The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

THE LAST DITCH

Guardian journalists -vs- morality

Published by Tom

on

Manipulating morals: scientists target drugs that improve behaviour | Science | The Guardian.

Clearly I wouldn't expect anyone from the Guardian to have a problem with drugs to alter your beliefs (as long as they are to be modified to be the same as theirs). Nor would I expect anyone to be surprised at the potential uses for such drugs imagined by a Guardian journalist;

a treatment for racist thoughts, a therapy to increase your empathy for people in other countries

Natch. Give her a minute and she'll come up with the idea of curing the urge to make money for one's family too. I hope I am not alone however in thinking that moral manipulation by pharmaceuticals is itself immoral.

The commonest insanity in modern Britain is the belief by one imperfect human that s/he has the right to impose his/her views on others by force. The control freaks are the true crazies.

7 responses to “Guardian journalists -vs- morality”

  1. patently Avatar
    patently

    The time to panic is when there is a drug to cure you of the irrational desire to use violence in self-defence against an officially-accredited behavioural therapist advancing on you with a syringe.

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  2. Navigator Avatar
    Navigator

    It is a delight to have you back blogging Tom. What should we prescribe for the journalists at the Guardian to change their behaviour do you think?

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  3. Tom Paine Avatar
    Tom Paine

    It’s good to be back, though there is a current of thought at present that the individual blog is history and that like-minded individuals need to combine to have real influence. The days of The Last Ditch may be numbered. As for Guardian journalists, they have made their ideological bed and must lie in it. I am not sure there are many minds out there to be changed by reason. All we can do is try to use our reason to prepare ourselves ideologically for those rare events (like the fall of the Soviet Union or the humiliating arrival of the IMF bailiffs in Britain in 1976) that change minds. The sick fantasy that a few highly-mobile rich people can subsidise all the weird desires of the left-wing mind-benders is a persistent one. Events, not words, will displace it – if it ever entirely fades.

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  4. Tom Paine Avatar
    Tom Paine

    Wouldn’t that be the time when it was too late to panic? Not that panic is ever a useful reaction anyway.

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  5. Trooper Thompson Avatar
    Trooper Thompson

    They’ve already defined hostility to the lovin’ government as a form of mental illness.

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  6. Trista Avatar
    Trista

    The brain is an amazing organ. For all the research done on the brain and it’s function, it is still vastly undiscovered. The story’s mocking view on “moral-enhancement drugs” is unfortunate and is detrimental to society’s attitude toward mental health.
    Studies done on the brain using single photon emission computed tomography scans (SPECT) show how the brain works by measuring blood flow and activity patterns. Injury, illness, genetics, nutrition and chemical imbalances all affect the function of the brain. This shows up in SPECT scans as areas of inactivity. The drugs in question stimulate brain activity in the areas lacking by changing the chemical environment of the brain and/or stimulating blood flow. A fully functioning brain is a healthy brain. The characteristics of healthy brain function include personal responsibility, clear goals, good attention, consistent effort, effective social skills, impulse control, motivation, integrity and creativity. I could deduce that improved moral judgement could be a side effect of a healthy brain, but then we could argue about what morality really means. If morality could be improved with a pill, then perhaps we should start handing then out to politicians to stop wasting our money, keep their pants on and their cigars in their mouth (at least over here on the American side).

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  7. SadButMadLad Avatar
    SadButMadLad

    “The commonest insanity in modern Britain is the belief by one imperfect human that s/he has the right to impose his/her views on others by force. The control freaks are the true crazies.”
    I think you got that the wrong way round.
    The commonest belief in modern Britain held by the perfect socialist human is that she has the knowledge that she has basic human right to impose her views on others by sheer will power because she is better. Control is the new freedom.

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Your blogger

Tom is a retired international lawyer. He was a partner in a City of London law firm and spent almost twenty years abroad serving clients from all over the world.

Returning to London on retirement in 2011, he was dismayed to discover how much liberty had been lost in the UK while he was away.

He’s a classical liberal (libertarian, if you must) who, like his illustrious namesake, considers that

“…government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”

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