We seek to explain that which IS
Especially if it’s as HOT an issue as POWER
Of course only so many things can be explained:
-things which are visible
-and simple enough to grasp by our limited mental compute
POWER is NOT so simple to grasp.
It’s simple enough to see someone or something having POWER OVER YOU.
But more and more difficult to see WHAT HAS POWER OVER WHAT.
and HOW MUCH
and in WHAT RELATION.
It’s not simple but we want to EXPLAIN IT — therefore we create all those NONSENSE THEORIES about it.
And the LESS OBVIOUS it is – the more PRONE we are to create RIDICULOUS theory about it
(and the greater the power — the more we crave to explain it)
“SECRET RULING ELITE” is of course one such explanation
It absolutely over-simplifies the problem:
-filling all the gaps with a single mysterious entity
-making it “evil” and “dark” — since that’s the paradigm from which idiots operate
(they can’t get what they want — therefore the world is evil)
At all likelihood power, rule — are WIDELY distributed
Take any single field, industry, sphere — and observe how there’s never just a single entity, point, at which all power, authority, insights converge
-there’s typically different players, different authorities
-and there’s different subgroups specialising in different aspects
-and even if there is a single dominant force — it is replaced very quickly
the richest man, the industry leader, the political family, etc.
The ONLY real “secret” is the FACT of it being SO MUCH DISTRIBUTED so as to be near impossible to explain and predict
And the rare time they aren’t distributed — it’s AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES — and there’s nothing secret about them
But the point is not even whether there is a “SECRET RULING ELITE” or not. The point is that it doesn’t matter
Just like conspiracy theories don’t matter.
There is absolutely NOTHING you can DO with this secret of secret ruling elites
Because you have nothing to do with any elites, period.
The great POWERS you’re dealing with is your boss, your landlord, your neighbour, your family, and your own powerlessness to even discipline yourself.
And even when you’re at war — the only problem you have is to either kill your adversaries — or run from them. No secret about the “secret elite” can save you, no secret can solve your immediate problem of struggling for your life.
In this short lifetime you can only afford to build on CERTAINTIES.
There’s nothing you can risk building on conspiratorial nonsense contingencies.