Why it is wise to avoid tainted people, while seeking inspiration in the good
Corruption spreads. So does stupidity. And some people have a “reverse Midas touch.” As I noted in a recent column about Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump, “Some people have a perverse talent for turning gold into dung.” Malodorous merde has a tendency to mushroom. Corruption is contagious, and foolishness is infectious. The doom loop of depravity proliferates because we are social beings eager to jump on the bandwagon, even when it is careening toward the abyss. The solution is obvious: avoid tainted people and seek the good.
Rotten Eggs and Putrid Leaders
Contagious corruption is an ancient topic, familiar from earthy analogies about rotten eggs, bad apples, and smelly fish. Of special concern is the way that tainted leaders contaminate social life.
The Greek comedian Aristophanes mocked corrupt demagogues as greasy sausage-sellers, who belch forth malice and offer libations to the God of Stupidity. Aristophanes joked that these scoundrels lubricate their bodies with lard, fart in each others faces, and crap in each others shoes. The “ignoramuses and rogues” who rule over cities wallow in graft, and start wars to control the price of anchovies.
In the Bible, corruption is connected to the worm of sin. The prophet Micah writes that corrupt kings cannibalize the people, eat their flesh, break their bones, and chop them up like meat in a cauldron. The Apostle Paul is more subtle. In First Corinthians, Paul uses a metaphor of “the yeast of malice and evil” to describe how a dash of something sinister can mushroom. His solution is to consume only “the unleavened bread of truth and sincerity.”
These metaphors provide visceral reminders of how corruption works. If the kitchen stinks, the food will too. The same is true in social life. Teams and groups are ruined by bad apples and rotten eggs.
Putrification spreads most rapidly when it comes from the top. Rancid leaders are ruinous. An old idiom holds that “fish rot from the head.” This means that putrid leadership infects everything.
Moral Taint and Cognitive Contamination
The term “moral taint” is used by philosophers to describe how evil spreads. This is a complex phenomena that overlaps with concepts like “vicarious liability” and “collective responsibility.” We should be careful in thinking about moral taint, since it can unfairly lead to “guilt by association.” As I noted in my newspaper column, the ancient idea of being “cursed” functions like that.
We don’t inherit evil from our ancestors. But bad people usually make others worse. Villains incite wickedness. And vicious people undermine virtue.
Something similar happens with incompetence and stupidity. Viral idiocy can can spread across social groups. Online this is known as “en-shittification.” A chain reaction of imbecilic ideas can fester and defile everything.
When stupidity mushrooms we might call this “cognitive contamination” or “epistemic taint.” The point is familiar from Plato’s allegory of the “ship of fools.” If you surround yourself with idiots, you risk becoming dumber.
The Trump Taint
Moral taint is made obvious in the sordid world of the Epstein files, in which pedophiles and corrupt power-brokers shared their depravity and egged each other on. We can observe something similar in the proliferation of ethical irregularities and corruption in the world of Donald Trump and his cronies.
As I noted in another recent column on the Iran war, “Trump’s flawed character taints everything.” You cannot trust that the President is either wise or virtuous. He is known for “the weave” and for “truthful hyperbole,” which basically means he is a bullshitter and conman. Elon Musk suffered from his association with Trump, as did the U.S. men’s hockey team. Trump taints nearly everything he touches. People in his orbit typically end up worse.
Ironically, Trump said something similar about Biden. At a 2024 campaign rally: “Everything Joe Biden touches turns to shit, everything.” As I explained in my column, this is a bit like a skunk complaining about garlic; and it is possible they both stink.
But the larger moral lesson is clear. It is wise to avoid people with the reverse Midas touch.
The Sycophantic Doom Loop
Things go downhill fast when a closed circle of sycophants all sings the same song in honor of the sausage-seller. Sycophants cause corruption to mushroom.
A trivial example can be found in the strange case of the White House shoes. President Trump gave his cabinet members matching shoes. The Wall Street Journal reports that one official commented, “Everyone’s afraid not to wear them.”
If cabinet members are afraid to say anything about the emperor’s new shoes, what else are they afraid to say—about tariffs, elections, or war?
The sycophantic doom loop is an extreme way that moral taint devolves. More generally, stupid, incompetent, and wicked people prefer to surround themselves with like-minded folks who gladly book passage on the ship of fools. Once on board the moronic bandwagon, it can be difficult to regain your decency or common sense.
Paul Krugman touched upon this in a column about the Iran war. Krugman suggest that in Trump’s second term, “Trump learned that in choosing his political hires the more incompetent, the more venal, the more bigoted, and the more cruel, the better.”
Inspired by Goodness
Corrupt organizations don’t want virtuous talent. Villains and dummies prefer a team of tainted cronies. Upright and serious folks have little interest in working on such a team. And so, corruption grows.
One solution is obvious. Stay away from villains and dopes. Step off of the moronic bandwagon. Disembark from the ship of fools. Clean out the kitchen. Fire the sausage-sellers. Elect less putrid leaders. And stop toasting the God of Stupidity.
But avoidance is negative. So, let’s conclude with a more positive idea. Pope Francis once said, “If evil is contagious, so is goodness. Let us be infected by goodness.”
That’s a memorable phrase. But goodness is not an infection, it is the antidote to corruption. Find better friends. Build better teams. Fill your mind with wisdom, and your soul with higher things. It is not enough to avoid contamination. You also need to seek the good. To inspire others who have been infected by evil and tainted by stupidity you must seek the true gold of wisdom and share the wholesome bread of virtue and truth.