X-Received: by 2002:a37:c13:0:b0:706:427f:5223 with SMTP id 19-20020a370c13000000b00706427f5223mr263068qkm.457.1674121321674; Thu, 19 Jan 2023 01:42:01 -0800 (PST) X-Received: by 2002:a05:6808:2096:b0:364:3de2:bfe1 with SMTP id s22-20020a056808209600b003643de2bfe1mr718766oiw.101.1674121321351; Thu, 19 Jan 2023 01:42:01 -0800 (PST) Path: ...!news-out.google.com!nntp.google.com!postnews.google.com!google-groups.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: rec.arts.books Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2023 01:42:00 -0800 (PST) Injection-Info: google-groups.googlegroups.com; posting-host=2001:8004:1160:28ef:d5ae:f4e8:3aac:6009; posting-account=90ZYxQoAAAARzFPaCqTWUKRTGA9K_b9_ NNTP-Posting-Host: 2001:8004:1160:28ef:d5ae:f4e8:3aac:6009 User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: <36403165-3cf1-4b73-8ad1-da339b960339n@googlegroups.com> Subject: Change and Choice From: Ilya Shambat Injection-Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2023 09:42:01 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Bytes: 6537 Lines: 90 There are many people who believe that people don't change. As was said in = a recent movie, =E2=80=9CPeople don't change, they become more of what they= are.=E2=80=9D These people have obviously not studied history. In fact, people change all the time, for all sorts of reasons, and in all s= orts of different directions. The Germans were complete jerks during the Se= cond World War, but they are not now. The Jews were liberal pacifists befor= e the Second World War, whereas Israeli Jews at this time are fascists. Many of the same people who claim to speak in favor of responsibility also = claim that some people =E2=80=93 such as sociopaths - are evil and can only= be evil whatever they do. These two claims are mutually contradictory. If = people are responsible for their actions, then anyone =E2=80=93 even a soci= opath - can choose to act rightfully; and if some people cannot act rightfu= lly whatever they do, then people are not responsible for their actions. Tw= o mutually contradictory claims are made by the same mentality. And that me= ans that at least one of these claims is a lie. This foolishness has gone so far that now, in Australia, they attack people= who have been born in disadvantaged situations under the claim that they a= re going to be criminals and abusers. As if they weren't already suffering = enough. I know many people who come from disadvantage who are not abusers o= r criminals. Many of these people are very impressive individuals. They ove= rcame disadvantage to become decent citizens; and, in a number of cases, ar= e much more than just that. People do change. People change all the time and in all sorts of ways and f= or all sorts of reasons. To deny the same is to deny that people have the c= apacity for choice. Anything that is capable of choice is capable of right = choice, and it is also capable of change. And yes, that includes sociopaths= .. When I was writing against someone who was shouting about sociopaths, I was= asked why I was advocating for the scum of the earth. What I am advocating= for is choice and free will. You have to make up your mind. Are people res= ponsible for their actions or aren't they? If they are, then anyone can cho= ose to act rightfully, and anyone can change. And if some people cannot do = such a thing, then people are not responsible for their actions. Pick eithe= r one or the other; both cannot be. I am also advocating for constitutional intent. In America, people are mean= t to be protected from witch hunts and persecutions. I was never diagnosed = as a sociopath or anything similar. I do however take seriously human right= s and constitutional intent. And I know that the same extends to everyone, = including sociopaths. When I see a hysteria and a witch hunt, I tell you about it. And this is ex= actly what we have seen. Precisely, we have seen the worst hysteria in Amer= ica's history, something that makes Joseph McCarthy look like an angel. You= have no idea what causes this disorder. You have no idea how to treat it. = And yet you claim that people who have this disorder are evil and can only = be evil whatever they do. What we are seeing here goes against most basic reason. Evil is not psychol= ogy, evil is choice. Anyone can act right, and anyone can act wrong. That i= s because of choice. And choice trumps psychology and neurology. If someone does not know how to cure a disorder, all that says is that he h= as no valuable insight on the subject. Valuable insight comes from somebody= else. If you have been born with a neurological abnormality, that does not= mean that you are damned for life or that you can only be evil. Use your m= ind. Understand how your actions affect others. And then use choice and int= elligence to correct the effects of whatever is wrong with your brain. Anyone therefore can choose to act rightfully. This is the case even with s= ociopaths. Whereas there are any number of perfectly normal people out ther= e who do horrible things. They do not have a bad neurology. What they have = is bad values. Not all sociopaths are evil, and not all evil people are sociopaths. There = are many sociopaths who've never committed a crime. And there are many perf= ectly normal people who murder, rape, scam, abuse and pollute. Spanish colo= nialists were perfectly normal, but they were at least as cruel as the Nazi= s. Most people in Texas Oil are perfectly normal, but they have poisoned th= e world. To believe that there is such a thing as a criminal personality is an Orwel= lian institution of crimethink. It says that people can be made criminal by= virtue of how they think. And this creates a de facto totalitarianism that= is so absolute that people are not allowed to be free from it even within = the privacy of their minds. If you really want to treat people who actually have this disorder, the cor= rect solution is to get them to use their minds. Teach them to see how what= they do affects other people. And then they will be able to use the mind t= o do the job that the heart fails to do. As for people being able to change, that is a given. People change all the = time and in all sorts of ways. Denying change is denying choice. It is deny= ing the driving force for all action. And it is dehumanizing people and tur= ning them into beasts.