Sunday 9 February 2014

Corruption: embedded culture or default social mechanism: a non-definitive rant

What is the root-cause of corruption? Embedded culture, default social mechanism, or something else/more complex?

I would say that the nature of the corruption stems from the environ. Corruption from affluence is greed based. Corruption from poverty is more need based. But is corruption something learned in certain circumstances, or simply human-nature-based? Is corruption in itself a bad thing? Is it just a way for governments to prevent humans having an easy time, and to then be able to tax us by outlawing transactions that circumnavigate the system? Is it all a matter of perspective? How can we expect power people or even nations to adopt western views towards corruption when we do indeed have it very easy here, and we allow our biggest companies to be corrupt by floating on the frontiers of sytems of tax avoidance and squeezing the third world. Are we all indeed contributing to a wholly corrupt world order that in its complexity outlaws atavistic corruptions yet perpetuates advanced and intelligent forms of money juggling . . .

So from my rant I must glean that it is indeed human nature to want more; and one form of that manifests itself wholly by instinct through corruption . . .

Not caring about not caring.

I am sure this isn't a social mode unique to the UK. But there is some truth to the idea that people don't care about not caring; and this in fact puts emphasis on the idea that to not care can be seen as cool. This for me is a condition that pervades youth culture in the UK. In Africa you may find the opposite where school children who don't do their homework are bullied by their school mates, whilst in certain school-age mindsets in the developed world decadent attitudes are encouraged. Maybe where it comes easy, a need to be sensible is not something essential for survival so societal modes scrape through and even succeed to recorrect their fostering of Michael Jackson-esque "I'm Bad, I'm Bad" type-stuff . . .

But why does this attitude bear weight in a society where parental memes should surely overbear juvenile inadequacies? So why is it still considered that to rebel is a positive condition? Is it a lack of maturation throughout modern culture? Is it the mistaking of violence and bad social examples set in the arts which are designed to appeal to the intelligent who recognise the satirical element in bad-examples for what they are, simply a problem for the ignorant and not the writers? Or do the "intelligentsia" expect too much of the mainstream canon's assessment by the everyhuman?

This monologue is leaning towards TV and Film as an influence because they are hands-down the most influential form of input for the masses. The violence in literature is one aspect to consider. But the perpetuation of "juvenile" type psychologies that I suggest exist as a result of ignorance are not only a corollary of violence in the arts but in the complete dynamic of the modern social umbrella and its effects on keeping people ignorant. I have to say that I truly believe that there is a better way to approach education in our school systems. I myself found a true ability to breakdown metaphor not locked within Shakespeare or mundane and childish-soul destroying texts that English departments across the school system pedal, but through the self-learned analysis of film. If we put more weight upon film as an art form within schools, and expected more of our students in Art and Film lessons, to build the ability to link metaphor to image and not just to challenging texts, then we would be getting closer to not only tapping into an existing love for the arts (TV and Film especially) but also closer to eradicating or at least seizing mindscape back from the "cool to not care" camp. If we make, that which we wish our kids to care about, be relatively focused upon things they already care about and think are cool then we could very well tap into a much broaderband of achievement for society as a whole.

The propensity to then translate this ability to breakdown metaphor back into reading and appreciation of other art forms, I for one can attest to the fact, will flourish.

Or maybe most of us are simply doomed to apathy and an adulthood of child-like-hood . . ?

Would and could say more but that's enough . . .