Patty Hearst

I remember it well. I was always sure she had some level of involvement with the Symbionese Liberation Army but that it may have gotten a bit more involved than she had originally expected. somewhere in there I think that the Harris's made her into something of a scapegoat.

Somehow she was able to move on in life and become a fully productive member of society although I am sure the entire kidnapping/bank robbery issue has never left entirely. Her children must have had to endure a lot as well.

Is she still married to that Bernard Shaw guy?

Dont know, cant remember if it said.

It sounded like a well thought out game(apart from the deaths)
I liked the fact that the SLA were doing things to help the poor but they kinda went in an odd way about it.

She looked so glam when she robbed that bank,like a Charlies Angel!

This phenomena is well known in psychiatric circles. It's called "Stockholm Syndrome" when captives start to identify with their captors.

Is it a form of brainwashing?

Yes and no, Sturgis. It isn't a formal brainwashing in the sense that the captors set out to convert the hostage. It just seems to happen that after a while in the company of the captors, the captives begin to identify with them. It is particularly true if the captives are not unnecessarily mistreated but are made to understand the cause of the captors. It's called the Stockholm Syndrome because it first came to the attention of crisis resolution workers during a hostage-taking siege in Stockholm, back in the '70s, I think. After a few days, the captives were convinced that the hostage-takers were protecting them from the police!

I too remember it well. The original kidnapping was horrific and then to see her show up with a machine gun was even more so. It was at a time when there was great discord and unrest in the country. Underground groups were trying to "overthrow the Establishment". Some groups were more militant than others. The SLA was one of the more aggressive/violent groups.

She was the daughter/heiress of the Hearst publishing empire. She was engaged at the time of the kidnapping but I don't believe the relationship survived the ordeal, although I don't remember exactly. Didn't she marry her bodyguard? Or, am I thinking of someone else? Dunno.

I never thought she was in on it from the beginning. I accepted the "Stockholm syndrome" explanation and wished her the best. It was a horrible ordeal.

I think if I was kidnapped Id go along with anything they believed just for an easy time.

Well, I remeber the Patty Hearst story very well - it's just 30 years ago - and it was (kind of) in the middle of all those terroristic activity here.

Yes, I can understand that. The point is that 'going along' soon becomes 'feeling a part of.' The hostage may start out just stringing their captors along but soon begins to believe the play-acting is real and that the kidnappers are in the right.

Much of the effectiveness of the Stockholm Syndrome is due to the perception of the hostage that their captives hold their lives in their hands. When they don't kill them they're grateful.

But a word to would-be hostage takers. It doesn't always work. Some years ago there was a case, in Europe I believe, where a woman hostage managed to grab a police officer's handgun and blow the brains out of one of her captors.

Yes, she did. Sad, I thought.