--- joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
> Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>
> >What frightens the elite is not crime and
> delinquency, but organized
> >disciplined action of ordinary folk. Delinquency
> disrupts that discipline,
> >and thus is desirable from the elite's point of
> view. It is also useful,
> >because it justifies the buildup of the police
> state that can be quickly
> >deployed if the ordinary people get their act
> together and challenge the
> >powers that be.
> >
> Quite true. I remember reading that the attempt of
> black slaves to
> educate themselves was considered far more dangerous
> than general
> rowdiness or drunkedness.
[WS:] That reminds of a story from the Soviet times (I am not sure how authentic) about some technical guy sent to France for training in connection with some technology transfer. The guy had too much French wine, got into a fight in a bar and was arrested. He was evetually bailed out by the Polish consul, but of course the news of his arrest traveled back to his employer. The guy was pretty sure that he woul dbe severely reprimanded or worse, but to his big surprise he was promoted. To boss let him know that he knew about the incident, but nonetheless "trusted" him and hped that he would 'recicprocate' that trust - which in the Party lingo meant "we've got some dirt on you, so you better not cross us."
In his biography of the emperor Heile Selassie, Ryszard Kapuscinski writes about the emperor's habit of promoting the most incompetent and delinquent low-level bureaurcats to highest positions in his court, while bypassing more senior and much better qualified officers. The logic of it was that the latter were more likely to think that they owe the promotion to their own merits and that might give them some 'wrong ideas' to challenge His Majesty's wisdom. The incompetent underlings had no such delusions, they knew darn well that they owe their positions solely to His Majesty's grace on the condition that they remain unquestionably loyal.
The powers that be love incompetent and delinquent people. Not only such people are easy to control and manipulate, but their incompetence and delinquency justifies "protective measures" taken by the powers that be to 'safeguard' public interests.
Wojtek
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