Judgment, Justification and Jive

I just learned a new term this week: Altruistic Punishment. I unintentionally discovered it when I read a book review for "Trial by Fury" related to the Amanda Knox case.

Experiments show that when some people punish others, the reward part of their brain lights up like a Christmas tree. It turns out we humans avidly engage in something anthropologists call “altruistic punishment.”

It roughly states that we, as human beings, seek to punish people who did not directly hurt us, but who have gone against socially accepted norms, or are perceived to have just done something WRONG.  Altruistic punishment refers to the desire to punish those deemed deserving of such and the motivation for the punishment is that these people have committed a crime against the social norms of the community, therefore the desire to punish them is justified.

As I looked for more information, I realized that there is a wealth of information related to altruistic punishment and the most telling for me and for the purpose of this post is this quote from an article in the Science section of the New York Times:

"...in the Jan. 10 issue of the journal Nature, Dr. Ernst Fehr of the University of Zurich and Dr. Simon Gachter of the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland offer evidence that people will seek to punish a cheat even when the punishment is costly to them and offers no material benefit -- the very definition of altruism. The researchers propose that the threat of such punishment may have been crucial to the evolution of human civilization and all its concomitant achievements."

To think of punishment as the flip side of compassion is quite new to me. 

Of course, punishing people for their “wrongness”, if you will, is the purpose of law, but it this case, I'm talking about social punishment which has, it seems to me, at least 3 components; seeking to punish based on a judgment (based on a sense of right and wrong, good or bad), then a justification for that judgment, and finally, the jive of making all of that fit together as if we’re doing the right thing by actively seeking to punish someone.

We, as Christian people, are told in no uncertain terms and in a very direct way, that it is not our job to judge others (there are many other verses, as well, but these popped into my head first)

Luke 6:37

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; 

condemn not, and you will not be condemned;

 forgive, and you will be forgiven"

Matthew 7:5 

You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye,

and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from

your brother's eye. 

We quickly can ignore this, however, when we feel that someone has acted against one, or more, of the Ten Commandments. Commonly experienced, however, is that the chosen Commandment is usually one that reinforces social norms rather than reflecting the bigger picture of the Biblical story of love.

For instance, alongside with “Thou Shalt Not Murder” is “Thou Shalt Not Lie”. Other than Bill Clinton, how many people are dragged over the coals for an untruth or white lie? What about “Honor Thy Father and Mother”. If your parents wanted you to be a doctor and you’re a retail sales clerk, have you dishonored them? Should you be punished for that?

The point I’m trying to make is that we selectively choose rights and wrongs based on our cultural leanings, often ignoring one to choose another that is more in line with our accepted “social norms”. In doing so, we can justify these judgments indefinitely by creating a kind of hierarchy of “better than/worse than” scenarios. For instance, to kill someone is worse than lying to someone, or lying to someone to exploit resources from them is worse than killing a convicted rapist. Stealing seems to have a bit of leeway, for instance Jean Valjean in Les Miserables had to steal to feed his family, but should we kill him for it? Isn’t there a bit of “give” when we think an act is justified?

I’m beginning to believe that this is why we are instructed NOT to judge others; the criteria is not consistent, the justifications are malleable and the jive is, well, jive.

None of us are free from the desire to mete out punitive vengeance on another person, especially one who is deemed to have done WRONG.

None of us are immune to the desire to punish others for their real or perceived wrongdoings; even the most gentle soul may happily applaud a lengthy prison sentence given to an animal abuser. 

I've been mulling over this issue for quite some time and there are no quick and easy answers. Many people who know me well know that I have a very tight list of “rights” and “wrongs”. It is wrong to hit children, abuse another person (verbally, emotionally or physically) ESPECIALLY spouses and children, it is wrong to be lazy, it is wrong to not work to take care of your family, it is wrong to waste money, it is wrong to take advantage of systems meant to help, it is wrong to take advantage of our skin color, status, or educational attainment to elevate ourselves above others…I could go on and on. I have lots of beliefs about right and wrong BUT…

I’m learning. 

I’m learning that those are rights and wrongs for ME and how I should act; I cannot impose my beliefs on other people. It’s not my job. The only person’s actions I can control are my own and it is not for me to seek punishment for those who do things that I believe to be wrong. This of course also means that it is not anybody else’s social job to judge and punish me for a deed, real or perceived,  based on cultural bias, open to interpretation or easily justified with the same jive talking that makes it easy to judge the act in the first place.

This is not to say that there are not "good" behaviors and "bad" behaviors, but in this changing world of increased equality, globalization, and technological changes, maybe we need to work on the skills of dialogue, understanding and respect. Maybe we should strive for an elevated sense of humanity - one that doesn't grab onto the fastest, easiest answers and assumptions; maybe a more love-based humanity. Maybe like the one Jesus talked about.

Social norms have always changed. What was once good for the community may or may not be today. One thing is certain, social norms will continue to change and evolve, people are more mobile and interconnected than ever before. Power structures are shifting. In light of these leaps and shifts, perhaps we should be aware that often our deep seated desires to punish others are based on limited cultural concepts of right and wrong, good and bad. Maybe we need to learn to communicate, to listen and to seek understanding. And then either let the courts handle it or give it to God, but I think we have better things to do.