Clara Salaman / Live in the present
Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:27 pm
Lets face it. This forum, the survival of its link on the Wikipedia page, the Channel Four Documentary, Clara Salaman's book and the reviews of it are all a great victory for us SES and St. James survivors. They tried to stop us achieving justice, they tried to suffocate us, they tried to cheat us - they failed.
And yet, SES apologists respond to Clara's book in a typically manipulative way. I keep hearing the Mantra: "Yes it was wrong what we did but that all happened in the 1980s" / "Why are you so attached to the past?" / "Everything has changed" / "surrender your negativity" / "LIVE IN THE PRESENT."
I find this all quite infuriating. I don't feel it in the past at all. I feel the past right here and now, it makes me passionate and angry and I will not suppress my emotion about it. These feelings are genuine and positive and very much in the present. The SES use of language and the SES structures are all still being used - it evidently has not changed. Maybe there isn't any more beating and there is less mental torture at St James, but mind control is still at the heart of SES. And the mind control was what caused the beating and mental torture in the first place. So for legal reasons the schools may have reformed, but think of the thousands of families around the globe that are living in hell because of SES mind control.
My deepest concern is that in focusing on the book, and whether or not St. James has broken with the past, a smokescreen will protect the rest of SES. Think of the children, exactly the same as we were, whose mothers now come home from Philosophy group with a glazed look in their eyes when once there was.. a mother. Think of the father who is as monstrous as an alcoholic, terrifying his family because SES has taught him to feel, and use, his male power. Imagine SES involvement in already difficult relations between step-parents of step-children. We simply must not let SES wriggle out of this by saying everything is different now in the 'New' School and that Clara's book, and our feelings, and the 'Old' School are all in the past. Mind control is mind control. Simple as that. We will have blood on our hands if we allow the abuse to simply go behind closed doors, from a new squeaky clean St. James to the hell of the SES family home. We must not let SES hide behind the Old St. James school.
Take a look at these 2 reviews of Clara's book on Amazon below. Neither reviewer had made an Amazon review before, which always increases the likelihood that the reviewer is moved to write because of an agenda, usually internet sabotage. Both use the classic SES mind control technique of arguing that the wrongdoing is in the past, things have changed, and the present is beautiful if you're in SES:
3.0 out of 5 stars If your going to tell the story, tell the WHOLE story...., 11 Aug 2009
By Meenakshi Iyer "Meenapixi" - See all my reviews
I just left the school she talked about in her book this year, 2009, and I feel like a mature, well-rounded, confident young woman ready to face the world with the good and the bad. The book was moving, and I even shed a tear or two at the experiences the author has gone through, but what saddens me is that this book tells only of the past history of this institution. In its present day it provides academic, emotional and physical support and IF the pupils WANT then spiritual support. It is not a "cult" school anymore and I have never felt it was in my 14 years attending.
I am no judge on the past history of the school and its teachers, because I wasn't there, but if a story such as this is published it should tell the WHOLE story past and present. I would hate to think that people would read this book and judge the school based on it when it is a far-cry from the type of school explained in this book. Our sports days were cancelled consecutivly twice because there were predictions of rain and it didn't even rain! The school cares nothing more than for the well-being of its pupils now and I don't think I would have emerged with the confidence and moral grounding that I have now without the guidance of my school. I think its great that Ms. Salaman has channeled her sad memories of the school in such a creative outlet, but people should know that this book talks mainly of a past ghost that no longer exists and one that I hope all the ex-pupils of that generation from the school can successfully exorcise those ghosts from their pasts.
And also:
1.0 out of 5 stars A VERY DISAPPOINTING READ, 17 Aug 2009
By The Good Reader (London, England) - See all my reviews
`Shame on You' by Clara Salaman is a work of fiction, which is how it should be read, and how it should be reviewed. The narrative consists of two interwoven storylines, past and present, both with the same central character. The storyline, set in the past, focussing on Caroline Stern's time as a pupil at St. Augustine's, is, of the two, far better written. It has colour, texture and real attention to detail - it springs off the page. The storyline set 26 years later, is dull and cliched in comparison with a self-obsessed central character that is neither likeable nor interesting. Frustratingly, the emotional dynamics between Caroline and her parents, both in the past and the present, remain virtualy untouched throughout. To dig under the skin of that relationship, really fleshing the characters out, seeing how they work, would have been challenging to write but would have made 'Shame On You' a thought provoking, and therefore far more enjoyable, read. Very disappointing.
So, my dear fellow survivors, I think its up to us to counter these kinds of arguments.
And yet, SES apologists respond to Clara's book in a typically manipulative way. I keep hearing the Mantra: "Yes it was wrong what we did but that all happened in the 1980s" / "Why are you so attached to the past?" / "Everything has changed" / "surrender your negativity" / "LIVE IN THE PRESENT."
I find this all quite infuriating. I don't feel it in the past at all. I feel the past right here and now, it makes me passionate and angry and I will not suppress my emotion about it. These feelings are genuine and positive and very much in the present. The SES use of language and the SES structures are all still being used - it evidently has not changed. Maybe there isn't any more beating and there is less mental torture at St James, but mind control is still at the heart of SES. And the mind control was what caused the beating and mental torture in the first place. So for legal reasons the schools may have reformed, but think of the thousands of families around the globe that are living in hell because of SES mind control.
My deepest concern is that in focusing on the book, and whether or not St. James has broken with the past, a smokescreen will protect the rest of SES. Think of the children, exactly the same as we were, whose mothers now come home from Philosophy group with a glazed look in their eyes when once there was.. a mother. Think of the father who is as monstrous as an alcoholic, terrifying his family because SES has taught him to feel, and use, his male power. Imagine SES involvement in already difficult relations between step-parents of step-children. We simply must not let SES wriggle out of this by saying everything is different now in the 'New' School and that Clara's book, and our feelings, and the 'Old' School are all in the past. Mind control is mind control. Simple as that. We will have blood on our hands if we allow the abuse to simply go behind closed doors, from a new squeaky clean St. James to the hell of the SES family home. We must not let SES hide behind the Old St. James school.
Take a look at these 2 reviews of Clara's book on Amazon below. Neither reviewer had made an Amazon review before, which always increases the likelihood that the reviewer is moved to write because of an agenda, usually internet sabotage. Both use the classic SES mind control technique of arguing that the wrongdoing is in the past, things have changed, and the present is beautiful if you're in SES:
3.0 out of 5 stars If your going to tell the story, tell the WHOLE story...., 11 Aug 2009
By Meenakshi Iyer "Meenapixi" - See all my reviews
I just left the school she talked about in her book this year, 2009, and I feel like a mature, well-rounded, confident young woman ready to face the world with the good and the bad. The book was moving, and I even shed a tear or two at the experiences the author has gone through, but what saddens me is that this book tells only of the past history of this institution. In its present day it provides academic, emotional and physical support and IF the pupils WANT then spiritual support. It is not a "cult" school anymore and I have never felt it was in my 14 years attending.
I am no judge on the past history of the school and its teachers, because I wasn't there, but if a story such as this is published it should tell the WHOLE story past and present. I would hate to think that people would read this book and judge the school based on it when it is a far-cry from the type of school explained in this book. Our sports days were cancelled consecutivly twice because there were predictions of rain and it didn't even rain! The school cares nothing more than for the well-being of its pupils now and I don't think I would have emerged with the confidence and moral grounding that I have now without the guidance of my school. I think its great that Ms. Salaman has channeled her sad memories of the school in such a creative outlet, but people should know that this book talks mainly of a past ghost that no longer exists and one that I hope all the ex-pupils of that generation from the school can successfully exorcise those ghosts from their pasts.
And also:
1.0 out of 5 stars A VERY DISAPPOINTING READ, 17 Aug 2009
By The Good Reader (London, England) - See all my reviews
`Shame on You' by Clara Salaman is a work of fiction, which is how it should be read, and how it should be reviewed. The narrative consists of two interwoven storylines, past and present, both with the same central character. The storyline, set in the past, focussing on Caroline Stern's time as a pupil at St. Augustine's, is, of the two, far better written. It has colour, texture and real attention to detail - it springs off the page. The storyline set 26 years later, is dull and cliched in comparison with a self-obsessed central character that is neither likeable nor interesting. Frustratingly, the emotional dynamics between Caroline and her parents, both in the past and the present, remain virtualy untouched throughout. To dig under the skin of that relationship, really fleshing the characters out, seeing how they work, would have been challenging to write but would have made 'Shame On You' a thought provoking, and therefore far more enjoyable, read. Very disappointing.
So, my dear fellow survivors, I think its up to us to counter these kinds of arguments.