On the Folly of Mistaking a Throne for an Army. 186 upvotes | May 25, 2015 | by Whisper ------------------------- I thought I was done talking about how Reddit wants to "share its values with the world". After all, I'm not all that broken up about the idea of finding a new place to talk. Internet's a big place, and so long as there's a corner of it I can scribble on, scribble I will. Even if I must build that corner myself. (I'm a software engineer, I can do that.) But BluePillers, leftoids, feminists, SJWs, multiples with headmates, toasterkin, and Ellen Pao can all be useful, in a way, as sort of a reverse compass. Look in the opposite direction they are marching, and you just might find some nuggets of truth glinting from the roadside bushes. There are many people who want to "share their values" with you. To become a "council of elders" and provide you with "direction". To "steer the discourse" into something "productive". What all of this means is that they wish to control you. They call it leadership, but that's because they don't understand what leadership is. Because such people have status, or a position, or a well-known name, or a corner office, or what have you, they imagine that they get to decide what happens next. This is the control I speak of. They have forgotten the 5th Law of Power, and the 18th [http://48laws-of-power.blogspot.com/2011/05/law-18-do-not-build-fortresses-to.html]. All these things they have are perks of power, _symptoms_ of power, not power itself. Power itself comes from skills and capabilities, and, on a broader scale, the support of others who have skills and capabilities of their own. WITHOUT AN ARMY, A THRONE IS JUST A CHAIR. Those who hunger for the return of kings (usually because they imagine themselves in the big chair), usually do not understand what a king is. A king who sits on a throne is merely a symbol of the real king who came before him; he is obeyed out of habit, and will be destroyed by the first serious challenger. A king who can _seize_ a throne is a man who leads an army; that is, a man who has supporters who will back his play. WITH AN ARMY, A THRONE IS YOURS FROM THE MOMENT YOU REACH OUT TO TAKE IT. YOU NEED NOT FEAR THOSE WITH THRONES AND NO ARMIES. They can make pronouncements and write laws, but who will enforce them? They can kick you off a website, but what is a website? It is a small humming box in an air-conditioned closet, that's what. People who prize position and status, and seek to wield power through them, are dressing themselves in fancy costumes and issuing "Royal Edicts", but they have forgotten that kings don't wear silk and jewels and fur. They wear chainmail with someone else's blood on it. So where do armies come from? From each man's decision to follow, and nothing else. You cannot force an army to follow you, because... what would you force it _with_? It _is_ the force you seek to wield. You must instead make each man think that following you is a good idea that will work out well for them. This is why I say that LEADERS DO NOT ASK PERMISSION TO LEAD. They do not make a play to be appointed to the big chair. They do not announce their candidacy for Chief High Panjandrum of Lower Tuli. They simply PICK A DIRECTION, MARCH IN IT, AND INSPIRE OTHERS TO FOLLOW. They crave friends, not titles. TRP is a lesson in this. In a sea of hatred, a handful of mods and other speakers have something going. Sure, they have position, they can ban people, but if a great number didn't agree they liked it here, they could _simply vote with their feet_, and all the mods would have left would be the power to ban people from a ghost town. The strength here isn't master passwords and website control tools. It's "_over 100,000 people think this is good idea_". THIS IS FREE MARKET LEADERSHIP. Strong men, men worth leading, will only follow someone who's going where they want to go. NO ONE CAN CONTROL YOU IF YOU HAVE THE POWER TO WALK AWAY. An "alpha" isn't necessarily the man who fucks all the women. That's just a perk. An "alpha" is the one who leads the men. And to do this he must inspire them. Never follow anyone who doesn't inspire you. And remember that you can have power anywhere if you learn to be the man who inspires others. ------------------------- Archived from https://theredarchive.com/post/32916