System Examples

Nobody at Countrywide made a serious attempt to help the man who had limited knowledge of the English language and Parkinson's disease. Maybe they felt that if they let him off, other people would want this show of mercy from them and try to exploit this "weakness". Countrywide did attempt to help by offering a $350,000 loan, but it was not enough for the man who needed $500,000 to buy back his house. I believe that Countrywide acted legally, but I still disagree with their actions. I believe that no matter how powerful a person (or company) becomes, he/she (or it) must never lose touch with his/her humanity. Countrywide did nothing wrong from a business standpoint, but from a moral and ethical standpoint, they commited a horrible crime. It is understandable that Countrywide feels that giving the man back his house would be bad for business, as it would show a weakness, but I believe that he should be given back his house based on his history of paying all the bills that he was able to understand.

The Stanford Prison Experiment reveals the true nature of most systems. Those who became powerful (the guards) began abusing their power shortly after the beginning of the experiment, and conformed to the prison guard mentality. The prisoners became victimized and powerless, and conformed to the prisoner mentality. Systems give power to one group and in turn take power away from another. Normal people who received power soon began using it against the other group of normal people that had had their power taken away from them. Normal people began behaving badly because of the power shift; systems are all about those in power, and a normal person with a little bit of power over another person is quick to exploit this.