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by BehindBlueEyes 589 days ago
Add to that in some cases, you might get in more "trouble" for not engaging in corruption. To use pier25's example again, someone who does't pay to skip the line might not get a turn if many others do and waste a bunch of time, have to come back the next day, potentially to the same effect. Or if you don't pay the expected bribe at a checkpoint, cops might find something wrong with your car lands you a more expensive fine (actual fine with paper trail + bribe instead of just bribe). You could argue that's extortion and not corruption but same principle to me. During Covid lockdown, a friend needed to pay bribes to get a pass for their family to be able to do their shopping. It was supposed to be one pass per house in their area, but the owner of the neighborhood held them back and kept several for the own family, so no bribe, no trip to the store... Better to pay the bribe to the owner than risk it with the cops checking permits on the street.

This is just to say, taking part in corruption may not be optional where it is the norm, regardless of a person's education or morals.