It’s 05:49 and i’m heading off shortly to fulfill a contract, and i know that does sound bad, but there it is. Whilst waiting for my coffee to appear, i thought i’d dash something off for my dear readership of one. And yes, you may very well be the only one reading this article, now don’t you feel ever so very special?
Several centuries ago, when i was selling life insurance in Saskatchewan, i had the opportunity to observe human evolution in real time, namely in this case the evolution of the actions of a certain manager who shall remain nameless but his initials were John. Now “John” was a gifted manager, of that there is little dispute. At first, he did an absolutely exceptional job of recruiting new agents, and i can personally attest that he was kind-hearted and considerate as he encouraged his new recruits in the art and science of selling life insurance, often calling daily with some new tip or just to visit on the phone and deal with any problems that might have arisen.
As his success grew, however, he began to delegate his responsibilities and that was okay because his choices were usually wisely made and necessary due to the increasing work load that comes with success in any business.
I noticed a change in his managing style in about the seventh year of my association with the company. The occasional thinly-veiled threat, “we don’t fire people, we just quit paying them, hahaha” , the lack of encouragement, a deterioration in his general demeanor, revealed a change of heart inside the man. He had moved, in my view, from using thoughtfulness and love over to the realm of control by fear.
I still like John though i have had no contact with the man for all of thirty years now, and have no idea of the outcome of his eventual sudden dismissal from the company. My own life and that of several others, were propelled in entirely different directions, and i have no real regrets of the time of the changes which came into my own life. My major point is that people can be moved by love or by fear, and a leader who begins building an organization with a caring and concerned atmosphere will often move gradually into a more oppressive and restrictive mode when she senses a loss of control or a loss of respect from those her leadership serves. (i would normally use the male descriptive but in deference to the polcors, i am just as happy to assume a feminine leadership )
There appears to be a shift in public thought, the paradigm of our times, if you will. This has come about due to many factors, but it is becoming painfully clear that public trust the world over in the integrity of our major institutions is crawling along the warehouse floor, leaving a trail of bodily fluids in it’s stinking wake, as nations all over the surface of our dear planet are gathering in mass mobs to protest, riot, loot, litter and loiter and generally express their displeasure in the wanton crookery?, graft greed and corruption of their alleged overlords. Overlords in which they once had placed considerable trust and even in a few cases, perhaps some limited affection.
And what will the inevitable response to this mass displeasure look like? We are seeing some signs of this new managerial style already in the form of authorities increasing their power supplies by granting themselves new “sweeping powers” oft uttering that disgusting phrase about desperate times… For now, it mostly remains to be seen what sort of desperate measures will be employed but there are hints in the border lockdowns, the death of the tourism industry, talk of increasing taxation, bans on free journalism, and the general overreach of many in positions of authority who go well beyond their mandates in barking arbitrary and confusing diktats to those to whom they assume themselves more knowledgeable and superior. And when someone dares to stare them down, or opts out of compliance, we begin to see the true nature of the beast which thousands of years of human civilization have created in it’s fawning need for paternalistic leadership.
Now where did i leave my “opting out of the social contract” form #709? Honestly, i would lose my physical features if they were not superglued to my heart and soul.
Skulltripper 