Choppergate, featuring our arguably most
partisan Speaker of the House of Reps in history, Bronwyn Bishop, has whipped
up a frenzy, nay a a veritable typhoon of indignation, on social media. This, despite
the fact that we have become highly desensitized in recent years to the
disingenuous behavior of our politicians: their behaviour has certainly crossed
the invisible integrity-lack of integrity line.
Desensitisation is a psychological
technique used to treat people with anxiety and, notably, phobias. The idea is
that graded exposure to the fear coupled with relaxation reduces the anxiety.
It is, indeed, a very effective treatment. But we can become unwittingly
desensitized to all sorts of other things too, such as the behavior of our
politicians, our leaders. So, when the new LNP Government made a national sport
of breaking election promises, the reaction was no more emphatic than a leaf
crashing to the earth. Another example is the way the daily nonsense dished out
by the media is taken for granted and we keep sucking it in without question,
even though we know it is flawed. Makes you wonder what it will take for the
majority, rather than excited minorities, to become sensitized again and say
that ‘enough is enough’
Anyhow, that’s not the point I want to make
in this little blog. It’s more about what it is about humans that has shown
Lord Acton’s statement that, ‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts
absolutely’, to be something of a truism. Dan Ariely, a psychologist (see TED
Talks) has done some really interesting work on dishonesty. It seems that most
of us will be dishonest to a point. We’ll fudge a bit here and there, keep that
extra little bit of change, tell the odd lie, exaggerate. Most of us break the
law daily by speeding and then guiltily slow down when we see a police car or a
speed gun.
But, for most of us, there is a line that
we won’t cross. We’ll fudge so far but not too far. There is a part of our
brain that kicks in and gives us a quick slap around the head when we are
confronted with that line and seem about to move to the dark side. Psychopaths
are an exception, however. It seems true too that when people move into
positions of power, even minimal power, they will exploit their situation-adopting
what is known as a sense of entitlement. And, yes, its most of us, not just
psychopaths that do this. Ariely’s research uses good cross sections of normal
people, not those with personality disorders. So, her’s talking about you and
me.
Being an unreconstructed Darwinist, I have
an easy explanation for all this. Its all about obtaining an advantage in terms
of finding a mate and being able to ensure our offspring are ours and will
survive. Dear Hortense, it is written in the genes.
So, Bronwyn couldn’t help herself? Well,
yes and no. Yes, she is hard wired to seek advantage and stuff her snout in the
trough. But, being civilized, being a leader, being a good citizen means having
the capacity to overcome this urge, to recognize where the line is. Claiming
the odd car hire or meal when on an overseas trip is one thing, within normal
limits according to Ariely. Spending $88,000 in a fortnight and $1000 a day
limo hires while in Europe is another.
But, this sense of entitlement is not
restricted to political leaders. Any kind of power, and management is a common
power source, will cause this breach of integrity at all sorts of levels not
just the snout in the trough. And it can only lead to cynicism and
disengagement on the part of employees.
We should expect more of our leaders-all of
them. And we need to make more noise about our value expectations, if we have
not become too desensitized.
