Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Paid a Bribe

ipaidabribe.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 109 posts

Re: I Paid a Bribe

#81

Post by Kilimanjaro »

endtime wrote: post #72
Kilimanjaro wrote: post #63

I'll say it a thousand times, corruption is the cancer of all societies and we really need to find the cure as priority number one. Before going to mars, before sea-steading, before feeding africa.

You might want to stop saying that, since it doesn't make any sense. There's no more a global cure for corruption than there is a global cure for people not being nice. Not everyone is going to behave how you want them to, and there's no reasonable alternative.

No I won't, it makes a lot of sense, and there is a simple cure not everybody willing to accept: the law.

Re: I Paid a Bribe

#82

Post by gnosis »

SimonPStevens wrote: post #40
khafra wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every scenario he described involves people who already make money from tips. If they underreport their tips, that's their own issue. I've read experimental reports from people attempting to bypass social conventions by means of $20 bills, and it only works when the bribee's job and legal status are not on the line. I'm guessing that bypassing social conventions is where most of the outrage comes from. Queueing etiqu…

To cite one example, the Alton Towers theme park in the UK has a ticketing system that allows you to pay more for "fast track" tickets. Fast track tickets allow you to join a separate queue. The number of fast track tickets available are limited so the queues remain very short, and actual boarding of each ride is controlled so it is never dominated by fast track ticket holders. The fast track ticket prices vary depen…

"it is perceived as fair, and everyone has the option to participate if they choose."

But why doesn't everyone choose to do so? After all, it would mean a shorter wait, and who wouldn't want that?

Could it be that not everyone can afford to use the system? Is this really fair? And how do you know that it's "perceived as fair"? By whom? How many people who are waiting in the slow line have you surveyed?

Re: I Paid a Bribe

#83

Post by sp4rki »

getonit wrote: post #28
burgerbrain wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tipping low-wage customer service workers for unadvertised services and favours is now some sort of evil "class" issue that indicates greed and corruption? Do you get mad when other diners at your favourite restaurant tip better than you and get friendlier service for their trouble? Give me a break.

How can buying favours be anything other than a class issue?

I can, for example, give 100 bucks to a friend to do my homework, and he might accept and do my homework even though he has more money than me. Trading money for favors is not necessarily a measure of wealth, and wealth does not preclude asking/providing any kind of favors

Re: I Paid a Bribe

#84

Post by iwwr »

radu_floricica wrote: post #14
keerthi wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe if there is a public uprising against the government and the authorities, they will be forced to answer these issues. Wikileaks faclites this by publishing the documents through all types of medium which cannot be censored by the government. As a citizen you can also contribute by spreading it more and more.. My best bet would be to spread it in schools and colleges as they seem to be fearless lot. An upris…

I'm Romanian. We're not as bad as Mexic, in the sense we don't have drug lords and piles of bodies, but we definitely don't lose in corruption. I've spent not a little time thinking about what can be done. I know the problem (pretty much everybody knows the problem) - politicians suck. They're either corrupt and incompetent, or just corrupt. Problem is, we really really don't have any alternatives. There is absolutel…

Instead of more laws, tougher rules or oversight authorities, it may be worthwhile to just reduce the number of regulations, papers, fees, approvals, stamps or 'adeverințe' needed to function. Tougher rules won't work when the rulers are inherently corrupt; rules are the very thing that justify their power.

Re: I Paid a Bribe

#85

Post by wooster »

poet wrote: post #30
guelo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, instead of it being a site where your wealthy greedy self could gain a meaningless personal advantage over others it is a site that is trying to make the world a better place for everybody. I know it is useless for "everyday folks" from your class, we'll try harder next time.

Five minutes ago I was looking for a donation link on your site, but I completely lost interest after reading this post. The person you replied to grew up in a lifestyle and culture different than you. This doesn't mean that he's greedy or that his motivations are meaningless. You seem like you've got a huge chip on your shoulder and that's not going to help you in the long run. Why would people be interested in enga…

I can't find any evidence that guelo, or his consulting company, was in any way involved in the site.

Re: I Paid a Bribe

#86

Post by poet »

mcantor wrote: post #71
poet wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're argument is orthogonal to my point. I'm aware of the wealth differences. I see similar differences quite often in the inner city of Chicago. One overarching trend among the less well off that Guelo demonstrates is a venomance that gets in the way of cooperation and progress. As an example, I have seen young children refuse to be taught by quite capable teachers because the teacher is white and wears jeans that…

Unrelated: I am mystified by your competent use of the term "orthogonal" coming just two words after you used "you're" instead of "your." That is just bizarre!

It's not a grammar mistake, I have trouble when I type quickly. Another error that I make: I often type a word that sounds similar in place of what I actually meant. Case in point: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2067123.

Re: I Paid a Bribe

#87

Post by poet »

gnosis wrote: post #80
poet wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as the donation goes, my conscious is clear. I donate a big piece of my income to charities and my family and I work with thousands of impoverished kids in the inner city of Chicago every day. Based on my experience, characterizing the poster as having a chip on his shoulder is accurate. I run into this problem all the time when working with those less well off than me and it's a serious problem. It's a signif…

First, it's "conscience", not "conscious". Second, the word "innocuous" means "harmless", not "not intended to offend". It's quite obvious that the original comment was not intended to offend anyone. The guy who made it was probably oblivious to its potential offensiveness. But that doesn't mean it was harmless. He was basically advocating making bribery easier, which is not only offensive to many people (no matter w…

When being pedantic, it's best to be right: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/innocuous.

    1: producing no injury : harmless
    
    2: not likely to give offense or to arouse strong feelings or hostility : inoffensive, insipid

Re: I Paid a Bribe

#88

Post by igravious »

poet wrote: post #53
igravious wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Innocuous? Don't make me laugh. I don't see this as spitting venom or that the poster has a huge chip on their shoulder - that's rather an extreme characterization. My first thought on seeing the title for the site was that it was a project to try to reduce corruption and bribery. Because I was curious I clicked through to discover more. Nicely designed site, tackling a real social ill which obviously affects the poo…

As far as the donation goes, my conscious is clear. I donate a big piece of my income to charities and my family and I work with thousands of impoverished kids in the inner city of Chicago every day. Based on my experience, characterizing the poster as having a chip on his shoulder is accurate. I run into this problem all the time when working with those less well off than me and it's a serious problem. It's a signif…

Hey ... no offense was meant, I never said that you're not a generous or giving person - I was just pointing out that we have no way of knowing whether you would have donated regardless of seeing the post that annoyed you. I think that you should go with your gut and donate anyhow :)

We'll have to agree to disagree, it's not obvious to me whether that guy his a chip - but in fairness I will always side with those less well off rather than those who are more affluent because all other things being equal that is the fair way to balance the inequalities in this world.

It was not innocuous, it was crass and gauche. I was snorting in derision whilst reading it and was very glad and not at all surprised that it was responded to strongly.

Middle class in the US (I presume you're from the US) is far beyond the reach of most of the world, when will you begin to learn this? I'm from Ireland where we as a nation only recently became affluent, maybe this colors things somewhat. Look, I have no issue with you but it's easier to rub shoulders with other people from vastly different backgrounds due to the decentralized open nature of the Net and maybe we should all remember that :)

Re: I Paid a Bribe

#89

Post by gnosis »

poet wrote: post #87
gnosis wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, it's "conscience", not "conscious". Second, the word "innocuous" means "harmless", not "not intended to offend". It's quite obvious that the original comment was not intended to offend anyone. The guy who made it was probably oblivious to its potential offensiveness. But that doesn't mean it was harmless. He was basically advocating making bribery easier, which is not only offensive to many people (no matter w…

When being pedantic, it's best to be right: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/innocuous . 1: producing no injury : harmless 2: not likely to give offense or to arouse strong feelings or hostility : inoffensive, insipid

But it was likely to give offense, and did give offense (as is evident by the responses he got).

Re: I Paid a Bribe

#90

Post by ergo98 »

sp332 wrote: post #57
getonit wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would seem to me to be beside the point: Buying favours requires some form of capital, which is more available to some classes than others. If you don't have any, you can't buy favours from any class - your own or otherwise.

Are you saying that having less money than someone else puts you in a lower class in society? Or are you saying that being in a higher class makes money more accessible, somehow?

Is this a serious question?

The correlation between wealth and class is almost 1.0. How can you seriously argue otherwise? This discussion has taken a turn to the bizarre.

Post reply on HN