It's All One Big Joke - Ranvir Thapar Week 3
Power. It’s a loaded term. If you ask 100 different people they’ll give you 100 different definitions, but what I’ve noticed is that the definition of power has changed and evolved throughout history. From Mesopotamia to European colonization of the New World and Asia, power used to be land. It was a tangible quantity tallied in size and resources. Why did Rome fall? Why did the Mongols fall? What led to the fall of the British Commonwealth? Too much power?
Wrong.
Too many people had their hands in the cookie jar. All those empires accounted for the vast majority of the known world at their times of conquest and with the exception of the Roman empire, they all fell in under 500 years. The fall of the British was a turning point for those who desired power. It demonstrated that loud, exposed power never lasts. Even before the end of the British empire, individuals like Rockefeller and Carnegie Mellon understood that true power lies in business and the ability to quietly take over entire industries.
The world runs on industry whether it be steel, oil, technology, mining, and now AI. With the industrial revolution, people began to understand that those who quietly gain control of these aspects of our daily lives hold real power. The most powerful person in the room is not the loudest, it’s not a President, it’s not a king, it’s the individual who has the power to influence those perceived to be in a position of power.
Republicans take such a hard stance against gun control and regulation.
Why?
I refuse to believe it’s because they can’t see the simple fact that inadequate regulation over guns is the root cause of so many deaths and tragic incidents across the US. If you take a closer look, major republican political donors are gun lobbyists who take a vested interest in making sure policy drafted against gun control doesn’t hurt their financial or business interests.
Power isn’t money, power is control and influence. Why be on display for the world to see and criticize when you can have a figurehead be meticulously scrutinized while you enjoy a quiet drama-free life? The top 1 percent will never be President or Prime Minister not because they can’t do it, but because they understand that true power lies in operating behind the scenes.
While people may believe power is the ability to speak out, lead change, or be able to unite a group of people for a common purpose, it will never trump influence and control.
Hi Ranvir! I liked the title of your blog being so snarky. Like, this can’t be real can it? The irony of a democratic country, for the people, run like an oligarchy? How the unalienable right to life is always being threatened with guns still being legal? Haha…yeah no way….
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your point of how people are fully aware that guns are causing unnecessary deaths across America yet pursue gun protection laws for personal gains. But from personally interacting with some MAGA affiliated relatives-in-law, some genuinely seem to believe that guns themselves aren’t the problem. Recently, one of these relatives-in-law posted a picture of a billboard that I’m ninety-nine percent sure is AI-generated reading, “if guns kill people, pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk, and spoons make people fat.” Just the sheer absurdity of insinuating that guns are merely tools like pencils or spoons left me flabbergasted. Yes! Let’s continue to allow people to have legal access to murder weapons because people can be trusted with literal technology made for killing!
Even if they know, why should they care? Especially for the ultra wealthy, why should a few more bodies matter to them? There’s nothing that will make them care, nothing that will rouse the modicum of empathy in their desensitized hearts.
Hi, Ranvir. I think, in the situations you are talking about, power correlates to fear. I’m sure you have seen the memes and allegations around a certain powerful prime minister from a place in the Middle East. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but I find that an alarming amount of politicians and powerful people are somehow affiliated with the prime minister. Every week, I feel like a new claim is being spread in relation to unnecessary and unwavering support from Americans for a person from the opposite side of the world. For some reason there is a direct pipeline of religion and worship that leads up to this man. It’s confusing to me how, and why, he has so much influence over America and its power. In fact, there are allegations of Epstein being a spy for them. Because I have Epstein for my POAS, I was going to include those allegations but decided not to because, at the end of the day, they are still only unproven conspiracies.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of gun control, Charlie Kirk was an advocate that “it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year” to protect the right to own guns, and I think we can both see the irony in that. Logically, there’s absolutely no reason some states allow guns to be carried in public and with no permits! It’s preposterous and aside from it being written in the Constitution, I don’t find plausible evidence or claims that prove the need for such loose gun laws. After all, the Second Amendment doesn’t provide justification for public intimidation or violent extremism.