The real criminals in society may not be who you think they are

By Lethbridge Herald on August 24, 2022.

Editor:

I do not know all the facts, nor do I claim any expertise, however I am grateful for those who might find a “thought experiment” of interest, and share any kind thoughts.

My brother and I follow the homeless problem with the interest of a couple of old men with too much time on their hands, and much desire to leave our community in better shape than when we found it. We think we should leave behind something as good, or better than what we were given freely.

As we observe the homeless and the helpless in our community, our talks lately keep touching on a taboo topic that we think we are qualified to discuss since we have both witnessed a good deal of addiction, homelessness, and crime. After all, we both worked inside the financial industry at one time. 

Our conversations kept coming back to the question of, “who are the addicts, and who are the criminals?”and we decided that perhaps each and every one of us is addicted to something in one way or another. And what if the truly great criminals in society may not be street addicts and bicycle thieves, but what if they are some of our most trusted members of society? What if they are merely addicts in suites, and the addicts in the streets are victims of a much bigger issue, bigger crimes? What if police do not kick the doors down on the addicts in the suites? 

Here are a few thoughts on some of the greatest crimes in society. Victims and victimizers – what if we have it backwards?

First, “who are the addicted?” After an hour of discussion we agreed (rightly or wrongly) that perhaps every member of society is addicted to something. If you included all things like food, shopping, medicine, gambling, sex, drugs, rock and roll, pawn stars, porn stars, iPhones, computers, hope, Netflix, Tic Tok, Facebook, doom porn, news porn, Bitcoin, kindness, helping people, being right, being listened to, hurting other people, overthinking, hurting oneself, and so on10ten minutes in your garage, your house, your computer, or your iPhone, they might spot your particular addictions better than you are able to spot them yourself.

So if you will permit the agnotologist conclusion that almost any human can be an addict, addicted to one thing or another – and perhaps most humans are addicted to one thing or another – hopefully we can stop looking down at another man’s addiction, and start talking about it in a real way. Nearly everyone struggles with something which has caused suffering, and everyone deals with their struggles in a different way. Who am I to judge? Who are you?

So my brother and I kept asking each other “who are the serious criminals in society, and who are more likely the victims?”

Here is what we talked about:

What if the biggest crimes and top criminals are people we do not even think of as criminals? (We now know this from our own experiences)

What if there are more than one category of humans in our society, and what if one category can get away with various forms of financial murder in society, while others cannot. Who are the criminals who can get away with crime, compared to those who cannot. It may change who we define as dangerous, lazy, or “no-good”. 

What if there are two kinds of people in society, those who must make money by working, and those who can literally “make money” without work as in the financial alchemy that is money printing, money lending, fractional reserve banking and central bank money creation? The financial chemists who can literally create money out of nothing but thin air and a bookkeeping entry. 

Who is the lazier part of society, those who must work to make money, and those who captured the public right to “make money, without working?

What if there are practically zero police or public prosecutors who today are working to catch anyone who does crimes in the tens, or hundreds of millions, the billions, or the trillions? Did I mention we both worked inside the financial industry? Chasing million-, billion- or trillion-dollar crimes is a career-killer since those crimes often touch upon the most rich and powerful people in the country…or the world. It is hands-off, for that reason, and far safer to chase drug addicts around

How much easier would your life be if you had the power to literally create money? Think of the power and wealth imbalance advantage for the few millions of special people, the people who are involved in billion- and trillion-dollar games of money and power worldwide and then think of the power and wealth disadvantage placed upon the other billions of ordinary working people worldwide. Plus those who cannot fit in either category for one physical, mental, financial or social reason or another.

To those who would simplify it by saying something like: “I have a job, they can get one, too,” is about as fair as expecting a fish to be able to ride a bicycle simply because you can.

 It is not about you – it is about wondering if you even understand who victims are, and who are the victimizers. That is, in my opinion the trillion-dollar question, and it is the very question that is forbidden to ask in a sting operation or rigged game.

I wonder if it is time to have some discussion about those things no one can talk about – the victimizers of society – instead of focusing all the blame upon the weakest, many of whom are victims. Much like you and I.

Larry Elford

Lethbridge