Mixed Messages = Sneaky Behavior

From the moment of birth, most of us are indoctrinated with the edict that we should aspire to "goodness" (pursuant to some high moral and social standard which we seldom see in this life), and that we should avoid the "temptation" (or perhaps "instinct") to do evil. Yet evil seems at many times to be darkly instinctual -- an atavistic propensity toward some kind of kill or be killed behavior lodged deepedly within our genetic wiring.

The lure of evil and seeing how so many people are either forgiven, unpunished or even rewarded for certain "special" evils at special times or in special circumstances is indeed powerful and pervasive -- the Hollywood star who is caught abusing drugs is "treated for his problem" and is commended on his overcoming his "ongoing battle with addiction," while the poverty-stricken ghetto teen caught with drugs is locked up for ten years for "drug trafficking," -- a judge is merely reprimanded for reversing a legitimately rendered jury-rendered court decision in order to give favor to a major campaign backer (giving the lucky contributor the best justice that money can buy) while the chap who forges a signature on a check gets to spend several years in "Club Fed" -- the Politician (perhaps even the Secretary of the Treasury, for the sake of illustration) fails to pay several million in income taxes, says "Oops! I forgot!" and pays the delinquent tab while the tax preparer who deducts $1,000.00 in unsubstantiated expenses from his client's taxable income (in order to reduce his client's tax bill by $120.00) gets railed at by some prosecutor (who is then promoted...perhaps even becomes a governor), and sent off to set a spell in the federal pokey -- you've heard many of such tales.

Why do we nod our heads so disdainfully when one of our children is caught cheating on a Regents Examination, or shoplifting $12.50 worth of merchandise, or using phony ID to buy beer?

Haven't we learned that mixed messages and hypocrisy breed sneaky behavior?

With such conflicting signals, this sneakiness eventually blossoms into full-blown social schizoprenia.

My questions: Are these the exceptional cases or merely the frightening truth about Human Nature? Are we setting our standards for acceptable conduct too high for a species with inherent behavioral limitations?

Please let me know. In the meantime, I'll be watching American Idol, or Dancing with the Stars.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

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