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Friday 11 October 2013

"Corruption. All round Corruption".

Someone asked me this question yesterday :

Can you recall the superb quote JS made about corruption and individuals in 1992?

I remembered where I'd found the quote that Chris was referring to without having to check back through Moor's blog.  It formed part of an interview that Jimmy did with Mensa Magazine in Febuary 1992. I found my mag and shot a reply straight back : "The common denominator of the world's problems must be corruption" These were the words captioned off in the article.  However, when I re read the whole piece I noticed that the caption had omited one word. Here is the whole paragraph so that the words can be put in the right context :

I asked him what major problems he thought the world faces.  "The common denominator of world problems, must be AGAIN, corruption.  It is is patently obvious that individual corruption has ruined many an emergent African state.  It is patently obvious that corruption has ruined the country of, shall we say, Iraq.  Somebody like Saddam Husssein who professes to work with God on his side but at the same time builds himself a fifty million pound palace and gasses the Kurds.  Which he did.  Then obviously, the guy is a con man.  If he is not a con man, he is totally deluded in what he is thinking.

Actually, I should have checked the blogs because my heart told me at the time that these were NOT the words that had leapt out of the page at me the first time I read the piece.  I'll continue with the exact words from the next paragraph any way just for completeness' sake !


"Corruption spreads.  If the boss is corrupt then the deputy boss is corrupt.  And so is the deputy's deputy and so on and so forth, right down as far as it can possibly reach.  If one poses the question, 'Will you ever eradicate corruption', the answer is 'No'.  Because the resolution of the vast majority of things in the world is attempted by debate.  But very few bring into the frame the thing called human nature.  CORRUPTION IN ALL IT's FORMS, IS THE BEDEVILMENT OF THE WORLD (My emphasis) .

That last sentence was the next I shot off to Chris - bless him, I hope I did not do his head in with my constant changes - and then - I found the words that really resonated with me today, so I'm certain that this was the para that I'd quoted before.  It follows the last two ! :

"The Alternative is within your circle, to do what you can starting with yourself, to resist corruption.  At the end of the day, you have to be prepared to jettison those people who won't knock corruption on the head and get on with your own little thing.  Conversely, you can have ceaseless, endless, pointless and stupid debates about so - called global problems when it's comfortable not to acknowledge the real problem, which is corruption."


Another answer,he suggests is  "sensible and honest education.  Education is different things to different people.  If you have a nationalist group that instructs it's children to sing nationalist songs and actively hate those not of their nation, that is not education, that is corruption.  So corruption can be passed on by education"

I always like to double check my facts - so I headed to wiki for a good definition of the word Corruption 


In philosophical, theological, or moral discussions, corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. Corruption may include many activities including bribery and embezzlement. Government, or 'political', corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption

I hope that not too many people have or will be corrupted by the nonsense of the last year

I'll close with words that are not Jimmy's but those of the the man who interviewed him that day. I was surprised when I read the opening sentence - was Jimmy that misunderstood by those who had yet to spend a little time with him ?

I'll tell you now.  I was not  lookinf forward to meeting Sir James Savile OBE.  Although I love programmes like Jim'll Fix it and Savile's Travels, I was convinced he'd bury me in banter.  I am delighted to say that I was wrong.  He was  extremely pleasant and courteous and  gave very thoughtful answers to my questions.  The man is undeniably kind. He is relentlessly logical.  But the thing that impressed me most was the quality and strength of his convictions. 

I sincerely hope to meet even  at least one person with a fraction of the 'quality and strength' of conviction that this man obviously had.  I've spent a long time on this wee post.  I wanted to do right by Jimmy.  I hope you will do the same !























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