Can We Get From “Me” to “We?”: A Case for Restorative Justice and Win/Win Outcomes in the Age of “Me Too.”
The Mutually Harmful Stigmata, in the Time of “Me Too.”
“The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”
~ Ayn Rand
I will never forget what it felt like when a member of my family, whom I love more than life, was terribly and pervasively sexually harassed in the workplace. It was very painful for her and those who love her. It was painful for me. She handled it with courage and grace and a strong sense of self-worth.
I will never forget what it felt like when another member of my family, whom I love, was falsely accused of sexual harassment in the workplace. He was treated like a criminal from the onset. And even though the investigation found “no cause” for the complaint and that in fact the complainant had lied, nothing happened to the initiator of the false claim, and his life, was forever changed. It was very painful for him and those who love him. It was painful for me. He handled it with courage and grace and a strong sense of self-worth.
In both cases, the system failed to protect innocent people from victimization. In both cases the system failed to bring people together and promote understanding, acceptance, and mutual respect. In both cases, the system failed. This is their story. This is our story. We must find a new way- together.
There is no “We” without “Me.” If There is no “Me” there can be no “We.” The only difference between the two is “M” or “W.” They are Reflections of Each Other.
WE must protect the individual as we protect the community. We cannot sacrifice one for the other and still be a great nation.
As a nation, and as a culture, we need to choose our identity. We need to choose what core values define us each and all. I will posit that this imperfect but wonderful social experiment we’ve call these “United States” is a worthy endeavor and we have not failed yet, completely. Still, I sense that we’re way too close to that cliff’s edge. Let’s step back, together.
Newton’s Third Law of Motion teaches that for “every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction.” This is true not only of motion, but also, of movements. Unintended consequences of well-intentioned actions are legion in the history of humanity. The Agricultural Revolution leads to the creation of cities and nation states, the creation and expansion of slavery and the over-population of global humanity far beyond the earth’s sustainable carrying capacity. The Industrial Revolution leads to carbon-based pollution which leads to global climate-change which leads to famine, migration, conflict, and the on-coming Sixth Extinction. Yes, some very “good” things did come with every innovation and alteration of humanity during the “Anthropocene Era.” And yes, I believe we are marching ever closer toward our own extinction as a species.
What you may ask does any of this have to do with the topic of gender-equity and civil rights? Allow me to explain what laws of finitely precise Newtonian physics and the laws of infinitely imperfect American culture have in common. I will do it with a single “mental movie.”
Imagine you have an hour-glass. It contains sand on the bottom due to the forces of Newtonian gravity. It contains air on the top. Now, imagine turning it over and watching the sand fall from the top to the bottom. In time, empty becomes full and full becomes empty. This is often how we “right -wrongs” via the powers of government, via the “will of the people.” But you see, “the devil is in the details.” The “power-glass” always continues to turn… until it breaks. Empowering one group by disempowering another, is still injustice.
You cannot create justice via acts of in-justice. Systems have little capacity for mediation, mitigation, or reconciliation. As I once taught my students, “Justice never comes from a system. Justice only comes from the choices and actions of one compassionate, brave, person at a time.” Legislation solves things only as much as warfare does…imperfectly and temporarily. Perhaps, we are asking the wrong question and solving the wrong problem. Let’s look at some of the unintended consequences.
“Two Wrongs, Don’t Make a Right.”
“The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior ‘righteous indignation’ — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.”
~ Aldous Huxley, Crome Yellow
Pitch-forks and torches are nothing new to humanity. We have often used good tools for bad outcomes. And every mob setting every fire thinks they are the keepers of the “one-true-light.” We have many ways to brand our outcast; this remains true. Stigmata are the birthmarks of many a brave soul.
In these current American times, a man who is branded by an accusation of sexual harassment or sex-based harassment is now in the company of convicted felons and war criminals. Re-entry into society is problematic at best and impossible, often. And we can’t seem to see the difference between sexual assault, disrespectful communication, miscommunication and purposeful abuse of civil rights protections. We treat them as one and the same. They are not.
We seem unable or unwilling to hold people who make false claims accountable. Why might a person make a false complaint? By making a false complaint of sexual harassment the perjurer may feel she or he is achieving a sense of retribution for some perceived injustice, maybe gaining attention from boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses, coworkers, and employers, and may achieve a sense and reality of greater job security due to the perception that once a person has made a claim of sexual harassment, they will be accountability-free from that moment onward due to the organization’s fear of a “retaliation complaint.”
Is this justice? Is this a good thing for American society? Has a “them v. us” mentality ever resulted in a better world? Sometimes the right questions are all we need. We can find the answers on our own. I’m not for a second suggesting that protecting the civil-rights of Americans is not important… only that we must protect the civil-rights of ALL Americans. Those who feel that they are being unjustly subjected to sexual harassment or sex-based harassment deserve to be protected under the law. And, those who feel that they are being unjustly subjected to the accusation of sexual harassment deserve to receive equal protection under the law.
We have the largest prison population in the world. As a criminal justice professional and retired master peace officer with 30 years’ experience both as a practitioner and academician, I can say with some authority that some people by way of their own decisions and actions do need to be separated from society, for the good of society, for such time as it takes for them to make better decisions and take better actions. And similarly, some people will merit the sanction of separation from their work-society when they have been found to have either committed the pervasive act of sexual harassment or the willful act of false accusation of sexual harassment. With that said, people are not disposable. There is almost always a better way. And the thing is, this isn’t just about the individual, it’s about the health of American society and even the future of humanity. We must care.
The Cancerous Death-march of a Socially Reinforced “Victim Mentality.”
“This I choose to do. If there is a price, this I choose to pay. If it is my death, then I choose to die. Where this takes me, there I choose to go. I choose. This I choose to do.”
~ Terry Pratchett, Wintersmith
As the father of an amazing daughter, I never liked the former Disney Princess persona. I never felt the image of a passive-pretty-princess or the message of “wait for your prince to come” was one I wanted my daughter to emulate. I wanted her to have her own sense of agency, inner-strength, self-reliance, and resilience. I never wanted her to be a fragile tea-cup…and she is not.
My daughter grew up to be an intelligent, self-actualized, confident, adult with a solid sense of self-esteem. She is a survivor and thrives in the real world. Isn’t this what we are supposed to do as parents? This has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with culture. All humans, without regard to gender or gender self-identification need to have a healthy sense of agency and an accurately informed ability to problem solve. Allow me to explain in a novel manner. I will put my “criminology professor hat” on.
I posit that we often ask the wrong question. The right question isn’t really, “What is Just?” as much as it is “What will promote greater safety, security, preparedness, interdependency, mutual respect, accurately informed civic engagement, while not unduly restricting individual liberty to choose?
In this case, the question we will endeavor to resolve is not, “How do we reduce Crime?” but rather, “How do we reduce or mitigate Victimization?” As a poet I know, words matter.
For Example:
Crime Rate is a number. It removes all compassion. It omits context. It distorts true understanding.
Victimization is an outcome imposed on a Human Being by another. It includes human compassion.
Survivorship is a condition whereas a victimized person becomes a victorious person… changed by the experience but never the less, empowered, intact, informed, even… improved. (It is in overcoming adversity that we learn and are defined.)
Restoration is a worthy goal that we must strive for and yet will never perfectly obtain. Like anything worthwhile, Restoration takes commitment. Restoration is a win/win condition whereas the victimized person holds the person or group who committed the act responsible, the actor(s) accept responsibility, and all parties involved are committed to a restorative process with the goal of improving communication, understanding, accountability, partnership, and ultimately, quality of life. (individual and community)
Every first-year criminology student learns that it takes three things coming together for any crime or act of terrorism to occur. In a text book they are listed as: Target, Perpetrator, Location. I teach it in a slightly altered manner: Potential Prey, Potential Predator, Landscape/Culture. You may ask, “so what?”
Thanks for asking, I will explain. Victimization can only happen when these three elements come together at one place and time. To prevent this, we must have a multi-faceted approach.
If we treat sexual harassment and false claims of sexual harassment as equally undesirable offenses, then we are starting from a place that defends the civil rights of all individuals, not only, a “protected classification.” Furthermore, if we consider the full-continuum of potential outcomes, from improved mutual understanding and respect, (most desirable) to disciplinary action up to termination of employment and social isolation, (least desirable) we can address a complex human dynamic in a manner more fitting to the more progressive intended outcome of healthier individuals and communities. (Note: current practices only focus on the accuser’s civil rights and toward the least desirable outcome of punitive retribution, not restoration.)
Let’s look at what we can do as individuals and as a society to reduce victimization of those who are sexually harassed and those who are falsely accused.
1. Transform the Landscape: Change Culture to Promote Communication, Problem Solving, Restoration, and Genuine Mutual Respect. Peer pressure is the ultimate change agent. (Commitment not Compliance)
2. Transform the Potential Predator: Depending on the reality of the situation: Exonerate, Educate, Mediate, Rehabilitate, or Separate. *The last solution, should be the last option. (Develop a greater sense of Understanding, Empathy, and Accountability)
3. Transform the Prey: Educate and Empower unless the reality discovered is one of malicious deception, then: Educate, Mediate, Rehabilitate, or Separate
(Develop a Sense of Agency/ Accountability)
When we ask the question, “What about the intended “target/prey?” We need to come up with solutions that educate and empower her/him. We need to promote directed communication, cultural understanding, problem solving, empowerment and a strong sense of agency. Having government or organization take the role of Disney Prince is simply another way of disempowering the individual, reducing personal agency, communications and problem-solving skills and ultimately “building a fear-based-wall” between genders rather than building bridges of understanding, empathy, and genuine mutual respect.
Government is not a super-hero, nor should it be. Human conflict is solved by human communication, connection, and progressively evolving culture. Government or Organizational Administration can act as the pathway for restorative outcomes. All of this, requires clear eyed leadership that sets the tone for commitment over compliance.
Leaders create Culture.
Leaders create Consensus.
Leaders create Community.
When developing public or organizational policy, motivation for action is everything. What is the primary motivation (As measured by action, not words.) for our current policies and practices? Is it…?
1. Politically and legally expedient action with a goal of reducing liability?
2. A sense of moral superiority and outrage seeking retribution?
3. A desire to create win/win solutions that leaves individuals and communities healthier and more enlightened?
We do a disservice to all when we create systems with a win/lose focus that search for expedient outcomes. We are not preparing the way toward coexistence but rather, state sponsored dominance and submission.
Americans of any gender, race, creed, ethnicity, “walk-of-life,” need to move from the current trend toward PASSIVE and DEPENDENT behavior driven by a VICTIM MENTALITY, toward ever-increasing levels of an ACTIVE BEHAVIOR driven by an INDEPENDENT SENSE of AGENCY. We protect and educate people by positive, active, constructive, communications and problem solving…not, coerced compliance with an abstract code.
Collateral Damage… is it acceptable?
“We’re all just walking each other home.”
~ Ram Dass
In her amazing New York Times Best Seller, “The Genius of Birds,” author Jennifer Ackerman reports of studies that show how over generations the actual “grey-matter” of the hypothalamus area of the brain and ultimately the behavior of certain male birds is altered by the way they are selected and un-selected by the female of the species. The hypothalamus in both birds and humans is the part of our brain that helps us understand our location in space and time and subsequently holds our memories.
As a husband, father of a daughter, brother of several sisters, and friend to several amazing women, and as a decent human being, I want all women to be treated with respect and empowered with a sense of agency. Still, we should all want this to happen in a manner that does not destroy the desirable part of our natural mutual interactions.
Consider this. What would this world be like if all the male songbirds lost their will and ability to sing? What if their plumage became drab and they lost their ability to dance and strut for the girl-bird of their dreams? What if they just sat there, brown and silent and safe? Do we want to live in such a world? I don’t. I truly don’t.
What will happen if we come to a time when most American human-males… are afraid to be authentic? What if American human-males become passive, timid, unsure, drab, weak, compliant, feckless, cautious, insecure, and cowardly? If this happens, didn’t we just empower one group at the expense of another? If this happens, aren’t we all diminished? Shouldn’t we be working toward a world of mutual respect and empowerment? Shouldn’t we all be able to dance and sing together without fear of extinction? We need to be braver than this. We need to learn how to communicate with each other, directly, effectively, and respectfully. No system can replace authentic human understanding.
It’s Not War… it’s Peace…
“So, the whole war is because we can’t talk to each other.”
~ Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.” As a former Marine, and lifelong warrior, I know this is as close to truth as I will ever find. Given the faults coded into human nature, wars are sadly, sometimes inevitable. Still, any warrior knows that they are also a tragic loss of human potential. As Rodney King once said, “Why can’t we just all get along?”
Outrage is almost always outrageous. It divides neighbors into warring tribes. It closes the door on growth, mutual understanding, and eventual Coexistence. It separates them from us and creates myth over truth. Communal Catharsis is not justification for injustice. A Culture of Active Communication and sincere desire for a Progressive, Healthy, Community are much more noble goals.
Is “Justice” really our Goal? What must we strive for, as individuals and communities?
The first thing we need to address are two fundamental questions:
1. What is “Justice?”
2. Is Justice really the best goal?
3. If not, what is the goal and how do we measure success?
In his New York Times Best Selling book, Harvard University political philosophy professor Michael J. Sandel asks that exact question and does a better job of answering it than I can do in this brief space, but please allow me share a few of the highlights. Sandel asks the question, “Does a just society seek to promote the virtue of its citizens, or, should law be neutral toward competing conceptions of virtue, so that citizens can be free to choose for themselves the best way to live?” Good Question. Let’s look at two of the models for justice that Sandel presents.
1. Utilitarianism -is the belief that justice is achieved whenever you “maximize happiness and pleasure while preventing or reducing pain or suffering.” (Okay…think about this…who’s happiness? At what cost? Can law create happiness?)
2. Libertarianism — is the belief that “justice consists in respecting and upholding the voluntary choices made by consenting adults.” (Okay…think about this…how do we protect individual liberty while addressing community health?)
Here’s the point. I am proposing that “Justice” is too much of a variable to treat as a constant. It is the wrong answer to the wrong question. For this experiment, let’s agree to rename our “Criminal Justice System” to the “Public Safety, Security, and Wellness System.” Hmmm…That changes everything, doesn’t it? Suddenly our measurable goals change from “Crime Rate,” “Law Enforcement,” and “Behavioral Norm Coercion” to something much more effective in the long-view and positive in the short-run.
In this new paradigm our primary goals aren’t “compliance” via “coercion.” Instead, our collective goals become:
• Safe, Secure, Prepared Individuals and Communities
• Reduction in Criminal Victimization
• Reduction in Criminal Recidivism
• Increase in individual and community responsibility
• National Security
• Individual and Community Liberty
To reach these collective goals we need to change our approach and the paradigm that informs it. We need to revolutionize and fundamentally change how we conduct the science and art of promoting healthy communities and individuals. In short, we can’t get there, from here. It’s time for new thinking.
We Cannot Legislate or Regulate, Thoughts…Nor Should We…
George Orwell warned us of the dangers of “The Age of the Thought Police.” We are coming dangerously close to the world he described. We cannot regulate thought, only action. Action once taken, has done what it will do. The key here is, perspective and proactive intervention, not abstract regulation and reactive retribution.
1. “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but Words Will Never Hurt Me.” — We were taught this as children. Now children and adults seem to be inculcated with a new mantra. “If someone says something and I’m offended, my world collapses, my life has ended.” (Where is Resilience? Where is Understanding? Where is Perspective?)
2. The way we change behavior is by changing understanding. The way we change understanding is through learning. We need to learn, together.
3. The key word is not “Resist!” the key word is RESPECT. Demand respect. Give respect.
4. Preaching is not Teaching. Nobody ever learned anything constructive by being yelled at or beaten. Teaching and Learning involve Mutual Understanding. Anger and Hate never create Joy and Love.
How Do We Learn?
“Experience teaches only the teachable.”
~ Aldous Huxley
All my years as an educator, trainer, self-directed-learner, and amateur cultural anthropologist have taught me a few important things about how we learn.
· True Learning is Transformational in that it transforms how we see ourselves and our place in the world. It changes the way we perceive and the way we act upon that perception.
· True Learning leads to Action. Learning without Application is useless.
· True Learning includes an understanding of context.
· True Learning includes an understanding of relationships and possible unintended consequences.
· Motivation informs Learning and Action. Benevolent Servant -Leader Based Learning and Action that is supported by Data, not Assumption may beget positive outcomes… but Emotion-Based-Advocacy almost always begins with Pre-Conceived Conclusions and Tribal-Dogma and often ends in Tragedy or Stalemate.
· No one ever learns anything that they don’t want to learn. Ideology is the death of learning.
· Transformational learning takes courage, risk, resilience, and humility.
· R. Buckminster Fuller was right, “There is no such thing as a failed experiment, only experiments with unexpected outcomes.” We learn by trying something new, making mistakes, correcting action and decision making, and moving on. A risk adverse society, is a dying society.
· If you kill momma bear for coming to the dump, she can’t teach her cubs to avoid the dump.
· Marcus Aurelius was right, “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
· No one thing, is True.
· Blues singer, Delbert McClinton was right, “Noth’n Lasts Forever.”
Take a moment to read each of these points several times, thoughtfully. As you do so, be honest and self-aware. Consider your own personal bias and intellectual “certainties.” Now, consider through your own life-lens how current American culture is trending. Think about the dangers of government, legal, and cultural censorship. Think about the weakness that comes with fear, dogma, rigidity, anger, outrage, tribalism. Ask yourself, is “political correctness” a help or hinderance to learning and sincere mutual respect. To paraphrase Dr. Phil, ask yourself, “How’s that working for us?” Now, carry your conclusion forward throughout the remainder of this article. Let’s learn, together.
If All You Have, is a Hammer… A New Restorative Paradigm
“The tragedy is not that things are broken. The tragedy is that things are not mended again.”
~ Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country
It’s a very old but often true adage, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” We have created a “system” that focuses on a swift and terrible retribution for any perceived violation. Once that bucket of blood has been splashed on you, there is almost no chance of ever cleaning it off. In our efforts to protect some Americans from actual abuse, we have created a template for the abuse of others. “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Let me suggest a better way.
The Office of Community Restoration and Reconciliation
Every entity in the United States needs to replace the regulations based, “Office of Compliance” with a public health based, “Office of Community Restoration and Reconciliation.” The location of this office and the focus need to be in-line with “Employee Assistance” and Mental Health Programs. This office needs to be the Ombudsman, first step, and whenever possible, the only step in a dispute over human relations including: gender or race-based discrimination, sexual harassment, and sex-based harassment.
The focus needs to be restorative, not punitive. The people leading this office must have an education and inclination toward effective communication, problem solving, and win/win reconciliation. Only once all restorative options have been exhausted should the matter move under the umbrella of “legal compliance” and “progressive discipline.”
Restorative v. Punitive “Justice”
“The sinew of the universe is love.”
~Pam Uschuk
People are not disposable. In all cases, there needs to be a balanced and fair system and culture of due process and not just the façade of due process. Except in the case of criminal sexual assault, I believe we need to take a more restorative approach. The “Win-Lose” culture that is promoted by the current American legal system is ultimately a “Lose-Lose” outcome.
Instead, we need to bring people and communities together. We need to have open discussion, “Human” Mediation over “Legal Mediation.” We need to promote true mutual understanding, mutual growth, and a path toward healing.
If we choose this path more times than not the accuser and the accused can come through the process as better, more informed, more empowered versions of themselves. Isn’t this what we really need? Instead of creating a battlefield filled with emotional corpses, we can create communities that value true mutual respect and have improved communication, conflict resolution and problem-solving skills.
We treat behavioral issues related to drug and alcohol abuse, mental health, and even failures in skill sets as a problem that can be addressed first via positive interventions such as counseling, education and training. Only in cases where these paths are found to be ineffective or inappropriate do we move into the realm of progressive discipline. Why not treat any interpersonal conflict as potentially solvable?
Education over Indoctrination and Legislation
“If I ran a school, I’d give the average grade to the ones who gave me all the right answers, for being good parrots. I’d give the top grades to those who made a lot of mistakes and told me about them, and then told me what they learned from them.”
~ R. Buckminster Fuller
As a former college professor of many years I can say, we are failing our young people on several levels. Instead of providing them with a vibrant, open, exploratory learning experience… we are subjecting them to a sham “education” that is, an indoctrination into the “mantra of the mainstream.”
Instead of creating active learners who apply that learning for the good of their families, communities, and countries… we are creating armies of mindless “group-thinking” lemmings. We are creating robots who have been programmed for conformative and passive behavior, rather than innovative and active behavior. We are inculcating them with a “victim mentality.” We pass accountability from the individual to “The State.” (fear this my sisters and brothers.)
The State and “The System” have no compassion and no heart. (they are by nature, heartless.) The system has a focus on “Risk Reduction.” Love, Compassion, and Understanding are all risky ventures… but I submit to you that they are a risk worth taking. Moral Courage seems to be in short supply in modern day America. We are indoctrinating our youth to trust “the collective” to replace their own innate sense of empathy, agency, value, reason, and responsibility. I will posit that the true crisis in America isn’t as much the proliferation of weapons as the near extinction of empathy.
My experience has led me to the conclusion that the American higher education culture is much more focused on academic-initiated “research and publication” and the tax-payer subsidized grant funds that come with this process, rather than applied research and learning. (With the possible exception of community colleges, where the emphasis still seems to be on learning and students rather than grant dollars and academic elitism.)
It has become a game where the “winners” are politicians, college administrators, tenured faculty who “drink the cool-aid,” and text-book companies who coerce professors to use their product with “instructor support materials” which include, predetermined PowerPoint presentations, exams, and videos that follow the text book, exactly. (In other words, the professor must do almost nothing via original thought, and the student is subjected to memorization and indoctrination rather than actual applied learning). The losers are students who are paying-off school debt for years or decades but who are not prepared to do anything much beyond memorize text-book information and passively follow in the path cut for them. This is not good for the individual or society. It does not empower, it influences.
We need to dump political correctness, group-think, and systems dependency and replace it with active experiential learning. We need communities of higher education that empower students to communicate, respectfully disagree, and seek mutual understanding and partnership for a common good. We need communities of higher education that develop confident, active, informed, problem solvers, not flower-petals that crumble with each breezy day.
Let’s end the era of “Fragile Tea-Cups” and “Passive Victims.” If America continues to promote the National Cult of Victim Mentality… we are doomed as a nation. Life is tough. It’s also beautiful. We do our young people (or any citizen for that matter) no favors by conditioning them to be victims. We need to promote a sense of “Agency” for Women, (and men.) We need to promote a sense and reality of mutual understanding for women, men and people of all races, creed, ethnicities, and walks of life. (We’re all in this together)
Power, Politics, and Law (The Burden of “Truth” 101)
“Freedom begins between the ears.”
~ Edward Abbey
In this age of hyper-communication and “free-speech” we may have unleashed a virus that cannot be contained. Steve Jobs was once quoted as saying, “I want to make a ding in the universe.” He did. The wild-west of “information” has become global through such pathways as Facebook, Twitter, and Google/YouTube. Any one person and any one entity can become a beacon of miscommunication and cultural division. Elections and governments can be overturned or installed, people and organizations can be convicted and publicly “executed” without trial.
Conversely, these same mediums can be used to inform, empower, and expand human-mindsets and national movements. It all comes down to the motivation behind the communication. Unfortunately, modern e-communications like elections are driven by money and power.
Two things sell: Fear and Positive Affirmation. Advertising dollars and votes both profit along the weak edges of humanity. A candidate tells everyone, “The sky is falling, but I will save you.” A preacher says, “Send money and God will pay you back.” Everyone keep clicking on the web-site that confirms their suspicions, “I’m right, they are wrong.”
Politicians are not necessarily leaders… they want votes, first and foremost. They get votes by telling the voters what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear. Leaders will tell the “inconvenient truth.” Real leaders (And thought leaders) are often eaten alive by their constituents. All too often, successful politicians reflect the society that sends them to Washington D.C. or to any state capital. If society is divided and dysfunctional, so goes the government.
We send them (mostly lawyers trained in win/lose tactics) to make laws (legislate) and they do. (without end, without regard to whether we need the law or not.) And these laws are not one page, simple-speak laws that any citizen can understand but rather complex legalese double-speak that hides the truth behind the hopeful title of the legislation.
We have created civil rights legislation that is strictly punitive in nature and promotes the abuse of power by false complainants. Furthermore, the “hostile environment” clause promotes ambiguity and confusion. (Could you imagine if we held everyone to the legal standard that the communicator had to know, in advance, and, after the fact, how their communication was being received by the other person?)
The law needs to be rewritten to clearly promote open and active communication, conflict resolution, problem solving, and true mediation and understanding between conflicting parties. Punitive actions should be the last resort and need to be utilized in the case where the offending action (Sexual harassment or making a false claim of sexual harassment) was clearly conducted under the culpable mental state of, “knowingly, purposely, and pervasively.”
The law also needs to be rewritten to provide Consequences for Knowingly, Purposeful, False Accusations to include administrative sanctions if the accusation was strictly handled “in-house” and criminal sanctions if the act included perjury or false statements made under oath. Finally, if there is going to be civil liability for institutions related to their protection of the accuser, there needs to be equal liability for their failure to protect the wrongfully accused.
Whenever possible, we need to insist upon measurably Effective and Compassionate Public Policy. Whenever possible, we need to Build Community Efficacy whereas people come together to improve community cohesiveness and team-work over group-think. Whenever possible, we need to heal American communities, not deepen the wounds.
We’re All in This Together…
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
We’ve traveled a long way together in the course of these pages and pixels. I hope these words and meanings have caused you to think, imagine, find hope for something better for ourselves and each other. This brings me back to the words of Michael Sandel. He poses the question, “Is it possible to conduct our politics on the basis of mutual respect? The answer, I think, is yes. But we need a more robust and engaged civic life than the one to which we’ve become accustomed.” Bravo!
The “fragile tea cup”, passive and dependent trending culture is driven by a victim mentality and left uncorrected, will be the death-rattle of our nation. To be a nation, we need to be engaged as a nation. The current path has a chilling effect on the health and wellness of American society. Borrowing from and adding to the words of Dr. Sandel, the path we are taking has the potential to:
1. Suppress moral and intellectual disagreement (free-thought)
2. Provokes a possible destructive and divisive backlash (fear, anger, conflict, apathy)
3. Promotes resentment rather than understanding (again, fear, anger, conflict, apathy)
4. Promotes tribalism (We don’t need to be tolerant… We need to be empathetic and accepting. These are not the same thing.)
5. Creates a culture of “impoverished public discourse” (fearful of authentic, respectful, constructive discourse.)
As I’ve written once before within these pages, I have learned that nobody learns anything that they don’t want to learn. This may sound simplistic, but it is a core-element of not only why we learn and grow, but also why we choose to remain ignorant rather than enlightened. We must choose to be enlightened, together.
There is no “Them.” There is only “Us.” There is no “Me” without “We.” There can be no “We” of any value if the outcome of our communion is the cultural extinction of the individual. No person or being or group of beings should ever be considered, disposable.
“Justice” is a moving, culturally charged target. If we’re not careful, it can take us into our collective hearts-of-darkness. Instead, let’s consider a new desirable end-state. Whenever possible, let’s consider building a culture of reconciliation and restoration, instead of recrimination and retribution. In the end the word we need to repeat in unison, is not “Resist,” as much as it is, “Respect.” We are better than this… America. At least, we need to be, if we have any chance of survival.
~ About the Author, Steve Ramirez
To Find and Follow more of my writing and teaching @ https://www.patreon.com/steve_ramirez
Instagram@ mbogo_7_2121
Who am I as a Public Safety Professional and Why does this “Thought-Leadership” article have Value?
I have over 30 years of combined military and civilian law enforcement experience including five years in the United States Marine Corps Diplomatic and Dignitary Protection/Counter Terrorism Unit and have served in the capacity of the Director for Law Enforcement, Homeland Security and Institutional Research for School Safety for the State of Texas and in this capacity led the development of the Safety, Security, and Preparedness standards for campus communities across Texas. I also served as the Criminal Justice Director for South-Central Texas, Director of the South-Central Texas Regional Law Enforcement Training Academy, and Director of the Center for Criminal Justice Studies at Texas State University.
I am a Master Texas Peace Officer, TCOLE Certified Law Enforcement Instructor, TDEM Certified Emergency Management/NIMS/ICS Instructor, Certified Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response (ALERRT) Instructor, NMT Certified Prevention and Response to Terrorist/Suicide Bombing Instructor, and LSU Certified Instructor in Counter Terrorism for Police. I have taught and trained military and police operators for the past 30 years. Finally, I teach homeland security, criminology, criminal justice, and counter-terrorism at the college level.
I am a divergent thinker who has recently chosen to live on “oblivion’s edge” so that I might be a catalyst for change from outside the system’s influences of power. I have learned all too well that from within the system, there is little hope of evolution or revolution. I wish to be an act of “punctuated-equilibrium,” like the striking of a comet or the flapping of a butterfly’s wings.
A Note on Style: As part of my communication style, I will on occasion purposely defy the conventions of writing style, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar, as I deem necessary. Nothing I write, is accidental. Every word is carefully placed. Rules May or May Not apply. Outcome is everything. My goal is for the reader’s mind to be free of dogma and fully engaged in our mutual journey toward greater understanding and positive, effective, meaningful, mindful, responsible, transformative, and compassionate change.
Why This Article: We desperately need to solve pressing problems related to the disintegration of American and global peace, efficacy, empathy, and cohesion. Everything from war to crime to global climate change to mass extinction of species, is a human behavior problem. Since humans are the source of these collective tragedies, we can also become the solution.
Defining the Audience: Any and all open-minded human beings who are concerned about the direction of our nation and our communities and wish to explore a new way of living together, in peace. Learning must lead to Action.