A Food For Thought Question.

Let's say you lived in a third world country, where the only way to get anything done was to pay a bribe to government officials. Imagine that this was known to be the only way for permits to be granted, business deals to be closed, roads or schools built, or even to prevent the tax authorities from paying you unfair and disproportionate attention.

Perhaps no different than the formal system of institutionalized bribes and payoffs that the Ottoman empire was built around.

We can even call it Baksheesh, if you want.

So, if you wanted to live your life normally, and you pay off the required officials, did you, as an average citizen, actually do something unethical?

And if this has become the accepted mode of behavior, is the politician or bureaucrat actually guilty of unethical behavior too?