“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience.”
– George Bernard Shaw
Every day seems to bring us new “Breaking News.” When you live in such a chaotic time it can be really easy for us to want to tune it all out. Which is completely understandable when we are being presented with such a wide variety of things we are suddenly supposed to worry about. Human lives are already incredibly busy as it is, to attach world news on top of it all… we tend to just tune it all out. If the information presented does not immediately impact our lives, it can be revisited later.
Then later never comes, because by that point we have already mentally absolved ourselves of the original thought. The fact that we are now so accustomed to living life in this pattern, is haunting. One of the many reasons for people to be more cautious of their current environment. Especially when not all of the stories are being told as they happen, but after careful consideration about how this could influence behavior of a society at large. When you want to save the world, some details can be poisonous to your cause.
It’s all for the greater good.
Before I go into details on why this week’s edition is so shocking and honestly, tough for me to write about in a positive light, I want to make sure I take the moment to explain why I believe you may have not heard about what is happening in Australia. It is almost uncanny that no mainstream journalism outlet wants to take the brave step of speaking about neither the national protests, nor the authoritarian mandates that are causing a rumble in the Land Down Under. If you even try to beseech the “Almighty Google.” You will be met with nothing but boring political articles that would numb anyone to the Australian plight.
Australia is going through some things. This year has not been the most kind to them, and unfortunately, they seem to have trended in the direction of complete and total authoritarianism in order to get what they want accomplished. As it turns out, when you want to get all of any group of people to follow instructions, they don’t always tend to listen. What would normally be “peaceful protests for the medical freedom of the citizenry,” radically transformed into some of the most brutal footage we have seen in our modern era.
When you have such horror stories as open police brutality in the street over refusal to put cloth over one’s face, I tend to take pause. Not because of the rule itself, but because of the way they are viewing their own people’s refusal to agree with their worldview. It’s one thing to “decree an edict for your people,” it’s another to not even let them voice their concerns. When the Victoria City Police is calling to remove absolutely all live-stream footage of the atrocities their police are committing, let’s just say it becomes really difficult to view them as the good guys. Scenes like these are enough to sober anyone about the thought of where this “Us vs Them” mentality tends to lead.
You’re probably asking yourself, If the Australian Government is willing to go to these great lengths to “educate” its people, surely the original problem is something we should be concerned about? That very thought I have wrestled with for weeks and it’s what inspired me to start writing these blogs. I imagine it’s not a simple task to lead in these times, but something feels off about everything. I don’t believe it is the governments job to protect people but I can understand the power dynamic of taking care of a nation that doesn’t even take care of itself. In the end, most leaders are supposed to be there to protect and organize their citizens, and make sure they are safeguarded from any tragedy that is preventable.
A strong leader would ensure sure their people are aware of the problem. They would take the necessary steps towards a solution. A strong leader would be open and honest about the tragedy at large, but shine a light towards the end of the dark tunnel. A strong leader would inspire those in their command to unify the citizens and help fight against an unknown enemy. A strong leader would never hide information from their people and sow distrust.
Very rarely in history have the people trying to hide the information been the good guys.
In a dark and twisted way, I can almost see where they are coming from. Leaders are supposed to keep the people below them safe and protected, right? There are so many issues in this world that we couldn’t even possibly think to tackle all of them before things begin to crumble.
“To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he is doing is good.”
-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Imagine for a moment that you were placed in a seat of leadership and suddenly millions of people were now relying upon YOU to ensure that they will be safe. Oh, man… that would be stressful.
Then imagine your people are stricken by an unknown illness and the whole world is now confused on how to handle the situation. Now you have a nation that is in incredible panic. As we know, panic almost always leads to disaster. You would need to ease fear by showing you are here to take care of your people. One of the best ways to do this would be to introduce a solution for the problem at large. Everyone loves a good cure.
Most rational people would stop at nothing to make sure that any dangers were handled quickly and with confidence. How else are you going to have people continue to support your leadership if you are clearly not looking out for their best interest? The easiest way to do this would be to support their most fundamental needs. Something like providing them extra money, or delaying their bills to help keep everyone afloat. That way you could not only train people they can always rely on you, they would also trust that you have their best interests at heart. But the work would not be complete. You would teach them over time the world can be just like you dream about. You would just need to show the people how to set the world in a new order.
So, you set out to do the hard work. In order to get people on board with your “New Order Of The World” you want to make sure you have clearly defined goals. Having a transparent mission statement is generally enough to be able to get a small amount of support to help rally your cause. Something like “Building back, but better!” Yes, that would get a small amount of caring people on board to kickstart your bright and prosperous future! Especially those who already have large networks that could influence consideration toward your noble purpose.
But a small amount would never be enough to enforce your new ideas. You have to make sure that the majority of people are on-board with your vision. After all, negativity can spread like a cancer. If someone started to frame what you are doing in the wrong light it could be absolutely detrimental to your efforts. You have to unify the people against the dissidents. 70% of the population agreeing to your view of the world would be a great way to show you have the support of the crowd. Crowds of people always make intelligent decisions.
(Fact check: False, crowds rarely think rationally in the heat of the moment.)
Of course any great leader will surely have some sort of opposition that seeks to disrupt their efforts. It would be incredibly easy for the people to fall off of your crusade if they are presented with any information that implies you are manipulating them with small white lies.
You would need to control the flow of information to the best of your ability. After all, new information influences behavior. As we all know, the internet makes this next to impossible. Making relationships with the arbiters of that information would be a key step to your success. The almighty Google would never lie or mislead people! Better yet, you could just silence all of the negative press to avoid the drama of the “darker sides of leadership.” We wouldn’t want our people thinking we are out to harm them.
But there would still be foul dissidents that could be dangerous to your ambitions! Especially those who think that their freedom is more important than your safety. They tend to be the most brazen of them all. And surely those who put themselves above the care of others are evil! Therefore, you need a plan for what to do with these people who simply just won’t get with the program. Maybe concentrating all of them into a few closely monitored locations could be a great solution to such a deep problem?
Nothing crazy, of course. We don’t want to repeat the horrors of history. So instead, you can try putting them in fancy houses, or bungalows! That way they could see you are trying to protect them and also show you care about your people. That would stop the dissent entirely, right?
Not only that, but you can keep your people disease free now! Everyone will get along perfectly in this “New Order Of The World.” You could begin to take care of all of the massive problems from income inequality to impending climate disaster, and nobody would be able to get in your way. You could even get these poor serfs to stop destroying themselves with sugar or other addictions. The world could finally be a better place.
Especially if you get to teach them what better means.
It will all work out perfectly. The people will love and adore you. The most clearly intelligent of society will thank you for your noble service. And all of the people who disagree with you will be in camps… err… bungalows!
That is if everyone agreed with your world view.
What if a very large percentage of your people were dismayed from your noble cause? What if they started spreading misinformation that could influence others negatively towards your goals? What if they simply just don’t understand that you are trying to help them? What if these “serfs” were causing a disruption in your narrative for saving your country? What if they no longer respect you and threaten the very nature of the power of your leadership? What if they begin massing in protest to your world view? Surely you’ll use every force necessary to secure your power and the confidence of your remaining people? I mean…
It’s all for the greater good right?
Thank you for reading,
-The Young Fool
