There are some cases where I care about intent. Did somebody step on my toes? My reaction will depend on the extent to which I think they meant it.
But for large-scale financial crimes, I think worrying about that too much is not just unknowable and irrelevant, I think it's actively harmful.
As with toe-stepping, we can recognize that a whoopsie moment may not deserve punishment. E.g., if you're out hunting with your buds and accidentally shoot somebody in the face, as with Dick Cheney, that's different than intentionally shooting somebody.
But when somebody intentionally sets up or takes on a position of power, I think there are no whoopsies. Drinking a beer on the couch? Have fun. Drinking and getting in a car? Criminal. Drinking and getting in a car and killing somebody? It may be no more intentional than toe stepping. But at that point I don't really care whether they killed somebody because they meant to or not. The harm's the same.
I think this especially matters when we look at things like the 2008 financial crisis. It caused enormous damage, both in financial and human terms. Yet basically nobody was held accountable. Why? Because they didn't mean it. They were just greedy fuckers in positions of extraordinary power that they used for personal gain without regard to the human impact. Plus they were the sort of people who looked a lot like the people who made the laws. They went to the same parties and had nice friends. So they were all somehow let off the hook. And we did little to make sure they'd get held responsible the next time.
I think the personal growth bit is nice, but hopelessly naive. There are plenty of people who will do the right thing not out of love but of fear. There are worlds where those people are kept from doing harm, such that we can help them grow up to be decent. But we don't live in a world like that. And if we want to create that world, we need to stop the sociopaths and morally deficient goofs from causing massive trauma to those around them. Because I promise you, that will interfere with the victims' personal grwoth.
But for large-scale financial crimes, I think worrying about that too much is not just unknowable and irrelevant, I think it's actively harmful.
As with toe-stepping, we can recognize that a whoopsie moment may not deserve punishment. E.g., if you're out hunting with your buds and accidentally shoot somebody in the face, as with Dick Cheney, that's different than intentionally shooting somebody.
But when somebody intentionally sets up or takes on a position of power, I think there are no whoopsies. Drinking a beer on the couch? Have fun. Drinking and getting in a car? Criminal. Drinking and getting in a car and killing somebody? It may be no more intentional than toe stepping. But at that point I don't really care whether they killed somebody because they meant to or not. The harm's the same.
I think this especially matters when we look at things like the 2008 financial crisis. It caused enormous damage, both in financial and human terms. Yet basically nobody was held accountable. Why? Because they didn't mean it. They were just greedy fuckers in positions of extraordinary power that they used for personal gain without regard to the human impact. Plus they were the sort of people who looked a lot like the people who made the laws. They went to the same parties and had nice friends. So they were all somehow let off the hook. And we did little to make sure they'd get held responsible the next time.
I think the personal growth bit is nice, but hopelessly naive. There are plenty of people who will do the right thing not out of love but of fear. There are worlds where those people are kept from doing harm, such that we can help them grow up to be decent. But we don't live in a world like that. And if we want to create that world, we need to stop the sociopaths and morally deficient goofs from causing massive trauma to those around them. Because I promise you, that will interfere with the victims' personal grwoth.