We have long debated and decried death by drunk drivers. For a while now, we’ve been aware of problems in the military, both at the service academies and in the uniformed services as it relates to women as victims of rape. We have MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) and we have former President Obama and former Defense Chuck Secretary Hagel saying they are appalled by rape in the military and suggesting a policy of zero tolerance. Colleges are now faced with knowing that 20 percent of women on their campuses will be raped before they leave school and little or nothing will ever be done about it. Some of them appear to be ready to do something about this appalling statistic. Those are steps in the right direction but fall far short of what it will take to solve these problems.
What do these societal “problems” have in common? Does anyone seem to have the answer?
“Benchmarking” could supply the answer. In Sweden they have little or no problem with drinking and driving but they probably have roughly the same amount of alcohol consumed per capita as we do. That is because they have a zero tolerance approach with “teeth.” The penalties for breaking this law are so severe that people “don’t even think” of driving when they are drinking. We have laws against rape and drinking and driving. How come we don’t get results like Sweden? Thomas Jefferson said: “The execution of the laws is more important than the making of them.” And Ben Franklin said: “Laws to gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.” What can we learn from Sweden, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson?
I think we can learn that we need to avoid being insane or by definition “continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result.” We need to do something different and that needs to be a change in our culture. We change culture by stating the precept, explaining why it is true, and then having role models demonstrate the behavior and repeating that over and over again.
What does this mean from a practical standpoint?
When it comes to drunk drivers, we could probably just follow Sweden’s example. When caught, people immediately lose their car and their license. They have a right to appeal but they better have a very good defense or the penalty sticks.
When it comes to rape, the whole system needs to support the women or the victims and penalties need to be severe as in significant prison time and separation from the military with a dishonorable discharge and in the case of schools, dismissal and criminal prosecution. Bias should be in favor of the complainant so that potential perpetrators “don’t even think” of taking advantage of a woman. Administrators in the military (senior officers) and college presidents should be culpable and if found to have exhibited any failure to support vigorous compliance with the laws and follow-up should be judged as accomplices so they “don’t even think” of “looking the other way.”
Conclusions
Everything written and reported in the media should support these practices and our culture will change from one of generally tolerating these abhorrent behaviors to total and uncompromising rejection of those behaviors. That would change our national culture and fix these problems. Nothing short of total intolerance will. We’ve proved that.
What does this mean with regard to culture? We need a culture that recognizes women as coequals with men. This means that a rape is viewed as comparable to attempted murder since that is essentially what it is. And, in some ways, even worse since it leaves “scars” that are usually worse than an attempted murder.
Don Eckenfelder
Culture Quantified
