Deviance Through a New Lens
We live in a very interesting world. There is so much going on in our world that is very difficult to hear. You turn on the news and we hear about the President, murder, fraud, movements, fake news, racial tension, politics and many other crazy things. I honestly don’t like hearing the news because it drives me crazy. I hate hearing about all the sad and crazy things happening in the world and in this country. So much drama everywhere. It just aches my heart to know of all the bad things happening today. It is important to note the deviance is usually looked at through a high lens of things that are wrong in society like murder and crime.
As a Christian, it is especially hard to hear about some things because they may be wrong from my perspective. There are behaviors that are perhaps not “wrong” for others, but wrong for me and others with the same views. It is interesting that even though some people are not Christians, society has the ability to agree on some behaviors that are wrong and not normal like fraud, murder, and sexual abuse. When there is an abnormal behavior in our society, it is called deviance [1]. Deviance can be looked at through different lenses because deviance can be interpreted differently depending on a person. I have been especially interested in formal deviant behavior according to the American law and culture. However, as Christians, we need to make sure that we look at what the Bible says is good and evil. Because of sin, secular society may see some behaviors as normal while Christians may consider it as abnormal or deviant, like sexual sin.
My dad puts on the news every single day. He likes to know what is happening in this country, especially in the politic news. While I dislike listening to the news, I am still aware of things that happen. Bad Deviant behaviors are very common to hear in the news. There are many types of deviance that you hear about in the news. The media always likes to broadcast when an important person or rich person commits a crime. Personally, I think that other type of deviant behaviors are less likely to be broadcasted, and receive the least attention by people. It seems as if deviance is mostly heard of when it comes to money and or murder. It is always money and murder. People think that money and murder is the answer to everything. However, in reality, it can bring so much pain and wrong doing to a person’s life.
Recently, there was a big scandal concerning money and college. Yes, this case was all about money. Parents, celebrity, rich parents that wanted their child to be accepted into a college. The media was all over this recent scandal of celebrities. You may have heard about this recently. However, sources indicate that college admission scandals have been happening since 2011 [2]. While these earlier indications of college bribery were perhaps not a big deal within social media. In March, the big news of actresses that were involved in a college scandal were released. Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli, as well as Felicity Huffman were among other parents who bribed colleges or other personnel in order for their daughters to get accepted to college [3]. Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison, but had an early release at 11 days. However, it was recently said that Lori Loughlin and her husband were pleaded ‘not guilty’ for their college admission bribery [3][4]. A question comes to mind when reading these ridiculous final decisions that the court makes. Do people with money or celebrities, have a free get out of jail card? Well it surely seems like it for the most part. There are many celebrities or rich people who honestly deserve to be in prison, but they have been able to get out of it because of various reasons.
A case like the college bribery scandal is considered to be a deviant behavior by society. Our society understands that these actions were wrong. It is not a normal thing for a person to bribe another person or an organization to get something out of it. However, it obviously happens. Society does not like that people with money have the ability to do this. It does not seem fair that a person with so much money can easily pay someone to get something they want, while a poorer person has to work their butts off in order to get what they want. It is just not fair.
I believe that power has a lot to do with how a person is treated. While these celebrities who were involved in the college scandal are not per say powerful like the president, their riches and their famous agenda make them powerful. They are able to do many things that those without money or power are not able to accomplish. I have heard people say that the reason that they are not in jail or are not serving a long sentence is because they have money. Yes, I do believe that plays a big part because they have the ability to pay off things that will help them in trial. These celebrities are not the only ones who were able to get out of jail easily.
In one of my classes at college, we had a big discussion on deviant behavior. This college scandal was an example. We were able to discuss the difference between this case, and another case. What was different about the other case is that these people are not celebrities nor rich. It will be interesting to see how this case ends. It is important to ask oneself if being rich and famous helps to be free. Many people say so, and I must agree with them. This deviant behavior may be categorized differently than that of the college scandal [1].
Deviant behavior comes in all sorts of ways. It is difficult to dismiss such a big case of deviant behavior because it is all over the news. I believe that Christians need to look at deviant behavior differently than the secular world. We are to be careful of those that call good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20). It is obvious that there are bad deviant behaviors that all people will agree on. However, there are other behaviors that are not deviant for some, but are deviant for others. Like the college bribery scam, the United States of America can all agree that fraud, and money laundering are all bad deviant behaviors. There is no question about that. Christians are to be aware of these bad deviant behaviors and look at it as a problem of sin.
Sin is what makes all people do deviant behaviors. It is a person’s sinful nature that makes a person do wrong. Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman did this deviant behavior because they are sinful human beings. Bribery is not only known in today’s society, but it also happened during the biblical era (Exodus 23:8; Proverbs 15:27). It is interesting to observe that all human beings know that bribery is wrong, yet most of them did not learn that is wrong from the Bible. I think that it is crazy how God gave us a general morality radar. God even uses events like the college scandal to bring light what is bad and good.
Christian or not, there is always an element of human guilt that a person has when they do something wrong. No matter the circumstances, people have usually always been able to distinguish the simple good and bad things because the bad always brings bad results. However, unfortunately, society has been shifting and has been able to blur those lines of what is good and bad. The church should be a light to the world, showing others what is good and evil. Christians have a very big job in this world, and it is not done very well. God uses Christians to bring light to what is good and evil. Sin has a hold of all people. Without God’s grace we are not able to be free from our own deviant behaviors.
Deviant behavior is when a person behaves abnormally from society norms. What the Bible would call deviant behavior is more important than all other social norms. As Christians, we are called to act as Christians. We are to be different from the world. God tells us do good in this world (Galatians 6:9). We are also to be examples of Biblical principles (1 Timothy 4:12). God uses the church no matter the circumstances. The church is to promote what is good. As Christians, we need to be careful when we talk about deviance. In general, deviance is considered as bad behaviors. That is why we should take those bad deviant behaviors, and promote that which is pure. I pray that God will steer the Christian community away from deviant behavior that is wrong.
[1] Gray, Don. “Deviance and Social Control.” Christian Perspectives on Sociology, edited by Stephen A. Grunlan and Milton Reimer, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001, pp. 125–149.
[2] “Timeline: The Major Developments in the College Admissions Scandal.” Axios, 22 Oct. 2019, www.axios.com/everything-happened-college-admission-scandal-51e66764-23b2-4539-ba05-d55740939c46.html.
[3] Rosa, Christopher. “Everything You Need to Know About the College Cheating Scandal.” Glamour, Glamour, 2 Nov. 2019, www.glamour.com/story/the-lori-loughlin-and-felicity-huffman-college-cheating-scandal-is-too-fascinating.
[4] Colbert, Claire. “Lori Loughlin and Husband Plead Not Guilty to Bribery Charge in College Admissions Scam.” CNN, Cable News Network, 1 Nov. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/11/01/entertainment/lori-loughlin-pleads-not-guilty-to-bribery/index.html.
