This week's topic, offered by Ramana, is short and sweet - Power. Well, maybe not so sweet. That likely depends upon whichever side you are on in the battle over power you have chosen. Lovers and proponents of Chaos theory, like a pair of bloggers in this group, are likely doing backflips. Careful Conrad - you are not as limber and in such good shape as you once were.
Politics of Power
We are unique here in the USA in that every four years we show the world a peaceful transition of power. There was that little hiccup called the Civil War and there are grumblings by some extreme right-wing folks about taking it to the streets again, though frankly I prefer the Doobie Brothers version. I have seen folks I consider my friends threatening violence in the streets over politics. Perhaps I need to reconsider some of my friendships but I will wait until the very last moment to undertake that.
We in the west make Christmas a power event. Listen to the lyrics of some seemingly cutesy children's songs like this one "Santa Claus is coming to town Santa Claus is coming to town Santa Claus is coming to town He sees you when you're sleeping He knows when you're awake He knows if you've been bad or good So be good for goodness sake! O! You better watch out! You better not cry Better not pout I'm telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town Santa Claus is coming to town Santa Claus is coming to town" Yep - that fat guy in the red suit has the power to make or break every kid's Christmas.
Power has appeared in the name of Q-Anon. "Over the past few years, the Q-Anon movement, a baseless conspiracy theory referring to the belief in a cabal of deep state leftist pedophiles, has gained tremendous traction — and extremist researchers believe it’s largely been due to social platforms turning a blind eye to such content." Speaking of blind eyes, there will be Q-Anon believers/supporters in the next House of Representatives. Apparently we have not yet reached the bottom of the candidate barrel. It seems like voter limbo - how low can you go? I sure hope we have hit bottom.
Use of Power
It's always interesting to see how the eventual winners in a power struggle choose to exercise their newly won authority. Do they do the things they promised to do during the struggle? Do they have an epiphany and do the opposite of what they promised? Do they have a clue what to do if they win? One need only look at the USA 2016 Presidential election to see the results of a seemingly clueless winner. Then again, Steve Bannon did state Trump was going to disassemble the mechanism of government a department at a time. So far so good. Clearly power in the wrong hands can be devastating. One also might wonder just what Trump would have done had he not had Obama to villainize and roadmark his own private Route 66 highway of destruction. It seems the only structure to Trump's administration is to piece by piece reverse any Obama action.
Power Speaks to Truth
When I was in college earning my BA in Political Science, we had one standard question that came up time after time - When does power speak to truth? I submit that power speaks to truth when it has to. Currently the Covid-19 pandemic is dominating the news waves and we here in the USA appear powerless to effectively deal with it - unless, of course, you accept the statements by Trump that he has cured Covid-19. He is, after all, a perfect physical specimen (in his own mind). I suggest power has spoken to truth in this instance and has had it's butt roundly kicked.
Power is clearly a multifaceted beast that we deal with daily. We give our children examples of its daily use in the way we wield power in our homes. Then the kids go to school, we go to work and another set of examples are presented, to our kids and to us. Power is wielded at work and schools in different ways - lessons for us all. And, we wield power daily. How we do that may well determine how happy and successful we are. That old adage treat people the way you wish to be treated stands out as the way to wield that power.
That's my quick shack-take on power, our weekly topic. Power is a topic worthy of 50-60 page paper. I did a few back in the college days. I enjoy interacting with readers on this blog, so those epistles are locked away somewhere with my copy of David Mitrany's Working Peace System and other things from my youth that I outgrew. And, a few I never outgrew.
Please be sure to check what the other 8-1 bloggers have to say.
First, when it comes to things like backflips, some things I couldn't do even back when I could do them!
ReplyDeleteSecond, your take on our continuous use and abuse of power as we go through it daily lives is really good, because all too often we push off the responsibilities of power use to the rich and I'm control at the top of society. Each of us needs to account for our actions.
I wish we could edit what we have typed and posted as comments, lol. Oh well, you will just have to interpret what I meant.
ReplyDeleteNot to worry. None of us including Shackman will misinterpret you.
DeleteI am again astonished at your approach to such a mundane subject. The almost comic approach underlying a nuanced approach to current power dynamics in our world is simply fantastic. Well written Shackman.
ReplyDeleteI like the boy that lurks in you. seeing the day/era's politics is not so scary. and I always come away having learned something.
ReplyDeletehad to look up the word 'condign.'
I used to never miss Superman. :D
have a great weekend Shack. xo
The boy that lurks in me - boy did you nail me Tammy LOLLOL
DeleteI hate to admit it, but I, with the rest of the world, am eagerly awaiting the results of the US election. And I wonder why that is?It's like the world presidency, the US presidential election.
ReplyDelete