I know I shouldn’t be surprised by the way Teen Mania continues to lie and mislead the public about its activities. Now that the vow of silence has been broken, they are scared to death that the truth about the Honor Academy, and specifically ESOAL/PEARL will come to light, so they are waging an all out propaganda effort so that their supply of free labor will continue.
They have uploaded a plethora of videos about the PEARL in an attempt to show how safe, spiritual and downright fun it is! In particular, this video of rolling the hill caught my attention.
There are two major red flags with this video.
1) If you wanted to show the world that you are brainwashing kids, I don’t know a better way to do that then to show those same kids enthusiastically rolling down a hill of vomit. They are laughing and singing and acting like this is the very best time they’ve ever had.
I mean – this can’t even be satirized – it’s that bizarre. “Teen Mania is awesome! I love rolling down this vomit covered hill! I’m not being abused – see I’m laughing and enjoying myself!!”
What?!? This is seriously so beyond belief – I feel like I’m getting punked or something.
2) To my knowledge, rolling the hill has been a staple of every single ESOAL/PEARL. Why is that? Is it because its fun and the kids love it so much?
NO!
It’s because it causes them to be very physically uncomfortable! They are vomiting. When stating the rules of “Beenie Weenie Hill” (so named because that’s what people first threw up on it), Dave Hasz says, “If you throw up, you may stand up.” Previous ESOAL videos PROMINENTLY featured kids looking miserable going down the hill, vomiting and crying.
In fact, one of the mind games played on interns in both THIS year and former years is the winner of a challenge is forced to choose what team will have to roll the hill. If rolling the hill is so much fun – then why is it used as punishment?
For reference, please fast forward to 3:16 in the following video. Do these interns look like they are having fun?
I can show you all kinds of footage of vomiting interns – why didn’t Heath include that in his video update?
Do you see the VAST DIFFERENCE in how rolling the hill is presented in the video that was originally intended only for interns vs. the video that is intended for the public at large?
I’m sure the interns in this year’s video were coached to give the proper reactions. Teen Mania knows the stakes and the leadership, I’m sure, repeatedly told the interns that these videos would be used to show the outside world how awesome Teen Mania is. And a good intern ALWAYS portrays Teen Mania in a positive light. They knew what they had to do.
But the fact that a major Christian youth ministry is showcasing a video of teenagers who ENJOY ROLLING DOWN A VOMIT COVERED HILL as proof that they are having fun and are completely safe – it just BOGGLES THE MIND.
And if you think that this isn’t a big deal – it just shows how desensitized you are to Teen Mania’s craziness.