I am concerned about the rush to judge the actions of Elizabeth Smart and the comparisons to Patty Hearst.
Elizabeth Smart was a young adolescent at the time of her disappearance; Patty Hearst was a fully grown woman living life as an adult and somewhat of a 'wild-child' young adult at that.
If the account of Elizabeth Smart's disappearance, as reported by her sister, is true, then Elizabeth left with her abductor willingly and sacrificially to protect her younger sister. Sure, Elizabeth could have screamed and hopefully her parents would have rescued her, but that issue is moot.
Based on the younger sister's reporting of the events, Elizabeth left sacrificially. Do we then expect her to become aggressive and self-serving after her abduction? Is it not more in keeping with Elizabeth's initial reaction for her to have remained with her kidnapper(s) to prevent harm to herself or to others?
The brainwashing issue is not all that complicated, either. Why do young girls dress like Brittney Spears? Why do adolescents want what TV and entertainers and commercials tell them they must have to be popular? Brainwashing by any other name, such as ads, is still brainwashing. All this guy had to do was assure her she was doing what God wanted her to do by staying with him and his wife and protecting her sister and others. She stayed alive and well and no one else got hurt; she kept her end of the bargain; he kept his.
Nine months to a 14 year-old is nearly 1/20th of her entire life. For a 25 year-old person, that length of time is equal to almost a year and a half. In that length of time, people become acclimated to the life in which they find themselves. It is a very important self-preservation and defense mechanism.
I have no knowledge of what actually happened or what her actual thoughts or motives were. I am concerned over the rush to find something wrong with her having survived this length of time without having suffered some obvious physical or psychological trauma. Those very suspicions and accusations are going to cause this young girl more problems during the rest of her life than will the ordeal she has already endured or experienced.
Are we so blood-thirsty that we would be more satisfied to find that she was abused, mutilated, or killed during her captivity or during a heroic escape attempt than we are to know that mercifully this child returned home in better shape than anyone dared hope?