Cheating Crisis (7/7/2018)

(7/7/2018)  

Am insightful article from Medium.com on personal growth. 
America Has a Cheating Crisis (Why Leaders Should Worry About It)

The author has spotted a widespread problem, but he is mistaken to think that 'leaders' don't know about it. In fact the 'leaders' are experts in it. Their institution of power depends on it. They lie, they cheat, and they steal.* But the author believes that our cheating 'leaders' need to worry about the people's cheating. Maybe the author is cheating too. The people should be worried about cheating pundits waxing poetic about other people's cheating.

Maybe the author should remember that 'the only socio-economic system that works' also happens to reward scammers, gamblers, plunderers, liars, and cheaters. How have I arrived at this conclusion? It's a long story, maybe I'll tell it someday. In reality, we're inundated with evidence that supports what I declare above, but people won't notice because we live in the Land of the Blind.** We need to look carefully and think clearly. Here is a suggestion for curing the cheating problem. Let the people punish the cheaters at the top rather than grant them impunity and reward them with wealth, honor, and power.

This sanctimonious article about cheating starts with the insidious assumption that 'leaders' are somehow virtuous, that they should worry about the cheating of the people and do something about it. This nefarious narrative is a seed that poisons the listener's mind which most likely is already mesmerized by the miasma of the cesspool we live in. Those who live and die in a cesspool do not understand flowers.

"If you have selfish, ignorant (and lying) citizens, you're gonna get selfish, ignorant (and lying) leaders." -- George Carlin (with my addition of 'and lying')

"I think one of the problems in this country is that too many people are screwing things up, committing crimes and then getting on with their lives. What is really needed for public officials who shame themselves is ritual suicide." -- George Carlin 

* "... what’s the cadet motto at West Point? You will not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do. I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. It’s – it was like – we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment." -- Mike Pompeo

** "In the Land of the Blind, the one-eyed man is king." -- Stone Man with One Eye 

Comment From retired educator Susan (11/7/2018):

I really appreciate that you took the time to write that intelligent, perceptive message. BTW, my husband is a Mason, and this ancient brotherhood has as a symbol..."the seeing eye." 

​I live in a society that is so ignorant -- as the schools are decimated and the media is owned by the autocrats -- that they are blind to what is happening.

I think what the author meant was this kind of ignorance in our congressmen (who are supposed to be leaders, but are  tools in the hands of the masters who run our land.)

I talk to people, good people, who are so buried in the bullshit, they do not see the flowers, or the truth.

My response (11/7/2018)

Hi Susan,

My point is I'm not sure the autocrats are blind, I'm more inclined to believe that they are complicit. As for the Congressmen and other elected officials, they may be ignorant, but the people have elected them into office. They represent the people and supposedly act on their behalf. Actually, they are the people.

The problem is not so much that the autocrats are blind and the Congressmen are ignorant, but that the people have elected them. Nothing will change until the people realize that they themselves are the problem, and then do something about it. If the system has a problem, then the people will have to change it. Blaming the government, blaming Trump, blaming Russia, and blaming China will not help.

But I am Canadian and ethnic Chinese, who am I to talk American politics? I'll let George Carlin speak instead:

"Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders... So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks."

Best wishes,