Well, the trouble these days is that in all the socialists and the Communist countries , the professional services have all been turned into "paid jobs" which are controlled and operated by the Governments. Therefore, all types of practises of complimenting a service, even those which are happening from a voluntary expression of joy for receiving a good quality service, are straightforward perceived as an act of bribery and thereby, the corruption. .
There is the trouble which the Socialist system of Public Administration has brought with it, in the mass psychology .
In the free and liberal Democratic societies, the perception about the act of Complimenting is that it is supposed to have come from an inner /heartiest expression of pleasure and the joy received by a person - as in the case at hand, the client, the captain of the ship, who is the receiver of a marine piloting service.
Some learned professors of Morality and Ethics from colleges of great repute , such as the Howard , have reasoned the matter when it came to examining the morality of receiving of compliments by the Government Officials /Public Officials. They said that what many people (particularly the socialist/communist countries) perceive as an act of bribery, those same act may get perceived as a free and voluntary expression of joy and happiness by other people, (e.g the liberal, democratic societies). Hence, a blanket ban of the exchange of compliments upon rendering of good quality services would rather be a curb on the freedom of expressions to human beings. According to their thoughts, at best, only the public officials should be barred from receiving the compliments in order to prevent any malpractices and the wrongdoings.
It is during the examination of such question of Morality , the learned wise men have discovered that , among many other differences between a Socialist / Communist countries and the Free, Liberal Democratic countries , the one big point of difference is the very perception of what is a Bribe .
How the political administrative culture makes an impact on the perception of what is a Bribe ?
In all the Socialist/Communists countries , the public officials are forbidden from making any exchange with the common people , INCLUDING the act of receiving any Compliments given voluntarily by the receiver of the services . That is because such complimenting has the potential of providing a cover of legitimacy to the public official to use his position of power for securing a bribe through the illegitimate , coercive means.
Hence , in all the socialist /Communists countries , a blanket ban prevails over all such acts of complimenting, even if voluntarily taken by any person. As a result, in all the kind of services, the rendering of services have become bereft of the element of Quality. There is no separate means to indicate the joy and pleasure, if the quality of the services is good. Every act of rendering of services, no matter how good or how bad in its quality , is evenly seen as a "state duty". Neither there is a reward , no matter how good in quality the service may have been rendered, nor there is an easy punishment, no matter grave the negligence may have occurred from a public official.
Now, the critics of the Socialist/Communists systems see the policy of blanket bans on the social practice of Complimenting, as yet another common Communist attitude where there is disregard of the Free Will , and a denial of space for a free expression of certain human feelings to take place . Human expressions , such as the in the form of arts, painting, poems, songs, cinema are characteristically denied a space very often, in the socialist system. this attitude of theirs is idiosyncratically identified through the architecture of the Communists systems when we see 'the blocks' style of living quarters which are so commonly replete in the Communists countries . India, a socialist country by its own declaration, has its own share of such Socialist mentality the "Indira Nagar Colonies " found in the cities of Lucknow , Bangaluru and similar such block-type architectures seen in the city of Chandigarh.
The critics have consistently slammed the Socialist / Communists ideology for its denials of space to the free , voluntary expression of opinions by humans, and for the disregard of quality and the variety. They have consistently accused that the communist ruler often try to force the equality upon the people by giving each person the same "block housing" kind of living quarters. The say that the Socialist /Communists have very pathologically perceived every economic, professional services exchange between the people as a "duty" for which the only way of remuneration is through the intermediation of the state . The critics say that this political attitude itself is responsible for the siring the malice of corruption within every socialist/ communist systems.
The Suez Canal authority , in Egypt , operate the marine piloting , a professional services , through the socialist system . Consequently, the Suez authority too deny the space for Complimenting to happen , between the master and the Pilot .
Meanwhile , many Liberal countries of western Europe have adopted a zero-tolerance policy for Corruption, and have started refusing the Complimenting of public officials in order to secure a public contract. By the given standards, the marine piloting service are also counted away as the "public contracts".
I would like to comment that, --
Unless, someone is really into supporting socialism/communism in his country, and thereof , unwittily support the evil of corruption to thrive, he should awaken his conscience and allow the professional services to take place in all the essential freedoms which are due to any marketplace for flourishing.
