The so-called civilized world (probably since the institution of empire cities were created some 5-6 millennia ago) have been dominated by an economic paradigm that serves the wealthy at the expense of the common person. The brilliant economist and thinker John Kenneth Galbraith describes this nicely with his four quotes here, 1)“The [economist] is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness;” 2) That one never need to look beyond the love of money for explanation of human behavior is one of the most jealously guarded simplification of our culture; 3) “There is a common tendency to ignore the poor or to develop some rationalization for the good fortune of the fortunate,” and, 4) “The problem of the modern economy is not a failure of a knowledge of economics; it’s a failure of a knowledge of history.”
It is the last one That I find really fascinating – our historical knowledge, or lack thereof, about our cultural origins, although all these quotes fit my argument that the hierarchy we so willingly accept is just a greedy very small minority that justify their existence as God’s gift to the world. I have always be amazed at the historic notions that emperors and royalty give to justify their God given right to rule us for our own benefit.
I have been watching Prime’s Delightful and Anachronistic fantasy ‘My Lady Jane’ parody of Tudor England. The most intriguing aspect of the show, that somewhat mirrors the real Tudor power-plays, is how the ‘nobility’ plot and scheme to retain control and domination, and make every effort to enhance their monetary wealth.
Fairy stories and especially modern Disney stories talk about royalty as if it was the most natural order of things. These fairy stories usually end with evil power-seeking antagonists being deposed or converted to good, and with the prince surviving to save the princess, and both of them living happily ever after. In some cases, with the epilogue noting that the prince becomes the King and ruled the Kingdom with a just and fair hand. Of course, all of this is contingent on us believing that our ‘rulers’ are inherently beneficent. And as I have said often, they have us convinced that with just a little effort, and a lot of luck falling over the prince/princess in a forest, we too can become royalty.
Think of your favorite fairy stories. They nearly all have the same basic theme and end well for the royals living lavishly in fancy castles, with the common people rejoicing from the doorways of their hovels. In the My Lady Jane show, I love the sarcasm, and especially of the most sought-after appointments of the Tudor court – ‘The Groom of the Stool’ – a very prestigious and intimate part of the monarch’s staff. In case you don’t know what this groom does, they help the monarch with their daily bowel movement, inspect it, and then clean the monarch’s rear hole – seriously. It was common in most royal houses until the time of Queen Victoria. Probably just as well. I can just imagine the job ads today, ‘several ‘Groom of the Stool’ positions now open for the Kardasian family home in Calabasas, California.’
The sole goal of the hierarchies was (and still is) to maintain their positions of power and to have the rest of us help them do so. Galbraith has another couple of quotes that apply fit this, “People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage,” and “The complaints of the privileged are too often confused with the voice of the masses.” And as I am told about the lives of the current rich and famous, they are always enjoying a lot of extravagance. Now extravagance, castle-empire building and keeping them running smoothly takes a lot of work that employs a lot of people.
I recall a scene from that fantasy series, ‘Downton Abbey,’ where the Earl chides his new and previously ‘common’ son-in-law about dismissing the groomsman in favor of dressing himself. The Earl says that the man needs employment and it is unfair of the son-in-law to deprive groomsman of the employment opportunity. I love the logic of self-justification. On that note, I’m sure there must be some poor deprived people in Los Angeles who would jump at the chance of earning a good living wiping a Kardasian’s asshole – perhaps not. Cleaning their mansions perhaps. Please excuse my unwarranted sarcasm.
The fairy story of the Downton Abbey series is how friendly and almost equitable the staff and the family behave to each other. The reality. Well, I would like to point out that many of the lesser nobility had a problem behaving like assholes to the more common people, and had to condition themselves to be cold and heartless to prevent cognitive dissonance about all people having personal sovereignty. You can explore this further with the PBS series Manor House (https://www.pbs.org/manorhouse/) or Secrets of the Manor House (https://www.pbs.org/show/secrets-manor-house/). Both show a more-grim version of life as it was in the ‘upstairs-downstairs’ lives of the nobility and the rest of us. “Nothing so denies a persons liberty as the total absence of money” John Kenneth Galbraith
The nobility thrived on the idea that their wealth would trickle down to the people below them because of the lavish lives they lived and the investments they made to increase their wealth. But as Galbraith further comments, “I am worried about our tendency to over invest in things and under invest in people.” And therein lies the rub for the rest of us. In our hyper-consumer culture we have become so fixated on materialistic stuff that we act as cold and icy to each other as the nobles did to their staff.
I have talked at length in this blog about the need for personal sovereignty in a sustainable world. If you are sovereign and still wish to be a groom of the stool, go for it – it’s your right to be whatever you want to be. Just be aware that whatever stories you hear from any hierarchical figures are likely lies to get you to do this. The hierarchy has always used lies to get us to do their bidding, because no one would put up with the truth that they are using us and giving us little in return.
German historian and philosopher, Hannah Arendt, spoke of why the lies work so well, “This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want.” And for millennia the hierarchies have done so.
As we head into the latter half of 2024 and the upcoming 2025 with all its political chaos and financial uncertainties, do not be surprised if another kind of 2008 meltdown hits us all. When it happens the banks and entire global financial sector will feed us a fairy tale again about them too big to fail (recall 2008) and that we the common people use our taxes to bail them all out again. My single question here is has to do with sovereignty. Will you support the sovereignty of the hierarchy to rule us further and take us into a feudal future, or take the reins of your own sovereignty and begin to rebuild a different kind of society that is more equitable and can invest in sustainability for all the life on Earth.
It’s a simple question that demands you think and plan to make decisions based on truth and not from millennia of lies. In the next post, I’ll wrap up this blog series about The coming Sustainability Revolution. We all need to stop believing the fairy stories and see the reality of what is coming. It can be a great future, but it will require we choose and create it and not leave it to the hierarchy with it con-game about the possibility of fair and just rulers. Now that is a fairy story.
To Be Continued ……………..
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