By Kaleb Schuppner, EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Everyone has a moral compass; this doesn’t necessarily mean that all people are the most pleasant, but people usually at least have a decent idea of right and wrong. People tend to have a wide range of opinions on controversial topics because of their views on things like religion and politics.
“Yeah I do [think people have a moral compass], but some people are directionally challenged. What I think is morally right might be different from someone in South Africa. But I do think mankind as a whole has a moral compass,” Social Studies teacher Javier Martinez said.
Earlier last month, a video of a male Cleveland bus driver brutally uppercutting a woman went viral. The video shows the bus driver, Artis Hughes, and the clearly upset passenger screaming at each other. After a few minutes of this, the woman passenger, Shidea Lane, slapped the male bus driver, which prompted Hughes, the bus driver, to inform her that she was going to jail. Unfortunately he wasn’t content with just doing that; he proceeded to punch Lane and even started beating her when she was already on the ground. Throughout all of this, the enraged bus driver beat the woman, punched her, pulled her hair violently, and threw her off the bus.
This video truly disgusted me, and it was difficult to watch. Hughes completely lost his temper and was blatantly disrespectful. To remain fair, Lane was clearly screaming vulgarities and being disrespectful as well. However, Hughes crossed the line of morality completely when he decided to physically assault a woman; and Lane has not even admitted to slapping Hughes yet. An alleged, initial slap by the passenger wasn’t seen on video, but Hughes’ violent retaliation was. So I don’t see why people can even defend the impulsive bus driver, who has been taken off his job for now.
Surprisingly though, a lot of people were quick to Hughes’ defense. A petition was started and signed by 1,000 people to get Artis Hughes his job back. The petition states the following:
““If men refuse to strike back, fearing that the law will favor their female abusers over them, we create an environment in which women can harass and victimize men with impunity.” The petition goes on and states that the bus driver was the real victim and was justified in hitting back.
Well according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average man over 20 is about 5 feet 9 inches and weighs around 195 pounds. The average woman is over five inches shorter and 30 pounds lighter. That doesn’t seem to be a very equal battle at all.
Personally, I feel that any man who lays a hand on a woman in anger – regardless of what the woman does – is a coward. What has happened in our society to make hitting a woman sound okay or moral? What has happened in our society to make violence against anyone okay? Games like Grand Theft Auto, when the main objective is to steal and harm other people, make violence and crime seem more acceptable or even glorious. So if a kid starts playing that game at age 10, he might just grow up desensitized to violence, and his views and actions may be immoral because of that.
People like Artis Hughes are making our society look immature and cruel, and I don’t think the law should hesitate when repercussions are dealt out to him.
“In a perfect world, violence is never necessary, but we don’t live in a perfect world. I think the reality is that sometimes force is required to prevent the greater evil,” Martinez said.
