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Hernando Today

Eroding America By Ending Punishment

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By DOMENICK J. MAGLIO, Neo Traditionalist

Hernando Today

Published: August 8, 2008

When you examine anyone's life, there have been negative circumstances that were beyond their control. People are born with deformities, into poverty or to abusive families. All of us possess degrees of genetic limitations and have cyclical downturns in our health and finances. We all face temptations. Life is a bumpy ride.
Challenges in life used to be viewed as chances to develop character. Now almost any adversity in one's past is being used as a justification for making bad or even illegal choices. This belief that any difficulty in one's life deserves sympathy has become prevalent. No longer is adversity viewed as an opportunity to develop the habits and skills needed to overcome other obstacles in one's life.
Our toughness is waning as we automatically empathize with a person's past problems. Inappropriate or criminal behavior is traced back to some traumatic event in the person's life to forgive the transgression. The criminal is viewed as the victim of his circumstances while the real victim of the crime is forgotten. The true victim is victimized twice: first by the criminal act and secondly by the lack of justice in our judicial system. The perpetrator becomes the victim, and the innocent is punished.
Our authority figures have accepted the premise that punishment should be taken off the table in dealing with anti-social behavior. In our politically correct culture, the parents, teachers and employers considered the best are liked by everyone. Popularity has replaced respect and competency as the criteria for evaluating authority figures. Many of us have been persuaded that to ignore offensive and even illegal behavior is better than to punish it. This means parents should not discipline their children, teachers their students or employers their workers.
The stifling of punishment promotes irresponsible and eventual criminal behavior. Today, when a youngster acts unruly, his parents inform those around that he is tired, has not slept, recently moved, did not eat or some other excuse shielding the child and themselves from taking action to correct the behavior. Parents do not even want their children to play certain games, keep competitive score or receive honest grades. They want to coddle their children from the harshness of reality. The lack of psychological and/or physical pain of punishment retards the development of a conscience as well as the habits required for excellence and strength of character.
Indulgent parents, teachers and bosses are producing a nation of wimpy adults who are too weak to face the inevitable calamities of life. By not failing lazy students, firing incompetent workers, reprimanding misbehaving children and arresting abusive criminals, we are condoning and promoting these behaviors. It is still true that "a rotten apple spoils the bunch." We are eroding the institutions of our society.
Slowly we find ourselves tolerating unproductive, obnoxious and even evil behavior. The rationalizations are creative. The congressional ethics committee does not punish congressmen who create earmarks for personal gain. These self-serving national leaders justify this immoral behavior by noting that other members of the community also profit and therefore it is not unethical.
The politicians in the Countrywide Mortgage scandal received special VIP treatment as a kickback in the form of a drastic reduction in their mortgage rates. The politician's apologist's ridiculous argument is "we all want VIP treatment and would take it if offered." This is not true if people possess a conscience, especially if the individual has sworn to God on the Bible to do his sacred duty. We must hold our leaders to the highest and strictest standards or all accountability in our nation will fly out the window.
The rationalization that "everyone does it" is unacceptable. This means everything can be tolerated like cheating in school, shoplifting in Wal-Mart, bribing authority figures to get what you want and their taking the bribes. There are no longer black and white, right and wrong, only situational morals. It is robbing the vitality and destroying the soul of our country.
Looking at our past difficulties to attempt to justify inappropriate, hideous or evil actions is a lazy, non-caring and cowardly act. The moratorium on punishment in our PC society must be lifted to begin repairing and strengthening the underpinnings of our institutions. Our national leaders and local authority figures must return to being moral leaders. The noise of crumbling institutions will cease and we can begin to rebuild once again.

Dr. Domenick J. Maglio, Ph.D., is the author of "Invasion Within" and "Essential Parenting." He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School. Visit: www.drmaglio.com.

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