Please Don't Kick the Cat

scamp n

•    a mischievous person … who misbehaves in harmless or humorous ways (informal).

•    a rascally or dishonest person (dated informal)

One of the inherent problems with any tool, from toothpicks to nuclear reactors, is that people, inventive little scamps that we are, can find all types of inappropriate uses for tools.

Anyone who watches the CBS television hit CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, is familiar with the vast array of everyday items that can become murder weapons.  The tools are rarely inherently evil, it is the application that is the problem.

Hammers are a perfect example.

Hammers, in the hands of Habitat for Humanity volunteers help build not only homes, but serve to stabilize societies; hammers in the hands of the less altruistic, shall we say, can also be used as weapons.

Psychology is a tool – nothing more nothing less.

This blog is not a blanket condemnation of any individual or group, although I do use humour to make my point sometimes. Rather it is an examination of how and when the tool, psychology, is misapplied and the consequences of misapplication.

So, please be careful when you discriminate. I am.

dis·crim·i·nate v

•    to treat one person or group worse than others or better than others, usually  because of a prejudice about race, ethnic group, age group, religion, or gender

•    to recognize or identify a difference

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