Violence, media, and Synanon as a religion

Synanon did not start off as a violent group. It was actually pretty peaceful and just wanted to help the "dope fiends". The purpose was to change people's lives around for the better and make them better people who were not active addicts.  Things slowly started to change. Some rules in Synanon started to change and soon enough violence was accepted.

Synanon was not only violent to the adults, but to the kids as well. Synanon had what was like military boot camps for the youth. Like I talked about in one of my blogs, we had a woman come into class to talk to us about her growing up in Synanon and what that was like. She told us that the kids lived in these dormitory like buildings. The children lived in a different part of Synanon than the adults. The guest speaker told us that sometimes the kids were hit and beaten for certain things.

Violence did not just happen between members. Some members of Synanon were violent towards regular people not even involved with Synanon. We watch the beginning of two different Synanon movies as we were first learning about Synanon. The second movie we began watching covered the violent aspect of Synanon whereas the first one was more about the beginning and start
up of Synanon. In the second movie we saw how the members were violent towards others. In the movie some members attacked a man and his girlfriend because they were on Synanon's land. The guy wanted to show his girlfriend where he grew up, I believe this was the case.

The media also played an important role in how people viewed Synanon. This was also the case with Jonestown. Jonestown was portrayed in a very negative way so everyone had a negative view of Jonestown. There was also the anti-cult people who only had bad things to say about Jonestown. I'm sure Synanon had some of those same people as well. Synanon, towards the end, got bad publicity as well. There may have been some positive aspects of Synanon, but the media focused on the negative. The newspapers that printed articles about Synanon printed articles trying to expose Synanon for its wrongdoings. I do not think they ever really printed anything positive about Synanon.

The book we read, "The Rise and Fall of Synanon" even the content of the book did not seem al that positive. It seems like there were more negative things to be said about Synanon than positive. I am sure there had to be some positive things about Synanon, after all, a lot of goups and organizations borrowed ideas and practices from Synanon. Even the woman who came to talk to us seemed to have more negative things to say about Synanon than positive things. Before Dederich's decision to want to keep everyone in Synanon forever, I think Synanon may have been beneficial to people and actually helped people.

Synanon became a religion for all the wrong reasons. After Dederich started drinking again, things started to change. He started to care a lot more about money and wanted more of it. He did want want to have to pay taxes, so he wanted to make Synanon a church. If Synanon became a church, it would no longer have to pay taxes. Synanon was soon declared a church. While Synanon was a church, they still had their businesses they were running. Their businesses were for profit. Later on down the line, Synanon got busted for making money for profit as a church. This is was ultimately led to their demise.

I think when Dederich started drinking again, everything changed. He became a different person than he was when he first had the idea to start Synanon. He endorsed violence, after all, he is the one who said to put a rattlesnake in Paul Morantz's mailbox. I am not really sure why or how he thought any of these things, becoming a religion and turning to violence would help Synanon at all. I think it definitely made things worse for them.

I also wonder what the deciding factor was for Synanon accepting violence on other members and on the outside community. Did he really think violence would help things? Was the game not enough violence? I know the game was not itself physically violent, but it could be seen as verbally violent. Was it the media who helped Synanon meet their decline or was it the fact that the IRS caught onto their schemes?

Synanon did have a lot of potential to continue to be great. It started off as a good idea and had a great cause. Along the way I think Dederich and the other members of Synanon lost sight of what was important and lost sight of all the goals they once had.

Delancey Street and Synanon

As we have learned, Delancey Street has a lot in common with Synanon. To start, the founder of Delancey Street, John Maher, was a former member of Synanon. Delancey street has a lot of similarities with Synanon, which may have contributed to why they are still around today.


Delancey Street is run by its members; people who are in the program. Members do everything from administrative work all the way to running the businesses that Delancey Street is known for, like the restaurant and the christmas tree lot. Delancey Street does not charge people for its treatment, much like Synanon. The minimum stay at Delancey Street is two years and the average stay is four years. There are three rules that must be followed by the people at Delancey Street, these rules are:

1. no drugs or alcohol 
2. no physical violence
3. no threats of violence 

Residents at Delancey Street do not have to pay to be a part of the program, like with most other programs today. They may work at the restaurant or other Delancey street businesses, but they do not get paid. The residents get food, housing, clothing, education, and other things at no cost to them. So not getting paid is not that bad after all. Plus, the program is free. I think the setup is pretty good.

As I was looking on the Delancey Street website, I found it interesting that they helped move over 12,000 violent racial gang members into nonviolence. These people went from living violent lives to practicing active nonviolence. This is interesting to compare to Synanon because Synanon started as nonviolent and practiced active nonviolence but turned extremely violent in the end. Delancey Street has been able to stick with their original goals and so far nothing has gotten in the way of that. It has been the same program pretty much since it first started. 

When we were first learning about Synanon, we started to watch a movie about the start on Synanon (before the violence kicked in). In this movie, a newcomer to Synanon was paired up with a member who has been there a while. That person was supposed to show the newcomer how things were done and explain to them the rules. They were kind of like a mentor for the newbies. This goes with the belief of Delancey Street of each one teach one. Each member of Delancey Street helps the others out. They are the experts and the staff of the program.

A few weeks ago I was able to meet a man who went through the Delancey Street program. He now runs a program at a men's jail. He was telling the group I was with that the Delancey Street program in intense. "They call you on your shit" he told us, when referring to the game. Delancey Street plays the game just like Synanon did. He told us that it is used to attack certain behavior, not to attack an individual. This is another thing that Delancey Street and Synanon have in common. Both play the game and it seems like it has been helpful to the people who have played it. I also found it interesting to hear him and others call the game "attack therapy". I think calling it the game sounds nicer, but attack therapy pretty much tells you exactly how it is. Attack therapy is more straightforward as to what it is about.

A family member of mine had the opportunity to go to Delancey Street. He was heavily addicted to heroin and cocaine. He lost everything from it, his wife, daughter and other members of his family. Luckily now he is clean, but when he was looking for a program, he refused to go to Delancey Street. He told me that he did not want anyone telling him what to do. He knew about their attack therapy/the game and he wanted no part in it. He did not want to be "called out on his shit", he knew what he did but did not want to take responsibility. If he went to Delancey Street he knew he would have to take responsibility for his actions. Now, luckily he has been clean for about three or four years now, but I think Delancey Street would have been great for him. They could have helped him reintegrate into society.

A major difference that I have noticed between Synanon and Delancey Street is that the founder of Synanon, Charles Dederich, believed his members could not go back into society. He did not think they would be able to make it out there on their own. He had no faith in them. He wanted to keep them in Synanon forever. He believed that the only way they would remain clean was if he made them stay at Synanon forever. Delancey Street works to modify your behavior and helps you work on problems so you can stay clean and sober when it is your time to leave. They give you the tools you need to succeed in live. The people at Delancey Street have faith in its members. Delancey Street has graduated over 18,000 people into society and helped them to be successful. That is the goal all along, to get the people back into society and have them be successful members of society. They do not want to keep them there in the program forever.


* http://www.delanceystreetfoundation.org/index.php (this website was used as a source for the blog)

Synanon

How can a religious movement go wrong? When people think of a religious movements, some think about love, compassion and faith. All peaceful aspects that represents a religion. Other people may think of the history of how religion came to be. For example the wars, multiple sex partners and massacres caused by religion. For example the Mormons, started by Joseph Smith, not an extreme religious movement, like others, had the Mountain Meadow massacre in 1857 and they also believed in polygamy.

A more extreme religious movement was the Branch Davidians. The Branch Davidians, led by Victor Houteff in 1942, believed the Seventh day Adventists lacked the second coming of Christ, so they separated and started their own group. The Davidians established themselves in Mt. Caramel (Waco, Texas). Later this group was led by David Koresh. He believed that he was a prophet from God. This group as many others was heavily affected by media. People believed that this congregation was a sex cult and that members of this congregation were being brainwashed. The FBI believed that the members were being held hostages. While the members in the believed that the FBI’s attack was part of the Seven Seals, the second coming of Christ. The difference between the thought of these two groups led to the death of 76 people. One of the things that I found interesting about this group is that my boss knew a lady that died in Waco Texas. Her name was Judy Schneider. Judy went to Cal Poly and my boss and her used to work together. My boss remembers Judy as a very smart down to earth lady. She also says that Judy and her husband Steve were trying to have a baby for the longest time, but they weren’t successful. Finally Judy got pregnant and my boss always thought that the child was Steve’s until years later she came to realize that the child was from David Koresh. Judy and Steve came to the conclusion that they (Judy and Steve) had to follow God’s will. So they accepted for Judy to become one of Koresh’s wives.

A more extreme group than the Branch Davidians, were the Peoples’ Temple. This group was founded by Jim Jones in 1955. This group spread Christianity, service to the poor and racial equality. The group first originated in Indiana and eventually moved to California, in the 1970s, with their main headquarter in San Francisco. In 1974 Jones bought land in Guyana to develop a home for his followers. Jim Jones became an alcoholic and paranoid and moved his 1000 members. Once in, members were not allowed to leave. Jones preached over his loudspeakers. Jones was the only contact with the outside world they had. In November 1978 due to all the negativity around Jonestown, Leo Ryan, a congressman from California, decided to investigate Jonestown for himself. He found out that members were being held against their will. When the members who wanted to leave and the congressman were about to depart, they were attacked by Peoples Temple gunmen sent by Jones. That day, 918 members of Peoples Temple committed suicide by drinking poison. People who refused to drink were forced to drink by the armed guards.

Synanon on the other hand, was founded by Charles Dederich in 1958. Charles, opened his alcohol recovery program in Santa Monica, California. Synanon was first established to help help addicts stop using drugs and alcohol. Synanon had great success with drug and alcoholic addicts. Members were required to play, “The Game.” The Game was the most important treatment method in Synanon. Dederich believed that if a group of people sat in a circle to express their frustration they would be able to develop personal integrity and delay impulsive action. Dederich believed that addicts were not able to hide anything if they expected to stay clean. The Game was two to three hours long with groups of eight to fifteen people. Players were required to back the play. By the 1970s the game started to become more violent, amd these violent attacks violated the most basic rule of the Game, “No violence, no threat of violence.” After the death of Chuck’s wife, Betty, alcohol was introduced into Synanon. Synanon became violent, beating members or people who were against Synanon. In October 1978, Synanon members placed a rattlesnake in the mailbox of Paul Morantz. Finally in 1991 the IRS sued for $17 million in back taxes. Finally Synanon dissolved in 1991.
Unlike the branch Davidians and The Peoples Temple, Synanon started as an alcoholic rehabilitation program and later became a religion. Synanon became a religion for the sole purpose of becoming tax exempt. While the sole purpose of the Branch Davidians and the Peoples Temples was religion. What can be told about these three leaders? First, the mental health of each of these leaders heavily affected the organization. All three of them became paranoid of their surroundings. The negative media played a huge component of the downfall of each of these groups. Another similarities between these three groups is that they were all isolated from society. Blood relatives could not get to members inside the communes.

Former Member of Synanon

This past Thursday, April 14, we had two guest speakers come into class. One was a woman named Naomi and she was born in Synanon. A real life person who was born in Synanon, not just someone we have read about. It was really interesting to hear her stories about what life was like for her in Synanon. Synanon was described as "The hippest, coolest drug program in the world, until it wasn't" this was said by our other speaker, Don.

Naomi was borin in 1971 in Synanon when it was in Santa Monica. She made a connection between the books/movies The Hunger Games and Synanon. She told us that the two were similar to each other. After she told us this, she began reading to us from something she wrote about her time in Synanon. She began to tell us how she was very connected to music and that her dad was in the Synaon band, Sounds of Synanon. She also told us that her father's first wife was killed in a drug deal gone bad. Her father had tried to her his wife to come to Synanon, but she would not do it. Her father remarried and had had her and her siblings.

Despite what was going on in the world during the time when Synanon was around, it was a very multicultural place. People of many ethnic backgrounds were welcomed there. Charles himself was a white man and his wife was black. Naomi went on to tell us that drug addiction used to be classified as a mental illness. Naomi told us that Synanon was force to move from their Synanon location. She also said that she believes the move was the first step in turning Synanon into a cult. It went from a community to a cult.

Synanon moved to West Marin. In 1977 all couples in Synanon were to break up and marry someone new, sort of like an arranged marriage. Naomi's father did not want to divorce and marry someone else. Because of this, her father and his wife were kicked out of Synanon. After this happened, the leader, Charles, would always refer to Naomi's father as "that asshole Crawford". Even sixteen year olds had to get "love matched" as well. A love match is like an arranged marriage, but not a marriage because they did not do legal marriages there. All men over the age of sixteen were forced to get vasectomies. Children were thought to get in the way of what Synanon was trying to accomplish.

However, there were some children in Synanon. People had kids before the new vasectomy 'law' was initiated. The kids lived in dorm like buildings. It was sort of like a military institution. Naomi told us that people in Synanon were not really nurturing towards the children. This included her own mother. Her mother had her, but it was up to the rest of the community to raise her. She gave birth to Naomi, but was not really a mother. She did not have any maternal instincts. Even the kids had to have their heads shaved. To Naomi, having a shaved head was a normal part of life.

Naomi then began to tell us about the violence of Synanon. She told us that there were some "heinous crimes against outsiders". She remembers hearing Charles say "put a fucking rattlesnake in his mailbox". As we have come to know, Charles was talking about lawyer Paul Morantz. Morantz represented a man who was beaten by some members of Synanon because he supposedly ran some kids off the road when they were riding their bikes. The members of Synanon were kept in the dark about the violence that went on. They did not find out about the violence until later on. 

When Naomi was twelve years old, her father tried to get custody of her. Synanon would not let him, they would send him death threats. He decided to stop trying to get custody of her and she was left in Synanon. 

Naomi realized that she was not 'normal' one day when she and some others went out. She encountered two other young girls. The girls asked Naomi and her friend if they were boys or girls (they both had shaved heads at the time). This made Naomi feel really bad and realize she was different, that her life was different. 

Naomi told us that doctors and dentist were on site, members did not have to go out somewhere to see their doctors or dentists. The vasectomies were done on site as well. The doctors were squares, they were not dope fiends like the members. Another interesting thing that Naomi told us was that the Black Panthers and the Hells Angels protected Synanon. They would protect them when they did rallies.

Kids in Synanon also had to play the game. They would watch the adults and then have to play the game themselves. There was a big difference though between the game that kids played and the ones the adults played. The adults were able to keep the mentality of 'what happens in the game stays in the game'. Kids were not able to do that. What happened in the game they took with them outside of the game. What happened in the game would get to them. 

Naomi left Synanon in 1989 when she was seventeen. She went to community college in Santa Cruz and then went to Davis. She now has children of her own. She finds that she has the mother instinct, the one that her own biological mother did not have. 

When asked if Synanon did not become violent, would it still be around, Naomi told us this:

"The status changed and became a church. Synanon then started a business and became all about money making. This created a hierarchy between people. Some people had more money than others. It was not longer equal. The IRS ultimately brought Synanon down." They started a business for profit and they were church and were not supposed to do that.

Naomi told us that when Charles began to drink again, all of Synanon drank. Synanon drank alcohol on Saturdays. Naomi also told us that most of the kids, including herself, found Charles to be scary. She never wanted to be in a situation were she had to talk to him. There was just something about him that never sat right with her. In Naomi's words, "he was scary to be around".