Category: Personal Responsibility

Psychological Torture For Fun & Profit

On By WinstonIn Bullying, Media, Personal Responsibility, Pop Culture, Psychology, Society, Uncategorized, Values3 Comments

There is a program on A&E called “Beyond Scared Straight”. The premise is as simple as it is ridiculous. Troubled teens are forced to spend a night in an adult prison where it is the job of staff and inmates to abuse and terrify them. This is intended to deter them from their current lifestyle and steer them onto the “straight and narrow”. As part of this “process”, they are hand-cuffed, locked in cells with actual inmates, threatened and verbally abused.

All of this is based on “tough love”. This of course is a misnomer. There is nothing about this which is loving. It is a purely punitive act based not on love, but on fear. The larger issue has to with results. More to the point, the stunning lack of them. “In fact, a Cochrane review — the gold standard for evidence-based medicine — concluded that kids sent to Scared Straight were 68-71% more likely to commit crimes than those randomized to receive no intervention at all.” That quote comes from a recent Time article on the subject.

The truth is, there has not been a single clinical trial that indicated any positive results from any of the tough love style treatments for anything. None. Ever. Never.

Now I’m going out on a limb here and assuming the executives at A&E and the staff behind “Beyond Scared Straight” are not collectively stupid as oak posts. I know it’s a stretch, but I’m going to run with it. Based on that I’m guessing that someone looked at the results of Scared Straight and similar “tough love” programs and saw the massive failure rate. Why then did they go ahead and promote something so clearly delusional, damaging, degrading and downright stupid?

The word you’re looking for is Profit. That’s the motivator for anything that shows up on advertising funded TV. Not that I have anything against A&E making a profit. That is after all what they’re in business for. What I object to is teenagers being abused and exploited just to drive those profits. If there was any indication that such brutality has any beneficial effect it might be slightly justifiable. The opposite is true. This program of abuse, humiliation and cruelty has no measurable benefit and as such is nothing but reprehensible.

The other part of this equation is the fan base. Those who tune in week after week to watch these “terrible” people get a taste of what they can expect if they don’t get their acts together. They don’t know it doesn’t work. They don’t care. All they want is to watch brutal, Old Testament, frontier justice at work. They’re tired of the liberal wimps mollycoddling young offenders. They believe these kids need just this kind of wake up call. Unfortunately, they’re wrong. What these kids need isn’t more abuse, it’s less. They need years of counseling, therapy, training and all that boring, non-telegenic stuff.

Of course, there’s nothing in that to build a sensationalist TV show off of. Then again that’s probably not a bad thing. Not unless you’re the sort of person who enjoys watching psychological torture for fun & profit.

Cheers, Winston

Salon’s Anonymous Love-In

On By WinstonIn Global Issues, Media, Occupy Movement, Personal Responsibility, Pop Culture, Society, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

Salon.com ran an article entitled “Anonymous Big Year”. It is essentially a celebration of the self-styled hacker collective. But let’s try for some actual balanced coverage here.

Sure they made a big fuss about SOPA/PIPA and they help organize protests when it’s something like the horribly useless Occupy movement. On the other hand, they cost hundreds of millions of dollars and deny ordinary citizens access to services. They also endanger lives by releasing names and addresses of at risk targets.

When they took Sony’s Playstation Network of line for months, that company’s alleged “crime” was its refusal to release the tools to hack their new PS3 console. To punish them, they hacked Sony’s database and stole the personal information of millions of members. This forced Sony offline until the Japanese government was convinced the security issue was solved. It cost the company millions in lost revenue and millions more in legal costs.

In 2011, Anonymous posted the names and addresses of members of the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Force. This was in response to what they viewed as the wrongful shooting of a homeless man. One officer (cleared of any wrongdoing) made a judgement call so every officer on that force, and their families were put at risk of reprisals.

This is the group that Andrew Leonards article lavished such praise on. It is they who he is so happy his son supports. So let’s take a moment to realize this. These people aren’t selfless heroes keeping the digital frontier save for you and I. They are no better, and in some cases worse than those they claim to be protecting us from.

I’m not saying every member of Anonymous is a villain, but that’s the chance you take. If you want to bask in the glory of the best, you will also be tarred with the same brush as the worst. That’s the chance you take when you hide, shouting from the darkness. If you lack the confidence to publicly stand up for what you believe in, maybe you need to look at how strong that belief is.

Anonymous rails against faceless, unaccountable corporations and governments, yet they are the epitome of faceless unaccountability. It’s a little disingenuous claiming the moral high ground when you’re in the same mud as those you are looking to vilify.

These are just some of the many reasons I was so annoyed by Salon’s Anonymous love-in.

Cheers, Winston

Shut Up And Fix It

On By WinstonIn Media, Movies, Personal Responsibility, Politics, Pop Culture, Society, Uncategorized, Values, Video GamesLeave a comment

It took a week, but the NRA (National Rifle Association) has finally decided how to respond to the Newtown, Connecticut shooting. According to them, it had nothing to do with the shooters ease of access to high capacity semi-automatic weapons. Of course not. It was his exposure to violent video games and movies.

We know this is true because it’s the argument that gets trotted out every time people don’t want to look at a real problem. It is always pop-cultures fault. When I was younger, it was role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons which were “to blame”. Clint Eastwood movies were a horrible influence and sure to have us shooting each other with wild abandon.

Unfortunately for the NRA and those like them, (but fortunately for the rest of us) that’s not how it works. It’s not a simple case of “Money See, Monkey Do”. Anyone without a severe mental health issue is more than capable of separating what they see on the screen from the world around them. If they can’t, it’s a failure of their parents and society as a whole, not just the media.

I’m going to keep this one short today, so I’ll cut to the chase. If that young man’s mother hadn’t taken him to the range and kept multiple, easily accessible firearms in her home, she and the other victims killed by her son would still be alive. The NRA and their supporters can scream their lungs out saying it isn’t so, but I have one irrefutable piece of evidence to the contrary…. Canada.

We play violent video games. We watch countless hours of violent movies and television. Year somehow, we have a relatively small number of mass shootings. Are we somehow magically immune to the corrupting influence of the vile media filth in which we are immersed? No, there’s a much simpler answer. When we get angry, we can’t simply open the sock drawer, pull out a couple of high capacity pistols and start blasting.

So to the NRA and everyone else who has jumped on the entertainment industry bashing band wagon, there’s your cold hard proof. It’s not violent media, it’s  guns that are problem. Now shut up and fix it.

Cheers, Winston

It’s Illegal Stupid!

On By WinstonIn Discrimation, Global Issues, Personal Responsibility, Politics, Religion, Society, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

The ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice) wants everyone to sign its petition demanding that Iran free Pastor Saeed Abedini. Mr Abedini is a former Muslim who converted to Christianity and went on to become an ordained minister with the American Evangelist Association. He also became an American citizen through his marriage to an American woman.

Because Isam is the state religion of Iran, it is illegal to preach any other faith there. Very illegal. Pastor Abedini is in jail in Iran for working with an underground Christian group there. Now the ACJL are up in arms demanding his release. They are also demanding that the U.N., the U.S. State Department and everyone else also demand his release.

I’m not sure what grounds they have for demanding his release other than him being an American. Oh yeah… he’s a Christian spreading the word amongst the unbelievers. That makes him a big deal to the ACLJ. You see they are the legal arm of the empire of rabidly anti-gay, failed politician and televangelist Pat Robertson.

What does the ACLJ get up to when not attempting to rewrite the Iranian legal code? They fight against equivalent to spouse benefits for same-sex couples. They fight to keep prayer in schools (specifically Christian prayers). The ACLJ supports the funding of faith-based social services, religious proclamations in the public domain, and often equates religious expression with patriotism. ACLJ strongly opposes the right to legal, safe abortion and provides legal help to pro-life protesters who harass women seeking reproductive services. You get the idea.

So of course they’re outraged that Iran had the temerity to lock the nice Pastor up for spreading the Gospels. One somehow doubts they would have been so outraged had he been proselytizing the joys of the Hindu faith. More to the point, I don’t think anyone should be surprised or outraged by this. It’s not like that law is any kind of secret. Especially for Pastor Abedini… He’s Iranian by birth.
He traveled to Iran with the express intent of breaking their laws. He was arrested and put in jail. What about this is surprising to anyone? How is this anyone’s problem except for the pastor, his family and friends? Should Iran embrace religious freedom? That’s up to them, not the rest of the world. It’s certainly not up to Pat Robertson and his legal goonsquad.

To all those who are outraged that he was arrested for spreading Christianity in Iran there’s just one thing to remember…. It’s Illegal Stupid!

Cheers, Winston

Here’s Why The World May End On The 21st

On By WinstonIn Personal Responsibility, Pop Culture, Psychology, Society, Uncategorized, Values2 Comments

I’m not a “Mayan Doomsday” believer. I just think there are some limits to how far a joke can go before the Universe hits “RESET”. If the following story isn’t a sign of the end times, it really should be.

According to this article on oregonlive.com two boys aged 11 and 7 attempted to carjack a woman in the parking lot of a local church. Police responded to a call from a woman saying that her son had seen a gun in possesion of another young boy. When Police arrived, the boys bolted, but were caught beside the church. Despite being told by police to keep his hands out of his pockets, the older boy attempted to reach the gun but was prevented by the officers. Police recovered a loaded and cocked pistol from the older boy.

Because the boys are too young for jevenile detention, they were released to the custody of their parents. That’s obviously the best thing because it’s worked well so far. I’m not saying they’re bad parents. I don’t know them, or their parenting abilities. What I do know is that whatever they’re doing so far isn’t working. But hey, let’s drop them back there anyway. As soon as he was dropped off at home, the 11 year old ran off, but was quickly caught and returned to his parents. Good luck with that.

Why you may wonder would a couple of boys that young try their hands at carjacking? Personally, I think that part of the answer lies in the total lack of anything like a consequence. They can’t be detained. They can’t be charged. They’re basically walking, talking teflon. Nothing they do is going to stick to them. So let’s ship them home and wait for the story about a “random” shooting in Portland.

These kids shouldn’t be roaming around loose. They should be in a mental health facility pending a full psych evaluation and some extensive and ongoing rehabilitation. I know it’s officially terrible to talk about committing such young children to that type of facility, but they obviously represent a clear and present danger to the community around them. I”d sooner lock up a couple of alleged innocents rather than wait for them to start killing people.

We live in a world where young children will give carjacking a try and then when they do, we just cut them loose and send them home. This is only partly about gun control (there is still some question as to where they got the gun), it is more about self control and what we aren’t teaching our young people. We aren’t teaching them to respect others, or themselves. We aren’t teaching them to work for what they want. It’s a culture of “I want what I want and I want it now and I don’t care what it costs as long as I’m not paying for it.”

By letting these boys walk away from an attempted carjacking, we’re just reinforcing the idea that they can take what they want without paying for it. I may be wrong, but I don’t think that’s an idea we should be encouraging.

I don’t know how far we can go with this before the universe voids our reality check. That’s why the world may end on the 21st.

Cheers, Winston

Dr Ablow Needs His Head Examined

On By WinstonIn Personal Responsibility, Politics, Psychology, Rants, Society, Uncategorized, Values3 Comments

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist and a member of the “Fox News Medical A Team”. Despite that rather embarrassing affliction, he still feels qualified to offer the following advice to people. “Instead of getting a divorce, try a consorce.” Even though there’s no such word as consorce.

If the word did exist, the “good” doctor assures us it would mean something like this…. Don’t get a messy, expensive, painful divorce. It will be nasty for you and terrible for your children. What you need is a (made up word).

The consorce works like this. The couple agrees to continue living together as friends as friends and partners in child-rearing. They are to accept that the “romantic” phase of their relationship has ended and they should see this as an opportunity to strengthen their “platonic” relationship.

The following is a direct quote from Dr Reallystrangelove’s Guide To Consorce… “Why not just stay in the same house, continue to work together financially for the good of the family, and, perhaps sleep in the same room (without sexual contact expected by either individual)? original authors parentheses.

He also believes this is all in the best interests of any children involved. They have both parents in their lives full time and a greater likelihood of financial stability in the home. Ummm… Yeah… That’s what’s important… Financial stability and the business partners who make it possible.

So my first thought was that Doc KAblow is “nuttier than a squirrel turd”. (I don’t remember where I encountered that phrase, but I love the way it sounds). Then I started thinking maybe he has made it through his professional career without encountering anybody who isn’t BFFs with their spouse. After a few seconds of profound doubt, I called bull**it and chose option three.

Keith (can I call you Keith) has an agenda (the sanctity of marriage) to push and an ideology to promote. Clearly we can’t let something as arbitrary as reality get in the way. I’ve had the opportunity to observe the decline and dissolution of several marriages over the years and feel quite confident when I say I’ve never seen a single one where consorce would have been an option.

It’s pretty clear from his article here that Dr Ablow regards sex as the only real difference between marriage and consorce. Contrary to Dr. Squirrel-turd, sex is generally only a contributing factor, rather than a primary cause. The withholding of affection and decline in intimacy is more often a reflection of issues in other parts of the relationship. Where these deeper issues exist, the removal of the “romantic” component of the relationship isn’t going to resolve them.

That brings me to what is in my opinion his most egregiously stupid idea. Doctor Dumb claims that this is somehow in the best interest of the children. Sure, having both parents on hand is great. Financial stability is great. Growing up in an environment where love is sacrificed on the altar of expediency and commercial betterment… That’s not so great.

What are these hypothetical children learning about the foundation of a strong and meaningful marriage. Forget love, it’s all about financial stability, a nice house, the illusion is more important than the substance. What an utterly terrible thing to teach children! Love is the foundation of marriage not convenience. More to the point, love is the essential ingredient in a family regardless of marital status. That is by far the most important lesson we can model for our children, not some loveless partnership for the sake of a nice home.

That’s why Dr. Ablow needs his head examined.

Cheers, Winston

What Created These Student Debts?

On By WinstonIn Education, Personal Responsibility, Society, Uncategorized, Values1 Comment

I was reading an article about the student debt crisis in the U.S. and it started me thinking about the students I know here in Canada. The national number may be lower (some estimates put U.S. student debt at $1,000,000,000,000) but on an individual basis, it’s just as painful to those who must repay it.

All of this raises the question of why this debt exists in the first place. Why do students take out loans they have no reasonable hope of repaying? Having taken the loan, why are they then complaining about their debt levels and defaulting in record numbers?

At least part of the answer lies in our societal notion of entitlement. We are trained from an early age to expect the world to give us what we want. We are taught that our jobs should be fullfilling and where possible, something we love and want to spend the rest of our lives working at. Which is why I’ve known several young people who enrolled in film school. It is their passion… but how employable is it?

That is a major consideration when looking at the student debt issue. When taking out that student loan, how many people are looking at the actual projected demand for their eventual skills. Likewise, most “academic” subjects such as English Literature, Political Science, Anthropology etc have relatively few postings relative to the number of people enrolled in each cohort. A prime example being a very pleasant young man I knew several years ago. He spent 6 years working as an investment banker to pay off his Philosphy degree. He hated working as an investment banker, but there just weren’t that many paid openings for a philospher.

Since many students have shown a fairly consistent disregard for this idea, it falls to the lenders to implement it. A simple actuarial table such as those employed by insurance companies would be a start. All that would be required would be data tracking which career paths have the highest probability of repaying the loan. It’s not perfect, but it’s a place to start.

At the same time, everyone from parents to guidance counsellors need to start rethinking the message they give their children. It’s not about doing something you love, it’s all about making a living… and repaying those loans. Most people don’t love their jobs. That’s why employers pay them to show up for work. By encouraging our young people to focus less on the “dream” job and a little more on “real” jobs, we might give them a better chance to get out from under those student loans before their own kids go all post-secondary.

I know that it’s everybody’s dream to see their children graduate from college or university. The problem isn’t the dream, it’s the nightmare. It’s a student loan that prevents them from getting a car, or a house, or travelling or any of the other things that they can’t dc when they have to spend every dime servicing a massive student loan. I’m not saying they shouldn’t get a post-secondary education, I’m just saying they should be a little bit smart and a little bit choosy about what they get.

Until people on both sides of the process start thinking it through before signing the loan application, it’s not going to change. Until then, bad decisions are what created these student debts.

Cheers, Winston

“The Beast” Is Going High Tech

On By WinstonIn Education, Personal Responsibility, Politics, Religion, Society, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

John Jay High School, is part of the Northside Independent School District in Texas now requires its students to wear I’D tags with RFID chips to track students whereabouts during the school day. While some people are raising concerns about privacy, student Andrea Hernandez has a very different issue with them. Miss Hernandez believes the tags are “the mark of the Beast” as seen in the book of Revelations in the Bible.

The school has offered to issue her a tag with the chip and battery removed but this is not enough. With the support of her family, she is refusing to wear any form of ID tag issued by the government via the school. The school is being demonized in the media for allegedly threatening to expell Miss Hernandez for refusing to be tracked with an RFID chip. This is not the case.

The school district has offered a compromise, but the Hernandez family allegedly believes that “any kind of identifying badge issued by the government is the mark of the beast”. As a result, Andrea refuses to wear even the ID badge with the chip removed. That’s her right.

I don’t believe what the Hernandez family believes and that’s okay. I don’t have to share their beliefs to respect them. I would question whether either of her parents have a drivers license or social security number. Regardless of the answer to that question, what is wanted here is a little reciprocity. The Hernandez family needs to respect the school districts belief that all students need to be treated equally.

Every other student has to wear these ID tags. They have chosen to go along with the program in order to continue attending school in that district. No one is forcing Andrea to wear an ID tag. It is entirely Miss Hernandez choice. What is missing here, is the understanding that choosing not to wear the tag means choosing not to attend that school. No one is forcing her out. It’s all about the choices she is making. I’m not judging her choice as right or wrong. I simply want it acknowledged that she is the one making the decision about whether or not she will attend this school, not the school district.

Over the years I’ve attended many Bible studies and read much of the Bible. Nowhere in it is there anything to suggest that school ID cards, even ones with RFID chips are “the mark of the Beast”. It’s actually pretty clear about what that will look like. It’s nothing to do with school IDs. Unless the Bible got it wrong and the Beast is going high tech.

Cheers, Winston

Romney’s Bitter Over “Gifts”

On By WinstonIn Personal Responsibility, Politics, Society, U.S. Election 2012, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Once in a while I suspect people of being psychic. That’s the only way I can explain them saying things that make me laugh so often. Today I would like to thank Mitt Romney for providing another ray of sunshine in my day.

Mr Romney basically said that President Obama used social programs (most already enacted during his first term) as gifts to buy votes from poor people. He bought student votes with a promise to forgive student loan interest. He bought generic poor people with free health care (Obamacare). Latino votes were apparently all about the “Dream Act kids” which will allow some of the children of of illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. For an extended time. (Ironically those most affected, illegal aliens, couldn’t vote anyway.) The list goes on.

What Mitt forgot to mention were the gifts he was offering to his voters. Tax cuts to the ultra rich and major corporations. Relaxed environmental regulations. Repeal of Obamacare and cuts to other social spending. Increased defense spending. Possibly revisiting Roe v Wade and other reproductive health laws. But of course none of Romney’s platform was intended to pander to his core constituents. Such a thought would never occur to someone who’s entire campaign was predicated on telling voters whatever the pollsters told him they wanted to hear.

What he’s really complaining about isn’t the gift-giving. He’s bitter that there were more voters interested in what the President was offering than the Republican counter-offer. That’s the whole problem with allowing women, immigrants, young and or poor people to vote. Corporate tax cuts are less important to them than affordable health care or more affordable education.

Like so many others, he seems more interested in attacking the winner instead of looking at why he lost. I guess that’s why Romney’s bitter over “gifts“.

Cheers, Winston

A Little Glimpse Of The Future

On By WinstonIn Education, Humor, Personal Responsibility, Society, Uncategorized, Values1 Comment

This morning as I was browsing headlines from United Press International, I came across a story about 125 University students suspected of cheating on a final exam. The students are accused of either working together to come up with the answers or copying off one and other. One might reasonably suspect that it should be tricky to get it past the people monitoring the test and normally you’d be right. Not so much in this case.

You see, this was a Take Home final exam. That’s right folks a final exam you can do at home. I may have to go back to school because finals didn’t include that option back in the day. I could get into that. Have a couple of beers to help me relax so I’m not all stressed about the exam. Maybe call up the a friend or two if I get stuck…… which is apparently exactly what about 125 of them decided to do.

Now if you’re wondering what sort of “B” grade, low-rent school might offer “We don’t really give a crap.” home final exams, turns out it’s pretty common. What they call an “exam” is actually an end of term essay paper. They are done at home to allow time for research, rewrites and consults with fellow students. This only becomes a problem when large numbers of students turn in essentially the same paper, sighting the same sources and presumably featuring the same spelling and grammatical errors.

But wait the humor only gets richer as we go. The house of higher learning involved in this fiasco….. Harvard. Yep. That Harvard. Ivy league creator of future Captains of Industry and Masters of the Ship of State. They are imbuing their students with such a “victory at any cost” mentality that a rather large clump of them felt that blatant cheating was an acceptable way to compete and get ahead. Then we are all surprised when they graduate obsessed only with personal advancement devoid of any conception of right, wrong or the greater good.

As a final little pop of comedy gold can anyone guess which course The Young and The Stupid were enrolled in? Obviously, it could only have been an introductory course on……. Government! That’s right ladies and gentlemen, those who fancy themselves our future leaders have no problem cheating their asses off to avoid anything like actual work. One can only wonder to what depths they would stoop to secure that plum congressional seat or governorship.

How’s that for an unsettling little peek at the future?

Cheers, Winston