Where is the “GOOD” cat meme when you need it??
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Haters gonna shop.
I was listening to the Savage Lovecast from last week on the way in to work, and one of the callers was talking about her racist co-worker, and asking what she should do.
My mind went to homosexual conversion therapy and how in the real world that’s a bust, in spite of what homophobic people would like.
Then I thought, has racist conversion therapy ever been tried, and if it were tried, would it be successful?
Which has deeper roots? Sexual identity, or racial identity?
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Yeah but the people who think the Founding Fathers had the right idea usually aren’t the same people who would demand the immediate firing of any black athlete who took a knee in protest during “God Save the Queen.”
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???
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You can read the 2009 American scientific consensus here (I haven’t read anything more recent):
There are no studies of adequate scientific rigor to conclude whether or not recent SOCE do or do not work to change a person’s sexual orientation.
Naturally it is a career suicide to research that, not to mention illegal in many places. However, unfortunately there are people whose sexual orientation we would like to change: pedophiles. And that leaves us in a pickle.
Should we aim to “convert” pedophiles (instead of imprisoning / somehow pacifying / limiting libido) ? And ff you can reorient one sexual orientation, what about the others? Should we leave those doors closed?
I guess you can think of the postwar re-education of the Germans as such. Seems to have produced the intended effect, time will tell for how long…
Sidenote:
There’s also this:
If this became an effective, permanent and safe therapy for evil thoughts, would you want that? One quirk of history and it’s the ol’ “boot stamping on a human face - forever”.
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No, I feel any attempts to forcibly change a person’s behavior is too open to abuse, no matter how good the intentions.
But now you have me wondering if Fox News and that style of “reporting” reinforces and strengthens negative tendencies through stealth rather than force, drawing the inner-bigots out into the open. (even as I wonder, I feel that’s an obvious “yes”)
Would there be an effective way to sneak programming that focuses on tolerance and cooperation past the eyes and into the minds of adults?
I’m going to see if I can track down Overgames. Now that I’ve sworn off using Amazon (unrelated to this post) that might be more of an adventure.
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Nah, that’s why I wrote “society” rather than “government”. Government is a poor tool for solving most problems, this one included. But there do need to be broad social consequences for doing some racist shit. It’s the little things all working together, you know? Like, people give you dirty looks when you ride the train. People not wanting to have sex with you. Cooks spitting in your soup. Occasionally getting punched when you openly advocate slavery. And yes, also businesses refusing to serve you.
The worrying thing is just that there’s one business with so much market share that their decision one way or the other isn’t a “little thing”. If my small business refuses you service, it’s negligible unless lots of other businesses are doing it too. But if Amazon acts alone, it’s actually a pretty major social influence. This centralization of power should make us all a little nervous.
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