Today I got pulled over for, seriously, no reason. And the cops hovered outside my window, waiting for me to pay them off.
It was 9:14am.
I'm well aware of the way things work in Liberia: X earns Y dollars/month and expects Z to supplement it, which Z does in order to get to Q on time.
This happens over and over again in every aspect of daily life.
So now you've got a lot of undercompensated people throwing around what small power they have to get a few extra bucks or a free beer or whatever. Often, they don't even have to ask for a bribe -- people can smell it on them. So citizens roll their eyes and toss money out their car windows and speed off and the behavior is reinforced. Extortion is so easy, it's stupid. And one day, you find yourself doing it just for fun, because nobody stops you.
Personally, I wouldn't give five Liberian dollars ($0.07 USD) to a cop so I sat there for 45 minutes calmly playing Tetris until they got bored and let me go.
I'm probably going to get my ass kicked one day. The fight against corruption is a lonely one.
It was 9:14am.
I'm well aware of the way things work in Liberia: X earns Y dollars/month and expects Z to supplement it, which Z does in order to get to Q on time.
This happens over and over again in every aspect of daily life.
So now you've got a lot of undercompensated people throwing around what small power they have to get a few extra bucks or a free beer or whatever. Often, they don't even have to ask for a bribe -- people can smell it on them. So citizens roll their eyes and toss money out their car windows and speed off and the behavior is reinforced. Extortion is so easy, it's stupid. And one day, you find yourself doing it just for fun, because nobody stops you.
Personally, I wouldn't give five Liberian dollars ($0.07 USD) to a cop so I sat there for 45 minutes calmly playing Tetris until they got bored and let me go.
I'm probably going to get my ass kicked one day. The fight against corruption is a lonely one.
4 comments:
You're my hero.
We'll revisit this in six months when the system has officially worn me down.
If you're going to make that stand are you willing to go all the way?
I can confidently say: No. I am not willing to go all the way. Yet. But the money stays in my wallet. (Or it would, if I weren't also broke.)
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