The Low-Hanging Fruit Approach to Justice

Perusing the news, the Lori Laughlin story caught my eye again – something related to her being in prison. Overall I care nothing about the story. I don't know who this actress is and I really don't care either.

I recall the coverage of the story last year. It wasn't something I was interested in but it was often in the background on BBC while I was working or in the car.

Certainly all corruption should be condemned. By circumventing the rules regarding college entry and effectively bribing to have her children admitted she broke the rules and did wrong.

And yet what was really astonishing was the attention this story garnered. Alumni of prestigious schools give large sums of money to their alma mater and its universally known and understood it plays a role in whether or not their children are admitted. Isn't that a kind of unspoken bribery too?

In politics this sort of thing happens on a daily basis. No interest, no term loans are given to politicians and their campaigns. Upon leaving office some politicians are granted lucrative seats on corporate boards and apart from a couple of meetings a year and perhaps some phone calls they aren't required to do anything. It's a reward post-facto, a promised bribe paid after the services are rendered. They represented their interests while in office and are given their payoff after leaving office when it's perfectly legal. But is it moral? Is it any less immoral than paying off college figures to admit your kids?

Is the outrage over the fact that the rich use their resources to help their kids get ahead? Is this news? It happens every day a thousand times over. And it's not just the rich. The middle classes do it too. Their kids have numerous advantages over poor kids – at the most basic level the mental well being that comes with the reality of a safety net. You're not afraid to go out into the world when you know that pretty much whatever happens, your parents can bail you out. You don't need to worry about your car breaking down because if you can't pay the bill, or if you're stuck somewhere your parents will rescue you – a credit card will pay the hotel bill, a plane ticket or whatever.

Those that don't have this net live by a different set of rules and with a very different kind of mindset. Believe me, I know.

The college admissions scandal was a window into corruption and yet I would argue it's completely normative for that class. In fact in the corporate world such behaviour would be rewarded – because what matters is winning. Under the ethic of that class that Lori Laughlin belongs to, one's status is all that matters and so within the immoral framework of that class – she was playing by its rules.

I think some of the outrage is due to the fact that some perceived this as a case of white privilege – but in the grand scheme of things this was nothing. It would seem a US Attorney was trying to score some points and wanted a highly public 'win'. It's the case of someone trying to build a resume for future political aspiration and to be honest if that was the primary motivation (which of course cannot be proved) then such an abuse of power is just as much an issue of corruption. Such grandstanding and perhaps even waste of taxpayer resources is also something that's quite common.

If the Laughlin case is an outrage to Black people, then what's really outrageous to me is that after what happened in Flint, Michigan a settlement was reached but no one went to prison. In that case it wasn't just a case of college slots being filled by undeserving rich white kids. No, people got terribly sick, some will have chronic conditions and in other cases people died.

And yet no one went to prison. Many should have including first and foremost the governor. Rick Snyder should probably be jailed for life.

But Lori Laughlin went to jail for bribing admissions officials?

What a strange sense of justice. From my vantage point this was a case of a government prosecutor going after low-hanging fruit in order to put a feather in his cap. It made a great story for the magazines in the supermarket check-out line but forgive me if I am less than impressed when considering whether or not justice was served or some grave social ill has been corrected.