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It needs people to take a stand and I think that's what's lacking. Often the alternative is not starvation so desperation isn't always an excuse. Look, if every

It needs people to take a stand and I think that's what's lacking. Often the alternative is not starvation so desperation isn't always an excuse. Look, if everyone around you is a cynic, if everyone around you is saying you're a dummy for being an honest person, if everyone around you is saying 'this is the way things work around here', you need to be brave AND honest to push back against that. Most humans (anywhere) just follow.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago
It is worse, consider officialdom in China where any highish official can be brought down for corruption at anytime. So if you are clean, you won’t get promoted, because your higher ups and peers can’t control you with that axe over your head. So ya, you can take a stand, but you aren’t going to go far enough in your career for the stand to make much of a difference, cynicism or not.
- jimmywanger 9y ago
  Whereas if you can't be brought down for corruption, you will get promoted because you can pay your way off? China's policy is fairly sane. Nobody except for the inner circle of the party can take anything for granted. If you bribe somebody for advancement, if caught, both you and the person you bribe get brought down and punished. Probably a jail sentence, confiscation of any property that you might possibly have gotten through dishonest means, and in severe enough cases, death.
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    China’s policy isn’t sane at all. The lack of rule of law means a prosecutor or judge just can’t go out and act on corruption complaints, the party is internally policing itself (you have to be expelled before prosecution is even possible). Who gets brought down for corruption often depends on who they are aligned with, not what they actually did. It’s like wild parking in Beijing, everyone with a car does it, only a very few are ever punished for it. Or the fact that there are brothels everywhere except during CCP congress meetings, law is selectively and conveniently enforced, not fairly at all.
deleted 9y ago
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seanmcdirmid 9y ago

It is worse, consider officialdom in China where any highish official can be brought down for corruption at anytime. So if you are clean, you won’t get promoted, because your higher ups and peers can’t control you with that axe over your head. So ya, you can take a stand, but you aren’t going to go far enough in your career for the stand to make much of a difference, cynicism or not.

jimmywanger 9y ago
Whereas if you can't be brought down for corruption, you will get promoted because you can pay your way off? China's policy is fairly sane. Nobody except for the inner circle of the party can take anything for granted. If you bribe somebody for advancement, if caught, both you and the person you bribe get brought down and punished. Probably a jail sentence, confiscation of any property that you might possibly have gotten through dishonest means, and in severe enough cases, death.
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  China’s policy isn’t sane at all. The lack of rule of law means a prosecutor or judge just can’t go out and act on corruption complaints, the party is internally policing itself (you have to be expelled before prosecution is even possible). Who gets brought down for corruption often depends on who they are aligned with, not what they actually did. It’s like wild parking in Beijing, everyone with a car does it, only a very few are ever punished for it. Or the fact that there are brothels everywhere except during CCP congress meetings, law is selectively and conveniently enforced, not fairly at all.

deleted 9y ago

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