All Social Problems Come from Inequality

Very interesting article in the paper about two academics whos research points to inequality as the cause of almost all social problems - now duh, you might say - of course. However it is not (if I understand it right) the fact that some are in poverty that creates the problems - it is the gap between those in poverty and the wealthy that determines the social problems;

Take these random headline statistics. The US is wealthier and spends more on health care than any other country, yet a baby born in Greece, where average income levels are about half that of the US, has a lower risk of infant mortality and longer life expectancy than an American baby. Obesity is twice as common in the UK as the more equal societies of Sweden and Norway, and six times more common in the US than in Japan. Teenage birth rates are six times higher in the UK than in more equal societies; mental illness is three times as common in the US as in Japan; murder rates are three times higher in more unequal countries. The examples are almost endless.

Very interesting stuff:

In Britain, the Labour government, despite its protestations to the contrary, has only maintained inequality at the level at which it inherited it. "They've taken some positive action at the bottom income levels for pensioners and young families," says Pickett. "But the damage has all been done at the other end. Peter Mandelson said early in the Labour administration, 'We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich,' and he's been as good as his word."

What is it about unequal societies that causes the damage? [Richard] Wilkinson believes the answer lies in the psycho-social areas of hierarchy and status. The greater the differential between the haves and have-nots, the greater importance everyone places on the material aspects of consumption; what brand of car you drive carries far more meaning in a more hierarchical society than in a flatter one. It's the knock-on effects of this status anxiety that finds socially corrosive expression in crime, ill-health and mistrust.

I liked this bit:

"I've become gripped by Paris Hilton's Best Friend," [Wilkinson] laughs. "It's the perfect example of a dysfunctional, hierarchical society."

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Cthulhu Hates Chordates

Best protest sign. Ever. Cthulhu Hates Chordates.



This was from a counter protest to the utterly barmy
Westboro Baptist Church's 'God Hates Fags' protests.

Climate Change Denial Watch - Heartland Institute

UWE, Bristol is currently host to an interesting event about the psychology of climate change - as in why given the pressing nature of the issue, do we have such trouble adapting our behaviour? I'm no expert, but I suspect the issue has a lot to do with the nature of how our minds work and process threat; I include links to two (1,2) YouTube videos that explain the evolutionary psychology view - that the threat of global warming is very slow and very global whereas our threat response system have evolved to deal with fast, immediate and personal threats. It's an interesting subject and I'm keen to see what the research in this area has to say.

Meanwhile on the other side of the planet, the right-wing thinktank, the Heartland Institute, which looks to push free-market solutions to solve societies problems, and must bolstered by the huge success of the free-market ethos in deregulating banking, is having it's own conference on global warming denial. The event is a veritable whos-whos of the denial industry - and most interestingly can only claim a total of three scientists who's work is related to climatology - and given this is the global event of denialism, that's like having an International Beer & Brewing Expo and only having a couple wine brewers in attendance. Not much of a piss-up. The cadre of online denailists have been keen to push the idea that consensus on climate changing is falling apart and more and more people are seeing 'the truth' but if the attendance at the event is anything to go by, it is the total opposite; when announced the event was billed at brining together 1000 scientists, economists and politicians. Then it dropped to 800 and now it seems there is only 600 attending (including that amazing 3-ish proper scientists but lots of amateurs!) - and this given the event is free and held in the land of the free, the spiritual home of denailism - it seems a poor turnout.

In science, public opinion and in politics, global warming denailism is in retreat - In February 2009 Michael Shermer, editor of Sceptic Magazine told a packed audience of hundreds in Bristol that the methodological approach of global warming denailism mirrored that of holocaust denial and creationism. In 2006 US Republican strategist Frank Luntz who had written the playbook on global warming denial for George Bush conceded that the science was correct, it is happening and human activity is causing it. In 2008 oil giant Exxon followed suit in admitting the reality and stopped funding junk-sceince campaigns to discredit the consensus.

However in right-wing politics, where the issue is charged with emotion, hate-speech radio host Rush Limbaugh still pushes the same old discredited denial slogans and there has been a huge upsurge in lobbying by polluting industries fearful of loosing their 'right to pollute' as Obama appoints credible scientists to positions of power.

The Drugs Wars: The Killing that Politics Won't Stop

I don't like to cite the Telegraph much as it's global-warming denialism (amongst other things) annoys me muchly. However in the 7th March Magazine they had a good article about the drug wars in Mexico. I can't seem to find a link to it on their website. Anyway, the article covers familiar territory - the killings, rampant police corruption, the decent into chaos. The article claims that more people are dying in Mexico's drug wars than in Iraq. It is a nightmare for the people living there. This article giving a flavour of events, 'Mexican drug wars create demand for hitman and acid baths'.

The article had a very interesting paragraph as part of a section on how the problems might be solved;

"So what about legalisation? Presumably it would have the same effect as repealing prohibition against alcohol in the 1930s; the end of the black market, the withering away of organised crime and violence associated with bootlegging. By removing the profits from drug trafficking, legalisation would remove the lion's share of Mexico's ailing economy, but all of this is moot because legalising drugs in America is a political impossibility."

Sadly also here in the UK. Witness the mess over simply changing cannabis from class B to class C and back again: Lots of comment from the political elite and zero difference on the street.

Perhaps it is no surprise that drugs are often found linked to black-ops and covert intelligence? Witness the Iran-Contra affair - the US intelligence trading drugs for money for hostages for weapons to support their flawed foreign policy;

[Iran-Contra] began as an operation to improve U.S.-Iranian relations, wherein Israel would ship weapons to a relatively moderate, politically influential group of Iranians; the U.S. would then resupply Israel and receive the Israeli payment. The Iranian recipients promised to do everything in their power to achieve the release of six U.S. hostages, who were being held by the Lebanese Shia Islamist group Hezbollah. The plan eventually deteriorated into an arms-for-hostages scheme, in which members of the executive branch sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of the American hostages. Large modifications to the plan were conjured by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council in late 1985, in which a portion of the proceeds from the weapon sales was diverted to fund anti-Sandinista and anti-communist rebels, or Contras, in Nicaragua.

Given legalisation/decriminalisation would solve the problems prettily easily - but deprive the political class of a powerful tool of fear and money - is that why such an obvious solution to such a major problem is never tried?

Private Jails - A Con All Round

The UK has gone gung-ho for private prison providers and the 'service' they offer. There are lots of dangers in this approach - and here is a good example; Judges being bribed to send people to prison to keep the private jail full;

The cases of up to 2,000 children put into custody by Ciavarella over the past seven years - including that of Transue - are now being reviewed in a billowing scandal dubbed "kids for cash". The alleged racket has raised questions about the cosy ties between the courts and private contractors, and about the harsh treatment meted out to adolescents.

Alerted by Laurene Transue, the Juvenile Law Centre in Wilkes-Barre began to uncover scores of cases in which teenagers had been summarily sent to custody by Ciavarella, dating as far back as 1999. One child was detained for stealing a $4 jar of nutmeg, another for throwing a sandal at her mother, a third aged 14 was held for six months for slapping a friend at school....

The prosecution charge sheet alleges that from about June 2000 to January 2007 Ciavarella entered into an "understanding" with Conahan to concoct a scheme to enrich themselves. The two judges conspired to strip the local state detention centre of funding, diverting the money to a private company called PA Child Care which it helped to build a new facility in the area.

To fight this; http://bristolabc.wordpress.com/