The Paula Gordon Show |
Conversation 1 Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith Wiley tell Paula Gordon and Bill Russell why the entire future of our community depends on how we treat our babies who are drastically overlooked in both policies and programs, nationwide. They show how this results in our skyrocketing rate of incarceration, the highest in the Western industrialized world. They explain why the roots of Americaâs current epidemic of violence are in early brain development, from conception to the age of two. |
Conversation 2 Karr-Morse and Wiley provide evidence that violence begins in the brain and give examples. They describe the critical roles of mothers, fathers, the extended family and the larger community. Babies are not born violent, but Karr-Morse describes conditions that erode a babyâs ability to think, heighten the babyâs emotional reactivity, set the stage for vulnerability to mental ill-health, alcohol and drug abuse, and teen pregnancy as well as violence. They bridge the unnatural gap between nature and nurture, describing how brains develop differently than other organs. |
Conversation 3 Different kinds of abuse have different effects, Wiley and Karr-Morse explain with devastating examples from Americaâs classrooms. Karr-Morse explains why the way children are treated is the way they later respond, reflecting what they have absorbed both biologically and socially. They give a list of the extensive and expensive social costs that result. Karr-Morse describes how brain research in the last five years offers us entirely new ways of thinking about how societal violence is rooted in brain development. She offers striking contrasts between the costs of incarceration versus programs as simple as home visitation, noting that at the current rate, America will soon have more people incarcerated than in college. |
Conversation 4 Put the face of the baby on the issue of violence, pleads Karr-Morse. Associating violence with adult males or adolescents distracts us from preventable brain-based behavior that is shaped in the first 33 months of life. Puppies get better attention than babies, she fears. Karr-Morse offers her personal ideas about why Americans are reluctant to face the impact of this dramatic time of life. Wiley and Karr-Morse offer action plans, convinced most parents are desperate for help and good information. Violence, Karr-Morse and Wiley maintain, is everyoneâs problem, rooted in biology, not class or race. They detail the staggering financial costs of having the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world, including the most repressive dictatorships. |
Conversation 5 Emotional stimulation is as essential as cognitive stimulation as a babyâs brain develops, Karr-Morse explains. She uses specific programs to illustrate how we can engender a trusting relationship between a care giver and a baby by building a healthy community. Wiley explains environmental factors affecting our babies and shows how the entire community is itself an ecology. Karr-Morse suggests ways which better treatment of our babies may heal all of us in a time when one in three homes being built today is behind bars. |
Conversation 6 Psychology is physiology and vice versa, Karr-Morse assures us -- everything from violence to empathy is rooted in a childâs earliest years. Wiley shows the dimensions of the shift we must make in understanding the human community and species. It starts with human beings who can reciprocate a trusting, connected relationship, which must be experienced in a babyâs very earliest months and years. Babies are a great place to start being human -- and theyâre a lot of fun, too! |
Acknowledgements This conversation took place in the alcove of the Mills B. Lane Room of the The Commerce Club in Atlanta. We continue to be impressed by the Clubâs impeccable service and thank all involved. |
NOTE(S):
20% of a population of 260,000,000 people at a cost of $80,000/year for 1 year each: |