Sri Lanka: A Shameful Land Like No Other?
Lasantha Pethiyagoda
First, a question: If everyone in a given society directly or indirectly cheats everyone else, will there be any winners? A poor country practicing the values of grand capitalism have two groups of people. The industrialists and the political class on the one side and the ordinary citizens on the other. The former are the exploiters and the latter the exploited. The exploiters are well set for any contingency and will flee or escape any calamity. The exploited will be caught in any cross fire or disaster visited upon the state.
Tourism magazines referred to Sri Lanka as the resplendent isle, the pearl of the Indian Ocean. Ironically, it has been branded as “A land like no other” or even ridiculously “The miracle of Asia”. The exploited people of the land see it otherwise.
There is a relatively new hierarchy of values practiced in Sri Lanka which reverse the traditional order, and have infiltrated our fundamental institutional structures (education, labour, politics, economy) through which destructive social norms are endorsed and crystallized.
People now tend to take great pride in conforming to this socially-constructed emerging hierarchy of values, defining themselves, their worth and success in terms of volume of money and extent of power, proceeding blindly in a vain search for happiness, while the very foundations of the land are crumbling beneath their feet.
Rampant corruption in every conceivable sector has now become a curse in society, and is eating into its very foundations. Amazingly and absurdly, it is no longer a matter of shame, to be accused of corrupt practices. On the contrary, proponents of this despicable “art” are implicitly held in awe, and almost always rewarded for their ingenuity and duplicity.
The noble virtues of humility, love and compassion, foundations of our Buddhist culture have been replaced with crass hypocrisy, arrogant haughtiness and contemptuous behaviour towards people who represent compassion, honesty or integrity. This is done deliberately, to deter any resurgence of ethics or semblance of decency and thus promotes a culture that has already destroyed the land’s vital institutions.
In government offices, even ordinary officials and puny local politicians, strut about in self-assumed importance. This is in turn affecting the youth, who are emulating their peers, and indulging in masquerades that include lies and chicanery, to show off their ill-gotten possessions.
In other words, ordinary people have been overwhelmed by the pragmatics of the “corporate bottom line” that dominate our life-stage decision-making, turning money, which is essentially a means, into an end in itself, while turning fellow humans, ethically understood as “ends in themselves” into mere means of self-gain.
This engenders a constant state of jealousy, resentment and competition. It then triggers people with meagre means, to steal and indulge in antisocial activities like soliciting bribes, drug peddling and smuggling to finance their lifestyle.
It is the extreme depravity to which our moral values have degenerated, when we find people being murdered for small pecuniary gains. Everyone in this poor country seems pre-occupied with money. Our children seem encouraged by parents, peers and societal norms to embrace wealth accumulation as their prime objective. One dares not revolt against such paradigms created by the market culture although social costs are ongoing and most palpable to all.
These attitudes and behaviours are unpardonable in any religion. Nevertheless, people with such moral depravity, overtly seem to be religious.
Most of these people are “religious” in their daily routine, like offering daily prayers, worshipping at temples, and even engaging in philanthropic activities, like giving charities or donations to religious bodies.
