This is why I refuse to be a lawyer.

Hey class-

Read Dick's short story, "The Minority Report," the MSNBC article on the
neuroscience of criminals, and the lyrics to "I Don't Like Mondays" for
tomorrow. Blog thoughtfully regarding any connections you see between the
short story, the article, and Crime and Punishment. You might consider
what each has to say about how criminals differ from non-criminals, the
role fate plays in human existence, or the problems inherent in pro-active
approaches to crime prevention (though this idea is more relevant to the
story and the article than C&P).


If EVERYBODY IN THE CLASS blogs THOUGHTFULLY before I check your blogs on
Monday morning, then there will be no reading quiz. However, I will not
accept a blog entry via e-mail (since it's not really a blog entry anyway)
or overly brief or vague blog entries. If your blog entry does not clearly
demonstrate to me that you read the assigned readings then you will not
receive credit.

- Mr. B

P.S. All of your e-mail addresses are in this e-mail. If you really don't
want to have a reading quiz tomorrow then I suggest corresponding with
each other to ensure that nobody drops the ball here.


For clarification, I copy and past the instructions for my convenience and to get my thoughts together., it isn't some eccentric habit i have! By the way, I've watched Changeling and Collateral during the weekend; there's also correlation towards them also! 


So I did some research on the song: "I don't like Mondays." (because I suck at interpreting vague lyrics without any firm ground or comparison to). I don't like Monday's either, ironic that it is today. I don't like it only because it's the first day of school! I can't wait for college, I think I'll take two classes in the afternoon for Mondays. The song was inspired by Brenda Ann Spencer, who actually did what the song said. Her reason to shoot up the elementary school:  "I don't like Mondays; this livens up the day." We both don't like mondays... but going to school to shoot innocent kids is outrageous. Even more so, you've killed two kids and injured nine. Now, the two kids were innocent and yet you don't feel remorse. I personally have a huge animosity towards her right now. She could have either channeled that "dark energy" elsewhere, either to herself or something more positive (like Dexter). I mean, c'mon, your dad apparently bought a gun for you think you'd kill yourself. Rodya also feels no remorse for killing the pawnlady and his reason for killing her was because he didn't like her and she ripped him off. I don't like either of them, but I suppose I can empathize with them. Though, I won't go around actually killing people! If you don't like monday, go read a book, go do something productive, or sleep. And if you were apparently sexually abused by your father, you should have bust a cap in his head, especially when he bought you that gun also and thought you were going to kill youself with it. I wonder what the nine injured kids think of you now. I wouldn't be happy with you lying in prison having the necessities of life yet feel no remorse and one of the two dead kids could have been my best friend. You deserve to be tortured. The song was catchy until i found out more about it. 


The article was interesting, mostly because I do neuroscience research, but mine is related to PTSD, not neurocriminology. It brings up a lot of ethical and moral issues, especially with the study that involved young children. I hope they didn't actually "fear-conditioned" them with electric shocks! This reminds me of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment for some reason. The articale states that some children are innately criminals, yet when they become adults, some will have criminal behavior and some will not. Yet the children prone to criminal behavior can also be nurtured to become the opposite. This really puts into perspective nature versus nurture. I also don't agree with invasive surgical treatment because personality is what makes a person and though they may become criminals, what gives you the right to change a person through invasive surgery even if you're the parents? I think it's only right if the person gives you the consent with the full knowledge of the repercussions. I also think that just because you might be "born to be a criminal" it doesn't justify you to act upon it and have reduced responsibility to do it. You're born into a society and you know what it right and wrong. The only difference is that you have the feeling. "Psychopaths know right and wrong cognitively, but don't have a feeling for what's right and wrong." I say, "just be like Dexter; pretend that you have emotions and know what's right and wrong and if you have to go kill, kill the bad people in the world." Rodya has antisocial behavior and is quite depressed. At first, he is sure that he can't possible commit a murder yet he is able to. I think the dream about the dead horse also serves as a foundation to why he behaves this way. Man, maybe I should have chosen the other lab and got a free MRI scan and see what my brain looks like. I wonder if I show symptoms of a psychopath... 


The minority report was amusing in a psychological sense. Somehow, this reminds me of cognitive dissonance and many psychological experiments like the one where everyone tells you that you're dreaming and you begin to doubt even yourself, haha! Anderton is paranoid and he doesn't know whether or not to believe Kaplan or his wife because he doesn't know who is lying and who is not. It also puts into perceptive about the arrest of precriminals. In the end, I go agree with it under the assumption that there is only one circumstance, which was Anderton's case and the plausibility of any subsequent Police Commissioner. So under that assumption, he was been arresting precriminals and not innocent people because they are unaware that they're about to commit a crime... but shouldn't they be aware of it when they commit? Maybe they're acting rashly. I think it's more ethical though, to tell the precriminals that they're about the commit the crime and see what happens. Afterall, with the precogs, nothing unexpected can really happen because everything have been predicted within a one week timeframe. What is there to lose? In the end, "Mike" did predict what was going to happen any way. None of the precogs were wrong, they were just invalidated due to new variables. This also mirrors a lot with the movie, Paycheck, and after some googling --  what a coincidence! The movie was adapted from a short story by the same author, Philip Dick! I suppose, with no one knowing what Rody committed. it related to this story and what would have happened if he decided not to murder her, murder her more elaborately, or whatever. There's many ways the story could have gone. 


I think the wisest way to combat criminals is a ban on guns. Guns can go both ways; good or bad. But you know what? There's a great risk involved with it (no, duh america). I think it's just safe to ban it altogether and learn self-defense. Look at the heath benefits! America, you can stop yourself from being called obese. Have you no shame in being the most hated country in the world for almost everything you do wrong? You can protect yourself without a need for a gun and if a gun had been taken from you, not all hope is lost! With the inclusion of the ban, a gun's threat is out of the question. Jujitsu and Hapkido are great for self-defense. 


I think I should start writing less.... but for now, I should go brush my teeth and get ready for another dreadful monday imprisoned inside a cement box for the next 8 hours of my life. But, your class is the only one I look forward to, seriously! I wish I could spend the 8 hours here instead... doing something more interesting of course, like film studies and watching movies. what ever happened to learning for the sake of learning? 


Why I refuse to be a lawyer:
I don't want to defend a guilty person (I don't even know if he's innocent or not or if's he's lying) and then everything gets blurred and whatnot. things get complicated. and lawyers have a sad life. I also don't want to be a doctor to save a murderer's life.