Whiter gohan home

Star Trek or Dune; Hierarchy of Bullies or Liberal Democracy?

One common assumption/belief is that for a society to be “functioning well” there must be order. Order can have different meanings, a simple definition  of order  might be a society where most people are able to live a satisfactory life. There are two basic notions  about the nature of a well functioning society.

The theory of the Hierarchy of Bullies is based on the assumption that individuals are always acting in their own self interest, that some  individuals, or all individuals at same time,  will  do bad things in their own interest creating  a poorly functioning society—i.e. the natural condition of people is they are self serving and the natural state of people in society is disorder.

What brings order is the emergence of a bully who uses authoritarian means to establish and maintain order over a group. Society  is a pyramid (from low to high) of decreasing  bullies  in a hierarchy with the top one being a “ head bully.” The relationship that holds the society together is that each level of the hierarchy is responsible for holding their controlled group in line and each bully owes loyalty to the bully above.

The bullies make the laws, or rules and when people resist this order  it is because it is the natural state of people, i.e. its not because of the rules, but this is what people naturally  do causing  disorder and the bully prevents disorder by keeping them in line.

Bullies are authoritarian who make deals based on personal relationships with others, bullies or not and its the personal relationship that keeps order in society.

Liberal Democracy is the notion that  individuals can act in their own self interest while recognizing that  one of their  one of the main “self interests” be a “peaceful consistent functioning society,”

Individuals can develop the skills to understand their needs, communicate with others and democratically—as a group—make conscious agreements —laws— and commitments to maintain a  functioning society.

The bullies theory of society is similar to what Hobbes described in The Leviathan while liberal democracy  may be considered similar to  the development western institutions from the Magna Charta through the development of democratic  institutions and common law.

These are not mutually exclusive , or absolute categories, more like a four dimensional continuum with vary degrees of differences. From recorded history and archaeology  we have a sense of societies through history and while details are beyond my knowledge or the  space here, societies can be placed  somewhere on such a continuum.

Still you do no have to believe me, sometimes its a struggle to get my legs to  reach the ground.

This is made from a  B&W negative, an image of the my shadow in the corner of a store front window, if you can can imagine this in black and white the original image  is my shadow,  I have colored the whole image and the values are not the same relationship  as in the B&W image.

Looking from here, there, wear, qear, it always appears between us. Its’ daytime..

At a street corner waiting on a traffic light,  in a window across the street was this family.  Was it  a hospital or a government building?

You would have to admit that if you met me at Bay Fair Station Fremont Platform you would not.

When I was young I pretended I had needs  and was just looking for someone but usually found, or lost,  myself alone, at least there was door to open . . .

I lived in Jamaica Plain just off Franklin Park and this family would often walk by on their way to shopping, I thought I was about his age then, I did not have his style, wondered if he picked out his own clothes, what kind of job  he had, whether he went to college, What was his life like compared to mine?

Wearever it went, you were weighting for the sound of music so I waited to short for you, its better not to wait for someone else to sing fore you.