Corrupt or captured institutions don’t need belief, only silence
Institutions that lose legitimacy don’t collapse because everyone stops believing in them. They survive as long as enough people look away, disengage, or stop paying attention. Power doesn’t always demand faith; sometimes it only requires apathy. When the crowd stops watching, corruption can operate in the shadows, unchecked and unchallenged.
The deeper challenge is this: if silence sustains corruption, then vigilance, the act of watching, questioning, and refusing to look away, becomes the simplest form of resistance.