Crisis, crisis,crisis
The disturbing stories and allegations that have hit the news over the past few weeks are unfortunately not isolated cases of scandalous behavior. Worse, they are the outgrowths of an acute crisis. In fact, a manifold one. Thus, one can witness business interests – not without political support – openly resisting the government’s drive to thwart graft and corruption, cotton farmers who insist on getting full European Union subsidies for illegal produce, judges who violate their oath of office by accepting bribes or fixing trials, churchmen who are involved in trial-fixing rings or mired in allegations of sexual misbehavior, media group owners and politicians who are engaged in shady dealings, and the list goes on. To be sure, the allegations only concern a minority in each of these categories of people. Nevertheless, no professional class, no social institution seems to have escaped unscathed from the burgeoning corruption saga. No domain, regardless of the prestige it has built up over the years or the oaths that underlie it, seems to be solid enough to resist temptation. Not one has a strong enough immune system to isolate and wipe out the symptoms of decline. How did we arrive at this moral lassitude? Why has our society’s deficit in morality and quality reached such unnerving proportions? The number and the diversity of the scandals is so huge that they can only be a result of the manner in which the country’s political – and by extension social – life operates. The patron-client system, in a nation that is politically and financially dependent, has gradually corroded the people’s self-esteem. Rewards do not come to those who work hard and contribute to the public well-being, but to those who have managed to do the suitable networking. As a result, our society lauds luxury vehicles rather than oaths, money rather than effort, and consumption rather than moral posture. Can there be an end to this downhill tumble? No one knows. On the other hand, it seems certain that should we fail to halt the decline, should the current noise prompt no genuine reform but merely urge some to blanket the problems, then the crisis is bound to deepen and we shall inevitably be subordinated to the healthier competitors.
