Saturday Sanity Break, 22 September 2018 - Australia's declining ethical standards
Are Australians becoming more grasping, more inclined to break laws and less ethical and even less courteous? I cannot be sure but it sure seems to me to be likely. Here are some examples, some from personal experience (eg discourteous car drivers), some from the daily news feeds (including our own examples of 'fake news') and others from systematic attempts to find out the facts (the current Royal Commission.)
I submit that 50 years ago, there were fewer examples (relative to Australia's population then) of most of these behaviours.
Comments or examples welcome. Contact Henry here.
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Home invasions, beating of elderly home owners to extract money or valuables.
Street crime, from mild scaring of vulnerable people, coward's punches or even deliberate murder,
Financial services companies ripping off customers, including dead former customers, paying their senior staff monstrous salaries and bonuses.
Old age homes, poor conditions for clients, evident to visitors.
Medical mistakes (The Age, 22 Sept 2018).
Universities, low enter scores (eg for potential teachers), high pass rates, (to keep the fees flowing).
Fake institutions of learning who rip off visitors to Australia seeking qualifications to either take back home or to make them employable in Australia.
Bosses who underpay staff, young Aussies or visitors from overseas or immigrants with explicit or implicit threats of the sack or dobbing into immigration authorities.
Corrupt builders or building companies doing shoddy work or overcharging for work shoddy or competent. Ditto for other types of companies - eg care hire agencies who try to load drivers with dud insurance policies.
People putting needles in fruit, risking consumers injury or death and damaging farmers, perhaps sufficiently to cause him and his workforce to lose their jobs.
People who start bushfires.
People who ship sheep overseas in extraordinarily horrible conditions.
People in positions of trust, (priests, teachers, even Salvation Army officers) abusing vulnerable people, even children.
Adults who abuse children or foster children placed in their care.
Lack of courtesy by drivers. Drivers regularly change lanes without signalling, push into crowded lanes, gives the finger to anyone who blows his or her horn to protest or even to move someone along who is texting a friend.
Regulators who fail to nail those who ignore or wilfully break laws and regulations.
Dishonest doctors who rip off patients and/or Medicare.
Incompetent medical practitioners - eg orthopedic specialists who tell patients they need expensive knee surgery when a good physio therapist could have fixed the problem without any operations.
Politicians and public officials who peddle bulls**t, demand constantly rising salaries and require taxpayers pay for cars to drive them, plane trip to transport them and expensive meals at top restaurants.
People who refuse to work or even seriously to try obtain work to provide for their families and who cheerfully accept welfare paid for by taxpayers.
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Let's complete the list, gentle readers. Any brave soul who is willing to either dispute that all this is new or (more helpfully) explain why the ethical tide is so far out, can write to put their case.
Henry.Thornton@henrythornton.com
Kulture
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The Sporting Life
I could not help feeling sorry for Richmond as they were flogged by Collingwood last night.
Suddenly the final series looks open Melbourne vrs West Coast should be another ripper game tonight, and next week's Grand Final even more exciting than imagined when the Tigers looked invincible.
Image of the week
To be provided.