This is a good case for redistribution of wealth.
People behave more sadistically when they’re bored
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Re: People behave more sadistically when they’re bored
#22If this is indeed true, it is yet another piece of evidence in the case for prison reform. Prisoners are universally bored, yet in many cases insufficiently protected from one another. Read accounts of any long-time convict's time in prison and you'll hear about excruciating boredom punctuated by acts of outrageous sadism.
So put them to work and pay them the going rate [in the normal economy] and use that toward victim restitution? If you pay them the market rate and this activity improves their well-being compared to being sedentary, I think it’s a win for all involved.
Look up CCI in Colorado. They pay almost nothing for prisoners to work in industries like manufacturing. They then sell these products to businesses so they can claim it was made in the USA (so awesome!). It’s all slave labor essentially. Then, with the skills these people learn, when they’re released they can’t get hired because they have a record. Whole thing is a disgusting joke. Taking advantage of people that ended up in their situation because they never had direction or opportunities to begin with.
(Should mention they just got a new director and she is really awesome. Came from the women’s bean project. Hope she can make some positive change but she’ll have to fight a lot of bureaucracy.)
Re: People behave more sadistically when they’re bored
#23Re: People behave more sadistically when they’re bored
#24If this is indeed true, it is yet another piece of evidence in the case for prison reform. Prisoners are universally bored, yet in many cases insufficiently protected from one another. Read accounts of any long-time convict's time in prison and you'll hear about excruciating boredom punctuated by acts of outrageous sadism.
So put them to work and pay them the going rate [in the normal economy] and use that toward victim restitution? If you pay them the market rate and this activity improves their well-being compared to being sedentary, I think it’s a win for all involved.
I'd be happy if we'd just get over this vindictive need to deprive prisoners of basic pleasures.
I've seen outrage over the idea that prisoners have access to TVs, or gaming consoles, or similar, stories of wardens confiscating books and pen and paper and such. I understand there are some other concerns that may warrant keeping usage of some of those under surveillance or similar (keep a pencil from being used as a shiv say), but other countries don't try and make prisons as miserable an experience as possible, and they have far, far lower rates of recidivism and violence and such.
Re: People behave more sadistically when they’re bored
#25This is why the Roman generals in Britain built Hadrian's Wall. They knew it wasn't defensively useful for crap, but it kept a lot of trained soldiers far away from home stuck in a cold unpleasant land with people they did not view as civilized from becoming a dangerous idle mass of people.
Re: People behave more sadistically when they’re bored
#26You can see this effect on school playgrounds and twitter.
And in rat utopias: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park
Rather we have a shortage of bored scientists : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis
Re: People behave more sadistically when they’re bored
#27Pleasure is fleeting. It must be or else you'd still be glowing from your first orgasm. Inevitably the search for pleasure will require variety and inevitably that variety brings you to inflicting pain on others. We do it publicly. The romans fed people to the lions. We have lots of violent sports. Nascar isn't about driving left. It's about the crashes. Hockey is about the fights and checking. Lets not even evaluate…
Did you just try to criticize gaming on HN? See you at the bottom.
Re: People behave more sadistically when they’re bored
#28Pleasure is fleeting. It must be or else you'd still be glowing from your first orgasm. Inevitably the search for pleasure will require variety and inevitably that variety brings you to inflicting pain on others. We do it publicly. The romans fed people to the lions. We have lots of violent sports. Nascar isn't about driving left. It's about the crashes. Hockey is about the fights and checking. Lets not even evaluate…
How is violent video games trying to inflict pain on others ?
I love violent video games and media as much as the next gal (Doom, ME3, Hellsing as an anime, etc) - but I can absolutely see the connection of trying to work out that pleasure/boredom with fiction.
Re: People behave more sadistically when they’re bored
#29[deleted]
Re: People behave more sadistically when they’re bored
#30There is an interesting exploration of this in the Altered Carbon universe. If people can become functionally immortal, will they inevitably grow tired of societally acceptable pursuits and move on to sadism?