That is culture

This is a great article by Conrado De Quiros in the Philippine Daily Inquirer about our culture of corruption.

I READ an interesting story last weekend. In Japan, a 19-year-old was arrested in a case that has become a media sensation, producing all sorts of editorials on the subject. If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison and a fine of $6,000.

His crime? Cheating in college entrance exams.

The kid was caught using his cell phone to access the Internet to get answers to questions mainly involving Math problems and translating passages from Japanese to English. Someone saw the site postings, noted that the dates coincided with the exam days, and notified the university, triggering an investigation. The kid readily confessed to the wrongdoing.

An investigation is underway to see if this was merely an isolated incident or had been done by others. “It’s not a mere cheating case,” Mainichi said in an editorial. “The impact of the wrongful use of the Internet, capable of massively spreading information instantly, is huge.” The opinions have tried to gauge the implications of the crime and the severity of the punishment.

None has asked if what the kid did is a crime. It is a given.

That is culture. To appreciate the richness of it, all we have to do is compare it with similar incidents in this country.

Read the full article here.