Contrariness upholds power through stagnation
Addendum to yesterday: The image of a leader (or a concept), standing like a statue at the center of controversy, employs a multi-sided tug-of-war. With …
power
Control Controls You
Control sounds appealing until it has you: you earned it, now you must submit to the drudgery of maintaining control. There is no longer a …
Truth destroys, Fiction unites
Truth tends to divide under the banner of transparency: revealing is destructive. Fictions tend to unite through simplification: power requires narratives. Our species tends to …
Strength Erasing Diversity
We are taught "absolute power corrupts," but simplify the concept into a more daily reality: strength leads to abuse. We can further simplify the concept …
To kill a symbol don’t fight it: trivialize it
The true believer and the blasphemer share the power of the symbol: a reverent or desecrator both act from fervent belief. While irreverence can be …
Sticky Stories
Stories have power. The ones told first are sticky and hard to dislodge, despite more rational stories that reveal truth and work to promote harmony. …