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The whole concept of authority fascinates me. I've had a lot of troubles with this, although I'm not disobedient at all. In fact I'm kind of a goody-two-shoes,
by neilk 15y ago
The whole concept of authority fascinates me. I've had a lot of troubles with this, although I'm not disobedient at all. In fact I'm kind of a goody-two-shoes, am eager to please, and often wish I were bolder and more concerned with my own agenda.
Yet I've been told multiple times in the past five years that I'm undermining authority. By both management and peers. (Sometimes admiringly, by colleagues who think I'm the only person who isn't subject to the leader's reality distortion field.) I've asked what I can do to not be as "disruptive" and nobody can quite produce anything concrete.
I think there's something about my attitude that people can detect -- I do believe that authority needs to be earned with results. And even though when I have defended the current authority, again this is not good enough, because I'll do it in terms of "we need to be unified", "we don't know everything X knows", "X has taken on this leadership role and it costs him a lot, no one should question X's dedication", etc.
The one thing I'm not saying is that we should all bow down to X just because "he's the man". There is something about this atavistic concept of authority which demands a posture of submission, often literally. You don't look the other person in the eye any more, you allow yourself to be swept up in his obsessions, his sense of humor leaks into yours, and you treat his ideas as automatically superior. You're supposed to be happy even if he snatches a slice of cake right off your plate. I just don't have it in me.
- luser001 15y agoThank you for a heartfelt comment. I wanted to put a note here in addition to clicking the arrow.
- chipsy 15y agoThe ways in which an anti-authoritarian outlook manifest can vary widely. I mean, we stereotype it as a "smash the system, direct action now" thing, but creativity, intellectual curiosity, and a sincere desire to reorganize the system(even through completely legal, above-board means like electoral politics and entrepreneurship) can all get demonized as viewpoints that challenge the establishment. Once collective views are in place, the discussion in most people's minds is over; it takes a strong individual effort to work your way back to truth. An great example of an authoritarian stereotype controlling the debate is in our discourse about anarchy. In any mainstream forum of the USA, the mere mention of the term is an impossibility - the assumption of anarchy equating to chaos dominates the discussion. Instead, many of the concepts from anarchic literature are now shared, in a modified form, via the less besmirched term of "libertarianism." We don't equate the Tea Party movement with anarchy, yet the connection is all over Wikipedia.
- georgieporgie 15y agoI've found that I'll do just about anything if asked to, particularly if the need and value is explained to me. On the other hand, I'll fight tooth and nail if you tell me to do something, or attempt to force me to do it. Also, I have really enjoyed working for capable leaders, even if I knew they weren't terribly capable of my work (i.e. I don't care if my boss can program, so long as he or she has leadership, strategy, and understanding). At the same time, I've despised every moment that I've worked for those who I find to by sycophants, poor decision makers, or simply stupid. I have no idea what this says about my personality. :-)