Actor Jackie Chan calls U.S. ‘most corrupt’ country in the world

[antigone382]

63. I get your point, but I do think that there is a distinction between oppression and corruption.

Both are nasty things, both are tied inextricably to power, and it is arguably true that they are correlated (there is likely to be more corruption in oppressive societies, and there is likely to be more oppression in corrupt societies) but they are not synonymous, in my opinion.

As an example, I would say that Puritan New England was oppressive, but not particularly corrupt--while there are certainly ways in which corruption probably occurred, I think that over all, most of the people in power acted out of what they believed to be stringent moral duty. It was undeniably oppressive, however, as evidenced by the expulsion of heretics and the Salem witch trials (and though there are theories that some of the targets of persecution were singled out because of property disputes, I think it is established that most of the people in power genuinely thought they were ridding their communities of a great evil).

Italy, on the other hand, is a highly corrupt culture that does not on its face appear to be particularly oppressive. Now, taking Amanda Knox and other, similar stories into consideration, this doesn't mean that injustices don't occur. But these injustices seem to stem more from irrationality or incompetence than from an outright objective to shut down political opposition or compel the masses to fear those in power.

How does that relate to corruption and the United States? I can't really claim to be an authority on that. I don't really think Jackie Chan can either; it all depends on your understanding of what corruption is; must all corruption be back room deals and subversion of the system for a few in power, or can it be built right into the system to benefit the powerful without even requiring bribery, etc.?

When you consider the power that the U.S. and its businesses have to determine the economic, ecological, and sociocultural future of virtually the entire world--and our seeming disinterest in pursuing that power in a way that respects their desires or even values their fates--can that be seen as a kind of corruption?

I can't say definitively, and I don't ignore that Chan may be speaking from his own prejudices or on behalf of his society's own agenda--but I also won't dismiss his observation out of hand.