By John Chandler
Big news in my small county: one of our local deputies was recently arrested for DUI and speeding while off-duty. Many in our community were quite upset at the offense, and those who knew the officer-turned-offender knew that he had been a real stickler for the rules — apparently until he broke them himself.
Perhaps this is just big news because we are a small county. (We have only one stop light in the entire county. To be fair, we also now feature a traffic circle.) Otherwise, there is nothing newsworthy in public hypocrisy. A 2011 Florida study of nearly 4,000 officers found that nearly 800 of them had driven at speeds of 90 to 130 miles per hour in off-duty or non-emergency situations. And you want to get me for 60 in a 55?
Allowing for personal exceptions to the rules, however, is not just a police issue; it’s a wide cultural trend. A 2012 obesity study of 500 physicians found that 38 percent were themselves overweight (versus 33 percent of the general population). Retailers long know that the prime culprits of shoplifting aren’t customers, but those who work for the company. You don’t have watch out for the greedy shoppers as much as for the “loyal” employees. Political philosophers are no more likely to vote than other professors. And two Journal of Philosophical Psychology research studies concluded, “On no issue did ethicists show unequivocally better behavior than the two comparison groups.” They even tended to permanently “borrow” and not return more delinquent library books.
So while headlines frequently emerge of preachers behaving badly, it’s not just a preacher problem. It’s much deeper than that. My diagnosis is that it is the natural outcome of a society where the individual is paramount. “I’m special. I’m unique. I know the rule, but the rule is for the unwashed masses.”
Ultimately, this leads to the championing of those who triumphantly soar above the rules, breaking convention, defying taboo, pushing the edges of social mores, outrageously pushing the envelope — you get the picture.
Few are hoping for a legalist paradise where “a rule is always a rule” and you get a ticket for jaywalking on a deserted street at 2 a.m. But when every rule is subject to its violation by the special, then perhaps our culture is in a good place to hear a compelling story of natural law, to see evidence of behavioral morality, and to witness the power of leaders and communities who practice exactly what they preach.