“Whatever a great man does ordinary people will do; whatever standard he sets everyone else will follow.” – Bhagavad Gita 3.21

I don’t necessarily subscribe to the “Great Man” theory – no one person can come to such power to be a “Great Man” without the institutions that permit such a thing. That said, because of such institutions, people who would not normally be able to come to power by sheer virtue of lacking the necessary skills are much more capable. 

The democratization of power is not a bad thing by any means. More minds tend to be better than fewer. But the institutions set up by society are double-edged swords, and it is often easier to cut oneself on the sword than to wield it properly. An educated society is an absolute prerequisite for a functioning society. I would argue a society must be empathetic as well to truly flourish. 

Alas, there is just something about the human mind that, on a grand scale, tends towards the self. Perhaps it is a byproduct of evolution, but humans are not the only species capable of altruistic tendencies. The more I grow, however, the less hopeful I am that altruists outnumber the selfish. 

Looking at society currently, it is easy to see why I and so many others are so fearful. It is not that we are fearful of regression – because society most certainly is regressing – but a matter of how much. It takes a long time to build bridges, but only an instant to destroy them. 

“Great Man” is a misnomer, really. The ability to wield an institution is obviously not inherent only to men, but it has been controlled and abused by them throughout much of history. And truly there is nothing great about any person who redirects the arrow of progress from its most noble goal. But it is often that these “great men” – “powerful people,” perhaps – do leave death and destruction in their wake. 

I used to wonder how societies fell prey so quickly and easily to these demagogues. Then I watched it happen in my own, and it still baffles me just how many people out there are proud enemies of progress and empathy. Even to remove emotion from the equation, it is simply logical that helping everyone to succeed gives the individual a higher chance of success than going it alone. And with our present institutions, it is only a handful of those who go it alone that surpass everyone else to such a degree they would be considered “great men.” With the exception of a few hundred people at best, everyone is orders of magnitude closer to homelessness than they are to obscene profit. 

So why do these few selfish people succeed? They manipulate the institutions to their whim, and often these institutions already gave them an advantage. But manipulation of institutions, while it may be profitable, does not give the individual command over millions. This is where the critical piece comes into play: hatred – or, rather, fear. 

Hatred is really the other side of the coin of fear. Fear and hatred walk hand-in-hand, and their footprints are scattered all throughout history. It is deeply embedded in religion, too, with promises of fire and brimstone for those who refuse to obey – but this is another conversation. 

The wealthy individuals themselves do not need to hate – though they often do. What they need is to cultivate that fear and hatred in the millions, and only then do they have the ability to take hold of the arrow of progress and redirect it towards themselves alone. 

The result of this is death and destruction – always. What is pleasurable to the individual is not always good for the whole. Like I said, these “great men” do often hate, or at least possess an utter lack of theory of mind. But they all harbor a deep, unspeakable fear of failure, specifically failure of the individual. Ironically, it is this fear that ultimately drives them – and often many, many others – to failure. 

A system built on oppression is always finite. There will never be enough resources, enough manpower, enough will to sustain these things forever. So, there is some comfort in that. But there is nearly always a great loss before these systems come to an end, because they must sap as much as they can from their subjects. And this is what the altruists and progressives fear – how much longer?