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Positive affect as coercive strategy:[...] the role of psychology in UK government workfare programs

jimells

jimells

Senior Member
Messages
2,009
Location
northern Maine
mandatory unpaid labour (workfare)
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Better known in most of the world as "slavery", which is *still* constitutional in the US:

wiki said:
The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime
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13th Amendment said:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
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The highest aspiration for most folks to today is to be a wage slave in a society built on coercion: "Work or Starve!" I can tell you from personal experience that the prospect of starving in the gutter is a powerful incentive to be a wage slave, no matter how awful the conditions (forget about OSHA, fair labor standards, etc - it's all a sham).

But there is a basic contradiction here, in that modern industrial societies need only a tiny portion of the population to produce everything we need. The starkest example is US agriculture, where about a million workers grow enough food to feed 300 million - that's pretty damn productive!

So what do we do with all the "surplus" workers? Killing them off via endless wars is just not as effective as it once was. The current crop of killing machines are so productive that multi-million-man armies are no longer needed for the grisly business of destroying other societies. Meanwhile civilians refuse to remain in their homes so they can be easily killed - instead they insist on becoming refugees and fleeing for their lives. It sure is inconvenient that they keep showing up on the beaches of Old Europe. They have some nerve to seek refuge from the West's endless savagery.

Capitalism has no answer for this. In addition, Our Dear Leaders fully understand that they are a tiny minority, and that their continued existence depends on keeping the unruly masses on a tight leash, which is getting tighter every day. As long as Our Dear Leaders can convince workers that whatever happens to them is a result of personal moral failings, and keep working people blaming and fighting each other, they will maintain their precarious perch.

Fifty years ago we were told that the miracles of modern technology would relieve us of drudgery, 40 hour work weeks, and having to work for endless years before receiving a pension. We were presented with visions of vacations, personal fulfillment (whatever that means), and time for civic activities and general community improvement. It was all a pack of lies, of course.

What are young people being told today? Their choices seem to be limited to a life of poverty, working at short-term, poorly-paid jobs, or go to college and look forward to a life of debt peonage, paying off never-ending loans for schools, homes, and cars. With options like these, it is no wonder that more and more coercive measures are required to keep the masses in line. These measures do seem to be working - for the moment.
 
jimells

jimells

Senior Member
Messages
2,009
Location
northern Maine
Disability News Service said:
The Tory minister for disabled people appears to have accidentally admitted what many disabled activists feared: that a Conservative government would cut the out-of-work benefits of people with mental health conditions if they refused treatment.
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His actual title is, "Minister Against Disabled People" :bang-head:
 
SilverbladeTE

SilverbladeTE

Senior Member
Messages
3,043
Location
Somewhere near Glasgow, Scotland
If they want the death penalty brought back, then that will apply to them too.
Hoist by their own petard one day: Rule .303
idiots.
Were damn good reasons for getting rid of the death penalty.
IMHO violence should never ever be used as a "punishment", too long to get into
But sometimes there is a NEED, not a "want", a NEED to stop someone harming others, nearly always, jail/mental asylum suffices.
But these rats have warped the judicial/police systems and just accelerating to ugly conclusion :/
 
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