The importance of self policing

for concern.” The writer expressed his disgust at the irresponsible behaviour of people who throw litter out of moving vehicles. The writer sounded very frustrated and upset by such people whom he described as rude with a tendency of being abusive.
One of his concerns was that his children, whom he has been teaching well, might catch on the bad habits.
His fears are not unfounded because fatigue can creep in and affect those people who always do the right thing. They can get to a point where they ask themselves why they have to do things right always.
They may ask the question, “Why me?”
According to Baba vaPaul the confrontational attitude exhibited by the litter bugs when challenged is the cause of Africa’s development deficit.
He observes that, “There is something wrong with our being. We need someone to come and tell us and then police us from doing certain things.”
The issue of policing mechanisms is very pertinent because it is a measure of the moral fabric of society.
Traditionally communities had shared values and norms that tended to shape the behaviour of its members. From birth a child was socialised into a culture with an unwritten code of conduct that governed behaviour of its members.
Also its members understood what is acceptable and not acceptable within the given environment. A system such as this had self policing mechanisms.
In this establishment people were accountable to the whole system in the same way a child in a community was everyone’s child.
Dear reader, you know that in the traditional society every adult had the responsibility of shaping the behaviour of young children.
It was generally accepted to discipline your neighbour’s child. These days it is rare because you can face the wrath of not only the child, but the parent as well.
In this case, therefore, the need for outside policing was limited as values inculcated into children through the process of socialisation guided conduct of individuals. I am tempted to liken this to what the Bible says in Jeremiah 31:33-34,“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts . . . No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, know the Lord, because they will know me from the least to the greatest.”
This does not mean that they were no social deviants or malcontents within communities.
There were people who used to do the unthinkable such as defecating in the well, where the villagers got drinking water.
Other people were known for opening the kraals at night to let cattle onto other people’s fields. Yet others were brought before the courts for accusing fellow villagers of witchcraft. Under the traditional set up they were courts from village level where such cases could be heard. Nowadays communities have changed due to urbanisation and migration in the global village. The issue of shared norms and values is slowly becoming remote even in the villages.
People import into the village new ways of doing things and different values. Also the level of accountability to one another is gradually losing grip on communities. As a result the self policing mechanisms have been weakened and this has necessitated use of external means to enforce compliance.
The growth of urbanisation, westernisation, civilisation and globalisation and the pressures associated with these are slowly eroding the moral fabric of society. McDowell says that the lack of moral absolutes from a culture is one of the causes of social deviance.
Culture as I have always quoted provides a way of seeing reality, evaluating what is good or bad and legitimate and illegitimate and governs action.
It is therefore not surprising that some litter bugs, queue jumpers, fraudsters and conmen show no remorse at all. People are becoming more and more individualistic. The issue of common good does not mean much anymore to many people. It has become easy to step on some people’s heads to achieve personal goals. There are people who either have a seared conscience or no conscience at all.
It is true that the traditional kind of community cannot be recreated in this global village. What we need to do is to create and also strengthen institutions within our communities which build a shared moral vision.
Families, schools, churches or other religious organisations, social clubs and professional bodies can replace the traditional community.
They can formulate and inculcate ethics in their members that help to sanction the conduct.
It is not enough to come up with ethics, but a system that policies its members because we live in a community where enforcement is coming more from external mechanisms. Is it not true that we insure our cars and pay those utility bills after a brush with the law or suspension of services?
The family, however, has the greatest responsibility because it has the opportunity to influence behaviour in the formative years. Unfortunately children are being left at the mercy of the Internet, peers and television.
There is still more work to be done so that first and foremost each person is self policing and then he/she becomes accountable to the whole system — to other members. There should be a conviction that is deep set and is not affected with the external environment.
This force should drive people to do the right thing not out of fear of being caught or seen.
Each one of us has a responsibility to society and therefore we should aim to acquire those values that make us better neighbours and better citizens.