Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Corruption & Social Behavior

Corruption & Social Behavior

A certain politician in the Virgin Islands enjoys pontificating on how we got here to this sad place on national and social media. The great man is clearly intelligent and thoughtful.
However, he fails to look in the mirror. For all the pontificating on corruption even making apologies for past misconduct, all is charade if there is no true change in national morality.

There is no change without a change in culture and social behavior. The lesson from countries battling with corruption and crime is that there is no true change without a change in the national mindset. This change is very difficult to achieve.

Corruption begins in the heart and mind. Corruption and dishonesty are personal choices.

Now when did the rot set in for the Virgin Islands? Some will assert at the change from an agrarian community to a tourism and financial services-based economy.

Once upon a time, the Virgin Islands was a truly God-fearing community. Post Slavery and the Plantation, religion was a core component of community. It still is.

Today there has been an explosion in church building. However, is the fear of God still part of the DNA? In religious societies that are deteriorating morally, why has religion not been an influence on morality? That is a rhetorical question left to the reader to decide.

Morality in the Virgin Islands is religion and church, not any personal moral code. However, morality has never been worse with the explosion in single-parent homes, gun crime, and fraud.

In countries like Venezuela and Nigeria observers will pontificate that the countries went south after the prosperity and easy money culture started by oil discovery.

Countries that grew prosperous over many decades of a slow hard slog up the mountain to the Promised Land were able to adapt better to affluence, and the successes better absorbed by institutions, society and culture. The preceding is simple hypothesis of-course, even fairy tale.

The fact is no one knows why some countries become corrupt to the point of national disaster and crisis and others are able to absorb prosperity with good governance, and civil institutions and structures that work well.

Countries in Northern Europe are far less corrupt than countries further south. Is there a geographical component to corruption? The answer must be no.

Russia is a northern Eurasian country that is one of the most corrupt nations on earth. Canada is on the same latitudes. Canada is far less corrupt than Russia.

Simple observation will show that there may be two factors in the corruption debacle. History and Government. Corrupt countries show a clear history of corruption beginning at the inception of organized rule: Southern and Central American countries including Post-Colonial Africa show a vast culture of corruption. This culture has never abated. It has been the sibling of tyranny and the cult of the strongman.

Is there something inherent in black and third-world culture that drives corruption? That is a controversial and even upsetting assertion. However, countries ruled by black leaders with black populations appear to be more corrupt than white or Caucasian societies. Countries further south are much more corrupt than northern European countries that possess the best quality of life in the world.

The preceding assertions are all simple observation and speculation. However, these questions are worth asking.

Why would a Virgin Islands blessed with billions of dollars in national revenues over the past thirty years be grappling with runaway corruption and crime today, to the point of national crisis? Why is Nigeria, a country that has enjoyed hundreds of billions of dollars of oil revenues be termed the poverty capital of the world? Why is Venezuela in freefall after possessing billions of barrels of oil within its borders?

On the other hand, why do countries with far less natural resources and wealth than these countries enjoy some of the highest standards of living in the world, with low levels of corruption and mismanagement?

The preceding is worth pondering.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×