Hindsight from The New Gun Week September 1, 1999
Do Unto Others
by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
Almost every week these days we have one or more incidents in which previously uncommon crimes have become increasingly common.
Last month alone, we have had the shootings in Atlanta, Pelham, AL, and Los Angeles. Taken together with the recent string of school murders, all appear to be senseless and random acts of violence that give further evidence that our society is in deep trouble.
Many politicians and media pundits rush to blame guns and want to further restrict access to, and private possession of, firearms, by law-abiding citizens. Even when they admit that their proposed new gun laws would not have prevented the recent shootings like the one at Littleton, CO, in April, and even when they admit that other factors are involved, they still blame the guns first.
They argue that even though the assailants in all of these cases may have acted for unexplainable reasons, they would not have been able to kill or injure so many victims had it not been for guns.
People who stop to reason, realize that these violent and shocking acts are far less common than the extensive media coverage suggests, and recognize that they are still more common than years ago when guns were even more accessible than they are today. When viewed from a historical perspective, it is evident that even worse school and community mass murders have been committed in the US by means of fire, an even older tool of humankind than gunpowder.
Avoiding the Answer
Clearly something has been changing in our society that most people want to avoid talking about.Several years ago, while discussing the nature of modern crime and particularly juvenile crime with a police chief, he said that he could put his finger on the problem in one word: respect.
He expanded on that word by discussing a general attitude of disrespect for other people, social conventions and law by both adults and juveniles. He noted that you could see it in minor infractions like running red lights and the hogging of disabled parking places by the hale and healthy. In large measure, he felt that a common disrespect for other people, their property, and their individual rights was at the root of much of the larger and more serious crimes.
Some of what is his homespun analysis rang especially true when New York City's serious crime index dropped dramatically following a police crackdown on minor "quality of life" crimes. All of which suggests that that little things matter a lot.
Rudeness on Rise
While musing on these thoughts for this column, I came across a report that workplace civility has gone downhill in the past 10 years. This fact comes to us through a new study unveiled at a business management conference. The researchers say men are mostly to blame, but let's look a little further.Although men and women are targets of disrespect and rudeness in equal numbers, the researchers say men instigate the rudeness 70% of the time, according to an Associated Press report.
"Our goal is to make organizations aware of this," said study co-author Christine Pearson, a management professor at the University of North Carolina business school. "You can calculate the costs."
Pearson pointed to several broad societal forces as possible reasons for all the ill will: downsizing; the growing pressure to "do more with less," and technology-which allows workers to "zap people anonymously."
Twelve percent of the people who experience rude behavior quit their jobs to avoid the perpetrator, the researchers found. Fifty-two percent reported losing work time worrying and 22% deliberately decreased their work effort.
The study, "Workplace Incivility: The Target's Eye View," was presented in early August at the Academy of Management's annual convention in Chicago. The authors interviewed and surveyed 1,400 workers and generated a list of suggestions to improve the workplace culture.
The majority of those interviewed, 78%, said incivility has worsened in the past 10 years. The authors also found that rude people are three times more likely to be in higher positions than their targets.
And, Pearson said, men are seven times more likely to be rude or insensitive to underlings than to superiors.
Women are equally rude to superiors and subordinates, the study found.
Jane Dutton, a University of Michigan professor who wasn't involved in the study, said its most important finding was "to make concrete the costs of these small acts of disrespect."
For companies and managers, she recommends a quick response to disrespectful acts, setting parameters for behavior, training and feedback.
Beyond Workplace
The study and the comments of the management professionals who were quoted don't appear to go far enough. Why stop with just the workplace? We might all benefit from a better understanding of the components of respectful interaction with others.Related to this subject is the issue of understanding our universal individual responsibility and obligation to society and the nation as a whole. One aspect of this that appears to have been lost involves the experience of service through the draft and the military. We haven't had a draft and service requirement for over 25 years.
We still have a requirement that young men between 18 and 25 register with the Selective Service Board, but there hasn't been a draft for service. There always were a number of inequities in the draft system, but there was a sense of duty involved whose loss may be partly responsible for the lack of respect for others.
Congress is currently discussing whether or not to reinstate the draft in order to insure that the military services meet their strength requirements. Indeed, there are conflicting proposals in Congress, at least one of which would also abolish the Selective Service System.
Universal military service may not be the answer to the respect problem, and could have unexpected and unwelcome consequences. But if Congress is considering such issues, maybe they should look at the whole concept of service to the nation-for civilian purposes as well as military.
During World War II, over 10 million Americans were drafted. More than 1.5 million were drafted into military service during both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.
One Commandment
Most of those veterans who survived and returned have contributed to society afterwards in almost every walk of life, including education, business, law-enforcement and religious orders. Whatever their later civilian occupation, they demonstrated respect for their families and neighbors, their communities, the government and the law. During their service they learned to live with, trust and respect people of vastly different social backgrounds, races and religions.Universal service may be the hard way to teach the necessary lessons about respect for others. Perhaps Congress could help instead of pushing more gun control on the law-abiding, or even promoting the whole Ten Commandments, which seems controversial.
As a compromise I'd suggest just one commandment: the Golden Rule. The President could even whip up some commercials like the ones he has just launched about youthful violence.
However you state that commandment, it comes down to the same thing. For our purposes here we will suggest that it might read, "Treat others the way you want them to treat you."
The New Gun Week is published three times a month by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) on the 1st, 10th, and 20th. Hindsight is a commentary written by SAF President and Gun Week Executive Editor Joseph P. Tartaro. This commentary may be reprinted so long as credit is given to the author and the publication. For more information or to subscribe, write Gun Week, PO Box 488, Buffalo, NY 14209, or call 716-885-6408 Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, or inquire on Compuserve to John Krull, Production manager-JohnSAF@Compuserve.com or gunweeksaf@broadviewnet.netAlso, check out the New Gun Week at http://www.GunWeek.com