The Games Elites Play / Part I

Damn. I remember somewhere in my averagely miserable campus days, how I used joke about the old boys network. For most of it, I thought the stories were fictions, or at least grossly exaggerated and highly embellished accounts that didn’t really capture the reality of life.  

Fast forward a few years and I realized, it’s only too true – the old boys network is everywhere – it’s in industry, churches and even in clubs, where people regularly meet on a weekend to play an innocent game of scramble – I found out some 4 odd years ago when I joined a church group who regularly meet on Saturdays to cycle around Bukit Timah – while it lasted. I must say, I certainly enjoyed the cosy insiderism that came with the privilege of membership. For one, one gets into the holiest of hollies and you always get to know what’s really happening before anyone else does – but one day, something happened which I don’t feel comfortable to share for the moment (rest, I assured I will definitely share it with all of you one day and I guarantee you, it will blow your socks off! Or your money back!) and I found myself turned out.

Of course, no one actually said, I should just disappear, but there were enough signs and signals. Soon I found myself out in the cold, all alone. In the days, weeks and months that followed. I found myself dwelling deeper into the whole subject of why people feel the need to clique together and what do they really do? That’s to say; what’s really happening up in their brains? – when one considers it, its a pretty important question; cliques exist everywhere, even taxi drivers identify with each other, enough to seek out that balmy camaraderie that comes from being part of a shared community – everyone is into it, journalist, dentist, lawyers and even politicians.

For most, its just a way of fitting in and making sense; who they are in relation to either their vocational fraternity or the broader community – I am sure, networks really matter very little now save for a handful of institutions that imagine themselves to be suitable only for the creme de la creme to save the planet or something, but lets get serious.

I would really be dumb, if I absolutely denied the possibility power and influence wasn’t somehow linked to golf courses, exclusive country clubs and executive sky-boxes at sporting events.

These are arenas from which many who are not part of the club are traditionally excluded and thus are not privy to the truly “serious” business transactions or conversations. A business person who does not travel in these elite circles of influence will miss out on many opportunities. In the business world at least, it pays dividends to understand how and why, the old boy network turns the wheel of fortune and more importantly what makes it really tick. Part of that requires one to ask; what’s the psychology behind it all? I have to be perfectly honest here, my motivation is purely self serving, understanding why elites play the games they do, allows me to assume a role that makes myself more amenable to gain an advantage – to be very honest, with you, I really don’t give two shits about the higher ideals why people choose to wear funny hats and give themselves all sorts of strange sounding names, but if it gets the bacon, I am all for it – that’s why I am writing this article – the goal is to share with you my very personal opinion of why elites play the games they do – ready? OK let’s dive it.   

(1) The Story of Where We Came From. 

Doesn’t matter whether it’s the Mickey Mouse Club or a Masonic Order – any organization that claims the right to occupy a quadrant associated with power and influence needs to continually assert their narrative on the broader society – where without the select band of the anointed and chosen ones, the whole edifice will simply tumble down. Usually excellence, capability along with everything you or I don’t have in this life time forms this repetoire.

Most of it, is of course a crock of shit, like the claim that being blue eyed and blonde means one belongs to some master race. Or some clap trap that only men who graduate from this or that institution have some inalienable right to rule. Or a certain family has a genetic bent towards politics, like the Kennedy’s or something, not that you even realize it, judging from the way, they regularly fly into the sea or overdose.

The whole idea is not only to perpetuate a myth, but if possible mythologize their inheritance as to how they may even have a valid claim over history – only they, the enlightened ones have a right to rule – as I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t even matter whether it’s the consortium of retired bus drivers.

Every oligarchy needs to pays homage to a sacred narrative and if possible garner enough adherents within society to even believe it and if possible even form a congregation to worship it as the veritable truth.

Usually, the narrative starts with the trite and tested line, “In the very beginning….a very long time ago….”  there was always nothing (notice there is always nothing), except mosquitoes and flies, death and destruction and everyone is either dying of dysentery or committing suicide because life is after all doom and gloom.

Then when all hope was nearly extinguished, in steps the man and after that it’s trumpet, gongs and banners – cut to the chase – fast forward – we have all been saved, glory be to him.

That basically is how the story goes in virtually every case without exception, doesn’t matter whether it’s a birth of a nation, the founding of a great religion – there’s always a patriachal figure smack in the middle of the story who once fought and won over evil by the slimmest margins.

The essence of the myth is promoted as the reason accounting ,“for how we came here…and don’t you ever forget it!” 

(2) The Monopolization of The Keys To Power 

The second con job in this surreal footage, requires the group to monopolize some skill of arms such as technology or claim that they even have special knowledge or the power of infallibility.

How one group asserts their right of primacy over a society does not require elaboration. The Brahmins did it by monopolizing astronomy and fashioning a means to predict with great accuracy the datum of the water table – in an irrigation society, this gave them the power of the oracle.

Typically it requires taking something really easy and making it appear harder than it seems.

I did it myself in the brotherhood. A few years ago, in our historical annals, I am supposed to be the man who developed the space fold machine that allowed us to transverse the infinity of space – what many people didn’t realize of course was I threw in a lot of mumbo jumbo math and donned a funny hat and bingo my cut and paste program assume something that controlled space travel in the whole universe in the gaming network – of course, even as I say this right now, no one will ever believe me, some will think, I am just a really humble man. Most will even insist, it can never be that simple, only because, they have a stake in it! – that’s the trick, when it comes to monopolizing the keys to power, it needs to be packaged in such a way, whereby that which is actually monopolized is able to assume the all encompassing belief, its even necessary, vital and critical; if society is to successfully evolve to the next level – like the Samurai, Manchu and Mamelukes, the whole idea of preserving the status quo ante relies on successfully marketing not hope.

Rather amplifying the real or imagined fear; to tamper with anything in the system that the elite control will bring the whole edifice crashing down.

The ‘play on fear’ may assume a variety of shapes and forms, it may be having the sun blotted out – returning to that dank square whence we came from or even seeing our loved ones working as slaves overseas, but in every case. The formula of exacting loyalty and compliance remains the same. The perception of fear needs to be regularly heightened and if possible even sharpened.  

Elitism supports itself by direct exaction on fear which allows it to control the collective perception of society; hence interwoven in the narrative is the whole idea that without them (the elites), all of us are toast.

And this is where I have to stop as this is a two parter in a series.

Stay tuned for the next installment of this earth shattering article.   

Oh yeah, as for my church cycling gang, consider my dilemma, I had just splurged out on a new mountain bike – there I was one morning all by myself – it was just the trail and me, but I said what the hell, let me ride on a bit and see where it all goes – As it turned out, it went much better than I expected.

I have never looked back since, I realized, I didn’t need them, it was all in the mind. I just reckoned, it was a game, it didn’t need to play after all.

As it is I ride alone these days and even prefer it that way. That just goes to show you, the truth will set you free.

Darkness 2007 

This Article has no EP code – The Brotherhood Press 2007

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