We saw, Friday, how self-styled intellectuals maintain a prickly sensitivity to who may, or may not, be esteemed as worthy of their “rank” in society. This would be harmless enough – but for their not-so-hidden ambitions and agenda. Intellectuals feel inherently entitled to rule – and to a privilege that extends to them freedom from the constraints they would (for the latter’s good, of course) impose on others.
Consider our traveling intellectual’s chilling revelation of this during a discussion with someone he wants to see run for political office in the United States.
The candidate seems to have all the qualities our intellectual deems necessary: properly enlightened ideology, correct view of the purposes of knowledge and power in government, plenty of charisma, presence, and eloquence. But, he explains to his instantly comprehending adviser, he has one overriding fear that discourages him from taking the leap: Opinion.
It seems that public opinion has attained so prominent a place in the political dialogue of this country as to, according to our European intellectual and his American soul-mate, become so cheeky as to impose constraints and obligations on its politicians, rather than strive to understand and submit to those imposed on it.
To illustrate the extraordinariness, as he sees it, of this situation, the visitor describes a plan conceived, in the early 19th century, for prison construction. It is called a panopticon, and it consists of a central observatory from which radiate all the cells and other structures of the prison. From this central keep, unseen themselves, the guards can oversee every detail of the activity undertaken by every prisoner at all times.
Knowledge, power, control. Amplified by the fact that the inmates are aware, in a general sense, of its presence, and of their inability to evade it. Thus, they come to unconsciously accommodate to it, adapting their behavior, and their very thoughts, to its balefully benevolent presence.
Our guide decries this means of managing prisons. But he seems to think it is, metaphorically, precisely how society should be organized. Guess where the intellectuals are to fit in to the model, and where the rest of us.
Indeed, his commiseration with his ideal candidate’s reluctance to enter the political arena is precisely because this model doesn’t hold in American society. Worse: it is reversed. The inmates use the structure to observe and control their rightful guardians.
Or, in our traveller’s terms, the “slaves” are gazing upon their “masters.” Thus, intellectuals aspiring to public office are required, in contemporary American political culture, to submit themselves to the scrutiny of those supposedly “below” them. The public observes every detail of the behavior and actions of its politicians, an unending, essentially undetectable gaze which is never averted and cannot be evaded, leaving its dismal imprint on the freedom of thought and action which are the rightful privilege of its intellectual superiors.
Is that how you see it? Who do you suppose to be superior, those who think like this intellectual, or those who have, effectively, disenfranchised him and his ilk, seized sovereignty over their own affairs, and largely prevented the repetition of the unendingly arrogant atrocities they have visited – and where they continue to prevail, still do perpetrate – upon the world up to modern times?
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Today’s tips: Speaking of extraordinary proposals about how life and business should be organized, please see this remarkable NY Times column by Thomas Friedman. He notes that a foreign friend indicated, during a recent visit, that the US seemed to be behaving like an immature democracy. Friedman’s prescription? Bring in father figures to hold our hands and lead us through challenging times, which we evidently are not mature enough to face on our own. Wasn’t that sort of uncritical dependence on supposedly essential and superlatively singular leaders what got us into this mess? Are we to take more of the hair of the dog that bit us to resolve the situation, to continue confusing the cause for the cure?
Along a similar line, more and more people are driven to rationalize exceptional roles for what they want to characterize as exceptional leaders. Please see this WSJ article explaining how one major CEO is describing his role according to a view that the late Peter Drucker had begun to explore: that of an organization‘s indispensable link to the outside world. Read the piece, and ask yourself if this makes sense to you. Or, perhaps, do you see the CEO’s role as being less self-deludingly grandiose, and yet of more comprehensively strategic importance?
Finally, as we debate the salience and essential facts of various topics in society and management, it may be useful to recall what the true elements of persuasion are. They will reveal both the actual nature and realistic possibilities inherent in our efforts to communicate and collaborate. And they will be found in Steve Roesler‘s must-read piece on what Cicero has to teach us about this subject.
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Important note: It turns out that the prognosis for a happy conclusion of the connection issues experienced at this site was unduly optimistic. It appears that automated web crawlers are targeting our humble efforts, here, and absorbing so many resources as to swamp the ability of the server to resolve all the requests. It has become impossible, even, to post on a regular basis.
Accordingly, there will be a hiatus here for new posts while I explore alternative avenues for publishing articles such as those you have been so kind as to view and interact with here, and also while I await an enduring solution to the problems experienced by legitimate visitors like yourselves to these pages.
Hoping to be back soon! (And in the meanwhile, you can still subscribe, by email or RSS reader!)
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