Theme 125: Corruption

Featuring Charles Kay Jr.

Join CreativeMornings Omaha on March 31st at KANEKO to hear from Charles Kay Jr. and explore his current exhibition, “UNSEEN: Emerging from the Currents of Assimilation” which is now on display at KANEKO,

Corruption rewards social connections and financial advantages over the rules of fair play. We owe all the calamities around us to those who favor gain over the greater good. It takes courage to speak out, to demand transparency and accountability. What will you do to hold power to account?

CreativeMornings is a monthly breakfast series for the creative community. Each event is free with a 20-minute talk, plus coffee!

Creative Morning’s August theme is Corruption –

To be critical means to be like a sieve, dividing and separating. Our critical abilities allow us to discern the insubstantial from the made-to-last, the credible from the untrustworthy, and the sincere from the ego-driven. We do so by gathering more information, seeking nuance, and locating something in its specific context.

Corruption can start innocently, like favoring someone you know over someone you don’t. Or recalling a gift they once sent, and repay them with a project for that sweetness. Corruption is a spectrum, rewarding social connections and financial advantages over the rules of fair play. It exists in every society and every institution.

Some people survive through corruption, the labyrinthine bureaucracies where they live making it literally impossible otherwise. But while they survive, others perish. Rising plumes of toxic chemicals, collapsing buildings not constructed to code, we owe the calamities all around us to those who cared more about profit than people and gain over the greater good.

As social anthropologist Lucy Koechlin notes, “A world without corruption is a powerful idea. But it doesn’t appear out of the blue.” It takes courage to speak out. To demand transparency and accountability. To strengthen whistleblower protections and the rule of law. To break up corporate concentration while organizing coalitions of people to reset the balance. What will you do to hold power to account?

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