Well, some of you may have heard about that unfortunate woman in Delhi whose life was destroyed. I certainly did. It's another case lost in the numbers, the bureaucracy, and corruption ... I can't begin to describe it. And, given the sexually repressed nature of Indian culture, far too orthodox. (It's funny, isn't it, how the most 'repressed' cultures seem to be the most populous?) More and more evidence, as if we need it, that keeping natural things taboo leads to such breakdowns in morality.
It gets me thinking about my dear friend, and how much she means to me, and how such a thing could happen on virtually any street in this - or, indeed, any - country. I'm sure her parents would imagine the same thing if she so much as takes a single step out the front door. Regardless of her feelings towards me, I can't imagine how I would deal with something like that happening to her. I couldn't even begin to fathom what kind of hell it would be for her parents, and for friends closer than I.
The clarion call for the death penalty (which is still legal, albeit rarely exercised, in India) is echoing from all sides of the country, and yet, I ask myself, what would it solve? Granting the perpetrators a quick reprieve from the mobs that would otherwise lynch them? I for one wouldn't stop the public even if I could. Would you?
They need to feel the pain they inflicted upon their victim(s). They need to be made an example of, and that example needs to be long-lasting, because humans have rather notoriously short memories. And, in order that such tendencies should be less likely to arise in the future, they need to be removed from the gene pool. Without being put to death, because if they are, then they're dead and gone, and their object lesson will be lost within a few short years.
Because humans are bloody stubborn pack rats, and for all the good that positive reinforcement and conditioning will do you, it will always - ALWAYS! - be easier to be a dick. Nothing gets people to jump in line like a good dose of fear does - hence the object lesson in making an example of such reprehensible criminals. Our ancestors in centuries and millennia past had the right idea in their practice of cutting off the appendage(s) involved in committing crimes. Would you ever truly steal at the cost of a hand?
Science has established time and again that there are both environmental triggers and genetic markers that predispose toward amoral behavior. Why not take a page from the book of nature, and cut out those branches that, insignificant as they are, desecrate the beauty and diminish the potential of the tree as a whole? Note how this avoids the need to take lives. Found a family with a known history of violence, lying, cheating, stealing or any other sort of underhanded behaviour? Sterilize the offending older members, and allow youngsters to be raised in an environment that depresses any existing undesirable traits. Exactly as one would trim and prune a tree to perfection; no branch is exempt.
Yes, my idea is torture, public humiliation, and eugenics against the worst offenders of our species. We would harness both psychology and the root of evolution to better the species as a whole, both immediately, through fear and accountability, and over the long run, with better breeding practices. Any number of readers will immediately cry "Nazi!" in their ignorance, because they will fail to realize the key point: that I am not excluding myself, or anyone, at all, from this new paradigm. The process would - and should - apply to the human race as a whole. People from the most 'civilized' areas in fact have the worst form of rehabilitation in imprisonment - it's like spray-painting a blackened branch and hoping the true colours don't show through over time; it's a gamble, and everyone knows gambling is poor form.
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Damn, I can rant. This post is controversial on SO many levels, but who gives a shit ... chances are, the people who will disagree the most will be the least well-traveled. I could be wrong, but the odds are on my side.
Because humans are bloody stubborn pack rats, and for all the good that positive reinforcement and conditioning will do you, it will always - ALWAYS! - be easier to be a dick. Nothing gets people to jump in line like a good dose of fear does - hence the object lesson in making an example of such reprehensible criminals. Our ancestors in centuries and millennia past had the right idea in their practice of cutting off the appendage(s) involved in committing crimes. Would you ever truly steal at the cost of a hand?
Science has established time and again that there are both environmental triggers and genetic markers that predispose toward amoral behavior. Why not take a page from the book of nature, and cut out those branches that, insignificant as they are, desecrate the beauty and diminish the potential of the tree as a whole? Note how this avoids the need to take lives. Found a family with a known history of violence, lying, cheating, stealing or any other sort of underhanded behaviour? Sterilize the offending older members, and allow youngsters to be raised in an environment that depresses any existing undesirable traits. Exactly as one would trim and prune a tree to perfection; no branch is exempt.
Yes, my idea is torture, public humiliation, and eugenics against the worst offenders of our species. We would harness both psychology and the root of evolution to better the species as a whole, both immediately, through fear and accountability, and over the long run, with better breeding practices. Any number of readers will immediately cry "Nazi!" in their ignorance, because they will fail to realize the key point: that I am not excluding myself, or anyone, at all, from this new paradigm. The process would - and should - apply to the human race as a whole. People from the most 'civilized' areas in fact have the worst form of rehabilitation in imprisonment - it's like spray-painting a blackened branch and hoping the true colours don't show through over time; it's a gamble, and everyone knows gambling is poor form.
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Damn, I can rant. This post is controversial on SO many levels, but who gives a shit ... chances are, the people who will disagree the most will be the least well-traveled. I could be wrong, but the odds are on my side.
