Money corrupts human nature
Media
Part of Panorama
- Title
- Money corrupts human nature
- Language
- English
- Source
- Panorama Volume XVII (Issue No.7) July 1965
- Year
- 1965
- Subject
- Money--Psychological aspects
- Human behavior
- Moral education
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- TNI PHILIPPINE MAMINS OP MB UAMMS Vol. XVII MANILA, PHILIPPINES No. 7 MONEY CORRUPTS HUMAN NATURE To make the possession of money a standard of merit is a corruption of all that is best in human nature. When wealth is viewed as a reward for good work, or as the signal of success and achievement, the more truthful and admirable measures of human capacity are distorted. Even where wealth is gained by hard and intelligent effort, as it often is, it has no meaning except the comfort and satisfaction it brings to the possessor. But rarely is he content to possess and enjoy wealth, he must use it to acquire power in fields where it should have no influence — in politics, even in religion. What of the fact that great fortunes are gained by sheer speculation and by crookedness, as everyone knows that they are? The re sult is that not only corruption and unbridled power, but devastating cynicism result from great aggregations of mo ney in private hands. The measure of value that it creates is one that no one really respects — not even the rich themselves. Alas, this influence under capitalism and the cynicism which is the fruit of it permeate all the classes of society. If only wealth could be isolated it would not be so pernicious. But on movie screen and advertisement, in popular magazine success stories, in radio broadcasts and in speeches, the mechanic, the clerk, the truck driver, the small storekeeper are bombarded with the lure of money. Laurence Stapleton in The Design of Democracy,