|
This is a misquotation from the Christian Bible. St Paul wrote to Timothy 'For
the love of money is the root of all evil'. A very different statement.
When a person makes a lot of money in, say, a successful business, there soon comes a point beyond which its possession is
superfluous. At this point,
there is a parting of the ways. The options are, first, cultivate expensive tastes,
second, give liberally to charity, and third, let it accumulate.
The third option is perhaps the most dangerous. It leads to the love of money
for its own sake; meanness to others, and a personal lifestyle which is unduly
frugal. Silas Marner was the typical miser of the English novel. A wandering
weaver, he settled in the rural West country, lived on virtually nothing, and
converted his skills with the loom into gold coins. He hid the coins under a
brick in the kitchen and his one pleasure was to count, recount and neatly pile
up his treasure . When the hoard of gold was stolen, it seemed as though the
end of the world had come. Finally he was weaned away from his obsession
with gold by the humanizing influence of an orphan child.
Robert Maxwell was a modern example. Already excessively wealthy, he loved
money to such a degree that he stole the pension funds entrusted to his care.
When the theft could no longer be concealed, he died by drowning, in
circumstances which suggested suicide. He combined love of money - and
power - with extravagance.
There is hardly any crime, major or minor, personal or political, which does not
have an underlying money motive. No crime is excusable, but some crimes are
less excusable than others, and the degree of guilt is somewhat in proportion
to the perpetrator's love of money for its own sake. Serious, organized crime
is conducted by gangs whose interest is two-fold; the instinct to amass
enormous sums quite unrelated to the personal needs of the criminals, and the
acquisition of power - another important motivator - in order to exert pressure
on business people, ministers and even governments. Such people use
blackmail, personal violence, kidnapping and murder to achieve their objectives.
The immense power of the Mafia, the Tongs, and the drug barons is based on
instilling fear. They have no pity, no social conscience about the personal and
social consequences of drug addiction. Sometimes, as in the case of rival
paramilitary gangs in Ireland, threats, violence, murder and routine extortions
are cloaked by an ostensible justification; in this case, religion and nationalism.
The police rightly look for the financial motive when investigating personal
crimes. In most of them, though not all, personal gain is found to be the
motive. In others, hatred, jealousy, fear, sex and occasionally a pathological
love of violence for its own sake generate such crime. A high proportion of
crime committed in Britain is committed by young people.
Mugging, personal
violence, shop-lifting and burglary are carried out for money. Much of this is
related to the kind of deprivation which is due to a bad family background. This
leads to a general feeling that society, and the police especially, are natural
antagonists. There is also an understandable envy of more fortunate young
people.
Traditionally, industrial bosses have tended to fall into the category of oppressors, and it has taken a century of trades union action to ensure a square deal for their work forces. Such oppression has always been seen as
an evil. In ancient Jewry, the periodic Jubilee was used as the point at which
all debts incurred by the poor were cancelled.
So the love of money accounts for much, perhaps most, though not all evil.
Yet to take the topic-statement at its face value is a palpable nonsense.
Throughout history, money, in the form of coinage, has facilitated the exchange
of goods and trade in general. For a long period, bills of exchange, paper
money, and the transfer of debits and credits have enabled governments to
build up GNPs, and individuals to amass capital. The money itself is neutral.
All depends on how it is used. Rightly used, money is the lifeblood of progress
and makes possible a decent standard of living for all citizens. Wrongly used,
it engenders the evils referred to above, and many more.
|
