Playing The Game

“The cliché is that ‘power corrupts’ but it would be more accurate, and more telling, to rephrase this as ‘the ability to define reality corrupts’! If I have the power to define reality than I am pretty much untouchable; if I have the power to say what reality is and what it isn’t then I can get away with just about anything. How can I get caught out when ‘everything I do is right’ (or when ‘everything I do is eminently justifiable’) and you can be sure that everything I do will be excused in this way if I’m the one in charge of the ‘official validation procedure’!”

NegativeTherapy.com

One thing we never properly understand is the true function of the power differential in society. We can of course observe, as did Alfred Adler, that there is this drive to obtain and exert power (which Adler derived from Nietzsche’s subtler concept of the ‘will to power’) which effectively incentivizes us to climb as high as we can up the social hierarchy. There are obvious benefits to this – from the biological point of view, having a high social status means (for males, at any rate) that we will have a better chance of passing our genetic material on to future generations, which is of course what the basic biological game is all about. In societies all across the world there are male hierarchies of power but the incentive to compete for a place in them is clearly not about having the precious opportunity to father more babies than lower…

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Gamey: Senryu

GAMEY

Did his best to make
An honest woman of her
She was too far gone

Without Bars: Four By Six

WITHOUT BARS

Prefers to drink at home
The alcohol’s cheaper
And being by yourself
The company’s better

Possibilities

POSSIBILITIES

Relationships
(And communications)
All too often

In time degenerate
(Or become enmeshed)
Into game playing

There are ways out
(But not always taken)
Alack and alas

Anathema: Shadorma

ANATHEMA

She found it
An anathema
To answer
His question
She appeared not to realise
Just how rude it was

Once Bitten: Shadorma

ONCE BITTEN

Some woman
Turns and smiles at him
Ignores her
Turns his back
Waits to walk on till she’s gone
“Nowt but trouble there.”

The Mating Game: Senryu

THE MATING GAME

They drew their pictures
And once so armed sallied forth
Obliviously

Sleight Of Hand: Cinqku

SLEIGHT OF HAND

Listen
Warily
Entertainment
Can be used to disguise
Intent

~~~~~ ~ ~~~~~

This post is part of SoCS.

A Brave Face

A BRAVE FACE

We show them our best
Knowing they will discover
The rest on their own

Meanwhile

MEANWHILE

Perhaps best assume
This is as good as it gets
For how would we know?