Epidemic of dishonesty

Entrepreneur, philanthropist and former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg discussed the importance of honor and honesty in bringing the country together as he addressed graduates at Rice University’s 105th commencement May 12, 2018 in the Academic Quad. 

The excerpts are:

• The concept of honor has taken on different meanings through the ages: chivalry, chastity, courage, strength. And when divorced from morality, or attached to prejudice, honor has been used to justify murder, and repression, and deceit. But the essence of honor has always been found in the word itself.
• The words ‘honor’ and ‘honest’ are two sides of the same coin. In fact, the Latin word ‘honestus’ can mean both ‘honest’ and ‘honorable.’
• To be honorable, you must be honest. And that means speaking honestly, and acting honestly, even when it requires you to admit wrongdoing -- and suffer the consequences.  The commitment to honesty is a responsibility that you accepted as an Owl.  It is also a patriotic responsibility.
• One of the first things, young children learn about American history is the story of George Washington and the fallen cherry tree.  ‘I cannot tell a lie,’ young George tells his father. ‘I cut it down.’ We’ve always lionized our two greatest presidents -- Washington and Lincoln -- not only for their accomplishments, but also for their honesty. We see their integrity and morals as a reflection of our honor as a nation. However, today when we look at the city that bears Washington's name, it's hard not to wonder: What the hell happened?
• In 2016, the Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year was ‘post-truth.’ And last year brought us the phrase, ‘alternative facts.’  In essence, they both mean: Up can be down. Black can be white. True can be false. Feelings can be facts.
• Pat Moynihan, once said: ‘People are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.’ 
• Today, those in politics routinely dismiss any inconvenient information, no matter how factual, as fake -- and they routinely say things that are demonstrably false.  When authoritarian regimes around the world did this, we scoffed at them.  We thought the American people would never stand for that!
• For my generation, the plain truth about America -- the freedom, opportunity, and prosperity we enjoyed. The more communists had access to real news, the more they would demand freedom. We believed that -- and we were right.
• Today many of those at the highest levels of power see the plain truth as a threat. They fear it. They deny it. And they attack it -- just as the communists once did. And so here we are, in the midst of an epidemic of dishonesty, and an endless barrage of lies.
• The trend toward elected officials propagating alternate realities is one of the most serious dangers facing democracies. Free societies depend on citizens who recognize that deceit in government isn’t something to shrug your shoulders at. When elected officials speak as though they are above the truth, they will act as though they are above the law. And when we tolerate dishonesty, we get criminality. Sometimes, it's in the form of corruption. Sometimes, it's abuse of power. And sometimes, it's both. If left unchecked, these abuses can erode the institutions that preserve and protect our rights and freedoms -- and open the door to tyranny and fascism.
• There is now more tolerance for dishonesty in politics than I have seen in my lifetime, one-third of the time the United States has existed!  
• My generation can tell you: The only thing more dangerous than dishonest politicians who have no respect for the law, is a chorus of enablers who defend their every lie.
• Remember: The Honor Code here at Rice University just doesn’t require you to be honest. It requires you to say something if you saw others acting dishonestly. Now that might be the most difficult part of an honor code, but it may also be the most important, because violations affect the whole community. And the same is true in our country. If we want elected officials to be honest, we have to hold them accountable when they are not -- or else suffer the consequences. Honest people can disagree. That's what democracy is all about! But productive debate requires an acceptance of basic reality. 
• It's always good to be skeptical and ask questions.
• Scientific discovery permeates practically every aspect of our lives.
• Political leaders are being dishonest about facts and data, and too many people are letting them get away with it.
• So how did we get here?  How did we go from a president who could not tell a lie to politicians who can not tell the truth?  From a George Washington who embodied honesty, to a Washington, D.C. defined by deceit?
• It’s popular to blame social media for spreading false information. 
• It's the public's willingness -- even eagerness -- to believe anything that paints the other side in a bad light. That's extreme partisanship -- and that is what's fueling and excusing all this dishonesty. Extreme partisanship is like an infectious disease. But instead of crippling the body, it cripples the mind. It blocks us from understanding the other side. It blinds us from seeing the strengths in their ideas -- and the weaknesses of our own. And it leads us to defend or excuse lies and unethical actions when our own side commits them.
• For example: In the 1990s, leading Democrats spent the decade defending the occupant of the Oval Office against charges of lying and personal immorality, and attempting to silence and discredit the women who spoke out. At the same time, leading Republicans spent that decade attacking the lack of ethics and honesty in the White House. Today, the roles are exactly reversed -- not because the parties have changed their beliefs -- but because the party occupying the Oval Office has changed.
• When someone's judgment about an action depends on the party affiliation of the person who committed it, they're being dishonest with themselves and with the public. And yet many people -- in both parties -- don't even realize that they are making them.
• When people see the world as a battle between left and right, they become more loyal to their tribe than to our country. When power -- not progress -- becomes the object of the battle, truth and honesty become the first casualties.
• Honesty leads to trust and trust leads to freedom. In democracy, it's no different. If we aren't honest with one another, we don't trust one another, then we place limits on what we ourselves can do, and what we can do together as a country. It's a formula for gridlock and national decline.  It doesn't have to be that way.
• Arguments were won and lost on facts and data -- not parties and polls. 
• At the national level, in Washington today, partisanship is everything.  And I think the dishonesty that it produces is one of the greatest challenges that your generation will have to confront.
• Partisanship is not a new problem. George Washington warned against it in his Farewell Address. He referred to the ‘dangers of parties,’ and called the passion that people have for our parties, ‘worst enemy’ of democracy -- a precursor to tyranny.  Washington urged Americans to, ‘discourage and restrain’ partisanship.  In recent years, the opposite has happened.
• There is now unrestrained, rabid partisanship everywhere we look. It's in the communities where we live, which are becoming more deeply red or more deeply blue. It’s in the groups and associations and churches we join, which increasingly attract like-minded people. It’s even in the people we marry. 
• Fifty years ago, most parents didn't care whether their children married a member of another political party, but they didn't want them marrying outside their race or religion, or inside their gender. Today, polls show a strong majority support for inter-racial, inter-religious, and same-sex marriage and that is progress. 
• But the percentage of parents who don't want their children marrying outside of their political party has doubled and the more people segregate themselves by party, the harder it becomes to understand the other side, and the more extreme each party grows. The country is more divided by party than it has ever been since the Civil War.
• In like-minded groups, fringe ideas can gather momentum with dangerous speed.
• Bringing the country back together won't be easy. But it can be done -- and if we are to continue as a true democracy, it must be done.
• Americans are facing an "epidemic of dishonesty" in Washington that's more dangerous than terrorism or communism, also warned that "an endless barrage of lies" and a trend toward "alternate realities" in national politics pose a dire threat to U.S. democracy.
• The 76-year-old billionaire, did not call out any politician by name.
• Bloomberg evoked the legend of the nation's first president, George Washington, who as a boy said he could not tell a lie when asked if he cut down a cherry tree. "How did we go from a president who could not tell a lie to politicians who cannot tell the truth?" he asked.

Traffic rules jumping is crazy and immoral

• Traffic violation has little to do with being in a hurry. 
• It’s about the opportunity to leave the fellow traveler behind.
• While traffic rules can be altered arbitrarily, moral and juridical rules which are constitutive and cannot be arbitrarily replaced by another set. 
• Traffic restrictions are regulated. While morality underpins these rules, it also frames them.
• How we drive is how we are driven. 
• Jumping lights is a feature of daily life. It is dangerous and very often fatal for either the violator or the innocent passerby or both.
• If everyone crashed lights, there would be chaos. 
• With increasing lying, the difference between truth and falsity is not abandoned, but actually sharpened. We do not abandon truth, but look more carefully for it.
• Non-functioning traffic lights tempts people to take unilateral decisions when co-operative action is most called for. This is legitimising jumping lights when they do work.
• Crashing lights also alters our character. We infect each other until the malady becomes an epidemic. 
• We think little of rule-breaking, especially when no one is looking. Motorbikes and cars line up obediently at crossings only when policeman is present. The violator is aware of what he is doing. 
• For most people, practical reason is a means to achieve immediate goals, whatever they may be. In the case of the signal light crasher, the goal is simply getting across quickly.
• Slowing down the speedster includes strategies like timers on lights which show the duration of the impending wait.
• At traffic lights you only have to get the first few vehicles to stop to stop the others per force.
• The assumption that light-crashers are in a hurry is questionable. It is not the real reason for jumping lights (fallacy of pro causa non causa). 
• Those who jump lights appear to be in a hurry, but are in no more haste than everybody else, and not more likely to get anywhere faster. 
• The reason why people jump lights is that they don't know the reason themselves.
• It is not the hurry to get across that best describes such misconduct, but the opportunity to leave fellow travellers behind.
• This is what lures the criminal to make his dash. His motive is simply to get the better of others. It’s a kind of cheating, not because it makes them richer, but because it enables them to steal a march over otheers. 
• This way of accomplishing something is potentially dangerous. It is this that often makes the rider throw caution to the winds to seize the day.
• No arguments will be effective against such behaviour. 
• Suicidal behaviour is neither the privilege of fanatics nor fundamentalists. 
• This is one area where no one could rightly complain and the police seem least active. This makes one wonder if law and order are really a priority.

Dando damyatam asmi ... Lord Krishna

Violating traffic rules is an act of craziness that exposes all around fatalities which has nothing to gain and everything to lose. This fundamentally arises out of superiority complex. Stringent penalties will surely act as deterrent. But the chances of getting caught and/or fined must be 80% or more. More than all these, ethical education during childhood years will be helpful. Adhering to traffic rules even when no one is around will help retaining safety habits and minimises risk of accidents.

Lost in siren city

Lost in Siren City - Ashok Malik 

This article was published in Oct 2012 but still relevant

Is Modi his last man standing?

Dynasty in Politics

The Preamble of  The  Constitution of India states ...

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this 26th day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.

• Equality of status and of opportunity means all men are equal and can aspire for any political positions irrespective of caste, creed, color, or any thing which includes the so much talked about 'dynasty'. There is no way 'dynasts' can be relegated as 'untouchables' in independent India.
• It is no body's job to install or pave way for the ascending of aspiring common man occupy such positions. If the process has become so much cumbersome and expensive it is not the fault of 'dynasts'. It is our own political and social problem.
• Can we debar effective communicators like Modi, KCR etc paving way for so called aspiring common man? If 'dynasts' have some inherent advantages of their fore fathers and money that is their good luck. Everybody looks forward standing on the shoulders of their parents & grandparents. Nothing wrong in that.
• These days, money is playing decisive role in politics and it is due to failure of government, institutions and people themselves. Not the failure of constitution. Education, awareness and independent media are the keys.
• Social justice is not a goal or a dead end. In a good society there would be many above the thin line of 'Social Justice' and few below. The other way round like in India is worrisome. It is the responsibility of underprivileged to work hard and alleviate themselves and also the duty of Society and Government to extend helping hand to accelerate the same.
• Representative & Constitution based Democracy is neither perfect nor foolproof but is the least worst forms of Democracy. There is no such thing called ideal democracy.
• Extreme democracy, as practiced in 'small & rich' Switzerland too has many aberrations.
• The beauty of Indian democracy is that very often erring famous people encounter defeat and were sent into oblivion indicates its inherent strength and resilience. But that should not be a limiting factor in eradicating most of the ills the of society, if not all.
• As long as our economic policies aids corruption & capitalism in the name of 'rewarding the talent' and in reality rewards the rich, educated and perverted who will continue to become richer while poor will remain poorer resulting in Gini coefficient increasing beyond limits and eventually could result in social unrest and destruction of the nation.
• In a democracy 'Elected Executive' stands tallest of all. If institutions proactively doesn't control erring executive, at every step, democracy dies and authoritarianism erupts. The real power is with that person who control Money, Police & Military i.e. The Executive. Institutions have no jurisdiction over them. Where ever 'Elected Super Boss' subverts constitution and institutions, dictatorships have ruled those nations. It is imperative for people to elect good person to positions of power. People can't elect rogues to rule them and expect institutions to control him with checks and balances. Life doesn't work that way. 
• Every undebated and nontransparent decision of Executive & Legislature must be subjected to judicial scrutiny prior to its implementation.

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” ― James Madison

Why do people vote for 'dynasts'? That is because familiarity of that family with the people and people enjoyed some benefits of their generosity in the past. Why do parties rally behind dynasts with in the party? That is because of their belief in their charisma to hold the party together. Without Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi at the helm of Congress party, it would disintegrate. As long as so called 'dynasts' have popular mandate, it is perfectly in order. What is wrong in standing on the shoulders of forefathers and looking forward? Which everybody does. Some years ago an ageing cricket batsman was asked when he would retire paving way for young aspirants. He said that he wouldn't do any such thing and it is for the young new cricketer to work hard and prove better than him and displace him. That answers the concept of merit, the underpin of democracy.