When the Prostitute Preaches Virtue?
In the absence of a constitution, laws disappear. In the absence of laws, rules vanish. And when rules vanish, we are confronted by people who possess nothing that justifies their presence except sheer audacity and shamelessness. They climb onto public platforms and pour out their poison as though we were in desperate need of seeing their contemptible faces or listening to their discordant voices.
It is that same shamelessness that allows the undeserving to drape themselves in the garments of virtue. It is that same shamelessness that places those drowning in corruption upon the pulpit of moral guidance, allowing them to point accusing fingers at others while shedding crocodile tears over the state of the nation a nation whose ruin they themselves helped engineer, plunder, and bleed dry.
These people are not a minority. They are everywhere: in politics, in public institutions, in militias, and even in sports clubs that have themselves become parallel arenas of corruption.
Take, for example, a politician from one of the two banks of the river of corruption that has flowed uninterrupted through our country. He filled himself with public money until he could take no more, dividing positions, contracts, and fictitious projects among himself, his family, and his tribe. Yet today he stands before us warning of the corruption of politicians on the opposite bank. He draws attention to their thefts while wrapping himself in the cloak of honor, as though what he and his associates stole somehow does not qualify as theft. As though the money filling his own pockets is lawful while the money filling his opponent's pockets is forbidden. For such people, corruption has a tribe and an identity: corruption committed by one's own people is acceptable, while corruption committed by others is condemned.
Or consider a military commander or, if you prefer, a militia leader the kind who once drove a battered old pickup truck and now owns a fleet of luxury vehicles. The same man who built his fortune through extortion, smuggling, and organized looting now stages lavish celebrations featuring expensive cars and prized horses. Yet the moment he opens his mouth, he lectures us about the danger of "corrupt military officers" who extort shopkeepers in order to finance their followers.
He speaks as though he himself never committed those very acts. He speaks as though the millions he accumulated descended from heaven. He speaks as though he possesses the moral authority to warn us about the corruption whose foundations he himself helped lay.
Or look at the world of sports. Consider a club consumed by corruption from top to bottom. Its officials squandered public funds without accountability, spent enormous sums recruiting players of little value, and relied upon corrupt administrators who manipulated regulations in their favor and imposed their will by force. Today, however, they have shed the garments of moral disgrace and clothed themselves in the robes of virtue. They lecture rival clubs for engaging in precisely the same practices they themselves perfected, as though saying: stealing public money is permissible for us but forbidden for everyone else.
A dishonest official presides over a sports club, spending public money without oversight, and no one objects. Yet when his rivals do the same, it suddenly becomes a national scandal.
What unites all these people is simple: they are partners in the very same crime. All of them drank from the same river. All of them consumed illicit wealth, betrayed the public trust, polluted their offices, and abused the authority entrusted to them.
Ladies and gentlemen, corruption has only one face. It is the same face reflected in every pocket in the east and the west, in the north and the south, in politics, in sports, and in every institution where neither law nor courageous leadership prevails.
The remarkable thing is that these very people now lecture us about integrity, responsibility, and protecting public wealth, as though we do not know who they are. As though we have forgotten that they are the very same individuals who were stealing yesterday what they now condemn others for stealing today.
Their talk of honor is no different from that of a prostitute standing on a dark street corner before stepping forward to deliver a lecture on morality and virtue. Her words may be entertaining. They may even be amusing. But they are certainly neither convincing nor inspiring. The prostitute's sermon on honor deceives only those who are determined to deceive themselves.
When a prostitute speaks about honor, no one believes her. No one gathers around her. No one sees anything in her words except the glaring contradiction between what she says and what she does. We experience precisely the same feeling toward these corrupt figures who wrap themselves in the garments of moral advisers.
We honestly do not know what motivates your speeches. Is it merely spite toward your rivals? Is it envy because they stole what you failed to obtain? Or is it, somehow, a genuine awakening of conscience?
Our country has descended into this state of confusion and moral ambiguity because its institutions are weak, its officials are cowardly, its laws are absent, and its constitution remains little more than ink on paper. In the absence of all these safeguards, thieves emerge to lecture us about honor.
The real tragedy is that they are not satisfied with stealing public wealth. They also wish to steal noble words themselves, presenting themselves as defenders of justice after devoting their entire lives to fighting against it.
So to all you corrupt men on every side, in every field of life within this country that has become hostile to life itself to you who filled your pockets while emptying the nation, who stole yesterday and preach honesty today know this: your nakedness is visible to everyone. Anyone blessed with clear sight sees you all with the very same face, and foresees for you the very same fate.
And if you are looking for a lesson, then take this one:
When a prostitute speaks about honor, she makes people laugh.
When you speak about patriotism, honesty, and integrity, you make us weep.
But our tears are not moved by your sincerity.
They are tears of grief for a country where thieves have become the guardians of virtue.