How an African tribe deals with crimes.

[Serpo]

How an African tribe deals with crimes. December 6, 2012



I was recently told of an African tribe that does the most beautiful thing.
When someone does something hurtful and wrong, they take the person to the center of town, and the entire tribe comes and surrounds him. For two days they’ll tell the man every good thing he has ever done.
The tribe believes that every human being comes into the world as GOOD, each of us desiring safety, love, peace, happiness.
But sometimes in the pursuit of those things people make mistakes. The community sees misdeeds as a cry for help. They band together for the sake of their fellow man to hold him up, to reconnect him with his true Nature, to remind him who he really is, until he fully remembers the truth from which he’d temporarily been disconnected: “I AM GOOD”.

http://wemustknow.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/how-an-african-tribe-deals-with-crimes/

[woodman]

Well, in a way that is really cool but in a way it is really stupid. Most misdeeds are due to selfishness and greed and a selfish, greedy person may be simply reinforced by recieving such attention for their misconduct.

[chad]

seems to be a good approach, there's hardly any crime in africa.

[hoarder]

How well something like that works depends almost entirely on the size and cohesion of the tribe. Same as socialism. If the group is small enough, accountability works. The larger the group, the more accountability gets watered down.

[midnight rambler]

seems to be a good approach, there's hardly any crime in africa.

And in Africa the life of any individual is valued higher there than in any other place on earth. /sarc

[woodman]

"For two days they’ll tell the man every good thing he has ever done."

I think in many cases they'd be hard stretched to tell him these things for a minute, not to speak of the time and effort spent in engaging an individual for this amount of time. The thing is, many people are low down, nasty and rotten to the core. They say you can't fix stupid. I say you can't make someone born without a concience feel remorse or become someone they are not.

This type of behavior does seem to be a fixture in communist societies. Just another reason communism is stupid and you can't fix stupid. It takes a village mentality.......stupid.

[joboo]

If everyone went up to the individual, and scolded them, it would no doubt elicit a crime spree of sorts.

The concept is sound, and it's there.

Efficacy per individual is another obstacle.

The problem is not the crime. Crime is an indicator of a larger problem.

Some alcoholics require many interventions.

[Serpo]

"For two days they’ll tell the man every good thing he has ever done."

I think in many cases they'd be hard stretched to tell him these things for a minute, not to speak of the time and effort spent in engaging an individual for this amount of time. The thing is, many people are low down, nasty and rotten to the core. They say you can't fix stupid. I say you can't make someone born without a concience feel remorse or become someone they are not.

This type of behavior does seem to be a fixture in communist societies. Just another reason communism is stupid and you can't fix stupid. It takes a village mentality.......stupid.


People in a village would know this person very well and they could go over all the good stuff he has done ,one at a time.

This is a fixture of communist societies.....what?

So there is something wrong with a village mentality

[woodman]

People in a village would know this person very well and they could go over all the good stuff he has done ,one at a time.

This is a fixture of communist societies.....what?

So there is something wrong with a village mentality

Do you have time to perform this 'therapy' on a neighbor who has gone astray? Wlhat if the person is really a poor example and has little redeeming qualities? Yes there is alot of this kind of thinking in communist societies. The mentality that I was reffering to is the often bandied 'it takes a village to raise a child.' bs. I am not communal and I don't believe in collectivism. If one wants to live in a collective society they should go for it but leave all the individualist minded people alone. Collectivism is a race to the bottom.

If someone commits a bad act against me or mine and it is within my power, I will punish them severely. I will certainly not spend my hard won free time telling them what a wonderfull chap they are.

[midnight rambler]

The 'treatment' in the OP does not take into account sociopaths. Being a sociopath is not something which can be 'treated' or 'cured'.

*well, there IS a 'cure', but it's rather permanent and irreversible

[woodman]

From the original post: the entire tribe comes and surrounds him. For two days they’ll tell the man every good thing he has ever done.


C'mon Serpo, this just seems stupid. Of course the Africans are not noted for their shrewdness nor social responsibility. Do you seriously think this would work on the criminally minded? If it did we could simply shut down all the prisons and give all the theives, rapists and murderers hugs and kissess extolling them on their virtues all the while. Say, we might even make some inroads with the enraged JBT's and mitigate their 'roid rages. Might cause the central bankers to loosen their vampire grip on the throats of humanity while we are at it.

[Horn]

How well something like that works depends almost entirely on the size and cohesion of the tribe. Same as socialism. If the group is small enough, accountability works. The larger the group, the more accountability gets watered down.

perhaps it is something we could prescribe in our small african tribe of a forum?... :)

[Horn]

And in Africa the life of any individual is valued higher there than in any other place on earth. /sarc

have you seen the recent cost of medical insurance?

Its killing everybody.