Blah Blah Flowers

I'm currently reading The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil by Professor Philip Zimbardo. In the early seventies he was responsible for the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment and this book looks at that experience and also his time as an expert witness in the trial of one of the Abu Ghraib guards, as well as other examples of inhuman cruelty in the wider world to answer the question of whether people are born evil or made evil. I've always tended towards the latter, although my belief was somewhat shaken on learning in detail exactly what went on in the Nazi death camps in the Second World War. At the moment I'm only about a hundred pages in and a few days into the Stanford Experiment and it's amazing and somewhat shocking how far the students designated 'guards' and those designated 'prisoners' have already gone, but we can compare it with the testimonies of those released from Camp X-Ray to know that such behaviour is still prevalent, and mild when the rule of law still applies to put limits on the behaviour of those in the position of authority.

Labels: books, ethics, Iraq, Philip Zimbardo, prison, The War Against Terror, torture

Labour MP calls for longer prison sentences for the unemployed. Because 'their time is less important than someone who is in work.'

Labels: crime, Labour, prison

I'm not claiming that the government deliberately let these detainees escape to divert attention from embarrassing Government fuckwittery and dodgy moves, but even on Newsnight last night the Government, with the willing help of the BBC, was framing this as being because pesky campaigners and rebel MPs weren't letting them be as beastly to people as they wanted to be. There will be changes made. Perhaps they'll use iron masks for all detainees?


It is worth remembering that David Blunkett has admitted to being clinically depressed while in office. As has Alistair Campbell. Yet it was not considered worrying that they should continue in two senior posts in the British Government at this time? Did no-one around Campbell who knew about this think it might have had an effect in the events leading up to the Hutton Whitewash?


The Times is claiming that the Government intends to punish sick people for voting against the Government. Well, what is the point of having the power if you don't misuse it?

Labels: Government, prison, terrorism