...most (if not the great majority) of people have no problem submitting to an authority figure that has all the conventional attributes of power, but will resent an authority figures that looks wimpy. In the same vein, they will forgive people in power (like Kenneth Lay, for example) for screwing them up big time, but will cry for harsh punishment if a petty crook steals a penny from them.
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This is an important statement that cannot be dismissed.
I don't know and cannot guess what percentage of the population behaves as Wojtek describes. But I suspect it's a non-trivial number.
...
During the media gaze moment of the Enron drama, NPR conducted a series of interviews with former employees of the firm who described the giddy excitement of working in the environment Skilling and his fellow travellers created.
One interview that stands out in my memory was with a husband and wife who were on the verge of losing their home. Both had lost their Enron jobs, their stock portfolio was worthless, their retirement plan a memory. It was clear that Enron's owners had screwed these workers, and many thousands more besides, over.
The wife understood this completely and called Lay and Skilling criminals. The husband however, talked in a bizarre language of 'dog eat dog', 'swimming with the sharks', 'business is warfare' corporate book speak which, in the context of his present situation especially, made him appear to be a delusional ass.
This is indoctrination of a depth totalitarians dream of accomplishing. It is built upon a mindless worship of the tropes of success and power. It is a very real and very common phenomena.
Even being burnt and driven to near destitution was not enough to convince this man that he'd been fooled and cheated.
This is a great source of comfort to criminals in government and corporations and something all progressives must take into account as we strive to 'get the word out' on various issues.
DRM
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