Arbeit macht frei: - Fredrick Töben

abandonment of $1 billion of assets at the present site; the St Clair land
swap; and the gift of Glenside to the film corporation, giving it precedence
over the needs of the mentally ill.
A further example was the misleading election pamphlets, which Dr Dean
Jaensch criticised on the basis of principle and morality (The Advertiser,
25/3/10).
Most recently the Government has attempted to stifle what can be
revealed under the Freedom of Information Act.
Trumpeting more laws and greater punishment is in contrast to the
suggestion of Thinker in Residence Judge Peggy Fulton Hora, who was
reported (The Advertiser, 28/4/10) to have advised the Government to be
smart on crime, as opposed to tough on crime.
Rather than increasing punishment, it appears more sensible to examine
issues behind changes in community behaviour.
It is also important to state that extra punishment and revenge do not
necessarily help individuals who may have been offended against.
In a study from the US titled The Paradoxical Consequences of Revenge,
Kevin Carlsmith and colleagues found that some people who had the
opportunity to punish others ended up feeling worse than those who did
not have that opportunity.
Furthermore, rather than revenge bringing closure, it led to ruminations
and negative emotions. They concluded that revenge can have unexpected
and unwanted consequences.
They also reported that this had been commented on more than 300
years ago by English poet John Milton, who wrote: ‘Revenge, at first
though sweet, Bitter ere long back on itself recoils.’
When invoking issues of law and order, politicians would do well not only
to address their own attitudes and behaviour but also to reflect on Milton's
words.
Robert Goldney is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Adelaide.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/better-smarter-role-modelsrequired/story-e6freai3-1225864876768
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The Occidental Observer Blog
Short Reports and Comments on Current Events, 2 May 2010
Kevin MacDonald: Does Jewish financial misbehavior have anything to
do with being Jewish?
As expected, the fraud charges brought against Goldman Sachs by the
SEC and now the Senate hearings are producing a lot of anxiety in Jewish
quarters. Back in January, Michael Kinsley wrote an article telling us how
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