mom is a teacher, you drive to vacations instead of flying, and your neighbors are truck drivers and cops and firefighters and car salesmen. Lots of two-parent families, lots of white people. A bunch of kids got into all sorts of trouble, but I can only remember one kid getting sent away to one of these ”scare your kid straight” camps. He was a grade-A jackass, but the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, unfortunately. When he left, most people (adults and kids) had the same reaction: confused why a parent would do that to their child, but also not confused that those parents did it, and also not losing much sleep over who it happened to. And so, at least in my experience, this wasn’t some sort of epidemic. Maybe it is now, I don’t know. Maybe it’s something mostly rich people do.
bobsmooth 5y ago
Most people don't comment until they're given an opportunity to do so.

hef19898 5y ago

Now that I come think of it, wouldn't that demographic actually be the target one? I mean you need to be affluent to send a kid to such a place. You, as in the parents, are under some social pressure to retain your social standing, you even have some lofty goals for your kids. You might be working, and travelling, a lot, so you're not around that much. After all, we are talking about private programs here. The poorer folks are usually victims of the state sponsored, and sometimes enforced against the parents will, programs. Which are as bad as those private ones. This is, of course, just a theory. In the end, so, I think that the number of abuse victims, pick any kind of abuse, is orders of magnitude higher then we all think.

kingcharles 5y ago
You might be right on all those points. If you look at interactions with the justice system it is skewed towards poorer demographics, but as you say, those are not the target of the scam as they lack the significant funds required to pay. And in poor communities it is expected that your kids will get into trouble, sometimes even celebrated or encouraged by the parents (especially if gang membership is involved), so I can see that the middle-class or above are the ones that would be easily shamed into signing up.

barsonme 5y ago

I come from a regular middle class background. Like, where your mom is a teacher, you drive to vacations instead of flying, and your neighbors are truck drivers and cops and firefighters and car salesmen. Lots of two-parent families, lots of white people. A bunch of kids got into all sorts of trouble, but I can only remember one kid getting sent away to one of these ”scare your kid straight” camps. He was a grade-A jackass, but the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, unfortunately. When he left, most people (adults and kids) had the same reaction: confused why a parent would do that to their child, but also not confused that those parents did it, and also not losing much sleep over who it happened to. And so, at least in my experience, this wasn’t some sort of epidemic. Maybe it is now, I don’t know. Maybe it’s something mostly rich people do.

bobsmooth 5y ago

Most people don't comment until they're given an opportunity to do so.