2 ms·

Don't confuse "the west" with the US. The US is less than half of "the west".

by lysace 3mo ago

throwaway27448 3mo ago
Are you claiming Europe is not obviously corrupt? Or Latin America? Or Korea, or Japan? I can't speak to Australia or New Zealand, I suppose. Corruption is, of course, universal. China has a corruption problem that will be eternally difficult to tackle from the top-down—local officials are notoriously much more corrupt than central ones. But in the west, we simply pretend to not have the issue at all, or we simply make it legal. I would prefer if our politicians or popular media could at least acknowledge this.
- lysace 3mo ago
  You are shifting the goalposts. You first said "at least they try to appear anti-corruption". This thing about not caring about appearances is new. (And also the only thing I commented about.)
- myrmidon 3mo ago
  > Corruption is, of course, universal. So is crime. But it's all about prevalence. And not just because corruption has some "indirect taxation" effect, but also because low corruption/trust is a big enabler for a society. You are never gonna get rid of clannish mentality, vigilantism, nepotism and other undesirable behavior if your citizens don't have any trust in the system. If you just look at e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Corruption_Perceptions_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Corruptio... you will see that the spread is very wide, and China/India is significantly behind most western nations.
- verdverm 3mo ago
  Europe is prosecuting the Epstein Pedos. Trump is protecting his friends Corruption is everywhere and varies in degree. The US likes to claim a mantle of superiority when it seems quite the opposite. We have a bully/greatest conman ever in the white house
  - lostlogin 3mo ago
    > Europe is prosecuting the Epstein Pedos. Are they? Price Andrew got a name change, but hasn’t had any real penalty to date. He had the Queen protecting him. Mandelson probably will end up in court but it won’t be for anything related to child abuse.
    - ceejayoz 3mo ago
      > Price Andrew got a name change, but hasn’t had any real penalty to date. For the British Royals, I suspect becoming persona non grata is more impactful than a jail sentence.
      - batch12 3mo ago
        More impactful than prison? Nah. Why not both?
        ceejayoz 3mo ago
        > More impactful than prison? Class-based systems get pretty weird at the top.
        lostlogin 3mo ago
        Yes, but also, for Andrew to have behaved this way, a lot more people than him had to be involved. It appears they get no sanction.
odiroot 3mo ago
They're not wrong. It's definitely spread throughout EU too.

Don't confuse "the west" with the US. The US is less than half of "the west".

by lysace 3mo ago

Don't confuse "the west" with the US. The US is less than half of "the west".

Are you claiming Europe is not obviously corrupt? Or Latin America? Or Korea, or Japan? I can't speak to Australia or New Zealand, I suppose. Corruption is, of course, universal. China has a corruption problem that will be eternally difficult to tackle from the top-down—local officials are notoriously much more corrupt than central ones. But in the west, we simply pretend to not have the issue at all, or we simply make it legal. I would prefer if our politicians or popular media could at least acknowledge this.

lysace 3mo ago
You are shifting the goalposts. You first said "at least they try to appear anti-corruption". This thing about not caring about appearances is new. (And also the only thing I commented about.)
myrmidon 3mo ago
> Corruption is, of course, universal. So is crime. But it's all about prevalence. And not just because corruption has some "indirect taxation" effect, but also because low corruption/trust is a big enabler for a society. You are never gonna get rid of clannish mentality, vigilantism, nepotism and other undesirable behavior if your citizens don't have any trust in the system. If you just look at e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Corruption_Perceptions_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Corruptio... you will see that the spread is very wide, and China/India is significantly behind most western nations.
verdverm 3mo ago
Europe is prosecuting the Epstein Pedos. Trump is protecting his friends Corruption is everywhere and varies in degree. The US likes to claim a mantle of superiority when it seems quite the opposite. We have a bully/greatest conman ever in the white house
- lostlogin 3mo ago
  > Europe is prosecuting the Epstein Pedos. Are they? Price Andrew got a name change, but hasn’t had any real penalty to date. He had the Queen protecting him. Mandelson probably will end up in court but it won’t be for anything related to child abuse.
  - ceejayoz 3mo ago
    > Price Andrew got a name change, but hasn’t had any real penalty to date. For the British Royals, I suspect becoming persona non grata is more impactful than a jail sentence.
    - batch12 3mo ago
      More impactful than prison? Nah. Why not both?
      - ceejayoz 3mo ago
        > More impactful than prison? Class-based systems get pretty weird at the top.
        lostlogin 3mo ago
        Yes, but also, for Andrew to have behaved this way, a lot more people than him had to be involved. It appears they get no sanction.

odiroot 3mo ago

They're not wrong. It's definitely spread throughout EU too.