Forensic psychologist Dr. Helen Smith learned her lesson the hard way. "I used to believe . . . that empathizing with my [violent] patients and increasing their self-esteem would help them on the path to self-actualization," she writes in "Over-Humanizing the Enemy" at Tech Central Station:
. . . for those patients with serious violent tendencies, just the opposite is true. With those patients, I've found that setting clear boundaries and making judgments about their immoral behavior works like a charm.
. . . Unfortunately, there are still those in the ivory tower who have not learned this valuable lesson. They continue to believe that to humanize and to empathize with violent students, professors, and terrorists is the only way to treat those who wish to do them harm. In fact, however, the old saw "give them an inch and they'll take a mile" applies. Without clear boundaries, and a sense of consequences, their behavior will spiral out of control until they injure themselves and others.
We're reminded of John Galt's comment the other day re the U.N.'s inability to recognize the security situation in Iraq "as it is, but rather as they wish it to be," as well as Mickey Kaus's misplaced concern that Richard Perle and David Frum in An End to Evil direct their fury "almost as much against America's internal enemies as its external ones." As they should.
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