An example of a Social Epidemic

This post is taken from SM's comment (unedited) on my previous post, The Tipping Point 8. As I have his permission, I put his comment here because I think it deserves to be in the main page. Thanks to SM for this great comment. Regards, Y Pan.

I think the dissemination of corruptive behavior in a country called “Lovely Land and Water” is an example of a social epidemic. This behavior is very sticky and very contagious indeed, so that corruptions in this country nearly become a culture. But, who are the permission givers? I suspected they are the corrupts themselves, the courts of laws which judge the corrupts and the media that broadcast the session of the court and news about corruptions had contributed to the transmission of the contagion. The buzzing massages (the social contagions) from these court sessions and the media of this “Lovely Land and Water” country among other things are as follows.
(1) Because only a small amount of corrupts can be brought to the court of law, so if you corrupt and lucky enough you will not get caught.
(2) If you corrupt and get caught and than be brought to the court of law by chance you can manage (through your lawyers) to get a mild punishment or even be free from the convictions, therefore if you want to corrupt, you should do it in a big scale in order to obtain enough money to pay the cost and still enjoy a wide margin.
(3) One or two years in prison worth the money corrupted. While in jail you can still be a big boss of some prestigious associations or organizations outside.

It is obvious, that in this epidemic situation, every human being sitting in a “wet positions” (I borrow this terminology from the “Lovely Land and Water” country) will be easily infected by this corruptive behavior contagions, and the epidemic will last forever.
Is there any mean to control and finally halt this epidemic? I recommend the Anti Corruption Commission authority of the “Lovely Land and Water” Country recruits Social Epidemiologists, if this kind of profession has already exists, anyway. Do you agree?

Best regard: SM