PARADOXICAL

How Evil Could You Get?

(Notes to self; I hope I am being coherent here.)

The question (posed by C.A.P.) which has been bugging me all week is this: How evil could you be to get there, to that point of no return?

To paraphrase, what would it take for someone, anyone, to cheat willfully, knowingly, in the magnitude of billions in public funds through irregularly won contracts (think rigged biddings and graft money), and the worst part, substandard large-scale public infrastructure that put at risk the very lives of hundreds, thousands, millions of innocent people -- in a country that is prone to earthquakes, typhoons, flooding?

I am asking the question, not to cast aspersion on individuals who have been already judged in social media even without due process completed based on incontrovertible proof, or to pass myself off as holier-than-thou and more popish than the pope. Let's face it: We are all capable of heinous crime. I am interested only in the inner workings or dynamics of evil in all of us without exception.

Now that I have cleared my vision-mission-objectives out of the way...

We can only speculate, but it's good to look into our own hearts, the innate darkness or evil that lurks within, or otherwise consciously put on a criminal's mind to begin to understand.

1. The opportunity is present.

A police officer, in a lecture, once said that, "For someone to be tempted to commit a crime, one important factor is opportunity." This one factor is indeed a most tempting one, a great 'enabler,' what with the culture of graft and corruption long-entrenched and normalized that it would not be too hard for someone to commit the crime.

(An aside: In acts of such magnitude committed repeatedly (or so it is reported), there seems to be an element of -- I don't know -- guiltlessness? lack of conscience? Why the seeming lack of guilt in people who commit the crime? There must be some other factors or motives that drive the person from within.)

2. The desire to get ahead in life

Another no-brainer explanation for the conundrum is, of course, plain old poverty, and the desire to win over it. Indeed, if you started out in life as underprivileged, this is a very strong factor.

But what is not as easy to understand is why anyone would desire to get rich so badly that they would be willing to get it done desperately, by hook or by crook? I have no answer at this point.

3. Character formation/Personal values

3.1 Popular culture

Maybe the person has watched too many shows like "The Lives of the Rich and Famous" growing up? Or documentaries on the charmed, perfumed life of Hollywood show biz celebrities and old-world royals, and has long fancied himself/herself to be one?

3.2 Envy

Maybe the person believes he or she is such in a previous life (as believers in reincarnation put it), thus the compulsion to be one, to act like one?

3.2 Family values/dynamics

Or could it be that one was formed with such mentality as a child by her parents, that top-of-the-line luxuries are what to aim for in life? That these are 'the life'?

If one grew up in a religious or God-fearing family, or educated in a university proudly steeped in Christian ideals, one expects some restraint and a guilt-ridden conscience. What would it take for someone who grew up knowing his left hand from right hand turn out bad in the end anyway? To be honest, I am not sure. There must be some other factors at play.

4. Traditional ethnocentrism and status-consciousness

Through the sociological lens, it could be that everything is merely an expression of the innate desire to be of a social status superior to most. Status-consciousness, or maybe ethnocentrism in another guise, is after all but second nature in a culture and society steeped in a traditional caste system of sorts. I mean, isn't our pre-colonial history all about barangays inhabited by the royal blood (maharlika, datus), freemen (timawa), and slaves (alipin, oripon)?

In this view of the universe, getting ahead for those in the upper echelons is a pressing need, not a mere choice, for it is a matter of inter-generational identity, a tool of one's sense of achievement and self-worth as well as a tool of oppression, of keeping those beneath one's stature to stay put where they are supposed to be. Appalling, but isn't this what today's Philippine society is all about, to a certain extent?

4.1 Culture of patronage

Another possible explanation emanating from the above is the need to fulfill a social obligation (noblesse oblige) to one's inferiors, and for inferiors to expect it like it's the most natural thing, even though it is something that needs an unlimited funding source.

(Another aside, if that makes sense: Note our society's double standards: how we despise petty criminals, shoplifters caught in the little mom-and-pop grocer who are battling extreme hunger but not those in designer clothes and business suits or the perfumed set. We see the former as cheap and shameful or shameless, the latter "madiskarte," "maabilidad" in gaming a long-accepted system where everyone is complicit in some way, and this despite the disastrous consequences of bridges suddenly falling down, housing projects crumbling because they are made of sawdust (personally seen this), and inner city roads turning into moon craters in a matter of days or weeks. Our society has long been conditioned to accept the status quo, that some people are "of the manor born," "with a silver spoon in their mouth" at the moment of birth, and some people are poor and must stay so to keep things going. This way, we rarely question whether one's incredible wealth is (a) indeed a blessing from God and something one worked hard for or (b) ill-gotten.)

5. Obsession

If someone wants it so bad, by hook or by crook, or by whatever means possible, that must be something else. Who among us wants to be poor? No one. The problem is, therefore, not wanting to get out of poverty, but unmoderated and irrational greed.

I think it takes some kind of obsession, if not addiction, to want more and more and more of a good thing, whether worldly wealth and adulation ad libitum, ad infinitum.

Could it also be that extreme deprivation was a source of traumatic wounding that one is driven to compensate for it, to an exaggerated extent? Note that an element of trauma is that the sufferer is unconscious of how the trauma controls him and his day-to-day thoughts and behavior.

People like me who have a tendency to hoard and collect stuff for whatever reason can totally get this. "I have to have that rare stamp from this obscure country." "I ought to have this particular variety of plant -- I don't care how ugly it looks, I must have it or my collection won't be complete." "I need to taste this type of obscure dish because I have never tried it before." "I must acquire that painting by so-and-so, or I would be dissatisfied with my lot."

These must-haves and should-haves become toxic when they are irrational, serving no clear meaning or deep purpose.

This level of obsession, coupled with other factors, I figure, is probably what makes insatiable greed possible in anyone of us. You must be someone who is irrationally "matindi ang pangangailangan" to want to be in that place.

5.1 Megalomania, Self-delusion

The sense of entitlement drawn from such obsession must be another instigating force.

5.2 Kleptomania

An extreme reason would be because someone is battling the disease of kleptomania, a phenomenon -- a senseless itch -- I have yet to research on. (I mean, why would you feel compelled to steal a random item like a nail cutter in the store when you don't even need one because you already have a dozen at home?)

5.2 Possession

Another extreme reason is demonic possession, as can be gleaned from an interview with the exorcist Fr. Jocis Syquia, i.e., when someone refuses to admit large-scale embezzlement of public funds because he/she is possessed by the devil.

***

Before this homily of mine turn into a Criminology 101 lecture, let me ask, by way of ending, as a premature point of Lenten reflection: So, which evil are you? Which evil are we coming from?

posted by Resty Odon  # 2:15 AM