"Why is it reasonable to believe in prisons, but not in the hell?"

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

You can go to a prison and talk to the inmates, tour the facilities, chat with the guards, interview the warden.

Well, that was the argument that NonZeroSum used when I was arguing prisons do not exist on their forum. However, I have tried to perform an experiment to test that, and I failed.

If you want to argue against the existence of Hell, by all means do so.

And will you ban me if I try to argue against the existence of prisons?

It is intellectually perverse to deny - or even question - the existence of prisons. Do you also doubt the existence of hospitals, schools, police stations, public libraries, or other social institutions? If so, why? If not, why not? Skepticism is all well and good (and a very useful tool) but to question the existence of prisons when the evidence that they DO exist is nothing short of overwhelming isn't skepticism. It isn't even a sensible endeavour in logic.

No, we don't ban people simply for saying stupid, idiotic things or for taking positions that are laughably absurd. So you're safe on that score.

Boru

[The Grand Nudger]

I didn't click on the link. I want to believe that the experiment involved committing a jailable offense in sight of law enforcement.

[arewethereyet]

If prisons don't exist, my brother sure figured out a great way to pretend he has a job with actual pay and benefits by playing prison guard every day for the last 30 years.

[FlatAssembler]

Um, IDK, how about the fence? Or the armed guards walking around? Or the barred windows?

And how are those things proofs it is a prison? People install fences to prevent animals from leaving pastures, for example. And how do you know those guards are actually armed, that those are not plastic weapons? And windows can be barred to make a Faraday Cage, to protect sensitive electronics in there from radiation.

Using cheap and bad drug doesn't make it real.

Near-death experiences aren't caused by drugs, at least not all of them. Some people have near-death experiences after being accidentally electrocuted on a ship, without having taken any drugs.

Do you also doubt the existence of hospitals, schools, police stations, public libraries, or other social institutions?

No, because those things do not seem to contradict the basic principle of social sciences, that is the principle of rationality. One can rationally believe hospitals, schools, public libraries and perhaps even police stations are a good thing. But one cannot rationally believe prisons are a good thing. And for prisons to exist, politicians would need to be systematically biased (all biased towards believing prisons are a good thing), which contradicts the principle of rationality.

I want to believe that the experiment involved committing a jailable offense in sight of law enforcement.

Well, it involved asking them what they think about prisons. I am not sure whether that is legal. BalkanInsight reported about a year ago that a Croatian journalist called Gordan Duhacek got into a prison for posting an anti-police message on Twitter. Of course, if prisons don't exist, that story is not true. It also probably is not true even if prisons do exist. The idea that somebody got into a jail for a tweet without there even being a law that says that is too ridiculous to even think about.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If prisons don't exist, my brother sure figured out a great way to pretend he has a job with actual pay and benefits by playing prison guard every day for the last 30 years.

LOL. I was, at one point, dating a gal who's BIL was a prison guard at the "Indiana State Farm Penitentiary". He was arrested for selling guns and other weapons to the inmates. Man, I can't figure that one out at all, even after all these years.

"You won't shoot me, will you?"

"Man, you're cool, and you know we're 100% trustworthy, so our word is good!"

[arewethereyet]

If prisons don't exist, my brother sure figured out a great way to pretend he has a job with actual pay and benefits by playing prison guard every day for the last 30 years.

LOL. I was, at one point, dating a gal who's BIL was a prison guard at the "Indiana State Farm Penitentiary". He  was arrested for selling guns and other weapons to the inmates. Man, I can't figure that one out at all, even after all these years.

"You won't shoot me, will you?"

"Man, you're cool, and you know we're 100% trustworthy, so our word is good!"

My brother is so straight and narrow that would never happen with him.  

The last time he ran afoul of the law he was perhaps a little too tipsy to be driving crashing his car back when he was in college.

[FlatAssembler]

If prisons don't exist, my brother sure figured out a great way to pretend he has a job with actual pay and benefits by playing prison guard every day for the last 30 years.

Well, maybe he is a paid actor.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If prisons don't exist, my brother sure figured out a great way to pretend he has a job with actual pay and benefits by playing prison guard every day for the last 30 years.

Well, maybe he is a paid actor.

Meh, easier to blame The Left.

[The Grand Nudger]

I want to believe that the experiment involved committing a jailable offense in sight of law enforcement.

Well, it involved asking them what they think about prisons. I am not sure whether that is legal. BalkanInsight reported about a year ago that a Croatian journalist called Gordan Duhacek got into a prison for posting an anti-police message on Twitter. Of course, if prisons don't exist, that story is not true. It also probably is not true even if prisons do exist. The idea that somebody got into a jail for a tweet without there even being a law that says that is too ridiculous to even think about.

This is a better analogy to stories about hell and prisons, imo.  

People report stories about hell.  All sorts of silly shit. If hell doesn't exist, those stories aren't true.   They're also not true even if hell does exist. Ultimately, either notion is ridiculous, and either notion is ridiculous regardless of whether or not it's true.

I suspect that we employ about the same skepticism to either. A living breathing unburnt person tells me they went to the firepron dungeon on account of shaking their pecker too many times? I doubt it, no matter who's running the place or where it's at - but if so....then whoever is running that place, wherever it's at, is being ridiculous.

[arewethereyet]

If prisons don't exist, my brother sure figured out a great way to pretend he has a job with actual pay and benefits by playing prison guard every day for the last 30 years.

Well, maybe he is a paid actor.

It's a hell of a scam.  Since he's a state employee you can Google his name and find out his pay rate.