Pennsylvania Church Kidnaps Teens, Holds Them At Gunpoint As A 'Lesson'

I have kind of mixed feelings on this.

First: I have worked with kids, in both church and non church settings. And I will tell you that; particularily with kids these days, desensitized to violence and/or crisis situations such as storms, fires, etc; a good dose of semi realistic fear is often required to shake them out of their MTV, video game, entertianment induced stuper's so they actually pay attention and learn something. Actions like this, or the school drills above, have a certain value I think. People in crisis situations, who haven't been faced with such situations, can literally come apart with fear. Doing so in a safe or controlled exercise can give you a dose of the fear, so you can think through crisis situations should they actually occur.

HOWEVER:

1). The parents should always be notified and waivers signed. No waiver, no participation in that event.
2). Depending on the event, local law enforcement should be informed.
3). Small children should not be included. 13 or 14 is probably about as young as you would want.
4). Depending on the event, the kids should generally (but not necessarily always) be informed that, "something may happen".

Obviously none of the above seemed to happen with this church, or some of the schools listed above.

By 14 I was a Civil Air Patrol Cadet, and by 16 on a volunteer emergency sevices team, so I experienced various training programs that were designed to be realistic. So this stuff doesn't really bother me.

I think people are just getting up in arms because it was a church (so they must be crazies!). How many of you let your kids go to haunted houses (covered with "religious" albiet occultic symbols and monsters), where the kids get scared, grabbed, shoved, slimed, etc..

This stuff isn't that big a deal, done properly.

And yes...I have kids....3. I am careful at what I expose them too, and probably they are "sheltered" considered what their friends do. But if I knew about something like this, and the parameters, then I would consider (depending on their age at the time) letting them do something like this. My wife might not though

Originally posted by spyder550
Why do we want a population that lives in fear. Why are the people conducting this stuff so fearful.

In the school's case I think it must have been some authoritarian administrator that took stuff way to far -- the lt col. seems to have made a career of preparing for the inevitable. The church seemed to be making a point that of paranoia that the christians in the US were going to be rounded up and sent off to concentration camps.

Fear is not good, it makes people do stupid things. It makes people very controllable and is used as a tool by people with an agenda. It gives us really stupid laws and it strips us of our rights.

If you're interested...I got a whole lot more than that last night and simply didn't want to totally hijack this into the nether regions with it. However....I have a few examples now of official district guides and procedures that specifically instruct the faculty to cooperate, be respectful and even ask permission to speak for any gunman or hostage taker that may come.

I think the ultra-real and violent drills they're pushing is meant to reinforce the NO resistance Mantra and instill that sense of total helplessness so that in a real situation the thought of fighting for their lives doesn't even cross their minds.

I'm sure some non-violence to the extreme types will say what a GREAT idea that capitulation and total surrender to an armed criminal is.....but remember Beslan, Russia. I don't think the KIDS need terrorized and made to fear shadows in their own school. ADULTS who work there need to man-up, take responsibility for the duty to protect the Children we trust them with and be a little more than mice and wimps who cede our Children and total control of a facility to the first person who shows up with a gun and a bad attitude.