The rules of the game?

We've been ruled by minorities for as long as we can collectively remember. You can call that minority the "aristocracy", the "elite", the "select few" ... it really doesn't matter. The reasoning changes, but the end result is the same.

There was a time perhaps when might made right, when the strongest or toughest managed to convince enough other strong or tough guys that they could simply take charge. You create a warrior society and a warrior culture and convince others -- perhaps at the point of a spear or the with the barrel of a gun -- that this is way it was meant to be. Others, who were perhaps a bit more subtle and clever, managed to convince the rest that knowing things, like when the floods would come or how to build pyramids or the like, made you special or different in some way. Knowing how fickle the masses were, especially since they were denied this essential knowledge, you get a front (wo)man and call him or her King or Empress or whatever, but you link them up to the divine and you've got yourself a good deal. You pull the strings but someone else takes the fall. Combinations of these approaches are, of course, not only possible, but, as history has shown, probable.

But, as our teachers and forebears would have us know, we "progressed", we realized that "everyone" should have a say in what happens to them. The trouble is, that was the pitch, but it certainly wasn't the process. There are any number of reasons why we should choose someone to represent us, why we shouldn't speak for ourselves: complexity, long distances, sheer numbers of people involved ... the list goes on and on. The end product, however, is the same as those justifications that had gone before. It was no longer the will of God, let us say, it was the will of the people. That's the way everyone wanted it, and if they didn't want it that way, well, it was clear that they were troublemakers, nay-sayers, undemocratic, and Lord knows what else. One thing was for sure, they needed to be shut up, and shut up they were.

There are a good number of people who actually believe that this is the natural order of things, but what do they have to base their belief on? That it's always been that way? That there are so-called alpha-animals and leaders of the herd? Yes, we've tried everything, from nature to nurture to biology to psychology (most people want to be led by others). Yes, there has been a never-ending stream of reasons why the few should have the say and the many should do what they're told. If we take a real close look at history, though, what we find is an ever-increasing difficulty to find reasonable and convincing justifications. Why? Because all the ones we have had thus far have been in the interest of those who think them up, and it is becoming harder and harder to make it clear that this is not the case.

For the longest time, it was possible to obscure, obfuscate, divert attention, cloud and confuse with ease. The widespread use of communication technologies is enabling more and more people to communicate -- often in silly and senseless ways -- with more and more people. There is simply lots and lots of information flying about our ears all the time. It is becoming harder and harder to keep things secret.

The genie is out of the bottle.