It is entirely possible that I live in a middle class bubble but I don’t personally think I know any kidnappers, rapists, murderers, hijackers or burglars. Maybe they are there living in my circles but I am just not aware. You will see I excluded con artists and scammers from the list because unfortunately I now know quite a few. If I were to ask most people I know I think the trend could be very similar in that they might know a few, but not many criminal types. Why then if we all think we are good people who know only good people do we find that bad things become systemic in society?
There is the age old divisive issue of Apartheid in South Africa which lasted for almost 50 years. Many people claim they are not racists yet society was able to perpetuate an unjust system like that for 50 years. Bizarre I tell you! In looking for examples of systemic problems I stumbled upon the scourge of kidnapping and was very surprised to see which country has the highest number of kidnappings per 100 thousand of population. Ladies and gentlemen that country believe it or not is Belgium. Belgium and Canada had a higher rate of kidnappings than South Africa in 2018. This was a surprise to me but may not be a surprise to you. How did this happen?
How is it that in a society where most or many members of the population behave in a morally acceptable way do we get back things becoming systemic? I honestly don’t know the answer but my guess is that it is something to do with leadership and incentives.
Let’s start with leadership. Singapore is a great example of a society moulded in the image of its leader. Lee Kuan Yew oversaw the transition of Singapore from a low income subsistence economy to a high income services economy in one generation. People famously note how trains always run on time in Singapore and how chewing gum is illegal, however, these examples are just small insights into the leader’s values. Lee was unwilling to compromise on those things that would bring the best out of the people in order to move the country forward. If litter became acceptable then other small crimes would soon follow and he made sure he never let that door open ever.
In terms of incentives sometimes people may feel that the incentive to do something bad outweighs the reward of sticking to the rules. With high youth unemployment in South Africa a youth may decide to take a chance and pursue a life of crime because until they are caught it offers significant rewards compared to months of job hunting for very menial reward. Before you know it the only successful people or role models that a community sees are criminals.
And here comes the good news. All basic systems have inputs, processes and outputs. Therefore, changing a variable that is input can change the output. Therefore, the good news or silver lining for us is that in order to change our outcomes we simply can focus on changing the inputs and the processes. Think of the way local activists, international pressure and community engagement eventually brought down Apartheid. Our destinies are not pre-written. We will always have some opportunity to change the system.
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