Friday 14 November 2014

Phillip Smith/Traynor: The Triumph Of Expert Foolishness Over Ordinary Wisdom.

Dangerous Knowledge: The tempting proposition that mere mortals can acquire mastery over Good and Evil is as old as the book of Genesis. But, what the experts and professionals of our supposedly meritocratic society appear to have forgotten, and what every ordinary person understands, is that the Devil lies. And, as Phillip Smith/Traynor discovered long ago, it is the person most determined to do good who is most easily deceived.
 
THE BUREAUCRATIC STUFF-UP that sped Phillip Smith/Traynor on his way to Chile, Brazil, and from there, thankfully, into the handcuffs of the Brazilian Federal Police, has exposed one of the most perilous fault lines in New Zealand society.
 
On one side of the fault line stand the experts and professionals. On the other, ordinary New Zealanders: the laity.
 
In the modern meritocracy New Zealand believes itself to be, expertise and professionalism are supposed to trump the layperson’s “instincts”, “gut feelings” and “common sense”.
 
Like the priests and the pastors they have largely superseded, experts and professionals lay claim to specialist knowledge of the world. Their mastery of the modern, “scientific”, method of explaining the universe means that, all other things being equal, the judgement of the expert and the professional is supposed take precedence over the traditional prejudices and ignorant superstitions of “ordinary people”.
 
But, Phillip Smith/Traynor’s scandalous escape from custody will, almost certainly, turn out to have been facilitated by the judgements of the experts and professionals employed by, or contracted to, the Department of Corrections. Indeed, it is already pretty clear that had the advice of those ordinary New Zealanders caught up in the multiple tragedies of Smith’s offending been heeded, he would never have escaped from custody.
 
Ordinary people recoil in horror and disgust from the criminal acts for which Phillip Smith/Traynor was convicted.
 
Their instinctive response is the same as that of any social animal confronted with a deadly threat to the survival of its young: kill it if you can, or, if that proves impossible, drive it from your midst.
 
The gut-feeling of non-expert, non-professional New Zealanders is that the likes of Peter Smith/Traynor are irretrievably evil. As killers, abusers, manipulators and deceivers they must never, ever, be believed or trusted.
 
The common sense of ordinary Kiwis tells them that, if the possibility of judicial error requires them to rule out the hangman’s noose, then murderers and paedophiles should simply be locked up forever.
 
What part of “predatory child abuser” and “vicious murderer” do the Department of Corrections' experts and professionals not understand?
 
From the perspective of the experts and professionals, however, the judgement of ordinary Kiwis is as flawed as it is unjust. Paedophilia is a pathological condition over which the paedophile exercises little, if any, control. The proper, scientific, response to child abuse and abusers is, therefore, therapeutic – not punitive.
 
Human behaviour is not immutable. It can be modified, reoriented and, with the right sort of interventions, re-programmed. It is simply not necessary to lock up serious offenders in a cage and throw away the key. To the psychologists, counsellors and therapists at Corrections, Phillip Smith/Traynor was a suitable case for treatment.
 
But, as Smith/Traynor’s extraordinarily successful deception of his psychologists, counsellors and therapists makes chillingly clear, it was the experts’ and professionals’ judgement that was flawed.
 
Yes, with enormous effort and the deployment of a host of (scarce) resources, it might just be possible to wrap a paedophile around with sufficient protective layers to make his release from custody a viable and safe option. And, in the best of all possible worlds, that’s what our Justice System would attempt to do.
 
But, this is very far from being the best of all possible worlds. The wraparound option does not exist in New Zealand. So why, in its absence, did Smith/Traynor’s expert and professional team keep behaving as if it did? Was it because Smith/Traynor, understanding to perfection their deep emotional investment in the possibility of his behavioural redemption, encouraged them to construe his “model prisoner” charade as proof that they had, already, redeemed him?
 
Phillip John Smith aka Phillip Traynor: Irretrievably evil?
 
If that is, indeed, what happened, then I’m afraid you’ll have to put me down with the traditionally prejudiced and the ignorantly superstitious. A person capable of pretending to be rehabilitated, while all the time embracing the perversity he’s claiming to have vanquished, is evil personified.
 
The besetting sin of the expert and professional is their hubristic belief that everything in nature can and should be brought under human control. Like Adam and Eve, tempted in Eden with the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, they have fallen for the Devil’s fatal pitch: “In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
 
All ordinary people know that the Devil lies.
 
This essay was originally published in The Waikato Times, The Taranaki Daily News, The Timaru Herald, The Otago Daily Times and The Greymouth Star of Friday, 14 November 2014.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...



If we look at what is justice, the system would start operating for the benefit of the child as it grows up, ensuring it has security, love and learned a set of acceptable moral maxims to learn values by. The child would be treated lovingly, fairly, justly and morally. This would be learned by example and by education by the child. That sort of justice in giving precepts to live by would be the best justice that would prevent the sad, bad and mad behaviour of the sexual predator and particularly the paedophile, who presumably is deficient in adult sensibilities and stuck in some juvenile mind trap.

Until we make the effort to meet the above standards we will get the anomic individual as this paedophile. And other anomics who drift through society, not are part of it.
And the bad ones should be kept separate from the community. I suggest a prison farm where the vicious and irredeemable can live as nearly normal life as possible, growing their own food so doing something useful to the society that will not stand its vulnerable people particularly children, women, old people, and men as well, from falling victim multiple times because the system decides to use them as guinea pigs again and again.

Guerilla Surgeon said...

From what I've heard on the radio, paedophiles who have been through a proper program don't reoffend very much at all. This guy would seem to be the exception in that he is not just a paedophile but a clever and unscrupulous sociopath a narcissist. I must confess to being a bit conflicted – do we write him off? I suspect in this particular case yes. But even so, expecting experts to get it right all the time is a bit much. Perhaps we introduce some sort of precautionary principle.

tauputa said...

If Traynor/Smith was a simple paedophile he would if willing be treatable, many are, I read into the darklands by Nigel Latta and he covers the intensive treatment of these monsters which is impressive if they want to change.

Traynor/Smith is a sexual psychopath - he rapes a 10 year old boy assuring him if he tells anyone his family will be killed. The kid tells his parents and Traynor/Smith is imprisoned and three years later returns and murders his child victims dad

This is not just paedophilia, bad enough as it is, its the work of a serial killer not unlike Ted Bundy the charming clean cut university educated sexual sadist who raped and murdered untold girls in the western states of the USA over the 70's, he escaped prison only to kill 3 more woman one a 12 year old child, his explanation - he just liked doing it.

We have preventative detention for people like Traynor/Smith and Ted Bundy as they are incurable, theyre evil is a combination of biological causes and upbringing and the only known treatment is concrete walls or 4000 volts in Bundy's case.

The good news is Traynor/Smith is caught and will hopefully enjoy a few weeks in the notorious dungeons of RIO before he returns beaten broken and sodomized into submission to a soft comfortable kiwi prison to rot for the rest of his miserable life.

Davo Stevens said...

Yes He's a psychopath and as one is very plausable, this may shock some people but so is John Key. The difference between them is simply their position in life. Key chanelled his psychopathy to business and banking as many do. S/T chanelled his in a different direction, a life of crime.

Yes also paedophiles can be treated but only if the want to change. S/T was a rapist on a power trip.

His mistake was to go to Brazil without learning Portugese, expecting everyone there to speak English!! So his only option to survive was to stay in hostels with other English speakers, a place where he would be recognised.

When some-one is put in gaol they must be given a release date, however far into the future that date may be. To not do that is psychological torture and is banned under the Human Rights Legislation. Which is why we just can't put some-one away until they die. Firstly because it's psychological torture and secondly you have a crim that has nothing to lose and that makes them harder to control.

Prev. D. means that they can be held there for up to 25 yrs. If they want to get out sooner they must be able to prove conclusively that they are not a risk to society.

Jamie said...

Howard Beale: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Stop protecting paedos,
Put them in general population,
Problem solved...

Guerilla Surgeon said...

"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. "

Fuck me where do you live?? Not round here that's for sure. :-)

Jamie said...

Ah.....I see why certain pollies, judges, and journos protect paedos...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2834647/Detectives-investigating-claims-Westminster-paedophile-ring-uncover-evidence-possible-murder-linked-allegations.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Guerilla Surgeon said...

Okay Jamie – paranoid much? That's England you realise? And of course the Daily Mail, whose biggest news items seem to concern bits of people – tits and arse mainly. Not saying it's not true, but I think judges and politicians protect other judges and other politicians rather than the average paedophile on the street as it were. And if you do happen to be English – you realise this is a New Zealand blog right? :-)

Jim Rose said...

The world expert on psychopaths is Robert hare. He wrote:

"There's still a lot of opposition -- some criminologists, sociologists, and psychologists don't like psychopathy at all," Hare says. "I can spend the entire day going through the literature -- it's overwhelming, and unless you're semi-brain-dead you're stunned by it -- but a lot of people come out of there and say, 'So what? Psychopathy is a mythological construct.'

They have political and social agendas: 'People are inherently good,' they say. 'Just give them a hug, a puppy dog, and a musical instrument and they're all going to be okay.' "

Peter Jenkins said...

Thank you

Thank you for saying what the majority know to be true. Paedophiles and psychopaths are not treatable with any adequate certainty of success, and the science exists to prove that

chris73 said...

Thank you for posting exactly what I'm thinking (and feeling)

Naturesong said...

@Guerilla Surgeon
It's a quote from Network (1976):
I don't have to tell you things are bad, everybody knows things are bad.

Davo Stevens said...

There was the Case of the "King Ring" in Washington too. Where Sen. King was running child sex parties that involved many of the Yank top brass.

He resigned in disgrace and none of the perps. were ever prosecuted.

They look after there own. And there is the case of Saville/Harris et al as well.

Judge Holden said...

The fact that Slater is quoting you verbatim and with approval shows how far off the mark you are, Chris. Can you please define "common sense" and "ordinary wisdom" for us all? Should be easy for you given that these terms hold your entire "argument" together. Thanks.

Chris Trotter said...

To: Jamie.

I'm afraid I've had to take down your video links.

The content is highly defamatory and lacking in any kind of corroborative evidence.

I'd seriously caution you against posting these links on any blog. Bowalley Road certainly rejects them in their entirety.

Guerilla Surgeon said...

This is approaching the level of a moral panic for Christ's sake. There is a difference between paedophiles and psychopaths. And while the research does differ to some extent, sex offenders do tend to reoffend at a lesser rate than others no matter what research you look at.
And people who deal with them are well aware that psychopaths are manipulative and lacking in conscience. That's why there was, and maybe still is a small unit close to Porirua mental hospital where people were kept who were never going to be released. No one who deals with proper psychopaths wants to give them a hug and let them go. All this give them a puppy bullshit – it's similar to the "Them maries woz all wearing grass skirts and eating each other until we came in civilised them." trope. For Christ's sake engage with the fucking evidence and do a bit of research. Google is available to everyone.

Jamie said...

All good Trotter, your house your rules...

We will have to agree to disagree on this one...

I have provided multiple links, from multiple sources including the daily mail, not just video...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2834647/Detectives-investigating-claims-Westminster-paedophile-ring-uncover-evidence-possible-murder-linked-allegations.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Let us not be naïve Trotter,
You and I both know...

Truth is stranger than fiction ...

And absolute power absolutely corrupts...

I know you journos got your reputations and defamation to worry about so I won't give ya a hard time...

Keep up the good work Trotter,
Keep on keeping the bastards honest...
And keep an open mind...

Jamie said...

SOS Trayors 'business partner' currently stalks the streets of Hastings looking for his next victim...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11358429

This is unacceptable team...

Where is the A-Team when you need them???

Guerilla Surgeon said...

"SOS Trayors 'business partner' currently stalks the streets of Hastings looking for his next victim..."

Christ, here we go again. Did you read the fucking article it says nothing about him stalking the streets. It actually says he is not suspected of any wrongdoing, though in what context is a little unclear. And he says he's pretty much kept his nose clean for the last 17 years. Which is checkable. Not only that but the man is a peeping Tom, which is possibly – though I don't really know enough about it – at the lower end of the sex crimes spectrum. I was sort of feeling left out it not looking at your other links, but if this is any example I haven't missed a thing. It's bullshit.

Chris Trotter said...

To: Judge Holden.

The “common sense” of “ordinary people” is a compound of their own experience, the experience of others, and the way in which both kinds of experience are processed into more-or-less reliable “rules of thumb” by the communities in which they live.

In other words, common sense is the crude empiricism of everyday life.

Is common sense an unfailing guide to making the right decisions? That depends on how much faith one puts in the “wisdom of crowds”.

I would argue that human communities are constantly (if unwittingly) replicating the studies carried out by scientists and scholars – albeit on a much vaster scale.

They are continuously assessing the behaviour of specific groups and types and then comparing it with the behaviour of their “control group”: family, friends, workmates, neighbours; that diverse collectivity they refer to as “ordinary people”.

In making these assessments they draw upon huge amounts of empirical data. Some of this information is supplied inter-generationally; much is anecdotal; and the rest is drawn from the rough-and-ready statistical analyses of actual events contributed by their innumerable eye-witnesses and participants.

Is common sense “scientific”? – No, it isn’t.

Is common sense accurate? – Yes, extremely.

Guerilla Surgeon said...

Actually, common sense is extremely unreliable. Common sense tells me that when someone is throwing the hammer – swinging it round and round and then letting it go – that when it leaves the hand it follows a curved trajectory. Science tells is that it is a straight line. Common sense is a rough rule of thumb that helped his escape being prey thousands of years ago. Doesn't often work now. And even then, it probably generated a lot of false positives :-).

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/books/review/book-review-everything-is-obvious-once-you-know-the-answer-by-duncan-j-watts.html?_r=0

Anonymous said...

Oh, I wish I could Facebook this.
Excellent article, right on the money.
Common sense went out the window decades ago, the Marxists cut it to shreds.
It's all about everyone being basically 'good', and if they are not, then it is the fault of their upbringings.
The layperson is never ever listened to, and degrees, diplomas, PC factory knowledge trumps common sense every time. Our whole judiciary has gone mad lately, such stupid decisions, and common as. Great article, and with a lovely Christian viewpoint.

Jamie said...

To the Guerilla Surgeon

Stop feeding the 'troll' would ya...

A leopard don't change his spots...

My Old Man said he went to the same school as traynors 'business partner'

He said he was suspect way back when...
And is still suspect now...

I got little ones to think of and convicted paedos 'rights' don't rate jack-shit to me,
unlike you...

So quit bustin my balls bud and get your priorities straight...

Davo Stevens said...

@ Surgeon: Our Jamie is trolling mate. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

I still do some work with PARS as a volunteer. I do budgeting and literacy advice for crims who have been canned up for some years. Our main focus is to get the crims back into society and to stop re-offending where we can.

We need a damned good look at how society treats the ex-crims. Ever noticed how damned difficult it can be for an ex-crim to get a decent job when they come out? Yes, a conviction for theft will stop them from ever getting a job as a bank teller but it shouldn't stop them from driving a truck for feck's sake. But it does. That is wrong and needs addressing.

pat said...

Perhaps you could write a devils advocate piece on the PSA reaction to Roger Suttons resignation Chris...the Union certainly knows how to gather support to their organisation with middle NZ by kicking a man when hes down....another example of expert foolishness over ordinary wisdom perhaps?

Judge Holden said...

"Is common sense accurate? – Yes, extremely."

You know this how exactly, Chris?

"In other words, common sense is the crude empiricism of everyday life."

All things to all people then, no actual evidence required. Truthiness in other words. Silly experts think with their brains, the ordinary man with his gut. Thanks for confirming what I already knew.

Guerilla Surgeon said...

God Jamie, troll or not, you really should learn the difference between a psychopath, a paedophile, and a peeping Tom. Otherwise make go and live in America there all paranoid over there. You can own a gun and shoot people who look at you sideways :-).

Chris Trotter said...

To: Judge Holden.

Your crude misrepresentation of my response to your question offers ample confirmation of the casual condescension that so alienates the lay person from the "expert".

If you are unable to concede that the experiences of ordinary people constitute perfectly valid evidence, then their mistrust of "expert" opinion is fully justified.

They, too, can sign off with a contemptuous: "Thanks for confirming what I already knew."

Jamie said...

What's the difference between a paedo, a peepin tom???

Not much if you ask me,
And if you bothered to read the newspaper article I posted...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11358429

You will see traynor and his buddy were in business till 2011,

Then again what the hell do I know,
I'm just a simple man in a complicated land it seems...

For you Davo,
Enjoy...

Scenes from Shawshank...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcn6v7IaIfA

Red: Rehabilitated? Well, now let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means...

Davo Stevens: Well, it means that you're ready to rejoin society...

Red: I know what you think it means, sonny. To me, it's just a made up word. A politician's word, so young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie, and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did?

Davo Stevens: Well, are you???

Red: There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone, and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated???

It's just a bullshit word...

So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit...

Guerilla Surgeon said...

Jamie, you admit you know nothing, and yet you're willing to make pronouncements that gravely affect other people's lives. You should be a politician.

Jamie said...

'You should be a politician.' Guerilla Surgeon

Jamie laughs...

Yes well I am full-time-unemployed with no benefits,
And I do need a job to pay for next years school fees...

Times are tough,
And no-one is hiring...
There ain't much help for young returned servicemen either Davo so tell your crim mates to join the club...

:(

And ask them if it's not too much trouble what they think should be done about paedos???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNMvEz03-3g

I think Chopper had the right idea about how to take care of paedos...

Jamie said...

Arms Act 1983 No 44 Public Act 53 Careless use of firearm, airgun, pistol, or restricted weapon...

Every person commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to a fine not exceeding $4,000 or to both who, being a person who has in his charge or under his control a firearm, airgun, pistol, or restricted weapon loaded with a shot, bullet, cartridge, missile, or projectile, whether in its breech, barrel, chamber, or magazine, leaves that firearm, airgun, pistol, or restricted weapon in any place in such circumstances as to endanger the life of any person without taking reasonable precautions to avoid such danger.

Leaving a loaded weapon lying around could get you up to 3 years in the can...

What is the difference???...

And how many other murderin paedos have been released into the community???