Corruption Perception and Orwell
""The mistake you make, don't you see,is in thinking one can live in a corrupt society without being corrupt oneself. After all, what do you achieve by refusing to make money? You're trying to behave as though one could stand right outside our economic system. But one can't. One's got to change the system, or one changes nothing. One can't put things right in a hole-and-corner way, if you take my meaning.” George Orwell Surprise surprise Zimbabwe is ranked 157/177 countries which is pitiful by any standards. But the thing with corruption is that once it has become so endemic in the culture it is impossible to escape it. Our mothers pay police officers to get away from speeding fines, our grandmothers bribe their councillors to get water delieverd to them. We as teenagers bought drinks for the guards to be allowed to leave home without trouble. In a country were corruption filters from the top down and those that are meant to be protecting the public from it are the greatest offenders, I don not see why anyone has an incentive to change. What I do wonder is how much money is lost from the economy due to this predation, how much income is taken and how many businesses fail because of constant harresement from authorites. As for whether this will ever change.. a long hard look in the mirror will demonstrate that it probably will not. Ever. So we should not stand outside in the cold.
