Amazon has just been fined 250 million Euros (plus interest) for tax dodging within the EU between 2006-2014.
They’ll probably pay it out of petty cash.
Laws require penalties for contravening them. If the punishment is harmless to the criminal, how can a law be enforced?
A long time ago, I heard a joke by a comedian named Emo Philips: “When I was a kid, I used to pray every night for a new bike. Then I realised, the Lord doesn’t work that way. So I just stole one and asked Him to forgive me.”
It’s a neat example of a very old adage: “‘Tis easier to seek forgiveness than to seek permission.”
But when that very sentiment has become the de facto operating mode of everyone from beggars to prime ministers, then the rule of law has separated from justice. When you can blame a deity/society/minority for failings of honesty, compassion, and government, it becomes easy to accept that everything going wrong is someone else’s responsibility.
Which is a lie.
Bad things happen because good people do nothing to stop them. Yes, I accept that in a few cases, the bad thing would happen anyway. But, in a majority of cases, the bad thing happened slowly, you saw it coming, you ignored the warnings, you might even have ridiculed those who tried to warn you, and – most damning – you didn’t really care as long as the bad thing didn’t affect you. You clicked to put your name next to a disapproving emoticon and signed a couple of online petitions, but, deep down, you know you actually did nothing, and it doesn’t bother you. Everyone else does the same, after all.
Hiding in the herd. We’ve all done it at some point in our lives. None of us are blameless. Too busy, too distracted, too important.
Too late.
You’re living in the world made by your indifference. I hope you like it, because – to my view – the change that’s coming is going to ruin this cosy little existence and you only have yourselves to blame.
Yourselves. To. Blame.
A quote from Riddick says it better than I can: “Leave God out of this. He wants no part of what happens next.”
THE SILENT JUDGE 