Why Do We Reward Negative Behavior?

By: Terry Mitchell
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:24:52
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More and more, we are becoming a society that rewards and reinforces negative behavior. Then we wonder why bad habits and negative behavior are so prevalent! People who play within the rules rarely get a reward or an incentive to continue to do so, while those who break the rules and/or are always stretching them to the max to are pampered and coddled.

April 17 was "tax day" this year (since the 15th and 16th fell on a weekend) and, as usual, there were plenty of post offices around the county that stayed in until midnight to accommodate last-minute filers. What could those postmasters possibly have been thinking? Why do they reward procrastinators? This only encourages them. If I were a postmaster, my post office would close promptly at five o'clock on "tax day", just as it does any other day. And those silly local TV news "reporters" are even worse. Many of them in my area provided coffee and doughnuts to last-minute filers. Where were the coffee and doughnuts when I filed my return back in February?

People who are poor money managers and/or who won't pay their bills on time or even at all get rewarded as well. Many "debt counseling" and bankruptcy lawyers proudly advertise the fact that they can get people out their debts for "pennies on the dollar." Funny thing, I always pay my bills on time and have to pay a dollar on the dollar!

Teenagers who are sexually promiscuous are always getting a hand from the powers that be. They are constantly being given free condoms and tips on "safe sex." When and if they do contract a sexual transmitted disease (in spite of all the free help to prevent just that), they are given free medical treatment and counseling. Those who become pregnant have someone sent to their home to make sure they don't fall behind during the time they are out of school. Now, compare this to those teenagers who behave themselves and practice abstinence. What kind of handouts or freebies do they get? The only thing I see them getting is ridicule.

People who have ruined their lives with drug and alcohol abuse get all kinds of assistance from the government. Many of them are excused from having to work and are given Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and food stamps in lieu of a job. Also, they are often provided subsidized or low rent housing as well as Medicaid (basically free medical care and prescription drugs). Those of us who don't ruin our lives and actually work for a living consider ourselves lucky to get a small tax break once in while. Even then, those who are always getting the handouts are the first to complain and say it isn't fair.

I think we ought to try a bold new experiment. We should reward those who behave well and punish (or least withhold rewards from) those who behave badly. I can't help believing that would result in more positive behavior and less negative behavior.

Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, amateur political analyst, and blogger from Hopewell, VA. On his blog - http://commenterry.blogs.com - he posts commentaries on various subjects such as politics, technology, religion, health and well-being, personal finance, and sports. His commentaries offer a unique point of view that is not often found in mainstream media.

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