I am a big fan of ‘truth’ and I promote it at every opportunity, thus do we arrive at tonight’s offering which examines the ramifications of ‘deviating’ from the path of truth and righteousness (not to be confused or conflated with [decidedly twisted] Christian ideology.)
To cheat one of us is to cheat us all.
Which is to point out that by turning a blind eye to improper behavior, it encourages its spread, until, as the cheats are wont to claim, ‘everybody is doing it!’
Um, this piece is wonderful in its ‘asked and answered’ context…are we all to blame for the corrupt mess our society has become?
[Purloined from: Jesse’s Crossroads Café]
The Financial Crisis: Are We All Responsible?
"Whoever commits a fraud is guilty not only of the particular injury to him who he deceives, but of the diminution of that confidence which constitutes not only the ease, but the very existence of a society."
Samuel Johnson
As the hearings and scandals progress, and the revelations and charges start to cut closer to the heart of the credit swindles, inevitably there will be a movement to say, "We are all responsible. Let's allow bygones to be bygones, it was all a misunderstanding. Let's move on to something new. Justice is not important, and cannot be done."
There will be long accountings of how the problems arose, and how changes in the banking laws, broker deregulation, and the erosion of elite privileges compelled the Wall Street banks to take more and greater risks, to violate unspoken understandings about customer relationships, to take great risks, to bend the laws, to use money and influence to suborn perjury and the breaking of oaths, and to generally undermine the fabric of government. [We all know ‘what’ was done but very little attention is being paid to ‘why’…and if we don’t unearth the motivation behind such ‘mass robbery’, we will remain powerless to prevent a, er, ‘relapse’…]
There will be long analyses that suggest that trust has been lost, the trust that binds the social and financial interactions of people. And there will be an effort to regain that trust, to promise change and reform, and of course, justice.
As for justice they will say, but aren't we all responsible? Didn't we all believe the promise that 'greed is good?'
No. [Naturally, all emphasis is mine.]
The overwhelming majority of people are hard working, honest in their dealings, more concerned with raising families than ruling others, if anything distracted by their day to day problems. Long suffering, patient to a fault, too willing to the give the Wall Street bankers the benefit of the doubt for the very reason of their own good natures. They could not imagine themselves doing the things of which these men stand accused, so they cannot believe that others would so willingly lie and deceive, cheat and steal, attack the very heart of the nation, while wrapping themselves in a flag of hypocrisy, for a few more dollars that they can hardly need or even personally spend. [And that’s the hell of it good citizen, these fuckers ALREADY HAD more money than they could spend, amassing more for themselves did them little good while harming (ruining) millions of innocent, hardworking families!]
And why? Because it feeds their sickened hearts, their pathological egos, and the need to make others suffer loss for their own gains. It sets them apart from a humanity which they hold in contempt intermingled with a nagging self-hate, makes them feel superior and worthwhile, and at the extreme even as gods among men. [It, once again, could be even worse than it appears, good citizen. How far would YOU go to maintain a status quo that you were the beneficiary of? This ‘well’ is a lot deeper and we’ll plumb those depths after this excellent article concludes.]
So when the fresh public relations spin and propaganda from Wall Street and the financial sector's demimonde starts this week, and seeks to confuse the issues and distort the true nature of the fraud, recall who profited and who lost, who was caught with their hands deep in the pockets of the many, and even now stand arrogantly unrepentant with the ongoing misery of others to their account. And who stood idly by while charged by sworn oaths with protecting the innocent, the unsuspecting many, from the predatory, lawless few.
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." Edmund Burke
The banks must be restrained, the financial system reformed, the economy brought bank into balance, and justice done though the mighty fall, before there can be any sustained recovery.
Um, that last line there (which I bolded) is/has become Jesse’s ‘signature’.
Bottom line good citizen is there can be no ‘recovery’ until ‘justice’ has been restored and that’s not going to happen as long as criminals remain in charge of the justice system.
Worse, this brings us full circle with the ‘cause’ of (the past 3) crises…
They want you to believe that these calamities are all due to ‘serial stupidity’…but one right after the other? It defies explanation, never mind logic!
Then there is the ‘other side of the coin’; the ‘thieves’ in question certainly didn’t ‘need the money’ so what were they really after?
What else is our bastardized ‘medium of exchange’ useful for? Bizarrely, money (as it is currently used) is also equated with power.
Anyone else who has noticed the, er, ‘logarithmic progression’ of wealth since the 60’s has noted that the price of crime has risen dramatically, what used to be easily had for thousands now costs millions or billions…which has lead to the theft of trillions!
Naturally, good citizen, society can no longer afford this kind of ‘extravagance’. Nor is the simple answer offered here, of money = power the, er, ‘final answer’.
Does it strike anyone as curious that ‘mercenaries’ have come back into, er, ‘fashion’ after having been abandoned by ‘free societies’ over a century ago?
Think about soldiers whose loyalty is bought and paid for and what advantage that provides over the ersatz ‘citizen soldier’? The Merc is far more likely to shoot at what he’s paid to shoot at, even if they are ‘nominally’ on the ‘same side’ as the target.
The paycheck doesn’t have a conscious…
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
No comments:
Post a Comment