Texans for Safe Education
From The Director

How can this be? Again and again, I shake my head and expect somehow to awaken as if from a nightmare. I have this nagging sensation that somehow my confused uncertainty about the events I see and experience, regarding our societyÕs current relationship to children, must somehow be like the way I often feel in struggling to make sense of the dreams from which I wake in the morning. Lying in bed, or later in the day, I reflect on my dreams. I know that they reveal something of deep significance about myself and my world, yet understanding usually remains elusively out of reach. So I shake my head, focus on the events of the day, and get on with what I think I know. For me, the events of the day include my chosen mandate to respond to the needs of our children, specifically to wake people up to the fact that we are giving potent, toxic drugs to millions of our school children every day! I donÕt know which is more amazing -- that this is happening, or that the adults around me in this waking time world act like it is a good thing to do, or at least the best we have to offer. They actively defend and promote this action which to me is a nightmare. How can this be? How can I make sense of this? How can I talk about this to others in a helpful or even intelligible way? Here it is for today.

In 1991, three University of Massachusetts social scientists found that people who watched the most CNN coverage of the Gulf War actually knew least about the circumstances of the war, who the participants were, what were the real conflicts and underlying issues, etc. Also, they were most likely to support the U.S. government position on the war. A number of other surveys also show that those who watch the most commercial-TV news know the least about the subjects covered. Is that not amazing? I think this goes a long way toward explaining why I feel like IÕm in a dream world when I see and ponder the reality of millions of our beloved children on psychiatric drugs. It seems to me that those who depend on the commercial media for information on the "mental health" care of our children probably know least about the real issues, and are most likely to support the U.S. government position which is very pro psychiatric drugs. Viewing the daily stream of print and visual media news about biopsychiatry, it is easy to understand why the public would believe that a host of biologically or genetically based "mental illnesses" have been scientifically validated, that these "brain diseases" are the cause of our failures in social adjustment, and that they can be gainfully "treated" by the myriad and wondrous discoveries of modern medical science. Given this constant stream of propaganda, it is no wonder that the public knows so little about the true facts, such as that none of these assumptions is based in any kind of legitimate science.

Robert McChesney is the author or editor of several books raising an alarm about the growing domination of the media by giant firms and special interests. In an interview in the September 2000 issue of SUN magazine, McChesney explains that one reason these findings are troubling is that they match the strategy of Joseph Goebbels in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. This propaganda masterÕs idea was that the more people consumed of the Nazi media, the less they would understand the issues, and the more they would support the Nazi agenda. McChesney points out, then, that, "our so-called free press produces the same type of results that Goebbels -- a man with profound contempt for both democracy and public discourse -- was trying to produce in Germany." The money spent by our drug industry on promotion and publicity (an estimated $10 billion per year) has been a superlative investment.

Another idea of Goebbels was, rather than inundate people with heavy messages, to give people lots of light entertainment. Similarly, there is little serious drama in our own media. Further, Goebbels wanted the German media to give the illusion of diversity, but for every single program to give the same underlying message. I canÕt think of a more accurate description of our cable TV and magazine racksÑapparently diverse with countless products, but all promoting the same message of incessant consumption. The average American child watches 30,000 commercials a year, all saying the same thing -- Buy, Buy, Buy! Regarding our concern at Texans For Safe Education, we have new diagnoses abounding -- ADD in 1980, ADHD in 1987, and more recently such dread "diseases" as "oppositional defiance disorder" and "obsessive compulsive disorder." Similarly, we have new miracle drugs every year -- from Ritalin to Prozac to Adderall, in pills, in time release capsules, in epidermal patches, in sweet syrup, etc. Such wonderful diversity, all clearly in promotion of drug company profits and better living through chemistry. (See the page one article on Concerta, one of the latest pharmaceutical gifts for our children.)

McChesney goes on to say that "our propaganda system is much better than anything Goebbels dreamed up, because it has the illusion of freedom. If you disagreed with the government in Nazi Germany, you got locked up and maybe even executed, so it was apparent that you were living in a repressive society. Here in the U.S. (By far the world leader in this brave new experiment of drugging children by the millions -- JB), you can blow off steam with a rant on some community radio or by writing for some fanzine that eight people read, and then youÕre supposed to shut up and be happy because it proves we have a ÔfreeÕ press." (See the article below about the Carroll family in Albany, New York as an illustration of the reality of psychiatric coercion in our country.)

There is more. Again I quote Dr. McChesney:

"In many respects, we have the greatest propaganda system in human history, much superior to the Soviet or Nazi systems, because our system delivers the message that, if you donÕt like it, itÕs your own fault. ThatÕs the primary message in our society: If youÕre not a success, itÕs your fault. If youÕre in prison, itÕs your fault. If youÕre not happy, itÕs your fault."

In a way, these last words seem to contradict the incessant chant heard in my own writings about the fact that the practice of biopsychiatry results in a magic trick whereby everyone is absolved of responsibility. A child diagnosed as "mentally ill" (ADHD) and placed on psychiatric "medication" (Ritalin) is no longer responsible for himself; he canÕt help it. McChesney is talking about the notion of "blaming the victim," and psychiatry does, in a way, absolve the victim. Children are no longer bad; they are now sick and in need of medicine. Furthermore, involved adults are not responsible for their levels of care and attention; after all, it is a biological or genetic defect in the child that is the problem. Psychiatry provides absolution for all; it appears to be so very much kinder and gentler than the harsh realities of economic failure and prison.

I ended McChesneyÕs last quote with the sentence that "If youÕre not happy, itÕs your fault." If youÕre an economic failure, itÕs because youÕre too stupid or lazy to take advantage of this land of equal opportunity. Extending this logic, if you fail in school, academically or behaviorally, it's your fault; youÕre lazy, or bad or dumb. Psychiatry is different; shame and guilt are absolved; the innocent child simply suffers from an unfortunate "illness," which we can "treat" thanks to the miracles of modern medical pharmacology.

This apparent contradiction about blame and fault-finding is resolved, however, when I provide the actual last two sentences of McChesney's statement. He did assert that the American message is that "If youÕre not happy, itÕs your fault." But he went on to say that "ItÕs never the fault of our flawed system. The preservers of the status quo don't want that thought in your mind." Psychiatry most definitely and clearly supports this message. When a child is labeled "mentally ill" and in need of "medication," his problems are clearly due to his illness; it cannot, then, be the fault of our flawed system. We are completely absolved of responsibility to continue thinking about our children, about how we are failing them, about what kind of tough changes might be necessary to really meet their needs.

As Chief Sitting Bull said, "Let us put our minds together and see what we will make for our children."