West Point cheating

It’s a scandal, but your New York Daily News article about cheating at West Point (“8 West Point cadets expelled, more than 50 held back over cheating scandal,” April 19) brings up questions about moral standards in our country, in spite of the superintendent’s silly platitudes about character.

There was once zero-tolerance for cheating at service academies. Today’s diminished standard coincides with public tolerance of local and global violence.

The sliding scale of punishment for 73 freshmen makes me wonder about factors of family, race, or athletic value. I recall a recent case in which West Point’s star quarterback was charged with rape. It wasn’t the first blemish on his record, but he was restored to the corps and the team while his accuser was expelled. Meanwhile, demerits, reports, and changes in command fail to stem a tide of sexual assault against female cadets, particularly at the Air Force Academy.

Other affronts to decency remain unmentioned. Cadets are trained to fight past wars, never to end war, while no government institutions teach leadership in peace, reconciliation, or sustainability. The most successful military graduates go on to wreak death and destruction upon poor nations and fragile eco-systems, in our name. Many who survive military careers acquire wealth on the boards of war perpetuating and profiteering corporations, as if they never learned history, diplomacy or alternatives to violence. As if they never cheated. That’s a scandal.

Rusty Nelson

Rockford, Wash.