Disguising wrongdoing as legitimate weakens restraint but not self-condemnation

Evidence

Anil Kumar initially turned down the offer to become a tipster in exchange for payment through a hidden Swiss bank account or for a share of the profits from illegal trading, both of which he regarded as criminal. However, he agreed to the offer when he and Rajaratnam found a way to bundle the corrupt money with payments for lawful consulting services, thus adding a semblance of legitimacy to his activities. Masking the unlawful payment weakened restraint over transgressive conduct but did not diminish the self-devaluative costs. Kumar ended up viewing himself as a “reluctant felon” Others traded morality for substantial payments coupled with friendship. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1465 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Implied malice is a fiction masking the objective standard of criminal liability — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1658; Daily exposure to adversarial argument can convert contempt into grudging respect. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action , 1863; Modern western wrongdoing maps onto utilitarian harm to others (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Disguising corrupt payments as legitimate weakens moral restraint over wrongdoing #corroborates (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1465