Really existing socialism 2: On crime

Marxism demands a radically new approach to the problem of crime.

Bergen Prison, Norway.

This is the second in my series on Really Existing Socialism.

A small structure called the amygdala sits within the “reptilian” core of your brain — so called because it’s the part of our brain we largely share with reptiles. And just as the amygdala activates the fight-or-fight response in lizards, so it, under stress, sends the same primitive impulses to you.

If you listened to those impulses all of the time, every source of conflict and uncertainty would spark the same reflexes of panic and rage, of biting and throwing punches and racing out of the store with all of those groceries that you thought were too overpriced when the cashier rang up your total. It would be a major source of dysfunction in your life, and before long you’d almost certainly find yourself in prison.