Here's the problem as I see it. We are a nation of hypocrites. The problem is that we aren't active hypocrites. The great majority of people in this country are blissfully unaware that there is a problem and I'm not sure there is anything to do about it. We are a country of laws, rule and order, a place where the little guy just off the boat, if he tries hard enough, can make it as big as he wants to. He can concentrate on applying his skills and desire to provide for his family, give them a better life, because the playing field is level and he doesn't have to worry about some guy cheating or gaming the system. Oh, instances of cheating and gaming do occur, but when they do, we have laws, police and courts that handle the situation, maybe not as rapidly as we'd like, but generally the cheaters and gamers pay the price.

We live this way and it is good, but the problem is that the law and order, the police, the courts all stop at the border. And we have corporations and individuals overseas who are cheating and gaming the system. They do this by paying workers who don't know any better subsistence wages, or cutting a deal with an unelected despot for unfettered access to a resource. If they tried that kind of thing here in the USA, they'd be flayed alive, but out there where no one knows about it, they get away with it.

It's not that we are all ignorant of this, but it is kind of hard to get upset about something that is happening far away and doesn't directly affect you, and for the most part benefits you: we all reap the reward for the cheaters and gamers working their tricks overseas. No one covers this kind of thing in the news, or if they do, it is in a shrill and alarmist manner that tries to make the average guy feel self-hatred for it. So we end up ignoring it and just go about our business.

And that is hypocrisy, although it isn't active. We sit idly by and allow cheaters and gamers to get away with stuff overseas that we wouldn't stand for here in our own country. As much as I love our system here, this kind of tacit approval of something horrendous does justify hatred. I know it is unfashionable to even speak of this and that trying to understand the motivations of our enemies is viewed as unpatriotic by some. But I can't help but feel that if we can understand the motivations and there is something we can do about it, we should try.

I'm not sure what we can do about this problem. The cheaters and gamers working overseas are raking in a lot of money and therefore are kind of untouchable. I'd like to think that if we just talked about this and spread the meme, encouraged law and order and democracy everywhere that the problem would solve itself. The cheaters will find that it is impossible to continue their activities. The problem is that kind of thing takes decades and the people who hate us aren't going to wait around that long and I'm just naive. They've lost faith in America and every single one of us has to shoulder a part of the blame. We've sat around in a fog of consumption and lost the moral high ground.