March 13, 2024
The Plight of the Socially Superior
By David Carlin
Imagine, if you will, that you are living in the Old South, prior to the Civil War. Imagine too that you are a slave, living and working on a medium-size plantation whose cash crop is cotton. And imagine that from time to time, you have personal interactions with the man who is the owner of the plantation and your slave master.
In these interactions, as in all human two-person interactions, each party hopes the other party will act in such a way to satisfy the wishes of the first party. The master hopes you will please him, and you hope the master will please you, or at least not displease you. And so each of you will try to shape the behavior of the other.
Now, it is relatively easy for the master to shape your behavior. He has authority (an authority you, being a relatively well behaved slave who grew up on the plantation, acknowledge). To back up that authority, if need be, he has the right to use force against you. And so when he says, “Do this” or “Don’t do that,” you very probably obey. Perhaps you don’t obey promptly, sluggishness being the slave’s way of protesting against his unfree condition, but you obey. The master doesn’t have to waste time and energy persuading you — which in turn would mean that he’d have to study your mind and figure out what you would find persuasive.
more
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/03/the_plight_of_the_socially_superior.html
