The Way of the Spider - Web of Support by Louis Evan Palmer
Break the
Grip of
Corruption
By Helping
Whistle-Blowers
This is the first of "The Way of the Spider" articles dealing with how the corruption is maintained and how it's vicious grip can be broken.
Many years ago, before the Internet, before the brazen nonsensical ravings of the leaders of the world's only superpower, before blatant pseudo-wartime censorship, it was easier to believe that corruption, real corruption, endemic and soul-destroying corruption, was a thing that lived in foreign countries, poor, ignorant backward countries but not here in the First World, at least not in any serious way.
Of course, that was one of the biggest lies in a festering swamp of lies. Corruption has come to roost in the free world. It's now in your face and "what are you going to do about it?" and omnipresent - you don't even have to look for it.
The many faces of corruption are simply the many faces of vice and sin and abuse. It is merely grown large and indiscreet yet not so indiscreet as to not want to suppress knowledge of its existence, to poke out the eyes of those who would scrutinize it.
It is partly being able to answer certain questions in a certain way. Being able to say that you could kill a given number of people if you could get away with it and make a lot of money; that you could abuse a position of power for sexual favours. The questions and answers go on and on and it is important to state that we are not talking about ordinary temptation - we are talking about non consensual, about force and threat, and about tricks and falsity.
Again, its favourite breeding ground is secrecy and it is towards its exposure that we can turn for some victories in what we should regard as our endless struggle for a fair & fine society.
The call is to set up a Foundation which citizens can fund to provide money and benefits to bona fide whistle-blowers. This would allow them to break the salary & pension shackles which bind so many. It must be generous, especially for the early years, so as to allow the brave people stepping forward not to have to suffer for telling the truth, for trying to better society and preventing subversion of the law and justice. It would have to cover medical insurance and similar costs. Relocation, personal safety and other witness-protection-type costs must also be addressed. When required, legal costs must be covered.
Many years ago, before the Internet, before the brazen nonsensical ravings of the leaders of the world's only superpower, before blatant pseudo-wartime censorship, it was easier to believe that corruption, real corruption, endemic and soul-destroying corruption, was a thing that lived in foreign countries, poor, ignorant backward countries but not here in the First World, at least not in any serious way.
Of course, that was one of the biggest lies in a festering swamp of lies. Corruption has come to roost in the free world. It's now in your face and "what are you going to do about it?" and omnipresent - you don't even have to look for it.
The many faces of corruption are simply the many faces of vice and sin and abuse. It is merely grown large and indiscreet yet not so indiscreet as to not want to suppress knowledge of its existence, to poke out the eyes of those who would scrutinize it.
It is partly being able to answer certain questions in a certain way. Being able to say that you could kill a given number of people if you could get away with it and make a lot of money; that you could abuse a position of power for sexual favours. The questions and answers go on and on and it is important to state that we are not talking about ordinary temptation - we are talking about non consensual, about force and threat, and about tricks and falsity.
Again, its favourite breeding ground is secrecy and it is towards its exposure that we can turn for some victories in what we should regard as our endless struggle for a fair & fine society.
The call is to set up a Foundation which citizens can fund to provide money and benefits to bona fide whistle-blowers. This would allow them to break the salary & pension shackles which bind so many. It must be generous, especially for the early years, so as to allow the brave people stepping forward not to have to suffer for telling the truth, for trying to better society and preventing subversion of the law and justice. It would have to cover medical insurance and similar costs. Relocation, personal safety and other witness-protection-type costs must also be addressed. When required, legal costs must be covered.
It would all be worthwhile.
Would it have been worth paying for 3 or 4 or 20 whistle-blowers to blow away the subtrefuge and bloodshed of Afghanistan and Iraq? Even now, to stop the hideous aggression and murder and mayhem.
It is worth it times infinity.
We must build a new safe world out of this shambles and it is from the spider that we see the way - each strand from one source, connected over and over to every other strand, affecting the whole web, supple and strong, swaying in the breeze.
The Way of the Spider - Web of Support, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
He lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have been published in numerous publications.
It is worth it times infinity.
We must build a new safe world out of this shambles and it is from the spider that we see the way - each strand from one source, connected over and over to every other strand, affecting the whole web, supple and strong, swaying in the breeze.
The Way of the Spider - Web of Support, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
He lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have been published in numerous publications.
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