JadussD
09-20-2006, 02:51 PM
Prisons are an example of the snake of bureaucracy and people with naive and misunderstands about human nature eating its own tail. They do not reform usually, and the liberal misunderstanding of the psychopath as someone who is "fundamentally good" has created all kinds of problems. Psychopaths are fundamentally selfish people. They see the world as an adjunct to themselves. They consider other people objects, like knives and forks are objects to eat food, other people are also objects to get what they want.
The conservative idea of using prison as punishment is also totally flawed, in that it creates people who from late childhood to adulthood become institutionalized in the system of crime and punishment, committing crimes until they are caught, and then seeing prison as just a part of their lives that comes and goes. When they're out, they're criminals. When they're in, they get their meals for free and maybe some anal sex. These people are some of the scariest motherfuckers on Earth.
Clearly, crimes which are related to "victimless" activities, like drug crimes, can keep your average drug user out of prison. I'm a drug user. Do you think I should go to prison? Look me in the eye now, and tell me that you think I should go to prison. I don't think most would have the nerve to tell most drug users they know that they should go to prison, and if they have anyone they know who uses drugs (most people do), then I think that most people who would advocate prison sentences for drug use sort of file them off into a "he shouldn't do that, but I wouldn't want him to go to jail for it" category of their minds. Basically, a war on drugs is a war against family members, friends, and loved ones. You'd be surprised at the types of people who do drugs. Lots of rich white guys even, and the richer you are, the more likely you are to get away with it.
Now, what about creating a way to settle disputes fairly, via violence? There are many segments of society where violence is a way of life. There's a whole little underworld, creeping just under the appearance of society, and they're made up of people who have a fundamentally different way of looking at things. Disrespecting these people is an attack on someone's honor, and can result in violence. Gang-mentality is intrinsic to human nature, so...why don't we make it so that people who are involved in gang activities are allowed to settle their disputes, but not with guns?
Think about it: take the guns away, and let them carry swords around. Anyone who lives by the sword may die by the sword, and the law will not protect him by extending its protection to him. Anyone that carries a sword may attack anyone else who also lives by the sword, but only with swords. Duels will be allowed, or just plain murder, but only between those sworn to live by the sword. Guns could still be allowed for home defense and such. For those who use guns, law enforcement will cooperate with gangs to find out who is using them. Those who commit cowardly acts of violence will be declared "outlaw", and will lose legal protection against being killed by any means possible, and will probably be avenged by their victims' families. Basically, we should legalize murder, but regulate it. That way, people prone to violence can have their violence, but it will be with swords, not with guns. Anyone who kills a person with a gun and is not defending their place of living, or anyone who kills with a sword one who does not live by the sword, is asking for death. This will create a buffer of "allowed violence" which allows aggressive people to live amongst themselves in their bloody ways, but in a reduced fashion. This will encourage a system of honor and respect, whereby one who insults another, or interferes with another's life, can be handed a sword, and made to back up his disrespect with violence, or sit down, shut up, and be branded a contemptible asshole whom people want nothing to do with.
Thieves? Don't sentence them to jail; sentence them to live as servants under people whom they've stolen from. Make him do housework, mow lawns, work wages and give them to him for restitution, etc. Don't lock him in a cell and pay for his food and lodging, make him give back what he has stolen, in spades.
They didn't even HAVE prisons very often until a couple hundred years ago; maybe there are alternatives to our current prison system?
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The conservative idea of using prison as punishment is also totally flawed, in that it creates people who from late childhood to adulthood become institutionalized in the system of crime and punishment, committing crimes until they are caught, and then seeing prison as just a part of their lives that comes and goes. When they're out, they're criminals. When they're in, they get their meals for free and maybe some anal sex. These people are some of the scariest motherfuckers on Earth.
Clearly, crimes which are related to "victimless" activities, like drug crimes, can keep your average drug user out of prison. I'm a drug user. Do you think I should go to prison? Look me in the eye now, and tell me that you think I should go to prison. I don't think most would have the nerve to tell most drug users they know that they should go to prison, and if they have anyone they know who uses drugs (most people do), then I think that most people who would advocate prison sentences for drug use sort of file them off into a "he shouldn't do that, but I wouldn't want him to go to jail for it" category of their minds. Basically, a war on drugs is a war against family members, friends, and loved ones. You'd be surprised at the types of people who do drugs. Lots of rich white guys even, and the richer you are, the more likely you are to get away with it.
Now, what about creating a way to settle disputes fairly, via violence? There are many segments of society where violence is a way of life. There's a whole little underworld, creeping just under the appearance of society, and they're made up of people who have a fundamentally different way of looking at things. Disrespecting these people is an attack on someone's honor, and can result in violence. Gang-mentality is intrinsic to human nature, so...why don't we make it so that people who are involved in gang activities are allowed to settle their disputes, but not with guns?
Think about it: take the guns away, and let them carry swords around. Anyone who lives by the sword may die by the sword, and the law will not protect him by extending its protection to him. Anyone that carries a sword may attack anyone else who also lives by the sword, but only with swords. Duels will be allowed, or just plain murder, but only between those sworn to live by the sword. Guns could still be allowed for home defense and such. For those who use guns, law enforcement will cooperate with gangs to find out who is using them. Those who commit cowardly acts of violence will be declared "outlaw", and will lose legal protection against being killed by any means possible, and will probably be avenged by their victims' families. Basically, we should legalize murder, but regulate it. That way, people prone to violence can have their violence, but it will be with swords, not with guns. Anyone who kills a person with a gun and is not defending their place of living, or anyone who kills with a sword one who does not live by the sword, is asking for death. This will create a buffer of "allowed violence" which allows aggressive people to live amongst themselves in their bloody ways, but in a reduced fashion. This will encourage a system of honor and respect, whereby one who insults another, or interferes with another's life, can be handed a sword, and made to back up his disrespect with violence, or sit down, shut up, and be branded a contemptible asshole whom people want nothing to do with.
Thieves? Don't sentence them to jail; sentence them to live as servants under people whom they've stolen from. Make him do housework, mow lawns, work wages and give them to him for restitution, etc. Don't lock him in a cell and pay for his food and lodging, make him give back what he has stolen, in spades.
They didn't even HAVE prisons very often until a couple hundred years ago; maybe there are alternatives to our current prison system?
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