One of the speculative fiction writers from that genre's golden age in the 1950s wrote a short-story about a civilization on another planet that was irrepressibly cheerful and happy. The author likened them to Munich when Oktoberfest was in full swing. Twenty-four hours a day. Three-hundred-sixty-five days a year.
When the leader of the exploration party asked how it was possible, he was told that planet decided to install "kill-switches" on every child when it was born. Then, if the child-adolescent-young adult ever wanted to remove him/herself from the gene-pool, they merely had to press a button at the base of their skull.
Early losses were staggering.
But since "happiness" is about half-genetic endowment and half imparted by culture (and since families are the primary sources of culture) within five generations the losses were down to chasing down random, recessive genes and unfortunate interactions between family cultures.
Within one-hundred generations, according to the story, mental health issues were essentially extinct.
Critics might point out that some causes of mental illness are caused by in-utero trauma and these would not be "culled out". I think that is only partially true. A culture that puts pregnant women first, that strongly disapproves of pregnant women drinking alcohol or consuming substances that might harm the baby will have much less "in-utero" trauma to deal with.
Britain Enclosures-through-Industrial revolution period
Until recently, the British were esteemed by most of the world as paragons of civility and law-abiding.
That was not always so.
Britain was quite uncivilized in the time of Shakespeare. Crime was rampant.
To be fair, one school of thought holds that crime was a result of civil unrest...dislocation from "the land", Plague, Industrial Revolution, wealth inequities spawned by Imperialism. The contend that British society became more civil after these "shocks" were in the rear-view mirror.
Another school of thought is that British law's unbending devotion to apprehending and the severe punishments had much to do with the change from rampant lawlessness and extreme civility. At one point there were 220 crimes on the dockets that were punishable by execution.
According to one database on British Executions, the peak occurred in 1801 with 253 executions or approximately five-per-week. One must wonder if the executions that occurred outside of well-organized, city centers were recorded. At that time, London had a population of about one-million people.
Floggings and deportation were also used extensively.
The punishments were public spectacles with the intention of being object lessons.
Throughout most of recorded history "civilized behavior"...the type of societal conduct that Americans born 40 or more years ago accept as normal and routine is actually NOT routine. It's an exception. It happens occasionally in a few places for at most a few decades, but the norm for humanity is violence, interpersonal predation, theft and want. And when what is historically normal once again becomes the order of the day here a lot of people won't grasp that reality. We are seeing the beginnings of the transition to routine widespread violence on the news and in internet clips on a weekly, almost daily basis. Like the "wildings" we see in places like the former City of Chicago which has now devolved into a third world culture more akin to Mogadishu than an American city. And it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better...if it gets better. I wouldn't count on it.
ReplyDeleteAnd possibly this removed a certain amount of the tendency to violence from the population. You could even theorize that those who committed unpremeditated and hence poorly planned crimes were caught disproportionately often and executed in greater numbers, so poor planning and lack of self-control were also partially removed from the gene pool.
ReplyDeleteIn the near term the experiments of soros backed DAs in big blue cities speaks volumes.
ReplyDeleteLonger tineline advocates will recall sheriff J. Arpeyo from AZ. He produced an interesting set of statistics as well.
Stupid people argue from an emotional standpoint, rational people use logic and math.
I lived and worked in one of the Crown's subject countries for quite a long time. It separated from England in the 1960s, but they kept most of the same laws. Anyway, capital punishment was by hanging there, and their last execution was in the early 90s. The gallows still stood downtown until after 2010, when the death penalty was finally eliminated. But I'll tell you, having those gallows standing there, sticking up in plain view over the wall of the jail, created a topic of regular conversation; you would hear references to it all the time. You won't convince people that it isn't a powerful deterrent, when it has been a feature of their culture for years - it certainly was, there. But it's easy to spin that BS on people that have never had that experience.
ReplyDeleteDan nailed it. That "earlier, natural" behavior is returning with the increasing importation of third world barbarians and no cash bail, Soros prosecutors, watch yer six.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the decline in crime was more to do with the replacement of London's (corrupt and ineffectual) Bow Street Runners with Sir Robert Peels "Peelers" (latterly, and now, "Bobbies") and, more importantly, their zeal (give a former soldier, Napoleonic or modern, the chance to 'collar' his 'betters' and ... stand back, or possibly duck and cover), incorruptibility and impartial enforcement of the law against 'all' levels of society, which rapidly spread across the country.
ReplyDeleteAs such the law was both enforced (for all, instead of just the rich, for the first time) and began to be 'respected' by all (unequal application of the law leads to, as we all experience daily now, a lack of respect for it, and both ignoring and breaking it seen as being 'socially' acceptable. So, crime becomes the norm).
I wonder about the severity of punishment though since (personally) I don't commit crimes, not because of whatever (usually now irrelevant) punishment is levied, but because (for such as me, the real punishment) of the 'social cost' of being seen as a criminal by my family/friends/peers/neighbours.
I suspect shunning (being sent to Coventry) and disapproval had more to do with limiting crime (as well as immoral and perverse behaviours) than we give it credit for. I 'think' it's not that crime and degeneracy are so common now that we no longer judge and disapprove of it, but that because we no longer judge and disapprove, we have so much of both.
It's a known fact that within certain demographics a criminal record is seen, not as a stain but, as a badge of honour. Yet even with such people certain crimes are seen as beyond the pale, and thus are rare.
So, other than the ex post facto 'terminal' removal of criminals via capital punishments, the only way of actually reducing crime is ... to make it socially unacceptable again (Good luck with that with the corrupt and malicious idiots in charge currently, and the 'me' culture willing to tolerate anything as long as they aren't judged themselves).
[Universally, historically and across all cultures, it is the women who define and enforce the cultures norms and values ... primarily by disapproval and shunning. So ... don't hold your breath waiting for a return to more 'moral' times.
A thought experiment: 'If' women tomorrow 'all' suddenly decided to only, as of old, notice, date, sleep with and marry men who acted with chivalry and lawfully - how long before 'every' male in the country was buying cloaks to lay over puddles and crime ceased to exist? Days, hours or minutes?]
As anon said, equal enforcement led to a much more 'stable' country.
ReplyDeleteWhen can we reinstate them?
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