Options when ruled by criminals

 If unchecked by laws & law enforcement in society, crime pays. Imagine looting what someone has worked for the entire life in a jiffy but there's no punishment but promises of rewards. If crime is given legal & religious sanction, one can even feel good committing crimes.

Criminal societies were the norm in history in most monocultures until the multicultural undesirables were wiped out. History is simply repeating itself today on those who don't learn from it.

Though the original colonizers are gone, the converts to the colonizer's faith are excessively brutal towards fellow natives who  still follow the native culture, while feeling superior to the natives.

What are the options for the surviving natives?

• Live in a permanent state of fear
• Convert
• Flee
• Die without resistance
• Defend until death. 

Living in a permanent state of fear as a second class citizen. The Stockholm syndrome will come into play. One will be overtly thankful for small acts of kindness & try to rationalize all atrocities. One will be overly friendly with the rulers. The rulers may criticize one's beliefs but one may not dare speak up & pretend that everything is normal, virtue signaling for a deep need to feel accepted. Gradually, all outward festivities will die out, all worship will be forced internal. Only the criminal rulers will be allowed outward festivities. One may also need to pay up protection money for mere existence, like the mafia. It allows one to exist temporarily. One's womenfolk will be abducted & forced into criminal harems. This is a gradual extinction. This will stunt one's potential & is no way to live. Some will choose the option of Conversion.

Conversion: Conversion temporarily secures life & the criminals will celebrate your homecoming. You keep your property. However, this will result in a poor quality society over time, rife with strife & violence, bereft of critical thinking & all that is good. Some of your brainwashed descendants will persecute the non-converted natives. Once the natives are wiped out, in the absence of someone to persecute, the criminals will turn on each other. Ultimately, you have chosen to side with the criminal mafia & your descendants will be trained servitors of the mafia. This is a poor outcome for the individual & society.

Fleeing can postpone the problem but there will come a time when there is no place to go & a time to take a stand. The criminals gain your land, wealth & property. Crime pays. They will also take those womenfolk who were unable to flee.

Dying without resistance will help the criminals gain land, wealth, property & the undefended womenfolk. 

Defend until death requires courage & the real possibility of being tortured to death by the criminals or rotting away in a prison for one's entire life. The human cost & suffering is enormous. But this will at least impose costs on the criminals. History shows that people who choose to defend against all odds take heavy difficult losses but the civilization has at least a chance of survival. One at least dies with self-respect. To be able to defend, the weakest must arm themselves. Since the criminals will have arms anyway & if the weak don't, they will simply be one of the "Dying without resistance".

If it is possible to overthrow the criminal rulers, your descendants have a shot at building a better society without criminal rule. Unless the history & cultural knowledge is passed down though, the descendants may inadvertently end up enabling the criminals again. 

Every great thing perishes if its heirs are petty.- Oswald Spengler

Civilization is a precious thing; there are always Barbarians at the Gates. - Will Durant