Published in Medium on August 9, 2024
Many years ago, in my class, a second-generation Bangladeshi student asked me, “Why is Bangladesh so poor?” The student was referring to the country’s economic situation. I explained, “Bangladesh has been exploited by various colonizers for hundreds of years, and later by its own political leaders across different regimes for decades. That’s why most people are poor, except for those who benefited from corruption.”
Yesterday, a second-generation PhD candidate asked me the same question again, but this time the student wasn’t talking about economics. He wanted to understand why people in Bangladesh seem morally poor. Growing up abroad, he struggles to comprehend why people in Bangladesh are engaging in behaviors like publicly dancing holding bras, petticoats, and saris, and looting homes, pharmacies, shops, and government buildings to express their joy. Like him, many second-generation Bangladeshis wonder if this is due to a lack of shame, dignity, common sense, or education.
I responded: When most people are morally corrupt, they form corrupt governments, and corrupt governments, in turn, breed morally corrupt people — it’s a vicious cycle. A new wave of this cycle seems to be starting again. A chapter that begins with looting and destruction is likely to continue down the same path, perpetuating the same old cycle.
