The Punishment of Honesty in a Corrupt Society
Show me a criminal, a corrupt individual, a tax evader, or a charlatan godman who has no followers—and who faces arrest without protest or public sympathy.
You will rarely find one. That stark reality itself exposes a deeper truth: honesty, integrity, and transparency appear to be buried in our society.
Today, it is often the honest and principled who suffer—ignored, isolated, and deserted—while the corrupt, the wealthy, and the powerful rule over us, enjoying life with impunity.
When such figures face trouble or meet their end, people cry, the media provides wall-to-wall coverage, and legislators line up to offer condolences.
Power and money manufacture legitimacy, even when morality is absent.
In such a system, honesty seems almost like a crime. Yet, an honest person cannot simply choose to become dishonest.
A kind-hearted human being cannot easily turn cruel. This is the tragedy of our times: virtue brings suffering, but abandoning it is not an option for those who truly possess it.
The Shifting Direction of Society and Changing Mindsets
Society today appears to be moving in a troubling direction, marked by a significant change in people’s mindsets. Increasingly, there is little concern for what ground-level people think, feel, or experience in their daily lives. The voices of those who neither wield power nor pose problems are often ignored altogether.
Instead, there is a growing tendency to appease a select few—those who hold power and can offer help, elevation, praise, or platforms. Relationships are shaped less by shared values or social responsibility and more by proximity to authority and influence.
This trend carries serious dangers. It leads to the systematic marginalisation of ordinary people, whose concerns may seem insignificant individually but, in reality, represent a vast and critical section of society. When attention is focused on satisfying a few, the many are effectively pushed aside.
Such a mindset risks silencing the foundations of society itself—thrashing the voices of the powerless while privileging the powerful. A society that ignores its ground-level realities cannot remain healthy or just for long.
Dr Santosh Kumar Mohapatra
Cuttack
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