I don’t know where along my journey I discovered this, because it wasn’t from myself. Some how as I grew older, people around me began joking about “the man” and how there was an invisible force that was always winning, always taking advantage of others. It was not a difficult concept to understand, even as a teenager, as you’re either winning and selling, or losing and buying, in some way, shape, or form. I didn’t need an answer to who “the man” represented or what he meant, but rather that he was a placeholder for all things horrible, all the things working against us.
I’m not sure how strongly I ever believed in this concept. To this day, sure there will always be someone winning somewhere off of something. But do I believe that there is one “the man” or that “the man” finds himself in every corner of the room, a manifestation or embodiment of all power structures? No, in fact the more I grow older the more ridiculous this concept becomes.
People use terms like the institution, the people in power, the matrix. These concepts exists, don’t get me wrong. The people with the most amount of power in the world certainly have an agenda, as even the the most poor and lazy have some sort of agenda.
Then who is “the man”? Does he matter?
To me, the metaphor of the man is a scarecrow for the weak and oppressed to target. Because the entire concept of “better” is so amorphous and even offensive to some people, it is more desirable to create a character to attack than it is to address the character in their mind. As usual, people are more interested in protecting their ideas and attacking others than they are at understanding or exchanging values.
When you point a finger, three fingers point back.
What an interesting phrase, as it acknowledges that the ability to observe in others comes from the inability to see the very same thing in ourselves.
I write this post because I was casually called the “unofficial GM of the guild” in a bit of a sly way. I have been coordinating and organizing more events for the guild and the co-GM has been handling other responsibilities, including real life ones.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, where the more involved I become and the more naturally I get elected to higher positions of responsibility and power, the more criticism and doubt I receive. Some of that is for good reason, as people should be skeptical of those in power, keeping them in check and keeping them beholden to their responsibilities.
But I find that to seldom be the case. The people most critical of those in power use a veil of nobility, guising themselves as just causes for the oppressed. A true representative of the people would take down a list of grievances, create a list of solutions, propose solutions, and implement the said solutions. But is that the case?
Typically, any amount of friction or effort stops an idealist dead in their tracks. Oh, it would be nice if everyone could be happy. Now how are we going to make that happen? How are you going to contribute?
With both hands in the air, people will dismiss personal responsibility and accountability while bringing up problems. Who is it then to solve these problems? Is it the mysterious enemy figure that people have created in their minds? Is that why they can never see themselves in that position?
With great power, comes great responsibility.
Do people ever see themselves becoming powerful, becoming responsible? Or is power a dynamic that is always being controlled, exploited, and abused? A large percentage of the richest companies in the world are young, new, bright companies that did not take advantage of 100 years of oppression, but rather the current environment everyone has access to today. It is always easier to say that something is wrong rather than to personally address something. And that’s an inherent problem of reality, we can observe and detect things going wrong but it is incredibly difficult to be able to assess and respond to those exact things.
I believe that if people took more time and effort to shoulder responsibility in the faults they see, they will not only help out more first hand, but they will also complain or criticize a lot less. It is easy to point and say, “that person has the power.” It’s a completely different thing to say, “that person has the responsibility.”
Leadership, Design, Writing 