Franchisors use gag orders to coverup their team’s abuse.

And, importantly, these non-disclosure contracts absolves the sins of the lawyers (franchisee and franchisor), franchise banker, supplier, and landlord.

The abuse from all the parties requires secrecy.

Every franchise system has someone playing the role of Nurse Ratched.

I have suggested here that franchise systems are an example of a total institution as defined by Erving Goffman.

Mental hospitals are a traditional example of a total institution.

The CDN Nurse Ratcheds in Oakville are simply being replaced by USA franchise executives.

Look to those that create and control the levers of control, not only to those acting-out and -in.

 

Franchising is processed as if it were a prison.

Phil Zimbardo says evil comes from hierarchy.

The Stanford Prison Experiment

• Franchising harms people, over time by both sides (see Clay/Prisoner 416 and mock guard talk: start at 2:46). No regret, guilt. Only after upon reflection.
• Prisoner 8612 @ 1:36 (after 36 hours ‘incarceration”)
• Let me in on some knowledge…I know you’re a nice guy (You don’t know that).
• People didn’t say anything.
• Prisoner 819 did a bad thing… I have to prove I’m not a bad prisoner.
• The situation degrades over time.
• How program dissenters are treated by peers and guards (one sign of resistance: Prisoner 416). The guards go crazy. Not a hero but a troublemaker.
• The Stanford Prison Experiment Slide Show

Problems with authority. Breaks from reality. Damaged feeling function. Lack of trust. Anger. Barrenness.

What do you think they chose? Most elected to keep their blanket and let their fellow prisoner suffer in solitary all night.

Why does Blue MauMau exist?

To make people give up.

To humiliate. To ridicule. To scapegoat.  To shame.

To silence.

Remember: the problem is not corruption or greed. The problem is the system that pushes you to give up. Beware not only of the enemies. But also of false friends who are already working to dilute this process. 

— Slavoj Žižek, Slovenian philosopher

Wash away my sorrow, wash away my shame

In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala is a mythical kingdom hidden somewhere in Inner Asia…Shambhala gradually came to be seen as a Buddhist Pure Land, a fabulous kingdom whose reality is visionary or spiritual as much as physical or geographic. It was in this form that the Shambhala myth reached the West, where it influenced non-Buddhist as well as Buddhist spiritual seekers — and, to some extent, popular culture in general. Wikipedia

The official commentary included in the CD set Celebrate: The Three Dog Night Story, 1965-1975 states that vocalist Danny Hutton’s then-girlfriend June Fairchild suggested the name after reading a magazine article about indigenous Australians, in which it was explained that on cold nights they would customarily sleep in a hole in the ground whilst embracing a dingo, a native species of wild dog. On colder nights they would sleep with two dogs and if the night was freezing, it was a “three dog night” Wikipedia

Shambala, Three Dog Night, 1973

Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain
With the rain in Shambala
Wash away my sorrow, wash away my shame
With the rain in Shambala

(chorus)
Ah, ooh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Ah, ooh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Everyone is helpful, everyone is kind
On the road to Shambala
Everyone is lucky, everyone is so kind
On the road to Shambala

(repeat chorus)

How does your light shine, in the halls of Shambala (2xs)

I can tell my sister by the flowers in her eyes
On the road to Shambala
I can tell my brother by the flowers in his eyes
On the road to Shambala

(repeat chorus)

How does your light shine, in the halls of Shambala (2xs)
(repeat chorus reprise)

Franchisees normally just slink away into the dark

Cut a deal, sign the gag order and keep your mouth shut.

That was the advice given to me by a group of my peers at Nutri-Lawn when I rented one of those lawn care franchises in the 1990s.

I didn’t go quietly into the night as 98.2% of franchisees do.

I felt I had nothing to be ashamed of and kinda resented the dehumanization of it all.

I guess I still do. I never imagined so many people feel the same way.

[eXperi-MENTAL]

Franchisee advisory committees are frequently chaired by Nurse Ratched

I have suggested here that franchise systems are an example of a total institution as defined by Erving Goffman.

https://youtu.be/faeEnoYcT7w

Mental hospitals are a traditional example of a total institution.

There are lots of Nurse Ratcheds in franchising and lots of acting out franchisees.

Look to those that create the environment, not those who have to endure it.

Original draft: