Power makes a man a demigod or something of similar nature. It’s fascinating to see how man worships his own creation. Power itself can be deified without an avatar or some other. From the dawn of human mores, they identified or rather heralded such a concept as power. The sun was the biggest epitome of power in archaic times. Today we consider it only the biggest source of energy. That’s all that have changed. But power is ubiquitous amongst human groups, communities, nations and continues to permeate the entire stretch of the world where humans exist. Thanks to some precocious minds that helped us to see beyond this mystified wall that guards the enigma of power. Foucault has certainly cracked the meat of the ice with his power/knowledge thesis. I’m feeling a little more powerful already! Knowing a little more isn’t so bad.
People talk about power and hegemony and how others are affected by it. They also say how heinous and saints people can become by using power. And some guy somewhere in the history of time said that ‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. I would have to disagree somewhat. Power is a means to an end. It’s the intent of the figure behind the power which can be heinous and corrupt or noble. Power cannot be blamed because it’s harmless in nature just like a firearm.
People talk about power and hegemony and how others are affected by it. They also say how heinous and saints people can become by using power. And some guy somewhere in the history of time said that ‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. I would have to disagree somewhat. Power is a means to an end. It’s the intent of the figure behind the power which can be heinous and corrupt or noble. Power cannot be blamed because it’s harmless in nature just like a firearm.
The Power Walk
1. Power over others – father over mom and brother, mother over my brother, mother over the maid, Mr. X on his driver, the restaurant manager on the employees, the senior employee over the rookie at the restaurant , the traffic police and sergeants over vehicles, the rikshaw pullers, CNG drivers and taxi drivers over desperate passengers, the doctor over the nurse, the security personnel over the beggar before a supermarket, teacher over students, dean over teachers and students, administration over students, band leader on band members, a public relations officer using his personal influences to call in a favor from an influential figure and so many more.
2. Cooperative power – garments workers against their employers, students against the administration of a university, students against a certain faculty member at university, mass demonstrations/protest rallies, juries in a courtroom, voters and etc.
3. Impersonal Power Relations – utility bills, mobile bill, internet bill, government announcement over the media that have direct implications on the people, warning notification letters from financial institutions.
4. Power to realize desires or needs - sleeping more than needed, taking bath four times a day, smoking or not smoking a cigarette, deciding whether to take the bus or not, watching a film, not attending a Public Relations related convention, playing the blue note instead of the regular interval in the minor pentatonic scale, staring at a hot chick or perhaps not, willingness to continue this write-up or not.
Quote of the week
You have begun to play a governing role on this earth. It is on your thinking and your actions that the future of humanity depends. You give impotent people with evil intentions the power to represent you. Only too late do you realize that again and again you are being defrauded. You must come to realize that you make your little men your own oppressors, and that you made martyrs out of your truly great men. - Wilhelm Reich
