Emergence of the underworld

LENNOX FRANCIS

MAKING IT to three scores and ten is not one of the man-made successes in my life. We are bombarded with failure by society more times than we will ever get the common cold.

At every stage of our existence we are faced with the possibility of getting a “pink slip” reminding us that we have failed a routine course in life. This cross could be lightened if the judgement is “not quite ready yet.” This gives a glimmer of hope that the candidate will achieve the standard some day before his demise.

No system or human being has the right to fail another. The effort can only be described as terminal if the individual has given up and still we have to leave room for a rekindled effort.

Systems were designed by man for man and are based on averages. They should, therefore, be highly dynamic and adaptable. They were created to understand the trend of thought and to harness the human effort.

When the system lacks provision for all classes of beings or the full range of human behaviour or to cover all the human possibilities, it is approaching failure. With an expiry date in view we should not persist with it, especially when there is no match-up between humans and the system.

Complacency, laziness and lack of initiatives prevent administrators from venturing outside the box. The one size fits all should be reconsidered before we stick the label.

Failure says that you are not good when naturally everyone is good for or at something. There is nothing wrong with stumbling and falling. The problem begins when you don’t get up.

Failure dissipates the positive energy, dampens the spirit, evokes revenge and drives the human effort underground. But the individual still has to live in the system that rejected him. He has to eat, sleep, work, vote and even pay taxes. The system might reciprocate with some fringe benefits.

To stay afloat as the normal channels of survival close their doors, the “failed” has to adopt aggressive lifestyles of living and may even gravitate to the “law of the jungle” to cope.

Gangs are doing a thriving trade. People not up to the standard are stressed. The underworld is challenging the administrators of normal society.

Failure is likened to a sentence to pull a truckload of bricks to the top of Mount Everest. The archaic insistence of civilised society and the professionally organised structure of the underworld are now offering more attractive options.

Can we say that hackers are a by-product of civilised society?

Remember when the goodly Prime Minister was cyber-duped into believing that a large donation was coming the way of TT? The rejoicing was short-lived as the alleged grant vanished into thin air the same way it appeared. Could this have been the underworld testing the waters?

Then there was the bomb scare that hastily caused the majority of schools to close. Was the underworld hitting us where it hurts the most? Our administrators dismissed it as the prank of an idler. Worse yet a hoax.

Strike three was TSTT and the downplayed cyberattack. The response was similar to a boxer in the ring thinking that it was the referee throwing punches at him. However, the lashes were real and soon the boxer had to admit a technical knock-out – customers’ information were lodged on the dark web.

Our IT experts were caught napping and the hackers took the opportunity to grow the list. Joining the queue were the Attorney General’s Office, Courts, Blue Waters, South West Regional Health Authority, Ministry of Works and Transport, TT Postal Corporation, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Board of Inland Revenue, and PriceSmart. A silent few were too embarrassed to admit they got caught.

Hacking was taken lightly and many organisations thought they could have handled the situation. Others were griped with the fear of losing customers and some focused on their public image.

Are these hackers the people the global village excommunicated as failures? Is this army so strong now that it can wage a technical world war? Are these people so bitter that they are seeking revenge and prepared to hold the world to ransom?

In this new form of terrorism the police seems helpless for they can only spring into action if a culprit can be identified. Furthermore, there is no crime according to the laws that guide them. Worse than covid19, all it takes is one person to open up that remote portal and bang!

The bad guy is in charge. Is universal, deadly and aggressive. Society has to rethink its strategy of exclusion otherwise it will have to play catch-up as second fiddle.