When cheating is the norm, we are essentially living in a world and are thus part of a society that is upside down; for when that which is clearly wrong is functionally the norm of society, than the end result is going to be for those that make up that society, a construct in which honesty, uprightness, and morals, takes a backseat to all those that march to the beat of an entirely different drummer that entices them with those siren sounds, that makes them to believe that they are thus fairly entitled to take shortcuts, to be deceptive, and to cheat.
The thing about cheating, especially when such is done by those that we look up to, such as respected political figures, or parents, or the executives of the company that we work at, or our friends, is that it seems to reflect quite succinctly that what is good for the goose must so be good for the gander. That is to say, when the obvious effect of cheating seems to be that those that cheat, aren’t often punished, and further to the point, appear to be successful, then it is going to be mighty tempting for others, to want to follow along the same corrupt footpath.
Then there are also the words that we speak, of which, many a person has some pretty darn good advice, but if the people that are espousing such wisdom, are themselves untrue to what they are so professing, not only are they hypocritical but they also serve to undercut the very words that they have so spoken, by their own personal bad actions. Additionally, the wrong message is being sent, any time that we state something banal to another, such as “cheating is wrong,” and then proceed to follow up that message by listing the exceptions and the exemptions to that rule, which somehow always seem to be exceptions and exemptions that serve to personally benefit the entity so inclined to cheat.
So too, what really hurts about cheating is the fact that those that do not cheat, though having a clear conscience about such matters, which most definitely has its worth, are clearly also not therefore playing on a level playing field, and when that field has been tilted in the favor of those that cheat, then those that are true and honest, are functionally having to deal with a real handicap, in regards to achieving their own life goals. This thus indicates, that in a situation in which there are two people that are close in their abilities, and of which one of those people is quite accomplished at the type of cheating that serves to make their abilities seem even better to others, whereas the other one does not cheat, at all; then the one so cheating is often going to be able to pull ahead of the other. This seems to indicate that the proverb that “cheaters never prosper,” doesn’t ring true, whatsoever – at least, not often enough in this world.
Perhaps there would be a lot less cheating if the environment that we lived in reflected far less of a “dog-eat-dog” world, and reflected far more of the value of cooperation and neighborliness, instead. After all, in a zero-sum society, this is going to implicitly encourage for many a person, some degree of cheating, because they don’t want to lose in a finite game, which clearly is perceived as having just winners and losers. The end result, though, for society, is rather poor, for when those cheaters prosper, those that are good and honest, get an undeserved raw deal.