Freethinker's corner

Why do people do the wrong thing? Anyone with morality taught by parents or others, should know right from wrong. Is it greed? The desire to amass great quantities of acquisitions way in excess of what is needed?

Why the callous murder? What is to be gained from that? One can imagine scenarios where a murder would result in great wealth, that is, as long as the murderer is not apprehended. What about the murder of a stranger?

Are the creatures involved in some way defective as compared with the ideal? There certainly people with anomalies in their brains that produce undesired actions. There are people that can end another’s life without a second of regret. Is there something wrong in the area of the brain associated with empathy? There are those who might commit a crime for whatever reason and regret it the rest of their lives, whether or not they are caught. I would categorize that as the normal response.

What about scanning people’s brains for anomalies? Although you might have a list of those who cannot be trusted, not everyone with cranial anomalies commit crimes. There would be little that could be done from such a list.

Many brilliant people do immoral things for differing reasons. Perhaps they are peeved at humanity? Bored?

It cannot be denied that someone who commits crimes, or abominations, is very much flawed. Society could not exist if such behavior is not considered atypical. Should such people be locked up in advance? Watched? 

Indeed, if crimes and other moral behavior is to be eliminated, those that commit such need to be isolated from society. There being no way to predict who would act immorally, action must be delayed till crimes, or immoral acts have been committed.

Impractical as it may be, the isolation of those who act immorally should be permanent. It can be expected that most offenders will keep offending if returned to a free society. The solution imagined would be a separate highly controlled society for those who cannot act morally in a free society.

Then again, perhaps morality should be taught.