(Guest Contribution)
Do you sometimes do something or say something and wonder, “What in the world did I just say (or do)?” with a supporting action of both hands on the head or on the face.
Our mind
The average person is a rational and thinking human being but why it is that when someone asks us how we are feeling, we tell him/her that we are fine but our facial expression shows something quite different. Are we lying deliberately? Are we trying to hide something? Or do we just want to avoid conversation with that person? Could it be all of the above?
“Rational” means that our actions and/or words are based on, or in accordance with, reason or logic (Source: Google Online). If indeed, we are saying something but our actions or behaviours do not match what we are saying, it must suggest that we are being irrational.
Economists may start debating with me on this one because in economic analysis there is a model that justifies that what may appear to be a stupid thing may actually be rational and, vice versa, what may be a reasonable thing to do is actually irrational. Economists call this the “rational addiction” model. I would like to propose a literal definition of the “rational addiction” model for our society. We need a culture that is addicted to being rational, or at least, addicted to the attempt at being rational.
In a society that experiences corruption at different levels, there is something seriously wrong where good people are left to the mercy of others because they did not pay their way out of a disadvantaged situation. I know that there are people who are already shaking their heads or even stating aloud that I am being irrational by making that statement.
People are addicted to being irrational when they want to get ahead by taking advantage of other people. Another example is that people feel that they need increased compensation for a job that they signed on to do for an agreed upon established amount of money.
Our Behaviour
Addiction is the “state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma” (Source: Dictionary.com). Our society is addicted to corruption. I am overjoyed that I made you think of your own opinion about this statement. Our society is addicted to corruption because everyone wants the same benefits that are provided to those in positions of power.
Our society is in a state of being enslaved by this nasty habit so much so that it has caused us to become psychologically and physically addicted to it. I am even of the opinion that if some of us were to attempt to stop our corrupt ways, it might cause us physical and mental trauma because the results of corruption have become a livelihood.
I will give you a fresh example of a conversation I had recently on the hypothetical situation of “if I was a government official, I would …….” Many of us have had those conversations. I was cut off abruptly and someone who knows me well suggested that I do not know how to steal money from people so I could never be a government official. Well, suffice it to say, that topic of conversation was done.
What does it say about our government if comments such as these are so easily made? Is that why there are very good people doing very good work in our society who can or will never hold positions of power in this country? I cannot answer these questions because the culture has become enslaved in a habit that has pretty much become the norm. I say “pretty much” because there are citizens who know that such diseased behaviour is not “right” and not “normal,” and I know of citizens who have not formed that habit.
Corruption
Our minds and behaviours are irrationally disconnected when corruption becomes the modus operandi. If citizens feel that the modus operandi of the government is a nasty habit, there is urgent need for the proper therapy, or the minds and behaviours of all citizens are at risk. There is an old poem called “Children Learn What They Live” by Dorothy Law Nolte. Although it focuses on children’s minds and corresponding behaviours, I believe that it is relevant to all people. Two of the stanzas are as follows:
“If a child lives with sharing,
he learns about generosity.
If a child lives with honesty and fairness,
he learns what truth and justice are.”
Corruption has certainly diseased the concepts of sharing, honesty, and fairness so much so that generosity, truth, and justice are deformed in today’s society. Generosity has changed from freely giving to others to freely giving to others with the confirmation that the other party is giving something back in return. Truth has changed from stating the actual facts of an incident and being able to openly state those facts, to the omission and/or alteration of information to suit the powers that be. Justice has changed from providing safety and security to the citizens of this nation, to “safety” and “security” being removed from everyday discourse and only spoken by the powers that be.
If our minds are being moulded by corruption, this directly affects how we learn certain things and our behaviour. Corruption is causing our entire society to become irrational and it is getting worse in the most inappropriate arenas – in our government and security sectors. Corruption is causing mutant effects to our society just as the bombing of Hiroshima did to many generations of Japanese.
If irrational choices and actions are mutating what our children learn, how in the world are they going to live?
