Corruption!

In almost all the dictionaries and encyclopedias that I know of, “corruption” is generally defined as the abuse and exploitation of the power that someone enjoys, whether given to him/her by legacy, schooling, social class, employment or anything else for that matter, for personal advantages, where upper and lower-level decision makers agree to turn aside from the morally common principles which rule their decision(s), in exchange for a possible “gift”, a reward or the expectation of one!

As a hidden culture, corruption quite often thrives in chaotic situations that are usually messy. Mostly, the sums of money that are involved in muddled cases are huge, for a relatively small amount of corrupt payment is hard to draw interest. Immense corruption booms, on the other hand, on a wide range of small corruption payments, gifts or bribes, so to speak.

As a general rule, however, corruption can never vanish from human society, no matter how ideal and educated it may be. For this reason, our efforts should unite to restrict this ethically sinister phenemenon and protect, as much as we can, the poor and the impoverished. In the end, all corruption costs are paid by the poor, innocent consumers and the taxpayers, who need to be protected against those socially, culturally and economically devastating corrupt practices.

Expectedly, an in-depth examination of this wretched phenomenon is extremely difficult, not to say impossible, as it tends to be mostly a hidden occurence in our societies. Both parties that are involved in taking piece of similar values, as well as in the exchange of control for privileges, want to keep their transaction undercover and unadmitted. That makes it even worse; it has become more difficult to figure out how widespread and deep-rooted corruption infiltrated our economy and sociocultural life. 

Nationwide complaints about those who miraculously enrich themselves overnight, at the expense of the common people, are becoming loud and clear. Their incredible wealth may be at the expense of everybody in the country; the employee as well as the employer; the purchaser and the manufacturer; the renter and the tenant, as examples. Cases of sudden wealth such as these can be looked at as a supreme example of the mishandling of entrusted functions and influence for one’s personal advantages and profit.

The sad reality is, at the end of the day, that some people mistakenly believe that corruption is necessitated to safeguard “silkier” management of society! They trust that without a regular gift, yet another form of corruption on a social or familial occasion, or entering into a new contract, for instance, big deals may be gone and given to others. Practices such as these will harm the national economy, without a doubt. However, the good thing is, in turn, that they show corruption to be a moral and a social problem, sinful and wrong, as it is, a problem where the law is ignored and overlooked to the extent that it eventually becomes an ethical challenge, if not a burden!

In the end, we surely can eradicate this prevalent evil phenomenon, once and for all, in many ways, including socioeconomic and sociopolitical reforms, regulating businesses and the financial sector, tightening financial controls, supervising administrators and councils, accessing information and data, maintaining law and order and strengthening the judicial system and public administration in general, to mention just a few examples that may help stop this malicious, criminal, obnoxious way of life.