theForum

Society, what is it really?


https://forum.unlock.org.uk/Topic25081.aspx

By Diogenese - 30 Mar 18 12:27 PM

Reading through some of the posts regarding the attitudes of those in society toward ex-offenders, I was reminded of a list I wrote a while back to answer a question for myself. What is society? Or rather what is so-called 'normal' society that we're all supposed to aspire to reintegrate into?

This is the list I came up with, I'd be interested to hear (read) what others think on this topic. Grab a coffee, here goes:

Care workers who abuse their charges.
Care workers who steal from those they care for
Parents abusing their children (beating, burning, kicking, throwing and even killing)
Parents sexually assaulting children (stealing innocence)
Children abusing children (bullying)
Neighbours abusing neighbours (snobbery, boundary disputes)
Internet trolls revelling in the death of others
Men and women abusing infants
Axe and machete-wielding nutcases on our streets
Ignoring democracy
Parliamentary corruption
Corporate greed
Health misdiagnosis leading to deaths
Corpses buried in gardens
Teachers behaving inappropriately
Students being violent toward their teachers
Clergy abusing children
Covering up deaths of babies in hospitals
Pranks, booby-trap wire against cyclists
Road rage
Mental health insensitivity
Mental health suffers roaming the streets
Email death threats
GPs abusing patients
Axe murderer seeking fame
Sportsmen jailed for sex-related crimes
Celebrities
Civil Servant corruption
Police corruption
Binge drinking
Fighting on the streets
Knife crimes
Racism at work
Radicalisation in schools
Social services failures
Random, unprovoked violence
BBC corruption
Veterans prosecuted
Veterans sleeping on the streets
Children going hungry
Poverty
Mindless vandalism
Nightmare neighbours
Drunk drivers
Government waste
Ignoring someone in need (stepping over an unconscious person)
The political correctness that denies comfort to children (a plaster and hug if they fall down)
Bullies at home
Bullies at work
Teenage suicide
Veteran suicide
Institutionalised discrimination

This is compiled from news reports, newspaper stories, TV programmes and similar public domain information. If we, as ex-offenders are encouraged to know ourselves and to seek change, then we can't fail to wonder where we are supposed to direct our energies to affect the changes that are supposed to 'turn around' our lives.

I just began to wonder what part of the above are we, as ex-offenders, supposed to ASPIRE to join?

Any thoughts?
By AB2014 - 3 Apr 18 11:08 AM

Diogenese - 31 Mar 18 4:38 PM
Thorswrath - 30 Mar 18 9:08 PM
Diogenese - 30 Mar 18 12:27 PM
Reading through some of the posts regarding the attitudes of those in society toward ex-offenders, I was reminded of a list I wrote a while back to answer a question for myself. What is society? Or rather what is so-called 'normal' society that we're all supposed to aspire to reintegrate into?

This is the list I came up with, I'd be interested to hear (read) what others think on this topic. Grab a coffee, here goes:

Care workers who abuse their charges.
Care workers who steal from those they care for
Parents abusing their children (beating, burning, kicking, throwing and even killing)
Parents sexually assaulting children (stealing innocence)
Children abusing children (bullying)
Neighbours abusing neighbours (snobbery, boundary disputes)
Internet trolls revelling in the death of others
Men and women abusing infants
Axe and machete-wielding nutcases on our streets
Ignoring democracy
Parliamentary corruption
Corporate greed
Health misdiagnosis leading to deaths
Corpses buried in gardens
Teachers behaving inappropriately
Students being violent toward their teachers
Clergy abusing children
Covering up deaths of babies in hospitals
Pranks, booby-trap wire against cyclists
Road rage
Mental health insensitivity
Mental health suffers roaming the streets
Email death threats
GPs abusing patients
Axe murderer seeking fame
Sportsmen jailed for sex-related crimes
Celebrities
Civil Servant corruption
Police corruption
Binge drinking
Fighting on the streets
Knife crimes
Racism at work
Radicalisation in schools
Social services failures
Random, unprovoked violence
BBC corruption
Veterans prosecuted
Veterans sleeping on the streets
Children going hungry
Poverty
Mindless vandalism
Nightmare neighbours
Drunk drivers
Government waste
Ignoring someone in need (stepping over an unconscious person)
The political correctness that denies comfort to children (a plaster and hug if they fall down)
Bullies at home
Bullies at work
Teenage suicide
Veteran suicide
Institutionalised discrimination

This is compiled from news reports, newspaper stories, TV programmes and similar public domain information. If we, as ex-offenders are encouraged to know ourselves and to seek change, then we can't fail to wonder where we are supposed to direct our energies to affect the changes that are supposed to 'turn around' our lives.

I just began to wonder what part of the above are we, as ex-offenders, supposed to ASPIRE to join?

Any thoughts?

I don't think we are supposed to join the ranks of any of these ! lol unless it's to help reduce the likelihood of these occuring. All humans are fallible and imperfect and i don't believe there will ever be a 'utopian' society. In my opinion law and order has to exist for there to be any level of society, whether that society is a good one or a bad one. Politicians are supposed to represent society as a whole and public servants serve society or the general public but each of those people are also part of society. In the dictionary society is 'the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community'


Society is made up of many parts and you have only highlighted the negative aspects of human behaviour, human behaviour affects society as a whole and there are just as many good people as there are bad people. Society is organic ever changing and never remaining in one form, some seek to control it, some seek to fit into it and some reject it entirely but when it comes down to it it's just a word to describe a collective of people who live in a community. A pack of wolves is just as much a society than a city full of people.

You're right, I have highlighted the worst aspects of our society but these examples were taken from the news as they occurred and there were so few positive aspects to counteract them. The question is a little tongue-in-cheek to be sure but when you're presented with the inane dialogue of the rehabilitation and resettlement processes which are, quite frankly, not fit for purpose, it gets the sarcastic juices flowing.

I wanted to provoke some discussion, thanks for your response.


The problem with the news is that they often concentrate on the negative rather than the positive. It was alleged that a survey of readers of a certain newspaper showed that they would rather live in a country where offenders are punished than in a country where there is no crime.... Concentrating on bad news just reinforces their world view, and humans have evolved to favour their 'in-group' at the expense of everyone else, which means they are constantly looking for things that show they are better than those others who aren't in their group. Offenders and ex-offenders are an easy, high-profile target, and that's without the hierarchy of offending.