blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah

they want to make em pee in a cup
i just want my taxes cut
i have to remind them nothing’s free
drug testing will steal more from me

terry stops to stop immigration
do you think they’ll stop there?
foot in the door for Real ID
but they got you cheering for it
because it’s not targeting you…
YET!

have you read the MIAC report?
the USAPATRIOT Act is already targeting you
The Drug War, the war on terror
Are all just policy laundery
Washington’s taking you to the cleaners
Has you supporting the roots of tyranny

you say we should support Israel
you forgot to put the gun down
government is force not eloquence
everything’s funded through violence

if you want to support em
do what Glenn Beck says
write em a check your damn self
being world police costs too much
and blows back in our face

please tell me again how welfare is evil
and taxing me for war is a-ok

when the fucking wars make us less safe
and reduce our standing in the international community
and debt debt debt

You’re having a quiet drink in your favorite local pub.  Near you is a biker dude in full regalia – chains, leather, etc. – chugging down large quantities of brew and with an angry scowl on his face.  Also nearby is a solitary guy who looks like a clone of Bill Gates, very shy and introverted.  He’s also drinking heavily but his demeanor suggests he wouldn’t hurt a fly.  Which one do you think is about to explode into a violent, dangerous rage?

If you’re answer is the biker dude, you’d be wrong.

Look Out For the Quiet Shy Type

According to Scandinavian researchers, it’s the introverted types, those who tend to keep their emotions to themselves, who are the most likely to have a bad – indeed, very bad – experience when they drink to excess. Looks alone don’t tell the entire story, they say.

“Alcohol use may be related causally to violence, but the effect of drinking is confined to individuals who are inclined to suppress their angry feelings,” concluded the researchers.

Violent or Not? (Image via CrunchBase)

The study was based on based on information gathered from a survey of young Norwegians over several years.  The first survey in the form of surveys and questionnaires took place among almost 3000 people when they were 16 or 17 years of age.  They were surveyed again at ages 21 to 22.

The More Anger Is Suppressed, the More Danger

The participants were divided into three evenly divided groups and studied to determine the levels at which they tended to suppress their anger in a variety of situations. For the individuals who reported a high inclination to suppress their feelings of anger, there was a 10 percent increase in drinking to the point of being drunk which was associated with a five percent increase in violence.

When the researchers matched those observations with volunteers who had shown little or no inclination to suppress their anger they were less disposed to become violent when they had too much to drink.

The researchers concluded that while “only a tiny fraction of all drinking events involve violence … whether intoxicated aggression is likely to occur seems to depend on the drinkers’ propensity to withhold angry feelings when sober.”

So, when drinking looks can be deceiving.  I’ll drink to that.

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This feature is inspired by a short heart-felt expression of concern a writer expressed about cyber-bullying. Josy Varghese’s feature can be seen here. http://webupon.com/web-talk/cyber-bullying-3/ My article started as a response to Josy’s, which I realized quickly, was too long for just putting in a comments box.

THE NATURE OF CYBER-BULLYING

Cyber-bullying is just an Internet version of bullying in the school, or work place. The difference is that the bully may not know or be known by his or her victims. They find a website, blog or social networking page and target an individual or group for sustained and controlled threatening, hostile, libellous behaviour with an aim to generating ridicule, fear, and distress. Cyber-bullying can often be related to bigotry and prejudice, being motivated by racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, etc. It may be casual or systematic.

A cyber-bully will often incite others to join in the ridicule and the intensifying hate campaign. Cyber-bullies often operate in gangs. Photos published online in all innocence, will be commented on in a very unflattering way, as the target is mocked as overweight, balding, ugly, lacking fashion sense, etc. A few people may join in and assume the bullying is just harmless fun.

A thrashing by a bully in a playground hurts, but at least it ends, even if bruises and black eyes take time to heal. Cyber-bullying can take on an edge of permanence and forever. A comment mocking someone, as effeminate will stay online indefinitely unless someone can have it deleted and blocked.

The adage that ‘sticks and stones can break bones but words can never hurt’ does not ring true. Words can devastate us, especially if rumours can be made to ridicule and harass us throughout cyberspace.

The victim may ignore the remarks or try to delete them from web pages where it is possible to do so, but the bully may well saturate the site with comments and threats so that keeping pace is difficult for the victim. The bully may even set up an independent blog specially to encourage people to mock the intended victim, and this will ridicule and malign everything the intended victim says and does.

While the victim may not know a cyber-bully, s/he (more often he) will probably know or have access to the identity of the victim, and disclose personal, private information about them. Lies will be told, private addresses and phone numbers will go public, and the victim’s lovers may become victims of the campaign themselves. The victims of cyber-bullying are often children and the bullies often children themselves. With schools adopting a zero tolerance attitude to physical bullying, its cyber-equivalent takes over, and instead of being seen by the classmates in the playground, the victim’s humiliation is seen by potentially the whole of cyberspace. Cyber-bullying can be used in chat-rooms, web site comment boxes, and social networking sites and increasingly by mobile phones.

Sometimes cyber-bullying and physical bullying can unite as in video footage of happy-slapping attacks going out on Youtube.

Victims of cyber-bullying can become very introspective loners, depressed and even suicidal. Self-esteem can really suffer when it seems as if the entire world is against you. The local bully in Basingstoke, England can gain support from a bully in Sudan or Australia. The victim can find that friends fail to take the threat to him or her seriously or avoid getting involved from fear of attracting similar attacks.

HOW TO RESIST THE CYBER-BULLIES

In the wider social groups, chat rooms and forums, friends should rally round to protect a friend from harassment, even if the victim doesn’t directly request it. Forum and chat-room moderators should track discussions and close down a bully’s account and block his / her IP addresses. Direct threats and incitements to racism, etc are criminal offences and should be reported to the police.

Sites like Facebook have the power to ban obvious bullies and many sites will let you block the people you dislike – friends should always rally to the support of the victim but often don’t. If possible see who else the bully writes to, and if he / she bullies them too.

The internet is not totally censorship free and bullies can be made to see that their hateful words can be deleted, blocked, banned or used to bring them before school authorities, teachers, head-masters, employers, the police, courts, etc.

The main thing to do if you suspect you are being cyber-bullied is to talk to someone about it, including parents and teachers. Log the evidence too. Keep copies of every insult, threat and defamation encountered.  Copy links to every website used in attacking you. Try to find clues as to the bully’s identity. See if the cyber-name used occurs in other forums or web pages. Does this individual or group bully others also beige? If so, try to unite with the other victims.

If outright threats of violence, crime, etc is made, report them to the police.

A number of anti-bullying groups exist who can advise you further. Don’t suffer alone or in silence. The Internet can be used to fight back and drive the bullies into the cyber-oblivion they so richly deserve. 

A useful link on Cyber-bullying advice – http://www.stopbullying.gov/topics/cyberbullying/

Arthur Chappell

             The Mongols were very barbaric because of their military extent, such as the amount of land conquered; their merciless consequences, such as death to many; and their preparedness for battle, such as their system of transferring knowledge.

             Mongols are viewed as barbarians because of their military extent, such as the amount of land conquered stated in Document one. At the top, the Mongols have conquered 4,860,000 square miles, compared to #2, Alexander the Great, who has only conquered 2,180,000 square miles. The Mongols are the superior when it comes to military conquest. Also, in Documents four and five, they inform how brutally they treated their victims. They showed no compassion to even the women and children and their carcasses. The Mongols were truly barbaric in their ways of expansion.

             The Mongols also showed how barbaric they were through their merciless consequences, such as death to many. Document two explains that if one man from a group of ten, or a group of ten out of a group of a 100 were to act in a way differently from the rest, all must follow or all will die. The Mongols spread strict, barbaric discipline like this to practice acting as a whole. In Documents seven and ten, it’s said that crime such as stealing is so extremely strict that nobody would even think of doing it; and the punishment for adultery is death, but it is avoidable by killing the other man and taking the wife if desired. These rules and laws that the Mongols follow portray the barbaric behavior that differentiates them from the rest of history.

             Finally, the Mongols are classified as barbaric because of their preparedness for battle, such as their routine battle plans. In Document three, it says that the Mongols sent out captives and other foreigners to scout of the enemy, surrounded them, and laid siege. They followed the same strategy and conquered with ease. In Document eight, it explains how eager the Mongols were with delivering messages to transfer information of the current battle. They used every way possible to enhance their barbaric warfare.

             The Mongols were very barbaric because of their military expansion, such as the amount of land conquered; their ruthless consequences, such as death to many; and their eagerness for battle, such as their system of transferring knowledge. They proved themselves to be as inhumanly as they could be compared to the rest of time, and so the Mongols are truly the barbarians of their era.

Genetics being linked to criminal behavior and activity has been an ongoing debate for over 40 years since the XYY theory was introduced to the criminal justice world. Many investigators and criminology experts have been analyzing the factors that influence an individual’s criminal behavior, and some of the first research conducted was by Montagle and Walker when they proposed the association between criminality and genetic factors. The research concluded that the XYY genotype was found twenty percent higher amongst prisoners than that of the general population. (GOSAVI, S.R., GAJBE, U.L., MESHRAM, S.W., CHIMURKAR, V.K. 2009). Sense the XYY theory has been introduced there has been a vast amount of studies conducted including twin studies, adoption studies, and testosterone studies that merit the idea that genetics are a source of criminal behavior.

Twin studies have been conducted to evaluate the possibility that genetics can be linked to criminal behavior. Twins studies are conducted by evaluation identical twins and their rates of criminal behavior versus fraternal twins and their rates of criminal behavior to effectively analyze the roles of genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the criminal behavior. After thorough evaluation, researchers discovered that identical twins that suffered from antisocial disorders as children also suffered from it as an adult and that is was most likely genetically inherited from their parents, but when pertaining to general criminal behavior, they discovered that hereditary factors are most likely of little significance to criminal behavior. (Jones, C. M. 2005).

Adoption studies have been conducted evaluating the links between adopted children and criminal behavior to conclude if genetics can be confirmed to cause criminal behavior. These studies analyze both the biological parents and adopted parents to contrast environmental factors that can influence criminal behavior. Some of the first studies conducted were on adopted children that were born from incarcerated females, the evidence showed that the children that were born from incarcerated females had much higher rates of criminal convictions as adults than those that were not born from incarcerated females. Another study conducted was that of children who were born from biological fathers that have a history of committing property crimes. This study was conducted in Demark and found that adopted children whose biological fathers had a history of committing property crimes often committed these types of crimes themselves but did not engage in committing violent crimes.

According to Jones, “Children whose biological fathers had been convicted of property crimes were more likely to engage in similar behavior, when compared to those biological fathers who had been convicted of violent crimes”. The final results of studying the hereditary influences of criminal behavior in adopted children provided evidence that there is in fact an increased risk of criminal behavior in the adoptive children that are born from incarcerated females, and the children with biological fathers that committed property crimes also had higher rates of property crime convictions as adults. (Jones, C. M.2005).

Testosterone studies have also been conducted to analyze the role that testosterone levels influencing aggressive and criminal behavior in men. Because there is a higher rate of male criminal offenders than females, researchers have conducted studies on how much male hormones influence criminal behavior. One of the most commonly known researchers of this topic is James Dabbs Jr. and his finding found that men and women that have high testosterone levels were more prone to commit violent and sexual crimes. (Crime Times.2007). Men that have high levels of testosterone are often found to have more aggression that can lead to violent behavior, substance abuse, high levels of sexual activity, and also problems with authority such as teachers, parents, and employment supervisors. After conducting research on male prisoners the results concluded that inmates who were convicted of crimes that were sexual oriented or violent had higher levels of testosterone than of those male inmates that were convicted of property and drug crimes. (Crime Times.2007).

Some of the strengths that are effectively linked to genetics and crime are those that pertain to adopted children from biological parents that have a criminal history. It has been proven that the adopted children of women whom are incarcerated often inherit traits that influence criminal behavior rates as adults. Also adoptive children whose biological fathers who have a history of committing property  crimes often are found to have a high chance of committing property crimes themselves as children or adults, and there are higher rates of property crime convictions of these  children as adults. (Jones, C. M.2005). High testosterone levels can be inherited genetically but environmental influences can both raise or lower a man or woman’s testosterone level. The only supporting evidence that high testosterone levels are linked to crime is through aggression not genetics. (Crime Times.2007).

There are many weaknesses in the debate of whether genetics are linked to criminal behavior. The most prominent weakness is that the environment in which the adolescent is raised in can truly influence the chances of criminal behavior. Even if a child is born with a mental illness that provokes criminal behavior, they can receive the care and treatment to deter the chance and teach the child to not engage in criminal activity. (Jones, C. M.2005). On the other hand, in many cases criminals are raised in a loving environment and do not have genetic inheritance to criminal behavior and still chose a life of crime, so as a result criminal behavior cannot at this time be fully linked to genetics. There has been an immense amount of research conducted to find the links between those that have the XYY chromosome versus those with the normal XY chromosomes. It has been proven that there are higher chances of those with XYY chromosomes engaging in criminal behavior than those with the normal XY chromosomes, but no evidence that the chromosomal differences were the complete influence on the offender’s choice to commit crimes. (GOSAVI, S.R., GAJBE, U.L., MESHRAM, S.W., CHIMURKAR, V.K. 2009).

Because genetics and crime has been such a highly debated topic, it is vital that police departments and the criminal justice system consider or dismiss the findings effectively. I believe that police departments should consider genetics being linked to criminal behavior but to be very careful to have supporting physical evidence that proves the crime being committed. I feel that by knowing the possible inherited traits it can help police officers understand an offender better but genetics should not play a key role in explaining why a crime is committed. Therefore, my observation is that genetics should only be used for understand one’s behavior but not one’s criminal actions.

Some of the dangers of suggesting that there is a criminal gene are that more offenders can claim that their genes made them commit criminal offenses. A good example is the insanity plea that exists today, many offenders whom of which are not clinically insane attempt to use the insanity plea to avoid incarceration for the crimes they have committed instead of facing the consequences of their criminal actions. I feel that if proven true that genetics are linked to criminal behavior, there will be more offenders attempting to claim that genetics made them a criminal instead of the fact that they chose to commit the crime due to their interests and lifestyle. Another danger is that because criminal with attempt to use genetics to their benefit it as a result makes the court process of convicting them longer and more costly. I believe that the only time a court proceeding should be drawn out due to genetic factors is when the criminal is proven to be diagnosed with a severe mental illness that caused the crime commit, such as psychopaths.

In my opinion, some of the repercussions that would occur in the field of criminal justice if the existence of the criminal gene is proven to be true is higher rates of criminals claiming the gene made me do it, which as a result creates a much more difficult and lengthy investigation and court process. (Cohen, Patricia.2011). The next repercussion is that of criminals that have already been incarcerated for the crimes they have committed, these criminals that are receiving harsh sentences for violent crimes can turn around and request a trial to plea that genetics was the key component in choosing to commit crime. As a result this could create a mass amount of new trials for violent offenders and slow down court processes of offenders’ current awaiting sentencing. To be stated simply, I believe that if the criminal gene is proven to be true, there will be much more work for those within the criminal justice field because every violent criminal is going to attempted to claim that they genetically were linked to criminal behavior, resulting in the requirement of deeper investigations and higher funding to convict the violent criminals of today and the future.

References

Cohen, Patricia. (June, 19, 2011). Genetic Basis for Crime: A New Look. Retrieved on Jan, 15, 2012. Retrieved from New York Times Website. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/arts/ genetics-and-crime-at-institute-of-justice-conference.html?pagewanted=all

Crime Times. (2007). High Testosterone Linked to Crimes of Sex and Violence. Retrieved on January, 15, 2012. Retrieved from website. http://www.crimetimes.org/95c/w95cp4.html

Jones, C. M. (2005). Genetic and Environmental Influences on Criminal Behavior. Retrieved on Jan, 15, 2012. Retrieved from Website. http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/jones .html

    This rioting has kept the police on edge, and city officials have started to complain that it has begun draining city resources. I can see why that might happen, since these rioters have occupied a YMCA building, and broke into city hall and burned a few flags. The police had to ignore more 911 calls “then usual”, and truthfully this has made a lot  of trouble for everyone. I’m not sure if I can really blame the rioters for being angry, since it is probably not pleasant to have an officer of the law throw some tear gas at you.

     The original Occupy Oakland organizers wanted to use a vacant building for a two day party. The city officials didn’t want that party to happen so they “legally” prevented them from using it. Then 250 protesters went  the Frank H. Ogawa plaza and then soon after that there was a crowd of 450 protesters. However when the marchers went into the campus of Laney College the police started firing tear gas at them. Things began to escalate when protesters started tearing down fences near a convention center, and the police considered it a unlawful assembly and ordered them to disperse, they decided “not to comply with that order” and police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at them according to witnesses.  From that point the police had all hell break loose around them, as they attempted to stop the vandalism of cars and private property while at the same time having bottles thrown at them. There was even an incident of a protester hitting an officer in the face with a bicycle. 

      Truthfully in these last few years I realize there has been a gap that has been growing between the American Government, and the people they are ” supposed” to protect. In any other situation I would praise the rioters for standing up to authority, however these protests and riots don’t seem to have an exact purpose. The only reason I could find for the riots, was a simple “no” given by city officials who didn’t want to give up one building. Perhaps there was some tension before that, maybe there has been some other things that the City Officials did to provoke this violence, but I have found no evidence of it. It is really hard to take sides in this situation since I have very little information on it. I just hope that these rioters  have an actual reason for rioting. Otherwise this is no better than the riots in the U.K.

Battlefields of the world bubble and pop like lava vents. The seething violence within emerges, showing a different, darker, primal nature than the social contract most westerners live informs us of. Lines are drawn not just by physical or geographic boundaries but by linguistic, cultural, racial and ideological boundaries that override the commonality. Violence, violation of human rights and dehumanization persist. Can this fact of the human condition be cured or eliminated non-medically? If removed how long would this tentative state last? Danger would never disappear. Neither would the dormant passions, and they would eventually rise up. Self domestication via religion, meditation and peaceful frameworks of mind would probably never succeed, fully. The Sisyphus effect that history catalogues would continue.  Certainty of altruism would be better, to ensure its extinction. If a medicine to realign synaptic structures, or to deactivate certain propensities, that kept us conscious not docile, could be administered unanimously? It would be possible for a neo-human condition to prevail. Non-treatment could be argued against as non-altruistic. Not eugenics. Neurogenics. The future of humankind?

A simulated prison was constructed in Stanford University and 24 volounteers were randomly assorted into two groups – guards, and prisoners. Very quickly, owing to degrading tactics used by head psychologist Phil Zimbardo to make the prisoners feel more like real prisoners ( for example making all prisoners nameless and only referring to them by prison number, and making them all wear identical prison robes and caps) both the guards and prisoners quickly became engrossed in their roles.

The prisoners in the experiment soon panicked as they began to feel as though there was no way to leave the experiment even if they wanted to. One prisoner asked to see a lawyer about leaving the make believe prison, and the lawyer ( also in on the experiment) explained it would be very difficult to leave. He went back to the other prisoners in their cells and explained to them that there was no way they could leave the experiment even if they wanted to. 

This highly calculated move by Zimbardo to send the message back to the prisoners ( who by this point, which was several days into the experiment) that they could not leave quickly caused panic and an attempted break out. The guards, who were also absorbed by their roles saw the need to prevent the prisoners leaving the prison and like conventional guards, resorted to violence in order to do this.

The guards sprayed the prisoners with carbon dioxide fire extinguishers, burning their skin away. They also removed their beds, their clothes, and even regulated their meals further and refused them access to the toilets which meant the prisoners had to go on the floor of their cells. the violence of the guards towards the prisoners worsened and worsened over the experiment, which meant that after only 6 days, out of a planned 21, the experiment was ended.

This experiment also reveals more than meets the eye. I am currently working on a large project for part of my job ( was Hitler born evil ) and Zimbardo’s research plays a crucial part. Once I have finished the project I shall post it on here. Have a look at my other articles for more interesting psychological and sport science articles.

1. Naruto/Naruto Shippuuden, A story about a teenager in the  world of ninjas. He has a fox demon sealed inside of him and he has to learn how to control and use it’s power.

Rated:8-Above. Has some violence, fairly low adult content (women bathing with mist to cover).

2.Bleach: A story about soul reapers/death gods, Ichigo has to stop the hollow (evil spirits) and release the good spirits to Soul Society (heaven). Goes deeper than this but is the starting plot. 

Rated: 9-Above Has violence (a little more serious than Naruto). No adult content.

3. One Piece: A story of pirates in which a cheerful pirate (he is a “good” pirate who helps people and goes pirating for the adventure) named Luffy is in search of the One Piece, the treasure of the world.

Rated:11-Above. Has some violence. Some adult content (reveling clothing, women bathing ). 

4. Rosario + VampireRosario + Vampire Capu2: A student  mistakenly gets sent to a school for monsters in which the monsters are learning how to live peacefully with humans. The student falls in love with a girl who is a vampire (her real self is sealed with a rosary). However other girls start liking him too falling into a love rival type of thing with some action. 

Rated 14-Above: Has some violence, Moderate Adult Content (Panties frequently shown, reveling clothing, sexual scenes).

5.High School of the Dead: Zombies invade! A group of friends band together to survive in the new zombie world. With a quest to find their relatives. 

Rated 14-Above: Gore, blood, violence. Some adult content (panties shown frequently, reveling clothing, breasts shown through clothing. 

6. Full Metal Alchemist(and Brother Hood series): A boy becomes a state alchemist with a quest to find the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s stone which ignores the alchemist law of equivalent trade to get their bodies back from which were taken when they tried to bring their mother back to life but failed as they did not provide trade in which the alchemy took Ed’s leg and arm and his little brother’s (Al) body. However Ed barely made it in time to put Al’s soul into a suit of armour.

Rated:9-Above: Some violence, some gore, blood, no adult content.