I think this might be the most evil thing I have ever read. It gives me the creeps more than anything about the Holocaust or slavery. I'm not even that far into it and nobody has died or been raped or anything. It's just a methodical explanation from a student of an actual reform school that existed up until not very long ago that ran on cult methods to dehumanize children. It explains in very explicit and descriptive language ways that an institution uses the people being controlled to control everyone also being controlled in a rigid hierarchy where the abusers are themselves the people being abused and who use their experience of being abused against those below them who they are abusing ("students" govern "students" with extreme prejudice).
It reminds me of the bonus system at Burger King where managers at BK get bonuses for certain things like keeping food waste down. Sounds like good business but in practice it turns managers against workers because if the workers take food the managers could lose money so there's an atmosphere of distrust and informing on fellow employees. And it's extra gross because docking someone's pay is technically illegal but if the money you're docking is technically a bonus then it isn't a crime. You can be in a country with technical freedom but where a culture of control de facto puts you in a tyranny you can't legally prove and it destroys the human spirit.
And this web comic explains it in a way that feels like poison in your veins because you see the human race you've lived in your whole life in every story even if you didn't want to admit it.
https://elan.school/
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