Television for Women

With all the complaints about Honey Boo Boo, I think I should draw attention to another reality show about exploiting children for money. It's called Teen Trouble with Josh Shipp. This guy is a self proclaimed "teen behavior expert." In reality he is certified in absolutely nothing and man it shows. He's a Class A moron.

Usually the show starts with some kid with a problem, Shipp demonstrates his kooky methods. One of these involved having a young girl, already traumatized by the death of her father have go inside a morgue and wash the hair of a dead person and then sealing said girl in a in a coffin. Then ends with him sending the kid to some wilderness lock down facility owned by the Aspen Education group.

Odd how an "expert" always seems to use the last resort solution. If he were such an expert he wouldn't need to do this. But he's not an expert. He's a shill for Aspen.
Now here are some interesting facts about Aspen. A school that was owned by Aspen, Mount Bachelor Academy, was shut down after:

"State investigators found students were required to engage in sexualized role-play and other humiliating activities, such as re-enacting past abuse, in front of staff and peers."

They've also been known to tell rape and molestation victims they should "take responsibility" for it.
Making sex abuse victims re-enact their trauma and telling rape victims it was their fault is now television for women apparently.

Another program, SageWalk (featured on ABC's Brat Camp) got shut down when a teen died after he was denied medical treatment in spite of his obvious distress. This is part and parcel for Aspen and pretty much all the other players in the troubled teen industry. They don't want doctors to see their "work" and start asking questions so they pretend the problem doesn't exist by saying the teen is "faking" even when they're vomiting blood only acting when it is too late.
I suppose being dead would correct bad behavior though (sarcasm).

A number of the schools that are featured on the show have been dealing with some nasty stuff. Axiom Youth Community is being investigated for sexual abuse of a minor and an ensuing cover up. Considering what happened at their other schools I would not be surprised to find it was true.
Of course neither the fact that Aspen's schools have been shut down for neglecting kids or telling rape victims it was their fault, or the fact that the school the parent is signing their kid over to is being investigated for molestation, shows up in the show nor is this told to parents.

Interesting that the people who defend these schools on the basis of "parental rights" ignore the fact that parents are lied to about these and other things as a matter of routine by the entirety of this industry. Don't parents have the "right" to know if the school is being investigated for that sort of thing before they sign their kids up? Evidently the "parental rights" nutters don't think so since they squealed like a stuck pig when bills to require this, as well as other things that the rest of the civilized world call common sense came before the House.

Seems "parental rights" only works when it's being used to protect abusive nutjobs.
Seriously, where other reality shows like Jersey Shore are just plain stupid this show is nasty. Not only is it putting kids, a number of whom have significant mental issues in the hands of people who have a nasty habit of making things worse, it's also putting them in physical danger.

Sources:
Videos of GAO investigation of the Troubled Teen industry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5txr_Vy6jWc
Other videos can be found in the sidebar this was just the most egregious lie the GAO caught
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/11/state_suspends_license_from_sc.html
DHS report on Aspen's idea of treating young people
http://cafety.org/images/stories/documents/MBA/mba_emergency%20suspension_2009.pdf
Sagewalk report
http://www.cafety.org/privately-funded-programs/834-abuse-investigation-a-protective-services-report-death-of-sb-or-sagewalk
Change.org petition
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/josh-shipp-and-lifetime-television-network-stop-placing-children-at-serious-risk-of-ill-treatment-and-torture?utm_campaign