In who we trust.

A friend sent me the following link as an idea for a blog subject.
http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html  ----- essentially a discussion by Richard Wilkinson citing facts as to what most of us understand as the difference between the rich and poor in our societies. Briefly put he says that we have known since before the French Revolution the destructiveness of economic gaps within societies and points out that the difference now is a broad information base that shows without doubt that per capita income relevant to different countries has no bearing on the social gap but rather the income gap within any given society.
Japan, Finland, Norway and Sweden have the least disparity and the least social problems, NZ is at the higher end along with the USA. The figures are poor for NZ across all quarters and are completely consistent with one exception that I could see. NZ has a high imprisonment rate, poor welfare of children score, high life expectancy declines at the lower income levels, violence, violence against children and so depressingly it goes along.
The one inconsistency that I observed is that nzers (Kiwis) have a high score of trusting in one another, right out of kilter with all the other findings which should have indicated that within our society trust of one another  would be a rare commodity.
I need to develop some other facts about 'the gap' as it is called before coming back to the trust issue where we kiwis have scored ambiguously high. Harvard Professor Steven Pinker has written a book 'The Better Angels of Our Nature' which demonstrates that despite a general anxiety of omniscient violence and hostility the human race is growing gentler and that the past was far nastier. He argues rightly that there are fewer wars and offers 'presentism' (recent or current events) that cause us to reflect that times are more violent, when in fact the past was far more violent and that a great deal of violence was from the hands of the state against its own citizens. Interestingly he comments about the worse periods being times of torture of  Governments against its own citizens which in my opinion is relevant to the USA at this time where in bleak  financial times, and slipping world wide influence they have found torture to be acceptable in some 'circumstances.' Pinker talks about the horror of the Mongol conquests as making pale anything of more recent times, but the real consequences of the Mongol conquests and no doubt other more recent events of colonisation, slavery, etc as dull by not being 'present.'
Another factor that might help understand the gap, Richard Wilkinson demonstrated, is the interview with Chinese poet Liao Yiwu currently in NZ for a writers festival. Liao was imprisoned (one of many times it prevailed) for the 1st time was for writing the poem Massacre following the Chinese Governments crackdown on students in Tiananmen Square. That was a four year stretch followed by others as he continued to write about those at the wrong end of the social gap. Others will have read the article but for the context of this piece I quote him 'The Chinese Government hopes that every Chinese will be like a pig or animal - just eating and making money without thinking.' Liao, I understand is identifying the gap as being almost a disease of sorts where money is king. Showing perhaps, as did the facts Wilkinson revealed, that the 'gap' becomes an attitude where as Liao puts it people become pigs to a dominant master.
I introduce another voice here from the financial section of today's paper, a piece by Brian Gaynor that identifies what he believes is causing nz to sink. The borrowing to fund entitlement, he was writing about a number of specific issues but in particular how nz 'rewards' from a borrowed purse all superannuates despite that one might be totally impoverished and another rolling in money. He speaks about the lobby groups that grow from Government hands out and the sense of  entitlement with the retirees because of the 'work they've done tax they've paid' (my quote.) Gaynor points out the fiscal strangulation of borrowing now to fund pensions to be available to all, including those who demonstrably need a pension and what this burden is costing new entrants into the workforce. Who, in my opinion, may presumably one day feel entitled that the then government borrow even more money because they're also entitled to a pension when they retire.
Wilkinson was able to show that countries like nz with a wide earnings and wealth gap featured poorly on high imprisonment statistics and argues not necessarily because of more crime but often because of being 'tough' on crime. A call not so strident in this election as perhaps the maturity of some politicians  allows them to admit that a high imprisonment rate is a fiscal and social disaster. Not unexpectedly Japan, Finland, Norway and Sweden the consistent winners of a narrow social gap have low imprisonment rates, less severe sentencing regimes and don't, unlike China and the US, execute their own citizens. Pinker points out the remarkable reaction of the Norwegian people in response to the recent massacre there, highlighting their remarkable restraint and 'love bombing' instead of 'real bombing.'
Without digressing too far I note reading of a Mexican Judge who recently dismissed an accused claims of being tortured to confess on the grounds that the confession was 'too detailed.' The unfortunate woman was clearly unable to understand that confessions from under torture can be minutely detailed, they will in fact be exactly what the torturer requires and in the torturers own words.
So we see this co-relation in the countries, where the income gap is wide, of false confessions, a willingness to torture, execute and so forth quoted by Pinker from the 17th Century philosopher John Locke saying of the escape from nature to so-called civilisation why run from pole cats only to be devoured by lions.
So despite all this, and kiwis placed consistently near the bottom of all social evils to befall its citizens why do we trust one another disproportionally to the economic gap. I can't say I know the answer and it may not have been studied yet. But it appears to me to have at least part of its answer in that according to many reports nzers are generally most concerned about children and are horrified by the statistics that rate us so poorly in the world for looking after, protecting and educating our children. That seems to be across the board and within all the cultures that make nz home. Significantly however, odd and flightless bird that we be, we generally respect authority but not through fear, through a type of respect that is probably a nz strength and goes to a core event of the acts of violence Wilkinson was able to demonstrate came from people feeling socially separated, unacceptable or not respected - laughed at or mocked if you like.
We have cultural traditions pacific traditions that many of us may not realise are relevant to a large part of our pacific population, respect for the land, for chiefly leaders and the wise - those of whom we can turn to in our own separate societies (within a large society) for help. In other words people we trust. And perhaps our high ranking of trusting one another has its roots there, that we instinctively (or the majority of us) trust first, give somebody a 'go' until they prove they were not worth giving a go, offer help and seldom expect it by return. But when offered assistance or 'a hand' feel vindicated and uplifted for our beliefs in respect and helping one another whether as an act of kindness or because of being part of a particular pacific, pakeha, european, asian or other culture, or indeed just open to the argument that we each have a duty to one another, not to turn away or take more than our share to the detriment of others. As Liao puts it not 'be like a pig or animal - just eating and making money without thinking.'
What  can I do? Change the world, I wish. No, all I can do is to continue to help the few people I do help and perhaps help them a little more. Also be reminded of coming closer not further away from others, think of the land, the sky and the water realising that trust is a greater component in this society than distrust.