A shadowy flight into the world of a man who does not exist. A loner, on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless - in a world of criminals who operate above the law.
Mamie Till: "Two months ago I had a nice apartment in Chicago. I had a good job. I had a son. When something happened to the Negroes in the South I said, 'That's their business, not mine.' Now I know how wrong I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all." (Source)
Does anyone know what is the leading cause of death in the United States of America? I'm sure you can guess by the picture that it is not cancer, car accidents, or comorbidities of obesity. It isn't violent crime either. The number one killer is something called Cognitive Dissonance. Cognitive Dissonance Theory, devised by Leon Festinger in 1956, is a fancy way of saying whenever we as humans are presented with information or facts that do not fit with our expectations of reality we feel very uncomfortable. We do not like feeling uncomfortable; therefore, in order to create equilibrium something must change. To reduce dissonance there are three things people usually do:
Focus on more supportive beliefs that outweigh the dissonant belief or behavior.
Reduce the importance of the conflicting belief.
Change the conflicting belief so that it is consistent with other beliefs or behaviors.
We "accentuate the positive," devalue our beliefs, tell ourselves it is not important, tell ourselves we like the thing that conflicts with us, and find other people to co-sign our new beliefs. It is this process of "dissonance reduction" that is the killer, because it makes us believe things that are not true, hold onto beliefs that are unreasonable, not take beneficial action when we should, and take detrimental action when we should not.
How do you know if you are suffering from Cognitive Dissonance? Here are some tell-tale signs:
Is it 2013 and you are still smoking cigarettes?
Do you believe McDonald's and Pepsico made you fat?
Do you believe you are big-boned and not obese?
Do you believe I can _____ (drink/text) and drive safely?
Do you believe in "clean" coal?
Do you believe coal-burning factories contribute more pollution than automobiles?
Do you believe global warming is a myth?
Do you believe the Second Iraq War and the U.S. War in Afghanistan were warranted?
Do you believe George W. Bush and Barack Obama are NOT war criminals?
Do you believe the death of one black male is more outrageous than the death of thousands of Arabs, Muslims and Middle Easterners?
Do you believe the shooting of one black man by a non-black man is more outrageous than the hundreds of shootings of black men by other black men?
Do you believe that the uncharged, unindicted, unconvicted "terrorists" who are being held as political prisoners in Guantanamo Bay should starve, right along with the guilty?
Do you believe the USA PATRIOT Act was necessary?
Do you believe the Affordable Care Act is Constitutional and well-thought out?
Do you believe the provision in the NDAA allowing for indefinite detentions will never be applied to U.S. citizens?
Do you believe that Danny Manning and Edward Snowden are traitors?
Do you believe that genetically modified organisms are nothing to be concerned about?
Do you believe the War on Drugs is money well-spent?
Do you believe the War on Terror is winnable?
Do you believe the key to making human beings less violent is the regulation of inanimate objects?
Do you believe in pro-life but tacitly approve the murder, torture, and dehumanization of millions?
Do you believe in pro-choice but deny the choices of unborn children and their fathers?
Do you believe that Democrats are the party of the people or that Republicans believe in small government?
Do you believe that what side of the isle you sit on in Congress makes a difference?
Do you believe that the President or even the Congress controls the fate of the country?
Do you believe we are not all in the same sinking boat and those who control the life boats will decide who lives and who drowns based upon what you look like rather than what you can do for them?
Do you believe that problems are so vast, so big, and so long-standing that you couldn't possibly do anything about them?
If you answered yes, to any of these questions then you are suffering from Cognitive Dissonance and you are killing America. Cognitive Dissonance is the disease; cancer, diabetes, stroke, violent deaths, poverty, racism, partisanship, warmongering -- those are the symptoms. No matter how severe your case of Cognitive Dissonance is, it does not have to be a terminal affliction. The world has shown America the path to the cure. If Germans can bring down the Wall, if Russians can dismantle Communism, and if the Arab world can depose dictators and resist religious extremism, then we in the United States of America, the progenitors of modern democracy, certainly can overcome the pandemic that is devouring us from the inside.
"Anytime there is insufficient reward, there will be dissonance. The general principal seems to be that people come to believe in and love the things they have to suffer for." ~Leon Festinger
In 2012 the Supreme Court ruled that when sentencing juvenile offenders, the court must consider the offenders age in the determination of the sentence and parole stipulations - not to do so, would be Unconstitutional. Many state courts and legislators are now faced with the question of what to do with the hundreds of individuals in their inmate population convicted as juveniles to sentences of life without possibility of parole, some for their role in very heinous crimes. The Supreme Court ruling and rulings in favor of applying it retroactively no doubt raises the question: is this Justice? To answer that question, first we must analyze what is the nature of Justice.
The Pillars of Justice
Justice, particularly criminal justice, has several components or characteristics which define the goals that Justice is to accomplish. Application of reason, ethics, and law in the resolution of deviations from the social contract can be defined by six ingredients, which when combined in the right proportion come together to form a recipe of true Justice. These six ingredients, or Pillars of Justice are as follows in order of ascending importance: Retribution: Punishing offenders for their offenses
This concept is simple, and I am sure it is one anyone can understand, which is why so often it is the first method of thought correction applied to very small children. When you commit an offense (violate the terms of your social contract) you are assessed and must suffer a penalty that is (ideally) sufficiently proportionate to the offense. Retribution is all about the individual and it has 3 primary goals. First is to make the offender aware the offense is wrong according to societal standards. Secondly, punishments create a loss for the wrongdoer thus creating pain and suffering for him or her ideally bringing them into the same emotional sphere as the victim of the wrongful act. Finally, punishments provide a negative association between that behavior and painful consequences so that when the offender contemplates that behavior again he or she is psychologically less likely to repeat it again. Looking at the use of retribution as a correctional tool on both 3 and 30 year-olds you can easily see why punishment is lowest of the Pillars. While it is certainly effective, even to the point of 100% effective, in accomplishing its first 2 goals, punishment alone is very hit or miss in effectively accomplishing its last and most important goal - at times being disastrously counterproductive.
Deterrence: Lowering likelihood of potential future offenses
What is the reason behind the rhetoric of Justice being swift, hard, and exact? One reason is to make an example of the offender, to show society what happens to a person who violates his or her social contract. This is only slightly more effective than direct punishment on the individual because people as a group are more easily swayed, whether for the good or the bad. To illustrate, just think back to when you were a child and someone caught a beating for being bad; whether you believed you were at risk of receiving a beating yourself, everyone who witnessed the beating observed a cautionary period of silence and angelic behavior, avoiding coming into the line of sight of any adult. Sometimes in society the dividing line between good and bad is just the reticence to risk exposure and undergo punishment. While not an ideal way of operating a civil society, as people have already agreed not to commit wrongdoing, it keeps a certain amount of bad things from happening when civilized people stray from the path. Therefore, Justice has to be sufficiently imposing without losing its fairness or love. That is a tough bill to fulfill. Enough people will not be deterred in totality especially if the rewards outweigh the risks (in the case of the amoral), or the risks never enter into the equation before they commit the offense (in the case of the insane or immature). The system cannot make retribution pervasive or severe enough to be effective without derailing Justice. Society could impose mandatory life and death sentences for every offense, yet criminality would persist and likely the grave nature of crimes by willful offenders would likely index itself to the monumental risk now inherent in wrongdoing. Deterrence has a role but is still far from the bedrock principle of Justice.
Censure: Incapacitating singularly dangerous or unrepentant persons
Here we begin to get closer to the heart of the social contract, for which Justice ideally ensures not only everyone's compliance but surety in so complying. A society without Justice is the equivalent of depositing your money in a bank with no physical or electronic security where none of the deposits were insured. What incentive would you have to do such a thing, and what would stop an unscrupulous person from taking all your money? Living in society we deposit some of our liberty and resources into the society in return for all the benefits of being a member of that society. Justice is the security and insurance protecting that investment. As a member of society when something goes wrong, a system is in place to deal with the wrong. When censure is factored into the equation, Justice becomes like a firewall or anti-virus on your computer, keeping members of society safely over here and the former members of society who have broken their contracts that are now a risk to a safe, secure society isolated from them. In a civilized society declaration of war or the execution of Justice are the only two legal and moral means the system can employ to restrict a person's right to "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness." Unsurprisingly, censure is one of the most easily abused and unbalanced aspects of Justice. Stripping a citizen of their rights, freedoms, and remaining liberties, making them a sub-citizen or non-citizen is a condition that should be reserved for only the most singularly significant threats to the safety and security of society as demonstrated by either the immense nature of their wrongdoing or their unrepentant history of continual wrongdoing. Far too often (in the use of censure) Justice careens off the track and crashes into something more closely resembling injustice, vindictiveness, or tyranny.
Rehabilitation: Reforming, reeducating, and reintegrating offenders into society
Rehabilitation ascribes to the philosophy that no one should be automatically seen as a lost cause, that all members of society are important to society even the ones that have been temporarily removed due to their wrongdoing, and that the primary role of Justice is to continually shape society into a more perfect version of itself. As such rehabilitation is somewhat at odds with the first 3 Pillars of Justice. Why? Because if you're giving someone the beating of their life, if you're beating that person bad enough to discourage anyone from doing what he or she did to incur your wrath, if you're beating them so badly his or her descendants to the third generation have traumatic memories of the beating, then you are probably not going to ever win that person back over to your side. In fact you should probably look over your shoulder and sleep with one eye open until that person converts to Buddhism, and even then you probably should remain vigilant. According to the high-minded individuals who came up with the idea of the penitentiary, the penitents would sit and contemplate how bad their actions were and how good they should have been, when they weren't being forced to do menial tasks or labor. However, when you factor in mandatory punishments, harsh sentences, harsher prison conditions, lack of societal care, lack of hope, and dim prospects of success upon possible reintegration it becomes more likely the institutionalized mind spends more of its time contemplating bitterness, survival, and additional acts of wrongdoing. This inverse reaction to a skewed application of Justice in tandem with societal factors external to the criminal justice system, leads to the levels of recidivism (repeat criminality) that plagues society and leads some to believe that rehabilitation is a lost cause. Recidivism, however, should not be seen as an indictment against rehabilitation itself.
The purpose of a society is to accomplish as a people what we cannot accomplish as an individual. As an individual one may or may not be able to forgive a wrongdoer for his or her actions, but if as a people a genuine opportunity presents itself to do just that, it must be seized. A productive, law-abiding citizen contributing to society and honoring his or her commitment to the social contract is preferable to the alternatives available if you removed rehabilitation from Justice. Not everyone can be or will be rehabilitated. Not all reform is genuine, not all reeducation sticks, and not all efforts at reintegration are successful. Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon society in the pursuit of Justice not to overlook opportunities to interject compassion, mercy, and forgiveness where it appears to be deserving. This allows for healing both for the wronged and the wrongdoer. Nothing good can grow sans healing, for without it society can only fester, decay, and die from its wounds.
Equity: Securing fairness
Fairness is the very foundation of the social contract, and for that reason it is no wonder it is so important to the concept of Justice. Depending on how you reckon the issue, achieving equity might be the most difficult and least realized component in the pursuit of Justice. As humans we are not clairvoyant, we cannot read minds or hearts, humans are not perfect, and no situation involving humans is perfect either. Despite this, the rules by which we govern ourselves must strive to be and do all these things. Creating equitable outcomes for all involved (the wronged, society, and the wrongdoer) is the hallmark that Justice has been served. A Just solution may not be an amiable or satisfying solution but it must be fair; otherwise, the system fails in totality.
Restoration: compensating victims of an offense
This is the most important pillar because it deals with the most personal part of the social contract. Whenever one individual violates his or her agreement one or more persons are harmed and thus, suffer a loss - even if that victim is only the offender his or herself. In order to maintain universal buy-in to the social contract, anyone who suffers a loss should be compensated for that loss, and rightfully so. No one should be forced to be incomplete due to the actions of another when the system can make that aggrieved person whole again. This is a perfectly reasonable notion, yet execution of Justice becomes problematic when one is made incomplete by a loss of life. How does an offender or the system make another person whole again after that, how do you compensate someone for the death of another? That damage cannot be undone scientifically or in any practical method of merit when weighed against the value of a human life. The Justice system has tried to assess a monetary value to a persons' life earnings, to their societal impact, to their emotional/spiritual value, yet no amount of money can replace someone or bring them back from the dead. Eternal censure through permanent incarceration or death has also been promoted as a mode of recompense, yet again - neither bring back nor replace the dead.
At some point a line has to be drawn between vengeance, the righteous and loving pursuit of Justice, and vindictiveness, the unbalanced and relentless misapplication of will in an effort to assuage fear, anger, pain, or shame. When someone has been thoroughly punished, their incarceration deters no one, they no longer need to be censured, they have been rehabilitated, the statute that keeps them incarcerated is not equitable, and neither they nor society can restore the victim - why continue to punish the reformed individual? Is that not the essence of "cruel and unusual?" When a statute no longer or never serves any one of the Pillars of Justice, Justice is no longer being served. The system creates a new victim, a political prisoner or worse a casualty, and the offender now becomes the State. This is Injustice.
Unfortunately, Justice cannot correct the societal ills which corrupt its efforts to be exact and precise, and it cannot correct itself without external force applied by passionate citizens. Far too often what passes for Justice is not fair, has little effect on criminality, and does too little towards making the offender and the wrongdoer whole again. However, with decisions like the Supreme Court decision and the Michigan decision we as a people have been given an opportunity to examine what motivates us in the pursuit of Justice, redress long-standing policies that have only left us socially and morally impoverished, and begin to repair a long broken criminal justice system. In the years to come, after thoughtful deliberation and planning, thousands of individuals residing in America's correctional system who made horrible mistakes as children and were once condemned to never exist outside the walls of a prison but have since reformed will be reintegrated back into society and given a second chance on life. This will not be a satisfying or amiable solution to many, but when those reformed individuals are made whole again Justice will be served.
Humankind has always sought explanations for the seemingly inexplicable. Why do we grow old and die? Why does the sun rise and set? Why did the wolf or the bear decimate the flock? Why do we have good crop years and bad crop years? Why do ships get lost at sea? Why did the village get swallowed up by the ground? And the quintessential, why do bad things happen to good people? To answer those whys historic humankind came up with: faith, God and gods, spirits, karma, luck, and fate or destiny. In time science answered a few whys, but perhaps the best answer rests somewhere in between, for imperfect creatures stuck within a system they can only observe from the inside out. When seeking an explanation or where to rest blame, maybe it is not the prudent course to settle upon that which provides the most comfort and or the fewest unanswered questions, rather that which illuminates the most truth. And here it is:
We live in a random, chaotic world controlled by imperfect people in which evil exists and misfortune can befall anyone at any time by mere happenstance exacerbated by the ignorance incompetence, neglect, or malice of others.
Evil, the willful and sometimes joyful predilection to do what is detrimental to the well-being of others, tips the odds heavily against everyone. Why? For two reasons. First, Evil is virulent. It spreads quickly, silently and its effects are both cumulative and exponential. Secondly, Evil is insidious and has an intelligence of its own. Evil, is a chameleon a master of disguise. It masterfully hides its agenda and true intentions, and you never see it coming. Long after it has left, you might never have realized it was ever there. Evil makes us focus on poltergeists and boogeymen -- things we will chase forever but never catch. All the while its favored, true agents of destruction go undetected, unharmed free to repeat the cycle at a future time of its choosing because once the ghost disappears, we think we have exorcised it, we congratulate ourselves, and we stop searching for the cause of why bad things happen.
Evil has a root cause, and it is the only thing in the Universe that can be created and destroyed. Evil is not a product of the existence of a Good force in the Universe, which must have an antithesis. Evil is not a gift from a malevolent being outside of the physical realm of existence. Evil was not loosed from a magical box thousands of years ago. No, Evil is created in the minds of people and grown in their hearts. It all begins with a thought, a tiny electro-chemical signal in your brain representing emotion, recognition, memory, or association. Your mind gives birth to an idea and it comes alive, and like and living entity it seeks its own survival. Therefore, it finds the one place in your being where it will be nurtured, protected, fed, and allowed to thrive and grow -- your heart. The heart is the seat of human motivation, more powerful to human survival than the mere autonomic center of the brain where a stray thought can get filed away and forgotten. In the heart, the most fleeting thought can become the strongest obsession nursed like an age-old un-healing wound. That is where Evil finds the soil to plant its seed in powerful motivating forces like: fear, anger, hate, lust, and even love.
Evil cannot be sanctioned. It cannot be bombed. It cannot be arrested. It cannot be imprisoned. It cannot be executed. It cannot be medicated. It cannot be legislated against. It cannot be banned. It cannot be preached a sermon. Destroy the host and Evil will be reborn in the mind of another. Destroy a martyr and Evil will reincarnate in the souls of millions. Evil can only be battled, and destroyed, where it is born and lives -- in the minds and hearts of humankind. It is not enough to safeguard our own minds and hearts against the insidious machinations of Evil, we have to inculcate the same diligence into our children -- the most fertile soil of them all. After our children, Evil seeks out the minds and hearts of the weak, elderly, infirm, and feeble; those whose minds are fractious and hearts ache. We must be our brother's keeper, but not our brother's lord or jailer. No, this is a solemn duty born of love, empathy, vigilance, and self-sacrifice knowing that at any moment the aforementioned happenstance could put the proverbial shoe on the other foot. We cannot relegate them to hoosegows under the fog of psychotropics while society moves on without them, for just like a fungus Evil still grows in the darkness hidden away from the light.
It is time to stop chasing boogeymen. We will never exorcise the true demon if we keep falling for its tricks. Bad things happen because some person with an Evil idea made it happen. Evil is not an inanimate thing, it is a living breathing, growing, and evolving entity. That's why it has stayed ahead of humanity all these centuries. Alcohol is not evil, drugs are not evil, capitalism is not evil, faith is not evil, firearms are not evil, anger is not evil, hate is not evil, sex is not evil -- what people think and do is Evil. The only thing that will stop bad things from happening, is correcting the thinking of every man, woman, and child on this Earth and remaining vigilant against ever letting Evil take root in our hearts again.
