RE: Is corruption mostly a good thing?
December 10, 2019 at 10:18 am
(This post was last modified: December 10, 2019 at 10:24 am by FlatAssembler.)
(December 10, 2019 at 7:17 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:(December 10, 2019 at 7:03 am)FlatAssembler Wrote: Hey, guys!
So, I'd be interested in what you think about the idea that corruption is mostly a good thing, in about the same sense that sweatshops are a good thing? That is, that the corruption is not a root of the problem, but that it's a consequence of stupid and senseless laws? Corruption usually means that those laws aren't being consistently enforced. If there are many stupid and senseless laws, it's better if they are not enforced consistently than if they are enforced. Eliminating the corruption, without addressing the root of the problem (the senseless laws), is likely to make things worse, rather than better.
For example, it would probably be better if the senseless drug laws weren't enforced in the US (if it were slightly more corrupt), than if, as it is today, that 3% of its population is in prisons or in jails.
Similarly, if China were less corrupt, GitHub and English Wikipedia would get blocked there, because they don't obey China's rules, and that would cause a lot of economic damage. Now they aren't blocked because big companies need them there.
And God knows what terrible things might happen if Croatia gets less corrupt, but has the same laws. Many more people would end up in jail. Today, many people use illegal drugs, the government knows about it, but it doesn't do anything about it. If it were less corrupt, it would put those people in jail.
What you're describing isn't corruption, but law breaking. Corruption can be better thought of as 'gaming the system' for personal gain. This always (over time) causes far more economic damage than the sort of illegal activity you describe.
Boru
I thought "corruption" means basically whenever a government breaks its own laws.
(December 10, 2019 at 8:05 am)CarveTheFive Wrote: You can find a silver lining on anything from a toothache to genocide but neither corruption nor sweatshops are “mostly a good thing”.
I think the OP is trying to hard to think outside the box. Some things need to stay in the box.
What do you mean sweatshops are not a good thing? If people in those countries had better options, they wouldn't go work to sweatshops. I like what Flaubert (I think that was him) wrote: "Pulchritudo vitae in vico, ea videtur solummodo a poetis, ea non videtur a hominibus in vicis.".
