When did we become a society where cheating has become so acceptable and almost fashionable?

Everywhere we turn; we are hearing or reading about another incident of cheating. Pages and pages of examples of yet someone caught or accused of cheating.

Another headline; another cheater exposed.

Students caught cheating on their SATs. (They are “pressured” by parents to get into the best colleges)

Teachers caught cheating on their standardized testing of students. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/28/national/main580355.shtml The teachers “care too much, sometimes)

College professor caught cheating on their resume. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/10/20/BA186979.DTL Professor provided “inaccurate information”)

Wife caught cheating on husband. Husband caught cheating on wife. Each blames the other.

Politicians accused of stealing elections. ACORN accused of faking voter registrations. Sports teams accused of stealing opponents’ playbook. Coach accused of allowing the use of steroids among players. Players accused of using corked bats. Pitchers accused of using Vaseline on baseballs. Another college coach accused of cheating with recruit program. Alumni accused of funneling money to college players. EMTs accused of getting copy of state test to “study”. Firefighters accused of defrauding disability benefits. Mayor accused diverting tax money to campaign fund. City treasurer accused of taking over $100,000 dollars in tax money.

And on and on. Examples of cheating with no end in sight. Call it what you want-fraud, misappropriations, caring too much, inaccurate information, juicing, doping, adultery, bad decision, embellishing, plagiarism,  winning at all costs, spying, bribery, intimidation, looking the other way-but, it’s still cheating and most of it goes on without an appropriate, severe response to it.

I can remember when being called a “cheater” was grounds for a fistfight. It was a term that was so reviled that you didn’t say it, unless you could back it up with fists. But anymore, it would seem that you aren’t a cheater, unless you are caught! Where our conscience used to be the driving force behind our moral decisions, in today’s world, it is evident that you aren’t gaining if you aren’t cheating somehow to secure the desired end result. And when other people can see the benefits, they will risk the downside against getting caught.

But, where did it all start? When did we see the “warning signs” that would get us to where we are today?

Could it be traced back to Biblical times? Perhaps, we can go back to David and Goliath. Goliath came to the fight, believing that his size was going to beat his opponent. David showed up with a sling and some rocks. You know the saying: never bring a sword to a rock fight! David slue Goliath that day because he cheated? Or did he “out-smart” his opponent? Well; the Philistines would say that David cheated, but the Israelites would disagree. That would lend itself to my previous assertion that we “package” the cheating with candy for the brain; that is, we use less offensive terms to rationalize the act.

Could it have come from the days of the Old West when a gunslinger would carry two guns instead of one? Let’s face it; the days of the honorable “duel” between two combatants had been gone for some time (see Burr vs. Hamilton). It seems silly to me that two guys would face each other with the end result of one fatally shooting the other without one of them serpentining or dropping to the ground to take his shot at the other, but I digress.

I realize that the last two examples may be stretching it, but, to be honest, I am at a loss for where our society took that moral turn towards such dishonesty. You could cite several political figures during the past century alone where corruption/dishonesty/cheating were discovered after the fact.

And in today’s world, you can see more current examples each and every time you pick up a newspaper or turn on the television news.

Obviously, I am interested in how we behave as a national fire service and it bothers me to see cheating among our minions. A few years ago, Illinois was without a state EMT test, because some firefighters were caught cheating. It took just over two years to restore the test and its integrity.

More recently, a firefighter was caught on video at a bodybuilding competition, even though he was on disability from his fire department. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,386570,00.html) What does that say about him, his department and our national fire service if a swift response is not delivered? I understand that we live in a society where we are innocent until proven guilty, so an alleged case of fraud is pending. But, you have to admit (1) The firefighter was granted disability, (2) He was video-taped competing at a bodybuilding competition, (3) He didn’t get into that condition from being “disabled” and (4) You can’t blame his parents, fire department or doctor for such a brazen display of cheating.

We also have reports of cheating on firefighter exams. Although it is one of the keys to the door to the greatest job in the world, I don’t think that one should come by those “keys” by stacking the deck and slipping cards up their sleeves for the advantage. See related link: http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/cheating-discovered-in

There is no gene that exists in us that causes us to cheat. Cheating has to be taught and it has to be learned and that is where the effort to stomp it out has to start. The response to it has to be so strong as to discourage it from happening again. It has to be so powerful of a message that it tells others that are tempted to do so not to even THINK about it.

As long as we are willing to put a cute little tag on it and make it more palatable to swallow, it will continue to grow into a much bigger monster than it is today.

As long as we accept cheating in the most innocuous forms such as cheating the speed limit, cheating the stoplight, cheating on our training, cheating our bodies of physical conditioning and good diet, cheating our SOGs and cheating our taxpayers, we will continue to see a rising problem with few remedies.

Winners never cheat and cheaters never win?

I’m not convinced at this point.

Are you?

TCSS.

Art

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