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RealityVsUnreality 13 - 19 Feb 2009 - Main.LaurenRosenberg
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When Prof. Moglen was discussing the wide chasm separating between what we know about the penal system and what really transpires behind prison doors, it occurred to me that this divergence between reality and unreality certainly isn't unqiue to the criminal "justice" system, and that the failure to bridge that gap often leads to a distorted understanding of human behavior in other contexts as well. In the case of the penal system, we witness some alarming absurdities: the father who thinks jail time will "shape up" his son, the politician who pads his resume with convictions, the prosecutor whose political ties pervert her duties as a public servant, and a community which thinks itself safer despite rising rates of incarceration and crime. These symptoms are no doubt worrisome, but I believe the same social forces operate in other cases as well. | | | Uchechi - I lived in D.C. for a while, and there was a great program called Street Sense, where homeless citizens would sell newspapers written and edited by other homeless citizens. While I wish there were more things like this, to help give people a leg up, I still believe that the problems mentioned by others in this thread would be significant. Of course, I like everyone else in this thread, am just speculating.
-- AaronShepard - 19 Feb 2009 | |
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Aaron, I think you may be misunderstanding my point. You say, “If you give people something for free, they have no incentive to work for it.” Putting aside my personal opinions regarding whether we should give people certain basic necessities even if they will never be productive members of society, your statement regarding freeriding depends upon individuals having the capacity “to work for it.” My opinion is that individuals with severe psychiatric illnesses are often incapable of acting as productive members of society without medical treatment. If we provide these individuals with psychiatric therapy, we can help them from suffering from debilitating psychotic disorders (and treat them as human beings) and we can also attempt to treat the source of their homelessness, which may allow these individuals the capacity “to work for it.”
Maybe you believe instead that the “freeriding” problem will occur because normal, productive members of society may quit their jobs and lose their incentive to work due to the provision of psychiatric care to homeless individuals. If that is your opinion, then I think you greatly overestimate the appeal of psychiatric care. I highly doubt that individuals would prefer to live on the streets because they will be provided with a psychiatric analysis.
-- LaurenRosenberg - 19 Feb 2009 | | |
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