• davad@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Greece is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. They don’t respect driving laws. They openly throw trash in the streets. They smoke right in front of “Please don’t smoke here” signs.

    For pedantry’s sake, these aren’t examples of corruption. In order for it to be “corruption,” there has to be someone in a position of power who is misusing their power.

    definition

    [0] “Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one’s gain.” (wikipedia)).

    Some examples of corruption would be:

    • Bribing a public servant to get better service (link)
    • Fraud and money laundering (link
    • Bribing a politician to win state contracts or improve terms of existing contracts (link 1, link 2)
    • scarabic@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      At the very least, the word can be used figuratively to describe the decay and breakdown of social fabric. Personally I find it refreshing to hear an entire society held accountable, not just a few mustache twirling villains at the top.

    • arendjr@programming.dev
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      1 month ago

      That’s not just pedantry, that’s unnecessarily narrow-minded. Ever heard of the corrupted heart? According to your definition, that’s an impossibility, unless the heart belongs to someone in authority, or something, I guess.

      The point is, there is more than a single interpretation of things, and there is not a singular definition of corruption. Anyone can be corrupted, and giving examples that show that lawlessness permeates every level of society is a great way of showing that corruption is likely endemic in the culture.