It might be hard to remember the old days, before every scandal and snafu was shoved down our throats by the tiny newsfeed machines in our pocked and purses, but there used ot be a time when we didn't have to think about politics every day. Those were peaceful times for sure, but were they better? Is being ignorant truly the wisest way to be?
Take a look at these political scandals from all over the world and decide for yourself if living in the dark is the best.
Reddit user, u/IanKean32, wanted to hear about:
What was the biggest political scandal in your country?
Public Funds Are Not Your Personal Piggy Bank
homer simpson money GIF
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After the sub-prime crisis in the 00's, portuguese prime minister Socrates was charged with white collar crimes for hustling public funds to finance void contracts in public construction and for changing laws to benefit certain friends and party members.
He got jailed and is currently in house arrest. High profile people of our political enviroment still visit him on a regular basis. Ever since than, no majority was achieved during votings and the country has since been ruled by party coalitions.
At Least It's Got A Cute Codename?
O nothing too big, just a simple investigation of a Car Wash being used to launder money that snowballed into the uncovering of a major political plot that stole/laundered something between 2 and 13 BILLION DOLLARS.
The investigation was adequatly named as Operation Car Wash
Summertime Sadness
In Puerto Rico. Our governor had a chat with other government officials and some of his close friends where they discussed corruption plans, they admitted to manipulating the press, they made fun of the victims of hurricane Maria, they made sexist and homophobic comments. And it all got leaked to the public. Everyone was pissed and we formed the biggest protest in our island's history, which forced him to resign.
That was a fun summer.
Just, No Government?
My country has been without a governement for more then a year... twice.
The first time my country has been without a government was for 541 days. A Guinness World Record !
At the moment we are without a governement for the second time. Our elections were on the 26th of May 2019. So at the moment we are at 479 days without a governement.
Here's to hoping we achieve a world record for a second time !
I live in Belgium btw.
And how has it affected people's lives?
Belgium
Belgium has several devolved governments (like state and federal government). Even without a federal government, there is still a state government in place to execute on state policies.
Furthermore, we don't have no government, the government is in "current affairs" e.g. it can only deal with urgent stuff and on-going business. A government shut-down like in the USA is impossible in Belgium.
It'd Be A Shame If Something Were To Happen...
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Slovakia. A journalist got killed 2 years ago in February.
Mafia was involved and it's still not resolved.
In my country (Ukraine), every month there are attacks on journalists/activists which will never be investigated.
Serious murders usually take place once in 1-2 years.
How Dare You? Apologize For These Deaths I'm Responsible For.
South Africa. Our health minister left coronavirus patients to die in tents and when he got questioned he demanded an apology from the broadcaster
Add to this the rife corruption and how R500 billion has been stolen... no one is accountable, no one ends up in jail, they get put on suspension for years on full pay while people starve... let's not get started on the rapes and murders every day. The list goes on and on and on
Definitely Not A Bond Villain. Nope. Not. At. All.
A previous Taoiseach of ours (Prime Minister Charlie Haughey in the 1970's/80's) illegally bought an island off the coast of Kerry & built a mansion there, lording over it like a Bond Supervillain.
OMG, where did it happen?
He bought one of the Blasket Islands off the Irish coast, County Kerry, to use as his personal pleasure island.
Here's an article from the Independent, which has most of the facts outside of wikipedia, be warned, though. The 'Ind' is a noted Fianna Fail supporting rag of toolishness, complicit in their crimes, but it's a good read nonetheless.
I'm not heavily critical of Haughey, he's not in power now. But his outright chancery and crookedness set the foundations for years of crookedness in Irish politics, which became like a political mafia.
That's So Many...
Couple years ago in Chile journalist found that 1113 kids living under the tutelage of the state were already dead. Their deaths were not reported, nor investigated. When the news got out the minister of Justice, Javiera Blanco, who was in charge of the SENAME (National service for minors) was then destituted only to be given a life time job in the State Defence Council.
This was never talked about again.
Montenegro
Our president tried to create a law that would require all churches without paperwork to get owned by the government. Of course many of the churches in Montenegro were created way before paperwork was needed when Serbia and Montenegro were the same country. So basically the government would be getting tons of land that isn't even Montenegrin so massive protests followed.
Keep in mind this was all during the Covid lockdown so massive protests just led to more people getting infected. Also this caused tons of cultural hate between Montenegrins and Serbs when in retrospect we're all the same slavic people. Idk how to explain it very well since I myself do not understand the situation the best.
Poland
Poland. Technically there is no year without scandal.
One of the former Prime Ministers was accused for being Russian spy in 90s.
Leaked recordings which ended governments.
Minister of Health bought respirators for Covid patients... from arms dealer.
Entire scandal with elections.
Now the parliament votes for bill which allows politicians avoid punishment for anything if they prove they acted against Covid.
Oh McDonald
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The Prime Minister and his associates in the Conservative Party took $360,000 in bribes to award one company the right to build the railway to the west coast.
The scandal was uncovered and Sir John A. McDonald resigned as Prime Minister in disgrace in 1873. McDonald was elected PM again in 1878 and continued serving in that position until 1891.
Pick one....
Pakistani here. Not sure reddit has enough space to cover our political scandals. We've got PM (sitting and ex) assassinations, military takeovers, PM tried and hanged for murder, president plane crash, mysterious murders of PM's brothers, entire thing with war on terror, PM sacked for refusing to write a letter, PM sacked due to Panama papers money laundering charges. Basically no PM has ever served a full term. And countless other corruption, murder, horse trading and stuff scandals. So pick one and I'll give you the details.
Too many to name....
Malaysian here, where do I even begin?
Haha I'm a Malaysian too! we just had one some time ago, about a durian plantation. to all non-Malaysians reading, here's a list of some of the scandals that have happened here in this year alone:
MP caught vaping in parliament.
Minister practically shaming a high schooler.
Company wanting to force durian farmers off their land.
And those are just the ones that i could list off the top of my head. there are more, I assure you.
Hail Queen....
sarah burke queen GIF
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The Queen fired the Prime Minister (who was democratically elected) - Australia, 1975.
Also, in 1967, another Prime Minister went swimming at a beach, and was never seen again.
"death squads"
Venezuela. I don't think the reddit servers have the memory space for a reply that does this justice.
But still, here's a taste from Reuters (July 2019):
"GENEVA — Venezuelan special forces have carried out thousands of extrajudicial killings in the past 18 months and then manipulated crime scenes to make it look as if the victims had been resisting arrest, the United Nations said on Thursday in a report detailing wide-ranging government abuses targeting political opponents.
Special Action Forces described by witnesses as "death squads" killed 5,287 people in 2018 and another 1,569 by mid-May of this year, in what are officially termed by the Venezuelan government "Operations for the Liberation of the People," United Nations investigators reported."
Onions got you
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Australian here. Ignoring the constant leadership spills, most recent one I remember was when a news channel ran a doco exposing the One Nation party for trying to cozy up to the NRA (US) and probably some other stuff I don't remember, after apparently running a sting operation for the previous three years. A little while later a candidate for the party resigned because footage of him in a strip club was aired.
EDIT: The leader of the One nation party also pulled a stunt where she walked into the senate dressed in a burqa to try get it banned, and recently has been feuding with Australia Post over stubby holders.
Then there was the one time a minister called the leader of the opposition a witch in the middle of parliament.
And then there's the prime minister that just straight up disappeared into the ocean one day. I could go on.
Thieves....
1MDB, I'm from Malaysia and God has this scandal destroyed my country. If u guys don't know about this, basically Malaysia's ex prime minister (Najib Razak) created a company called 1mdb and was aimed at generating extra revenue to fund development around my country. He ended up funneling all the money to his bank account. He was convicted recently but some idiots still believe in his innocence.
Bare in mind this is a very short summary of the scandal.
Bombed Out
Luxembourg.
De Bommeleer. Years ago there were a series of attacks with bombs. Years and years of investigations have brought up nothing, except changing stories and a lot of butt covering. And rumors it was one of the royal family. Allegedly.
I've found also some german articles.
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Redditor Doctor_Disaster asked:
"What is something that you have purchased in the past, but have never used once since then?"
Never Gonna Make That Telescope
"On a trip to Chicago at about age 14 to visit the museums, my parents bought for me a telescope mirror grinding kit from the Adler Planetarium which I desperately wanted. It had all the components needed to construct a 6" mirror for a beautiful reflector scope. I kept that kit until I was about 50 years old, moving from apartment to apartment and city to city, until I finally decided I probably just wasn't gonna make that telescope."
-konqueror321
You Probably Don't Need The Book
"College textbooks, as a freshman you think you need them but it’s a scam most of the time. Just get the pdf online tbh. I’ve even had professors that strongly hint at a textbook being available online and for students not to buy it."
-vanynoose
"I had a professor complaining and complaining that a mass anonymous email went out to all his students with a pdf of the text book. He just kept asking if 'everyone saw it and how terrible it was… but everyone saw it right? Everyone… did anyone miss it or not get it… that terrible anonymous email sent too ALL of his students got'"
"He was a good dude lol."
One Day...
"I bought a book on methods to tackle procrastination, 7 years ago. It remains unread though I’m sure the methods within are glorious."
-PhotoKaz
"On page 1 it just says, 'Congratulations! You have taken the first step towards conquering procrastination! Now just keep taking one step at a time!' Or some other cheesy stuff like that."
-tiredoflife2212
Bye Bye Bicycle
"Not me but my dad - bought a bicycle he never used, a year rolled by and the shop he bought it from called him and asked if he wanted it serviced, to which he agreed. Still hadn’t used it. I went to his place one day and saw the bike and asked if I can borrow it. He then tells me this story and said I can have it. Thanks dad!"
-WallyButterbean
Aspiring Artist
"I bought a wacom pad like a year ago cause i wanted to start drawing. Never got around to start learning."
-LordofthePigeons619
"You know, I got one to use as a mouse. I know that sounds crazy, but I was starting to get some RSI in my hand from constant mouse use at work and home."
"No lie - once I got over the first 24 hours of it being awkward as a daily pointing device, I quickly realized that I by far preferred using it to the alternatives. When you're over the learning curve it starts to feel so much more precise. It always got me funny looks and questions when co-workers stopped by my desk, since my roles never had anything to do with illustration or design."
"Absolutely useless for anything game related, mind you. But day to day document/office/browser/other stuff? Super useful. Maybe give it a try."
-infosec_qs
Time For A Game Night
film opening GIFGiphy"*Looks at the shelves of unplayed board games*"
-Mortlach78
"One day, the perfect group of people will be assembled in your house and ready to play that game... Until that day it sits on the shelf awaiting its time."
-silentknight111
Forever Disorganized
"Containers to get myself organised. Months ago. And now I’m on reddit. Not being organised."
-ReaganInc
"At least now, when you someday get the urge to organize your stuff, you will have the containers ready & be able to just do it."
-batsofburden
You Mean You're Not Supposed To Just Collect Them?
"I'd like to introduce you to my steam library."
-Fynn_the_Finger
"Me: there are no games to play."
"Steam library: *sad game noises*"
-SeparateBluejay9818
Banger Banjo
Sloth Banjo GIFGiphy"When I got my job back in April after a 3 year attempt at freelancing, my first pay check was the most exciting."
"I bought a banjo. I'm a city boy in the UK. I have no idea how to play instruments."
"To this day it stays in the corner of my room getting an occasional twang when I get a little spicy."
-schofield101
Yarn Hoard
"Yarn, so much yarn."
-erabera
"Yes, I am more a yarn collector than a knitter."
-shinyacorns
It's not too late to use that thing you bought forever ago and forgot about. It's never too late to pick up that hobby or read that book!
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