If you want to live in a different kind of world, where everyone is valued for who they really are and not what they have or what they can afford, it’s important to recognise what the building blocks that will make that world real will look like.
It’s also very important to recognise what represents the key tenets and elements of the old world, and the thinking that will keep the majority disadvantaged in some way, whilst benefits of every kind continue to be funneled towards those either at or very near the very top.
The system that we have and that we are in the process of leaving, functions with people in positions of power and responsibility for the lives of others. People who believe that they are special and behave as if they are special in some way.
It doesn’t matter what the behaviour, skill or attribute might be that makes them believe they are special, whether its knowledge, popularity, position or wealth. If any person of group of people who have influence over or responsibility for others believe that they are different and better than those other people in any way, the system that they are influencing will always be about them and never about anyone else.
The people with power and influence who consider themselves above others, look down on everyone that they believe they have that power or influence over. This is the very basic mechanics of the system of ‘Top-Down’.
In its broader sense, ‘Top-Down’ is a hierarchical system. Power is always funneled from the many to the few above them. Then from the few to the one or two that are then above.
The process can and does repeat itself over and over again and often resembles the shape of a pyramid.
It’s a relationship that thrives on the creation of distance. Because those with power we are in direct contact with and easily able to access in a way where they listen, are often much further away from those that they themselves are subservient to. This means that those who we should most be able to rely on to do what’s best for us rarely even understand the rules, diktats and instructions that come from their own hierarchy ‘above’.
You will recognise those who are beholden to the ‘Top-Down’ system, because they are always better in some way than us. They thrive on peddling the myth that there are those ‘in the know’ and that they have special skills or special knowledge. When in fact all their ‘position’ or ‘role’ does is give them an excuse to avoid truth or avoid make decisions based solely in the moment and on doing only what is right for everyone – not just their masters or themselves.
Question the integrity and values of anyone who presents themselves as a leader at any level, who has come from management within a large company or corporate structure, has been in a leadership role within community organisations or within local councils, or has been a politician and member of one of the well-known parties and not demonstrated an ability once elected, to stand out without their party on their own.
Beware the people who have said a few things that have struck chords with some people and given them what appears to be great popularity. Popularity and leadership skills in the untested are usually two very distant things.
Above all, be on your guard against anyone who tells you they have knowledge and networks but cannot give a credible and open overview of what they are or how they attained them. Run a mile from anyone whose credibility as a leader rests purely on a name or who they are directly linked as nepotism is one of the most insidiously destructive and corrupt elements of the Top-Down system by far.
DIY Politics UK 