The Devastating Effects of Addiction on a Society

[Duer 157099]

It's easy to demonize addictions like drugs and alcohol. Our society routinely does so, as evidence by the overflowing (and growing) prison populations. And while such addictions indeed have negative effects on a society, there is an even greater addiction that is not only not demonized, but actually praised and nearly deified. It's an addiction every bit as powerful, just as difficult if not impossible to break, but has a much more direct and devastating impact on not just individuals or familes, but whole communities, whole cities, whole states and whole nations. It's an addiction that has currently brought this nation's economy to it's knees.

What is this addiction? Greed.

Can anyone argue that greed is not an addiction, even in the most mundane of terms? Can anyone argue that greed is not utterly devastating to all who are directly and indirectly impacted by it?

And yet, we don't consider it to be enough of a societal ill that we legislate against it and penalize those who are addicted to it, the way we penalize, let's say, methamphetamine use.

Why is that?

Can you imagine a society where greed were de facto illegal? Where blatant demonstrations of greed resulted in incarceration of the perps?

It's an addiction, just like any other drug -- and we as a society apparently don't mind locking up all other addicts.

So why not this one? Wouldn't it actually benefit society to do so?

[stillcool]

1. white collar crime is the status quo...

and has been for generations. The robber barons of yesterday are the rulers of today. The insidiousness of how they ply their wares is staggering. The contortionist language of the torture memos provided me with a little insight into how they manage to legislate criminality.

[Duer 157099]

3. Agree. But I'm talking about a real and specific addiction: greed

Not just white collar crime or indifference to any ethical standards.

An actual, real addiction, just like heroin or meth or alcohol addiction. Real.

And completely devastating to huge populations who reap the results.

And completely unrecognized as a societal ill that is worth addressing.

One man's addiction = jail time

Another man's addiction = more wealth than he can ever ever need or use, plus destruction of so many other's lives

Why the disparity?

Perhaps it's time to look more closely at the addiction we call greed.

[DonCoquixote]

2. OK, here is why not

Greed, for all of it's evil, is subjective. You may define greed one way (Madoff), but some would define greed as wanting to use more than one sheet of toilet paper, or reading the internet instead of reading a paper. You can give someone a urine test, and determine that they have a certain amount of drug that is beyond a legal limit; it's no less chemistry than your old High School class. You can write a law that says someone with a certain percentage of Blood Alcohol is legally drunk.

Now, you can write laws that discourage behavior. You can certainly write laws that ban fraud, and you can write laws that govern pay and taxes. However, all these things must deal in objective reality, not subjective debate. Either someone lied or did not lie, either there is x amount of capital in this bank or there is not. Because, as much as you may think you fall safely behind a subjective standard, there is someone who would throw you into jail because THEIR idea of greed was violated, and so on..It's the same reason why Religion is an awful way to write your laws., too much emotion and subjective basis.

[Duer 157099]

4. Perhaps the medical community should be looking at it first then

I do not think that greed is the norm. I don't think the normal human brain has an insatiable compulsion to acquire more and more wealth without any limits and without regards to how many other lives it ruins.

I think it's truly a pathological state, and our society has done itself grave harm by not only not acknoledging that it's a problem, but by the contrary, holding it up as some sort of capitalistic ideal to emulate.

The worst harm, though, came through when we annointed a new non-human entity whose prime directive was very simple and easily stated: GREED. This was, of course, the Corporation.

So now we have institutionalized this pathological condition!

[valerief]

5. Oh, yeah, the uber rich who own the world would really go for that. nt

[On the Road]

6. Sadly Enough,

abolition of greed would probably plunge the country into a permanent depression.