![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Having a bit of a think...
Feb. 18th, 2025 04:36 pm...about the nature of power, of all things.
Basically, trying (and largely failing) to understand the mindsets of certain individuals from the here and now, and historically.
It seems to me, that power gained and retained through fear...is pretty pointless and just a tad pathetic.
Any idiot can "get their point across" at the end of a gun. Any dickhead without two braincells to rub together can get other people to agree to pretty much anything if they are able to physically overwhelm them, through their own efforts or by employing others to do it for them.
And the nature of that power is utterly illusory. Sure, it might work for a while, but one day, someone will say "No". Someone will stand up and punch the idiot right on the nose and tell them to shove it somewhere unfeasibly unpleasant.
Remember Ceacescu? What about that Milosovic bloke? Mussolini? Caligula?
All of these people attempted to rule through plain fear. And because of their cruelty and their outright shittiness, they got away with it for a while, largely by seeking out shitheads much like themselves who thought having people scared of you made you powerful.
But it doesn't. Because the things that you try and put in place as lasting symbols of your power, fully expecting history to be impressed? Will be ripped down and discarded or repurposed to something that would have you spinning in the tomb type of your choice.
That's not to say that power through collaboration, and leadership is without its problems. But it's a much more long lasting power, a much more worthwhile and memorable power to hold, even for a short while.
In the most needlessly simplified example, if I were to have power over a house....I'd quite like one where the roof is in place, the walls are strong and sturdy, and the windows and doors are all attached. I would see very little value in having power over a house where the roof and three walls are missing and there's a bit of shiny gravel underfoot that might have been the windows once. That house is our planet. And the politicians of SEVERAL nations seem to fail to recognise the benefit of the house remaining intact. These are the people to be angry with - not the poor family who have had to run away from everything they knew and loved because of some idiot thinking his brand of power needs to be flexed.
Basically, trying (and largely failing) to understand the mindsets of certain individuals from the here and now, and historically.
It seems to me, that power gained and retained through fear...is pretty pointless and just a tad pathetic.
Any idiot can "get their point across" at the end of a gun. Any dickhead without two braincells to rub together can get other people to agree to pretty much anything if they are able to physically overwhelm them, through their own efforts or by employing others to do it for them.
And the nature of that power is utterly illusory. Sure, it might work for a while, but one day, someone will say "No". Someone will stand up and punch the idiot right on the nose and tell them to shove it somewhere unfeasibly unpleasant.
Remember Ceacescu? What about that Milosovic bloke? Mussolini? Caligula?
All of these people attempted to rule through plain fear. And because of their cruelty and their outright shittiness, they got away with it for a while, largely by seeking out shitheads much like themselves who thought having people scared of you made you powerful.
But it doesn't. Because the things that you try and put in place as lasting symbols of your power, fully expecting history to be impressed? Will be ripped down and discarded or repurposed to something that would have you spinning in the tomb type of your choice.
That's not to say that power through collaboration, and leadership is without its problems. But it's a much more long lasting power, a much more worthwhile and memorable power to hold, even for a short while.
In the most needlessly simplified example, if I were to have power over a house....I'd quite like one where the roof is in place, the walls are strong and sturdy, and the windows and doors are all attached. I would see very little value in having power over a house where the roof and three walls are missing and there's a bit of shiny gravel underfoot that might have been the windows once. That house is our planet. And the politicians of SEVERAL nations seem to fail to recognise the benefit of the house remaining intact. These are the people to be angry with - not the poor family who have had to run away from everything they knew and loved because of some idiot thinking his brand of power needs to be flexed.