The audio version of this podcast can be found at https://anchor.fm/midnightsleo.
The topics of idealism and cynicism come up a lot in law enforcement circles – often as if they are opposites. I think there’s a better way to look at it….
Now that I’ve started to line up interviews and consider topics for this podcast, I am reminded how law enforcement is truly a subgroup of the larger society. In sociology, a subgroup is two or more humans who interact and share similar characteristics. A subgroup might be temporary – such as people bonding while waiting at a bus stop or as they might face a shared, passing problem such as long lines at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Yet when people share the same social function or status, or cultural, ethnic, or racial identities and challenges, those social bonds might become more profound and lasting. As a social subgroup grows in a sense of unity, both positive and negative communal behavior patterns and outlooks can result.
For example, look at law enforcement. Most officers view themselves as set apart from others in their community due to the special nature and challenges of their shared vocation. Over time, they might start to isolate from those outside their law enforcement group. This might not be intentional. Perhaps they grow tired of answering what they view as stupid questions about policing, or they have heard one to many stories while attending a party about another cop who gave someone a ticket ten years ago. And as we have seen recently – much as in the 60s and 70s – some people can lump all of law enforcement together and therefore hate all those associated with law enforcement…the “all cops are bastards” crowd. These kind of people have always been around, but at times of social turmoil and disorganization, they can feel more safe about coming to the fore with their opinions if not attacks. Negative consequences during such periouds can grow less likely, and so such people can grow more bold.
As humans, as social beings, officers will likely start to more strongly identify and socially bond with those who share in this law enforcement experience over time than with others who do not. This law enforcement subgroup can affirm a sense of self-value and clear purpose. It can become a place of protection if not escape. That’s likely why some bars become “cop bars” over time. I’m going to reveal my age again. It’s much like the theme song to the old sitcom Cheers, “Sometimes you want to go; Where everybody knows your name; And they’re always glad you came; You want to be where you can see; Our troubles are all the same.”
So on one hand, subgroups or subcultures can be positive. They create a place of refuge and strength. Take for example what happens after an officer dies. Brothers and sisters in law enforcement grieve with the members of the suffering agency. More than that, they likely take up collections and send all kinds of support. At the same time, such a strong identity can lead to problems if we are not careful. Isolation can lead to group think. Unchallenged, unhealthy attitudes can take root and create a faulty lens for us as we look out on the world. Almost like an infection, negativity and hopelessness spreads. You might hear things like: “Everything is terrible.” “No one can be trusted.” “We are the only ones who care for one another.” This mindset is not reality. It is black and white thinking…the same thinking many addicted people develop in the greater society often leading them to make poor if not harmful choices. And yet time and again, I see law enforcement personnel fall into that same trap. If you look at officers who end up in legal or marital trouble, you often don’t have to look very hard to discover they might just share in this black and white, cynical, doomsday kind of thinking. Indeed, departments that tend to have scandals and corruption often share this trait among its employees.
Cops are humans, and much like those addicts, we have a choice to be healthy or not. It is not always easy, but it always remains possible. We need to strive to see ourselves and our world as it really is. It isn’t all unicorns and rainbows, nor is it all dark and dangerous. A healthy worldview, I would suggest, is in the middle someplace…and as humans, we might find ourselves on a sliding continuum of sorts based on our resiliency factors, liabilities and context. I also want to suggest there is no one, linear model reflecting all officers’ experiences. Everyone is different, and conditions and healthy practices may change causing us to switch directions suddenly or over time.
So, we might seem to bounce from one phase to another dramatically, or we might find that we have the means to stay relatively balanced toward the center of the scale. In the best case scenario, we will have the resiliency factors – including support networks in and outside of policing – to help maintain what people might label a more positive (if not healthy) well-rounded attitude about life. In general, though, I find four basic points on that sliding scale. I’ve identified them based on my personal experience in my own life as an officer and afterward, plus research, as well as study of what I consider scripture. I call these points: idealist – skeptic – cynic – scoffer or fool.(1)
When I bring up the idealist, I’m thinking a lot about my first shift, my first arrest, and the many positive men and women who helped me have a great (if relatively short) law enforcement career. Many people go into policing because they want to help people. Perhaps they have suffered or faced injustices themselves, and so they now want to protect others from the same fate. None of that is bad in and of itself, but soon the real-world breaks in. Our sense of call is going to be challenged by people and events we encounter. We were idealistic and perhaps a bit naïve when we started, but now we begin to wonder: “Why don’t people like me? Why won’t they respect me? I’m here to help.” Yet, after a few weeks or less, we discover the truth. The world is a complicated place. It is not easily controllable, and the line between evil and good can easily become blurred. On top of that, you might start to suspect you can’t easily trust anyone. You can arrive on a scene to help someone who is injured and be met by insults, rocks and bottles, or worse. Day after day, facing people who might deceive you – in order to hurt you or others – well, that can wear you down. It can begin to defeat that idealism and transform it into something else for good or ill.
I would suggest that a healthy skepticism is an answer to this conundrum. Most faith traditions – Christian or not – understand we live in an imperfect world with imperfect people. In my tradition, Martin Luther used to talk about people being “bent inwards upon themselves.” We all tend to be selfish or at least struggle with selfishness. If you are a member of the Abrahamic faith traditions – Jewish, Christian, or Islamic – we often talk about this as a fallen world. And so, as a person in a fallen world, I recognize that even people who love me might fail me at times, just as I might fail them. We are only human after all. We can do everything right, but raindrops and sunlight fall on the just and unjust alike. Bad things can happen to good people. It is a dangerous world, and some people echo that danger in the choices they make…but other choices are possible. Some people can be trusted. Some people will even actually do their best to try to love you. And so being a healthy skeptic, like a scientist, we observe and test. We don’t have to trust people suddenly or blindly, even as we can hope for the best. We can take proper safety precautions and be ready for things to break bad, but we don’t have to be on – hyper alert – at all times…in every place and social situation. We can still sit facing the doorways at restaurants. We can be aware of people keep their hands. We can keep proper distances from people as we talk to them. We can even ask for backup…but we don’t have to assume everyone is evil. A healthy skeptic in my construct is a person that knows evil exists in the world, but they aren’t themselves consumed by it or the fear of such evil. They know and trust good exists in the world. That goodness can even start within their own life.
Another stop on this sliding continuum is the cynic. Some people suggest cynicism promotes safety.(2) Yet again, I would identify for our purposes that a healthy skepticism and cynicism is not the same thing. We are talking of modern cynicism, not the Greco-Roman philosophical approach. An online article in Psychology today explains this pretty well: “’Cynicism’ acquired its modern meaning in the course of the 18th and early 19th centuries, stripping Ancient Cynicism of most of its tenets and retaining only the Cynic propensity to puncture people’s pretensions. Today, cynicism refers to doubt or disbelief in the professed motives, sincerity, and goodness of others, and, by extension, in social and ethical norms and values. This attitude is often accompanied by mistrust, scorn, and pessimism about others and humanity as a whole.” Did you catch that? The modern cynic is a doubter if not a downer to an extreme. They tend not to trust anyone, and as a result they often think the worst of everyone. They often feel like victims. And so, the risk here becomes beginning to rationalize one’s own cutting of moral and ethical corners. “Everyone else does it, so why not you?” You, the listener, might feel like life is like that for you at times. I did at one time, but in the end, I discovered that it left me bitter and self-isolated…suffering needlessly…prone to making choices not helping but hurting myself and others.
Such bad choices, perhaps originally meant to protect us, can do harm in subtle ways at first, but trust me, they can prove to be cumulative. I’ve got stories that I will probably later share, but research bears this view out. The world is not all bad even as it might be fallen and dangerous. Being on the defensive from all harm will likely leave a person bitter, alone, and perhaps addicted to unhealthy relationships, alcohol, gambling, or who knows what else over time. Cynicism can put one at risk of depression, if not suicidal ideation. It can impact blood pressure and other areas of one’s health if we don’t somehow get a grip…and what we need to grip onto might just be another imperfect but loving human’s hand.
The last group on my scale is the scoffer or fool. I’m using some Biblical language here from my Judeo-Christian tradition, so let me try to explain. In the Hebrew scriptures, a righteous person was a person who tried to live in the ways of God…they sought to follow God’s laws and precepts because they trust that, although the road can be hard, it is the right road for them. These are the decision points needing to be made, based on loving morals and ethics, that will (we believe) lead to happiness no matter what others might say. In fact, even as things might prove tough, this person believes one will find joy on the journey in doing the right thing and in pleasing one’s understanding of God, one’s higher power. Or, one might even dare say we find joy in just fulfilling the law of love no matter what consequences might result.
This construct I am suggesting need not be solely a Judeo-Christian one. In my work among Native populations, as they use their own religious beliefs, I heard people speak of following the Red Road, a road of traditional, loving, spiritual, communal, and practical practices and choices, to free themselves from addiction. Most faith traditions and philosophical paradigms try to help people orient toward what is deemed good – often loving others as oneself. Yet, in the Bible scoffers and fools choose another way. They make themselves the god of their destiny regardless of how many times their choices fail them, or no matter who else gets hurt. And if you are silly enough to want to love others in your choices? Well, they say YOU are the fool.
Now, we all can struggle at times with any of these points on the scale. There might be a constant sliding as we mature, or we might have experienced a point on this scale during a prolonged period of our lives before moving into another. Yet for the moment, let’s consider those who might find themselves acting similarly to a scoffer or fool – at least at the moment they face difficulty.
There’s a prophet recognized in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions name Habakkuk (also pronounced Hab-a-cook by some). We don’t know a great deal about him, but as he was called to represent God amidst a foolish people….people rejecting a life of love (as I just described…he struggled. In the face of a community being torn apart by selfishness and division, also amidst the threat of imminent invasion by Babylon, and as he himself was condemned for trying to live in hope…Habakkuk questioned God. In Habakkuk Ch. 1, verses 2-5 of the Hebrew scriptures, it reads:
“O Lord, how long shall I cry; And You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” And You will not save. Why do You show me iniquity, And cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; There is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless, And justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore perverse judgment [God’s unfair judgement in Habakkuk’s eyes] proceeds.”
Then, the Lord replies:
“Look among the nations and watch — Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you.”
In short, much like the best friends of God like Habakkuk, a prophet, or even those who look for a healthier road, or those who have any kind of spiritual, positive faith…we all can struggle with doubt at times. Yet then, let’s compare the scoffer, the fool, who is drowning in their doubt and accusation. For them, there is no hope. All is lost. All is bad…except what they deem is good for them. An internet, bible resource called Got Questions, explains it this way:
“The word translated ‘scoffer’ in English can mean ‘one who mocks, ridicules, or scorns the belief of another.’ In Hebrew, the word translated ‘scoffer’ or ‘mocker’ can also mean ‘ambassador.’ So, a scoffer is one who not only disagrees with an idea, but he also considers himself an ambassador for the opposing idea. He cannot rest until he has demonstrated the foolishness of any idea not his own. A scoffer voices his disagreement, ridicules all who stand against him, and actively recruits others to join his side. In the Bible, scoffers are those who choose to disbelieve God and His Word. They say in their hearts, ‘There is no God’ (Psalm 14:1), and make it their ambition to ridicule those who follow God.”
For our purposes, a true scoffer or fool is one who tends to ridicule — if not hate —those who they deem are against them…often anyone, no matter a person of faith or not, who dares believe goodness can exist in the world and dares to desire to act like it. Unfortunately, I’ve run into too many of these within the law enforcement community. If an officer or other first responder, I expect you can think of a few candidates too.(3)
Yet with all that said, not even the scoffer or fool need remain stuck. No matter who we are or what period of life we might be going through, wherever we might be on the scale, help remains always available. When I ran into trouble as a cop a few years in, other more senior and mature officers including some in the administration noticed something was up, and they tried to help and encourage me. They pointed me to resources and acted as my friend. These officers actually helped me become who I am today, although nothing so grand was their intention. Yet they did help, so I always give God thanks for them and my experiences. (And now, that experience is a big part of why I volunteer as a police chaplain today – to try to love as I have been loved, and pass that same hope on to others.)
So, I encourage officers – anyone really – to use the signs of grace around them. If you had a mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual tool kit, what tools might be available to you? What might help you? Who might help you? Would counseling, a mentor, or a spiritual director be a resources? Could exercise or prescribed medication be the missing piece or part in need of attention if not repair? Could visiting with old friends or family – not just your law enforcement family – or volunteering among hopeful people be able to help you see beyond your police experience? (An experience where we often face a disproportionate amount of evil and suffering.) There’s a wide variety or methodologies out there as well as people available through your Employee Assistance Program, Wellness Team, chaplains, local faith communities, and among family and friends. These people are out there ready to help you and support you in becoming and staying at your best.
And if you try something and it isn’t a great fit? Try something else or reach out to another expert in the field, or in the community of faith, or a friend – whatever you like. Options always exist, and you need not ever get stuck. People do want to love and support you in this very difficult profession. That’s why I am here, and why I’ve made this podcast. If this podcast were only to help you and no one else, for me, that would be well worth all my time and effort. You are worth it, and what you do in service matters.
Endnotes:
(1) In calling someone a scoffer or fool in this construct, I suggest that this condition might be due to unhealthy thinking or choices over time. I am not referring to actual intelligence.
(2) I plan to address cynicism and safety in more detail in a later post and podcast. In my construct, a healthy skeptism is superior to cynacism. A healthy skeptic is not naive to danger and acts according to best practices of safety training, always alert to the possibilty of danger and ready to respond as trained. If danger comes, they tend to be less stressed, healthier and thus better able to identify their options and respond appropriately. They tend to act according to their training and circumstance rather than emotionally react. Feeling doubt and extreme suspicion about all humanity, as well as being prone to negative interpretations of their circumstances, a cynic might over anticipate if not be obsessessed by the possibility of resistance or violence. Not only can such attitudes impact personal health, they can create risk for becoming stuck in one’s alert state. Also troubling, some research has suggested that such a person might at times overcompensate with unnecessarily aggressive tactics and use of force. As you will often hear me say, healthier, better adjusted officers tend to perform better in their duties and offend less.
(3) The scoffer (or fool) in this construct is not necessarily without worldly knowledge or wisdom, but they are likely wounded by their experience in the world if not suffering from signs of burn out. They tend to be cynical and self-protective to an extreme. Thus, they can make poor decisions interacting with citizens or in use of force. Again, healthy officers are shown to tend to be better, more oositive and productive officers. They tend to be less likely to make bad decisions or offend.
Along with my past advanced degrees studies and continued education, my direct references contained in this episode included:
“Introduction to Habakkuk” at https://www.esv.org/resources/esv-global-study-bible/introduction-to-habakkuk/
“Are you too cyncical? The history, psychology, and philosophy of cynicism,” by Neel Burton, M.D, September 7, 2018, at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201809/are-you-too-cynical#
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation.
© 2022 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author. Views are my own or those of my guests. Content does not necessarily reflect the views of any other organization or person(s).
DISCLAIMER: THIS WEBSITE/PODCAST DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE
Although I have served or do serve as a spiritual counselor, a chaplain, and/or ordained minister, I am not your counselor nor a medical professional. All content on this website and podcast is provided for informational and educational purposes only, does not constitute medical, psychological, or spiritual advice, and does not establish any kind of patient-client or pastor-congregant relationship. Although on this website and podcast, we strive to provide accurate general information, the information found through these posts are not a substitute for any kind of professional advice, and you should not rely solely on this content. Always consult a professional in the area of your particular needs and circumstances prior to making any professional, legal, medical, financial or tax-related decisions. Opinions expressed by the host or guests do not necessarily reflect those of any other person or entity.
Midnights LEO 