compliance

A student made a comment in class about "planting the bomb." His teacher asked what he meant, to which he responded by making fart noises. The teacher reported him to admin, admin called the police, and the police hauled the boy off and detained him for making a bomb threat at school.

This is a real story from a Reddit thread. The teacher received unanimous support for "doing the right thing." Her conscience, it seems, was cleared.

In a sane world where common sense prevailed, the immature boy would have received a reprimanding from the teacher; he would have been told that such jokes are inappropriate in the classroom. The teacher might have sent him home with a note to his mother. Having been embarrassed in front of his friends, the boy would have learned a valuable lesson - grow up, or face the consequences.

Instead, we live in an insane world where compliance prevails over common sense. "Doing the right thing" no longer means using one's personal judgment to resolve conflicts, but rather acting in accordance with the guidelines and policies enumerated in a handbook written by administrators and experts. I am absolutely certain that every single person involved in this story felt conflicted about how the situation was handled, which is why the post was written in the first place. Not a single response suggested that the teacher overreacted; several even pointed out that being a "mandatory reporter" is part of the job. In other words, people sincerely believe that a teacher could face legal consequences for not sending a boy making fart jokes to the principal to get arrested and detained by police.

Compliance is totalitarian.