Xenophobia and Punishment
It's time for another of Jonathan's vaguely political/cultural criticism posts! I promise not to get too rabid…
Listening a few weeks ago to a discussion on NPR about the challenges of educating black youth in the United States, I was struck by the comment of one of the experts. We know what to do in order to solve this problem, he said. We simply lack the will to do it.
His comment got me thinking. Is this really the case? And if so, what are the reasons underlying that lack of will? Two related answers came to mind: xenophobia — fear of the other, or more generally thinking in terms of "us versus them" — and a mentality that's oriented toward punishing people for poor behavior rather than teaching them to do better.
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One of the besetting sins in The Book of Mormon was division among the people: poor versus rich, learned versus unlearned, members of different religions versus nonmembers, and perhaps above all, division among those of different ethnic and cultural background (i.e., Nephites versus Lamanites). Even after almost 200 years of living in peace as one united people following the coming of Jesus Christ to the American continent following his death and resurrection, when the people became wicked again the old fracture lines opened back up.
Mormon doctrine teaches that all of us are literal offspring of God, a common heritage that should make irrelevant any lesser divisions based on mortal ancestry. Missionary work, redemption of the dead, the evidence of the Book of Mormon that God has spoken to many different peoples at many different times — all are powerful evidence that God's hand is outstretched equally to all people.
In contrast, it appears to be a nearly universal human pattern to divide people up between "us" and "them" — whoever "us" may be. Interacting with those who are different from us is uncomfortable — and so we look for reasons not to do so. Once we've done that, it becomes all too easy to demonize those who belong to "them." I've seen it in multiple places over the past year — in politics, in arguments over homosexuality and the Mormon Church, even in discussions about different types of literature. And I've seen it on all sides of those arguments.
This, I think, is part of the "natural man" mentioned in scripture which all of us must learn to overcome. In particular, we need to learn not to assume that those of a different group from ourselves are lacking in goodwill or intelligence. I think that if we could honestly do that, it would make a vast difference in the tone of our public discourse, and more importantly in the ways we interact with each other individually.
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My belief that we tend to obsess about punishment is based on observations in a variety of areas, ranging from how America has conducted much of our foreign policy over the last 10 years to the rhetoric of this past election. Mostly, though, it comes from my perception that in areas such as education, crime prevention, and poverty, we as Americans seem more heavily invested in determining whether people's problems are their own fault — in which case we feel justified in telling them it's their job to fix it — as opposed to doing things that we actually know from experience will make things better.
I can't help but think this is based in a kind of magical thinking: that punishment and reward, by themselves, are sufficient to bring about change — and that if they aren't, it's the person's own fault. Perhaps America's current love affair with the notion of a market economy, where profit and loss are seen not only as outcomes but as driving forces in change, has something to do with this. In any event, it's not a position that's well supported by gospel teaching, which (among other things) typically emphasizes the importance of teaching at least as much as punishment — and specifically condemns those who refrain from helping others on the grounds that they brought it on themselves (see Mosiah 4:16-23).
Being a parent has taught me that unless and until children are taught how to do something, all the rewards and punishments in the world won't change their behavior in any desirable ways. Systems aimed at enforcing justice through punishment and reward are hollow at best. If our true goal is for people to improve, our focus won't be on finding out whose fault it is or trying to find reasons why we're not required to help. Instead, we'll be asking what actions on our part can make the biggest positive difference. And that, once again, would lead to a vast change in how we deal with each other, both collectively and individually.
This is something many of us, I think, have learned about those who are most near and dear to us. We may punish our children at times, but we know that if it stops there, no good will be done. We have to provide positive guidance and reinforcement as well. (I'm reminded of the rule from John Gottman's research that any healthy marriage must have at least five times as much positive as negative interaction.) It's much easier, though, not to apply those lessons when it comes to members of other groups.
Bringing this back to the question of educating black boys: we know there are certain things that actually work to help them become better educated. We know these lead to better results down the road, not just for the boys themselves (better jobs, happier and more successful lives) but for society as a whole (less crime, more social and economic stability). Yet we're unwilling to do the things that will make that positive difference — some of which require a fair amount of money, and some of which don't — in part at least because we feel that it's unfair that "we" should have to pay for something that's "their" fault, or that could be seen as a special privilege for them. We're hung up on a rather juvenile notion of fairness, instead of looking at the common (and individual) good.
Another example: bilingual education. I haven't looked at the evidence myself, but I understand that experts in this field have found fairly consistently that teaching students in their native language at the same time they're learning English leads to better educational outcomes — and helps them learn English better. Yet bilingual education is vastly unpopular in some areas, even to the point of having been prohibited by state law. Why? Because "they're in the United States; they should learn English or leave!" Because "we shouldn't have to pay for it!" We cut off our noses to spite our faces, focusing on the rights and wrongs of the situation (often wrongly, in my opinion, but that's a different issue) rather than thinking about what actions on our part will lead to the best outcome.
It's not just a matter of cost. In fact, sometimes throwing money at a problem can be a substitute for getting down and dirty with trying to come up with actual solutions. We want to keep others at arms' length, either because they're different from us (and thus uncomfortable) or because we don't know how to solve their problems — or because getting involved with people at the level needed to help them with their lives means more work on our part.
One of the things I remember from being a missionary is that you can't hold people at arms' length and expect to make a difference in their lives. Inevitably, making a difference in someone else's life means opening up yourself to let them make a difference in your own life, whether positive or negative. That's something we resist — I as much as anyone. Meaningful interaction with other people — the kind that can lead to positive changes in their lives — is likely to change us as well. That's something we generally try to avoid.
Hence my perception that this is a two-part problem. We see people as "other," attempting to distance them from ourselves. And we uphold a notion where other people's actions and their consequences are a closed system, apart from us — and thus involving no obligations on our part. All of which would be well and good, except that it flies in the face of everything we know about how to create a healthy and happy society. Not to mention everything we know about the kind of people Jesus wants us to be, in imitation of Him.
