I want to say a big thank you to everybody that came to my book launch last Thursday. My deepest regards to my close friends who supported me throughout the drafting of my 1st book.
The Dictionary of Corruption presents 270 words and expressions that are commonly used by citizens talking about political and business life issues.
Corrupt politicians, corrupt businesses, most of all, corrupt citizens. The words people use indicate deep and inherit characteristics, and at the same time, represent the lack of progressiveness in our society and sometimes economic backwardness.
Corruption is a social characteristic. It is neither good nor bad; it is a social phenomenon, and needs to be handled as such in order to be eradicated form political, business and everyday life.
The Dictionary of Corruption presents 270 words and expressions that are commonly used by citizens talking about political and business life issues.
Corrupt politicians, corrupt businesses, most of all, corrupt citizens. The words people use indicate deep and inherit characteristics, and at the same time, represent the lack of progressiveness in our society and sometimes economic backwardness.
Corruption is a social characteristic. It is neither good nor bad; it is a social phenomenon, and needs to be handled as such in order to be eradicated form political, business and everyday life.
I have just purchased your book (λεξικό) and I am not sure what value it offers. Perhaps I was expecting an expose on corruption in the form presented in the introduction and the epilog. But that was my assumption and the book’s title clearly said λεξικό. Obviously it is a reference book and not a book one would read cover to cover. Returning to the question of value, if the intent was to educate the reader in the subtleties of corrupt communication (subculture perhaps) so that the reader can either participate in corrupt activities more effectively or somehow help him avoid some of the impacts of such activities, I don’t think it does neither. If the intent was to raise awareness, you are “beating a dead horse”, the population is acutely aware down to the least sophisticated of us. The only merit that I can derive is in the realm of entertainment reading but the format is hardly conducive to such reading. If your aspirations are to write a follow up, perhaps a traditional book format that exposes the magnitude of corruption in the country, its toll on productivity, creativity and the quality of life in general including some real life examples would be of real value. If it raises the consciousness level of at least a few people a notch, it could be a step towards a grass roots movement to eradicate an ethical -socio-economic disease that by all accounts afflicts our country.
ReplyDeleteI was surprise though by the last statement in your blog entry: “Corruption … is neither good nor bad; it is a social phenomenon, and needs to be handled as such in order to be eradicated form political, business and everyday life”. If it is not bad why does it need to be eradicated? Obviously it is bad for all the reasons you outline in the introduction of your book and the reasons that Western Europe and North America over the years have dealt severe blows to corruption in government and business in general. I am not saying that counties in those regions have completely eradicated corruption but it is not endemic to the population in general – a college grad does not need to know a politician to get a job!
Spiros Manolis
Nafpaktos, Greece
Email: spirocm@msn.com