14 ms·
While I agree with you, and have actually thought about this same problem a ton, this seems dangerous to try and change as an individual rather than a fellow go
by alehul 8y ago
While I agree with you, and have actually thought about this same problem a ton, this seems dangerous to try and change as an individual rather than a fellow government.
Additionally, removing corrupt officials will just create a power vacuum, and oftentimes officials will become corrupt over the course of their term. I forget the political science terminology, but there's this issue where someone will only be able to take over in a dictatorship if they have the backing of many others, who, unsurprisingly, want more out of them than they get from the current official. So the end result is that nearly always, the new official will be more corrupt, particularly in destitute autocracies and oligarchies where the general public's opinions are either irrelevant or uninformed.
So while, yes, the corruption will throw wrenches into all our efforts, is there a solution to it? Or do we just have to throw enough resources to account for the corruption, and hope that an educated society with better infrastructure can start fighting the corruption problem themselves?
- konschubert 8y agoI think it's all about education
- Hendrikto 8y agoEducated people voted for Donald Trump in the USA, for AfD in Germany, for Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, for Duterte in the Philippines, for Bolsonaro in Brazil. Education does not appear to make people less stupid somehow...
- alehul 8y agoBecause intelligent people can't vote for Trump, AfD, or Bolsonaro? In the case of the US (assuming you're American): do you actually think that half of our country is stupid?
- hindsightbias 8y agoActually, only about half the people vote, so it was 26-27% of voters https://mises.org/wire/26-percent-eligible-voters-voted-trump https://mises.org/wire/26-percent-eligible-voters-voted-trum... Which I've always more associated with the Crazification Factor than outright stupidity: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Crazification_factor https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Crazification_factor But it always helps to have Cipolla's Basic Laws of Human Stupidity bookmarked: https://qz.com/967554/the-five-universal-laws-of-human-stupidity/ https://qz.com/967554/the-five-universal-laws-of-human-stupi... 72% of Americans thought invading Iraq was a great idea. https://news.gallup.com/poll/8038/seventytwo-percent-americans-support-war-against-iraq.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/8038/seventytwo-percent-america...
- alehul 8y agoI respect all the sourcing and data, and I'll read the second and third articles in detail later so thank you for that. Your name is "hindsightbias", however, and you're citing "Americans who thought invading Iraq was a great idea" as a sign of stupidity?