Lies: Weapons of Mass Destruction (Part 2)
In Lies: The Tool of Tyrants and Dictators, I explained how tyrants use obvious and absurd lies as a loyalty check and as a coercive way to consolidate power. Once he understands who can be trusted, he can then disperse his most loyal soldiers throughout the government and into key positions to do his bidding. (Notice HIS bidding and not that of the country or the people.)
As his power is extended into different branches of the government, different agencies and departments by his sycophants, those who are not willing to comply and demonstrate similar loyalty are pushed out, demoted or, depending on the ruthlessness of the ruler, imprisoned or killed. The official position of these agencies is to support his blatant lies. People who disagree have to remain silent or face retribution.
And it is in this context that eventually, these lies become “weapons of mass destruction” in a couple of different ways. One is intended by the tyrant and one is unintended but a natural consequence of things because reality, at some point, will penetrate the shroud of lies in a way that can not be denied.
To be successful, the dictator needs to expand his power and control through as much of the government as possible and through different levels of power. It will be important to put sycophants in the place of others who may speak up against wrongdoing or point out incompetence. Loyalty, not competence, is valued. In fact, competence is a threat unless it is in full service of the leader and even then its impact will be curtailed so the dictator can demonstrate his power and independence from all others.
This infiltration of the system works well for the dictator in consolidating power but it does not work well for the efficiencies of the government. The dictator may blame the inefficiencies and problems initially on “enemies” so he can purge them from the system more quickly with the hope that by the time people realize the true source of the problem or that the problems have not been fixed as promised, power will be consolidated and speaking up will come at great risk.
And this is where the mass destruction worms its way into things in two ways.
First, the intentional way the dictator wanted. He wants to destroy the previous government power structure and rebuild it so that he is in full control. All levers of power, control and credibility point back to him. This method is the first “mass destruction”.
The other method is the unintentional mass destruction which will happen eventually when the lies have spread insidiously through the system, when incompetence has penetrated all levels of the bureaucracy, when truth can not be spoken for fear of retribution and when the government has been reshaped to support a facade and protect a facade at the expense of the truth.
I was thinking about this last summer and coincidentally the HBO series Chernobyl came out. It demonstrates what can eventually happen in the most extreme way. When the truth gets buried and obscured, eventually, reality will penetrate the facade. Sometimes it will be an exploding nuclear reactor. Other times it may be famine. The toxicity in the government which is not visible will eventually become visible to the outside world. When reality is so obscured or can not be acknowledged, the corruption of the system/government eventually leads to mistakes and poor judgment which causes mass destruction outside that system.
And, while I discussed this part in the context of governments, dictator-like or top-down leadership can create the same conditions in business and other organizations. While public humiliation is not necessarily on display, the promotions of sycophants and expulsion of people who raise concerns are common factors. We, unfortunately, have numerous examples — Enron being a good one. The 2008 financial meltdown could be another one in which the business executives may not have had the demeanor of a dictator but none-the-less purged those who questioned policies while promoting others who did not. Reckless policies were pursued by those seeking advancement and were approved by those in charge. These lies eventually permeated banking systems throughout the world and all looked good until reality set as always. Housing markets started to stall and the entire system collapsed only to be saved with government intervention. The key is that the deception permeated the entire system including the credit agencies that were supposed to keep them in line.
Reality denial at any level is not good and can penetrate systems that can ultimately result in the destruction of that system and even of the environment in which that system is operating. There is a reason truth and honesty are considered important. Basically, they are the glue that keeps systems and organizations healthy and functional.
(For more about how thinking can result in physical manifestation click here.)
For Part 3, the implementation refer to the link below. What I wrote in 2020 is now happening in 2024.
https://medium.com/@snowinla/lies-the-implementation-part-3-990158067847
