From childhood, we have had ingrained in us that in order for interactions between people to work, especially competitive interactions, everyone has to “follow the rules”. The reason we have rules is that we have people, and people are sometimes dishonest cheats. The rules are put in place to prevent the dishonest cheats from winning unfairly, because they are despicable thieves who would steal what rightfully belongs to someone else.
Nobody likes a cheat, except perhaps other cheats or those who stand to share in what the cheater steals from the honest participant. That is, nobody with an ounce of integrity, understanding the inevitability of chaos if half of all participants in an event are permitted to cheat, would agree to participate. Therefore, any system which is premised upon rules requires that independent arbiters, acting without bias and favoritism, intercede to enforce the rules so that each contest is determined by merit, rather than fraud and intimidation. This is called “integrity”.
Unfortunately, when the referees belong to the same organization, or “team”, as the half of the participants in an event who cheat, the system is no longer effective. Indeed, when the half that cheats has become so comfortable with cheating and lying and stealing that they have no reason or intention to stop, because there is no cost to them as long as their cronies remain in charge, the risk is that the rule-followers will never again know what it is like to have an event in which they have any hope or chance of not only competing, but sometimes winning. – READ MORE
