Leader Ship? Sinking ship.

Evil People Rule Not Only When Good People Do Nothing But When Mediocre People Do Less Than Nothing.

This is a very well written article by a man now in his eighties, someone who, regardless of his politics, is more articulate and accurate than most others a quarter, or half, or even three quarters his age. He was once a certain kind of leader (still seems to be one) and he notes that leadership has since created a black hole, a kind of vacuum into which the leadership we so desperately need, more than ever, has vanished. Instead, power mongering idiots rule those fallen silent. Do check out his article.
Regards,
MM

http://depression2.tv/d2/node/261

Those Who Forget History Doom The Rest Of Us To Watch Them Repeat It

On a more serious note, surely make even the most escapist of sand buried ostriches wake up and know that it is time to pay attention.
Failure to recognise or stop any impending mafiocracy, wherein controlling interests create wealth and privilege and then take violent action to politically protect themselves from the same ransacked populace they have only just robbed through privatisation of formerly government resources can prove fatal.
This is just what the elected did in Argentina, betraying every campaign promise just as soon as power was achieved, even though Argentina was, at the time, a thriving democracy. This corruption, in turn, led to what has since been described as Social Genocide (for the whole story, see the documentary of the same name).
At that point, long after the people had valiantly fought in the streets and had died by the thousands, and after they were starving to death, many only dared to whisper:

"Remember how wonderful it used to be back when when we were still free and had choices?"

I wonder if our Canadian response to the news below might be a slightly different refrain, whisperings that too many chose to do nothing until it was too late to do anything.
Granted the article below was not written by an on island voice.
But then, the impending Harper sell out may yet create awareness and discussion for those who may well want to be prepared for such unwanted changes.
Besides, why risk being stuck in some nostalgic time warp, only to suddenly get caught unaware and unprepared, if this kind of regime does succeed?
I wonder, are there any activists out there who think ordinary people can or should do anything to maybe try to stop this? If so, what?
If not, why?
Regards,

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/06/22/lesson_from_austria.htm

PATHOLOGISING NORMALCY

"One Pill Makes You Larger, And The Other One Makes You Small, And The Ones That Mother Gives You Don't Do Anything At All":

Seems obvious, doesn't it?
The drug world's real agenda is would be grasped immediately if harmful illegal drugs were promoted in exactly the same way as harmful legal drugs are currently being "pushed" by international pharma cartels.
Yet people are "swimming in pills" (do see the Google video of the same The advertising that is modern drug pushing is all done under the auspices of "educating" the public, rather than anyone noticing what it really is, which is the marketing of billions of dollars worth of drugs of often dubious merit to seemingly zombie like recipients who seem afraid NOT to take drugs or to even consider alternatives to drugs.
However, this thoughtful google documentary carefully examines what one might call "white coat" worship, a condition to which a certain kind of person readily succumbs, suffered by those who confuse doctors with authorities or priests of medicine.
Ask yourself this: What drug cures "white coat worship"?
We seem to have forgotten that doctors are simply human beings, except ones with more money and more malpractice suits.
These are not people who should dictate one's life long choices. In fact no one else should do so. Abdication of all responsibility for intentionally choosing how one lives one's life is the only real disease here.
Doctors are subject to influence and motivated by gain, just like anyone else. Worse yet, they can also become coerced by the potential threat of loss of white coat authority, that seductive influence and power which most doctors count on having and wielding, not to mention the fear of loss of those very large earnings promised them as their just reward for making it through medical school. Just remember though that at least one half of medical doctors graduate in the bottom half of their class.
Feeling less sick suddenly?
Prescription drugs are such a huge and rapidly growing industry. And yet what else if not a a drug pusher working, willingly or otherwise, in an often questionable relationship to Big Pharma, is a doctor of conventional medicine?
Do most people realise, for example, that doctors who become resistant to or unwilling to routinely prescribe certain drugs (such as Prozac or Lipitor) have been known to lose their licenses and/or have been banned by the College of Physicians and Surgeons, just for deciding on the basis of known risk factors NOT to prescribe the drugs they are expected by pharma cartels to prescribe without exception?
And why does Big Pharma give so many rewards to doctors? Why do they offer anything from defraying medical student's costs when they are in training, to gifting them free medical bags and stethoscopes, to rewarding doctors with countless financial bonuses, such as exotic paid vacations, etc? How many unthinking drug takers understand that for every dollar spent on legal drugs that are often ill researched as it is an additional dollar and a quarter is spent on a secondary industry, the development of an antidote drug to ameliorate only some of the side effects of the first drug .... and so on?
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World of Soma has now become modern reality in First World nations with the cash to drug themselves.
Inestimable numbers of people consider drugs as the answer for everything. Why are so many people willing to be drug users despite absence of proof that they help anything?
Do prescription drugs really "cure" anything? Or do they, at best, manage certain manifesting symptoms of undiagnosed deeper underlying causes, meanwhile, at the same time, causing other often far more dangerous symptoms and side effects?
Statins are just one example of a drug which has killed over and over again, a drug which has no proven effect for the vast majority, which has had many warnings about their use released by countless universities, etc., including but not limited to a well known extensive study by UBC.
Statins do not effect the mortality rate of users at all.
FACT: Statins may cause the user's heart to fail instead, due to a condition with a fancy name which means sudden muscle weakness, which is one of many side effects statiin drugs cause.
So instead of the durg user dying from a heart attack they tend to die of heart failure. This is still called "success" in medical circles, even though the patient dies. Yet despite this and other side effects such as mood volatility, insomnia, memory loss, liver toxicity, extreme inrritability, emotional volatility, etc., statins remains massively successful as a marketing compaign manufacturing a perceived need.
Maybe the correct question should be "When did fear driven decisions gain the upper hand for far too many people, about this and so much else?"?

Water Wars II: Here's The Scoop on Poop

The Scoop On Poop:
Well, no water story would be complete without a sewage story to round it out, since the two issues are unavoidably intimately linked.

Once upon a time there was a serious hepatitis outbreak on a well known Canadian Gulf island, an outbreak which was then carried off island by those who were served food (this was well over a decade and a half ago) at a makeshift local restaurant. Those who ran the "no cooking on site" restaurant apparently brought home cooked meals and sold these to the seated public.
However, those who had served those same meals to the paying public had handled the food and cleaned up after the patrons without benefit of any running water and with access only to an outhouse with no actual place for them to wash their hands.
The Environmental Health investigating inspector who ultimately closed down this notorious restaurant at that time arrived to close down this operation which was in total violation of the Health Act.
He was confronted by a group of upset restaurant wannabes and their support group. The supporters brought forward a person from the midst of the gathering crowd of protesters. This fellow they said had the natural authority to act as their spokesperson, someone whom they referred as one of Hornby's "deeply respected elders".
The Elder, who shall remain nameless, pulled himself up to his full height and quietly but decidedly informed the Health Inspector that he and his fellow islanders did not "believe" in "the theory of germs".
Apparently soon thereafter Environmental Health, the precursor to VIHA or Vancouver Island Health Authority, unofficially "signed off" on actively pursuing similar Gulf Island health violation issues on this island. Wonder why?
Rumour has it that this was due in part to the the initial protest by locals at that time, those who not only voiced loud objections but insisted that such inspections constituted a draconian form of "persecution" against those whose priorities were such that they simply could not afford to be environmental or even to meet any official health standards at all.
Ironically, although the price tag back then was a mere fraction of the one now, at the rate at which the cost of being environmentally conscientious is rising, that line of reasoning, once considered absurd obfuscation, even if those at the time held intransigently to a world view not informed by science, has a point. It costs money to be conscientious.

In fact, since those simple times, it has become prohibitive to install even the most affordable choice of all, a conventional septic field, let alone to maintain one effectively enough so that it will continue to operate properly.
Consequently, VIHA's standard, while reasonable in theory, in practice creates for some a prohibition mentality and continues to serve as an effective deterrent to any real solution to existing septic violations on island.
Given the risk of being fined, or worse, some people do nothing at all other than hide their untreated sewage.
After that notorious hepatitis outbreak incident, septic pollution complaints were more often than not ignored on this island.
In fact, in reply to those who found escalating faecal coliform counts in their downhill wells and who therefore deemed themselves to be at risk from neighbouring septic leaching and contamination, the Enviro Health took to saying:
"We don't want a witch hunt".
While largely ignoring the subdivision mess already created on the island in question by a certainn realty company's earlier dealings, instead EH tightened up sewage installation standards for future subdivision approval.
Those who did nothing but try to go by the book to install a septic field were subjected to this new "spare field" strict rule. Meanwhile those who were quietly polluting their neighbours drinking water by dumping existing raw sewage into the ground uphill from or in the vicinity of same were simply left to do so.
To some this result might seem like a case of the classic "bottom up" dictatorship of the honest many by the cheating few.
Whatever else it may be, the fact remains that attaching too steep a monetary price to being or becoming domestically environmentally friendly is hardly any true incentive to find a way to live lightly upon the earth without fouling it and making one another ill.

Locally on this island there is plentiful innovative talent, an extraordinary amount of creative thinking which has been applied to legitimising progressive alternative approved septic treatment systems. All are offered choices such as peat moss sewage treatment, cultured wetlands, vegetative filtration systems, closed ozone/ultra violet re-circulating systems, and small treatment plants for condensed septic fields.
The catch, though, is that virtually every environmentally aware approach is far more expensive than a conventional field and can cost $25,000 to $35,000 to install (compared to $15,000 to $18,000 for a conventional field). And that does not take into consideration VIHA's additional requirement that one hire an independent engineer, that is if you want to do anything except install a conventional field (plus a spare field). Even then, you must already own a large enough parcel of land to accommodate the two requisite conventional fields plus leaving enough room for a house and correct distances to a well.

However, when it comes to the owners of such fields taking individual responsibility for our own shit, -er, sewage, it seems we have not come very far.

Maintenance of one's own system, whatever kind it is, remains "voluntary and optional".
Manifest democracy is filled with such counter productive contradictions.
On the one hand, VIHA is a bureaucracy which is obliged to impose on you the obligation to place your septic field a minimum of 100 ft away from anyone else's well, with a distance of 150 feet currently under future consideration, due to increased recent flooding over saturating the soil.
On the other hand, health authorities and/or neighbour each seem to have little power over whether or not those who don't care fail to take precautions and continue to pollute a neighbour's well, - so long as that particular situation pre-exists the new regulations.
Oddly, it does permit one's neighbour to install his well as close as he may so desire to your pre-existing septic field, ... just not the other way around. Anyone who already has had a well drilled thereby legally pre-empts any plans for a neighbour's septic field, if such will encroach in any way.
Of course, on 150 X 150 half acre lots there is already barely enough room for one septic field, one house and one well, let alone for meeting the new standard (which does not apply to existing subdivisions), namely nearly 6,000 sq. ft of space to provide room for two septic fields. One can only suppose that any existing older septic field which fails anywhere in one of Hornby's subdivisions must be reconstructed all over again, probably on the same spot.

A half acre lot is all of 14,400 square feet in total.
This only sounds like a lot of room, that is until you realise that in order for one's well to have potable water it must be an absolute minimum of 100 feet from all surrounding septic fields, from all ditches, all water courses, any and all wells, and all steep slopes, as well as set back from any boundary, including any of these being your own. And then there must still be left over sufficient space and requisite distances for placement of even the smallest of houses.

As mentioned, VIHA's new rules appear to be that every new subdivision development must leave enough room for not only ONE conventional septic field and the attendant land clearing (and potentially tree gobbling) which that normally involves, but for TWO fields, the second one a prerequisite separate "back up" field which must be left fallow and equidistant from the well, to serve as a fallback system when the first field eventually fails.
Less trees, more global warming.
More global warming, more flooding.
More flooding, more septic contamination.
In addition, the rule is that no driveway or structure may be situated either too near to or on top of this 6,000 sq. ft. dedicated sewage area.
This regulation often leads to landowners bulldozing forest land in order to create enough room for two required fields, one dormant.

Okay, so maybe this regulation is supposed to act as a deterrent for controlling future development.
Here is one question, though.
Exactly how would it do so?
Does prohibition stop people from drinking?
Of course not.
Well neither do rigid septic regulations stop people from covertly polluting existing subdivided land and other adjoining parcels.
Only the new applicant pays the price after applying for a permit, and only those with cash to spare can afford to hire an engineer if they want to install an enlightened approach to septic treatment.

Meanwhile, this same island's subdivisions already has more than a few instances of multiple dwellings sitting on half acre lots while exceeding the septic capacity of the original field.
That short sightedness creates an automatic doubling of density without consideration of the land's carrying capacity, while dramatically increasing water demand and sewage out fall on any given half acre lot.
And for those who argue that a Gulf Island can easily afford well planned higher density, first check how other more densely populated locations currently handle their sewage.
The Capital Regional District has plans, certainly, but so far to date still continues to pump its directly into the ocean and has done so for countless decades, well before it grew as large as it is now.

In addition, ... Catch this "22":
Conventional septic systems are known, even in official health circles, as "creeping failure systems".
Even if one flushes the system by "dosing" the exit pipes with high pressure water and/or otherwise maintains the initial exit pipes and/or pumps the two partition conventional septic tank, these still can and do eventually fail or turn anaerobic.
And even if one decides to install a composting toilet in any new island construction, one still must still install two conventional fields, one for back up, whether these are ever going to be used or not.
Yet despite acknowledgement by VIHA that there are indeed better approved treatment systems out there than the conventional one, systems which are low impact and which do not fail if maintained, conventional systems have been the only septic system field sizes permitted by VIHA, in new subdivisions on island, at any rate.

LOOSELY TRANSLATED HERE IS MY TAKE ON THE SEPTIC POLICY:

SOONER OR LATER, A CONVENTIONAL FIELD IS GOING TO FAIL.
THEREFORE, WE WANT ALL FUTURE SUBDIVISIONS TO HAVE TWO OF THEM.
FURTHER WE WILL NO LONGER APPROVE ANYTHING ELSE, EXCEPT ON EXISTING SUBDIVISIONS.
THIS LOGIC DOES NOT APPLY TO EXISTING 25 or 30 YEAR OLD SYSTEMS WHICH MAY ALREADY BE FAILING, NOR TO THOSE RESIDENTS WITHOUT A PUMP-ABLE OUTHOUSE, AND/OR WITHOUT ANY FORM OF GRAY WATER TREATMENT AND/OR EVEN WITHOUT ANY OUTHOUSE AT ALL.

Can you think of an approach to health and the environment which would more effectively cause some people (and yes, we do have them) to hide what they are currently doing, or, more to the point, not doing about their own polluting sewage?
Can you imagine such persons proactively approaching health authorities in search of reasonable solutions if such persons already live in a house without benefit of any septic system?
I wager they'd be more likely to run the other way, if only to avoid inviting in any authority which would have the power to ultimately take away the status quo of the way they are living their lives.
On the contrary, I think the current approach drives people's private sewage behaviour "underground", pardon the pun.

Something must be responsible for the discovery of sudden surges in faecal coliform count out of tourist season, discovered by those dedicated stewardship people at the bottom end of Hepatitis Hill subdivision, but who do you know who openly admits to flushing directly into the ground?

Conventional septic systems, which also treat grey water, create the largest footprint of any system, yet they are considered by VIHA to be as close as it gets to "idiot proof", - meaning even with little or no maintenance they take a long time to fail.
Not to say that they won't fail.
They definitely do.
Just continue to not ever tend to yours, nor maintain balance in, minimise impact on, or ever pump your septic tank and maybe even drop whatever tank killing agent you want into your toilet.
You will soon see how long it takes for a conventional septic tank's exit pipes to clog completely.

Visualise the conventional septic system as analogous to your heart.
Imagine those septic tank exit pipes just as if they were increasingly clogged arteries from years of a poor diet.
Arteries carry oxygenated blood out to the system.
Septic field tanks require oxygen too, to keep cooking and carry on.
If they turn anaerobic (having to do with or caused by anaerobes or by the absence of free oxygen) they stop working.
A similar analogy holds true for the heart.
Supposedly, conventional fields are hard to harm and theoretically are designed to last for 30 years.
However, no one seems to be able to confirm if this holds true when they are actively abused or ignorantly neglected.
The conventional approach to sewage disposal is deemed the only choice approved by the "Health Authority", unless, as mentioned, a privately hired engineer becomes involved in the process.

So, to compound the dilemma of making personal environmental choices affordable, while they do have their place, so far the conventional creeping failure system is also far and away the most affordable, as well as being the only one (make that two) system directly approved by VIHA in that specific and until very recently notoriously backward location, at least.

In addition, even if anyone wants to be environmentally conscientious, and can afford the mandatory requirement to privately hire an engineer who will approve an alternative system, you STILL first must get your land approved for two traditional large septic fields anyway!
Only then, I gather, will VIHA step back out of the issue and permit the stamp of approval by another authority.
So, not only do enlightened alternative systems cost far more, but on top of that one must be very flush in order to be environmental.
Welcome to Catch 22, the circular logic on which most bureaucracy runs.
Regards.

Think You "Own" The Water Passing Through Your Wellworks and Therefore The Water On Or Under Your Rural Property? NOT.

Current And Future Metering For the Water In Our Wells

A Post Script Note re "Water Wars"

Apparently, I was surprised to be informed, just after submission of the Water Wars article, that it seems there are now water meters installed in the Bay area. I am not sure which kind or where.
So "rumour has it" that anyone who overuses quantities of water in the Bay area can apparently be traced and their usage can be measured by neighbours, seemingly virtually immediately.
I am given to understand, albeit by hearsay, that, for example, a renter who washed dozens of diapers a day was tracked in no time flat and she then was "educated" in the correct uses of water deemed appropriate to a limited island water supply.
I further have been assured by an elected official, one who ought to know, that well owners can all expect meters on our wells in the not too distant future, not out of any concern or the environment, but because there's a corporate dollar to be made by charging for every drop. Ironically, it is the environmentalists who have organised this effort by mapping wells from those who volunteer to disclose exactly where their own water supply is and by urging locals to measure the usage on their own wells with "free: monitoring devices which the authorities than return and record.
T'was ever thus, the green pioneers endup being the ones used becuase they are so eager to break ground for the profiteers who follow in their wake.
This is just ONE reason why one's own PRIVACY should be protected.
Afterall, here is the deal:
The owner of the well really only "owns the works, the means of delivery of water, NOT the wmany many thousands of dollars for the pump, for all of the pipe, the electricity used to deliver the water, for the shut of valve to save the pump, for the initial installation of all of these, for the maintenance of every aspect of the owner's well, for the replacement parts, not to mention it is also the responsible owner who pays for their own septic treatment at the other end, before the water is returned to the system.
If a fee was to soon become attached to one's well water, via metering, in the near future, can the owner in turn charge money for returning the used but treated water to the system via their own septic distribution field? Not likely
So ask yourself this: Why aren't well owners planning a way to charge the government for the price of the works at both ends, for every asp[ect of the well and for the return of used and treated water, if the government is going to charge you for using it by putting a meter on your works atop your own well?
If the third world is any warning to heed, before long every single drop of fresh potable water on the planet will have a price attached to it and those who can pay will play. In England they have begun to charge for the water people collect rom their rooves. In the movie The Corporation, the Frazer Institute advocates doing ecactly this, putting a price on everyu square inche of the planet.
So ...... How will those who can no longer afford to pay the rising fare for water fare, one might ask?
Will they be the first ones to die of thirst?
Regards.

Mach-Oh!?

One adjective that is used all the time is the term now more relevant than ever, "Machiavellian".
I found an excellent article which clarifies this term far better than I ever could.
People need to remain aware of the whole spectrum of human behaviour, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
This article by Annie M. Paul pretty much says it all about just how far we have actually come from chimpsville:

"... high Machs possess, to a greater or lesser degree, the qualities associated with classic psychopaths: a lack of remorse, pathological lying, glibness and superficial charm, a grandiose sense of self-worth"
And further:
"... those who were most effectively underhanded and guileful -- were the ones who lived to pass on their (Machiavellian) genes"
even though
"survival-of-the-shrewdest"
may not be a very pretty picture to look right in the eye, especially if one prefers to believe in a more idealised view of how human society actually operates.
I suspect that rosy coloured glasses wearing idealists are likely low Machs who are readily exploited by the Francis Urquhart type high Machs.
Realists likely fall somewhere in the middle.
Why not take the test and see where your beliefs rate you on the Mach scale?
Regards.

CREDIT:
http://www.salon.com/books/it/1999/09/13/machiavelli/index.html

ONE MEAN RENAISSANCE MAN

As Machiavelli becomes the poster prince for a new kind of power-hungry self-help genre, scholars are using the 16th century political philosopher as a litmus test for human behavior. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Annie M. Paul Sept. 13, 1999 | No doubt about it -- this writer is hot. His works inspire countless knockoffs and imitations. His imprimatur gilds the covers of other authors' books like Oprah's golden O. His name has even entered the language as an adjective. But you won't see him signing books at Barnes & Noble or trying to talk over Charlie Rose. No doubt he'd relish the attention, but he's been dead for almost 500 years. These days, Niccolo Machiavelli is generating a volume of buzz Tina Brown would envy. In the past couple of years, he's been the subject of more than 20 books, including Dick Morris' "The New Prince: Machiavelli Updated for the Twenty-First Century," "The New Machiavelli: The Art of Politics in Business" and "Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli's Iron Rules Are as Timely and Important Today as Five Centuries Ago." For the fairer (but no less devious) sex, there's "The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women" and for those mischievous little tykes, "A Child's Machiavelli: A Primer on Power." Of course, the buzz around Machiavelli has never really died down. Since his guide to getting and keeping power, "The Prince," was published in 1532, Machiavelli's matter-of-fact instruction that rulers must be prepared to lie, cheat and steal to hang on to their thrones -- all the while acting the part of the benevolent leader -- has not lost its razor edge. Even in this era of cynicism, Machiavelli's view of humanity as greedy and self-seeking or stupid and easily tricked still seems remarkably dark -- and to some, remarkably relevant. The little Italian excites so much passion because his works divide readers into two hostile camps: those who admire his clear-sighted pragmatism and those who are repelled by his casual amorality. His polarizing presence isn't limited to light reading, either. Now Machiavelli is making an appearance in a loftier realm: the speculations of sociobiology. In "Machiavellian Intelligence: Social Expertise and the Evolution of Intellect in Monkeys, Apes, and Humans" (Oxford University Press, 1988) and "Machiavellian Intelligence II: Extensions and Evaluations" (Cambridge University Press, 1997), two scientists make a startling claim: Machiavellian behavior helped our early ancestors survive, and even drove the evolution of their brains. In other words, it made us human. Andrew Whiten and Richard Byrne, both professors of biology at Scotland's St. Andrews University, apply the word "Machiavellian" to artful manipulation that serves one's own interests. In the communal living situations of our early forbears, they explain, those who could make the biggest grab for resources without getting kicked out of the group altogether -- that is, those who were most effectively underhanded and guileful -- were the ones who lived to pass on their (Machiavellian) genes. The competition to be the craftiest of them all created an "evolutionary arms race," write Whiten and Byrne, "leading to spiraling increases in intelligence." Their supposition grows out of what's known as the "social intelligence hypothesis": the idea that it's not the world of objects that demands superior smarts, but our complicated and nuanced web of relationships. Sounds sensible enough -- but earlier theories had tied the development of human intelligence to the use of tools and weapons. (That dealing with relationships is the more cognitively complex activity will surprise no one who's seen modern-day man prefer a session with his power tools to a long talk with his wife.) Machiavelli's survival-of-the-shrewdest philosophy has obvious parallels to evolutionary theory (were he writing today, he might thank, fawningly of course, Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins in his acknowledgements), and the researchers have embraced him as a sage. "Machiavelli seems to me to have been a realist, who accepted that self-interest was ultimately what drove people, and emphasized that the best way to achieve one's personal ends was usually through social, cooperative and generous behavior -- provided that the costs are never allowed to outweigh the ultimate benefits to oneself," says Byrne. Though the biologists' work doesn't draw directly on Machiavelli's texts, his steel-fisted, velvet-gloved approach provides the perfect model for the behavior they describe. Evolutionary biology isn't the only academic discipline to borrow from Machiavelli: Psychology got there first. Almost 50 years ago, a Stanford psychologist named Richard Christie set out to ascertain just how many modern-day adherents Machiavelli had, and how they differed from those who disavow his ideas. Christie created a personality test based on statements taken from "The Prince": "Most people forget more easily the death of their parents than the loss of their property," for example, and "The biggest difference between most criminals and other people is that the criminals are stupid enough to get caught." Test-takers were asked to rate how strongly they agreed with Machiavelli's acid observations. Those who endorsed Machiavelli's opinions Christie dubbed high Machs; those who rejected them out of hand were low Machs. Most people fall somewhere in the middle, but there's a significant minority at either extreme. The unusual origins of Christie's test set it apart from the carefully constructed instruments psychologists ordinarily use. The survey itself measures only one thing -- whether the test-taker subscribes to the ideas of a 16th century Italian political philosopher. But here's the rub: In subsequent experiments in his lab, Christie found that our reactions to Machiavelli act as a kind of litmus test, delineating differences in temperament that he confirmed with more traditional personality inventories. High Machs, he determined, constitute a distinct type: charming, confident and glib, but also arrogant, calculating and cynical, prone to manipulate and exploit. (Think Rupert Murdoch, or if your politics permit it, Bill Clinton.) Christie and his collaborator, Florence Geis, had deeply mixed feelings about high Machs, especially after watching them trounce other players in games the psychologists set up and observed in their lab. "Initially, our image of the high Mach was a negative one, associated with shadowy and unsavory manipulations," they wrote in their 1970 classic, "Studies in Machiavellianism" (Academic Press). "However, after watching subjects in laboratory experiments, we found ourselves having a perverse admiration for the high Mach's ability to outdo others in experimental situations." Almost against their will, they were impressed by the high Machs: "Their greater willingness to admit socially undesirable traits compared to low Machs hinted at a possibly greater insight into and honesty about themselves." One of the many psychologists who have contributed to the now-substantial literature on Machiavellianism is John McHoskey, of Eastern Michigan University. In a major paper published last year in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, he made the case that Machiavellianism is, in fact, a mild form of mental illness. The tendency to exploit and manipulate others, he says, can be placed on a continuum that runs from Mother Teresa to Ted Bundy. "People who are way out on the far end are the crazed Hannibal Lecter psychopaths," he explains. "But in the middle, there's still a lot of room for differences, and the people who score on the high end you can think of as Machiavellian." (Of course, do-gooders like Mother Teresa might actually be engaging in a less blatant and therefore more sophisticated form of Machiavellianism. As Byrne notes, the ultimate Machiavellian bargain may be the one made with God.) McHoskey's article argued that high Machs possess, to a greater or lesser degree, the qualities associated with classic psychopaths: a lack of remorse, pathological lying, glibness and superficial charm, a grandiose sense of self-worth. Even so, he refuses to denounce Machiavellians outright, however, cautioning that it all depends on context. We want our spies and sometimes our diplomats to be devious in the nation's service. Elected officials and other administrators must be at least a little Machiavellian to get anything done. A degree of impersonality toward human life is essential in a doctor performing bypass surgery, or a soldier engaged in warfare. Plus, McHoskey points out, true low Machs are kind of sucky. "They're the extreme opposite of someone who's Machiavellian: dependent, submissive, socially inept, shy," he says. In other words, be sure to invite a high Mach or two to your next dinner party. Psychologists' emphasis on these individual differences in Machiavellianism sits uneasily alongside Byrne and Whiten's focus on the universal processes of selection and adaptation. According to the biologists' theory, every human is the end result of evolution's preference for the sly and cunning. (Byrne and Whiten don't make distinctions between good and bad intentions but instead focus on the means we use to achieve them.) Does that mean we're all Machiavellians? "Well, yes, to some degree," Whiten says. "For example, young children, from the ages of about 3 to 4, have been observed to attempt deceptions and to manipulate social situations to their own benefit. This seems natural to humans, and begins early." Yet such universal theories on the mercenary motivations of human behavior create a kind of circular reasoning. It's impossible to disprove that we're all Machiavellian because any successful human endeavor -- whether it's feeding the poor or taking care of a loved one -- can be reinterpreted through the lens of selfishness. After decades circling around this point, some sociobiologists are beginning to form other evolutionary theories that concur with the psychological vision that individual personalities engage in varying levels of selfishness and altruism and use a variety of methods to achieve their ends. David Sloan Wilson, of SUNY-Binghamton, believes that Machiavellianism is just one wrench in the tactical toolbox that humans have evolved over the eons -- and not one that all of us choose to use. "There's more than one way to succeed in social life," he notes. "There are exploitative ways, and there are cooperative ways." In a 1996 Psychological Bulletin paper, Wilson proposed his "multiple-niche" theory which didn't exactly refute his colleagues' work on Machiavellian behavior but refused to allow it to claim credit for all human success. Some people do get ahead by being slick, Wilson suggested, but others prosper using more straightforward or altruistic approaches. (Wilson is also the co-author of a recent book on altruism, "Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior" (Harvard University Press, 1998)). "There are wolves," says Wilson grimly, "and there are sheep." He doesn't hide his visceral reaction to the former. "It's kind of scary when you appreciate that human life is like a predator-prey relationship, in which both are members of the same species," he says. Wilson describes the unsettling feeling of looking out over a class to whom he has administered Christie's test of Machiavellianism, knowing that a certain number of his students are hard-core manipulators. "We grow up thinking that we have to have this presumption of niceness" about other people, he muses, "and there's something startling about the fact that that's just not true." But Wilson's message is ultimately an optimistic one: cooperative strategies can work as well as, and sometimes better than, exploitative ones. After all, Machiavellianism sometimes backfires: Its proponents may scheme and manipulate even when a show of submissiveness or an offer to share might more easily get them what they want, and they always run the risk of being found out and then sanctioned or expelled by their communities. As McHoskey notes, Machiavellians therefore do best in highly mobile societies, in which individuals are free to make their own fortunes and the expression of greed or self-interest is encouraged or at least accepted. Sound familiar? Forget 16th century Italian city states -- 20th century America is a land of would-be Princes, a place where the grifter, the con man and the wheeler-dealer are both celebrated archetypes and real-life heroes. Perhaps that's why now, as the gospel of global capitalism spreads unhindered by other philosophies and Americans reflexively interpret politicians' words and deeds as motivated solely by strategic self-interest, Machiavelli is experiencing a popular revival. Whatever timeless truths he may have to offer, his message is perfectly pitched to this high-flying, high-rolling cultural moment, when image means everything and power is purchased at any cost. Were he on the scene today, Machiavelli would no doubt revel in his continuing popularity, though he would likely have little use for the academic debates he inspires (students of literature and political science still argue if his advice to the Medicis was satire, all a monstrous joke). "It seems to me better to concentrate on what really happens," he coolly pronounced in "The Prince," "rather than on theories or speculations." Machiavelli personality test Are you a Machiavellian at heart? Take Christie's test. salon.com |
Sept. 13, 1999
About the writer Annie M. Paul is a writer living in New York.

Power Politics: Not A Pretty Picture

Ignoring Manifestations Of This Reality Doesn't Change It.

Well, this is surely rounding out the picture regarding what that Machiavellian test is all about.
However, this article takes things further.
It explains how High Machs already are or perhaps become (nature versus nurture?) High Machs.
If this article seems to be about human dynamics which some don't willingly recognise, that too says something. And yes, it can be very difficult to recognise or relate to anything this sociopathic sounding. However, the more alien this sounds, the greater the chances are that one's own resistance to understanding what this article is describing also may indicate that one is probably unconsciously on the receiving end of another's power machinations rather than being on the power end. According to this Law, those seem to be the only options.
Machiavellian this may be, even terrifying, but this does not make the reality of it any less real.
Useless to pretend that the human dynamics of power do not operate in this way.
Worse yet, if this Law has any credence, it makes it clear that even retreat and isolation are not viable options, as this kind of human power monger is everywhere!
So much for life on the fringes?
Regards,
MM

http://www2.tech.purdue.edu/cg/courses/cgt411/covey/48_laws_of_power.htm

The 48 Laws of Power

by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers

Law 1

Never Outshine the Master

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

Law 2

Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies

Be wary of friends-they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

Law 3

Conceal your Intentions

Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

Law 4

Always Say Less than Necessary

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

Law 5

So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you slip, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.

Law 6

Court Attention at all Cost

Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the bland and timid masses.

Law 7

Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit

Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.

Law 8

Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary

When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains – then attack. You hold the cards.

Law 9

Win through your Actions, Never through Argument

Any momentary triumph you think gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.

Law 10

Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky

You can die from someone else’s misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

Law 11

Learn to Keep People Dependent on You

To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.

Law 12

Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim

One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift – a Trojan horse – will serve the same purpose.

Law 13

When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest,

Never to their Mercy or Gratitude

If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.

Law 14

Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy

Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.

Law 15

Crush your Enemy Totally

All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation: The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.

Law 16

Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor

Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.

Law 17

Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability

Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.

Law 18

Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous

The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people find allies, mingle. You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.

Law 19

Know Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person

There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then – never offend or deceive the wrong person.

Law 20

Do Not Commit to Anyone

It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others – playing people against one another, making them pursue you.

Law 21

Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark

No one likes feeling stupider than the next persons. The trick, is to make your victims feel smart – and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.

Law 22

Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power

When you are weaker, never fight for honor’s sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait for his power to wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you – surrender first. By turning the other check you infuriate and unsettle him. Make surrender a tool of power.

Law 23

Concentrate Your Forces

Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another – intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.

Law 24

Play the Perfect Courtier

The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the mot oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court.

Law 25

Re-Create Yourself

Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.

Law 26

Keep Your Hands Clean

You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat’s-paws to disguise your involvement.

Law 27

Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following

People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power.

Law 28

Enter Action with Boldness

If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.

Law 29

Plan All the Way to the End

The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others. By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.

Law 30

Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless

Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work – it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.

Law 31

Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal

The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice: Your victims feel they are in control, but are actually your puppets. Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose. Put them on the horns of a dilemma: They are gored wherever they turn.

Law 32

Play to People’s Fantasies

The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes for disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert: Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.

Law 33

Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew

Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usual y an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.

Law 34

Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one

The way you carry yourself will often determine how you are treated; In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown.

Law 35

Master the Art of Timing

Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.

Law 36

Disdain Things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best Revenge

By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.

Law 37

Create Compelling Spectacles

Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power – everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you, then full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.

Law 38

Think as you like but Behave like others

If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

Law 39

Stir up Waters to Catch Fish

Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

Law 40

Despise the Free Lunch

What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.

Law 41

Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes

What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.

Law 42

Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter

Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them – they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.

Law 43

Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others

Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.

Law 44

Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect

The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of Mirror Effect.

Law 45

Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once

Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past.

Law 46

Never appear too Perfect

Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.

Law 47

Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop

The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head. There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning. Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop.

Law 48

Assume Formlessness

By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes.