Corruption – primarily bribery and favoritism – is commonly identified as one of the biggest problems many third world countries face. Popular opinion – fueled by movies in countries like India – is that once corruption and favoritism are rooted out of a country, it will soon become a “developed nation”. But terming these acts corruption and favoritism is the "effect" of being a poor country, not the "cause".
Bribery and favoritism exist even in developed countries. Only there, they are called “tips” and “references” respectively. A tip is an optional bribe. A bribe is a compulsory tip. In third world countries, the “tip” is not a matter of easy choice for either the giver or the taker, because of the widespread relative poverty. Both sides can use the money for many of their other needs and wants. Usually, this action of taking money will be classified as bribe because the general public is always higher in number than the government employees and they get their way in painting the picture with their brush. Thus, bribe takers are shown as evil even though most of the general public would be glad to part with some money to get some preferential treatment. Politicians, popular media, and movies pander to the populist views for obvious business reasons. Maybe, if the government employees are higher in number, they would have painted the general public as being “unappreciative” or “lacking in basic courtesy”. Similarly, if a candidate is selected based on references in a third world country, he is said to have got there using his “influence”, while in a developed nation he is said to have got “good references”. This is because a given job is not as important in a developed nation as it is in a third world country.
The whole scenario is not really helped by the fact that almost every individual (publicly) thinks that bribery is evil. A bribe-taker is made to feel so irredeemably guilty that it just doesn’t make any difference how often he does it or how much. Psychologically, we are forcing him to think, “I took a bribe today, so I am bad anyway, so it is just as well that I make some money out of it and give a good life to my family”. There is not one popular movie that showed a “good guy” who accepts money (for his individual/family needs/wants) from those who can afford it, but still does his job for those really in poverty without harassing them for money. A government employee is shown as either evil or as a noble person who doesn’t even touch bribes. Either of these 2 ways results in suffering; moral suffering for the former and financial suffering for the latter. In addition, the financial challenges usually throw up some moral dilemmas in case the employee’s family suffers due to his “moral righteousness”.
I suggest declassifying bribery and favoritism from being considered as sins. They are not as evil as they are made out to be. A person who expects a tip (or bribe) from a person who is in dire financial straits is being unreasonable. A person expecting a tip for a job well done from a man, who can afford to tip, isn’t. Many of us would gladly pay a little extra if we don’t have to wait in line and would do some extra work for anybody if they pay us a little more. Let’s accept this and get on with life.
Setting impractical moral standards will result in even reasonable people behaving unreasonably. Trying to follow such standards will only throw up non-solutions like killing/firing every so called "corrupt" man in the country.
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