In a Profit-Driven World, Cheating is the Norm

BY SOFO ARCHON

I love peanuts.

Before the Coronavirus lockdown, I used to visit a local nut store every couple of weeks and buy a bunch. Whenever I told the workers that I wanted some roasted peanuts, they’d ask me how many grams I wanted. My usual reply was, “500.”

But here’s the interesting part: after they bagged and weighed them, they’d often ask, “Is 550 grams fine with you?” By that, they meant, “We accidentally added 50 grams extra. Are you okay with paying for it, or should we remove it?”

Other times, they’d tell me the bag weighed 530 grams, and sometimes 560. But they never gave me a number below 500. When I say never, I mean never—and I’ve been to that store plenty of times.

Of course, I know why they do it (it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?). This is a tactic the store uses to earn a bit more money than it otherwise would—if customers were simply given the exact weight of the products they asked for.

Most of us are so accustomed to encounters like this that we barely notice them. And even when we do, we’re often not bothered.

Well, let me tell you: I am bothered. Not because of the extra money I’ve paid for a few more grams (or maybe kilos, over the years), but because these encounters reveal a lot about the kind of world we live in—a world filled with deception and driven by profit, where people cheat each other to maximize their personal gain.

Now, you might argue that not all businesses are run by “immoral” people like these. There are also “ethical” ones that treat their customers with honesty and respect. And while that might be true, I’d argue that in our profit-driven world, cheating is the norm.

Take a look around, and you’ll see exactly what I mean. Advertisements lie to us constantly. Product packaging is often misleading. E-commerce websites are saturated with fake reviews. Sellers of all kinds use countless covert persuasion techniques to make us buy things we don’t need.

In a world where survival depends on selling, it’s difficult to trust anyone who is selling something to you. But here’s the thing: no one is truly to blame. The real culprit is the economic system that drives so-called immoral behavior.

Cheating is built into our fierce, scarcity-based economy, which coerces people to do pretty much anything to gain a competitive edge and stay in business. Their very existence—and often that of their families—depends on “earning a living.” In other words, when your financial success relies on the failure of others, stepping on them becomes a necessity.

Naturally, in this dog-eat-dog game, those who play fair tend to struggle. Have you ever wondered why the most generous, kind, loving people aren’t super rich? The answer is simple: qualities like love, kindness, and generosity aren’t rewarded by our economic system. Lying, exploiting, and dominating are. And that explains why sociopaths often rule the world.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in such a world. I want to live in a world where cheating is the exception, not the norm. A world where people mean what they say and do. A world where people respect, trust, and care for one another. A world where hugs don’t lead to backstabbing.

Actually, now that I think about it, I do know about you. You also want to live in a fairer, kinder, and more peaceful world than the one you were given. I know that because everyone with a pulsating heart does.

To create such a world, wishful thinking isn’t enough. We need to take action and radically change the way we live. But first, we must recognize that much of how we live is shaped by our socioeconomic conditions—and that, to varying degrees, we are all subject to them. Once we understand this, we can begin addressing what truly matters: the forces that drive our behavior, rather than pointing fingers at one another for moral failings.