NCE.RG.02 | Notes - Ch.2: "Domination, Acting, and Fantasy" (2/18)

⬅️ Ch. 1 Notes | Syllabus | Ch. 3 Notes ➡️

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Great seeing everyone last Wed!  Sorry, getting the notes a bit out later this week.

Going to do it a little differently this time; in no particular order, just going to jot down the highlights of what we all said.  See everyone for Ch. 3 this Wednesday, 2/25 at 7p ET! 🥳

Memorable notes

1. The issue is not so much that there is a public transcript and a hidden transcript; the issue is more the size of the delta between the two.  Everyone expects a hidden/public transcript.  The question is more: "How large is the distance between the two narratives?" The problems occur the greater the distance when everything comes to light if the delta is beyond what's expected.

   1. Example: Revelations in Epstein Files

   2. "It's hypocrisy that brings people down."

      1. "It's actually more okay to be awful if you broadcast in advance you're going to be awful."

   3. Related: Casey Wasserman Scandal

2. Populism is the answer to the delta.

3. Infrapolitics are fascinating:

   1. Subordinates actually have a lot of power. They can drag their feet and delay in a task.  They can do a job poorly so it falls apart quickly and needs to be done again.  (Great examples in the 2010 book, Unbroken.)  The can sabotage in dozens of ways to "release the hydraulic pressure"

   2. The liminal space between subordinate and dominant is crucial to keeping the whole facade going.  This grey area for gossip is critical - a good dominant power will have eyes and ears inside this liminal space to keep tabs on what the subordinates are thinking/doing.  This lets the dominant periodically "release the pressure" tactically and strategically to ensure the pressure never explodes and brings down the system

   3. Related: The Simple Sabotage Field Manual

4. How can you measure the power of dominant on subordinates?  Different ways of measuring!

   1. The kinds of indignities the subordinate are forced to suffer.  The greater the indignity, the greater the dominant's power.

   2. Who gets to write the history?

      1. Ways of possibly lessening the power differentials: cultures that give space for dissenting opinions (eg. the Jewish tradition of Talmudic interpretation or SCOTUS dissents)

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Other notes

• Attended: #88, #92, #120, #196, #248, #273

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralistic_ignorance

• 42 Laws of Power

• Even within the subordinate population, power games and hierarchies will emerge.  Among the subordinate, "there frequently develops a tyranny as brutal and exploitive as anything the [dominant] can devise".

  

• "What may look from above like the extraction of a required performance can easily look from below like the artful manipulation of deference and flattery to achieve its own ends."