| Amsterdam, October
5 2002
Dear reader,
Leaders are now only pressurised by people who belong to their own group.
When a leader is attacked for a prolonged time in his private living sphere
through political stalking by massgroups his behaviour and mind will change.
This pressure from massgroups will in the end result in decisions that also take
into account the interests of masspeople while decisions now favour in the first
place the already privileged groups.
A prolonged direct pressure in the private living sphere will force leaders to
reconsider their position. It is a long process in which the following phases
can be distinguished.
-
In
the beginning the target will tell his friends that such things can be
expected when you occupy a high position but that it leaves him stone cold.
But everyone feels a creepy sensation when unknown people come near to him.
- Because
the continuous actions are bothersome and threatening the leader looks for
protection (paid of course by the organisation to which he belongs). The
police will not do much when the actions remain more or less inside the
boundaries of the law. Most actions are more a nuisance than a real damage,
but many pinpricks can still make a big hole.
- When
the actions continue longer the decision-taker will harden his point of view. He
wants to show his fellow leaders that he supports in the first place the
position of the elite. But his mind is already changing because he is
likely to take decisions, which are harsher for the masses and which he
never should have taken if he was not under pressure.
- When
the pressure does not stop the leader will start to wonder why unknown
people continue to annoy him. He was accustomed to some (mostly friendly)
pressure from his peers but why are these other unknown people attacking
him? In his mind the conviction is growing that there is something rotten in the
state of Denmark. Maybe the cause can be found in the way he takes
decisions. Maybe he has to abandon his place or maybe he can do something
else. Security forces can obviously not stop the nuisance for him, his
family and his acquaintances. His change of mind that started during the
third phase will intensify.
-
The
pressure of massgroups has become bigger than the pressure of his peers. The
leader will start to look at possibilities to escape from the pressure,
including actions that will bring him in conflict with his peers. Because
his actions will not please the elite, the pressure the elite is always
exercising on its members will grow and the increased pressure will confuse
his mind further.
-
The
pressure has increased so much that the mind of the leader makes a jump and
changes fundamentally. He will see the same facts in a totally different
way. (see e.g. Kuhn about a scientific
revolutionary change (see the 8th Chapter of
The Scarists).
When this occurs in the minds of many leaders a social catastrophe can
occur, a jump towards another kind of society (see e.g. the article
about a catastrophical change).
This can even happen after a relatively short time of intensive, continuous
and massive actions by many independent massgroups. In the meantime many small
decisions will have been taken that favour more the interests of the masses
than of the elite. Social changes will however never occur when masspeople
act only against the symbols of power. Living people that possess real power
have to be approached.
This scheme can be elaborated. I only
try to make clear how many small actions over a long time period can have a
tremendous effect.
Yours truly, Joost van Steenis
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