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Punishment
Punishment doesn't work, it will not reliably change behavior. It's been studied intensively for half a century and proved repeatedly. But it is still a fundamental expression of our culture. Even people who are decent otherwise charitable and apparently loving cling to punishment like a lonely five year old with a wooby.
Punishment doesn't work, but we swim in punishment. Forget prison and the entire criminal justice system, look at our games, our common business practices, our childrearing habits, even our driving. Every damn thing we do reeks of punishment at some point.
is it any wonder life hurts so much sometimes?
Punishment doesn't work, but I feel good when I punish someone, it's a barbarous kind of glee. In it's most absolute sense it is just a delight in expressing power over someone. It's just hurting someone because you want to and you "can" (can in the sense that it's socially approved, are permitted).
So punishing doesn't work, what do we do instead? I think we should use behavior modification as much as possible, and where it doesn't prove effective, limit the transgressors exposure to society so that they are closely watched and physically prohibited from engaging in the unwanted behavior. I also think that any competent adult should always have the right to choose not to live in a society that make such demands. We also need to have rational social strictures that only limit activities to the degree they impact others and recognize that corporations are not people.
It's admittedly what many people would call idealistic, but it has the sterling virtue of not obviously not working (unlike our current system).
Punishment doesn't work, but we swim in punishment. Forget prison and the entire criminal justice system, look at our games, our common business practices, our childrearing habits, even our driving. Every damn thing we do reeks of punishment at some point.
is it any wonder life hurts so much sometimes?
Punishment doesn't work, but I feel good when I punish someone, it's a barbarous kind of glee. In it's most absolute sense it is just a delight in expressing power over someone. It's just hurting someone because you want to and you "can" (can in the sense that it's socially approved, are permitted).
So punishing doesn't work, what do we do instead? I think we should use behavior modification as much as possible, and where it doesn't prove effective, limit the transgressors exposure to society so that they are closely watched and physically prohibited from engaging in the unwanted behavior. I also think that any competent adult should always have the right to choose not to live in a society that make such demands. We also need to have rational social strictures that only limit activities to the degree they impact others and recognize that corporations are not people.
It's admittedly what many people would call idealistic, but it has the sterling virtue of not obviously not working (unlike our current system).
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Ie. people who punish don't really want the latter, they're just using that as a bullshit cover to hide the fact that what they really want is the former. That's karma I want nothing to do with.
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And if we look at ethics and morality as learned behaviors, instead of instinctual, then we are all conditioned from an early age. Behavior modification has limitations to its effectiveness.
I'm not entirely disagreeing with you, but I question whether all social ills can be changed through B.H.
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???!
No, it's not punishment. People often punish in a misguided attempt to modify behaivior, but behaivior modification has nothing to do with punishment (other than to be careful to avoid it if you want to be successful).
Punishment: aversive (unpleasent/hurtful) stimuli applied in response to unwanted behaivior
Behaivior modification: program of positive feedback to shape behaivior towards a desired end.
There should be nothing punishing in behaivior modification.
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