Every season brings its share of moral crusaders, people who preach integrity when it serves their purpose and when things don’t go their way, they loose it, slam doors and issue threats. Their morality isn’t rooted in truth; it’s a tool of convenience.
These individuals dangle promises of “unity” “collaboration,” “visibility,” and “career opportunities,” not to empower others but to demolish healthy choice and competition. They play the benevolent leader when it benefits them, only to turn ruthless the moment someone challenges their authority. They don’t build communities, they build empires on vanity, fear and control of resources.
Let’s not pretend otherwise: some of these so-called “families” earn millions of dollars a year from their private ventures. Yet, astonishingly, they still petition the government for subsidies, demanding public money to further pad their profits. They wrap their pleas in the language of “promoting independence and diversity,” but the bottom line seems different. Public funds become another lever in their private game of influence.
Meanwhile, when their own associates publicly slander others, these same moralists turn conveniently blind. “It didn’t come from us,” they claim, as if denying were a virtue. Accountability applies only to others, especially those who get told “get f***ed” over the phone for having a different view. Within their own circles, however, doubtful conduct seems to be ignored, or worse, rewarded with yet another “visibility opportunity.”
And now, the ultimate irony: these are the very people tasked with the “vetting” of public funds. Those who, little to the contrary, appear to silence critics, reward loyalty and manipulate narratives are meant to be the ultimate and trusted arbiters of integrity. Are we joking?
Freedom in our society exists precisely to resist this kind of moral and financial pressures. True independence means rejecting coercion, being free from vanity and free from those who see others as a commodity.
