For the great majority of people, corruption is a familiar term. I am sure you have heard of it at least once, on the news, at your family gatherings when everyone exposes their political views or maybe, even at school. However, what is the meaning of this word, and how it affects our world nowadays?
We should turn, firstly, our attention to how corruption could be explained. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, corruption is defined as “illegal, bad or dishonest behavior, especially by people in positions of power”. In other words, it is an illegal act but people perform it for personal gain. It is not a new social problem, it dates from the beginning of the times and it can be found everywhere, in every country. Corruption can include bribery, inappropriate gifts, “under the table transitions”, manipulating, laundering money, etc. For example, let’s take a concrete situation; think about the doctors who are not going to treat you/treat you poorly, but when you give them money or gifts (often known as bribery), their behavior will change and they are going to take proper care of you, even if their profession states that they have to take care of everyone, for free. This being said, it can be considered an illegal act but they usually do it and tell people to not talk about it, knowing that they could be punished severely for accepting gifts and bribery. However, this is only an example for you to understand what corruption is; there are a lot of worse situations. It usually happens a lot more in the political field and business ownership.
Furthermore, I am sure you have heard about money laundering too. It can be a little confusing… like how you can launder money and why would you do it? It means that you get a lot of money from illegal transactions (usually from drug trafficking) but you manage to come “clean”. And how would I do it? All you have to do is have some “associates” who are going to help you and make it look like it comes from a legal source.
Moreover, when people are accused of corruption and found guilty, they usually get a prison sentence and a fine, which is the sum of the money/goods that were illegally obtained. The individual can also lose the ability to work in or run a public business. A lot of people were found guilty but they didn’t have to spend time in prison because the charges suddenly dropped. No one knows what is going on in those situations, but all we can tell is that it was a possible corruption that took place again with law enforcement.
The most important point is how it should be stopped. It should be stopped because our well-being also depends on it. Maybe it doesn’t seem like it, but our lives are at the risk of collateral damage. From my point of view, everybody should learn to be civil and even if they want to become rich, they should do it lawfully; it all depends on the morality of all of us. Also, to stop and prevent it we should all report it to the superiors without being afraid of the consequences. The government should change its process and they should not abuse our rights.
It remains to be seen how people will handle it but something needs to be done as soon as possible because it can get out of hand quickly!
Resources:
-https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corruption.asp
-https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/corruption
-https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/moneylaundering.asp
Editor- Parv Melissa
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