There is an old Persian/Farsi proverb that says, "The fish starts rotting from the head down".
"The corruption of the best is the worst" is the meaning of this Latin saying. This means that those with the highest authority, status and, therefore, power, have to carry the heaviest burden of responsibilities and duties both towards the self and towards the other in the world. Neglect, slack or failure on their part wrecks not only them and their kith and kin, but entire communities, nations, societies and even the world.
When the ruler, the king, steals an egg, then the ruled subject thinks he has a duty to steal ten! When religious leaders sell God and faith for worldly gains, then the common man of faith considers every conceivable sin as a pathway to his salvation. When the upholders of law and order and the dispensers of justice practice tyranny and injustice, then the victims think and feel totally justified in disregarding and breaking the rules and the laws of the land. When teachers become the very symbol of ignorance and irresponsibility, when those whose vocation requires them to cure the sick and care for them, when they sell diseases and death because it helps them line their pockets, then society is doomed. When those whose very job is to protect and provide security indulge in corruption and create insecurity and fear, then hope for establishing a sane and humane society becomes a distant dream.
In a society where the fish has already started rotting from the head down, nepotism, sycophancy and mediocrity are the core "virtues" of all, from top to bottom. It is then a society where the reign of "The Shudra" is well established. To borrow the imagery from the Upanishad (old Hindu scriptures) , when the charioteer (Intellect) becomes corrupt and fails to control the reins (mind) as they should be, the horses (the senses/nafs/ego) then start galloping at full speed towards the abyss which means the destruction of all. Of these inverted "virtues", nepotism needs special mention since this was the one evil that saw the downfall of Catholicism and the rise of reform Protestantism in the West. After all, nepotism has its root in the word "nephew": when you disregard merit, talent and justice and start favoring your own, wantonly inbreeding and corrupting institutions with the worst elements in society, then the end is nigh.
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