From the "interesting things stumbled upon while looking for something else" file is this article by Melvin Konner in the June 30 WSJ.
One of the most persistent and foolish myths is that people are naturally wonderful, and it is only society that screws them up. A lot of wrongheaded notions on a variety of topics from parenting to crime control stem from this fallacious but widespread belief.
The notion goes back at least as far as French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his rhapsodizing about noble savages. An earlier English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, got it right when he said that life before civilization was "nasty, brutish, and short." One common reason for it being short was other humans. Konner's article describes the archaeological evidence.
People have to be taught and conditioned to respect the rights of others. It doesn't come naturally. Failure to properly civilize the young is the true primary "root cause" of crime, and the varying degrees of that failure in different subcultures is the primary reason for "disparities" in offending rates and incarceration rates.
One of the most persistent and foolish myths is that people are naturally wonderful, and it is only society that screws them up. A lot of wrongheaded notions on a variety of topics from parenting to crime control stem from this fallacious but widespread belief.
The notion goes back at least as far as French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his rhapsodizing about noble savages. An earlier English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, got it right when he said that life before civilization was "nasty, brutish, and short." One common reason for it being short was other humans. Konner's article describes the archaeological evidence.
People have to be taught and conditioned to respect the rights of others. It doesn't come naturally. Failure to properly civilize the young is the true primary "root cause" of crime, and the varying degrees of that failure in different subcultures is the primary reason for "disparities" in offending rates and incarceration rates.
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