DrinkWise

I heard an interesting show on the radio (774) the other day, discussing the effect on children of observing parental drinking. A key speaker was from an organisation called DrinkWise, which advertises itself like this:

"DrinkWise is an evidence based organization focused on promoting change towards a more responsible drinking culture in Australia. DrinkWise aims to contribute to the development of a drinking culture in Australia that reduces alcohol related harm and thereby maximizes the benefits from moderate alcohol consumption...Reducing alcohol abuse and the harm it causes, lies at the heart of the DrinkWise mission for a healthy drinking culture. The long term aim is to see intoxication, ‘risky’ and ‘high risk’ drinking behaviour become socially unacceptable."

In March this year the Rudd government introduced a new campaign directed at reducing binge-drinking in Australia. It's called, 'Don't turn a Night out into a Nightmare'.

Madoff relied on "Irrational Euphoria"

"...If something sounds too good to be true, I keep reading, that must be because it is too good to be true. It is good advice as far as it goes and it raises the question of why so many wealthy, sophisticated savers were apparently conned into believing that Mr Madoff had come up with an investment strategy that allowed him to pay handsome returns even when the stock market was falling.

I asked a very senior regulator about this, a man who has been involved in formulating public policy for many years, and he said the answer was depressingly simple.People are prone to believe what they want to believe, he said, and in rising markets a kind of irrational euphoria takes hold in which we are not inclined to ask difficult questions..."

Full article on BBC News website.

The Northern Territory Emergency Response

I didn't post about this at the time, but it's relevant to our project given Jenness Warin's presentation at our conference. In June 2007 the Liberal government of Australia launched an intervention in aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, following the release of the 'Little Children are Sacred' report from the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse. This report 'asked that Aboriginal child sexual abuse in the Northern Territory be designated as an issue of urgent national significance by both the Australian and Northern Territory governments...’.

The intervention was extremely controversial. Here is the Australian government website account of it.

George Newhouse in The Guardian writes, "The Australian government's intervention in Aboriginal communities is discriminatory and dehumanising."

ANTaR - Australians for native Title and Reconciliation - write, "We welcome the significant additional resources ($587 million) that have been directed towards Northern Territory Aboriginal communities as a result of the Intervention. However, ANTaR is also concerned that unless changes are made to the Federal Government's approach, its attempt to stop child abuse in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities will fail."

A useful overall summary of different views about responses to the intervention by different Australian groups is offered here.

A year later there have been some attempts to assess whether the intervention was effective. Thus in the Sydney Morning Herald in March, , Galarrwuy Yunupingu warns, "Children as young as 12 are still vulnerable to sexual abuse and manipulation by men selling alcohol, drugs and pornography in the mining town of Nhulunbuy in north-east Arnhem land", and claims, "The missionary days were good...The missionaries looked after the kids much better than the Government does today."

In the SMH in June , "Russell Skelton finds that the year-old intercession in Northern Territory indigenous communities hasn't lived up to the hype."

These links were grabbed somewhat at random. If anyone else has more, please post.

'Science of Virtues' project in Illinois

Jokes about current US state politics aside, we have just come across this site , which appears to have something in common with our project. They describe themselves as follows:

"The Arete Initiative at the University of Chicago is pleased to announce a new $3 million research program on a New Science of Virtues. This is a multidisciplinary research initiative that seeks contributions from individuals and from teams of investigators working within the humanities and the sciences. We support highly original, scholarly projects that demonstrate promise of a distinctive contribution to virtue research and have the potential to begin a new field of interdisciplinary study."

A Rare Case of Voluntary 'Salary Restraint'

What Theodore Dalrymple was talking about (see 5 posts ago) seems not to have disappeared entirely, though this story stars a historian.

"Quentin Skinner stepped down as Regius professor of modern history at the University of Cambridge this year at the age of 67.... Alison Richard, vice-chancellor of Cambridge, offered to keep Professor Skinner on at the history faculty's expense. But Professor Skinner said that, although he would have liked to stay after almost half a century at the university, he was "too expensive" and the faculty would be better served by employing two younger members of staff at the same cost...."

Stats on youth risk-taking

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has a 2008 report on 'Risk taking by young people'. Some of the incidents, such as self-harm, seem too deliberate to be called "risk-taking", exactly.

Binge-Drinking amongst NZ Uni Students

A news article describing a survey just carried out by the NZ Alcohol Drug Association (ADA) on NZ University students' drinking (around 2500 students filled out a questionnaire on the Web). It found a third of students had blacked out during binge drinking, and 37 per cent reported binge drinking at least once in the past week.

Australian (views on) temperance

An interesting snapshot of current popular thinking on the issue of restraint (both the libertarian line of the commentator and the many responses he receives below).

Our Conference

I really enjoyed our conference last Saturday. Thanks to all who participated.

The talks were:

“Welcome. Overview of the Project”
James Franklin (UNSW)

“Addiction and the Elements of Self-control”
Jeanette Kennett (ANU and Monash University)

“Mistakes in restraining petrol sniffing”
Jenness Warin

“From the Culture of Wowserism to the culture of Healthism: Law, Custom, Fashion and Etiquette in Australian Smoking, 1900-1990s”
Ian Tyrrell (UNSW)

“A Case of Life and Death: Crime & Self-Control in Gin Lane"
Judy Stove (Research Assistant, Restraint Project)

“Restraint, Art and Moralism”
Craig Taylor (Flinders University)

“Pornography, Censorship and Strategies for Self-Regulation”
Gerald Keaney (University of Queensland)

“The Phenomenon of Extended Childhood Incontinence: Abandonment of Toilet-training of Today’s Infants & Toddlers”
Anna Christie

“Summing up. Where to From Here?”
Catherine Legg (University of Waikato)

Copies of many of the talks are now available on the conference website.

If anyone who attended the conference is reading the blog and would like to discuss any of the issues further - please feel free to post here.

British stiff upper lip

Here, by Theodore Dalrymple, a mixed view of "typical" British restraint, from a refugee from the Nazis who appreciated it but eventually found it limiting.

Bill Cosby preaches black self-reliance

Another interesting article from the Atlantic Monthly which I've been meaning to post for some time. Charts a journey Bill Cosby has been taking "from TV Dad to outspoken social critic":

"From Birmingham to Cleveland and Baltimore, at churches and colleges, Cosby has been telling thousands of black Americans that racism in America is omnipresent but that it can’t be an excuse to stop striving. As Cosby sees it, the antidote to racism is not rallies, protests, or pleas, but strong families and communities. Instead of focusing on some abstract notion of equality, he argues, blacks need to cleanse their culture, embrace personal responsibility, and reclaim the traditions that fortified them in the past. Driving Cosby’s tough talk about values and responsibility is a vision starkly different from Martin Luther King’s gauzy, all-inclusive dream..."

"The Return of Goodness"

In Prospect Magazine, Edward Skidelsky argues, "Contemporary liberalism's insistence that morality is a mere matter of rights and obligations empties life of its ethical meaning. We need a return to the virtue ethics of the pre-moderns, and a renewed conception of the good life".

Is Pornography Adultery?

I thought this piece from the Atlantic Monthly was both thoughtfully-written and potentially quite challenging.

Indigenous violence rooted in culture

James Franklin's article 'The cultural roots of Aboriginal violence' (November Quadrant), argues that there is continuity between the violence of pre-contact Aboriginal society and present-day violence. The article is heavily based on the studies of Mornington Island society by the anthropologist David McKnight.

A Related Conference

This weekend there is a conference at the University of Sydney Law School entitled "Free Will: Moral and Legal Responsibility". It includes some papers by philosophers which seem relevant to our project.

For further details see here.

Australian Temperance: Miniconference 6 Dec 2008

The Restraint Project will hold a Miniconference on 'Australian Temperance: On the virtues of self-control and moderation in Australian life past and present. It will be at UNSW, Saturday 6 Dec 2008 ... details.

Nappies

Anna Christie spoke on her Restraint Project work on toilet training on ABC Radio National's Counterpoint program on Sept 15 ... download mp3

Story on Indigenous Violence Database

The Australian of July 23 has a story on the Australian Database of Indigenous Violence.

Australian Database of Indigenous Violence

The Restraint Project has sponsored the creation of an Australian Database of Indigenous Violence (trial version) to highlight the lack of restraint of violence in remote communities.

Positions filled

The Restraint Project has employed as Research Associates, half-time for 8 months, Ms Judy Stove and Mr Andy Crosbie.

Research Associate job advertised

The Restraint Project has a short-term Research Associate position (or two halves), advertised ... more

Casual workers sought

The Project is working towards a database of (Australian) indigenous violence. Casual workers are sought to read cases and create database entries. Basic literacy skills are needed and the work can be done anywhere. Enquiries to j.franklin@unsw.edu.au

Toilet training, first place to learn self-control

Anna Christie has produced a preliminary report on the increasing age of infant toilet training in Western countries over the last few decades. This is a major change in early learning of self-control, but there appear to be no (repeat, absolutely none) studies on the effect of this huge societal experiment. Anyone with information should post a comment.

Judy Stove on Akrasia

Judy Stove presented a paper, 'The Dragged-Around Slave and the Leaky Jar: Akrasia and Akolasia in the Protagoras and Gorgias' to the Australasian Society for Ancient Philosophy (ASAP) panel, Australasian Society for Classical Studies Conference, 29 January 2008, Christchurch, New Zealand.