As my previous blog (and the overal theme of my blog site) shows... I have a fascination with the human brain. One such instance is in the case of pedophiles.
Current sentencing guidelines on pedophiles are not NEARLY long enough.
Here's the thing. Pedophilia is all about sexual attraction. Now, there was a time period in world history, where adults and children engaging in sexual activity together was either the norm, tolerated, or just ignored. And there are places where sadly, that still may be the case. I've seen special news reports about people in other nations who have children given (promised) in marriage from a very early age. At what age do these young women actually marry, dunno.
But, this is America. And these are the rules. And everyone knows them. And they are there for one reason: the protection of the chilrden. What is statutory rape? Statutory rape is when two people consent to sexual activity, however, one party is not deemed OLD ENOUGH to make that decision. Whether or not the 14 year old wants it, it is there for their protection against older people. I'm not talking about 19 year olds and 15 year olds getting together. I dont approve, but thats kinda murky, I suppose. I'm talking about fully adult men who have an attraction to children. These older people know the laws of the land... yet they choose to act against them... time and time again... why?
Because, sexual attraction is an innate human desire residing in (almost?) all people. So, lets say there is this 37 year old man. For whatever reason, HIS BRAIN is sexually stimulated by middle school aged boys. My question is... if a grown man is attracted to adolescent boys... what makes you think thats going to change? Now, it is true, that on some level, it is about control... and there are some people out there who are attracted to children as well, but dont act on those impulses... but lets speak on those that do. Is he ever going to NOT be attracted to little boys? Can you put him in jail for 5 years, and then suddenly he's now attracted to 29 year old women? Thats not gonna happen.
I dont know what makes a man (or woman) attracted to children, but, how do you "de-program" that mind? I dont think you can. That is why, when you hear a case on tv about a pedophile... it is HIGHLY likely that he has had some previous ARRESTS... or some dropped charges... or a previously investigated accussation or two.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I am VERY Drakonian in my view of prison.
Jail, in my mind, serves two purposes... it is not just a punishment, but it is also a way to protect the general public. For example, I dont believe people should do 5 years in therapy by reason of insanity. If you are truly insane, then you need to be locked up for the good of the general public. Insanity isn't an excuse.... just a different type of reason to be in prison. GUILTY, BY REASON OF INSANITY. But, back to the pedophiles. I dont know what the current sentences are, but they're not long enough. Im not going to wake up one morning and decide Im not attracted to women anymore... and Im certainly not going to wake up one morning attracted to kids... what makes people think that 5 years in jail (with NO women around) will make someone unattracted to what he has liked his entire life?
THEREFORE: Pedophilia should carry a jail sentence of NO LESS than 25years. If not 35.
That will be a deterent. No parole. No good behavior. We have a certain way we run our society... and this will not be tolerated... Im sorry that your brain is stimulated by this, and I know your brain isn't going to change, but you better learn to deny yourself. Better get a hobby.
And thats the issue with a sexual crime. Most people dont rob people because they "get off" on the joy of burglary, they rob as a means to getting money. But, in a sexual crime, the crime itself is the objective, not just a dirty means to some other different goal.
So, the sexual deviant needs SIGNIFICANTLY harsher sentencing guidelines (than other criminals) to prevent him from acting on the urges that... in his physical brain... (here comes the scary part) ARE AS NATURAL TO HIM as most people considering dating people of roughly their same age.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
SOS: Save Our Souls?
When people are stranded on islands in movies or tv shows... and they hope to get the attention of a search party... or even some casual passer-by... they usually shoot a flare or write in the sand SOS... save our souls. Churches and other religious institutions like to think of themselves as spiritual search parties. Looking for people who are lost and need to be helped. Not a physical saving in that case... not trying to literally save the corporal body, but trying to save the soul of the person. What exactly is a soul? How do you explain or define it?
When people usually speak of a "soul" or a "spirit," they are usually referring to a sentient non-material version of each person. The true abstract you who resides inside the physical shell that we call the body. Some view "soul" and "spirit" as two separate things, and some people use the terms interchangably... but there is an understanding or belief in "the real you" being more than just the physical matter that comprises your body.
Lets assume for a moment (as everyone does anyway) that there is a soul. What exactly is the relationship between physical brain deterioration and that soul? Can you have a crazy or retarded soul? Or is that soul normal, yet "imprisoned" by a malfunctioning physical brain? What of those who suffer from mental disabilities such as schizophrenia or dementia? Someone who truly believes that they have magical powers... that they've travelled to other planets and dimensions? Someone else who sees things that are not there? Is that soul inside screaming at the brain, but the brain isn't listening? Like an end-user who's frustrated because of a non-responsive computer infected with a virus.
Now, Im not one to believe that every person who is diagnosed with a mental illness is afflicted, however, there are cases where there is physical deformity to coincide with the lack of coherent thinking. Some people diagnosed with schizophrenia show clear physical deterioration of their brains. If a person's brain is now 85% its original size, and that person is now "hearing voices"... and illogically putting facts together... and no longer able to clearly understand/interpret the world around them... has their "soul" gone crazy? Or is the schizo's "soul" a slave to the under-performing brain?
There are many tragic examples, but an interesting case would be Charles Whitman. The UT tower sniper from August 1966. In March of that year, Whitman actually sought out help on campus for his irrational thoughts and confessed to a psychiatrist that he felt the urge to "start shooting people with a deer rifle." I have seen shows which make mention of some of these alleged thoughts he was said to be struggling with, which (if true) can only be described as bizarre delusions and utter insanity, but, Whitman also kept a journal and left a suicide note. So there are some first hand accounts. In the suicide note he wrote...
"I do not quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I do not really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average reasonable and intelligent young man. However, lately (I cannot recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts."
Interestingly enough, Whitman requested an autopsy to be done to explain his actions and reoccuring headaches. He also willed any money he had to mental health research. Hours before climbing the tower, he would stab his mother and wife to death, and wrote in his suicide note that he was sending them to a better place. After he was shot and killed, the autopsy revealed a large tumor in his brain pressed against the amygdala.
The question I have is simple... lets assume there is a soul... did his soul just so happen to become corrupted, evil and pyschopathic at the EXACT same time that he had this large malignant tumor growing inside his brain... or... did he have a normal soul that did not change... but that soul was unable to fight off the perverse and irrational thoughts that were torturing him as a result of the physical affliction in his head? Were the thoughts he was having not his own?
When people usually speak of a "soul" or a "spirit," they are usually referring to a sentient non-material version of each person. The true abstract you who resides inside the physical shell that we call the body. Some view "soul" and "spirit" as two separate things, and some people use the terms interchangably... but there is an understanding or belief in "the real you" being more than just the physical matter that comprises your body.
We all know why we think that way (religion), but have we even considered otherwise? From the moment we are able to form higher level thought, we are constantly told that we are spiritual creatures, so we take it as a such. We do not consider otherwise, and all conversations or discussions even remotely related to the topic begin only AFTER the point where we presuppose the existence of a soul. Is there a soul? Are we allowed to even ask the question? Is there an abstract mind that works spiritually in correlation to the physical brain?
Is it not possible that there is no (abstract) mind at all... that each person's (physical) brain is a really complex system of computers that operate congruently with one another? Every human being is different. We all have different finger prints, for example. Different metabolism. Different blood pressure. Different eye sight. Different skin sensitivity. Can we not all have different brain patterns that are "percieved" as personalities?
There are billions upon billions of neurons constantly firing inside our brains. Could BILLIONS of different neurons, reacting differently and firing at different intervals, in each different person, in each different circumstance, under each set of different conditions, each person having different backgrounds and different previous experiences... could all these variables just give the appearance of unique souls?
And its not as if we dont know what certain lobes, hemispheres and sections of the brain our in charge of controlling and regulating. Each section of the human brain is mapped out with its responsibilities and functions. We know how both hemispheres differ. We understand what different lobes are responsible for. To the Nth degree? Certainly not. That will probably never be FULLY grasped. But, we have Cat scans... and MRI's... and PET's... and other brain imaging tests to analyze and give us a better understanding of what sections of the brain "fire up" under varying circumstances. What part of the brain operates when you're sad... when you're angry... when you're frightened... when you're eating... when you are listening... when you are taking a test... when you are sleeping...
So, compared to 100 years ago, where people knew there was this giant red swirly gooey thing in your head... and it somehow interacted with your (abstract) mind and soul... we're actually able to diagram the entire human brain and explain what each section of the brain is responsible for performing. That does not preclude the existence of a soul, but it certainly gives us a clearer comprehension of what the physical body is doing.
Lets assume for a moment (as everyone does anyway) that there is a soul. What exactly is the relationship between physical brain deterioration and that soul? Can you have a crazy or retarded soul? Or is that soul normal, yet "imprisoned" by a malfunctioning physical brain? What of those who suffer from mental disabilities such as schizophrenia or dementia? Someone who truly believes that they have magical powers... that they've travelled to other planets and dimensions? Someone else who sees things that are not there? Is that soul inside screaming at the brain, but the brain isn't listening? Like an end-user who's frustrated because of a non-responsive computer infected with a virus.
Now, Im not one to believe that every person who is diagnosed with a mental illness is afflicted, however, there are cases where there is physical deformity to coincide with the lack of coherent thinking. Some people diagnosed with schizophrenia show clear physical deterioration of their brains. If a person's brain is now 85% its original size, and that person is now "hearing voices"... and illogically putting facts together... and no longer able to clearly understand/interpret the world around them... has their "soul" gone crazy? Or is the schizo's "soul" a slave to the under-performing brain?
There are many tragic examples, but an interesting case would be Charles Whitman. The UT tower sniper from August 1966. In March of that year, Whitman actually sought out help on campus for his irrational thoughts and confessed to a psychiatrist that he felt the urge to "start shooting people with a deer rifle." I have seen shows which make mention of some of these alleged thoughts he was said to be struggling with, which (if true) can only be described as bizarre delusions and utter insanity, but, Whitman also kept a journal and left a suicide note. So there are some first hand accounts. In the suicide note he wrote...
"I do not quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I do not really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average reasonable and intelligent young man. However, lately (I cannot recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts."
Interestingly enough, Whitman requested an autopsy to be done to explain his actions and reoccuring headaches. He also willed any money he had to mental health research. Hours before climbing the tower, he would stab his mother and wife to death, and wrote in his suicide note that he was sending them to a better place. After he was shot and killed, the autopsy revealed a large tumor in his brain pressed against the amygdala.
The question I have is simple... lets assume there is a soul... did his soul just so happen to become corrupted, evil and pyschopathic at the EXACT same time that he had this large malignant tumor growing inside his brain... or... did he have a normal soul that did not change... but that soul was unable to fight off the perverse and irrational thoughts that were torturing him as a result of the physical affliction in his head? Were the thoughts he was having not his own?
The only thing we know FOR SURE... is that... no one knows for sure. Well, if you believe in a soul, you probably believe that one PERESON knows for sure... and if you dont believe in a soul, then you probably believe that noone knows or will ever know the answer...
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The Heaviest Generation
The chunkiest generation...
The thickest generation...
The plumpest generation...
If the post World War 2 Americans were known as "the greatest generation" then surely we shall be known as the fattest. The latest federal government statistics were just released, and its not looking too good. The National Center for Health Statistics (which is part of the Center for Disease Control... the CDC) posted numbers within the last week showing that 34% of Americans are now considered OBESE. Thats a huge number to me, but that only counts "obesity". There are another 32% of Americans who are overweight. Obese being described as grossly overweight... and 6% of the nation is "extremely" (morbidly?) obese, according to those statistics. Last May, the CDC said that 32% of children were overweight (16% obese / 11% extremely obese).
Going in order of severity... overweight... obese... extreme obesity... 72% of the American population (59% of children) are considered to be AT LEAST overweight. That is astounding. And unnerving, as far as how much we know about weight problems... particularly later in life; making people more susceptible to health problems... in particular... heart disease and diabetes.
According to the CDC... the number of obesity cases has more than doubled since 1980. What is the cause? That I dont know... but, my first thought is technology. Convenience causing a lack of activity in most people. A lot of kids are playing less, more internet, more television, more cable, more video games. The second of course would be diet. Im not sure if there is any consensus, but I hear diet is even more important than physical activity. Portion sizes are getting larger and larger... (I wont even mention trans fat!!!) and (if you didn't know) American food portions are larger than in Europe. (Click here for an interest article from the Harvard Crimson)
But, what I do know... this is a "growing" problem... bad pun intended... and something we all need to be aware of.
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