How do controlling bureaucrats get the way they are?
This is a question I’ve been curious about for a while. Why are controlling people the way they are? We all know the types who strive to the higher positions in local councils and national governments, the people who enjoy controlling others, telling them what to do, and are happy to use force. But where do they come from? What is it about their childhoods and upbringings that make them that way? Or is it an innate genetic thing? Or do all people have that desire somewhere in them?
I ask because I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever felt a desire to control or force people to do what I want. And None of my friends seem to be that way either, in fact most people I meet aren’t like that. It seems to be the exception, not the norm, to want to control people so badly you’ll use state violence, and pursue positions of power to get your own way.
Imagine a local council worker who finds out that their next door neighbour does cocaine in the evenings after work from time to time, immediately they phone the police in an attempt to get their neighbour arrested and charged. Where does that person come from? What are their motivations? Why on earth do they care?
Thoughts in the comments please, I appreciate any discussion on the matter.
February 14th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
My .05£
1.Poor clarity of what moral living is- (concept of coercion)
2.A belief that good ends may be achieved through bad means
3.Arbitrary rules, poor understanding of the insights of economics
4.Human biases and flaws
February 14th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Should have added this quote to my list:
“Total corruption occurs in inches and proceeds through veils of ambiguity”
February 14th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Maybe they are a conformist, a collectivist and see no reason why someone should not be as they are, by force if necessary.
It could be that they have seen their parents do it to themselves or their siblings. Cutting tall poppies, treading on sandcastles, stomping across the living room knocking over toys. Who knows.
They could be sociopaths, but weak ones who need to exercise control in petty ways because they cannot get that control via their work or career.
I think they are sociopaths.
February 14th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Hi there – this is an interesting question. The great Michael Crichton – of Jurassic Park fame – was not only a leader in pulp thrillers, he was also a Doctor in the US. In fact he created ER with his knowledge of the medical profession. Why do I state this?
Well, before he died of cancer, the new novel he was working on was about this: Why do some people believe its their right to tell other people how to behave. Its a quite fascinating question. And perhaps his medical knowledge would have afforded an answer as I believe it may be linked to childhood abuse.
The great Stefan Molyneux identifies 3 types of abuse. Sexual, Physical and Mental. The children subjected to sexual abuse become crimminals, in that their behaviour is destructive to themselves and others, the physical abusers become drones and robots of society – ready to do what they are told for fear of punishment – and on top of them we have the mentally abused children who will attempt to force the mental abuse on to others through intimidation, laws and arguments.
Accordingly, Mentally abused children grow up to tell other people what to do.
This is an interesting point Stef is making.
David Icke may argue for something else again. He believes that there is a ‘bloodline’ or Cabal of families who try to manipulate the people – i.e. telling them what to do – to further their agenda for some form of World Government. Well, its an idea – and there may well be examples of delusion in some form of Zionism – ‘Chosen People’ that can add some form of legitimacy to Icke.
But I think their answer is here somewhere – it seems to be a delusion based on trauma.
February 14th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
I reckon that most of them believe they are righteous nothing more nothing less.
In my commercial experience working in a very large company 16,000 plus workforce, the dickheads who couldn’t do the white and blue collar work got promoted by the management to get them ‘out of the way’ and immediately they believed they had been promoted because they were better than everyone else=righteous!
The same goes on in councils and the civil service.
They never see themselves as working FOR the public. They don’t even see themselves as members of the public so they believe they are better than everyone else=righteous!
February 14th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
sickofit: very interesting. Just out of curiosity, in your opinion why do you think the management didn’t just fire the dickheads if they wanted them out of the way?
February 15th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
“How do controlling bureaucrats get the way they are?”
Firstly, senior controlling bureaucrats constitute the ruling elite of the state. Head teacher’s, Chief cops, upper management of Local Education Authorities, University Vice Chancellor’s, senior civil servants, army offices, heads of PCT’s or hospitals, CPO’s – you name it.
There’s real social and financial reward for being a controlling bureaucrat. They have secure, well paid roles in the state, some measure of (constructed) social approval for those roles and subordinates who respect their authority – or a least who act as if they do. All the rewards of a privileged elite flow to them: Power, security, influence, status, prestige and money.
Typically the controlling bureaucrat is the product of a state’s educational system. From the earliest years he or she has been taught by state employees (controlling bureaucrats called teachers) operating inside state institutions run by more controlling bureaucrats.
The state uses the education system to manufacture the appearance of legitimacy by using every means it has to advance the prevailing justifying ideology (or narrative) of the state. At the moment that’s a kind of Market Socialism plus Methodism minus God. So the controlling bureaucrat believes he’s doing the right things for the right reasons – or at worst is only obeying orders from those who so believe.
In addition to pushing statism in education the state also deals with (though employment) the intellectual classes who might otherwise develop some kind of critique of the state. (I’d also suggest that the state’s schools are ignorance, boredom and compliance factories which seek to crush free sprints and inquiring minds.)
That whole statist world view of the controlling bureaucratic elite is shared by the media elite too – that’s another bureaucratic power structure used to used to advance the state’s justifying ideology, soak up the intellectuals and distract the masses.
February 15th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
This is one of the reasons i sometimes nearly despair of the ideals of liberty.
The simple fact is that a large proportion of the human race are natural meddlers who desire nothing more than to boss people around and interfere in their privarte business.
I’m afraid it is simply part of human nature, we aren’t going to be able to change it. The Marxists thought that human nature would change in the ‘right’ social circumstances. I hope no one here is going to fall for that argument.
February 17th, 2010 at 3:21 am
You think so? I don’t think that’s the case. I think people evolved to be generally sociable, polite and agreeable. Don’t misjudge a person’s post-hoc rationalisations for their natural beliefs. Cognitive dissonance is pretty powerful.