Human beings have a latent, in their essence, ability to be dishonest in any area of ​​our lives.

Moral philosophy and religious doctrines are forged to govern that inevitable characteristic of human nature which is evil. Civilization proposes normative constructions to regulate the behavior of individuals and groups. Some people understand the value of rules and follow them. Some groups take them on and live according to them. Some countries have a better understanding of the practical importance of regulatory systems and have made significant achievements in many respects. The global world knows the importance of standards and international organizations propose and publish them.

Have we hit rock bottom?

We, in Latin America, understand less the value of systems that regulate behavior even though we also elaborate them rhetorically and defend them in fiery speeches. Ecuadorians are no exception and, on the contrary, in such occasions we stand out for being the leaders of situations that are the result of permanent defiance of the rule of law.

There are factors that contribute to this kind of collective blindness to the benefits of citizen honesty. In Ecuador, we all think we are not equal before the law, and this position reinforces individualism and undermines the effective validity of regulatory systems. This is how the elites have lived and reached this state – in many cases – not precisely because of their proven honesty, developing behaviors of contempt for the law that are manifested in a series of actions that demand that the system serve their own interests above the collective well-being. These ways of being are not only elite, they are present in all social strata and characterize us as a people.

Therefore, coinciding with the adjective formulated these days by a distinguished intellectual and national politician, to the effect that we are a dishonest society, I insist on what is also evident, namely that human beings of any breadth and of any era are also They, with with the difference that those who progress collectively have learned that dishonesty and disobeying the rules of social coexistence make them weak.

We all make up the motherland

Rodrigo Borja

Literature deals with the question of the intrinsic evil of humanity, which manifests abundantly when, for various reasons, the always fragile social systems of coexistence collapse. For example, Saramago’s Essay on Blindness describes the decay of social order, the reign of chaos and mutual abuse. Or, in Stephen King’s The Dome, the special conditions of the city’s residents’ extraordinary isolation cause their filthiest behaviors to emerge.

Civil dishonesty is a reality among us. Our ways of living together have accepted the declining validity of horrible vices, such as cheating, nepotism, lying, abuse of rights, overvaluation of fraud, and contempt for effort and decency. (OR)