The Story of the Clan: Direct and Indirect Harm (Philosophical Thought Experiment)

Hate-based behaviors have a significant impact on individuals and act as a detractor to fully functioning systems and outcomes. Societies rely on coordination, and hate is a clear sign of direct discoordination. While hate is immoral, it also carries broader implications from a total-systems standpoint. When hate serves as a motivation and corruption becomes the avenue, the combination can produce a range of serious issues.

Protecting the equal weights
of justice helps all of society.
Constitutional protectors through
reflection and thoughtfulness.
The roots of justice are embedded
in the collective unconscious (In theory).

Our focus is on exploring the economic and social dimensions of hate and corruption, particularly in how their distortions—what we might call transactional distortions—can influence high-level decision-making. Such distortions may undermine the ability to address pressing environmental challenges and could ultimately have a broader impact on overall performance.

In our hypothetical, philosophical, and theoretical thought experiment, we examine a “Clan” that has warped the local justice system through social connections infused with extreme bigotry and coordinated hate. A loose association between community members exposing corruption and a broader stakeholder network of Constitutional protectors led to improvements in economic prospects and a stronger sense of community cohesion. In this example, normal patterns of hate and corruption were disrupted by good people acting in the public interest leading to system improvement.

However, official safeguards were absent and poor actors knew how to coach and exploit intentional loopholes to commit misbehaviors/crimes. Victims reported that these misbehaviors were well known to those tasked with administering justice. Witnesses, whistleblowers, and victims were placed at risk to shield and reward perpetrators while maximizing harm toward those who have not given up on the idea that public institutions should serve everyone equally. They are always faithful to what makes us an indivisible people.

Hate-related harm appears to operate on multiple levels, both direct and indirect. Direct harm includes acts such as targeted harassment, breach of contracts, and unlawful decisions. Indirect harm emerges when such behaviors become normalized in unwritten rules—where official values, such as human and civil rights, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion, are recognized in principle but ignored in practice. In such cases, what is said and what is done often differ greatly.

The study referenced below indicates that individuals may coordinate against those they perceive as committing a symbolic offense, reflecting poor intergroup attitudes and negatively impacting employment. This helps us understand how the poor behavior of some can diminish the economic utilization of human capital. The effects are likely far broader than many assume, especially when complacency leads to disregarding victims’ rights or minimizing the seriousness of such misconduct. The symptoms can be covered through corruption but the root issues that led to such problems may remain. Commitment to collective and shared values seems low in our example.

Differentiating Between Direct and Indirect Hate Crime: Results From Poland

*This is a hypothetical, philosophical, theoretical thought experiment to explore what hate and corruption can look like. We can write in a positive ending. Take with a grain of salt.