Barry's favorite 'scientist' (putting aside Marx for the moment) is the redoubtable B.F. Skinner (author inter alia of the suitably titled, for Barry, 'Beyond Freedom and Dignity'.)Skinner was an advocate of punishment/reward reinforcement as a means of controlling human beaviour. Now Punishment Skinner says:
"is designed to remove awkward, dangerous, or other wise unwanted behaviour from a repertoire on the assumption that a person who has been punished is less likely to behave in the same way again".
(Beyond Freedom and Dignity at 64)
I'll step out on a limb and say that there is general consensus in this DR that Mr Stoller is rude, abrasive, belittling, arrogant, snide etc to those who might happen to oppose his views. He exhibits what Skinner would call classic punishment behaviour.
So is Mr Stoller trying to use punishment (consciously or unconsciously- whoops sorry that isn't behaviourist) against those who oppose his views in the hope that he will either extinguish our responses or drive us away?
Sounds ridiculous, i know but that's what else would you expect from a rank behaviourist?
