Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Voluntary Ignorance
If you have visited a shopping center in Jakarta lately, and like me, you park your car yourselves, have you ever wondered why the parking management arbitrarily sealed off certain areas even on hectic weekends, wasting our time and burning unnecessary fuels because of the wait?
My theory is that if we give the parking attendants a signal that we want to park there, they will happily remove the cones, expecting us to give them tips. The concept is nonsensical for me. Why should I give them tips on top of the hourly parking fees that I am paying? It is just another example of everyday corruptions in this graft-ridden country.
To tell you the truth, sometimes I am tempted to do just that, pay a little more for the convenience. However, if I do that, haven’t I just supported corruption? Maybe that is one of the major causes that allow corruption and many other sins to persist: voluntary ignorance for the sake of convenience.
My theory is that if we give the parking attendants a signal that we want to park there, they will happily remove the cones, expecting us to give them tips. The concept is nonsensical for me. Why should I give them tips on top of the hourly parking fees that I am paying? It is just another example of everyday corruptions in this graft-ridden country.
To tell you the truth, sometimes I am tempted to do just that, pay a little more for the convenience. However, if I do that, haven’t I just supported corruption? Maybe that is one of the major causes that allow corruption and many other sins to persist: voluntary ignorance for the sake of convenience.
# posted by indra : 11:49 PM
