Tyranny – the Large Scale
You have seen something of the culture and the template of the management style at Harkness. Now apply that to the country and you have a fairly accurate representation of our government. What follows is a very brief summary.
Nominally, the leadership was elected.
There were the members of the council, who were elected by the people in their districts and were to represent those people in their legislative decisions.
And there were the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, elected by popular vote. They had to win 3 of the 5 major islands as well as the popular vote to ensure that a single island did not dominate the political landscape. The council elected these two officials should there not be a clear victor.
Our country, Atlantis, was a collection of islands: five large and numerous smaller ones. All of any size were inhabited, and these smaller islands were grouped into districts comparable in population to the average of the five large islands.
The council and chancellor were supposed to be equal partners in governing, each having specific assigned responsibilities. For example, the Chancellor was responsible for foreign policy and setting the tone of government while the council made the laws of the land. That is a bit simplistic but gives the general idea. Judicial courts resolved the inevitable conflicts.
The ascendance of the corporation as the model for government upset the balance of power. The chancellor’s office became almost dictatorial while the legislative branch quibbled over minor issues. Finances for both were dominated by corporations rather than voters. Essentially, money was the largest voting bloc.
There was a belief that a strong executive gets things done, but there is the issue of exactly which things do get done. The money determined what got done.
As might be expected, the major stakeholders in government were the beneficiaries of the power imbalance. Corporations and wealthy individuals, the primary investors in the Red party, received proportionately more from their government than those with less influence when the Red party was in power.
The Blue contributors benefitted ;likewise when the Blues were in power.
.Not coincidentally, many of the major contributors were on BOTH donation lists, their contributions varying according with the likelihood of a return on their investment from the winning candidate.
The result was an emphasis on the Greater Good (Red version), a stark contrast to the Greater Good (Blue version). The Greater Good tends to mean what is good for those in power rather than necessarily the good for all. The Blue version would have slighted the interests of those with less Blue influence in much the same manner as the Reds slighted those with less Red influence.
By no means am I trying to paint the Reds as more ruthless than the Blues or vice-versa. The Reds simply found that an appeal to the desire for personal security and economic well-being worked and they stuck with speaking of the concept whether they actually accomplished anything in that direction or not..
That the Red message of individual freedom was more a hope than a promise was little worse or better than the Blues’ message of universal well-being. The voting public chose what they viewed as their preference with little regard to the resulting reality.
To the west was a country, our enemy in both a military and an economic sense. To the east was another country, again our enemy in both a military and an economic sense. We were perpetually either at war or on the brink of war. Indeed, the immortality initiative was seen as our pathway to a decisive strategic advantage.
I marvel now at how the citizens of Atlantis were so easily led into an intense hatred of both “enemies.”
Strondam to the east was a militaristic state perpetually in a state of readiness for war. There was a strong central governing body that ruled with an iron fist and controlled every aspect of public and, to the degree possible, private life. Their land stretched over 500 miles until it reached the great ocean.
Gildoor to the east was the epitome of ignorance and savagery. Such a people could not compete with us technologically, but they had “an aptitude for copying and then mass producing” whatever furthered their cause.” I do not know what “their cause” was supposed to be other than to subdue Atlantis.
Their land stretched for a thousand miles until it reached the great ocean, and was rich in resources. Gildoor would have overcome Atlantis long ago except for its generational internal conflicts between competing ruling “families,” essentially, war lords.
Perhaps the existence of these two enemies was the defining nature for our own culture. Rather than focusing on creating a better life for all of the people on the islands of the nation of Atlantis, we were focused on the necessity of defeating the enemies who would destroy Atlantis.
If I thought of this aspect at all, it was only in relation to the literal battlefront, never to the interior of Atlantis. That interior is the hearts and minds of the people, including myself.
The image of our country projected to the citizens was one of nobility and character, the last stronghold for freedom. What was portrayed was much like the personality of the men and women in power, a façade covering character flaws that contrasted sharply with the public mask.
Wars over the past centuries had been reframed as good versus evil. This was in spite of the evidence of Atlantis’ equal guilt in provocation and use of immoral tactics. We were as guilty of the use of chemical and psychological warfare, but this was never reported since the press was a willing accomplice.
The characters of the industries and of the government were very similar: The image of Harkness and his board shown to the public was a façade masking a heart of darkness, the same as that of the Chancellor and his legislature.
We were bound together as a nation by unifying against the enemy of the moment, whether it was Strondam or Gildoor or ignorance or poverty or a disease, whatever must be overcome. And we were told victory must be by force.
The goal of destruction of “the other,” be it a country or a social ill or a disease, was the binder that held us together, the cement that created an enduring purpose for existence. We would use force to kill, destroy, and eradicate as we accomplished our goal of the moment.
But there was never a total victory, only a stalemate that allowed us to choose another enemy and start the cycle again.
This endless cycle of violence fueled fear, anger, and hate. Media whipped the people into a self-righteous frenzy, and the leadership stepped forward to lead the charge.
This management of the public in our (nominally) Free Republic of Atlantis was aided by a media promotion called Wealth, Activities, Goals, and Entertainment, referred to as a person’s WAGEs.
Wealth was determined only partially by actual money. A significant part of a person’s Life Achievements were measured in terms of roles played in the community (Activities), realization of goals set and then reset in each decade of life (Goals), and amount of time spent on state sponsored Entertainment, which were little more than indoctrination movies, plays, sports, games, etc.
A spirit of competitiveness in earning higher WAGEs ensured that everyone used their free time in ways that benefitted the solidification of “cultural norms appropriate for Atlanteans.”
In retrospect, the timing of these revelations on my government and my company is amazing considering the pressures at work. And my innate bias was toward the company and the country: I sought the goals of a better life and freedom in spite of the evidence that neither my company nor my country shared those goals.
And then there was one event that shone a light on truth and sealed my fate. Perhaps this event, so small in itself, was symbolic of the culture in which I had matured, and this sealed the fate of all.
Next chapter
You have seen something of the culture and the template of the management style at Harkness. Now apply that to the country and you have a fairly accurate representation of our government. What follows is a very brief summary.
Nominally, the leadership was elected.
There were the members of the council, who were elected by the people in their districts and were to represent those people in their legislative decisions.
And there were the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, elected by popular vote. They had to win 3 of the 5 major islands as well as the popular vote to ensure that a single island did not dominate the political landscape. The council elected these two officials should there not be a clear victor.
Our country, Atlantis, was a collection of islands: five large and numerous smaller ones. All of any size were inhabited, and these smaller islands were grouped into districts comparable in population to the average of the five large islands.
The council and chancellor were supposed to be equal partners in governing, each having specific assigned responsibilities. For example, the Chancellor was responsible for foreign policy and setting the tone of government while the council made the laws of the land. That is a bit simplistic but gives the general idea. Judicial courts resolved the inevitable conflicts.
The ascendance of the corporation as the model for government upset the balance of power. The chancellor’s office became almost dictatorial while the legislative branch quibbled over minor issues. Finances for both were dominated by corporations rather than voters. Essentially, money was the largest voting bloc.
There was a belief that a strong executive gets things done, but there is the issue of exactly which things do get done. The money determined what got done.
As might be expected, the major stakeholders in government were the beneficiaries of the power imbalance. Corporations and wealthy individuals, the primary investors in the Red party, received proportionately more from their government than those with less influence when the Red party was in power.
The Blue contributors benefitted ;likewise when the Blues were in power.
.Not coincidentally, many of the major contributors were on BOTH donation lists, their contributions varying according with the likelihood of a return on their investment from the winning candidate.
The result was an emphasis on the Greater Good (Red version), a stark contrast to the Greater Good (Blue version). The Greater Good tends to mean what is good for those in power rather than necessarily the good for all. The Blue version would have slighted the interests of those with less Blue influence in much the same manner as the Reds slighted those with less Red influence.
By no means am I trying to paint the Reds as more ruthless than the Blues or vice-versa. The Reds simply found that an appeal to the desire for personal security and economic well-being worked and they stuck with speaking of the concept whether they actually accomplished anything in that direction or not..
That the Red message of individual freedom was more a hope than a promise was little worse or better than the Blues’ message of universal well-being. The voting public chose what they viewed as their preference with little regard to the resulting reality.
To the west was a country, our enemy in both a military and an economic sense. To the east was another country, again our enemy in both a military and an economic sense. We were perpetually either at war or on the brink of war. Indeed, the immortality initiative was seen as our pathway to a decisive strategic advantage.
I marvel now at how the citizens of Atlantis were so easily led into an intense hatred of both “enemies.”
Strondam to the east was a militaristic state perpetually in a state of readiness for war. There was a strong central governing body that ruled with an iron fist and controlled every aspect of public and, to the degree possible, private life. Their land stretched over 500 miles until it reached the great ocean.
Gildoor to the east was the epitome of ignorance and savagery. Such a people could not compete with us technologically, but they had “an aptitude for copying and then mass producing” whatever furthered their cause.” I do not know what “their cause” was supposed to be other than to subdue Atlantis.
Their land stretched for a thousand miles until it reached the great ocean, and was rich in resources. Gildoor would have overcome Atlantis long ago except for its generational internal conflicts between competing ruling “families,” essentially, war lords.
Perhaps the existence of these two enemies was the defining nature for our own culture. Rather than focusing on creating a better life for all of the people on the islands of the nation of Atlantis, we were focused on the necessity of defeating the enemies who would destroy Atlantis.
If I thought of this aspect at all, it was only in relation to the literal battlefront, never to the interior of Atlantis. That interior is the hearts and minds of the people, including myself.
The image of our country projected to the citizens was one of nobility and character, the last stronghold for freedom. What was portrayed was much like the personality of the men and women in power, a façade covering character flaws that contrasted sharply with the public mask.
Wars over the past centuries had been reframed as good versus evil. This was in spite of the evidence of Atlantis’ equal guilt in provocation and use of immoral tactics. We were as guilty of the use of chemical and psychological warfare, but this was never reported since the press was a willing accomplice.
The characters of the industries and of the government were very similar: The image of Harkness and his board shown to the public was a façade masking a heart of darkness, the same as that of the Chancellor and his legislature.
We were bound together as a nation by unifying against the enemy of the moment, whether it was Strondam or Gildoor or ignorance or poverty or a disease, whatever must be overcome. And we were told victory must be by force.
The goal of destruction of “the other,” be it a country or a social ill or a disease, was the binder that held us together, the cement that created an enduring purpose for existence. We would use force to kill, destroy, and eradicate as we accomplished our goal of the moment.
But there was never a total victory, only a stalemate that allowed us to choose another enemy and start the cycle again.
This endless cycle of violence fueled fear, anger, and hate. Media whipped the people into a self-righteous frenzy, and the leadership stepped forward to lead the charge.
This management of the public in our (nominally) Free Republic of Atlantis was aided by a media promotion called Wealth, Activities, Goals, and Entertainment, referred to as a person’s WAGEs.
Wealth was determined only partially by actual money. A significant part of a person’s Life Achievements were measured in terms of roles played in the community (Activities), realization of goals set and then reset in each decade of life (Goals), and amount of time spent on state sponsored Entertainment, which were little more than indoctrination movies, plays, sports, games, etc.
A spirit of competitiveness in earning higher WAGEs ensured that everyone used their free time in ways that benefitted the solidification of “cultural norms appropriate for Atlanteans.”
In retrospect, the timing of these revelations on my government and my company is amazing considering the pressures at work. And my innate bias was toward the company and the country: I sought the goals of a better life and freedom in spite of the evidence that neither my company nor my country shared those goals.
And then there was one event that shone a light on truth and sealed my fate. Perhaps this event, so small in itself, was symbolic of the culture in which I had matured, and this sealed the fate of all.
Next chapter
