Legal Paralysis

Do too many laws, prevent us from actually doing anything good?
George Monbiot highlights, present alarming police activity and our ever steady progress towards a police state in the name of freedom. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2009/jun/22/kingsnorth-fit-police-surveillance
However this question isn’t just about the laws and how their being applied, which is indeed of grave concern. But also of how our [...]

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Redemption vs Punishment

As a society is it not time we began to re-evaluate our treatment of those who perpetrate crimes within the context of the effect upon society.
Whilst the notion of punishment serves as a deterent, the actual act of punishment has a detrimental effect on society. It costs society money to punish, and attaches a strong [...]

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Capitalism is Anti Social

An obvious statement perhaps, given the opposing views of capitalism and socialism. But we must keep this in mind when assessing the present state of society and how we can affect social change. eg. What good are laws and campaigns when we reward those whose interests it is to circumvent them?
The majority of what we [...]

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Citizens, not Customers

This post stems from yet another great talk on Ted, which as well as using the phrase “technosis externality clusterfuck” with reference to urban archictecture, also leaves you with the fantastic “don’t refer to yourself as a consumer, you are a citizen”
The point being that a consumer or customer is passive, they are served. A [...]

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“Anti Social” behavior

Ever since Thatcher denied it’s existence society has been in decline, like a Discworld god that no longer has a following.

I found this great quote in the Private Eye this morning…

“The government was concerned about ANTI SOCIAL BEHAVIOR and in 2004 passed a law about it. This law allows Police to break up [...]

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Power Tools – Tools that shape the world

Everything is a tool of everything else.
We are the tools of Wheat and Grass – http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/214, yet they are also the tools of us. The same applys to religion, our bodies, our minds, rocks, everything.
Everything uses everything else. Everything is a tool, be it physical and tangible or virtual, notional and ideological.
Power tools, are the [...]

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Emotional Osmosis

We absorb the emotions of those around us which in turn affect our own feelings and behaviours. Some of us are more susceptible then others, but we all suffer from this process, much as we may find it an abhorrent assault to our rationality.
To find reason cast aside on a wave of emotion and diluted, [...]

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