Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Mississippi's governor pardons a lot of criminals.

The action of Mississippi's governor to pardon a lot of criminals comes as understandable to me.

This civilization has not provided a uniform species code of conduct. Evidently it is a species in great uncertainty, despite a host of isolated successes. Individuals who at least speak of themselves as law-abiding look at others with what they call judgment. I suggest that judgment is a highly contextual claim in which the "crime scene" is taken to be sufficiently under control by authorites that the idea of negative feedback is expected over the broader course of events to lead to less crime. I fail to see how the short list of learned lessons about life in general which people variously take part in is able to produce any sort of crime reduction. There is even less that appeals to me in the quasi-economic notion of paying for your crimes. Police are expected to work out the details on the street. This is too much to ask anyone to do.

A lot of civilization's directions would be questioned by anyone approaching the understanding of life that a species requires. Those that do are few in number and are heavily burdened. A little less burden is a stable consequence of a little more understanding.