Corruption Watch

[dhu]

[color="#FF0000"]Looking at some post by some joker Shankk in a off site thread on 2g now devoloved into a general discussion of "corruption"[/color]

People behave only in two situations. Either when they are afraid of law or when they are afraid of God.

[color="#FF0000"]This is the first indication that of a monotheist mindset -- coercion or some other "reason" is the cause of action. as opposed to Gita where all things act as a matter of course.. Furthermore, deviation from the "law" is described as the the cause of disorder.. actually this description is just a restatement of the fact that there is disorder in society, nothing is explained causally but it is just perfect for 'libel' (Cioran) against the society[/color]

Now the problem is people are not uniformly afraid of law. [color="#FF0000"]<uniformity.. another indication of monotheist mindset>>[/color] Only the weaker section is afraid of law and the powerful ones have ways to bend the laws to suit their interests.[color="#FF0000"]<consequence of deviation from the 'law'>[/color] In the hierarchy [color="#FF0000"]<consequence of deviation from the 'law' is named..getting closer to pure monotheism>>[/color] of society as the power increases fear of law decreases. There are various shades of this in between. [color="#FF0000"]<two poles are the true reality and the "in-between" is the detail graciously conceded>[/color]Hence law will not be able to uniformly make people behave. [color="#FF0000"]<failure of the people to conform to 'law'>[/color]It is important to motivate the people to see how beneficial it is for them to get rid of corruption. [color="#FF0000"]<as if people are morons>[/color]Nothing much will happen without the support of masses. [color="#FF0000"]<another gracious concession>[/color]One way to do that is to instill the fear of God. [color="#FF0000"]<jai ho.. enter the savior>[/color]This is where religion as an instrument comes into picture. [color="#FF0000"]<utilitarian explanation>[/color]Unfortunately I have to say that the religion of majority Indians that is Hinduism fails miserably on this front. [color="#FF0000"]<the mask comes off.. from the initial faked stance of inquiry, the discussion quickly turns into libel>[/color]Allow me to explain.[color="#FF0000"]<of course>[/color]



I will start with anecdotal experience of myself and my friends. [color="#FF0000"]<parable alert>[/color]While growing up I did not have business acumen (neither do I have now) but still ventured into selling petty stuff then. All my impression of business was that it is all about corruption and cheating others to make a gain for ourselves. This was picked up from the surrounding, from the perception of older friends or family members etc. I bought some stuff from the market then padded it with paper and sold it to others to make less than five rupees. Now it sounds really really stupid but at that time it was a triumph of doing business or in other words indulging in corruption as that was the idea of business. I was too young (in school at the time), too naive, too stupid then but growing up discussions between friends continued. A friend of mine openly and shamelessly supported corruption and declared that he do not see it as wrong but rather just a necessary evil. Now we all are grown up and recently when he bought a new car we went on a joy ride and at an intersection where other vehicles were stopped he found a small space on the side and brazenly crossed the red light and fled. I was sitting next to him and was aghast. As if that was not enough he turned to me with smile on his face and a sparkle in his eyes and pointed backwards to vehicles stopped at the light and said they are loosers for stopping at the light. I was speechless. All this happened in one of the Indian metros. It taught me that there is no fear of law. This guy is far from being an elite and still sees no reason to behave. [color="#FF0000"]<so this is the ghastly narrative; thankfully no entry by kalawati>[/color]

Now you guys can choose to brush this all aside . [color="#FF0000"]<gracious concession>[/color]saying I was raised in a dysfunctional environment but that is certainly not the case. At least some of you must have experienced similar incidences while growing up. . [color="#FF0000"]<outreach>[/color]Many of the people who may be corrupt in certain cases or certain phases of life are successful in contemporary terms of the word. Being corrupt did not hinder their success instead helped them in certain cases. So what is the harm in corruption? Just use the same trick and more successful you get. . [color="#FF0000"]<struggling to define the problem>[/color]The more powerful you become the more corruption you can afford to do and even more successful you become.

Coming back to original theme of this post it is all about lack of fear of law or God. . [color="#FF0000"]<notice these are interchangeable>[/color]As I realized that the rot is not limited to elites I started thinking about the reasons of such a case. . [color="#FF0000"]<searching>[/color] What can cause such a problem on such a massive scale? . [color="#FF0000"]<a meta-problem is posed, no consideration that Gandhi era freedom fighters by and large had a completely opposite mentality to that ushered in the secular Indira and Nehru-Gandhi clan >[/color]Answer is, it is either wrong training or the lack of training. . [color="#FF0000"]<another non-explanation, in this case the rubric of behavioralism is used to solve the false dilemma>[/color] At this point it was clear to me that I was part of the second group. <failed by one’s ancestors>My training was limited to what I got in school that too only initial years and training from my parents. Besides this I was like a raw animal left in this world to learn on my own from my experiences. [color="#FF0000"]<yearning for savior who does not tolerate the random>[/color] It takes a lot of courage to be morally uptight. How do one get that courage? It was all left on me to figure out. Later as I witnessed [color="#FF0000"]<witness and affirmation of the false dilemma>[/color]it was the same case with my relatives and friends. Learn yourself and make yourself.

A lot of people face this problem but then they are left to the mercy of their luck. Those fortunate enough to get right associations and experiences turn into good human beings and some unfortunate ones turn into criminals. Majority of people fall between these two extremes. As relevant to this thread, various shades of corruption. [color="#FF0000"]<entire existence is that of corruption, shades of original sin>[/color]In my case after around 7th standard in school it was all about competition, studying maths & science, earning good scores etc. My training was mostly focused on that. Making me a good human being was then left to my parents or on myself. [color="#FF0000"]<formal versus informal, legitimate versus illegitimate>[/color]I wonder how many BRFites got a formal training [color="#FF0000"]<get certification by colonizer agent>[/color]after their school years on not judging people or not being too greedy or how to gain courage to become morally strong. [color="#FF0000"]<moral education as opposed to experience>[/color] Please note the emphasis on formal training and discount the learning by experience. [color="#FF0000"]<disclaimer to show sensitivity, always>[/color]Learning by experience is not inferior but the problem with it is that it is not uniform and produces very uneven results. There is no pattern between people that is required to create a cohesive society. [color="#FF0000"]<the ought is already implemented>[/color]

Now interesting question is "Is this the case everywhere"? Answer I found was "Certainly not". There are better ways of training or polishing the the people mainly younger generation to make them successful without making them think that tedhi ungli is the only way to get ghee. In my pursuit of finding the solution one day had a unique opportunity. [color="#FF0000"]<teenage prophet searching for solution>[/color]Got an invitation to join the Church. [color="#FF0000"]<cold water in face of the onlooker>[/color] I went ahead and joined and found a distinct difference between my experience in Hindu temples and the church. [color="#FF0000"]<of course>[/color]The preacher was very good in explaining the Bible and relating it todays world. There were many lessons I learnt that I wished I had learnt much earlier. To give one quick example he preached about why thoughts should be watched and how thoughts leads to actions, actions lead to habits and habits leads to character. [color="#FF0000"]<virtue ethics>[/color]I had some ideas about it earlier too but nobody had taught that to me formally. [color="#FF0000"]<prodigal child>[/color]There were many such lessons to learn. Also it made a lot difference due to me being well grown up now and have plenty of experience to back me. What I had to learn on my own hard way during my younger years was being repeatedly taught to kids day in and day out.

My apologies for a ridiculously long post, so I will wind up quickly...that church experience lasted for quite a while and then gradually ended. Apart from all the nice teachings, it involved political tones including current day politics which made me very uncomfortable. The final straw was when the preacher supported smuggling Bible in Iraq and urged everybody to get together and support the cause in whatever they can. So all the good training was accompanied with "this" training as well. In short my initial enthusiasm turned into disappointment and also realized that there is no magic in making a society else many countries with a majority following specific ideology [color="#FF0000"]<has accepted subdivision and identification of peoples by “ideology”>[/color]would be flawless but are far from it.

On a side note, as I moved on, I found some Hindu institutions as well that provide formal training about these ideas but unfortunately are not as mainstream as the Church is so they are just an extended version of school or parent training in that it is limited to only those who seek for it as opposed to the active participation sought by the Church.

Finally want to summarize my finding that we are what we are trained to be. All the strengths and weaknesses of "The West" and the "Arabic Peninsula" is due to the training their population got. [color="#FF0000"]<enter bahaviorialism again>[/color]It is up to us to learn from others and pick up and implement good ideas from where ever we get otherwise future generations of BRFites will repeat todays BR spirit "WE ARE LIKE THAT ONLEE".

[color="#FF0000"]End result is that colonial and neocolonial intrigues have been overshadowed by all pervasive societal problem that is "corruption"[/color]