Half-baked thoughts

[palominocorn]

It feels like a lot of people in the West (I can't really speak for any other region) have picked up this idea that if someone does something Wrong (and that word is defined differently depending on which subcultures a person belongs to), then the proper solution is to punish them, potentially by keeping them out of society altogether.

The justification for the US prison system is this, but ultimately it goes back at least to the Christian idea of Hell.

Comments

[yvannairie]

This is also true over here, and also true for every other Christianised country.

Social ostracisation, of course, isn't unique to Christianity, but I'll admit I'm always bothered by the way it interacts with American Exceptionalism in particular.